Are you ready for this? This is the beginning of the end here, the last battle, the final twists. What will the fate of our heroes be? I hope y'all haven't had your fill of angst and hardship. I know I've given y'all more than a fair amount recently but it ain't over yet. Buckle up because here comes the first part of the finale.

Also, thank you so much for all the reviews. I love to read them. Be sure to leave me your thoughts on this one as well.

Danger S1E29: Out of the Shadows

April 14, 2022

Blackout peers out from the shadows of the trees. His hatred and deepest desire burn him as he watches Henry Hart, or rather 'Danger' as the young man would call himself in that ridiculous costume. These mask-wearers and their nicknames. They get so lost in their game of heroes they somehow miss the most obvious things. Calling him 'Shadow Man' as if he's nothing more than a silhouette of mild darkness disrupting the sunlight. Hart looking at him with hatred and absolutely no recognition.

How could Hart be so foolish as to not recognize him? For more than two months they'd played cat and mouse in Dystopia, until Blackout had chased Hart right out of the country in his pursuit for the boy's soul. The hero had cowered, yet now didn't seem to recall his name. One day, one fight where he was taken by surprise and bowled over by Hart and his sidekicks, and he was forgotten. None of them thinking of him as he set upon his renewed pursuit. Well, they would know the truth soon. He would not take them without showing them their lack of sight.

With Hart sitting still on his knees, staring at the statue of his dead mentor, Blackout has the chance to take his little friends. No sword, not even one of Seraphim magic will stall him any longer. The five sidekicks, Hart's sister and their odd science friend will be his, he'll have his weapon back, and then Hart and the sword will be no problem. It won't be another small taste. He'll savor that delectable soul, consume it slowly and completely.

Blackout steps back, melting into the shadows, leaving Henry Hart to his mourning, and taking himself to the sunless caverns of the Man's Nest. With no alert making the inhabitants aware of his presence, he makes his way easily through the tunnels. His axe is tucked away like a useless trinket in the back of a storage room. It comes to life in his hand, humming with his enhanced dark power. Blackout then makes his way up floor after floor until he's there, on the threshold of the control center for Hart's heroes.

He can hear the Macklin girl calling warnings to her friends. She's heard him coming. The door opens before him, and he sees them scrambling. But he smiles, it is too late. "Shadow Man?" Mika Macklin questions terrified.

Blackout swings his axe out in a long, controlled arc, forcing them to fall back. "What the? Where did he get an axe?" Hart's surname-less sidekick asks.

Blackout raises the axe, displaying it for them while fueling his own halo of darkness. "That was in our weapons storage," de Silva notices. "It belonged to…"

"Blackout," O'Brien says with a discerning frown. His primate screeching on his shoulder. "Shadow Man is Blackout."

"Very good," Blackout compliments. He swings the axe down, the children run screaming away from it's fall.

"Where's the sword?" de Silva asks.

"Henrys got it!" Piper Hart responds.

"We need it!" de Silva responds.

"He went to the memorial," Schwartz informs. "Miles…"

"I got him!" And just like that the Macklin boy leaves. Blackout knows he doesn't have much time to finish this. He needs these six out of the way before Hart shows up. The super-powered girls send attacks his way but he doesn't even take notice as they are consumed by the vacuum of his magic. He stalks towards Hart's sister, who stands as if she has hope to fight. He hits her with the blunt side of his axe, sending her reeling across the room.

The rest of the heroes shout in concern for her, the nameless boy rushing to her side while the three Danger Force children take nervous fighting positions facing Blackout. He swings his axe, using it to focus his shadows, sending them straight out of the blade. "Down!" O'Brien cries to them all as the arc of shadow flies out of the axe towards them. It burns a black line into the wall behind them all as they duck.

Blackout scowls slightly beneath his hood but waits no time in attacking again. In the split second he's noticed his missed attack he's swinging his axe around to try again, bringing it down directly towards de Silva's head. Only he's once again foiled. His blade meeting an invisible force before reaching her head.

He looks over to see O'Brien had reacted impossibly fast and caught the blade with his telekinesis. Blackout glares at him not understanding. Again, he swings his axe, directing it at O'Brien's outstretched arm and the boy meeting him swiftly again with his power. How is he anticipating my strikes? Blackout thinks and the boy speaks, answering him. "My new power, I know every move you make."

Blackout darkly mutters in wonder, "telepath." Then he swings faster, trying to keep his thoughts as concise as possible, not give O'Brien a chance to read him before he strikes. It is hardly effective; the boy responds well to the little thoughts and Blackout then remembers this one is a simpleton. The answer is not to lessen thought but to increase it beyond the boy's ability to follow.

So, Blackout stops and looks around the room quickly, instinctually taking in the content and positions of everything therein. He simultaneously plots how he could take down any one of the other four in the next ten seconds without the interference of O'Brien. He makes no decision in which route he'll take. He takes the first steps towards them, still weighing his decision and lets the now confused and panicked O'Brien follow him. They dance, O'Brien playing defense against Blackout's switching plans until Blackout has the boy holding the axe inches from the Macklin girl, who is trapped against the wall.

Blackout relishes, having done it. "Uh-oh," O'Brien says, reading what's coming. Blackout uses his magic to defenestrate the boy who cannot defend himself at the moment for defending Macklin.

"Bose!" Macklin cries as he smashes through the glass and across the mountain top to tumble over the edge while clawing for a way to stop. She nearly escapes Blackout's blade but takes a deep scrape across her abdomen. She clutches it, doubling over for the burning magic pain.

"Mika!" de Silva and the nameless boy cry in worry. She turns with sparking hands to fight Blackout. He looks between the two, angry as she is but concerned about their chances of fighting him. Her lightning does nothing to him, his darkness absorbs it all. She grunts and prepares to fight him hand to hand.

"Chapa, don't!" the nameless boy tells her. She does not listen.

He leaves Hart's sister's side to intercept her, pulling her away from Blackout's counterattack. She punches him furiously. "What are you doing?! Don't touch me!"

"I'm trying to keep you alive," he argues. "He took everyone else out. We've got to work together to keep him from hurting them until Henry gets here with the sword."

"I don't need your help to protect them!" she growls. "Don't go saving my life again!"

With that she jumps back up, raring to fight. He shakes his head at her but gets up too. He tries to help her, chewing a gumball so he can use his plasma blasts to counter flank her attacks by getting behind Blackout, who's more than ready to meet them both. His dark aura of protection doesn't thin enough with either of their attacks to let the other get a real shot in. Blackout nearly decapitates de Silva and neither of the remaining heroes can really do anything about his advantage.

"We've got to work together!" the boy tries to persuade.

"No!" de Silva shouts back. Then, they both jump. "What?" she demands in a furious. "I don't work with him!"

Half a second later it's the boy responding nonsensically. "What?"

Blackout nicks the boy's rocket boots with his axe as he tries to fly up. It sends him crashing to the floor instead.

"You make zero sense, Bose!" de Silva growls into the air.

Another moment passes wherein the telepath must be thinking to their minds. With sudden looks of understanding the two both mutter, "Oh."

Blackout swings his axe at the fallen boy and de Silva calls out, "Send your blast!" the boy sends his useless plasma at the blade, and Blackout wonder how he could have hope it would have any chance of stopping the axe. Then de Silva's red lightning hits the fiery orb and Blackout is blasted backwards by an enormous shockwave and blinding light exploding out of the conjunction.

The explosion sends all three fighters skidding across the floor. Schwoz too gets knocked over despite his hiding spot behind the round couch. "Did it work?" the nameless boy asks.

Blackout gathers himself, uninjured and not even properly stunned. He stands and looks at the two with mild surprise. They had managed to create enough energy to partially reach him through his protection. "For about a second," de Silva responds to her fellow.

"Maybe if we hit him again?" the boy suggests.

"I'm down for that," de Silva says with a darkly delighted smirk.

Blackout is disappointed in this new development. Hart will be here any moment, and he'd greatly prefer to face the hero without any of his little sidekicks still standing.

(Theme Song: Henry's Voice dubbed over the image of Captain Man's bronze statue. "It all just kinda happened. It wasn't supposed to be this way. He shouldn't have died. But now here I am, doing his job." Cut scene to Man's Nest in chaos as the members of Danger Force and Schwoz run around reacting to an emergency alert blaring through the base. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this." Henry states and the music of the theme song begins to play...)

Henry and Miles appear in the Man's Nest on high alert. Shadow Man, or Blackout, has turned the place upside down. Piper is unconscious on the floor, the window is shattered, little fires and burns mar the entire room and only Chapa and a costumed Dawson are there fighting the villain. "Where's my sister and Bose?" Miles asks quickly.

Henry doesn't wait for the answer, leaping into the fight and drawing the sword from his hip to have it meet Blackout's axe before it cuts Chapa in two.

Hanging off the cliff! Bose's voice comes straight into their minds to answer.

Blackout stills and turns with a tense frame to face Henry. The blades of their weapons making an unpleasant sound as they scrape edge to edge. The two men are just about nose to nose, weapons pressing for dominance in the fight. The axe knocks the sword aside and Henry is playing defense.

The sword slices easily through the magical defenses of the soul-harvester. It is drawn to the twisted power. But it can't slice through the axe. The weapons clang and send sparks of shadow with each meeting. Henry takes step after infuriating step backwards once with every strike of Blackout's axe. Henry blocks each with the sword, doing well enough to stay alive, though not enough to hit Blackout. His personal skills as a swordsman are barely existent, while Blackout has been trained and fighting with his axe for many years.

While they clash, moving across the room, Miles rushes to the shattered window to peer out at Bose hanging from the side of the cliff several feet down. Chapa and Dawson join him. "You alright, bro?" Miles calls to him.

"Please get me back up!" Bose requests both by mind and mouth.

"Right. Dawson, fly down there and bring him up," Miles instructs.

Dawson shakes his head. "Blackout slashed my boot, it's not working anymore. I can't fly anywhere."

"Can you teleport down to him?" Chapa suggests.

"Uh, yeah, I could try but it might end up a mess," Miles responds. "and what about Mika?"

"Schwoz has her and Piper," Dawson says, nodding to where the three are tucked in a corner, hidden. "They both took some brutal hits."

"Yeah, they're taken care of," Chapa says quickly. "We need to save Bose and help Henry. So, AWOL get down there. Lil' Dawsy, let's go blow up Blackout again."

"I'm not on board with that," Dawson says to her. She ignores him running towards the fight. "I will not help you cause an explosion, Henry's right there!"

"Is someone gonna help me here?" Bose asks from below.

Miles sighs, "I'm coming. Let's hope this works." He tosses his fist in the air.

Dawson catches Chapa studying the fight. Henry is backed into the wall with no room to move. Blackout's pressing the axe down on the sword, both blades growing closer to Henry as he struggles. "Aim for Shadow Man's back," Chapa says. "I think his body will stop most the explosion from hitting Henry."

"You think?" Dawson frets.

"Just do it!" Chapa commands.

He looks nervous but follows her command, adding to it as their powers fly the cry of warning, "Henry! Forcefield!"

Henry barely has a second to register the words and react, his green shield cutting through the fiery billow that encompasses him and Blackout. Blackout is thrown into the forcefield and ricochets off. "Dudes!" Henry cries when it's cleared. "A little more warning please!"

"Sorry Sir!" Dawson says.

"Get Shadow Man while he's down!" Chapa shouts.

"Not down," Blackout insists. He's on his feet, no worse for wear. He raises his axe and resumes the battle with Henry.

"Ah no," Henry grumbles, parrying strikes and retreating against the dark villain. "Guys, I could really use some help!" he yells at them. "Preferably not in the form of an explosion right next to my face! And something that will actually trip him up!"

"Er, right," Dawson says, sharing a look with Chapa. "I don't think we actually have anything that can do that."

"Nope, not that I know of," she shakes her head. "We'll have to stick to explosions. Henry can protect himself. Beggars can't be choosers."

Wait! Bose's mind speaks into theirs.

"Gah!" Chapa shrieks. She grumbles rhetorically, "That is so annoying. Do you know that?"

Mika has an idea! Bose asserts over her complaint.

"Guys!" Mika herself whisper-shouts at them, beckoning them to come near. She is clutching her wounded abdomen and leaning around the column she, Schwoz and Piper are hidden behind.

Chapa and Dawson share a look, glance at Henry and Blackout and dash over to Mika. "What?" Chapa asks.

"I have an idea," Mika says.

"Yeah, Bose said," Chapa retorts. "What?"

"We need Miles," Mika says vaguely, "and we'll need to be in uniform."

"I am," Dawson points out. "But why? Shadow Man, or Blackout, whoever he is, knows who we are."

"I know," Mika says.

"We need to help Henry, not waste time with pointless outfit changes," Chapa rebukes.

"This is how we'll help Henry," Mika wheezes pained as she moves in frustrated gestures.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Dawson asks caringly.

"Yeah. So long as we stop Blackout. Where is Miles?" Mika responds.

Miles appears back in the Man's Nest by the broken window. "Don't worry, Buddy," he tells Bose. "I'll get ya. Let's try this one more time."

No, don't. Bose tells him mentally. Mika needs you more. I can hang on for a few more minutes. Help them stop Blackout.

"Miles!" Mika calls to her brother.

He looks unsure down at the dangling Bose before turning to join her. He worriedly looks over his wounded twin. "Are you okay?" he asks.

"Never mind," she dissuades. "You need to get in costume and get to Swellview Hospital."

"The hospital?" Her three friends question.

"Yes!" she gripes. "That's why you need to change. Blackout may know our identities but Nurse…"

"Hey! I really appreciate the help guys!" Henry shouts at them. "But can someone please make themselves at all useful?!"

"Go!" Mika tells her brother. "Get her and the gun quick before Blackout beats Henry in the fight. Take Chapa, no one can tell Volt no." Chapa smirks. "Dawson and I will make sure Henry doesn't die before you get back, but hurry!"

"Guys! Seriously! Some help! Please!" Henry shouts, dropping under the axe and activating his forcefield so he can roll out of the corner he's being pushed towards. He slashes the back of Blackout's calf. Blackout stumbles but only a few steps. He turns to clash blades with Henry again.

Dawson runs back towards the fight intent on helping. Mika follows despite Schwoz protesting, telling her to stay with him because she's hurt. "What do we do?" Dawson asks her. They skirt the edge of the fight, trying to find a way to cut in.

Mika swiftly glances over the situation. "Okay, I got one thing we could try. Have you ever thrown a lasso?"

"Um, no?" Dawson wonders.

"Do you know anything about knots?" she follows up.

"Well, uh, Ms. Foster put me in Cub Scouts for several years so, yeah," he answers. "What does this have to with a plan to help Henry?"

She reels in a long blue cable from across the room as she explains, "See his axe?"

"Yeah?" he presses.

"See how his protective shadow-bubble doesn't cover it all? Only around his hands? That means we should be able to touch it or lasso it without his power destroying our attack. All my years working with horses, and my dad's cowboy obsession, are about to pay off in a fight." She seems really happy about that last bit.

"You think you can lasso it away from him?" Dawson asks.

"At least open him up to an attack for a second," she says, tying the cable into a lasso. "After I lasso the axe, I'm going to need you to help me pull fast. Henry only needs enough time for one good hit. Here, check my knot." She tosses him the cable. "I know the steps to tie it but never seem to get it right and we're going to need it to be perfect to catch the axe."

He looks at the knot, "I've never actually tied a lasso, but it looks alright. Maybe wrap this around like this so it won't come undone." He hands it back to her.

"Nice, thanks," she says and flicks it. "Here goes."

Her shot is great, she loops the axe head in one try, the two pulling hard so the cable tightens around the handle. Blackout's swing misses by several inches as they pull him off course. Henry's sword falls further than he'd expected, having no resistance, and he sheers straight across Blackout's helmet. The new opening left by the cut visor uncovers a sight never before seen. The glimpse of Blackout's face is terrible. Eyes a mottled mess of bloody blackened veins, skin riveted with festering gashes oozing darkness. Henry's chance is lost in his appalled reaction to the sight. "Oh god!" he cries pulling away. The cable slips further down the axe handle, till it meets the edge of the shadow-shield, and it disappears, dissolving straight out of Dawson and Mika's hands.

"Wasted attempt, children," Blackout hums low and humored at them. Henry moves to attack, trying to recover the moment but Blackout is ready for his swing.

The clash of the blades is accompanied by the flash of yellow light. Miles and Chapa are back with the heavily bandaged Nurse Cohort in tow. She raises her black magic blaster without a second thought and shoots Blackout straight in the back. It cuts through his magic and causes him to shriek in pain.

Henry doesn't miss this opportunity. He slashes Blackout across the chest, tearing open his cloak and armor. Blackout retaliates with his axe. Nurse Cohort shoots him again. He finds himself unable to defend from both directions. He retreats from them, or at least tries, being hotly pursued and unable to get more than a couple steps without being hit again. With every new wound, his protective aura fades more. Shadows seep like liquid from each cut alongside the dark, thick blood.

He crawls backwards along the floor, one leg severely mangled. His axe swishing to deflect the attacks and catching only a fair fraction. He cannot do more to defend himself.

Meanwhile, Mika ties another lasso. "What're you doing?" Chapa asks her.

"Getting that axe. Help me!" she encourages. Chapa and Dawson both grab hold of the end of the new cable while Mika sends it sailing across the room. It catches around the half the head of the axe. They all three pull immediately and forcefully, dragging the axe and his attached hand away from his body. The axe slips from his fingers, much to Blackout's fury.

Henry strikes with the sword as the axe slips from Blackout's fingers. It slices cleanly through the handle and a flood of darkness burst out of the weapon from either side of the split. The force is like a firehose, shadows spraying across the Man's Nest and shaking the mountain with a fury. Schwoz yelps from his hidden corner, Dawson and Danger Force clutch to each other and the couch, Nurse Cohort falls down feet away from them. Guys! What's happening? Bose telepathically asks. Why is the mountain shaking? I'm slipping! Henry tries to pull the sword away but the shadows of the axe cling to it. They flow into the sword and the axe itself dissolves into shadows. Then it's gone and the Man's Nest is deafeningly silent in the aftermath of it.

The sword thrums in Henry's hand with the dark power it had absorbed. He blinks at it in surprise. Blackout's horrific face shows fear as he scrambles away. "Stop him!" Nurse Cohort shouts, firing her weapon repeatedly into his retreating back.

Henry reacts, cutting off Blackout's escape. Blackout rolls over, sending a wave of shadow. The sword absorbs that too. Blackout cowers, grasping at the darkness around him, what little is left of it. His protective bubble is gone. He clutches his leaking wounds, curled into a ball on the ground, chanting gutturally and taking blast after blast from Nurse Cohort's gun.

"Uh, is he going to explode again?" Miles asks. "Like when he turned the city square into a hole and almost killed us all?"

"Maybe you should stop shooting!" Mika advises Nurse Cohort.

"Doesn't matter, he can't beat the sword" Henry asserts and swings. The sword connects with Blackout's chest, his dark uttering stops.

Time seems to slow for Henry. Blackout stares in angry, fearful disbelief. The sword hits home in his ribs and he chokes once. The point where the sword comes to stop lasts only a second before the mixture of dark powers causes the villain and hero to ricochet away from each other. Henry tumbles briefly through the air and over the ground to crash forcefully into the stone wall. Blackout flies the other direction, the rest of the windows shattering with the shockwave. He sails through the sky over Swellview, leaving a trail of shadow as he shrinks into the distance, coming to crash-land somewhere downtown.

(Commercial Break)

Henry blinks spots out of his eyes, laying on the ground of the Man's Nest, pressed firmly against the wall, pain echoing from his head, down his spine and back, trying to remember the last few minutes and how exactly he got into the situation. "…ou okay? Sir? Can you hear me? Can you speak?" Dawson speaks from beside him. His team is gathered around him.

"Ow," Henry complains.

"Don't move!" Mika cautions sounding a little panicked.

"What happened? Did Shadow Man get me?" Henry asks.

"Uh, no. You got him," Dawson answers.

"I think you killed him," Chapa says.

"What?" Henry asks, shifting around. Instantly, he regrets moving. He grabs at the top-back of his head that is the apparent source of his deeply echoing pain. "Ow!"

"Don't move!" Mika repeats. "You could have a spine injury! You hit that hall way too hard, and something cracked terribly loudly!"

"My head," he tells her, sitting up. "Not my spine. Ow!"

"Let me see," Schwoz says, pulling Henry's hand away from the spot he'd been clutching. Henry grunts in complaint as Schwoz prods at it gently.

Is Henry okay? Bose asks mentally of them.

Henry doubles over, his head suddenly hurting a million times worse. "Oh god!" he says.

Sorry! Bose says and pulls his telepathy away from Henry's mind. Henry shudders nauseously.

"He's not as bad as he could be," Schwoz answers Bose. "A very bad concussion, probably a skull fracture. Nothing that should be permanently debilitating."

Bose expresses his relief mentally the rest of the group, mercifully leaving Henry out of it.

"Ugh," Henry sighs. "That's good."

"No. It is not good," Schwoz argues. "It is still very bad. You need to go to the hospital."

"Oh," Henry nods.

"We need to get Nurse Cohort back to the hospital too," Miles says. She is sitting on the round couch across the room, watching them curiously. "I can take them both."

Before they get gone with that, Bose pipes up mentally once again to ask, If it's all good up there, can someone please get me up now? Between the explosions and shaking and raining glass, it is very hard to keep hold of this rocky cliff. I would really like to get off it.

"Oh yeah, dang, dude. Sorry, I'll come get you!" Miles says, rushing to the hole.

Can you? This cliff is crumblier that the last two times you tried. Bose replies.

"I can try," Miles says.

"You could lasso him," Dawson suggests to Mika. "Then we could pull him up."

Whatever, as long as it works. Bose begs.

"Are you lacking faith in my teleporting abilities?" Miles asks.

"Sorry, you're 0 for 2 on the cliff rescue attempts and she's 2 for 2 on lassoing, so… yeah. I say we bet on her skills over yours." Chapa says.

Mika looks awkward yet pleased. She takes the cord lasso and sends it down to Bose. It works out quite well. The other's helping her heave him up the cliffside.

Henry, still holding his head in one hand and leaning heavily on the other, using the sword for balance, looks out shattered windows. Patches of shadows hang in the air like gloomy clouds between the Man's Nest and the city. He blinks at them and asks in surprise, Chapa's earlier statement finally computing in his pained brain, "Did you say I killed Shadow Man?"

"You wounded him deeply, a blow that should be mortal," Nurse Cohort answers. "It sent you into the wall and him flying many hundreds of feet out the window and down into the city. It would seem he's dead. No one should be able to survive that. But with him, I'm not entirely sure. He seemed barely alive as it was. He's a deplorable entity with the powers of Hell."

"I'm not sure even he could've survived that fall, not with the state he was in," Dawson says optimistically.

"And it was only supposed to take one good hit with the sword, right?" Chapa asks. "Well, you certainly gave him that."

"Still, we need to be absolutely sure," Nurse Cohort grumbles at them. "You need to find him and make sure he's dead."

"He's dead. He's got to be," Miles says. "If he didn't die from that, what can he die from?"

"I don't know, but make sure this is the day it happens. Find him and if he's not already dead, finish him." Nurse Cohort says. She pulls her yellow gun out from her lab coat and takes herself away.

"Uh, should we be worried about her?" Mika asks, pulling Bose fully into the room. He hugs her with a huge sigh of relief.

"She can take care of herself," Henry replies. "But she's right. We need to find him and make sure he's really dead. If he manages to slip away again..."

"He won't," Dawson says surely. "He didn't."

"We got him this time," Miles agrees.

"We need to find him, or his body," Henry insists.

"You need to go to the hospital," Piper argues coming out from the hiding corner. "Schwoz said you have a cracked skull."

"How're you?" Henry asks her, walking to her to check on her injury. "Miles said Shadow Man took you down first."

"I'm fine," she bats him away. "It must just be 'Hit Harts in the head really hard day' or something."

"Yes, you should both get your heads looked at," Chapa says.

"After we find Shadow Man's body," Henry says.

"Henry!" Schwoz chastises.

"I need to be sure if he's dead before I let you guys chain me to a couch again," Henry fights. "If he's dead, I'll go to the hospital without a fight."

"If he's not dead you'll end up in another fight!" Schwoz argues.

"If he's not dead, I need to finish him off before he has a chance to rebuild his power." Henry counters.

"Henry," Dawson tries.

"If you're all so sure he's dead, it won't be an issue. It'll take us like two minutes to find where he fell. It's probably already all over Twitflash." Henry says.

"It's not a good idea," Mika lectures.

Miles sighs and rolls his eyes. He grabs Henry's arm and say, "Let's just go."

"Miles!" his sister glares at him.

"You're all taking longer to argue with him about it than it'll take to just let him see the body," Miles tells her. "You're not going to convince him by telling him how hurt he is. Dude's got no self-preservation instinct. Let's just show him what he wants then take him to the hospital."

"Alright," Chapa shrugs and grabs onto Miles' shoulder. After blowing bubbles to join their teammates in uniform, Bose and Piper do likewise. Dawson then Mika, after a stubborn moment, also grab hold.

"Don't look so smug," Piper tells her brother as they depart.

Upon appearing downtown Henry is quick to grab hold of his head again and groan. "Alright," he confesses. "I might have a small major head injury."

"Really?" Piper asks sarcastically.

"The body's over there," Mika says pointing down the road. "There's a bunch of people down and around the block that are asking if 'he's dead'."

The crowd has formed a circle looking on the body. No one has dared get very close. "Excuse us." The heroes say, pushing past the civilians to check it out for themselves.

"See? He's dead." Mika says when they draw near to the broken figure. His limbs are bent in odd ways and a pool of viscous dark blood and shadow spreads around him.

The civilian crowd begins muttering to each other. Relief and disbelief coloring the tone of the hum that raises over the scene.

"He's Blackout." Henry marvels.

Miles frowns at him. "Yeah, I told you that when I got you from the memorial. You knew that the whole fight."

"I did?" Henry asks. "My memory of the last hour or so is super spotty."

"All the more reason to get you to the hospital," Mika says. "Now that you've seen he's dead, let's go."

"How did I not realize he was Blackout the whole time we were hunting him?" Henry wonders.

"Cause the first time we fought Blackout he went down like London Bridge," Miles says.

"And as Shadow Man we couldn't beat him at all," Bose seconds.

"Until now," Piper says. She steps closer and prods at the body with the toe of her shoe. "What do we do with… AHH!" She jumps and screams as Blackout's hand lashes out to grab her ankle.

The crowd and Danger Force likewise give shrieks of alarm. Some people turn to run right then, other stay to peer fearfully at the not quite dead villain.

"Not beaten…" he wheezes pathetically. "Not yet…"

Henry's adrenaline spikes and without a notice of his head injury he lashes with swiftness and accuracy to cut of the hand Blackout has grabbed Piper with. She stumbles and kicks her leg violently to dislodge the detached appendage. Henry grabs her and pulls her away from Blackout.

Blackout recoils with a hissing of pain. He glares at Henry and spits in a barely-there voice. "This is not the end."

"You're already dead," Henry tells him. "You can't recover from that injury."

"I can," Blackout insists, unconvincingly due to his struggle to breathe. "I will. With your souls." He coughs violently, seizing up and struggling to breathe.

Henry fights off the nag in his aching head to do the same thing, remembering the feeling of suffocating on his own blood, of being too injured to move. He should end it now, put Blackout out of his misery. But another part of him, the part that's been screaming for vengeance against Shadow Man since he killed Ray, holds Henry back from finishing it. After all Blackout's done, he deserves to suffer this slow, painful death.

"You're not getting our souls," Dawson asserts. "You're going to die."

Gulping and trembling, Blackout turns his head enough to look at the young boy. "Then I'll take you with me," he vows. He slowly and with much unsteadiness, raises his remaining hand and bloody stump a couple inches from the ground. He struggles pathetically to control the magic that seems to be fleeing his dying body. Until, with a gasp of defeat, his arms drop back down to the ground.

"Let's just be done with this," Bose says to Henry, frowning and anxiously grooming Blue. "Get it over with. Put him out of all our misery."

Henry hesitates and lifts the sword. It's an odd feeling, he thinks, for so many months this is what he's been working towards and now he's here. Shadow Man, Blackout, is about to die. It is in a way satisfying; killing him now will stop him from causing any more suffering. But then he's caused so much already, that it is in another way not satisfying enough. It won't erase the suffering they've faced, the heartache and trauma. And without the vengeance to pursue, what will Henry do? So, Henry hesitates some more.

Blackout smirks, his mouth a disgusting bloody hole. "You don't want to do it, Hart," he mutters. "You can't. You won't. Somehow, you have escaped the endless spiral into darkness. You're too good, too pure to kill. Let alone to execute a dying man."

Henry gulps dryly. "Maybe I'm enjoying watching you suffer."

Blackout almost laughs. "No. Not you. You may hate me, but that is not why you stall. I know, I have tasted your soul."

Henry tenses. He insists, "I want you to suffer. For what you did, I want you to suffer and die."

"They want that," Blackout counters, eyes flicking to the crowd.

They're shouting, "Kill him!" "Just kill him!" "Stab him!" "Cut his throat!" "Avenge our dead!"

"You just wanted to see your big brother again," Blackout goes on. "But I took him from you and killing me won't bring him back. You don't want vengeance; you want to be happy. I took that from you too and I will not give it back in death."

Henry glares and says, "I hate you. You killed Captain Man, and my parents, and so many people. They were my family, my friends and neighbors." He steps right next to Blackout as he raises the sword. "Killing you won't bring them back. But it'll bring back everyone else's safety and freedom and someday maybe even our happiness. It'll make us all feel just a tiny bit better." He stabs the Seraphim's magic sword into Blackout's chest, gripping it as tightly as he can and using his full strength.

If his memory of the last time he hit Blackout with the sword hadn't been dislodged from his mind, Henry might've made a different choice. At least he would've expected the blowback from the strike that sends him careening away from the dying soul-eater. Fortunately for him, his sidekicks didn't crack their skulls after the last one and this time get a chance to realize and react to the situation. Miles teleports into his path by the time Henry's made it thirty feet and teleports them away, siphoning most the energy of the blowback into his 'space between space' so they only end up falling to their butts as they come back out of it. Leaving Henry with no more damage to his skull or memory, but with a fresh wave of nausea.

The unexpected doesn't end there. The next wave not being something even his sidekicks are prepared for. A swirling maelstrom of shadows erupts from the stab wound whipping around the street. The darkness that had hung in the air after Blackout had been defenestrated from the Man's Nest comes shooting into it like it's a giant magnet. The great black orb at the center of the maelstrom growing as the rest of the shadow join it. Blackout's head rolls back for the last time, a bitterly triumphant grin splitting his gruesome face. He mutters directly at Henry, "I'm taking you with me." Then he is swallowed up by the expanding black hole, the molecules of his body seeming to string out and vanish into the darkness until he's entirely gone.

Still the black hole and its circling arms of darkness and death expand. "Get back! Get away from it!" Henry shouts.

No one is slow to follow Danger's order. They sprint with all their might, the growing storm behind them lashing at them. It pulls at them with a gravity unknown. First the light and color of its immediate surroundings leech away, then the objects themselves are puled beyond the barrier of blackness. Streetlamps, parked or stalled cars and more tumble over themselves, succumbing to the deadly power. The people don't stand any better chance.

The bigger the black magic hole gets, the more it pulls them back. They sprint for their lives but lose ground. The slowing of the hole's growth after absorbing all the shadows Blackout had left behind notwithstanding, they begin moving backwards despite their desperate bounds against it. It takes only moments for the black hole to begun claiming people. The screams of the taken cut off in abrupt silences as they enter the center of the storm.

"No!" Brainstorm cries as he tries to grab a lady with his telekinesis before she can be sucked in. He cannot save her. As she disappears, he repeats his cry more shrilly. "No!"

Shoutout too finds herself trying and failing to get people out of the way. "Go! Go! Go! Run!" she tells them, but it is futile.

Volt manages to hold her ground by magnetizing herself to a doorframe but she can't as well keep a grip on the people she tries to help.

AWOL alone is the only one having any real, though meager, success. "Grab my hands!" he cries taking as many as he can get hold of and teleporting them somewhere far from the danger. Still, dozens are lost to the darkness.

Danger changes course to parallel the black hole, running to grab hold of Lil' Dynomite. It may be a wasted effort and only end up getting himself swallowed too but he instinctually rushes to save his sidekick, throwing his forcefield over them as the edge of the darkness just about reaches them

The two powers spark violently against each other and a long moment passes without a clue as to which one will give. The forcefield holds. The black hole slowly begins to creep over it without touching them.

"What the?" Lil' Dynomite asks.

Danger keeps a firm hold on him, not sure what to say himself as he stares at the meeting. Beyond his green barrier and the sparks flickering over it all, he can see into the black hole. Well, see is not quite the right word. It is a void beyond all voids, darker than black and more lightless than any place ever known. Still Danger can somehow slightly sense something within.

"What do we do?!" Lil' Dynomite asks panicked. "Danger? Sir?! We have to move before it overtakes us!"

And surprisingly, Danger finds they can. His forcefield has negated the odd gravity of the black hole. "Run," he instructs Lil' Dynomite. Together they do, staying under the forcefield.

"We can use your forcefield to save people!" Lil' Dynomite cheers. "We can get them to safety!"

"Yeah," Henry says, veering them towards the closest person. Before they grab her, Danger warns his sidekick. "I'm going to have to put down the forcefield for a minute to let them in. Brace yourself."

The sudden return of the opposing power nearly knocks them both off their feet. Danger has the shield back up in a second and has successfully gotten the woman inside. They pause to reel from the moment. "Woah!" Lil' Dynomite says stumbling.

"Get used to that," Danger says. "There's going to be a lot more. Ma'am, you're going to be alright but you need to run with us and hold on tight when I tell you to brace." He finishes by turning to the shocked lady they'd saved. She agrees and they press on, grabbing more people as they go, expanding the forcefield, which takes a little more effort on Danger's part as they fight the black hole's power each time. They also pick up Rolling Thunder and Shoutout with them before they make it to the place where Volt is anchored.

"What the heck? This was not supposed to happen when we killed Blackout!" she shouts.

"I don't know," Danger pants. His head hurts something awful, so much so that it's hard to think.

"We have to stop that thing," Rolling Thunder says.

"I know. I just don't know how." Danger says. He looks at the slowly widening orb. "We have to get people away from it."

"That's not exactly an easy task. All we have to get out of here is your forcefield and AWOL's teleportation." Shoutout points out.

"Right, well then… AWOL!" Danger calls.

AWOL shows up a few seconds later. "Woah! This is nice." He says, relishing in the haven.

"Take these people out of the pull of the black hole," Danger instructs.

AWOL pouts slightly but nods. "Yeah, yeah." He grumbles before grabbing hold of the civilians in the safe bubble and taking them away.

Danger lets the shield shrink around them. "Okay, they're good. Anyone know where Bose is? We didn't find him while we were coming this way."

"Last I saw he was trying to save somebody really near the hole," Volt says.

"He was running away from it in the other direction from us," Rolling Thunder adds. She points to the left of the maelstrom, "He was over there somewhere."

"Did he get away?" Shoutout worries. "You don't think he got pulled in, right?

"Stay in the forcefield. Move together," Danger says. "Let's go find him."

AWOL reappears beside the proclaiming, "Those guys are all good. And there's tons of sirens heading this way."

"Great. Keep up," His sister says and pulls him along with them. He would've otherwise been caught unawares by the edge of the forcefield.

They make their way around the black hole and find Brainstorm precariously braced against a cement pillar. He's staring at the black hole and only notices them when they are right on top of him. Danger releases and recovers them with his forcefield rapidly, almost loosing Volt in the process. "Gah! This thing is a problem!" she complains.

"And it's only getting bigger!" Rolling Thunder adds pessimistically.

"It's growing," Brainstorm says anxiously. "It's alive."

"What do you mean?" Shoutout asks him. "Blackout's dead and this is just his magic. It's not living."

"It's thinking!" he argues. "I can hear thoughts coming out of it in little bits. I don't know what they mean, but I know they're thoughts."

The heroes exchange looks of shock and alarm. "As if that thing wasn't scary enough," Lil' Dynomite mumbles.

"What are we going to do about it?" AWOL asks. "I thought it was supposed to take one hit to kill Blackout and then it'd be all over."

"He obviously set this up as a counter measure," Shoutout says. "A magical catastrophe to guarantee his victory even if he died."

"Like he was holding down a magical dead man's switch?" Rolling Thunder figures.

"Yeah," Shoutout affirms.

"But it is still magic?" Volt questions. She receives some hesitant nods. "Then can't the sword beat this too? The Dark Angels made it to stop his magic. Shouldn't we try stopping it with that?"

"That would require putting my forcefield down," Danger tells them.

"But it could work," Rolling Thunder says. "We just have to brace ourselves and you'll have to attack quick."

"I don't want to lose anybody into it," He maintains. "You all sure you can handle the gravity? We'll have to be right next to it for me to hit it."

They all nod positively at him. "We'll be fine, sir," Lil' Dynomite says. "Just do it." They six teens find tight grips for themselves, holding each other and whatever is fixed firmly enough to the ground that it won't move with the pulling force of the black hole's gravity.

Danger steps to the edge of his forcefield. He is only a foot or so away from the edge of the void. With one last warning he drops his forcefield and swings the magic blade into the orb of black magic. It grates but creates a clean slice through it. All that lies beyond the cut is more darkness. The difference the cut makes is imperceptible to the eye. Yet it is obvious as well. He stumbles back and activates his forcefield again, almost too late.

The forcefield and the cut edge of the magical hole spark against each other over his head. The gravity had pulled him to the ground. Lil' Dynomite and AWOL are now right beside him despite having been a couple feet away a few seconds ago. Their grips had not been quite enough. They move away from the darkness as soon as they can. Danger follows them, but a bit slower, peering again into the impossible void beyond his shield.

Something is inside there, something significant.

"Is that a success?" Rolling Thunder questions.

"It cut into it, but is it really damaged?" AWOL echoes her sentiment.

"Maybe if we keep slicing it up until it's gone?" Volt suggests.

"Not we," Danger dissuades. "There's only one sword. I'll see what I can do about this. You all need to evacuate the area. If this doesn't work then you'll need to get everyone away, including yourselves."

Lil' Dynomite looks back and forth between the black hole and Danger. "But you could die."

Henry nods and shrugs. "I can't let him kill anyone else, I won't let him have that satisfaction when he's already dead. Get the citizens and get yourselves out. Please."

"Henry…" Lil' Dynomite says frightfully.

"You can't go in alone!" Rolling Thunder agrees.

"I'll be fine. I've got a forcefield and the magic sword," he tries to comfort. "I've got a better chance than any of you. So, go."

You've also got a cracked skull!" Shoutout reminds.

"Maybe, only probably a cracked skull!" Danger argues.

"Still, you can't…!" she presses.

"Go!" Henry commands strongly. "That's an order. AWOL, take all of you away from here. Then you guys clear all the people from the next several blocks."

They all frown unhappy and stubborn at him. Only Rolling Thunder speaks up in valid protest. "You don't get to give me orders! I'm not your sidekick!"

He frowns back at her. "No, you're my little sister and the only family I have left. You may not be my sidekick but I'm still in charge of you until you're an adult, so you're going with them."

"Don't you dare try to use that on me!" She yells offended.

"You're leaving Piper. You're not winning this argument. The longer you stand here fighting, the more chance the black hole has to do damage. I'm doing this part alone, that's the only way it will work," he says, turning his stern look from her to his sidekicks. "You're all going somewhere safer. Now. Go."

They waver. "We just don't want you to end up dead," Chapa says.

"We can't lose you too. Not after everything," Bose says.

"You won't," Henry assures them in a kinder tone. "I'll come find you after I've dealt with this. I'll be fine. Blackout's already dead, I'm just cleaning up his mess. Now go, please."

Miles nods, "C'mon guys." His teammates grab onto him. Mika and Chapa also grabbing hold of Dawson and Piper respectively so they will be taken in the teleportation too.

The second they vanish Henry turns back to the black magic hole to attack it. He slices it repeatedly open, creating a tattered hole into the void within.

Danger Force plus Lil' Dynomite and Rolling Thunder come out a ways down the road, where the pull of the magic storm is almost nonexistent. Other people are gathered around, peeking out of buildings around them. "Stay back!" AWOL commands them all. "Don't go towards it!" Several people had been walking that way, curious to see what the storm was those couple blocks away.

From this position, Danger can be made out as he attacks the orb with the sword. His sidekicks and sister watch him carefully, anxious and hopeful as he seems to make a little progress. At least they can tell he's distorting that area he's slashing. They dare not speak as they watch, not that any would know what to say if they did. The intensity they feel in the moment only increases when Danger appears to stop swinging the sword. They wonder what could be happening. What is he doing? Then to their horror and anguish, Danger is gone.

The darkness in front of him swallows him up, and he cannot escape it. With the still sword it seems he didn't even try. The teen heroes cry out in despair. Danger can't be gone. Henry can't be gone.

The civilians around them echo their shouts. Shocked and fearful whispers travel up the road.

"No!" Rolling Thunder says, taking a few running steps down the road.

"Wait!" Lil' Dynomite shouts at her, reaching out to stop her.

"No! Get off!" She shouts.

"Stop! Don't go towards it!" he says.

"Let me go!" She fights him.

"It'll only get you too!"

"We've got to get him out!"

"There's nothing you can do!"

Brainstorm jumps in to help him pull her back. Despite her protests. "He's gone!" he says. "We can't save him!"

"No! He can't be!" she shrieks.

To be continued

Next Episode: Finale Part 2: