Brat Pack Issue #022: Back in Black
Kevin paced backwards and forwards, running a hand through his hair.
“You know why they’ve forgotten us?” Kevin asked. His teammates were seated in Fisher’s living room, the television playing softly in the background.
“We got our asses kicked.” Matt replied.
“That’s not it at all.” Kevin stopped pacing and leaned over the table. “It’s because we’re not out there. We’ve been sitting back and dealing with our issues.”
“And whose fault is that?” Mosley asked.
“Mosley, back off.” Katie said.
“No, let him say it.” Kevin said.
“You split us up. You gave the order to leave Ally behind.” Mosley stood up from his chair.
“I didn’t see you taking charge.” Kevin replied.
“You never give any of us the chance. You just start giving orders. This isn’t your damn basketball team!”
“Look, I made a mistake, I admit that, but we have to move on. Ally’s recovered, it’s time to go out there and remind everyone we exist.”
“Newsflash Jockstrap, Fisher and me have been out there all month. We’ve been fighting, we’ve been keeping the streets safe, or have you forgotten what this job is all about?”
“You think I don’t know why we do what we do?” Kevin leaned in close.
“You seem pretty damn worried about our public image.” Mosley bent across the table, until his face was mere inches away from Kevin’s.
“Someone has to be. The bad guys have to know we’re still here. We can’t just fight them as they show up; we have to be a deterrent.”
“Been reading Matt’s copy of Quoth the Blackbird have you? We need to inspire fear in our enemies. Of course we do, that’s what Fissure and me have been doing while you sit at home crying about your sponsorships.”
“Do you want to take this outside?”
“Damn right I do Jockstrap.”
“Guys, shut up and look at the TV.” Katie said, pointing.
The Brats instantly recognised Newport Beach; the teens had obviously spent much of their lives in the sand and surf there.
“What the hell is that?” Mosley asked.
“There’s more than one of them.” Matt added.
“Sea monsters? Seriously?” Katie said.
“Looks like it. It’s only half a mile away, let’s do this.” Kevin ordered.
<><><>
“Wait, so Katie can’t levitate anymore?” Mr Perfect asked.
“Nope. She was just really angry, so she overextended herself.” Mr Universe explained, the two sailing through the air towards the beach.
“Oh, damn. We could really use the extra power.” Mr Perfect said.
“On the bright side, it keeps her close to Ally. I’m not sure she’s ok yet.”
“I know what you mean. I can’t believe she changed her costume to all black.”
“Dude, that’s all she’s been wearing lately. Black everything. Even her hair.”
“You don’t think it’s too soon, do you?”
“We’ll find out. We’ve got her back. Better to find out now, against some mindless sea monsters, than up against a world-class supervillain.”
“Not like this will be a hard fight.”
“Exactly. We’ve got this.”
<><><>
The beach was cleared. The first thing Mr Perfect had done was distract the sea monsters long enough for Mr Universe to herd the bystanders off the beach, to the safety of the streets.
“The others are still a couple of minutes away.” Mr Universe said, spotting Fissure’s van a number of blocks away.
“Guess we’ll need to get started without them.” Mr Perfect smirked, as he stopped weaving between the sea monsters’ heads, darting for the nearest target and punching it in the jaw.
The sea monster roared in pain, but struck back, using its head as a battering ram, its long neck giving the blow enough power to send Mr Perfect tumbling through the air, splashing into the ocean.
“Ok, so you’re a little tougher than we thought.” Mr Universe quipped, before using his powers to lift a beach umbrella, swatting at the sea monster’s head with it. The monster squealed, confused by the brightly coloured weapon stinging its face.
“You’re just making it madder.” Mr Perfect said, as he sprang out of the water.
“I’m keeping it busy. There’s nothing else around to hit it with.” Mr Universe retorted.
“Go grab a car or something. I can’t do all the work here.” Mr Perfect ordered, as he landed on the first monster’s back, grabbing hold of its scales with one hand, and pummelling its neck with the other.
“Fine.” Mr Universe said, as he began searching for a parking lot.
Mr Perfect let out a shout, as the second sea monster grabbed his cape in its mouth and ripped him from its cousin’s back, tossing him through the air in the process.
“Oh, we’re going to fight dirty are we?” Mr Perfect asked, diving fists-first for the second monster.
He hit the side of the monster, and actually felt its ribs crack under the blow, as the monster shrieked, its tail lashing at the hero. Mr Perfect managed to dodge this blow, and grabbed the offered tail.
He grinned and took off into the air, straining to lift the monster from the ground, to no avail. He did managed to drag it a few yards, before the third monster slapped him with a flipper.
“Got things under control?” Mr Universe asked, as he plowed an SUV into the back of the third monster.
“I was just saving some for you.” Mr Perfect retorted.
“Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.” Mr Universe said, sending another monster reeling with a headshot from the SUV.
“Run into a little trouble did you?” Firestorm asked, as another sea monster burst into flames.
“We were just getting a handle on things, actually.” Mr Universe replied.
“I can see.” Firestorm said, eying Mr Perfect laying in the sand.
“We thought we’d save you some fight.” Mr Perfect said, using his powers to float to an upright position.
“We heard you the first time.” Belle said, as she started using her telekinesis to hurl rocks at one of the sea monsters.
“Looks like we arrived just in time.” Firestorm added. “Looks like you guys needed some saving.”
“We were doing fine.” Mr Perfect said, socking a sea monster in the jaw.
“Sure you were Diet Awesome.” Firestorm scoffed.
“Diet Awesome? What the hell?” Mr Perfect asked, landing another hard blow on the sea monster.
“Like Captain Awesome, only less awesome.” Firestorm explained, as another sea monster burst into flames.
“Oh, you of all people want to tell me I’m a knock-off? Napalm Junior?” Mr Perfect rendered his target unconscious with the third blow.
“Oh that’s it!” Firestorm shouted, advancing on Mr Perfect.
“ALLY!” Belle shouted.
The whole team looked at Ally, who stood frozen, as a sea monster was bearing down on her, mouth open wide.
“Teleport!” Mr Perfect ordered, but she didn’t budge.
“She’s not moving!” Firestorm shouted.
The sea monster almost had her in its jaws, as a dome appeared over her, the sand of the beach shielding her from her attacker. Fissure appeared next to it, his rocky armour making him strong enough to lay the monster out with one blow.
“See what you did!?” Firestorm turned back to Mr Perfect.
“What I did?” Mr Perfect asked.
“You’re fast enough to have saved her, but you told her to teleport instead.” Firestorm said.
“It was quicker.” Mr Perfect argued.
“Not if you’d moved quick enough.” Firestorm retorted.
“If I wasn’t being distracted, it wouldn’t have been a problem, would it?”
“So you’re putting this on me?”
“Certainly seems that way, doesn’t it?”
“Would you two shut up? We’re done here.” Belle ordered.
The two heroes looked away from each other momentarily, taking in the gargantuan unconscious bodies surrounding them.
“We’re not done yet. We’re only just beginning.” Firestorm cracked his knuckles.
“You want to fight? Here?” Mr Perfect asked.
“It’s about time we threw down.” Firestorm shrugged.
“Fine. Let’s get this over with.” Mr Perfect rolled his eyes, landing on the ground in front of Firestorm.
Firestorm shoved Mr Perfect, who barely moved. “This is going to be awfully one-sided.” Mr Perfect taunted.
“Stop it, now.” Mr Universe said, landing in-between the two.
“Or what? Back off you little geek, the big kids are talking. You can’t stop us” Firestorm said.
Mr Universe ignored Firestorm and turned to Mr Perfect. “Kev, you guys have to stop.”
“Hey, I was talking to you!” Firestorm shouted. “You’re too weak to stop us. Hell, you’re too weak to stop Gauss.”
There was a loud cracking noise, as Mr Universe’s fist connected with the side of Firestorm’s face, flooring the loud-mouthed hero.
“Oh, you’ll pay for that.” Firestorm climbed to his feet, but found his legs buried in the sand. He tugged at his bonds, but was stuck tight. “Fissure, let me go!” He shouted.
Mr Universe smirked, before taking off into the air in complete silence.
“Wait! Matt!” Belle shouted after him.
“Let him go.” Mr Perfect said. “Where’s Pixel?”
The remaining Brats looked around, but their dark-haired teammate was nowhere to be seen.
“She must have ran away. The fight was too much for her this soon, I think.” Belle said. “I can search for her if you want.”
“No, let her be. She’ll come back in her own time.” Mr Perfect said. “In fact, I think we could all use a little cooling off. We’re done for the day.”
With that, Mr Perfect took off, leaving Belle speechless on the ground, watching as he disappeared into the sky.

“You seem tense babe…” She said, sliding down from her perch atop him, and snuggling up to his body.
“It’s been a long couple of weeks.” Matt replied, still panting.
“The Gauss thing? Still?”
“Yeah… It was kind of a big deal… Captain Awesome had to come save us… I thought we were untouchable. I mean, we saved the Teen Dream Team from Arachnophobia that time… We kind of had it in our heads that we were above the whole ‘teen hero’ thing.”
“It’s not like you died or anything.”
“Well, Pixel was pretty beat up… She’s still recovering.”
“Didn’t Iaso heal her?”
“That’s not what I meant… It’s a psychological thing. She got tortured physically and mentally… I’m really worried about her.”
“She’ll get over it…” She snuggled closer.
“Yeah, I’m sure she will.” Matt replied, not sure he believed his own words.
<><><>
“Seriously, black!?” Mac shouted.
“I don’t see what the big deal is…” Dylan replied.
“Dude, my sister’s hair hasn’t been black since the day mom decided she was old enough to dye it.” Tom explained.
“So she went natural, what’s the big deal?” Dylan asked.
“And the songs she’s added to our setlist? Evanescence? Simple Plan?” Travis asked. “I can’t sing this crap!”
“Look, she’s got some stuff going on right now, so she’s a little dark… But she’ll bounce back. She’s a tough kid.” Tom said.
“What’s the deal with her anyway?” Jacob asked.
“It’s kind of personal.” Mac shot Tom a glare. “So we’d rather not share.”
“Oh, ok…” Travis said, a confused look on his, and the rest of the band’s, face.
<><><>
“They could have been the next Air Jordans!” Kevin complained.
“But they were called ‘Picture Perfect’… They wouldn’t have sold.” Katie replied.
“They’re being called ‘Awe-mazing’ now, because they gave the deal to Captain Awesome instead. And besides, you want to talk to me about bad merchandising names? What about ‘Belle-Bottoms’?”
“They didn’t want to renew the deal… Apparently we’re not relevant anymore.”
“I know. It’s like, one loss and we’re nobody again.”
“Yeah, we’re out of the Top 20 on HeroRater. Nobody cares about us.”
“HeroRater?”
“It’s some website Matt told me about. It gives a weekly ranking chart for all the heroes, based on their power, and what they’ve accomplished that week. There’s a Top 20 Teams chart, a Top 50 Individual chart, and a Top 20 combined chart. Before the thing at the school, the team was ranked seventh on the Team chart, and thirteenth on the combined chart. You and Matt were ranked at twenty and twenty-one individually, and Mosley was thirty-eighth. Now we’re off all the charts.”
“Wait, Matt beat me?”
“He is more powerful than you…”
“But I’m the leader.”
“Let it go honey.”
“Fine… Hey, have you heard from Mosley or Fisher lately?”
<><><>
“Three approaching your four o’clock.” Fissure warned.
“Thanks.” Firestorm replied, as he pivoted to face his targets.
He unleashed a massive fireball, engulfing all three men, burning their flesh and drawing screams from within the inferno. Moments lately, the flames disappeared as quickly as they materialised, and the three men collapsed.
“One more behind you.” Firestorm said.
“I know.” Fissure said, melting into the ground beneath him, and springing up behind the final thug, who he clubbed across the back of the head with his fist, crumpling the enemy to the ground.
“That’s a lot of men for just a bank robbery.” Fissure commented, looking at the pile of unconscious bodies they had left on the lobby floor.
“In this town, you need this many guys to make the heroes even pause. They don’t stand a chance.” Firestorm explained.
“Makes sense.”
“Besides, gave us some extra cannon fodder, to work out all the rage.”
“Rage?”
“After the whole Gauss thing. When I’m angry, I like to take it out on the bad guys, you know?”
“Of course. Makes sense.”
“And really, it was these guys, or Perfect.”
“Mr Perfect? Why?”
“He gave the order to leave Pixel at the school. It’s his fault.”
“But surely, he didn’t know what we were up against… He couldn’t have.”
“He still knew it was something big. We shouldn’t have left.”
<><><>
Ally skulked into the room.
“Wow… New outfit?” Dylan asked.
“… Huh?” Ally said, and looked down at her clothes. Black Chuck Taylors, black stockings, a black skirt, and a black t-shirt. “Oh… Yeah, I guess.”
“Are you ok?” Tom asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Ally replied.
“You sure?” Mac asked.
“I’m fine!” Ally shouted.
“Ok…” Tom said.
“Look, are we going to jam or what?” Ally asked.
“Sure…” Jacob said.
“Ok, My Immortal, from the top.” Ally ordered.
“On guitar?” Dylan asked.
“Just do it.”
<><><>
“So is Ally any better?” Kevin asked.
“I spoke to her yesterday… She’s still not her usual self.” Katie replied.
“Oh?”
“She’s sullen and moody. And she snaps. I don’t like it.”
“She went through so much… I can’t believe I let her stay behind.”
“Don’t go through this again. You can’t keep blaming yourself.”
“I was the only one who agreed with her. Everyone else insisted she either come with us, or we all stay. I gave the order.”
“No-one blames you for what happened.”
“Mosley does. Matt probably does, but has enough of his own issues to deal with. And Fisher probably just doesn’t want to question me, he’s weird like that.”
“Mosley’s an idiot. And Matt and Fisher don’t blame you, they’re reasonable people. They know you made the decision you thought was right, and they don’t blame you.”
“And what does Ally think?”
“What? She pushed you to the decision. She doesn’t blame anyone but herself. You need to get over it.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” Kevin stood up. “I got Ally into that whole mess. I let Gauss and Helix almost kill you. I led us into the most one-sided battle we’ve ever been in. I should have had a plan. I should have got us out of there. It’s my fault. I failed.”
Kevin stormed out of the room.
“Wait…” Katie said, half-heartedly, but only heard the slamming of her front door.
She sighed, as she found the key to her father’s liquor cabinet. She had finished her bottle of vodka the night before, and hadn’t had a chance to buy another. She’d have to settle for scotch today.
<><><>
“Did I tell you EB wanted me to be their spokesperson?” Matt asked.
“No you didn’t. What happened?” His lover asked.
“They gave it to Aperture. Apparently I’m not cool enough anymore. Aperture’s the new ‘cool geek hero’. Their words, not mine.” Matt replied.
“Oh, that sucks. There will be more campaigns, I’m sure. You guys will be back on top of the world in no time.”
“I’m not sure we will. It’s hit the team pretty hard.”
“You guys will bounce back, you always do.”
Matt was silent.
“I’m going to get a drink. Want anything?” She asked.
“No, I’m fine thanks.” He replied.
She shrugged, before climbing out of bed, and strolling across the room, completely naked.
Matt stared at the open doorway for a moment, before his phone rang. He picked it up, and read the caller ID before answering.
“Hi Hannah… How are you?” He asked.
“How am I? We haven’t spoken in days. How do you think I am? I’m worried about you.” His girlfriend replied, from across the country.
“Oh… Sorry… Just haven’t felt much like talking.” He said. “It’s been a rough couple of weeks.”
His lover stepped back into the doorway, the sultry smile on her face turning to a frown, as Matt turned away from her, giving all his attention to Hannah. She turned back around and left the room in silence. Of course he didn’t love her, he still loved his girlfriend, he just needed someone right now. That was the best she could hope for.