“Alright Brats, are you ready?” Mr Perfect’s voice buzzed through the radio. With the noise of the helicopter’s engines, that was the only way the team could hear each other.
“As we’ll ever be.” Mr Universe replied.
“The Boomers are already down there somewhere, but reports say they’re engaged with Castor and Pollux.” Mr Perfect said.
“They should be done with them by now. Castor’s power armour is kept at the Pentagon.” Mr Universe said.
“It is, but as soon as they were free, Pollux took down one of the guards. Guardian armour packs a punch, so Castor’s almost at full strength.” Mr Perfect explained.
“So we should help them out?” Belle asked.
“No, they’ll handle it. We need to get in there and stop whoever’s behind this before they release someone really dangerous.” Mr Perfect said.
“Are the Boomers the only ones down there?” Firestorm asked.
“The only team worth mentioning. Hire-A-Hero sent half their New York and San Antonio branches down here, but they’re getting trounced. Perdition is supposed to be tracking the guys that get away. There are two local teams down there, I can’t remember their names, but they’re small time. We’re needed pretty badly on the ground.” Mr Perfect said.
“What about Captain Awesome, or the rest of the LA office?” Ally asked.
“No word on the LA office, they could be flying out. No word on the Teen Dream Team or Hyper Girl either.” Mr Perfect said.
“Hannah’s trying to get a flight, but Hire-A-Hero wants to keep her in New York, just in case.” Mr Universe said.
“Damn, we could have used her. Or Stratos. Hell, even Rabbit and The Fog.” Mr Perfect said.
“What I wouldn’t give to have D13 watching our backs.” Mr Universe said.
“Amen.” Firestorm agreed.
<><><>
Mr Perfect and Mr Universe hovered above the ground, waiting for the chopper to land. The base looked deserted; there was no sign of The Boomers, or any of the other heroes. Even worse, there was no sign of any villains.
“Dusting off an old chestnut… It’s quiet… Too quiet.” Mr Universe said.
“All the low-security guys are probably all over the island by now.” Mr Perfect said. “Whoever is breaking them out will be inside. They’re our main priority.”
“You would think The Boomers vs Castor and Pollux would be pretty easy to spot though…” Mr Universe said. “But I can’t see or hear any signs of their fight.”
“The Boomers can take care of themselves. We’ve got to stop things from getting worse. First up, we need to know what’s going on inside.” Mr Perfect said.
“And you want me to use my powers to figure it out, don’t you?” Mr Universe asked.
“If you’re up to it.”
Mr Universe grinned. “I’ll manage. If I start to fall, try to stop me before I hit the ground this time.”
“No promises.” Mr Perfect replied.
Mr Universe closed his eyes and reached out with his powers. He could feel every piece of ferrous metal in the base. He could feel the electromagnetic aura of every computer, every wire. It took every ounce of his control to feel it all, to get an accurate picture. As sweat appeared on his brow, he began to see an image in his head, a perfect 3D image of the complex below. Every room, every corridor, every doorway.
“Ok, I’ve got a map.” Mr Universe said. “Crap, a polarity switched… Someone opened a door.”
“That can’t be good.” Mr Perfect replied.
“And there goes what I can only assume was a power inhibitor.” Mr Universe said.
“Crap.” Mr Perfect said, before letting out a few more choice curses.
They watched as the helicopter containing the rest of their team touched down on the ground below, and they glided down.
“We need to move. Universe can see the whole building, and someone’s just been freed.” Mr Perfect said.
“Yeah, first basement level. That’s high-security.” Mr Universe said. “And there goes another one. We’ve got to move, whoever is freeing everyone is just making their way from cell to cell. There’s another basement level after this, and then there’s one cell below that.”
“One on its own?” Belle asked.
Mr Universe nodded. “It’s surrounded by an electro-magnetic disturbance, it’s weird… Whoever is in there is heavy-duty.”
“Of course they are; this is Guantanamo Bay. Everyone’s heavy-duty.” Firestorm said.
Before Mr Universe could formulate a response, the side of the main building exploded outwards, showering the group with debris.
Standing in the wreckage was a lone man, wearing an orange jumpsuit. His long, wild black hair covered his dark face, a short beard framed his sneering mouth, and he had rage in his brown eyes.
“Uh-oh.” Mr Universe said.
“That’s Hadi…” Fissure said. “We need to stop him now.”
“No, really?” Firestorm mocked his teammate.
“Not the time. We need to take him down before he can duplicate.” Mr Perfect said.
Hadi began laughing, as his body split down the middle, each half regenerating into a full body, before repeating the process.
“Any more bright ideas?” Mr Universe asked, as he began tearing pieces of metal from the wreckage of the main building.
“Contain them!” Mr Perfect ordered.
“Saw that coming. Fissure, you’ve got the first layer.” Mr Universe said.
Fissure merely nodded, as the ground erupted around the four clones in front of them, encasing them entirely in stone.
“Firestorm, I need you to make the hottest fire you possibly can. Quickly!” Mr Universe ordered.
As Firestorm began building a raging inferno, Mr Universe began feeding steel into it. The metal melted down, and began covering the villains’ stone prisons. Mr Universe put layer upon layer over the top, until he ran out of material.
“I don’t know if it’s enough. Pixel, get Belle and Firestorm as far away as you can.” Mr Perfect ordered.
“What? Why us?” Firestorm asked, but didn’t get an answer, as he disappeared, along with Belle and Pixel.
“You guys know what to do? They should blow any second.” Mr Perfect said.
“Contain the debris.” Mr Universe said. “Fissure, can you get another layer on, just in case?”
The ground erupted, as the metal monoliths were encased in more stone. “I don’t know if that will hold them…” Fissure admitted.
The ground shook, as three of the casings exploded, sending rock and metal in all directions, as the two elemental controlling heroes fought to catch it all with their abilities.
Meanwhile, Mr Perfect inspected the fourth shell, as the projectiles bounced harmlessly from his skin. There was a huge crack down the side of it, but it was mostly intact. Mr Perfect grabbed both sides of the crack, straining to open it wider. A few moments of struggling rent the stone and metal asunder, revealing the unconscious terrorist lying inside.
By then, the other three members of the team had returned, panting from the run back.
“Ok, good call on getting us out of there.” Belle admitted, looking at the debris strewn around them.
“Yeah, not a huge fan of getting shredded.” Firestorm agreed.
“He’s out cold.” Mr Perfect said. “The clones destroyed themselves in the explosion, I think he was hoping to take us all out with the bigger explosions, and only blew himself up enough to open the shell.”
“Thank god we stopped him. Can you imagine if he got loose again?” Belle shuddered.
“The last thing we need right now is another Mall Bombing.” Mr Universe agreed.
“Ok, we’re going to have to leave him here, because we need to stop whoever’s inside.” Mr Perfect said.
“Someone’s bound to come across him soon. There are two more free since we started fighting him.” Mr Universe said.
<><><>
The team descended the staircase, and found the reinforced doors to the first basement were torn from their hinges.
“Ok, they’ve just reached the second level, but the last four guys they freed are still wandering around here.” Mr Universe said. “At least, we didn’t see them on their way out.”
They walked into the main hallway carefully, almost tiptoeing. They didn’t want anyone down here getting the drop on them.
They heard the laughter before they saw anyone. Deep laughter that the whole team recognised.
“Well well well. Of all the heroes to find us first… It had to be the Brat Pack.”
Belle and Pixel gasped, while the boys stood their ground as best they could.
“Nightfall.” Mr Perfect greeted the leader of the Order of Darkness. “Darktamer, Shadowjumper and Darklight… I should have known we’d find you here.”
“And at any other time, I would be happy to destroy you all, but we can’t risk the delay. We will find you though.” Nightfall said, his teammates bristling behind him.
“What do you mean?” Mr Perfect asked, ready to fight.
“We owe you for putting us here. Unfortunately, we also know that upstairs will be swarming with superheroes, and someone better will be coming right behind you. We can’t risk that fight.” Nightfall explained.
“You won’t need to worry about that fight, because we’ll take you down again.” Firestorm said.
“Only in your wildest dreams boy. At best you’d slow us down. And like I said, we can’t afford to be slowed down. Shadowjumper!” Nightfall ordered.
“Already open boss.” Shadowjumper replied.
“You haven’t heard the last of us. We will have our revenge. So long as those waiting below don’t get there first.” Nightfall said, as he and his team disappeared into the shadows around them.
“Did we just let the Order of Darkness get away?” Mr Universe asked.
“We did not just back down from a fight.” Firestorm said.
“We would have lost, and we have to get downstairs. Now.” Mr Perfect said.
“First cell is open.” Mr Universe said, using his powers to feel downstairs.
They heard the footsteps coming from below, as the next supervillain made their way up to the level the brats stood on.
It was the boys turn to gasp, as their opponent made her way up the stairs. Even encrusted in sweat and dust, and wearing an orange jumpsuit, she was stunningly attractive, the definition of a buxom beauty.
“Men.” Belle sighed. “Focus.”
“Oh we’re focussed alright.” Firestorm leered.
“That’s Extreme, isn’t it?” Mr Perfect asked.
“Yeah. This isn’t going to be fun.” Mr Universe said. “Brats, let’s do this.”
Before the fight could begin, Extreme fell through the floor, emerging an instant later from the roof above, falling through the hole in the floor again, in an endless loop.
“I think we’ve got things covered up here.” A voice said from behind the team.
“Man, am I happy to see you guys.” Mr Universe said, as he turned to see the Teen Dream Team standing behind them.
“Do you know how hard it is to get a flight to Cuba?” Aperture asked.
“Well, it is illegal to come here…” Belle said.
“Still, it’s a time of emergency and all that.” Cobalt said.
“Tell that to Hire-A-Hero. They wouldn’t send out the big guns.” Firestorm said.
“They’re still available for hire though. We shelled out for some backup. Hyper Girl is in Florida now.” Rose said.
“You didn’t bring her with you?” Mr Universe asked.
“Nope, she decided to hire some backup of her own. D13’s jet touches down in Miami any minute now. They’ll be here within an hour.” Balefire said.
“Just in time for cleanup. You guys hold the fort up here; we’re going to go stop whoever is doing this.” Mr Perfect said.
“No problem.” Rose said. “Aperture, you can stop the loop now.”
Aperture grinned, and his portals disappeared, slamming Extreme on the ground. “You’ll regret that.” The villainess said, as her bones cracked back into place.
“Doubt it.” Cobalt said, as he began his psychic attack on the villainess.
Aperture opened a portal in the wall next to him. “It opens at the top of the stairs; it’s the only way past her.” He explained.
“Thanks dude.” Mr Perfect said, as his team filed through, into the stairwell.
<><><>
They found the next doorway in pieces, much like the first, but this time they heard pounding, as though someone was trying to break the next door.
They rushed down the stairs and found at last found the perpetrators of the break out.
“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.” Firestorm shouted.
“Honestly, I’m shocked it took you this long to get here.” Helix said.
<><><>