While Gamer steered the ship, Sensor went over the plan using what data his father could provide on the central control tower they were targeting.
Here's what they knew so far:
Currently, Mariverde had her fortresses heavily guarded, aside from the one moment when she lured the supers into her trap. As for the streets, they were crawling with machines of mass destruction. Fortunately, with Mariverde sending out ships of the many machines, the Bio-Dome was temporarily taken down, but only for a short amount of time. Then, there were the Protego Droids, which could learn an enemy's every move, and then there were the Mind Changers.
"Fortunately for us, Mila managed to embed special lenses in each of your masks that will protect you from hypnosis or mind control devices activated through vision. If a Mind Changer is aimed at you, simply say the words, 'Optic Shield' to activate them."
The plan was fairly simple.
Step 1: Wait for the Biodome to be deactivated and rush in.
Step 2: Sneak past the Protego Droids and get to the Central Control Tower
Step 3: Activate a satellite to boost the control tower's signal
Step 4: Get into the computer and launch the frequency that will shut down all the inventions at once.
Step 5: Capture Mariverde
"In that case, we're gonna need one big butterfly net." Light Speed said.
Suddenly, there was a tiny sneeze.
"Bless you." Sensor said. Then he froze. "We've got company."
Rock n' Red found a blanket with a big lump in it, and underneath it she found…
"Kade?! What are you doing here?"
"I… I wanted to help." Kade said.
"Ugh! If Mariverde doesn't kill me by the time this mission is over, Mom definitely is."
"We've come too far now to turn back," said Gamer. "The best we can do is adapt and protect Kade."
"But I can help. I can run fast, and I'm small enough to squeeze through small spaces." Kade said.
"But you also don't have powers like we all do, Kade." Rock n' Red said. "It's dangerous."
"Just 'cause I don't have powers doesn't mean I can't do anything! Not all of us have super parents, you know! Daddy didn't even use his powers to rescue me from the orphanage."
Kade did raise a good point there; he never knew his biological father, and he'd spent his whole life in the orphanage… until the Windu Family came and, out of all the adorable children up for adoption, they chose him. But when he learned his new sister and father had super powers… he was beyond shocked. The way they explained it to him, they weren't allowed to use their powers even for good, according to the law. But, Kade thought that sounded stupid. Back in the orphanage, he'd seen the comics and old newspapers in the orphanage library that told stories of all the great things superheroes did for the galaxy before they were outlawed. And the lady who ran the orphanage had shared stories of the many times heroes came to their rescue. You'd think by now they'd move the orphans with how big a target the orphanage was for villains.
"Daddy saved a lot of people before even you were born. If you're gonna save him, I wanna save him too."
"Looks as though we'll all be challenged with another task." Gamer said. "Babysitting a non-super."
The Marauder soon came to land near the Bio-Dome, cloaking device in place. The dome was up, which meant they had to wait for just the right moment to fly in. So they waited… and waited.
Five minutes later, the dome was down.
"Now!" Sensor exclaimed, and the Marauder was flown in.
But instead of flying the Marauder straight to the tower, Gamer landed it at an old abandoned garage, from which the heroes would begin a stealthy travel to the tower. According to the intel Gizmo Girl provided, the control tower had a weapons system programmed to detect incoming ships within a short distance. Thus, Fantastical Forces' best chance of getting in was on foot.
There were now five superhero kids, fitting as they had five Batchers. So, Gamer adapted the plan for each of the Batchers to take one hero child and split up across a series of paths towards the control tower.
Sensor took Light Speed, Wrecking Ball took Rock n' Red, Hard Drive took Super Green, Gamer took Fortissimo, and Quarry took Gainer Girl and Kade. And the group split up to take various paths so Mariverde wouldn't be able to detect them all at once.
There were a lot of droids all over the streets. Everyone had to hide behind things, hold their backs against the wall, even go as far as to move all around behind the droids to avoid being seen. But eventually, they made their way to the central control tower, where Gamer used his technical expertise to get the code to open the door and get everyone inside. Except, unlike when their parents entered Mariverde's fortress, this place was booby-trapped!
The moment the group entered into the building, laser beams filled the first hall, pointed in all directions. There were laser beams horizontally, vertically, even diagonally. One touch of a single laser beam, and alarms and several other deadly weapons no doubt would be activated.
There wasn't enough space to step over them or crawl under them. The only way through, by Gamer's calculations.
"Gainer Girl, I believe this is where your skills are required." Gamer said.
On the other side, there was a control panel with buttons, one of which no doubt should deactivate the lasers and make it safe for the others to walk through.
Gainer Girl stretched herself a little, then got into position, and on Gamer's count, began to leap, flip, and slip through the lasers flawlessly, ending in a ta-da type pose like an Olympic gymnast at the end of a match. And she made her way to the control panel.
"Which button do I press?" Gainer Girl asked.
There were two buttons. A green one and a big red one.
"Whatever you do, don't push any big red buttons!" Gamer said.
"Okay. The green one then."
The button was up a little high for Gainer Girl to reach though. But, she had an idea. Gainer Girl ran toward the opposite wall, kicked it to throw herself into a flip, and hit the green button, which deactivated the laser beams and made it safe for everyone to walk across the hall.
"That was easy enough." Gainer Girl said.
"I coulda done that too." Kade said. "If I knew gymnastics."
"Kade, watch out!" Rock n' Red exclaimed, grabbing her brother as he stepped on a floor tile.
The moment Kade stepped on one of the floor tiles in the next room, a bunch of laser blasts were fired. Fortunately, Rock n' Red pulled him back right in the nick of time and no one got hit. It appeared this whole other room was boobytrapped on the floor instead of in the air. And unfortunately, none of the supers had the power to fly. But, Super Green had an idea.
"Time to play Tarzan." Super Green said, making some vines appear from the ceiling.
Super Green was first to grab a strong one.
"See you on the other side." Super Green said, swinging across the room on the vine and landing at the other side.
Everyone else began swinging across the vines. But Super Green had to make some of his vines twist together to hold some of the bigger, heavier supers, such as Wrecking Ball, so they wouldn't break and send anyone falling onto the boobytrapped floor.
Finally, the group came to an elevator that would surely lead everyone to the central control tower, but it was passcode protected, but not number passcoded like Gamer could usually hack. This one was voice activated.
"Uh-oh!" Light Speed said. "This looks like a problem."
"Indeed." Gamer said. "I will do a reading on this and see what I can find out."
Gamer did some digging, and he found that the password had not been changed in ten years, and the ones who had access to this were the crew and Chancellor Valorum.
"Fortissimo, you can imitate other people's voices, right?" Rock n' Red said.
"Does this answer your question?" Fortissimo said, imitating his friend's voice.
The only other problem would be figuring out the password, and the password hint was a riddle.
The day you came to the love of your life,
You bowed on a knee and made her your wife
And the ring that you held was in a shape
Where the case is named the same as its keeper
"What the heck does that mean?" Quarry said.
"Chancellor Valorum had a wife at some point, didn't he?" said Hard Drive.
"Yeah!" Light Speed exclaimed. "I remember now. He did have a wife once. But she passed away just before the heroes were banned. The riddle says he bowed on a knee and made her his wife. It must have something to do with the day he proposed to her."
"Except, most of us probably weren't even born when he proposed to her." Myra said.
Without knowledge of what happened the day Valorum proposed to his wife, the heroes had to really stop and think. They knew it had to do with the day Valorum proposed to his wife, judging by the first two lines and mention of a ring. But the last bit… "a shape where the case is the same as its keeper." What did that mean?
And then Kade had an idea.
"A chest!" Kade exclaimed. "Maybe he kept the ring in a chest!"
"Maybe," said Sensor. "But that doesn't help us solve the riddle."
"Or maybe it does! In a shape where the case is named the same as its keeper." Light Speed deduced. "A heart! The answer must be a heart. A chest can hold treasures, but the human chest is also where the human heart is kept."
"You think the password is 'heart'?" said Fortissimo.
"We won't know until you try."
Fortissimo warmed up his voice and made sure he had Valorum's voice down, and then he pressed a button and spoke: "Passcode: Heart" into the microphone.
"Passcode accepted." said the panel's computer voice.
And the elevator opened. But, while the other kids went in, Kade was told to stay behind with Gamer.
"But I wanna help too!" Kade said.
"You can help by staying safe," said Rock n' Red. "Gamer will look after you. Now stay put."
Everyone else got into the elevator and went to get to the central control room.
"Well, Kade, it appears it is just you and me now." Gamer said, but when he looked up from his tablet, he didn't see Kade anywhere. "Kade? Where are you?"
Meanwhile, the junior heroes made their way to the control tower, where they saw the computer. Hard Drive held the flash drive Gizmo Girl said would give them all the instructions they needed to activate the frequency to disable all the machines so the heroes could go after Mariverde.
"We're here!" Super Green exclaimed. "Let's disable those machines and save our parents."
Hard Drive brought the drive to the computer, but just before he could place it inside, someone pounced on him! And it turned out to be Blue Tigress.
Hard Drive wasn't the only one to get jumped, however.
Suddenly, all the members of the Batch and the junior heroes found themselves facing strong winds blowing, flashes of blue light, and the ground shaking as they saw several people they didn't see enter the room.
Light Speed, Fortissimo, and Super Green were all shocked to see that one of the people who came in was….
"DAD?!" the kids exclaimed.
Captain Hardwear responded by shaking the ground again by stomping his foot. All the heroes who were previously imprisoned were now attacking. But why? Everyone wondered. The kids all started to fight, but it was really difficult for them to be battling their own parents. And then, Rock n' Red noticed that all the heroes had some kind of device over their eyes and ears.
"Wait a minute!" said Light Speed. "Those look like the Mind Changer devices."
"Mariverde must have placed them there to make them fight us." Super Green said, trapping Tracker and Resistor in some strong vines, and then punching Weather Man in the gut as he attempted to attack him. "Heeyah!"
The punch threw Weather Man off balance.
"Don't hurt him!" Rock n' Red scolded. "We have to destroy the machines!"
Rock n' Red rock and rolled with her guitar, which distracted some of the hypnotized heroes, while Light Speed and Sensor stood back-to-back and fought Animal Whisperer and Dr. Healix.
Super Green saw a good opportunity to try out one of his stench bombs. He grabbed one that was white and yellowish, then pulled the ring off with his teeth and threw it to the floor, which unleashed a cloud of the stench of garlic, which distracted many of the heroes for a bit, but also stung poor Sensor's sensitive nose.
Light Speed managed to trap her father in her lasso, which was made out of a powerfully strong material even villains with super strength couldn't break out from easily, and she took the chance to quickly remove the Mind Changer from Captain Hardwear's head.
Captain Hardwear seemed dizzy and confused as he came to.
"What…. What happened?" Captain Hardwear said. Then he noticed the new hero in front of him.
"Miss me, Daddy?" Light Speed smiled.
"What are you doing here?" said Hardwear, shocked to see his daughter but also worried.
"We're getting you out of here."
Everyone else kept fighting the villains in any way they could to get the devices off the heroes' heads and break them out of their trances. Anakin using his vines was useful for trapping some of the faster villains, and Gainer Girl was quick enough to dodge many blows. And it helped that she'd played Piggyback rides with her father enough to jump on him and get the device off his head.
"Ugh!" Resistor groaned. "Little-"
"Shh!" Gainer Girl quickly hushed before her father could say the nickname he usually called her. "Call me Gainer Girl."
Quarry managed to use his blaster to destroy Dr. Healix's device, but there were still a few left, and Wild Whisperer and Tracker didn't make it easy to catch them.
Fortissimo also had an idea to destroy the rest of the devices in the form of a song, which he grabbed his microphone for.
"Sensor, cover your ears!" Fortissimo said.
Sensor quickly covered his ears, and Carmine vocalized a song in high C into his microphone, and it did short out the devices, and it probably would've shattered the computer too if Light Speed hadn't rushed in and covered his mouth.
"That's enough, Fortissimo."
"Children! What are you all doing here?" Weather Man said. "You have to get out now!"
"But we have to-" Light Speed began, and then a red light filled the room.
"It's a trap!"
That was when, out from several trap doors, Mariverde's minions jumped out, and they trapped all the heroes in the same green chrysalis-like stuff that kept any of them from using their powers. They trapped all the previously hypnotized heroes, the kids, and even the Batch. In the process, however, Echo dropped the instructional flash drive.
Evil laughter filled the room as Mariverde appeared on another screen in the room.
"Well, well, well… what have we here? A bunch of children who thought they could be heroes." Mariverde said.
"What's going on?" Sensor said.
"Mariverde led all of us here on purpose." Weather Man explained.
"What do you want, Mariverde?" Light Speed added. "Why are you doing this?"
"You will learn all you wish to know in due time, children. I will say, however, it was indeed genius of me to move the computer here. You all flew to it like, as you humans say, moths to light. Take them for processing, my pretties."
Mariverde's minions took all the captured heroes and began to move them away, when Gamer came in through the elevator, only to get captured too!
All the kids found themselves placed into a giant cell with their parents and the heroes they fought before. But then, they saw they weren't the only ones. They saw a few other supers in the cell as well. Mind Probe (Luminara Unduli), Combat (Eeth Koth), Mind Speeder (Ki-Adi Mundi), and Tiin Man (Saesee Tiin) were among those captured.
The cocoons were removed, but no one in the cell could use their superpowers to escape.
Wrecking Ball tried punching the ray shielded door, only to get electrocuted in the process.
"Did I get it?' Wrecking Ball said woozily before collapsing.
"No, I don't think you did," said Rock n' Red.
"I see Mariverde tricked more of you," said Mind Speeder.
"More of us?" Light Speed asked.
"This was her real plan." Gizmo Girl said, sitting in the darkest corner. "Mariverde knew I would never help her intentionally."
According to Gizmo Girl, Mariverde tricked her by trapping her. Mariverde knew Gizmo Girl would sooner die than let her learn the identities of all the supers. And she came up with the idea of why learn the identities and go searching for all the supers when she can have all the supers come to her? Therefore, she waited for Gizmo Girl to make a distress message. Several, in fact. Mariverde knew Gizmo Girl would send a message to see if any other supers could help, but the later didn't know that Mariverde had her minions use Gizmo Girl's technology to create a security system designed to detect supers, so the minute they entered the premises, they would be detected. It was sheer luck that they figured out the booby traps, but the ultimate trap was at the central computer room.
"So, Mariverde just led us here so she could capture us and get rid of us?" Super Green said.
"I'm too young to die!" Fortissimo cried.
"Mariverde isn't going to kill any of us." Dr. Healix said.
"She's not?"
"No, worse. Those devices you destroyed earlier… she plans to use them to turn all of us into her minions."
But Mariverde clavatized ordinary people all the time. Why would she need to force supers to be her allies?
"Because she wants to ensure no heroes can ever fight against her." Captain Hardwear said. "She intends to control all the superpowers there are. And with no supers to stop her, the galaxy is doomed."
Captain Hardwear started to cry. He felt so guilty even considering taking the job of being a hero again. He'd dreamed of being a hero again for so long, but it looked like chasing that dream came at the cost of his children's freedom, and potentially his wife's too.
"I'm sorry, children. I never wanted this to happen." Captain Hardwear said, hugging his children. "I just wasn't strong enough. I never will be."
"Daddy, you're stronger than a hundred men, literally." Light Speed said. "But you need more than that to be a hero."
"Not physically. I wasn't strong enough to even think of what could've happened if I failed."
Underneath the mask, Qui-Gon Jinn felt weak. He'd lost his first wife while doing hero work, and he was terrified of losing anyone else. After the way he fell apart when he lost Miss-ology, he didn't think he could live with himself if anything happened to Shmi or any of their children.
"What do we do now?" Gainer Girl asked.
"I am afraid there is nothing more we can do." Resistor said, hugging his daughter. "Mariverde is likely luring more supers as we speak."
"But there is something we can do." Dr. Healix said. "Wish for a miracle."
Kade panted as he finally made his way through the air vents. Earlier, he found one near the elevator, and he proceeded to climb through the vents. But since he didn't have a map, he had to just use trial and error as he made his way to the control room.
By the time Kade arrived, the room was empty.
Kade took a moment to catch his breath, and then he noticed the flash drive sitting next to the computer.
"Huh? Hello? Is anyone here?" Kade called quietly.
No answer.
Kade walked over to the drive and picked it up. He pressed a button on the computer and turned it on. But, it needed a password too. And, when he asked for the password hint, and it asked for a hero unlike any super. Kade wasn't sure what that meant. So, he tried typing in Captain Hardwear's name. That didn't work. Then, he typed in his father's hero name. That didn't work either. But then, Kade read the hint again. "A hero unlike any super." Maybe that meant it wasn't a superhero at all, but another kind of hero. There were heroes who weren't supers, like that time Kade got stuck up in a tree, and the fire department rescued him. So, Kade tried typing in 'Firefighter,' and he got in. Then, he noticed there were security cameras in the room, so he decided to check the footage, and he was horrified by what he saw!
"Oh no!" Kade exclaimed.
Kade saw he was going to need help. He didn't know a ton about computers, but he knew how to send emails. So, he sent one to his mom's phone, hoping she would see it in time. But just in case, Kade took out the flash drive and plugged it into the computer, where a video popped up with Gizmo Girl.
"Okay, heroes. Listen very carefully." said Video Gizmo Girl. "The frequency to disarm all the devices is within a file, but you first must activate the satellite, which is more complicated."
Kade groaned at that. This sounded like rocket science, and he always fell asleep just studying second grade science. This was going to take a while.
As expected, hours later, many more supers were lured to Coruscant, and Mariverde captured all of them and brought them to her fortress for processing.
Mariverde had her minions make several Mind Changing devices, and she was preparing to place them all onto the supers and make them her minions permanently. For once, however, Mariverde did not appear on a screen.
Instead, the supers were all brought to a throne room where Mariverde sat, her eyes glowing underneath her hood.
"Finally." Mariverde smirked. "I almost didn't think we would meet face-to-face, dear supers."
"Mariverde." Captain Hardwear growled. "You won't get away with this forever."
Mariverde laughed at him, though.
"I already have, Captain Hardwear. Why do you think no other villains have turned against me by now?"
It was true. Mariverde did the same thing to all the supervillains. As it turned out, clavatizations were powerful, but even Mariverde couldn't keep track of every single one. But Mind Changers could, all while allowing her to keep them under her control. Mariverde was legendary for a reason. She knew all the classic methods of villains, and how they would even double cross each other to achieve their selfish purposes. Thus, Mariverde saw fit to create a way to ensure no one could double cross her, pull one over her, or trick her in any way. No superhero or villain was safe with her around. And with only one villain and no heroes, all the galaxy was doomed.
"Prepare for mind changing, my pretties." Mariverde snapped her fingers, and the omnidroids grabbed the heroes while Mariverde's minions prepared to fit each hero into a mind changer, starting with Captain Hardwear.
Captain Hardwear struggled, only for the Omnidroid to squeeze tighter. His children cried in distress, begging for someone to save their dad. All Captain Hardwear could do now was take one last look at his children. Even though they were crying, he wanted their faces to be the last things he saw, as he had no way of knowing if he would even remember his children with the Mind Changer controlling his brain.
But just before the device could be placed on Hardwear's head, two robotic someones burst into the room.
To all the heroes' great surprise, the two armored humanoid-like beings fought off Mariverde's minions. One was gold and the other was blue, and both of them were exceedingly exceptional fighters. They were both fast flyers, but each had a different weapon. The blue one spurted out some strong web-like substance that trapped Mariverde's minions, while the gold one launched volts of electricity that shorted out the omni-droids, albeit temporarily.
The blue tried to hit Mariverde with some of the web too, but she spread her large green wings and disoriented the new hero's focus for a moment. She still got webbed in the wings though.
"Agh!" Mariverde groaned. "You idiots! Don't just stand there! Get this stuff off of me!"
While Mariverde was distracted, the heroes took that as their cue to run and get the children out. But the hero in gold armor got in front and started blasting electrical volts at Protego droids that came their way.
"Who are you?" Light Speed asked.
"Someone who cares about your safety very much," said the gold armored hero.
The voice was autotuned, so Light Speed couldn't immediately tell who it was.
After battling several droids with the help of the two new heroes who called themselves Blue Weaver and Gold Volt, and getting the power-stopping goop off of themselves, the heroes managed to get out of Mariverde's fortress and make their way into the basement of an abandoned office building.
All the heroes were breathing heavily as that was perhaps the scariest thing they'd ever had to deal with. But, they all had a lot of questions on their minds, namely how Blue Weaver and Gold Volt managed to get past Mariverde's Super Detection system.
"Perhaps it's because the suits are what's super, not who's underneath," said Blue Weaver.
The heroes were confused. And then, Gold Volt's mask unfolded to reveal underneath…
"Miss me, Dear?"
"Shmi?!/Mom?!" Captain Hardwear and his children exclaimed in shock.
Shmi pulled her husband into a kiss. And Weather Man and Rock n' Red were flabbergasted when Blue Weaver unleashed her mask.
"You didn't think I would miss all the action, did you?" Brenda said.
Neither Captain Hardwear nor Weather Man could believe this.
"How are you here?" Weather Man asked. "Where'd you get this armor?"
Brenda and Shmi explained that Kade had messaged his mom that all the heroes had been captured, and he found out Mariverde's real plan was to lure all the supers to one place, no doubt to do something bad to them. The two women just couldn't sit around and wait. If Mariverde wanted to catch supers, they had to send some non-supes into the action.
Mila had been beta testing some amazing new suits of armor that could do all kinds of things. And so far, the gold one and the cobalt one were the most stable. Both armors were made to be indestructible, strong, and enhance the wearer's sight and hearing by detecting danger. But, each had unique features too. The gold armor was made to conduct enormously powerful voltages of electricity and blast it. It could go as low as to tase a person, or send out a shock strong enough to disable even an indestructible robot like the omnidroids. The cobalt, on the other hand, could shoot sticky webs, and it had a special feature that magnetized certain parts of it, so the wearer could attract or repel metal objects. Those two were by far, the most stable of the armor suits Mila created, and Shmi and Brenda didn't hesitate to put them on so they could go after Mariverde. Their husband and their children were in danger. This was a job only a mother and wife could do. They'd rescued their families from all kinds of things, but supervillains weren't usually on that list. Nevertheless, they were going in to save their families, and to make sure they got out so they could yell at their husbands for lying to them for the last year.
"As you can see," said Shmi. "We came to learn about Mariverde's super detection, and it turns out because we have no superpowers of our own, we weren't detected. And good thing too, because Qui-Gon Jinn, you are in a lot of trouble now!"
"Mace Ashley Windu!" Brenda said angrily. "I would scold you now, but first I want to know, where is my son?"
"I don't know." Weather Man said. "Didn't he stay behind?"
"No, he stowed away with us." Rock n' Red said. Then she glared at Gamer. "And then someone was supposed to watch him!"
"I have no idea what happened to him." Gamer said. "But Mariverde didn't appear to know he was around. Due to the fact that he is not a super, it is probably safe to hypothesize that he was able to hide himself."
"You mean my baby is still out there, all by himself?" Brenda said angrily. "Where's the last place you saw him?"
"At the central control tower." Rock n' Red said. "Maybe he's still there."
"Hopefully he hasn't run into any booby traps." Wrecking Ball said.
"Wrecker!" Sensor scolded.
"Booby traps?" Brenda said. "I'm going over there right now!"
Weather Man tried to go after his wife, but she told him he was on thin ice as it was, and not even a blizzard could buy him more time.
Meanwhile, Mariverde was sending her droids and minions on a rampage! The heroes saw that if Brenda wanted any hope at rescuing Kade, they had to keep them away from the control tower for as long as they could.
Except, the droids weren't the only problem they had to face. Mariverde flew out and unleashed an inhuman screech to summon millions of mariclavas into the air to give the supers trouble.
"Uh-oh! That can't be good." Super Green said. He then decided to take out one of his stench bombs. But… "What exactly do we do now?"
Captain Hardwear then got a determined look on his face.
"We do what we all trained for." Captain Hardwear said. "The laws may make it illegal for us to use our powers for the greater good. But just because the law says something is so does not make it right or wrong. It is a hero's sacred duty to run in when others are running out. And right now, we are the only ones who can run in. Mariverde is stronger than any one of us. She may have an army of machines, but we have one thing she doesn't. Loyalty to each other. Many of us have fought villains like her since we were very young, and now she's attempting to take away what little peace exists for any of us. This is our time. So, what do you all say? Shall we fight one last battle as superheroes?"
The others thought about it. Many of them wished they could be superheroes even just for one more day since they got banned. And many of them had children of their own with super powers, and they wished they could have had them join them on just one mission. Now was their chance to make at least one wish come true.
"I'm in." said Wild Whisperer, placing his hand on his old mentor's.
"Me too." Light Speed said, placing her hand in.
Before they knew it, everyone had their hands in. Even Shmi donned her mask again, and together she and the supers declared, "Fantastical Forces Rise!"
The protego droids, mariclavas, and clavatized villains Mariverde summoned were all on the move, but the heroes came up with a plan to keep them distracted.
Super Green gave everyone stench bombs with various smells that most bugs, including moths, didn't like. Weather Man had the idea to make really strong winds to throw the moths off guard for a bit so Gold Volt could use her voltage to short out as many droids as she could and make her way to the control tower, seeing as the Super Detection system wouldn't be able to track her and the armor would protect her.
Mind Speeder's power was using his two brains to strategize complicated plans as well as to calculate how to respond in complex situations, so he gave the children instructions on where their powers would best contribute to the mission. With all the moths and droids, everyone needed to fight their absolute best, hardest, and swiftest to keep them away from the central control tower long enough for Brenda and Shmi to find Kade, and to find the drive and shut down Mariverde's entire operation.
The stench bombs definitely came in handy for scattering the moths, and Captain Hardwear had no problem beating the droids to the ground.
Light Speed proceeded to throw the droids off by speeding all around them while the other heroes used their powers to fight the droids, rescue trapped civilians, and to declavatize any clavatized villains they came across. Luckily, most of them had very easy to spot objects. All they had to do was destroy them, and the victim turned back to normal and was quickly escorted to safety.
Meanwhile, Shmi managed to make her way through the various booby traps until she reached the central control room where she found Brenda hugging Kade and then getting onto the computer.
"Blue Weaver. What's happening here?" Gold Volt asked.
"Kade managed to find some instructions to put up a satellite that will extend the frequency and shut down all of the rogue machines and give the supers time to capture Mariverde." Blue Weaber said.
Luckily, Brenda knew quite a bit about numbers and coding since she was an accountant and dealt with computer programming all the time when creating programs to protect the firm's accounts. So, she quickly jumped in to help with programming the satellite and creating the coding to keep it stable.
"You're sure that will work?" Shmi asked.
"No, but it's our best bet at saving the rest of the galaxy."
"Then let me help you."
"What can I do?" Kade asked.
"You have a very important job, Kade. Keep watch, and when we're ready, you can press the button."
Kade was reluctant to just stand guard, but he liked the idea of being the one to do the big finish.
Gold Volt and Blue Weaver got to coding and programming, following Gizmo Girl's instructions to make sure they had the right frequency put in, and the correct sound files, being that this frequency included combinations of high pitched noises, some so high not all of them were audible (unless you're a dog or a droid). Except, as they were about ready to launch the program and shut down the droids, the two women heard Kade screaming as someone grabbed him.
"Not another step." said a voice neither woman recognized.
Gold Volt and Blue Weaver froze and looked behind them as a figure with big green butterfly wings, a green hood concealing the figure's face, stood in the doorway, and she was holding Kade by the back of his shirt, a green glow coming from her free hand.
"Help me!" Kade squeaked.
"Who are you?" Blue Weaver said.
"I am Mariverde, the new and rightful leader of this galaxy."
"You're nothing but a supervillain. The only super thing about you is that you are a super menace!"
"Why thank you." Mariverde smirked. "Now, onto business. Both of you will step away from the computer, or this little boy will suffer at my hands."
"Now, Miss… Mariverde, was it?" Gold Volt said. "It doesn't have to be this way. Don't you see how many people are suffering? Is all this power you're chasing really worth threatening the lives of innocent children?"
"Innocent? I've met snakes with more innocence than plenty of the brats I've clavatized in the past. They're just too easy a target."
Underneath the mask, Shmi couldn't believe the audacity of this woman. It seemed there was not a sliver of goodness in her heart, if she even had one.
"Now, let's try this again. Both of you will step away from the computer, or the boy gets it."
"But-" Gold Volt began, but Blue Weaver stopped her.
"Alright. You win. We will step away." said the blue armored woman, who nodded at Kade.
Mariverde thought Blue Weaver was nodding to reassure the boy everything would be okay, but Kade knew his mom was really signaling him for something else.
And so, the two women stepped away from the computer. True to her word, Mariverde dropped the boy.
"You're smarter than I would've thought."
But the moment Kade's feet hit the floor, he ran to the computer.
"And you're even dumber than you look!" Kade taunted, quickly pressing the button on the computer, which activated the satellite and sent a high pitched frequency that had everyone who could hear even a portion of it covering their ears.
Mariverde found it especially irritating, as moths and butterflies were known to hate loud, high-pitched noises like that. And while she was distracted, Blue Weaver took the chance to web her around her arms, legs, and in her face so she wouldn't be able to summon more mariclavas.
Outside, the heroes could also hear the high pitched noise. Sensor had to press on his ears particularly hard to protect his sensitive ears. But not only did all the droids shut down and fall apart, but the mariclavas were scattered as they were driven away. Even clavatized villains were set free when the moths couldn't stand the sound.
Quickly, the heroes proceeded to head to the prison where the Council was being kept and get them out of there, along with any other prisoners Mariverde was holding.
"Captain Hardwear! You're free!" said Chancellor Valorum.
"I wasn't alone in this." Captain Hardwear said. "Now go. Get to safety while we take care of Mariverde."
Except, to the supers' great surprise, Mariverde was already captured by none other than Gold Volt and Blue Weaver.
"You caught Mariverde?" Captain Hardwear gasped.
"Surprised?" Blue Weaver said.
"It was a team effort." Gold Volt said. "If memory serves correctly, the Oath of Heroes declares that no hero shall fight alone."
Captain Hardwear was even more in love with his wife than ever. If she didn't need to hide her identity beneath the mask, he would kiss her right then and there.
Captain Hardwear took his wife's hand instead, and then he proceeded to hold onto Mariverde and walk with the two masked heroes who caught her, and they brought her before the Council.
"I believe this is the woman who caused you all the trouble, esteemed Council members?" said Captain Hardwear.
"You actually caught her?" said Chief Divo.
"No, I merely delivered. These two are the ones who caught Mariverde."
The Council was impressed to see the two armored heroes before them. Gold Volt and Blue Weaver introduced themselves.
"The whole galaxy is in your debt, brave heroes." Chancellor Valorum said. "How can we ever repay you?"
"Maybe now you can see why banning heroes was a hare-brained idea to begin with." said Tracker.
"Tracker!" Blue Tigress scolded.
"No, no. He's right." Chancellor Valorum said. "How we didn't think that banning supers would only put everyone in danger, I may never know. But, I do know what can be done now that Mariverde has been captured."
Sometime later, Chancellor Valorum was giving a big speech that was broadcasted throughout the galaxy.
"None of us would be standing here today had it not been for Fantastical Forces, a team of supers, old and new, for stopping the queen of villains Mariverde. Therefore, on behalf of the Galactic Council, I would like to extend a formal apology to the entire superhero community, and hereby am honored to announce the ban on all supers officially lifted."
Everyone cheered as the gavel was banged. And that wasn't all.
In light of the lift on the superhero ban, and in thanks for saving the entire galaxy, the chancellor rewarded them by reinstating the superhero schools and making them better than ever, as well as building incredible new training centers with help from Prof. Fett and Mila, and a special new statue was built of the entire Fantastical Forces team to honor them for going against all odds to save the day, even when it meant they would likely get arrested.
"Heroes, you are all even braver than all of us could have imagined. The laws once forbade you from jumping to save the day, but when all odds were against even ordinary heroes, and no one else would go against the clear threat to all of us, you defied the law all for the sake of saving us all. We can never thank you enough. And we hope you train the next generation well. You have some real special kids for them to help you defeat Mariverde."
The heroes were all very grateful and touched by all this that was done to honor them.
"Thank you, Chancellor." Captain Hardwear said. "I believe I speak for all of us heroes when I say this is a great honor. But even as we lived as civilians, we've all come to learn something very important. It is not whether you have powers, thwart many crimes, or even if you've stopped a giant robot or meteorite from destroying a big city. What truly makes a hero is being there for those in need and not expecting anything in return. You don't need a cape, shining armor, or the power to fly to be a hero. And I should know. I've been with a very special woman who has saved me many times simply through her love and support. When I was forced into hiding, she stayed by my side, and never gave up on me. You can all be heroes too just by performing a small act of kindness. Whether that's helping your friend with school work, helping your family around the house, even a simple hug to someone who is feeling sad. Do these good deeds simply because they are right, and that makes you a true hero."
The superhero children were all especially happy that the superhero ban was lifted because it meant Kara could resume superhero training, and the twins and Ahsoka could officially begin training, and someday grow into full fledged superheroes like their parents.
Qui-Gon was also happy that justice got served in many places. Ms. Huff was tried in court for harassment and abuse of employees, and she lost everything, and everyone including the Jinn family got a big payday. But, Qui-Gon didn't have to work in fitness anymore because he could go back to hero work. Of course, that didn't mean he wouldn't make time for his kids, and they would definitely make a lot of that when they trained together.
Shmi and Brenda were offered positions as heroes too, but they had mixed feelings about it. They did defeat Mariverde, but someone had to make sure their homes stayed secure. So, pretty much, they declined. But the Hero Council told them the door was always open if they changed their minds.
Being a hero can mean a lot of things, but if you want to know the most important meaning, it's that not everyone who becomes a hero to those in need is born for it or trained for it. In other words, they might not have chosen the life of a hero, but sometimes it chooses them.
In the real world...
"Now that's a hero story!" Gabby smiled as the kids finished the story.
"I like the costume my daddy wears in this story." Lamenta said.
"Maybe you could be a graphic novel artist someday." Boba said, helping his sister get all the drawings together.
"I like the message that you don't need to have powers to be a hero." Omega said.
Boba had to agree; he and his twin knew very well how fighting without superpowers could be very difficult. But, a task proving challenging didn't make the challenger weak; it merely provided a test of how they used their smarts and natural skills. But even people with superpowers needed to work hard in order to make their skills stronger and sharper so they wouldn't lose control and endanger their friends and loved ones. And these kids, some of them were born with powers, while the others earned them. Either way, they had a lot to learn how to use their abilities both magic and non-magic to help protect the galaxy and themselves when they grew up. Like the young heroes in the story, they were the next generation, the future, their parents' heirs to a thing called life. Someday, they would grow up to do great things. But no matter how big they grew, no matter where they ended up, they would always remember to honor the heroes they called family.