Chapter Forty Three: Last Ditch Efforts
Callaghan and Pitch stumbled to the ground. Pitch yelled angrily and tried to escape, but the weight of the scientist and the spike sticking through his stomach was too heavy.
Solarflare was about to jump towards and attack Pitch, but he was still out of range of the generator. If she moved now, they'd have no chance in destroying the Nightmares.
"Stay there!" Hiro yelled. Rapunzel nodded and glanced worriedly towards the fallen scientist.
Hiro focused on the fallen microbots and used his powers to yank them towards him. They clustered around his fists, making a thicker and heavier version of boxing gloves. At the same time, he sent an extra burst of power to the generator, pumping the light up another notch.
Pitch hissed in pain, but kept sending Nightmares forward. Hiro smashed through them, making his own way towards the villain.
It was a flurry of dark sand, dim light and mechanical crunching. It was like he's gone into autopilot with how hard he's started hitting, but Hiro knew he had to hold off Pitch long enough for Rapunzel to finish clearing the room.
"Why are you so persistent?!" Pitch snapped.
"Just! Stay! Down!"
Hiro extended his range, locking onto the various science projects still in the room. He grabbed them and pulled everything towards the middle, turning everything on at the same time. With a crash, the machines slammed into Pitch, knocking him to the ground.
"Fine." He growled. "Have your fun,"
With a puff of black sand, Pitch disappeared, escaping from the convention center as Rapunzel's glow grew even brighter and the rest of the nightmares dissipated.
Hiro turned to go unhook her, and Rapunzel's legs gave out. She landed a little hard on the ground, clearly drained and overworked. Regardless, she still crawled towards Callaghan's limp body, pulling the needles from her arms as she moved.
"J-just hold o-on," She muttered, finally reaching the scientist.
"I'm not worth it," Callaghan whispered, voice strained as the blood gathered on his chest. "The world needs heroes like you, not old men who hurt them,"
"L-liar,"
"I'll see my Abigail s-soon,"
"Not if she's alive," Rapunzel coughed, then piled her hair over the wound. She barely made it through the first two lines of the healing song, but it was enough to save Callaghan from death. Exhausted, Solarflare passed out, the glow fully dying from her hair.
"Cornelius?" Hiro asked. The blonde scientist popped up from behind a fallen table, glasses askew but otherwise okay. Despite the lack of resemblance, he actually reminded Hiro of Wilbur.
"So marks my first official supervillain battle," Mr Robinson said, cleaning off his glasses. "Everyone else is okay?"
"Yeah, we're all fi-"
"Hiro! There are bombs in the building, Calico lied to us!" Penny's voice suddenly interrupted. She sounded out of breath and terrified, and Hiro's eyes widened. Ignoring Cornelius's worried questions, he threw out a sensor, tracking the explosives through their electronic components.
There were so many.
The bomb wasn't just one bomb. From what Hiro could tell, it was a series of circuits, each looping into another. The main explosive was the biggest, connected to the smaller ones hidden around like backups. If he tried to shut down one, the others would automatically explode, and even the small ones would be deadly.
"Everyone get here now!" Hiro yelled into his comm. He and Cornelius helped pull Solarflare and Callaghan to their feet, and the others reached them in time to help them get outside. Frost scooped Solarflare into his arms, keeping the injured blonde from hitting her head. Within a few seconds, most of the Senior Super team was there, and all of the Omegas.
"It'll blow up the whole city!" Hiro yelled. "The only way I can think of stopping it is to-"
"Me," Violet whispered. "I can contain the first bomb,"
Hiro looked at her, face smeared with sweat, oil, and fear, and nodded. Mr Incredible and Elastigirl still hadn't arrived, but Dash's face was terrified.
"Dimension," Phantom said. "Get me inside,"
"Me too," Kanjo added, eyes still glowing a little. "You'll want my help,"
"Vi-" Dash started, but his sister looked at him and he stopped. "Be careful,"
Violet nodded, then grabbed Wilbur's hand and disappeared
The trio landed in the middle of the ballroom, where Hiro had pried up the panel concealing the bombs. Violet put a field around the explosive, the timer ticking down into its last minute.
"Here," Riley said, grabbing Violet by the arm and pushing her power into her. Violet's eyes flashed purple and her posture straightened, the boost she'd gotten filling her body with adrenaline and will.
Thirty seconds left.
"Get Riley out of here,"
"Then I'll come back," Wilbur insisted, but Violet shook her head.
"No."
"No?!"
"Get the others out, then work the perimeter in case this goes sideways," Violet said, voice a little too calm.
Twenty seconds.
"What?!"
"Just do it Wilbur!" Violet yelled, turned to look at him. Her suit, despite the Edna craftsmanship, was roughed up, and her hair had fallen out of its braid. Behind her mask, her eyes were a little teary. "Please, just do this, for me,"
"I-I don't want to," Wilbur whispered.
Ten seconds.
"You have to,"
Dimension and Kanjo teleported away, and Phantom willed more energy into the field. The explosive detonated inside the bubble, filling it with smoke and fire. She could feel the heat traveling up into her body, but it wasn't burning.
Not yet.
Dimension and Kanjo reappeared outside of the convention center with the rest of the Omega team. The Senior Supers had gone to round up the villains and fight off any stragglers, leaving just the teens.
"Where's Violet?" Edith asked.
"Inside," Riley answered, her powers picking up on how Wilbur wasn't moving. "She's holding the bomb back,"
"What?!"
"She told us to handle the perimeter," Riley said. "We have to do what she wants,"
"Wha-why?!" Penny yelped.
"Because we're heroes, and that's what we do," Hiro muttered. "We have to protect everyone else,"
"That doesn't mean we just aban-"
Margo was cut off as the street rocked from an explosion. Both teams whipped around in terror, watching as the second floor of the convention center exploded into flames. Too quickly - the fire spread, and more bombs went off.
"We have to get her- Wilbur!" Dash yelled, just as the fires burst out the front door, the roof caving in as the biggest bomb - the one Violet was supposed to be shielding - went off.
"NO!"
Wilbur screamed, running towards the fire, just wanting to get to her. Dash and Hiro grabbed him by the arms, yanking him away from the flames. It burned against his face, but Wilbur kept fighting, wanting to get closer.
"Stop!" Riley screamed, placing a hand on Wilbur's back to try and calm him down.
Wilbur stumbled to the ground and slowly turned, making eye contact with the empath. There was a beat, then Dimension disappeared. But he didn't teleport inside the building.
When Wilbur opened his eyes, he was floating in a dark mass of space and memories.
The space-time dimension.