It was a beautiful morning in Rottenheim - as beautiful as things could get, anyway. The Mastermind began his morning routine as he did any other day. He got up from his resting dome, fit himself into his armor, checked his list of things he had to yell at his minions for, and made his way to the kitchen to crunch on some coffee grounds.
As he was making his way toward that last step, he noticed something off about his lair. The walls of the kitchen were coated with a pink, sparkling, paint-like substance. He curiously analyzed it, scraping some of it off the wall and sniffing it from his claw. He was repulsed by the oddly sweet smell it had.
“Eugh… E.M.I.L.Y.! What’s the meaning of this?!” the Mastermind shouted, unaware of a tiny figure watching him from the shelves above. “Where the hell is that useless bucket of bolts…?”
The small figure peered around their hiding place, laser focused on the Mastermind. They leaned forward, emitting a subtle pink glow from their wrist. The aspiring conqueror just shook the disgusting gunk off his fingers as he turned around. He froze in his tracks as soon as he stepped in something, looking down to see it was the same substance as on his wall. Except this time, it was glowing. Not only that, but glowing brighter with every second.
“What the-?!” The Mastermind tried to step back, but the glue-like liquid firmly gripped onto his foot, locking him in place. He could feel it getting warmer as it got brighter, a dreadful look of realization falling over his face. “MINIONS! GET IN HE-!”
KER-SPLOOT!
The Mastermind was suddenly knocked back against the wall, coating it with even more of the goo. He let out a pained groan as he started to wipe it off his face, which is what the pint-sized spy hiding in the kitchen decided to use as their opportunity to attack. And so, they exposed themselves, leaping off the shelves and emitting a bright glow from their hands, ready to clap them in the villain’s face.
“NEON BLAST!!!”
“Neon wha-?” the Mastermind couldn’t even get a full sentence before he was suddenly blinded by a rainbow of bright lights. “GAH! MY EYES! ACK!”
“NEON STRIKE!!!”
A small figure suddenly lunged out of hiding, leaping onto the Mastermind with incredible agility. They dealt a swift kick straight to his face, knocking him backwards onto his rear. He rubbed his stinging eyes open, catching a brief glimpse of his attacker before she made one last proclamation:
“NEON COLLAPSE!!!”
Taking out a brightly-colored boomerang, they threw it, causing the Mastermind to flinch and put up his arms. Instead of hitting him however, it arced upwards and struck the shelves above him, causing various pots, pans, and scattered alien weaponry to fall and bury him. All that stuck out of the pile was his twitching hand, accompanied by the sound of a pained groan. This was when the perpetrator finally revealed themselves… with Ellen alongside them, recording the whole thing.
“Nice one, kiddo.” the shadow woman complimented.
As she uploaded the video to her Chitter account, Claire came into the room, anxious about the sudden commotion. “What’s going in here - JENNA OH MY GOD WHAT DID YOU DO?!” she exclaimed, immediately going into panic mode when she saw the state of her boss.
The surprise attacker, a girl no older than ten, turned around to face her, proudly posing as she looked up at the psychic woman.
“So concludes another thrilling adventure of Neon Girl!” the child proclaimed. “You’re safe at last, Aunt Claire!”
“AUNT Claire?!” the Mastermind exclaimed as he writhed along the ground.
“That’s right!” she continued, proudly pointing a finger at him. “I’m here to make sure you’re never mean to her aga-!”
Before she could finish that thought, a telekinetic force lifted her off the ground and towards Claire, who covered up her mouth and smiled nervously at her boss. The Mastermind finally managed to rip off his glowing binds and stand back up, glaring down at his minion.
“A word with you, ‘Aunt Claire’?” he said with a growl.
“Uh, sure…” Claire agreed, uncovering her niece’s mouth.
“But Aunt Claire, he’s just gonna yell at you again!” the girl protested as she stood up.
“I know, Jenna, but… I’ll be okay, just don’t make any more trouble, please.” she reassured before turning to Ellen. “Stay with Ellen, I’ll be right with you.”
“Yeah, let’s see if the lava-brain’s blown up anything else yet.” Ellen joked.
“Okay…” Jenna relented as she took her shadowy hand to leave, glancing back worriedly at her aunt. Claire gave her a smile and a nod, hoping it would let her know things wouldn’t be so bad.
…A feeling that Claire herself stopped believing when she turned back to her boss, seeing his angry glare staring her down.
“So. ‘Neon Girl’, huh?” he grilled through gritted teeth.
“Sir, I’m sorry, I didn’t think she would actually be coming over!” Claire pleaded as she backed up. “But my cousin’s on tour, she didn’t have anyone else to watch her, I haven’t seen her in a while, I-I just didn’t know how to say no!”
“Well, I’ll add that to your lessons then!” the Mastermind threatened. “You seriously brought a CHILD into my lair?! I have a reputation to upkeep, Claire! I can’t have other villains thinking this lair’s some kind of nursery! Especially not for a kid who wants to be a… a… superhero!”
“I know, she - she doesn’t get much of an outlet at home.” Claire explained. “There’s a bully that keeps putting her down for it.”
“Well, I don’t see how that’s my problem.” he continued. “Not when we have plans for this week!”
“The… whole week?”
“YES! We’re starting construction of my Subliminal Satellite, remember?” the Mastermind berated. “Using the power of cable television to conquer the mush-ridden minds of the human race!”
“...Do people even still watch cable?”
“Maybe you’d know if you weren’t busy trying to HUMILIATE me BEHIND MY BACK!” he shouted.
“I swear to you, sir, I’ll make it all up to you! Somehow!” Claire continued, trying her hardest to defuse him. “Please, just this once?”
Not having the energy in him to deal with it himself, the Mastermind just let out a raspy, exasperated sigh. “How long is that brat staying for, exactly?”
“...A week…” Claire answered meekly.
“A WEEK?!” he belted. “You expect me to put up with ‘tHe AdVeNtUrEs oF NeON GIrl’ FOR A WEEK?!”
“I-I’ll keep her out of your way as much as possible, sir!” Claire pleaded.
“You better!” he threatened. “Because if she gets in my way, she’s not going to be the only one needing a babysitter!”
“.........What do you mean by that?” Claire asked cautiously.
“...I don’t… uh… I MEAN DON’T LET HER BOTHER ME!” he shouted.
And so, begrudgingly, the Mastermind agreed to let her niece stay at his lair. Not because he approved of the endeavor, far from it. Only because he figured Claire would be able to keep enough of an eye on her to make her a minor distraction at most. Jenna, however, had other plans, and no guardian supervision was going to stop the adventures of Neon Girl so easily.
Day 1 of a Week with Neon Girl:
While Claire was busy trying to keep Jenna occupied and away from the Mastermind, his other two minions were standing before him in a new base of operations as he paced back and forth, directing their attention toward a large pile of scrap metal and machine parts. Marcus was doing his best to be attentive for his boss, while Ellen just leaned back against the wall, a dull expression on her face as always.
“...So, with everything laid out, you all have a special job in the completion of this satellite! Well, everyone except for Claire, now.” the Mastermind spoke. “Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes sir!” Marcus said proudly.
“Yeah, sure.” Ellen said unenthusiastically.
“Good!” the Mastermind simply turned around, grabbing some equipment to then hand off to his lackeys. “Now, first thing’s first: Marcus, I only want you touching the heat resistant thermonuclears, for obvious reasons. Ellen, you get started on the dish and-”
As he rambled on, listing off orders, a familiar small figure was biding her time in the room above. “Within every corner lies some wicked creature, hatching a scheme against the goodwill of children everywhere. From home… to the schools. Even during break.” Jenna monologued. “As long as there’s neon justice to be delivered, I will never stop to sit, not even for a moment!”
“...How was that, Aunt Claire?”
“It was… good, but I think you’re a little young to be the brooding type.” she answered honestly. “And it’s not going to get you out of homework.”
“Aw…”
“Come on, we only got a few pages left.” Claire said as her niece sat back down. However, it was only a few minutes before their studies were interrupted by E.M.I.L.Y., who wheeled by the open door and peered in, catching their attention.
“Hey, Claire, need your mind magic to reach the cleaning acid.” the robot maid said.
“...Cleaning acid?” Claire questioned. “Why…?”
“Not my fault the boss used the cheap hydraulics on me.”
“Uh - No, I meant… Uh…” Putting her questions aside, Claire stood up, looking back down at her niece. “I’ll be back in a second… That stuff’s kept somewhere safe, right…?”
Jenna nodded as her aunt foolishly took her eyes off of her. For a moment she decided to honor her request. But the call to action was just too strong, especially after hearing the work of the Mastermind and his minions below. Not wanting to vanish on Claire either, Jenna decided to use one of her power’s more newly discovered utilities, creating a holographic image of neon in her place before heading off to deliver justice.
“Sorry about that, where were we?” Claire said, sitting back down as Jenna’s neon hologram dissipated. “Ah, ok. See, trigonometry isn’t so-”
Claire’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets once she realized her niece was gone. She immediately sprung out of her seat, knocking over the tiny chairs, looking around the room as her panic started to kick in.
“Jenna?! Jenna!” she called out before finally noticing the broken air vent in her room. Putting two and two together, she ran over and reached her arm through it, ineffectively trying to reach for Jenna while calling out her name. It only took her a few seconds before she saw the issues with her on-the-spot plan. “...What am I doing?”
So instead, she stood back up and ran out the room as fast as she could, still shouting for Jenna.
Back in the satellite base, the Mastermind was busy barking out orders to his minions. And fine-tuning the satellite. But mostly the former. Despite their lack of confidence in his plan, the lackeys carried out their tasks, knowing he would only get louder if they didn’t. As they worked, a tiny hero crept her way through the vents above, ready to deliver justice like the vigilantes she’d seen in movies.
While she was working, Ellen glanced up, noticing Jenna lurking above. A smirk formed on her face as she stretched out one of her shadowy arms to tap Marcus on the shoulder, pointing his direction at the small hero. Handing him her phone to record the ensuing chaos, Ellen reached out and grabbed a spare part, slyly handing it to the child with a wink.
“Oh, no, I think a hero may have broken into the lair!” Ellen mockingly exclaimed.
“Don’t be ridiculous, no hero’s set foot in this city since…” the Mastermind began, shortly after realizing what was going on. “You’re talking about Neon Girl, aren’t y-?”
Suddenly, he narrowly swerved out of the way of a funneled flash of light. He looked down and saw that yes, Jenna had indeed invaded the base, using a makeshift cone to harness her powers and fight crime. Ellen played along, Marcus recorded the whole thing with a laugh, and the Mastermind growled in annoyance as he kept dodging stray blasts of neon light.
“HEY!” he commanded. “STOP THAT! CEASE!”
“NEON BLAST!” Jenna shouted as she swerved around, firing a blast directly at the Mastermind. It hit him square in-between the eyes, causing him to stagger and grip onto his own satellite for structure, which only easily tore as he fell anyway.
The Mastermind fell hard onto his back, his ladder toppling over onto him shortly after. He growled as he sat back up, only to see he had shifted the weight of his in-progress satellite, creaking as it did so. All he could do was gawk as it fell, crashing on top of the conqueror. After a series of loud crashes, thuds, and parts scattering around the floor, the two minions just stared back at the sight, while Neon Girl stood above them proudly.
“Uh… Think that got out of hand?” Marcus asked.
“Yeah it did…” Ellen answered. “Quick, upload it before he comes to!”
Unfortunately, that didn’t take long, as he burst out of the rubble fist-first, a furious, toothy frown on his face.
“CLAIRE!!!” the Mastermind bellowed, just as she arrived on the scene.
“Once again, the day is saved, thanks to Neon Gir-!” Jenna proclaimed before she was telekinetically lifted off the ground and forced into Claire’s arms.
“I’m so sorry, sir!” Claire pleaded as she narrowly dodged a loose gear flung at her niece. “I-it won’t happen again!”
“IT BETTER NOT!” he shouted back as she disappeared from the room. He then aimed a pointy finger at his remaining two minions. “And you two better not have uploaded that!”
“Uh… Well, she told me to do it before you came to, and I, uh…” Marcus tried to explain, staggering as his boss was seething even harder. “Sorry, boss…”
With a growl, the Mastermind furiously shot off bolts of electricity, causing the loose parts to scatter and his minions to duck for cover. As soon as he released enough steam, he slowly looked up, realizing he only damaged what he had of his satellite even further by doing so. After a long groan and a hearty facepalm, the Mastermind readied his lackeys to get back to work.
Day 2:
Progress had once again been made, getting the satellite back to about where it was before the setback of yesterday. The Mastermind grinned, feeling confident that he’d be conquering the world by the end of the week. As the two lackeys sat back, exhausted by their work, the Mastermind decided to run through a checklist he had been keeping with him, making sure everything would be ready for the big launch.
“Alright, let’s see what we got. Basic motor functions…” he said as he flipped a lever on the control panel, moving the wings up and down. “Check. Natural fuel supply?”
“Check.” Marcus said, putting his hand down on a barrel of distilled lava.
“Frivolous decorations?”
“Yeah, got it.” Ellen said as she held up a pair of fuzzy dice.
“Propaganda video?”
He pressed a button on the control panel, causing it to play his sinisterly subliminal video. A recording of him simply repeating the phrase “Make me your leader” over and over, while a hypnotic overlay covered the footage.
“Che-!”
*BZZT* “Welcome back to the adventures of Neon Girl, faithful citizens!”
“...Wha-?”
Suddenly, the video changed to a recording of Jenna, excitedly presenting herself as a superhero to a potential audience. He watched as the child started bounding around her room, with a familiar telekinetic energy helping her along, while busting up some of his most expensive minion drones, all the while she kept asked her aunt if she was getting it all. Knowing once again who was to blame, he became furious once again.
“CLAIRE!!!” the Mastermind screamed. Only a few seconds later, Claire had clapped her hands, teleporting right behind her boss.
“I’m here!” she said hastily, making the alien jump back with a yelp.
“Care to explain this?” the Mastermind said as he angrily pointed to the video, much to Claire’s horror.
“The - The tapes weren’t labeled. None of them were.” Claire stammered. “I-I didn’t think it was that important.”
“Oh, so you thought some six-year-old’s superhero fantasy was more important than MY WORLD DOMINATION?” he shouted further, holding the tape above his head.
“Ah… Um… I’m honestly not sure how to answer that…”
In his frustration, the Mastermind threw the tape, which just narrowly flew past Claire’s head. And as luck would have it, he threw it with enough force for it to ricochet off the wall and shatter against one of the support beams for his satellite, dislodging it just enough to have the whole thing topple over and break apart again. Everyone stared at the unfortunate event for a solid minute before the conqueror directed his angry gaze at the psychic woman yet again.
“I’ll… I’ll just, uh…” Claire stammered some more as she slowly backed away.
“JUST KEEP THAT BRAT OUT OF THE WAY! FOR REAL THIS TIME!” said the Mastermind, finally making Claire bolt away as quick as she could.
“But that wasn’t even her.” Marcus pointed out, though the Mastermind had no patience to take fault of his own.
“SHUT IT AND GET BACK TO WORK!” he screamed. The two minions groaned as they realized they once again had to start from scratch.
Day 3:
The Mastermind began his morning routine as he did any other day. He got up from his resting dome, fit himself into his armor, checked his list of things he had to yell at his minions for, and made his way to the kitchen to crunch on some coffee grounds. But this morning was different. As he made his way to the kitchen, he passed by the living room as he usually does, and what he saw inside froze him to his core.
Pink wallpaper, shoddily plastered all over.
Crude crayon drawings of a superhero saving people and cats.
Dolls put in perilous situations.
And Claire asleep on the couch, snoring away.
The Mastermind was very close to his last straw being destroyed. He marched right up to her, glaring down at his minion, his annoyance with her now at an all time high.
“CLAIRE!” he shouted, startling her awake.
“NO I’VE NEVER EVEN BEEN TO DETROIT!” she exclaimed as she rolled off the couch and fell onto the floor. She groaned as she gripped her head, looking up at her boss, then around the room, then back at him with a worried frown. “Oh… She had me up late last night, and… well…”
“And, well, I think this is already starting to go too far!” the Mastermind interrupted. “It’s only been three days and that kid has…! Claire, where is that kid?”
Claire looked around, almost instantly falling into a panic when she didn’t see Jenna anywhere around. She frantically started searching the room, from making sure any weapon stashes were secure enough for a child to not break in, to lifting the couch off the floor.
As she searched, a small figure had camouflaged herself within the peeling wallpaper, chuckling to herself. She soon after made herself known, leaping off the wall and uncloaking herself, an aura of neon light emitting from her fists.
“NEON BLA-!” Jenna proclaimed, only to instantly be grabbed out of the air by the Mastermind, dangling by her feet as she was lifted up to his level.
“No! No more of that!” the Mastermind stated, looking Jenna square in the eye.
“Damn it…” Ellen remarked as she put her phone away, her and Marcus having peeked in through the doorway.
“Ellen, bad language!” said Claire as she finally took Jenna out of her boss’ grip. “Sir, I-”
“Zip it! From now on, all three of you are keeping an eye on that super-brat!” the Mastermind ordered. “Just leave me to my work and keep her busy!”
“Wait, so you don’t want any help with the mind control thing?” Marcus questioned.
“Not when there clearly isn’t enough competence in one minion for a simple task!” he continued, with Claire averting her eyes. “Luckily, I have more than enough to cover all of you.”
Ellen just rolled her eyes as they joined Claire, still carrying Jenna in her arms. Not dissuaded even a tiny bit, the Neon Girl just looked back at the Mastermind with a determined stare.
“Just you wait, Mr. Mastermind!” Jenna proclaimed. “You’re gonna pay for all the mean stuff you do to my Aunt Claire!”
“Yeah, sure, have fun with that.” he said under his breath as he readied to get right back to work, this time on his own.
Unfortunately, this spur-of-the-moment decision didn’t accomplish much. The young, aspiring hero proved to be too slippery for even all three of his minions to keep track of. She kept being a thorn in his side, whether she was trying to pick a fight with him, destroy his satellite, or interrogating him for the location of cookies that he didn’t have. Each time one of his lackeys would intervene before he could do anything about the small nuisance himself, and each time was another setback in his world-conquering scheme.
Eventually, the Mastermind had reached his last straw, and thought back to what Claire told him about her on that first day, gaining a diabolical solution to his problem.
Day 6:
It was the final day of Jenna’s visit at the Mastermind’s lair, and on this day the Mastermind went back on his initial decision, having Ellen and Marcus aid in the finishing touches of his satellite. Things were going remarkably smoothly, mainly thanks to Claire taking extra precautions as she tended to her niece. Even still, she proved to be very slippery, managing to escape Claire long enough to set her sights on the Mastermind one last time.
Just as she did many times before, Neon Girl leaped out from above, proclaiming one of her many work in progress catchphrases, intended to defeat the alien who caused her aunt so much strife. This time, however, with the sound of a clap, Claire teleported right behind her and caught her out of the air, landing on the floor safely. Before Jenna could object to this, Claire, immediately turned to the alien conqueror, still panicked despite him seeming strangely calm.
“Sir, I-!” she began, only to be instantly interrupted.
“Don’t worry, it’s fine…” said her boss sinisterly.
“...It is?”
“Yes, because this time, I’ve made a few rearrangements to make sure she’s no longer a nuisance.” the Mastermind explained as he wickedly grinned.
“She’s gonna be gone tomorrow, just let the kid embarrass you one last time.” said Ellen, whipping out her phone.
“No, I don’t think I will.” said the Mastermind. “Not before she gets reacquainted with a little friend of hers… That’s your cue.”
Suddenly, a loud, booming footstep engulfed the bunker, catching everyone else off guard. Out of the shadows emerged a stout boy with brown hair covering his eyes and a small, but sharpened pair of horns on his head. Jenna immediately recognized him, suddenly dropping any playful demeanor as she turned toward the familiar foe.
“Hey, Neon Nerd.” the boy stated.
“Brick…” Jenna said dramatically.
“Woah! Wait a minute!” Claire gawked, stepping in between both parties. “You enlisted a bully from her school?!”
“Well, not like any of your strategies were working.” the Mastermind remarked.
“Yeah, it’s great!” Brick exclaimed. “He’s paying me to do what I do for free!”
“Hold on, you’re paying him?” Marcus asked.
“With ten bucks and a half eaten thin mint.” he said bluntly.
“Yeah, earnin’ that and finally snuffing out your stupid-hero business is gonna be a real treat!” Brick said as he pounded his fists together.
“Come on and try it then, Bullhead!” Jenna taunted.
“Hey! I told ya to not call me that!” the bully said, snorting steam out of his nostrils.
“O-okay, kids, let’s not take this too far-” Claire said as she stood between them, trying to defuse the situation. Unfortunately, her effort was in vain, as Brick had already started charging toward her niece.
“NEON PUSH!” Jenna shouted as she shoved her aunt out of the way before dodging his attack, making him slam head-first into the wall behind him. This shook the base enough to slightly tilt the satellite’s supports, which the Mastermind quickly caught and pushed back into place.
“Watch it!” the conqueror called out, only for Brick to already be too engrossed in the battle to listen to him.
Claire watched in horror as she saw her niece bounding around the room, firing off blasts of neon light at her bully, who refused to let up his assault. Unsure what to do without hurting either of them, she shouted “Jenna, come to me!” as she used her powers to block his path, only for him to effortlessly smash through the various items she put in his way, whether wood or metal.
“Don’t worry, Aunt Claire, I’m here to save the day!” Jenna proudly proclaimed, not at all worried about her predicament.
Brick’s feet were suddenly glued to the floor by a stray blast from the Neon Girl, covering him in more of that sparkly, sticky goop. He groaned in disgust, as he tried to free himself, not having much luck budging his stuck shoes.
“See? I told you! Neon Girl saves the day!” Jenna proclaimed, right before Brick ripped up chunks of the floor to finally walk again.
“Neon Girl’s gonna be a neon pancake!” he threatened as he charged toward her again.
The chase was back on, with both children keeping up their assault on each other. Claire finally got back to her feet and continued shifting around objects to try and keep her niece safe among all the commotion. No matter what was thrown his way, the young bully was relentless, plowing through the various neon blasts and obstacles that were sent his way, with Jenna continuing to leap around the base. As he kept it up, Brick wound up doing more damage to the base than the Mastermind had anticipated, with him doing everything in his power to keep the satellite from taking any more damage.
“Careful, you little twit!” the Mastermind shouted. “You’re going to ruin everything!”
“Wow, who could’ve seen that coming?” Ellen remarked, resulting in a sneer from her boss.
“You two get in there!” the Mastermind barked, pointing at the damage left behind from the bully. “Fix up the base before the launch!”
“Uh - On it, boss!” Marcus said before rushing onto the scene. Ellen followed suit less enthusiastically, letting out an annoyed groan as she left.
Claire was continuing to put up her best effort, making sure Jenna wasn’t hurt while lifting anything that was knocked over, something that was starting to tax on her. All Jenna thought about in the heat of the action though was how proud she would be after proving herself as a hero - once she got to that point. Brick wasn’t letting up his offense, charging through almost everything the Neon Girl threw at him, with her using an impressive display of agility for her age to retaliate further. Suddenly, a pair of shadowy arms reached out from the ground beneath Jenna, narrowly moving her out of the way of Brick’s charge, making him slam head-first into a wall instead. As Ellen fully revealed herself, keeping Jenna in place, the shelves began to loosen from the impact, which Claire quickly grabbed before they could fall over.
“Claire, take five!” Ellen called out, only to yelp as Brick came charging toward her. She turned herself intangible, causing him to run right through and slowly turn around.
“I got him! I think…” Marcus said as he got in the bully’s way. Brick could smell the Magman’s hesitation to actually do anything against him, which was also picked up by his cohorts.
“Hey, uh, maybe fight back, or something?” Ellen jabbed as Jenna tried to squirm out her arms.
“What?! No way!” Marcus said, putting up his hands. “I’m not hurting a kid!”
“Fine. More for me!” Brick exclaimed before headbutting Marcus right in the gut, knocking him down to the ground, and putting him into a leg lock.
“OW! UNCLE!” the Magman exclaimed as he started pounding the ground. “WHAT ARE KIDS LEARNING THESE DAYS?!”
His pounding created cracks in the floor that seeped over toward the support beams of the satellite, puddles of lava leaking out from them. Seeing Marcus in distress, Jenna felt more determined to spring into action than ever.
“Ms. Shady, I’m sorry, but - NEON STARE!” Jenna said before unleashing a flash of bright pink light from her eyes, blinding the shadow woman. She shouted as she covered her eyes, finally freeing the Neon Girl and allowing her to run toward the bully.
“Jenna, NO!” Claire said as she turned her attention away from the loose shelf, causing its contents to fall on top of her.
“Jenna, YES!” the Mastermind exclaimed, getting way too engrossed in the epic battle between children.
By this point, all three minions were struggling to keep the chaos from causing any more damage, whether to the lair or the children involved. Jenna’s strategy of firing off neon blasts wasn’t very effective against her opponent, and Brick could tell he was starting to tire her out. Eventually he caught up to her, dragging her with him to be pressed against the support of the satellite. Claire looked on in horror as the bully raised his fist against the helpless Neon Girl. However, this combined with Marcus’ lava cracks caused the satellite to finally creak and tip over, much to the Mastermind’s shock as he gasped, fearing more for it than anyone else. The two kids braced themselves as it’s shadow began to engulf them as it fell over.
It was at this moment that Claire decided to do what she should have done at the start of this week.
“Okay, enough. Is! ENOUGH!” Claire finally shouted, holding out her hands to telekinetically catch the satellite right before it could do any harm to the children.
“Claire! Put that down immediately!” the Mastermind ordered. “Claire?”
Claire, for once, didn’t listen to the alien, instead approaching the two kids and looking over them disapprovingly. She held an air of authority that was new to everyone, especially her, and it was definitely noticed by Jenna and Brick, looking up at her nervously.
“Jenna, I hope now you realize why I’ve been trying to keep you out of his way.” Claire scolded. “This is serious business! You could’ve been hurt, or worse! Especially with someone as unhinged as the Mastermind! You understand?”
“...Yes, Aunt Claire.” Jenna replied solemnly as the Mastermind was too busy looking at the satellite being flung into the air.
“Claire!”
“And you!” Claire turned to brick, making him flinch as she scolded him. “You came all this way just to keep picking on her?! Do your parents even know you’re here?”
“N-no, they don’t!” Brick panicked, holding up his hands. “Please don’t tell them! Please!”
“CLAIRE!”
“And don’t even get me started on-!” Claire once again turned around, but froze in her tracks as she saw the Mastermind scowling back at her and pointing toward the sky. Everyone looked up, seeing a massive hole left behind by the nearly finished satellite being flung high into the air. It was when it started plummeting back towards them that she realized she was no longer using her powers to keep it steady. “...Oh…”
Reacting quickly, Claire reached out, taking both children under her arms before clapping her hands together. In an instant, they disappeared, and Ellen wrapped her shadowy limbs around Marcus to phase him out of the bunker, leaving the Mastermind behind. All he did was just look back up toward the hole in the ceiling, seeing the satellite fall towards him, and sat down in defeat.
“I hate children.” the Mastermind sighed as the satellite finally crashed down.
KER-SMAAASSSH!!!
Outside the launch station, Claire had reappeared with her niece and the bully in hand, alongside her fellow minions having narrowly escaped, looking back at the wreck that remained. Without skipping a beat, Claire kneeled down to the children’s level, looking them over.
“Is everyone okay?” she asked with a tinge of stress in her voice.
“He isn’t.” Brick remarked as he pointed behind her.
She looked back, seeing the Mastermind slowly climb out of the rubble of his base, starting to stumble toward her with a groan. Claire braced herself, expecting the thrashing of a lifetime from her boss. He was about to do so, but instead just passed out, falling to the ground face-first. Knowing his cue, the Magman picked up his boss and carried him back to the lair, not saying a word as he cautiously tried to keep him from melting in his grip.
“...None of you are gonna tell my dad about this, right?” Brick said, his facade having fully dropped. “...Right?”
Day 7 (The Final Day):
Some time later, the Mastermind was busy recovering from another botched world domination scheme, and Brick had been sent home with his parents, who were appropriately not happy with him. And Claire was busy herself, tending to Jenna within her room, doing her best to make sure she was still in good shape.
“Okay, no bruises, scrapes, or noticeable emotional damage…” Claire muttered. “I think you’re all good.”
Claire could tell that she thought wrong, as Jenna was averting her eyes from her, a remorseful frown on her face.
“Th-there’s no emotional damage, is there?” she asked. “Jenna?”
“Are you mad at me, Aunt Claire?” Jenna asked, finally breaking her silence.
“Oh! No, sweetie, of course not!” Claire reassured. “It’s… It’s my fault anyway, bringing you into this… crazy place. It’s just… If you’re going to be a superhero when you grow up, you gotta understand that it can be a pretty dangerous job. Same with supervillains…”
“Mm-hmm… I understand…” Jenna said, lowering her head. “I’m sorry I got you in trouble, Aunt Claire. I just wanted to be a cool hero… Just like you.”
With a long sigh, Claire decided to ask her, “Jenna, you know I’m not a hero, right?”
“Yeah…” Jenna admitted, slowly nodding her head, much to Claire’s surprise. “But you are to me.”
Jenna leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Claire in embrace, catching her off guard even further. But it ignited a feeling of warmth within the psychic as she hugged her back, silently thanking her for the kind words.
“And Aunt Claire?” Jenna said, perking her head up. “I think you totally would’ve kicked Brick’s butt if you wanted to.”
Claire let out a snort, trying to hold back a laugh as they parted from the hug. “Well, from now on you just tell him I’m always keeping an eye on you.”
“Is that one of your psychic powers?” she asked.
“Our little secret.” Claire answered with a wink. Jenna let out a gasp of amazement before giving her a strong nod. “Think your mom will be here soon, so let’s get you ready to go, okay?”
Jenna agreed and jumped into action, changing her outfit from her Neon Girl outfit for the first time that week. An hour later, there was a strong, hearty knock at the door, one which Claire immediately recognized.
Answering the door, Claire greeted her cousin Rocky, aptly named as her inherited power gave her a rock-like surface over her hands. She was clearly still fresh off her big match, still sporting her boxing leotard and a golden championship belt around her waist. Jenna immediately ran up, giving her a hug around her legs.
“There’s my little superhero!” said Rocky, leaning over to hug her back. “How’re you doing? You have fun?”
“Yeah I did! And Aunt Claire taught me more about being a hero!” Jenna answered. “Did ya beat up that nasty Iron Jaw?”
“Oh, you know it, honey.” she said before turning to Claire. “Thanks so much, cuz! Sorry I had to drop her on you like that at work.”
“Oh, no problem!” said Claire. “She was no trouble at all.”
“A-HEM.”
Everyone looked over toward the couch, seeing a disgruntled Mastermind still recovering from his injuries, while he had E.M.I.L.Y. buff out his armor. He just stared back at them, narrowing his gaze, particularly at Claire.
“...Okay, maybe a tiny bit?” Claire corrected.
“GET HER OUT OF HERE ALREADY!” the Mastermind barked.
“...I’ll come over to you next time.”
And so, the young, aspiring hero had finally left, giving everyone some much needed peace. As much as they could get in Rottenheim, anyway. Claire probably felt the most relief out of anyone there, glad she no longer had to keep her niece out of her boss’ way, but still happy she got to spend more time with her over the week. She would take as much as she could get, knowing it was only a matter of time before she was dragged along for the next world-dominating scheme.
END.