Chapter 49

PHASE ONE…

Alexander leaned against the wall while he waited, slowly winding spools of wire around his arms. Now and then, a portal appeared and a pile of objects tumbled through. With casual effort, he scattered them throughout the hallways of the junction where he and Talia stood waiting.

It was chaos.

Finally, Augustus and Annie stepped through, looking around in awe, or perhaps confusion, at the bizarre mess he’d made.

“Which stage of mental illness is this?” Annie asked, gingerly stepping over a heap of cutlery.

Talia laughed. “He claims it’s all part of his nefarious plan.”

Alexander ignored them. “How’d it go up top? Any issues?”

Augustus sighed. “Snake monster. With seemingly infinite snakes until I blocked where the snakes were coming from. Once I got hold of her, I sent her across the city.”

Alexander nodded thoughtfully. “Not bad for a fight you went into with no intel. Good work.”

“My fight was a piece of cake,” Annie declared, crossing her arms and refusing to look at him.

“Didn’t you just say he used you to redecorate the walls?” Augustus teased.

“Only at first!” Annie insisted, her face reddening. She quickly changed the subject. “Anyway, what’s the plan now? Did you get what you needed? Are the Throne of Scales coming?”

Talia answered. “There have been sightings of a red dragon heading this way.”

Annie gaped at her. “He has another dragon?”

“He has at least five, but it seems he can only summon one at a time,” Alexander said, pushing off the wall. “Auggy, how many portals can you handle at once, and how hard would it be to keep one open during a fight?”

“Two,” Augustus said. “And not too difficult, as long as I don’t take any critical wounds or lose consciousness.”

Alexander clapped his hands once, wires dancing as he did. “Perfect. Here’s the plan. Place our escape portal in that maintenance closet down the hall.” He gestured to the corridor opposite the elevator. “We'll engage them here at the crossroads.”

Augustus opened the closet door and started conjuring the portal.

“Okay, but why all the junk, dude?” Annie asked, hands on her hips.

Instead of answering, Alexander held out his hand and concentrated. Metal lifted from the floor down every hallway. Tools, cutlery, chairs, tables, cybernetic machinery, pens, paperclips. An entire cloud of metal debris filled the open spaces.

“I’ll fill the halls like this, and slow Maximilian’s chains enough to make them useless.”

Talia nodded. “Cash won’t be able to use his speed properly, making it easier for Auggy. It’s an efficient plan. Two threats, one counter.”

Augustus shut the closet door and rejoined them. “The portal is ready. Only a couple of blocks over, but that should be enough.”

Alexander clapped him on the shoulder. “Your job is to disable Cash as quickly as possible. He’s reckless, and this mess should frustrate him. Take him out or send him to another floor. I’ll disable the elevator once they arrive, so he won’t be able to get back down easily.”

“And I get to deal with your girlfriend,” Annie said with a huff.

Alexander commanded one drone to tap her on the head.

“Ouch,” she yelped, rubbing at the spot.

“Yes, you get the honor of dealing with Julia,” Alexander said. “I don’t expect you to take her out, but contain her as best you can. If you do, I’m confident we can at least match the rest without the dragon.”

He gestured at the shattered windows and broken-down walls. “Auggy, you hold the left hall. I’ve cleared sightlines so you’ll have better coverage. Talia, same for you on the right. And Annie, you get the main hall between me and the elevator.”

Annie glared at him. “You’re enjoying this too much.”

“Guilty,” he said with a smirk. “Talia, grab what you need from Auggy’s closet. Draven’s your priority, but if you get a shot at Raelene, take it. We still don’t know what she can do, and that worries me.”

“You know what this means?” Annie cut in. “We need a fifth member. Otherwise, we'll always be outnumbered by the pro teams.”

“A healer would be nice,” Augustus said.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Talia murmured her agreement.

Alexander looked between them. “What? It’s not like I can just run down to the nearest Supervillains-R-Us and pick one up. We have standards.”

“What standards?” Annie demanded, arms crossed.

He rested his hand on her head. “At least this tall, for starters.”

She smacked his hand away.

“It’s an issue of trust,” Alexander said, turning serious. “We’ve forged our bonds in fire and near-death. And complicity. That’s not something we can replicate on demand. I’m not against it, but it won’t happen overnight.”

With a thought, he sent his drones to their positions. The two hand-crafted ones hid in corners of the side rooms, while the superior model stayed close to him.

After all, people say plans rarely survive first contact with the enemy.

“One last thing,” he said. “Fall back immediately when I give the signal. It’ll be me talking about setting off explosives and collapsing the building.”

His words met with silence.

“What? They won’t know any better.”

They all laughed.

Alexander finished winding the wires, pulled his sleeves down, and rubbed at his ear. He was picking up an irritating buzz from something.

His senses stretched upward through layers of concrete and steel, just enough to brush against the street outside. The faint signals of implants confirmed their guests had arrived.

He frowned. Three is two shy of a Throne, though.

“They’re here, but something’s wrong,” he said. “I’m only detecting three.”

“Can you tell which ones?” Talia asked.

Alexander shook his head. “No. Be ready for anything. They’re coming down the elevator.”

Annie took position ahead of him. Talia ducked down behind a broken section of wall, rifle trained on the elevator. Augustus mirrored her on the other side, wand at the ready.

Alexander lifted the debris field into place, filling halls and rooms with suspended metal. His Control was low enough that he couldn’t manipulate more than a handful of things at once, but his Output was already enough to hold tons with little strain.

One day, he would fly with Metallokinesis. He just knew it. For now, he was satisfied countering two dangerous threats with minimal effort.

Always good to have a backup plan though, for when things go wrong.

The elevator dinged. He shut it down, locking the doors in place. A surge of force blasted them open anyway, shoved aside by orange barriers.

Maximilian stepped through with a look of concentration. Cash zipped past him, only to skid to a halt at the sight of the debris-filled hall.

Energy fire lit up the hallways as Talia and Augustus struck in unison, forcing Cash to dive through a shattered window.

Maximilian layered more shields and advanced.

Where the hell is—

A hand clamped down on Alexander’s shoulder. Pain flared as Julia appeared out of nowhere, Draven stepping back and vanishing behind her.

Julia launched forward, smashing him through one ruined wall and into another. His shoulder dislocated on impact. He bit the inside of his mouth trying to hold back a scream. The debris field wavered as the pain almost broke his focus.

Dazed, he reached up with his good hand and grabbed her wrist. The buzzing in his ears grew louder.

“I’m sorry, Alex,” Julia whispered, pulling her other hand back to strike. She hesitated.

He grinned, blood staining his teeth. “Jules, going easy on me will get you in trouble.”

His favorite drone zipped around in front of her and unleashed a burst of metal dust into her face.

Alexander discharged his Electrokinesis at full power. Lightning arced into the cloud, slamming her back across the room. She crashed to the floor, screaming, trying to rub the dust from her eyes.

He forced himself upright and took a precious second to sweep the chaos with his hyperawareness.

Annie had stepped in against Maximilian. He was delaying her with barrier walls, and attacking using javelin-shaped barriers all at once. His chains struggled against Alexander’s grip, too sluggish to be useful. She was managing the onslaught well, still closing the distance.

Across the hall, Augustus blasted Cash with firebolts and the appearance of sudden portals. Cash adapted quickly though, zigzagging through gaps in the debris field with short bursts of speed while evading the attacks.

Talia and Draven had shifted to another room, their battle hidden from view, though Alexander could sense them.

Strangely, he hadn’t sensed Julia or Draven until Julia grabbed him. But even after Draven vanished, his presence had been detectable.

Focus.

He sent one drone to Augustus’s aid, turning it into a wrecking ball aimed at Cash’s head. The other joined his favorite in attacking Julia as she staggered to her feet, still blinded. Both drones slammed into her, one catching her jaw, the other her ribs.

Alexander winced at her cry of pain but knew it would take much more to keep Julia Delvane down.

He glanced at his useless arm. Using the wire wound around it, he yanked the joint back into place. Pain lanced through him, but he shoved it aside.

I wonder if my health insurance premiums go up from repeated injuries.

He dashed forward and drew a crackling tonfa in his right hand, then swung at Julia’s face.

Her hand snapped up, catching the weapon. Bloodshot eyes lifted to glare at him. Electricity coursed through her arm, but she ignored it.

“How are you just taking it?” Alexander blurted.

She didn’t answer, but her eyes betrayed her. He followed the glance to the elevator.

Raelene stood there, calm and safe inside the elevator behind Maximilian’s shield. She looked harmless, not appearing to do anything, but it was one coincidence too many for Alexander to ignore.

Looking back to Julia, her panicked face confirmed it. She lunged at him. A drone knocked her arm aside, while his favorite, reinforced by Metallokinesis, smashed into her head and hurled her through a wall.

Even with that, he knew he’d yet to do any actual damage. Except maybe for the eyes.

“Auggy, swap me with Annie!” he subvocalized.

Augustus blasted Cash once more, then spun up a portal behind Annie, linked to the one that appeared in front of Alexander.

Cash took the distraction to speed-slap the drone out of the air, then shoved his way through the debris at normal speed. He vaulted over the remnants of the wall, landing next to Augustus.

Alexander didn’t have time to see what followed. Annie hopped backwards through the portal, nearly colliding with him.

“Tag,” she quipped, spinning mid-stride and charging after Julia.