The Netro City Convention Center: A big dome in the titular Netro City, neighboring Rottenheim, where all sorts of fans and geeks could gather for big events; Whether it be for updates on the biggest blockbusters, appreciation for an amazing anime, or in today’s event’s case, getting to meet some of your favorite superheroes. It was this event that lured the Mastermind to the convention in the first place, observing it from a hidden dome as he waited with sinister anticipation for the center to open. All the while his three lackeys were seated behind him, crammed together due to a lack of space.
“So… Why are we at the mating ground of sweaty nerds in costumes again?” Ellen spoke up, drawing her boss’ attention away from the center.
“THIS is why.” The Mastermind said as he opened a hatch in his armor, pulling out a poster advertising the big event. “To teach a lesson to a couple of altruistic fools!”
The poster advertised a meet and greet for three superheroes that would be appearing at the building: The first in the lineup being a tall, muscular figure named Lucky Johnny, whose wrestling leotard was fashioned after the flag of his home country Ireland. Next was the Electric Slider, a woman with her hair puffed up and sporting a lightning streak, decked out in the coolest of shades. And the third was known as Screech Owl, a caped crusader holding their specialized sword.
“The Fantastic Five’s here?!” Marcus exclaimed. “Or… just a couple of them? Ah, darn, would’ve been nice if she-”
“Wait, the FANTASTIC FIVE?” Claire interjected. “You’re pitting us against actual superheroes?!”
“No, Claire, because that implies you’ll be fighting them.” the Mastermind explained.
“Oh, good, I-”
“Instead you’re just going to make them suffer in front of a horde of their adoring fans as they helplessly watch in unbridled terror at the humiliation of their beloved heroes!”
“...Oh…”
“And you’re probably wondering why. I mean, after all, what have they ever done to me?” the Mastermind said as he dramatically turned his back to his minions.
“Actually, I couldn’t care less-” Ellen began to say before being immediately interrupted.
“THEY HUMILIATED ME, THAT’S WHAT!” he explained. “When I first arrived on this miserable planet, it was them who gave me a humiliating taste of defeat! One that I’ve been plotting to return ever since… And this is the perfect opportunity to do so!”
“Wait, how? This is a public event, boss.” Marcus questioned. “Aren’t people gonna notice us going after them?”
“Not if we hit them when they least expect it…” the Mastermind continued, opening another hatch in his armor and pulling out three costumes. “By going in cognito!”
“You’re joking.” Ellen remarked. He proved he was not by shoving them into his lackey’s arms.
“Captain Courageous! Sweet! This guy was my favorite…” Marcus exclaimed before noticing the look of disapproval on his boss’ face. “...to… pretend to beat up… as villains do. Yeah.”
The remainder of his minions were not as enthusiastic about the choices in heroes they were given to dress as. For Claire, it was a heroine named Lady Paindealer, whose appearance alone was enough to make her wince, to say the least. And Ellen, she got Princess Pretty, a spunky and optimistic hero who dressed in a blinding shade of pink that she simply couldn’t stand.
“Oh, forget it!” the shadow woman protested. “You’re deranged if you think I’m wearing this!”
“Uh, I don’t think I’m really comfortable wearing this, either…” Claire spoke up.
“Well these were expensive and I don’t care about your input, so too bad!” he snapped. “Now get them on! We have work to do!”
“Wait, what about you?” questioned Marcus.
“I’m glad you asked…”
Pushing a button on his armor, the Mastermind shifted it into disguise mode, altering his appearance by lowering a pair of sunglasses and bringing out a sign reading “NOT A VILLAIN” on it. He proudly presented his ingenious costume to his lackeys, who were not as impressed as he had hoped they would be.
“Yeah, okay, you actually are deranged.” Ellen commented.
“Why thank you.”
Inside the convention, things were about what the Mastermind had expected; A lot of mundane people in elaborate costumes mingling and getting overly excited at whatever was on display. Some costumes could have one easily believe they were the actual hero, and others… not so much. Marcus was among the latter group, but he seemed to not care either, being excited by the vendors honoring his old idols. Ellen and Claire, on the other hand, felt a tidal wave of eyes falling upon them for their unorthodox cosplays, and wanted nothing more than for this mission to be over with.
“Ugh… This is the most embarrassing spot I’ve ever been in…” Ellen complained.
“Yeah, same…” Claire agreed before taking a moment to think it over. “Well… Maybe second most…”
“Focus, you twits!” the Mastermind demanded. “You could at least put some vigor into your evil deeds like Marcus. …Marcus?”
“Wow! Is this really a vintage?”
The Mastermind’s head darted around the spacious center, until he finally spotted his lava spewing lackey at a stand selling old comic books.
“Oh, man, I haven’t read one of these since I was a kid!” Marcus exclaimed as he held up a one of a kind first edition Captain Courageous comic, which shortly after turned into ash in his hands, getting him a dirty look from the vendor. “Oh… And that’s why… Right…”
Immediately after that, his boss marched up to the stand himself and grabbed him by the lobe of his ear, dragging him away painfully. He then pulled the poster out of his armor again, analyzing it carefully.
“Room B-27… Alright, we shouldn’t draw too much attention to ourselves. So, minions, we’ll split up and meet back at that superhero showing.” the Mastermind ordered before turning his evil gaze to the Magman. “Without fanboying over any of them.”
“Uh, you got it, boss, no worries.” said Marcus.
“Ellen, you’re with me.”
“If it means getting out of this glitter fest, then fine.” she begrudgingly agreed.
And so, making an effort to cover her face, Ellen followed the megalomaniac down a hallway leading to their destination, while Claire and Marcus took another, only hoping they’d reach the same place. All the while Claire was unable to shake a feeling of discomfort, as she knew her costume was giving her some unwanted attention… more unwanted than usual, in her case.
“You okay?” Marcus asked, noticing his cohort’s uneasiness.
“Uh, yeah, I’m fine.” she partially admitted. “I’m just, uh… not sure if I get the appeal of places like this.”
“Oh yeah, you gotta get in the right mindset for them.” said Marcus as the two came up to another couple of vendors, which distracted him again. He grabbed another piece of merchandise, trying to keep Claire’s mind off of whatever was troubling her. “I mean where else can you get signed posters of Tiger Claw’s awesome battle with the Crimson Cockatiel? That’s cool stuff right here!”
“Well… I was never really that big on superheroes or villains… Especially not villains.” Claire admitted.
“Uh, fair enough.” he replied, seeing it didn’t work.
“Hey, buddy, you burn it, you buy it!” the sleazy looking vendor shouted.
“Whuh?”
Marcus looked down, seeing the poster in is hands having erupted into flames, causing him to drop it in shock. He dropped it on the ground, only making the flames worse.
“AH! Not again! Sorry!” Marcus exclaimed, thus started a great panic as everyone within the vicinity tried to put the flames out.
In the nick of time, the firefighter-themed superhero, Bombero, who was conveniently also holding a presentation at the convention, sprung into action, wielding his trusty Wrist-Mounted Extinguishers.
“Have no fear, Bombero is here!” he announced as he began spraying the area, putting out the flames before they got out of control. “And once these flames are quelled, I will not rest until I find the evil-doers responsible for this chaos!”
While Marcus was ecstatic to see one of his old idols in action, the words of the hero made Claire feel even more uneasy. So she wrapped her arm around his before clapping her hands, causing the two to teleport away, though not without the nearby vendor taking notice.
Meanwhile, at the end of the hallway, Ellen and the Mastermind had finally made it to the room where the small team of heroes were about to meet with their adoring fans, with the latter being more than ready to hide among them. The former, however, took one look at the crowd gathering inside, and only felt more put off by it.
“This is the place!” the Mastermind proclaimed. “And soon, Ellen, you’ll understand why revenge tastes so sweet.”
“Good, ‘cuz I’m gonna need a palette cleanser after throwing up…” she remarked.
A presenter went up on the stage before the eager crowd, holding a microphone in his hand as he stood before a table with three empty seats.
“Hey everyone! Thanks for waiting. Now who’s ready to meet some super superheroes?! (Provided you remember HeroCon Staff are not legally responsible for any injuries or misconduct?)” the presenter announced, making sure to whisper over the roar of the crowd when appropriate. “Well, they’re all just as ready to meet you, so everyone, put your hands together for…!”
“Lucky Johnny!”
The wrestler smashed through the doors and leaped high into the air, proclaiming his catchphrase “IT’S YOUR LUCKY DAY!” with tremendous might, flexing his hairy muscles to the crowd, to much fanfare.
“The Electric Slider!”
Next was the dancer, who appeared in a streak of lightning darting around in various poses, as if dancing around the room before landing on the table. “How y’all doin’ tonight?” she shouted, again resulting in the audience’s applause.
“And Screech Owl!”
…And finally, after a few seconds of pause, the masked vigilante simply walked onto the stage without much fanfare, sitting down at their seat.
“Yeah, I don’t do flashy entrances.” they remarked. “Not my thing.”
“Fair enough.” said the presenter. “Well, you know them and love their work, now’s your chance to get to know them!”
“Ah-ha! We’re just in time!” said the aspiring conqueror in the crowd. “They won’t know what hit ‘em…”
“Hey, so, why don’t we just go up there, punk ‘em, and leave?” Ellen asked. “We really gotta wait in line with this lot?”
“Now, dear Ellen, we wait for the perfect opportunity to strike.” the Mastermind said with a sinister smile. “It shouldn’t take long…”
“Lucky Johnny, what kind of body spray do you use?” the attendee up front asked.
“...Seriously? That’s the one thing you wanted to ask?”
As it turned out, this plan would force the villains to play the long game. Ellen found herself not caring as much as she thought she would, simply using her shadow powers to slip in and out of the line as she pleased.
“Screech Owl, how good is your sword at spreading butter on toast?”
“Who cares?!”
“My sentiments as that random guy in line.” said Screech Owl.
But the Mastermind was unfortunately stuck in the queue, unable to move for risk of his plan falling apart. And so he waited, with every second growing more and more agonizing, especially with each of the fans’ before him increasingly stupid questions.
“Electric Slider, is there a Mr. Electric Slider in your life? And if not would you consider-”
“IT’S NOT HAPPENING, MOVE ALONG!” he bellowed. “God, this is the most pathetic thing I’ve ever witnessed!”
“That’s nothing. I’ve seen her fan blogs.” Ellen chimed in, catching her boss’ attention. “There’s a lot of scrummy people online.”
The Mastermind groaned as a realization came over him. “Wait, where the hell are those other two idiots?”
“They just got here.” Ellen remarked, pointing back toward the door where Claire and Marcus had just appeared, trying to integrate themselves into the audience without drawing too much attention.
“Well, about time…” the Mastermind complained.
“Sir, you’re next. Sir!” the presenter said to him, getting his mind back on track.
“Oh. Doubly so, then.”
After what felt like an eternity, the conqueror grabbed onto the shadow woman and dragged her with him, eagerly awaiting the moment of his revenge. Ellen put up little resistance, figuring that she had already hit a point of no return for her humiliation.
“Hello - Ahem - Hello there, oh wonderful superheroes!” the Mastermind exclaimed, doing his best to disguise his voice. “Let me just say that it’s such an honor to meet you all! For the last time…”
“Uh, what was that, hon?” the Slider asked.
“Uh… I said… in such a fast time. Yeah.” the Mastermind scrambled.
“Speaking of ‘fast time’, can we just get on with this?” Ellen complained.
“Don’t rush me, you twit…” he told her through gritted teeth before clearing his throat and looking back at the heroes. “Anyway, yes, my question: Say you three were jumped by an individual you had previously humiliated in a flawless evil plan to humiliate you back in front of hundreds of your adoring fans. How would you respond to that?”
The trio simply stared back in confusion, starting to exchange glances with each other. They were so caught off by the question that they failed to notice a pitch slowly getting higher from behind them.
“Uh… Y’know, that’s oddly specific.” Johnny answered.
“Yeah, don’t think any of us have been in that situation before.” said the Slider.
“Oh, is that so?” the Mastermind questioned further, a sinister smile growing on his face as he was preparing to drop his facade. “Well, then, how about WE FIND-!”
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
KWABOOOOM!
“...out?”
The Mastermind’s reveal was cut short when he was suddenly buried by debris, of which no one noticed as their attention was turned to the mysterious intruder. As a horde of flying drones with speakers swarmed the room, a figure in a bright, neon suit stood on top of the wreckage proudly, standing over the crowd.
“Hello, HeroCon!” the figure announced, autotuning their voice appropriately. “Looks like we got one boring show here! Well don’t worry, ‘cuz the party’s gonna get started now that LAZRB3AM! Is on the scene!”
“Who the heck is that?!” Johnny asked as all three heroes took on a defensive stance.
“My arch-nemesis.” the Electric Slider answered in a surprisingly chill tone. “We got history. Whatcha doin’ here, Lazr?”
“Ain’t it obvious?” the villainous DJ asked back. “There’s so many of your fans gathered here today, so I wanted to give ‘em a real show! One where they get to watch their fave heroes gettin’ their rears handed to ‘em!”
Behind the rubble, the Mastermind had listened in to their exchange as he pulled himself out from under it, ending up on the same side as his cronies. He peered around and glared at this surprise supervillain, none too happy that a wrench was thrown into his scheme.
“Hey, boss, that’s just like your plan!” Marcus commented to the very unhappy Mastermind.
“Yes, Marcus, I noticed…” he replied through gritted teeth.
“Yeah… So… uh… what’s the new plan then?”
The Mastermind shoved the last bit of debris off of himself and glared back at his minions. “I’ll tell you what the new plan is…” he grumbled as he started to climb over the wreckage. On the other side, a battle between heroes and villain was about to get underway.
“C’mon now, we’ve done this song and dance a lot of times now.” commented the Electric Slider, as she and her allies were taking their stances.
“Well let’s just say I decided to shake it up this time, baby!” LAZRB3AM retorted. “So better pay attention, because this is one dance YOU WON’T FORGE-!”
BZZAAAPPP!
Without warning, a blast of green electricity suddenly struck the villainous DJ and sent her flying back through the wall she smashed through. This left the three heroes surprised, but two of them pleased with what they thought was an early victory.
“Nice shot, E.S.!” the Screech Owl complimented, only for their teammate to look back at them awkwardly.
“Uh… That wasn’t me.”
“No… It was your ACTUAL nemesis…” the Mastermind said in a seething, raspy tone, catching the heroes’ attention. He decided to drop his ruse and tore off his flimsy disguise before them, as Ellen emerged from the rubble as a shadow behind him, followed by Claire and Marcus. “That’s right! It’s me! And I’ve been waiting in line for an HOUR, listening to so many INSUFFERABLE QUESTIONS, all just so I could enact my revenge on you simpleton superheroes!”
“...Sorry, who’re you?” asked Johnny.
The Mastermind’s ego deflated from that question, astonished that they wouldn’t remember something so pivotal for him.
“Uh… I’m… THAT’S NOT IMPORTANT!” he said in an outburst. “Point is my minions and I are gonna kick your sorry asses!”
“Look, hon, we already got something going with my actual nemesis here, so if y’all could do this another time-” said Slider.
“I DON’T CARE!” the Mastermind bellowed. “Why would I care if you’re busy?!”
“Um, I actually care, so I don’t mind just-” Claire said, attempting to get out of the situation before her boss grabbed her costume and dragged her back into place with a growl.
“Before anything goes down, can I just say I’m a huge fan of your work?” Marcus complimented.
“WH - NO YOU CAN’T SAY THAT, YOU TWIT!” the conqueror continued shouting.
“Wow, only two minutes into this plan and it’s already coming undone.” Ellen jabbed. “New record.”
As he started scolding his lackeys, the heroes and fans alike just watched his plan coming apart in confusion, with some even pulling out their phones to record the Mastermind’s meltdown. While this went on, LAZRB3AM got back to her feet and dusted off her neon suit. She glared at the Mastermind, opening a compartment in her suit and pulling out a pair of brightly glowing discs, readying her aim.
“OKAY! No fanboying, no chickening out, and no… whatever you were doing, Ellen! Got it?!” the Mastermind proclaimed before he pointed back toward the superheroes, who at this point weren’t taking these villains very seriously. “Good! Now, let’s finally show these super ZEROES what-!”
The conqueror was interrupted yet again when electronic discs flew around the room, flashing blinding lights into everyone’s eyes.
“OH COME ON!”
“Hey, mook! This here’s MY party to crash!” LAZRB3AM shouted, causing the alien to blink his eyes open. “You better get your own arch-nemesis before I take YOU DOOOWN!”
“Oh, you wanna go, DJ Dolt?!” the Mastermind retorted. “Fine! I got enough for all of you!”
“Ladies, you’re both beautiful, what’s it matter who’s kicking their asses?” Ellen remarked.
“Yeah, what the Princess Pretty fan said.” added Screech Owl, which only got them a dirty look from her.
“It matters to ME!” shouted the Mastermind as he fired another bolt of energy from his suit at the DJ supervillain, only for her jump out of the way as it hit her speaker instead, making it short out and blow up to knock the heroes away.
The three superheroes groaned from the sudden blast, looking up to see LAZRB3AM having leaped high into the air and starting to toss more neon-glowing discs at the Mastermind and his lackeys. As she did so, she also gave commands to her drones to fire compressed sound waves on them, which made avoiding her attacks even more of a challenge. Though it wasn’t long until she ran out of discs and wound up grabbing nothing out of her suit, which was when the Mastermind saw an opportunity to strike.
He fired another bolt of energy from his fingertips at his fellow villain, resulting in another direct hit that launched her back into the crowd of people, all of which were now in a panic and fleeing toward the nearest door. Not down for the count, LAZRB3AM got right back to her feet and leaped into the air, keeping herself propelled with soundwaves from her high-tech boots. While their boss was busy quarreling with the evil entertainer, his three lackeys looked over to see the heroes also recovering and getting ready to jump into action as well.
“Okay, w-we should go, like, now!” Claire stammered, starting to panic herself.
“What? But our boss is fighting one of the Fantastic Five’s arch-enemies!” said Marcus. “How cool is that?”
“And did you forget we’re affiliated with him?!” she exclaimed, her breathing getting heavier. “We’re not in Rottenheim anymore! This is totally gonna make the news!”
“Wait, you’re from Rottenheim?” Screech Owl questioned.
“NO WE’RE NOT!”
Unable to contain herself, Claire’s psychic powers kicked in, and the next thing she knew a barrage of empty seats were hurtling toward the vigilante. Thinking quickly, they struck their katana against a metal railing, causing it to vibrate like a tuning fork, and allowing them to concentrate a powerful scream that dispersed Claire’s unintended attack. After the chairs fell to the floor, they held up their sword at the minions with a glare, causing her anxiety to go into overdrive.
“I’M SORRY, I’M SO SORRY-!”
“CLAIRE, FOR PETE’S SAKE CALM DOWN!” Ellen shouted, which did not help with that at all. She then formed her shadows to push them behind her. “Just go, I’ll deal with this dork.”
Seeing the situation only get more and more chaotic as their partner tried to take on the trio by themselves, Lucky Johnny and the Electric Slider both set their sights on the two duelling villains, who were still in heated battle. The Mastermind kept shooting bolts of his putrid green energy at the hovering DJ, and LAZRB3AM retorted by sicking her drones on him, most of which were easily destroyed as they got caught in his crossfires.
“IT’S YOUURRRRR LUCKY DAY!” proclaimed Lucky Johnny as he leaped into the air, tackling the Mastermind from behind and effortlessly pinning him to the ground with his strength. LAZRB3AM laughed at the plight of her opponent, right before a bolt of lightning suddenly landed a kick to her chest and staggered her back, with it forming back into the Electric Slider as she flipped into the air.
“Don’t forget about our dance, darling!” the Slider quipped as she gracefully landed on the other side of her nemesis.
“Stay out of this, you nimrods!” the Mastermind shouted at her, catching his opponent’s attention again.
“HEY! I know you didn’t just insult MY enemy!” LAZRB3AM scolded defensively.
“Well the enemies of my enemies are also MY enemies!” he shouted again. “AND I WILL INSULT MY ENEMIES IF I WANT!”
In order to get the massive Irishman off of him, he set his energy repulsors to “tractor beam” and used it on Johnny, suddenly hoisting him into the air to be used as a projectile against his opposition. As Claire and Marcus made their way out of the room for a chance to cool off, Shady was busy dealing with the Screech Owl, who was unleashing a flurry of slashes from their sword as swift as the wind. This all proved in vain, as Ellen had used her shadow powers to make each slice phase right through her, getting the upper hand with a punch from a massive, black fist. Recovering quickly, the Owl struck their sword against the floor to vibrate, allowing them to emit another powerful scream that actually dispersed her intangible form. This was enough for her to start taking the fight more seriously.
Meanwhile, out in the halls, Marcus was still trying to get Claire as far away from the commotion as possible, but it was difficult to move through the panicking crowd. Surprisingly, this environment wasn’t doing much to calm her nerves.
“There wasn’t anybody recording in there, was there?” Claire asked, still shaken.
“Uh, I don’t think so?” Marcus answered as honestly as he could. “But, I mean, what’re the odds of any other superpowered dudes showing up?”
“There they are!” a familiar voice exclaimed from behind. Upon turning around, Claire and Marcus’ eyes widened as they saw the vendor they had the unfortunate run-in with earlier, with Bombero right behind him.
“Worry not! No villains can escape Bombero’s fiery justice!” the superhero proclaimed.
“Woah! Can this get any better?!” Marcus asked excitedly.
“Oh… Can this get any worse?” Claire asked, less excitedly, at the exact same time.
“PREPARE TO BE EXTINGUISHED!” Bombero proclaimed as he suddenly lunged toward them, his fists reeled back and ready to attack. Claire instinctively put her arms up in defense, her psychic powers kicking in again and launching Bombero into the ceiling.
Undeterred, Bombero just slammed his fist against the surface behind him and shot a stream of foam out of his gauntlet, propelling him back toward the two minions. Seeing how things were turning out, Marcus grabbed Claire and lifted her over his shoulder, running off just before the hero could strike, punching the ground instead.
“I’m sorry man, you’re an inspiration!” Marcus shouted back as he jumped up and stomped the ground, causing a wall of burning rocks to emerge behind him, separating them from the hero. This only served as a minor distraction as he effortlessly climbed over the walls to continue giving chase.
Unfortunately for them, the entire convention center was going into lockdown due to the sudden appearance of supervillains, with security guards showing up around every corner, much to Marcus’ and especially Claire’s dismay. Barely able to think straight, Claire covered her head, which resulted in her unwittingly putting up a forcefield around her and her cohort. The guards failed to react and ran straight into it, knocking themselves over.
Bombero, however, was not as reckless, and instead just ran up to the forcefield and started punching it with the gauntlet, shouting at the two villains, only for his words to be muffled from their perspective. Each strike made Claire more and more nervous, in turn causing the force field to expand further and further. Thinking quickly, Marcus stomped his foot down, causing a crack to form along the ground before it reached a stand and pooled lava out of it, causing the whole thing to catch fire. Bombero’s attention shifted away from the two villains, horrified at the erupting flames near him.
“FIRE!” he exclaimed before rushing over to put it out. With him distracted, Marcus let out a sigh of relief.
“M-Marcus, can you please put me down…?” Claire asked with a shaken voice.
“Oh, yeah, sure.”
He tried to step out of the forcefield to do so, only for this to nearly result in Claire getting shot by a taser gun, making her recoil and grow the field even more. The two just looked around themselves, seeing them surrounded by security staff, both new ones and those having gotten up, all of which were ready to neutralize them as soon as they made one wrong move.
“...Ooh-kay, this is a problem…” said Marcus.
Back inside, Ellen had just taken care of the Screech Owl, coiling one shadowy arm around him and covering up his mouth. They had no luck squirming themselves free as Ellen went back to checking her phone, while occasionally shifting her eyes up at the ensuing battle of her boss, the DJ, and the remaining two heroes.
“Hey, can you like, lose already?” she spoke up to the Mastermind, despite clearly seeing he was starting to struggle now, with sweat pouring out of his helmet and a couple of cracked teeth. “Kinda just want to wrap things up here.”
“Maybe this would go a lot faster if you were doing MINION THINGS!” he barked back as he narrowly dodged a stray soundwave headed his way.
“Yeah, my hands are kinda tied here too.” she answered, just as the vigilante managed to get his head free.
“Let me go, you crook!” he shouted at her. “Or else I’ll… er… I’ll think of something to do to you-!”
Undeterred, Ellen just wrapped her shadow around them again, this time covering up their whole head. Bringing his focus back to the fray, the Mastermind noticed that the two heroes had started to ignore him in favor of fighting LAZRB3AM, with the Slider laughing as she danced around her attacks, and Johnny using his natural Irish strength to smash up any drones that came his way. The conqueror growled, not wanting to be outdone, and lunged right back into action. While the DJ was distracted with the heroes, the Mastermind was able to let out a primal scream right before tackling her to the ground, making no hesitation to start ripping off her cybernetic armor.
“Interrupt MY evil plans, will you?!” he berated as he pulled out some wires, making the face plate on her suit fritz out.
“HEY! That’s a low BLOW!” the Electric Slider called out as she bolted over to him and kicked the alien in the face, knocking him away. She then looked over her downed nemesis with concern coming over her. “You aight?”
The Mastermind growled as he picked himself up. He noticed a shadow forming around him, and looked up to see Lucky Johnny having jumped high into the air and attempting to subdue him with a mighty elbow drop. The conqueror fired a beam from the core of his armor, causing the wrestler to luckily swerve out of its way and slam into the Slider and LAZRB3AM instead. While they recovered quickly, the villainous DJ had had enough, and with what little power her suit had left, she propelled herself toward the giant stereo she used to break in with.
“That’s it, ya-ya-ya wrinkly frog!” LAZRB3AM declared as she leaped back onto her oversized equipment. “You forced me to kick this up all the WA-ghjs-AAAAAY!”
“Vanessa, wait!” the Slider tried to intervene, but she was too late. Her nemesis had already cranked up her sonic weapon as high as it would go, and it let out a high-pitched hum as it charged up.
The Screech Owl could only watch in dread, seeing the unfortunate state their allies were in, and growing annoyed at Ellen’s ambivalence to the whole thing. Finding themselves with no other choice, they wiggled their arm free, which allowed them to grab at Ellen’s shadows, freeing their head to take a deep inhale. They started to emit a much more powerful, but much less stable scream, trying to destroy the device before it could go off. But it was too late. The giant speaker began blasting, with both soundwaves colliding and spreading out through the entire building, forcing everyone to cover their ears in pain.
The damage it was doing to just one room was bad enough, but it continued to spread out through the convention center; All the way back to the main floor where Marcus and Claire were still trapped, with her force field continuing to expand as she just got more and more anxious, and Marcus’ attempts to calm her weren’t very effective. But he noticed the soundwaves having reached the room, forcing the security to drop their guards as it began pushing back against the forcefield. One person who didn’t notice this was Bombero, who just got done putting out the flames.
“And the day is saved!” he proclaimed. “...Wait, what’s that nois-?”
BWABOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM
The barrier of psychic energy burst, causing a massive shockwave that brought down the foundation of the entire convention. Everyone’s eyes widened in dread as they saw the entire building start to crumble and collapse. Shortly before it could give in, a bolt of lightning sped around the building and started grabbing as many people as they could and getting them far away from the destruction as possible - many of which didn't pass on the opportunity to snap a quick selfie - just before everything collapsed. The crowd cheered for the Electric Slider’s heroism, but she ignored it to bolt back to what remained of the center.
Johnny still stood upright, having barely flinched and instead carried a heavy load of rubble on his shoulders, which he tossed aside before hearing some strained grunts. He moved aside a chunk of concrete to reveal Screech Owl trapped underneath.
“...Okay, not my smartest plan.” they admitted.
The Slider bolted around, moving away more rubble until she uncovered LAZRB3AM, with her helmet having fallen off in the commotion. She blinked her eyes open, looking up at her supposed nemesis.
“Vanessa!” the Slider proclaimed, helping up the supervillain. “You okay, hon?”
“Yeah, I think so, at least.” Vanessa groaned. “I didn’t go too hard back there, did I?”
“Nah, don’t worry about it.” she said, putting an arm around her shoulder. “None of our messes are too bad on the cleanup.”
“Wait, what’s going on here?” Screech Owl interjected. “I thought you said she was your arch-nemesis!”
“Yeah, and I couldn’t have asked for a better one.” the Slider answered.
“Aw, you’re too kind, Donna.” said the supposed supervillain, flattered by her words.
As the heroes got their barings, the Mastermind crawled out, followed by Ellen forming behind him in a shadow, both going unnoticed. He wasn’t content to let his revenge plot fail, but Ellen, having had enough for one day, noticed Claire and Marcus were already gone, and wrapped him up in her shadows to follow suit. Suddenly, from behind the heroes, a blast of foam shot some debris away, causing Bombero to burst out, panting and sweating heavily as his face turned a bright red… more so than it was already.
“Where are they? Those cretins?!” Bombero shouted. “Don’t tell me they got away!”
Realizing who he was referring to, everyone else glanced about the room, seeing no sign of the Mastermind or his minions. The fire fighting superhero’s annoyance with the situation only grew at his perceived incompetence of his fellow heroes.
“So… Do we just say nothin’, then?” Johnny asked. “Y’know since he told us… not to tell him… uh…”
Back at the Mastermind’s lair in Rottenheim, the minions were still recovering from the chaotic day they just had. As they figured, the destructive end of HeroCon had already made its way all over the news. They had already gotten out of their costumes, with Ellen having thrown hers in the garbage. Claire just anxiously paced around the living room while Marcus let out a sigh as he sat on the spiked sofa. Ellen soon joined the scene as what sounded like a blithering baby could be heard from behind her.
“How’s he doing?” Marcus asked.
“How could they have not recognized me?!” the Mastermind sobbed from behind the door. “I thought a first encounter was supposed to be special!”
“Oh, y’know, handling it well.” Ellen said with as much sarcasm as she could muster. “Oh yeah, next time don’t forget about us when you’re gonna do the teleporting thing, Claire.”
“S-sorry…”
Still feeling exasperated from all the chaos that had happened that day, Claire let out a long sigh as she slumped back into the couch.
“So I guess now we’re on superhero hitlists… just like big time villains…” she said with an anxious chuckle. “Great…”
“Claire, we’re in Rottenheim. It’s been years since any hero’s gone within ten feet of this town.” Ellen reassured as she sat down next to her. “I think we’ll be good.”
“Yeah, maybe they already forgot about us.” Marcus added.
Just then, the news report shifted to interviewing some individuals from the scene of the crime, one of which was none other than Bombero, whose outfit was covered in soot from his fierce battle with the flames.
“To me, there is no more serious crime than arson, and I will see to it that all who were involved pay with their lives… er, behind bars.” he said, while the trio from the Fantastic Five appeared behind him. “I will not rest until those villains succumb to the flames of justice! THOSE ARE THE ONLY FIRES THAT I’LL ALLOW TO BURN!”
Claire quickly grabbed the remote and shut the television off in a heartbeat. Soon after her shock turned into a wave of anxiety as she just sank further into the cushions of the sofa. Ellen and Marcus simply glanced over, noticing their colleague’s discomfort. Ever optimistic, Marcus tried to say something that would put a positive spin on the situation, only for his mind to come up blank.
“Okay, maybe not…” the Magman conceded, all while the Mastermind’s overt crying could still be heard from behind them.
END