Dateline: Thursday, July 9, 1981, 1:33 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.
When Harriet Kriznek saw Python challenge her with the toss of her glove, she smirked. Surely these savage supers knew the awesome power she possessed, right? How could they possibly think they would defeat her? Maybe they just need to have their memories jogged! While they prepared to strike, she stuck her hand out and cast a quick spell, in an effort to subdue them. It landed on Blind Tracy, but as I'm sure you know by now, it had no effect.
"Um, ow?"
Harriet wound up and prepared to strike again, but Blind Tracy grabbed her arm mentally and twisted it behind her back. While this was happening, Python picked up her glove, turned invisible, and waited for her moment to attack.
Thinking quickly, the Witch Queen spun around to release herself from the blind psi's finger-less grip. She fired some form of lightning from her fingers. That's when Heartthrob stepped in, intercepting the magic, and countering the attack with his own lightning. His target fell over backward.
What's going on? The Witch Queen wondered. How come my magic isn't working? She got up and…was immediately knocked down again. She looked up and saw Rocket staring at her.
"You can't touch me, coz I'm too fast!"
Harriet summoned her strongest magic and fired right in his face. Or rather, where his face was before he moved. The Witch Queen got up one more time.
"My turn," said Liquegirl. "Here I am, come and get me!"
Harriet fired spell after spell at her opponent, all of which had no effect.
At this point, the Witch Queen started to hyperventilate. "This should work, why isn't it working?" She crouched in a fetal position of sorts. "My magic is supposed to fade yet! I'm not even 60!"
"I wouldn't worry about your magic fading," Liquegirl said without thinking.
"Kim, shut up!" Rocket whispered, "We're two sentences away from driving her bananas!"
Kim didn't listen to him. "Me and mine are coated in a special anti-magic formula, making your attacks useless!"
Hearing this, Harriet straightened up. "Oh, so it's not me! I'm not losing my touch! Great!"
Heartthrob gave the squishy super a little smack on the shoulder. "Way to go, genius!"
"What? What did I say?"
"Now that I know my magic won't work on you, I can save my energies for more productive methods!"
"Oops," Liquegirl muttered. She just now realized her mistake. "No matter, you still can't take us! We're superheroes, the finest physical specimens on the planet! What are you? An old woman!"
The Witch Queen narrowed her eyes. She ran up the nearest tree trunk, flipped in the air, landed on her feet, and snapped a branch off the same tree with a chop of her hand.
"An old woman with a black belt," she corrected.
"Oh, s---!" Heartthrob blurted out. "Didn't see that coming!"
"You don't scare me!" Liquegirl said. "Bring it on, witchhole!"
Harriet charged at the "smart" member of the team. She punched, kicked, shoved, poked, and chopped at her from almost every angle. Liquegirl dodged almost every thrust, and the ones that connected didn't do any damage to her liquid body.
"Is that all you can do?" asked the Witch Queen.
"Well, that is my only power, but that's not all I can do!" With that, Liquegirl punched her opponent square in the jaw.
Harriet staggered backward, with the sour taste of blood in her mouth. The squishy super's solid sock had knocked out a good one sixteenth of her favorite jaw. (For those of you too lazy to do the math, that's two teeth.) She spit the lose incisors out into her hand and examined them. Then she stuck them back into their spaces. Using magic, she healed herself.
"Okay, Kimmy, don't exhaust yourself!" Blind Tracy interjected. "I think I can take care of her!" So Liquegirl stepped back and our sightless friend stepped forward. Blind Tracy didn't waste one second; as soon as she stepped forward, she grabbed the witch's arms with her mind. Harriet fought against the invisible force that gripped her so tightly. Then she had an idea.
She spread her hands out in front of her, and magically constructed a metal wall. She made it from an alloy of platinum and titanium, the only substance she could think of that would block psionic abilities, specifically, Blind Tracy's.
"There," the Witch Queen sighed, "that should protect me."
Just then, she noticed that the wall was being ripped like a sheet of paper by two large, dark-skinned hands.
"Oh, crap," she muttered when she saw Heartthrob's face poking through the tear in the wall.
Holding one half of the metal sheet with one hand, the Latin super swung it like a flyswatter. The Witch Queen teleported out of the way before it could strike her. When she reappeared, he lifted his weapon to the sky. But, as luck would have it, Heartthrob's pulse dropped to 99 just at that moment. Thankfully, he ditched the large metal slab the instant it felt too heavy. Legend has it that there was a small earthquake in Japan when he did.
This was the moment Python decided was hers to strike. Still invisible, she leapt into the air and kicked old Hattie right in the old breadbasket. She fell over backwards and doubled herself over. Python was so happy at her success; she unconsciously became visible again.
Big mistake! Now that the Witch Queen could see her, she started chucking rocks at her. She picked up and threw every stone she could see, and when she couldn't find anymore, she summoned them with magic. Python defended herself with her force field, but with the massive volume of rocks that struck it, she began to lose energy fairly quickly. Not wanting to collapse, she dropped the shield before she lost any more energy from impact. Now that Python was vulnerable again, Harriet threw her last rock with all her might.
Just seconds before the rock was due to hit Python and maybe kill her, a blur of blue fabric sped by and carried her away from the trajectory of the stone.
"C'mon, Dash," Python complained, "I could have handled that myself!"
"Hey, I said it before, and I'll say it again, nobody beats up my big sister but me!"
"Oh, this is pointless!" screeched the Witch Queen.
She knelt down and placed her hands on the earth. She chanted some form of Latin or something. Suddenly, the whole ground glowed with that queer blue light. The ground started to sprout strange vines that grew faster than weeds. Like the tentacles of some kraken beast, the vines went after the heroes.
Blind Tracy was easily grabbed and subdued. She might have seen it coming, if the vines had brains, which they didn't. Of the four others, only Python went to save her. But when she started to wrestle with the vines that confined the red-haired psychic, another group of plants snatched her too.
Just as this was happening, Heartthrob's pulse went back up to 103. Knowing his powers were active once again, he tried to deceive the Witch Queen by duplicating himself tenfold, the maximum amount he could muster. Harriet wasn't deterred by this little stunt. She merely grabbed all ten copies of him and bound them all. Unable to move, his pulse invariably dropped below 100, causing the other instances of him to vanish.
Three down, two to go, thought the Witch Queen.
Rocket was a little more difficult to catch than the others were, and I don't think I need to tell you why. His lightning-quick reflexes kept him from getting snagged several times. Harriet figured the only way to catch him was to be one step ahead of him. So every time she attacked with one vine, she would set up another in the spot where she thought Rocket would go. After missing five or six times, she finally got lucky and grabbed his ankle. Once he was caught, they all discovered that he wasn't strong enough to break free. A few more vines later, and he was trapped.
The Witch Queen stared at Liquegirl. She was the only one left. Liquegirl smiled coyly.
"You don't honestly think you can contain me with these overgrown houseplants, do you?" she taunted. "You know what I'm capable of!" She demonstrated her powers for emphasis.
Harriet said nothing. She merely swung at her with vine after vine after vine. Liquegirl squished her way out of each and every attack.
"I can do this all night, little one," the Witch Queen pointed out, "you're going to tire out eventually."
Liquegirl realized she was right. It took a lot out of her to keep up a state of low viscosity. But she wasn't the kind to give up without a fight. She braved the assault until she had no choice but to return to her solid form. Exhausted, she collapsed like a rag doll. She was still awake, though she didn't let on, thinking that Harriet would assume she was dead and leave it at that.
"Hmm," the Witch Queen grunted in satisfaction. "I didn't plan to kill her, but a win is a win. And now, since you thugs so heartlessly destroyed my creations, I will head back home to make a new batch of MagiClones (patent pending), so that I may continue my master plan! See ya!" She summoned a broomstick and flew away.
"Man, how cliché is that?" Heartthrob asked.
Python sighed. "This is all my fault, you guys. I'm sorry I got you all into this mess."
"How is this your fault, Vi?" asked Blind Tracy.
"As the team's leader, everything that happens to us is ultimately my responsibility. That's how this is my fault."
"Yeah, that's nice," said Rocket. "You know, I always knew it would end this way. Here we are, tried up like prisoners, and the only person who could possibly save us is out cold."
"Out cold?" asked Liquegirl. "You wouldn't happen to be talking about me, would you, dear?"
"Oh, praise God!" Rocket shouted, "you're alive!"
"Yeah."
"This is perfect!" Python said. "You still have that TAG glove on! You can get us out of here! Then we can stop the Witch Queen in her tracks!"
"Yes, Vi, I was just thinking that. But there's still one problem."
"What's that, Kim?"
"I don't think I can get up."
"Here, let me help you," said Blind Tracy. Using telekinesis, she lifted Liquegirl onto her feet. "Okay, I'm going to let go now, can you stand?"
"I think so," she answered. Blind Tracy released her, and…she collapsed again.
"This is going to take a while," Rocket mumbled.
(A/N: Hello again. I'm sorry if I seem a little distracted, I've been a little under the weather lately. I'll be going on vacation soon, so it's going to be some time before I can even start on Part 3 of the Final Showdown. Until I see you again, please review!)