Mr Perfect took a deep breath. Here they were. Moments away from the fight of their lives.
He checked the time. Two minutes to go.
“You guys ready?” He asked, looking back to his teammates.
Mr Universe and Belle both nodded sharply.
“I’m good to go.” Firestorm said, punching his left hand and grasping the fist.
“Yes sir.” Fissure saluted.
“I guess…” Stratos said. The newest member of their team looked nervous, standing there in his brand new electric blue and yellow costume.
“We’ll be fine.” Pixel said, patting Stratos on the back.
“Good.” Mr Perfect said. “Guys, this is the big one. We need to be our best today, or it’s all for nothing. Today we’re going to go out there and save the greatest team of heroes this world has ever known. We’re going to go out there and save the world.”
“We’re going to kick the Order of Darkness’ asses.” Firestorm agreed.
“This isn’t just a regular fight.” Mr Perfect reiterated. “Today, we’re going to Save. The. World.”
“This isn’t just about us kicking evil’s ass.” Mr Universe agreed. “This one’s about everyone we know… Everyone we love. We bring back the East Coast Boomers, and we’re changing the future.”
“You guys think I don’t get it? I heard Fissure’s big speech too.” Firestorm argued.
“Of course…” Mr Perfect said. “Not long now. Wait for my signal. Remember the plan.”
Mr Perfect looked out the window. Across the street, almost out of view, he spotted Cal Richards standing at a window. The leader of D13 gave a simple nod. He was in position.
Right on cue, a patch of absolute blackness appeared in the road ahead of them. Out from it stepped four of the most notorious villains in the world. The Order of Darkness.
Their leader, Nightfall. Capable of enshrouding any area in complete darkness, his mutant ability could stop light in its tracks.
Pitch black Darklight, super-strong and super-agile, the match for any hero.
Shadowjumper, his portals to the Shadow Plane made him the group’s transport, not to mention making him a powerful summoner.
Last, but certainly not least, was Darktamer. Born of the shadows, he controls and creates dark magics of a level beyond that of any human wizard.
These guys had been the bane of good for over a decade, and had beaten dozens of heroes, until their infamous defeat of the East Coast Boomers. And now it was the Brat Pack’s turn.
“Let’s go Brats.” Mr Perfect said, launching himself out the window, crashing into Darklight.
“What is the meaning of this!?!” Nightfall shouted, as he narrowly dodged a lightning bolt from Stratos.
Pixel appeared behind Shadowjumper and grabbed him, before teleporting him backwards, away from his allies.
“The teleporter’s out of the way. Let’s go!” Firestorm leapt from the second-storey window, his fireblasts slowing his fall enough to prevent injury. Mr Universe floated after him, the two moving to take on Darktamer.
“You children have no idea who you’re dealing with.” Darktamer said, as shadowy tendrils escaped his body, lashing out at Firestorm and Mr Universe.
Firestorm threw up a quick flame shield, whereas Mr Universe blocked the attack with a car door.
“You’ll have to try harder than that.” Firestorm boasted.
“If you insist.” Darktamer replied, drawing a magic symbol in the air.
Firestorm screamed, as the shadows erupted from his very pores, burning him from the inside. The pain was like nothing he had felt before.
Fissure leapt into action, wasting no time opening a rift in the road beneath Darktamer’s feet. The magician had to leap aside, to avoid being swallowed up. But the distraction wasn’t enough. Firestorm was still held in the wracking pain of the attack.
Meanwhile, Mr Perfect and Darklight were trading blows… And Darklight was winning. Slowly but surely gaining the advantage, Darklight was faster, stronger and more agile than the young hero. But Mr Perfect kept fighting. He couldn’t let his team down now.
“Just give up. I can make this quick.” Darklight said, following a particularly devastating haymaker, which staggered the leader of the Brat Pack.
“Give up? Clearly we’ve never met.” Mr Perfect replied, flying forward and planting an equally powerful blow to the supervillain’s face. Darklight was startled by the sudden attack, and was sent sprawling.
“Not bad. Guess I’ll just have to take it up a notch.” Darklight was on his feet again, and charging at Mr Perfect, hitting the young hero with a shoulder tackle that sent him tumbling across the street.
<><><>
“This is bad. This is very bad.” Tom watched the battle unfolding.
“What?” Mac replied, opening his eyes and looking into the street.
“Perfect’s down, Darktamer’s got Firestorm in some spell, and Fissure and Universe can’t do anything about it. And to top it all off, the Energizer Bunny here is running low, so Nightfall will be back in the fight any moment now. And I have no idea where Ally took the other guy, or if she’s ok.” Tom said.
“She’s fine. I know that much.” Mac replied.
“Shouldn’t you be using your powers to direct these guys?” Tom asked.
“Perfect knows how the battle goes… Up to a point. After that, all I see are jumbled shadows. He’s planned up to that point. There’s nothing else we can do.” Mac replied.
“So why are we here?”
“Support? And luck, of course.”
<><><>
“They’re getting their asses kicked. We have to help.” The newest member of the Dirty Baker’s Dozen said, pressing up against the window.
“No. We don’t. Mr Perfect knows the time we need to go down there. He’ll call us. Learn to take orders Epic.” Cal replied.
“I got into this gig to use my powers for good and all that crap. We can’t just watch this.” Epic argued.
“Mr Perfect has it under control. If we show up now, the plan goes to crap.” Cal said.
“It’s still no fun to watch.” Epic muttered.
<><><>
Ally appeared on the war-torn street, out of breath.
“They’re coming.” She said, simply, before disappearing again.
Darktamer smiled, his shadowy tendrils enveloping Fissure. “You children honestly thought you could beat us? Fools.”
“Who are coming?” Mr Universe demanded.
“Shadowjumper summoned something from the Shadow Plane.” Fissure said, struggling to be free of his bonds.
“I hope it’s a dragon.” Darklight said, as he grabbed Mr Perfect in a bearhug.
“It won’t be.” Mr Perfect taunted, as he writhed around in his opponent’s arms.
“What?” Darklight asked.
That’s when the ground started to shake. The steady beat of giant footsteps echoed through the city. From around the corner stepped two gargantuan creatures. Humanoid in form, they were composed of a wispy, yet solid shadow.
“What the hell is that?” Mr Universe demanded.
“That?” Mr Perfect said. “That’s the signal.”
Mr Universe broke into a grin.
“You all heard the man. Link, switch to communications, Belle get your ass down here. D13 start hitting stuff.” He ordered. “Sorry dude, got caught up in the moment.” He apologized to his leader.
<><><>
“Remember the plan. Let’s do this.” Cal ordered, as he and Lee turned to steel and charged through the window.
The team broke up into groups, and followed after, except for Link, Iaso, Psyke and Crackshot.
The Richards Brothers moved fast, grabbing Darklight’s arms and forcing him to let go of Mr Perfect. They then tossed him aside. Within moments, Pixel was by his side, and they were gone. Back to D13’s hiding spot, where Iaso was waiting to heal him.
Belle emerged from a nearby store, and began a psychic assault on Nightfall, throwing him off balance with her mental screams.
Melchior began weaving a counterspell, finally freeing Firestorm from Darktamer’s influence. Pixel had him out of harm’s way in moments. AV, Fuse and Tide took turns taking shots at the shadow giants, but barely managed to slow them down.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Psyke began using her telekinesis to throw rocks at Nightfall, who was unable to dodge them, due to psychic interference from Belle. Crackshot was firing his rifle at Darklight, but not even breaking the surface.
Epic doubled in size. Then tripled. He kept growing until he was as tall as the giants.
“How do you like me now?” He asked, swinging a massive fist at one of them.
“They can’t understand you.” Shadowjumper said, from his position on a giant’s shoulder.
“But you can.” Epic replied, swinging at the villain, who easily dodged the slow, lumbering blow.
The two giants began clawing at Epic, who screamed out in pain and began shrinking.
“Damnit! The rookie is freaking out!” Lee Richards shouted, as he began punching Darklight. The blows he rained down almost seemed to affect their target, and with help from Cal, the brothers managed to keep Darklight off balance through constant attacks.
“On it!” LatX said.
The lanky youth put himself between his frightened teammate and his pursuers, before stretching his body across the street, grabbing a fire hydrant on one side, and a lamppost on the other.
Arms flailing, the shadow giants fell to the ground, tripping over LatX’s elastic form. On impact, they dissipated into nothingness.
LatX moved fast, snapping back to his regular form, before tackling Shadowjumper, using his arms and legs to bind the teleporter.
Epic looked ashamed of himself, as his transformation returned him to normal size. “Sorry dude. First real combat…” He explained.
“No worries.” LatX replied.
<><><>
“Stop it. I’m fine!” Firestorm argued.
“I’ve got to heal you totally. There’s still burn damage.” Iaso insisted.
“Look, if you want to touch me, we can talk after the fight.” Firestorm leered.
Iaso’s face contorted in disgust. “Go.” She said.
“You love me.” Firestorm replied, before turning to Mr Perfect, who was waiting for him. “Ready?”
“One sec… I’m talking to Mac.” Mr Perfect said, before returning to silence.
“Ok…”
“Pixel, teleport Rabbit, The Fog and Stratos here. Stratos is almost done, and the other two are sitting ducks.” Mr Perfect ordered.
“Got it.” Pixel disappeared.
Mr Perfect turned to Firestorm. “We’re near the end of Mac’s vision. I have no idea what’s coming.”
“We win.” Firestorm said.
“Sounds like a plan.” Mr Perfect said, leaping out the window.
“We’re all going to die.” Firestorm yelled, as he followed after.
<><><>
“Foolish boy. Do you think you can beat the true master of magic?” Darktamer asked Melchior, who sweated as he produced another protective spell.
“If the true master of magic is getting attacked from all sides by multiple elements, yes.” Melchior replied.
Darktamer was indeed stretched thin, three spell shields surrounded him, one for Fissure’s earth attacks, another for the metal Mr Universe was pelting him with, and a third for Melchior’s magical attacks.
“Your fighting is pointless. I will defeat you all.” Darktamer shouted.
“Defeat this!” Firestorm was in midair, enshrouded in flame. He came crashing down on top of the evil mage. The two tumbled across the ground, sparks of fire and shadow erupting from between the two.
“You dare touch me!” A burst of black energy sent Firestorm flying through the air, Mr Universe used his powers to slow his teammate’s fall.
“I will destroy you all!” Darktamer was engulfed in a cloud of shadow. Moments later, it dissipated, revealing Darktamer encased in a full suit of black armour.
“Oh that can’t be good. Anything in your research you forgot to tell us?” Mr Universe asked.
“No sir. I told you everything I knew. I didn’t see anything about this.” Fissure replied, asphalt rising from the street to cover his fists.
“What’s the plan?” Melchior asked.
“Charge!” Firestorm ran towards Darktamer, who unleashed the might of his magic at the hero, in a ball of shadow. Firestorm tried to counter the blast with a fireball, but the ball continued to its target, striking him hard in the chest, causing him to crumple lifelessly on the ground.
A shadow appeared across the sun. Those assembled on the street looked up to see a swarm of flapping bat-shaped monstrosities flying towards them.
“Oh, you’re in trouble now.” Darklight said. “That’s a Black Swarm!”
“A what?” Mr Perfect asked.
“You’ll see.” Darklight laughed, as he grabbed Cal Richards and tossed him into the air.
The giant bats flew towards the hero, seizing him in midair.
“If that guy wasn’t made of steel, he’d be in serious trouble.” Shadowjumper said. “They’ll tear you all limb from limb!”
Nightfall began to laugh. “Stupid girl. Why would you use the same trick over and over? It only allows me to build a resistance.”
“Guys… My psychic scream isn’t working.” Belle thought.
“Yeah, we got that.” Mr Universe replied.
“Darklight, feed the girl to the Swarm.” Nightfall ordered.
“Happy to.” Darklight replied, knocking Mr Perfect out of the way and rushing towards Belle.
“Not so fast!” A car flew through the air, hitting Darklight in the head. Darklight wasn’t fazed, the car tore itself in half around the villain’s body.
“Mr Universe? Nice try.” Darklight stopped and turned to laugh at the hero.
“I stopped you, didn’t I?” Mr Universe said. “I guess it’s time for Plan C.”
“What?” Darklight, Mr Perfect and Belle said in unison.
“Yeah. It’s time to fight fire with fire.” Mr Universe smiled, as a shimmering hole appeared in the ground behind Darklight. “Darklight… Meet the Dark Rose of Blood.”
From the hole flew the leader of the Teen Dream Team, who wasted no time in wrapping her arms and legs around the villain.
“What? A little girl?” Darklight demanded.
“Not just one.” Hyper Girl said, as she followed through the portal, followed by the Teen Dream Team.
“Looks like the cavalry have arrived.” Aperture quipped, closing his portal behind him.
“No time for reunions! Hyper Girl! Universe! Into the sky with me. We need to take those things out!” Mr Perfect ordered, taking flight.
“You heard the man.” Mr Universe shrugged, following after his leader.
<><><>
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this.” Firestorm said, as he opened his eyes.
“We’ve just got to stop meeting.” Iaso replied, shoving the recently injured hero away from her.
“What’s going on down there?” Firestorm turned to Tom, Mac and Dylan.
“Nightfall is totally capable of using his powers… He just hasn’t yet. Shadowjumper summoned a bunch of giant shadow bat things that are really nasty. They tried to feed one of the steel guys to the swarm, but he’s made of steel, so that was dumb. Those dudes from New York showed up with Matt’s girlfriend, and now they’re all fighting. Except for the Emo Lolita chick, who’s just hugging Darklight. Oh, and Darktamer totally kicked your ass, and now Balefire, Fissure and like, half of D13 are attacking him.” Tom said.
“Yeah. We don’t suggest you try to fight him again. Maybe you should start picking off the swarm.” Mac said.
“Got a prediction?”
“Nope. My vision ran out like, two minutes ago. Something big is going to happen. Soon.”
“Stratos, any hope of lightning?” Firestorm asked.
“There should be enough static for one good bolt. Any requests?”
“You’ll see.”
<><><>
“I keep telling you… You’re a little young for me.” Darklight said, as he tried to shake Rose off.
“And I keep telling you, you’re not my type.” Rose replied, clinging tighter and tighter.
“Then why the hell are you hugging me?”
“You haven’t noticed it yet?”
“Noticed what?”
That’s when Darklight looked down at the arms around his neck. They’d turned pitch black, to match his own skin.
“What are you doing?” He asked.
“Draining your power.” Rose replied.
“What!?!” Darklight began struggling in earnest, but it was too late. Rose was too powerful, and he was too far gone to put up much of a struggle now. He fell to his knees, as his skin began to change back to normal.
Rose had never experienced anything like it. The sheer power this man held. The mere act of absorbing it was like pure ecstasy. She was almost entranced. It was unbelievable. She didn’t want to stop. Suddenly she felt a jolt, as she stopped absorbing his powers, and started absorbing his lifeforce. She hesitated. If she continued, there would be one less supervillain in the world. He had killed dozens. He was pure evil. He deserved to die. He had to be eliminated.
“ROSE!” Cobalt’s thought pierced her skull. “Let go!”
Rose snapped out of it, and rolled away from the collapsed supervillain. Cobalt rushed over and checked Darklight’s pulse. His heart was still beating, his breathing shallow.
“Oh my god…” Rose said, and huddled into a ball. “I almost… Not again…”
“Rose. Now is not the time to freak out. We still have three of the most powerful villains in the world right here. We can’t afford for you to go down. You’re probably the only one here that’s on their level.” Cobalt tried to comfort his friend.
“I can’t.” Rose sobbed.
<><><>
“Guys… I know they can’t hurt me and all, but it’s not really all that fun up here.” Cal said. “Doesn’t one of you want to free me or something?”
“We’re almost done. Just wait a sec.” Mr Universe replied, as he split two of the shadow monsters in half with a car door.
“Yeah. Learn some patience dude.” Hyper Girl replied, as she fried more of the Black Swarm.
“Guess I’ll do it myself.” Cal shrugged, before bringing his arms together, cracking the skulls of the creatures holding his arms, trying to split him in two. He swung forward and brought his fists down, cracking two more skulls. “See you guys on the ground.” He said, as he began freefalling.
“Guy couldn’t wait two seconds?” Mr Perfect asked, as he KO’ed another bat-thing.
“Guess not.” Mr Universe replied, cutting down the last one.
The three heroes floated to the ground.
That was when the lights went out.
“I have a bad feeling about this.” Aperture said.
“Thanks Han.” Mr Universe replied.
A shriek went out from within the blackness.
“There goes your psychic.” Nightfall taunted.
“Belle!” The Brats shouted.
“That’s right. Guess who’s next.” Nightfall replied.
Mr Perfect flew towards the source of the voice, crashing into Lee Richards.
“Keep trying.” Nightfall was further away.
Mr Perfect took off and flew towards the souce.
“Damnit!” Epic said, as he crashed to the floor.
“Fool. With this power, you don’t think I would have learned to throw my voice?” Nightfall said.
“Argh!” Aperture shouted.
“This just isn’t going well for you children, is it?”
“Turn on the lights. Fight us like a man.” Mr Perfect said.
“You’re allowed to use your powers, but I’m not allowed to use mine? Hardly fair, is it?” Nightfall said, as Fuse crumpled to the ground, letting out a whimper.
“We can’t see in the dark.” Mr Perfect continued.
“Neither can I.” Nightfall replied. A swift karate chop took Tide down.
Mr Universe’s eyes widened. “Link! Can you hear me?” He thought.
“I’m here. What’s up?” Link’s thought replied.
“I’ve got a message for Mr Perfect.”
“I’m enjoying this. It’s been so long since my powers were actually necessary. Every fight, all it takes are my allies. I rarely get a chance to do what I do best.” Nightfall paused, as he punched LatX between the eyes. “You are all helpless, while I simply take my time, giving you all a leisurely beating. It’s hardly sporting. But it’s still a fun enough game for me.” He lunged for Mr Perfect, who caught his hand.
“What!?!” Nightfall demanded.
“You said you can’t see in the dark. Which means you have to let some light through to your eyes. You’d be amazed how bright that little bit of light is to someone who’s in the dark. I didn’t get long to react… I only saw it an instant before you came forward. Super-reflexes are fun, aren’t they? I’m glad Mr Universe tipped me off in time.” Mr Perfect said. “Let’s see how you like being the helpless guy.”
He lifted the villain into the air, and slammed him down onto the ground. In an instant, the light flooded back into the streets. As the battling superheroes blinked the spots from their eyes, Mr Perfect dragged Nightfall kicking and screaming to Rose.
“Can you keep him out of the fight?” Mr Perfect asked.
“I… I’ll try.” Rose said, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“Thanks.” Mr Perfect smiled at the young teen.
Rose stared up at the young hero for a moment, before laying her hand on Nightfall’s face.
Mr Perfect stepped away. “Pixel! Start moving the injured. Aperture first, we can move more that way. Everyone else, let’s finish this.”
“Yes sir.” Mr Universe said.
“YOU’RE MINE!” Firestorm flew through the air from the second story window he’s been standing in, his momentum carrying him halfway to Darktamer. He hit the ground running, and continued his charge.
“Foolish boy. Surely you’ve given up.” The magician laughed.
“NEVER!” Firestorm shouted, as a lightning bolt arced over his shoulder and struck the villain in the chest, breaking a hole in his shadow armour. A flaming fist to the solar plexus followed it, sending Darktamer flying, his armour dissipating in around him as he sailed across the street.
“Don’t you ever f*** with Firestorm.” A fireball engulfed Darktamer for a second, burning him badly enough that he fell unconscious from the wounds.
The assembled heroes, and Shadowjumper, stared at the burning hero in disbelief.
“What?” He asked.
<><><>
“I’m out of here.” Shadowjumper said, a black portal appearing beside him. He leapt into it… But never got through.
Mr Perfect was standing on the rooftop, holding the teleporter by the collar.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He asked.
“Nowhere.” The villain resigned.
Mr Perfect laughed, as he slung Shadowjumper over his shoulder and flew him down to the ground, where Rose was finishing draining Darktamer’s powers.
“Holy crap… We just beat the Order of Darkness.” Epic said.
“Well, we outnumbered them by like, 6 to 1.” Mr Universe replied.
“Still…” Epic said.
“Don’t start celebrating. We’ve still got work to do. The East Coast Boomers are still in the Shadow Plane… And Shadowjumper here is our ticket to them.” Mr Perfect said.
“We’re going to the Shadow Plane now?” Cal Richards asked.
“Not you. I need you in charge here on Earth. I’ll take a team in with me.”
“The Brats?” Cobalt asked.
“Nope. Not all of them. I need some of them out here too. The media and authorities can’t be far away. No offense, but we’re a lot better known than you guys. They’re more inclined to listen to Mr Universe than Ossuary, or Balefire.” Mr Perfect explained.
“Then who’s going in?” Belle asked.
“Well, there’s me and Shadowjumper here.” Mr Perfect shook the man hanging over his shoulder.
“Lee Richards. I’ll need a hard hitter down there.”
Lee smiled and cracked his knuckles.
“Firestorm and Tide, fire and water. Long range fighters.”
“Of course. You just couldn’t survive without me, could you?” Firestorm boasted, while Tide just looked surprised.
“Iaso and Aperture. The Boomers could be injured, and we’ll need a backdoor out of there.”
“Alright, into the black!” Aperture said.
“Glad I can help.” Iaso added.
“Fissure. You’ve done all the research, and this is your mission. I want you down there with me.”
“Yes sir!” Fissure saluted.
“Stop doing that.”
“Sorry sir!” Fissure saluted again.
“And I’ll need a psychic. Cobalt, you’re up.”
“But aren’t you dating Belle?” Cobalt was shocked.
“Belle is also the best equipped to handle the media. I need her out here more than I need her in there.” Mr Perfect explained.
“What about me?” Mr Universe asked.
“You too. And you’re probably the most powerful one here… Except Rose… How is she?” Mr Perfect turned to the huddled up ball of darkness that was the Dark Rose of Blood.
“I’ve never seen her this bad…” Balefire looked concerned.
“Will she be ok?” Mr Perfect asked.
“We’ll take care of her.” Belle said.
“Good.” Mr Perfect said. “Shadowjumper, open me a portal.”
The villain cackled. “This is suicide you know?” He asked, as he opened the portal to the Shadow Plane.
Mr Perfect ignored him. “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s go save some heroes.” He said, as he stepped over the threshold, and into the darkness.