“We are re-establishing the East Coast Boomers.”
The sound-bite heard across America a week ago. The press conference was originally to announce Southern Cross’ return to Australia, following reports of an explosion in superhuman numbers. Southern Cross had let it slip that the team was splitting up. The assembled reporters had gone crazy, ready to begin their reports of a ‘Time Without Heroes’. The nation held their breath.
Talon spoke up, to reassure the public. “We are not going our separate ways. The Boomers will still be in operation. Just not all together.”
A reporter spoke up. “Does that mean what I think it means ma’am?”
“Yes. We are re-establishing the East Coast Boomers.” Talon confirmed.
<><><>
In the week that followed, the media and internet had exploded with rumours, theories and speculation regarding the new team line-up. They placed everyone from Captain Awesome to The Gibbon to Miss Liberty coming out of retirement. But the Boomers kept a lid on the situation. They instead announced another press conference exactly one week after the first.
Mr Universe was currently the odds-on favourite as a new member of the team. Matt had come into the city days before the press conference, to support Hannah. The press got a hold of him while he was foiling a bank robbery he happened to be passing by.
He denied the rumours, but the reporters wouldn’t let it go. He was forced to stop going out in his costume, instead confining himself to Hannah’s apartment.
“So they haven’t told you who else is on the team?” Matt asked, as the couple watched E!’s Top Ten Boomers Candidates for the fifth time.
“Nope. I mean, I know Talon will be leading it. It’s her team. And I can only assume The Freak will be coming back too.” Hannah replied.
“Maybe someone else from the West Coast team too? Like, for experience or whatever?” Matt said.
“But who? GL leads the team, Corona and Plasma aren’t going to be split up and Nymphette has about a million things going on in Hollywood.”
“Ok… Anyone else from Hire-A-Hero?”
“Nobody on the A-list… I’m not even sure why they’re taking me.”
“Because you’re awesome? Anyway, what about Perdition? He’s like, one of the top ten magicians in the world. Not to mention the whole half-demon thing.”
“And the only high level magician on the Hire-A-Hero roster, at any branch. They need him. Besides, the last thing they want is a ‘reformed’ criminal on the team.”
“Maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way. Forget about power levels. Let’s look at what we know. Talon is a tactical genius, martial-arts master and now a cybernetic badass. The Freak is a biologist, and about a ton of pure stone, who can bench-press a semi for fun. You’re an energy controller who has gone toe-to-toe with Radon a dozen times, can beat Arachnophobia in your sleep, and has survived an attack from Constellation.”
“So…”
“So what are they missing? Every team has an array of different powers. We complement each other, cover each others’ weaknesses. Mr Perfect and Fissure are physically strong. Belle is a psychic. Pixel is… Pixel. Firestorm, Fissure and I are all elemental controllers, capable of long-range attacks. Mr Perfect and I are commanders, he’s a leader and I’m a planner. Between the six of us, we’ve taken down just about everything we’ve come across. So what does your team need?”
“Well, like you said: a psychic. Maybe a magician, who knows what we’ll come across.”
“Cobalt? Or Melchior?”
“Doubt it. It’ll be bad enough having one hero on the team who has only been in the game for a couple of years.”
“What about that chick with the Silver Shoes? She’s got some fair magic going on.”
“I haven’t heard anything about her for years.”
“We’re never going to figure it out. We should just wait until the press conference tomorrow, like the rest of the world.”
“Hey, we already know more than the rest of the world.” Hannah smiled.
<><><>
Matt sat up the back of the press pool, trying not to draw any attention to himself. Hannah had managed to snag him a press pass, but it didn’t mean he looked like he was supposed to be there.
The capacity crowd of reporters and cameramen clamoured for a good view, as Talon stepped out behind the podium.
“Ladies and gentlemen. I present to the world, the new East Coast Boomers!” Talon said, to a thunderous applause, as the team filed out and stood in front of the crowd.
First was The Freak, the stone monolith stoic as ever. The least shocking member of the new team, the reporters had little to say. Next was Hyper Girl, who elicited a number of whispers, mainly referring to her age and inexperience.
From there, the surprises began. Following behind Hyper Girl was The Angel of Aquakinesis, The Mistress of Moisture herself, Nymphette. The woman voted Sexiest Superhero by Maxim readers two years running soaked in the attention, as the reporters began asking her about her modelling contracts on the West Coast.
Next was The Gibbon, who got little attention. The press had little interest in the low-profile hero, beyond speculation as to the Boomers scraping the bottom of the barrel in their recruiting. The Gibbon didn’t seem to care, he just looked happy to be there. Matt was happy to see him too, from all Hannah had told him, The Gibbon was a good team mate.
The final member of the East Coast Boomers left the press shocked and in awe, as they all fell silent.
Standing at six feet, three inches, with flowing blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, Thunderbolt stood before the capacity crowd, every inch the Norse god his predecessors were. One of the most powerful men on Earth, so long as he possessed the legendary hammer Mjolnir. Thunderbolt was the latest in a long line of heroes and villains to wield the ancient artefact.
“Any questions?” Talon asked; a slightly smug smile on her face.
<><><>
“I can’t believe they still think I’m on the team.” Mr Universe laughed, as he and Hyper Girl sat down in their limo.
“I know. They weren’t asking anyone else’s date if they were on the team.”
“Not even that girl Nymphette brought.”
“ScienceChick? Man, she’s not even on our level. She’s like a C-lister at best. She used to work for Hire-A-Hero.”
“No wonder I’ve never heard of her.”
“Oh, I forgot. I spoke to GL while you were at the bar with The Gibbon. The West Coast Boomers are signing up Jack Roman and some dude called El Grande Latino.”
“Man, why didn’t we think of Roman when we were thinking of magicians? But who the hell is El Grande Latino?”
“Some guy from San Diego. Super-strong. A young guy too. Apparently he and I are supposed to be learning from the experienced heroes. It’s a publicity move as much as it’s about our powers.”
“Makes sense. All this sensationalism in the press about teen heroes is out of control.”
“You do know you guys will get worse press now. They’ve got someone to compare you to.”
“I know, but we’ll graduate soon, and then we won’t be teen heroes anymore.”
“Always the optimist, aren’t you?”
“Sometimes it’s all you can do.”

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.” Firestorm shouted.
“Honestly, I’m shocked it took you this long to get here.” Helix said.
“I really should have seen this coming. They’re here to find a replacement for Gauss.” Mr Universe said, as he began gathering iron to himself.
“We don’t need to replace Gauss. We’ll be more powerful than you soon enough.” Helix said.
“What? Without Gauss you’re just another bunch of chumps.” Firestorm said.
“And without Mr Universe, you’ll just be another group of teen heroes biting off more than you can chew.” The Basher said.
“Good thing I’m not going anywhere then.” Mr Universe said, as he began raining pieces of twisted metal down on the Assembly.
Helix’s eyes glowed yellow, as an invisible shield appeared, stopping the rain of debris in midair.
“Not yet you’re not, but we know something you don’t know.” Helix taunted.
“And what would that be?” Katie asked, her eyes glowing pink, as she attempted an assault.
“Honestly girl, didn’t you learn last time?” Helix’s eyes began glowing again, as the psychics began their battle of wills.
The concrete began tearing itself from the walls and floor, as Fissure encased himself in it, building a suit of armour and charging forward to meet The Basher, the two going blow-for blow.
Firefly launched a fireball at the distracted Belle, but Firestorm’s own fire control powers stopped it dead in its tracks, as the two family members locked up, testing each others’ powers.
Redemption and Mr Perfect clashed in the middle, the cybernetic villain had a slight power advantage, but Mr Perfect had the experience edge. It was a fair fight.
Pixel retreated into a back corner, faced with the very likely possibility she would be facing Helix in battle, she froze up, huddling up on the ground.
“Daytripper, move downstairs and release Constellation, we’ll hold them here.” Helix ordered, his powers still actively fighting Belle.
“I was rather partial to standing here twiddling my thumbs, actually Helix. Don’t ever try to order me around again.” Daytripper said, before disappearing…
… And reappearing on the opposite side of the room, next to Mr Universe.
“Yeah, I can’t let you go down there, especially now that I know who they’re keeping down there.” Mr Universe said.
“What? How?” Daytripper stammered.
“I figured out why downstairs had an electromagnetic barrier around it. It stops people from teleporting in and out. So I copied the effect. You’re not going to get anywhere near that cell.” Mr Universe said.
“You can only catch me if you know where I’m going.” Daytripper said, as he disappeared again, reappearing several yards away. “I…” He disappeared again. “Could…” He reappeared next to Firestorm and Firefly for a moment. “Go…” Back next to Mr Universe again. “Anywhere.”
“Oh, that complicates matters.” Mr Universe said, as he began to try to match his adversary’s movements.
Meanwhile, Belle was fighting a losing battle against Helix, the two doing battle within their own minds. Belle knew she didn’t stand a chance against the much more experienced and powerful psychic, and Helix knew it too.
“You’re pathetic.” Helix taunted. “You have no place in our future.”
“What do you know about the future?” Belle asked.
“More than you. More than your friend has told you. We have our ways.” Helix said, as he launched a final assault, destroying Belle’s makeshift defences.
“NO!” She screamed, as she felt Helix’s mind within her own, as it began to open her every memory, poised to destroy them each, one by one.
Belle collapsed, she couldn’t take the strain anymore, there was no fighting it, just acceptance.
“Pathetic. If I didn’t know you were necessary in the future, I would kill you now, you know that?” Helix said, standing over the young psychic. “But that’s not to say I won’t have my fun first.”
Belle felt his psychic probe within her mind again, as Helix began planning his torture. She heard a faint rush of air, as Pixel appeared in the air above Helix, dropping down on top of him, the two crashing to the ground as one tangled mess.
“You dare!” Helix snarled. “You of all people!?”
“It’s not going to happen again.” Pixel replied, blasting Helix in the face with her flare.
“I don’t need to see you to attack you!” Helix threw Pixel across the room with his telekinesis, but she teleported before hitting the wall, dropping down on top of Helix, before scratching and clawing at him.
This time he tossed her up at the roof, but she teleported back to the ground, kicking at Helix, who tripped her with his powers, but found she was now on the other side.
“That’s it!” Helix was enraged, directing his telepathic powers at Pixel, but encountering a barrier. “What!?”
“Yeah, guess who got her second wind.” Belle said.
“No matter, you won’t ever defeat me.” Helix said, as he began breaking down her defences again.
“Probably not, but I don’t need to.” Belle said, as Pixel grabbed Helix and teleported him to the top of the staircase, rolling him down before he could gather his telekinetic might to break his fall.
He came to a stop at the bottom, unconscious, bruised and bleeding.
“Pixel’s back, bitch.” Belle said.
“You did not just paraphrase Britney Spears.” Pixel said.
“Yeah, she’s back alright.” Firestorm said, as he reached down and checked that he’d left Firefly breathing, after a wicked right hook.
With the numbers strongly in their favour, it didn’t take the Brat Pack long to finish the battle, Belle took down Daytripper with a psychic scream, freeing Mr Universe to team up with Mr Perfect against Redemption, while Firestorm helped Fissure stop The Basher in his tracks.
“What the hell could have possessed these guys to want to free all these villains?” Belle asked, as she wiped the sweat from her brow.
“Carmichael, of course.” Fissure said.
“Yeah. Without the Time Without Heroes, he doesn’t have a shot at the election. So instead of having less heroes, he creates the same effect by bringing in more villains.” Mr Universe said.
“That makes more sense than I would like it to.” Belle said.
“Right. With the Order of Darkness, Castor and Pollux, Hadi, Extreme, Constellation and who knows who else on the loose, any hero could die in battle, and even if they don’t, the country will need an extra super-team… Like US Force.” Mr Perfect said.
“Well, we stopped Hadi, hopefully the Teens stopped Extreme, and the Boomers should have stopped Castor and Pollux. And the Assembly never freed Constellation, thank god for th-… Oh no…” Mr Universe’s eyes widened. The electromagnetic field was gone from around the cell below, and he couldn’t feel any electricity flowing either.
Helix’s laughter filled the corridor. “It’s amazing what my telekinesis can do, when I set my mind to it.”
“What?” Mr Perfect asked.
“He’s released Constellation.” Mr Universe moaned.
“How? He was unconscious a moment ago!” Belle asked.
“My subconscious is much more powerful than you can imagine.” Helix said.
“Wait, if he’s free, why isn’t he up here?” Pixel asked.
“He’s recovering. Do you know how they kept him contained?” Helix asked. “Of course not, it was classified. They discovered that if his body took enough damage, his super healing-factor would put his body into shutdown in order to repair him. So they used all the resources they had to make a hole in his skin. A hole big enough to get a hypodermic needle through. It took help from Thunderbolt to drive it in there. The needle has been pumping sulphuric acid into his veins for almost five years. And any moment now, he will have recovered.”
“We need to get out of here, now!” Mr Perfect shouted. “Fissure?”
“I can earth-port the team maybe half a mile, no more.” Fissure said.
“It’ll have to do. Everyone, grab on to Fissure.” Mr Perfect ordered.
The team was swallowed into the concrete and disappeared, as Helix struggled to awaken Daytripper.
<><><>
“Who took down Hadi!?” AV asked, checking the villain’s pulse.
“Judging from that metal and rock shell you just pulled him out of, I’d say the Brats were here.” Cal Richards replied, as he joined his team-mate. “We should find them; see if they need any help.”
“Matt said they’d be heading straight for the source, so they’re probably inside.” Hyper Girl said.
“Codenames!” Tide shouted, shooting Hyper Girl a glare.
“Right. Sorry.” Hyper Girl replied. “Mr Universe said they’d find who was doing the breaking out, and try to stop them.”
“We need to head down there now. Hyper Girl, Tide, Lee, AV and Fuse, you’re with me. The rest of you start searching up here, I want survivors, or any villains that are hiding, found.” Cal ordered.
“Does anyone else feel a rumbling?” LatX asked, as the ground shook.
“What the hell is going on down there?” Psyke added.
“Melchior, what can you do about protection spells for the team up here?” Cal asked. “We have no idea what you’ll find.”
“All my defensive magics are stationary.” Melchior replied, as a figure erupted from the ground, showering everyone with rocks and dirt.
“Melchior, get that shield up! Now!” Cal ordered, as he realised just who had appeared in front of them.
Hyper Girl, on the other hand, had no idea who she was facing, as she flew up to meet him..
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” She asked, blasting at the escaped convict.
“You are the best they send against me? You are not worth my time!” Constellation shouted, before unleashing a wave of energy, engulfing everything within a hundred yards in a bright, white light.
<><><>
When Hyper Girl came to, she found herself on a stretcher in a medical tent, along with half of D13.
“What happened?” She asked Link, who was covered in minor burns.
“You tried to take on Constellation, that’s what.” Link replied.
“I did what now?” Hyper Girl asked.
“You tried to take on Constellation. He unleashed some kind of energy attack. Melchior’s shield barely saved us, and the Richards brothers blocked out most of the rest of the team.” Link explained.
“And I had my shield up when I went to face him. That was Constellation? Wow.” Hyper Girl said.
<><><>
“Cal and Lee are still out of it.” Belle confirmed. “But they’re dreaming, so they should be fine. They just took one of Constellation’s attacks head on. They’re lucky they didn’t die.”
Mr Perfect and Mr Universe both nodded. “We’re lucky Perfect thought to get us out of there before he escaped. The Teens had to dig themselves out when the basement collapsed.” Mr Universe said.
Mr Universe moved across the tent, to where Iaso sat beside Tide, using her healing abilities to repair the horrific burns to most of her body.
Tide’s eyes opened, and she looked up at Mr Universe. “Matt?” She smiled. “I knew you’d be ok.”
“Shh… You need your rest.” Mr Universe said. “And what did I tell you about codenames?” He laughed, brushing the hair out of her face.
“You should probably remind your girlfriend about that one too.” Tide said.
“Oh crap… Hannah!” Mr Universe said; rushing out of the room, as Tide stared at him wistfully.
<><><>
“I’m telling you, I’m fine!” Hyper Girl said.
“I know, I just worry. Tide has third degree burns to most of her body, you took it full force, with only your shield to protect you. You should just stay on that stretcher for a while, at least until the Army doctor checks you out.” Mr Universe said.
“I’m ok. I’m a tough girl, I can take it.” Hyper Girl laughed.
“Judging from what you did out there, I don’t doubt it.”
The couple looked at the tent opening to see GL standing there, Talon close behind.
“Sir. Ma’am.” Mr Universe bowed his head, not making eye contact with his heroes.
“Mr Universe, we’d like a moment with Hyper Girl, do you mind?” Talon asked.
“No problem ma’am.” Mr Universe said, springing to his feet.
“We need to have a chat anyway.” Belle had followed the leaders of the Boomers into the tent.
<><><>
“What do we need to have a chat a-“ Mr Universe was cut off by the huge slap Belle laid on him.
“Would you mind telling me exactly what the hell was going on back there?” Belle demanded.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Mr Universe asked, clutching his stinging face.
“With Tide! I don’t need my powers to see it.” Belle shouted.
“Keep it down.” Mr Universe said. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“The concern. The touching. The way she looked at you when you left. You’re cheating on Hannah.”
“I… But…” Mr Universe sighed. “You don’t get it.”
“Try me.” Belle demanded.
“I love Hannah. Don’t doubt that for a moment. But it’s different with Adrienne…”
“I noticed you were on a first name basis back there.”
“She wanted me. You understand that? She chased me.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“You don’t get it. You wouldn’t. All my life, I’ve been invisible. Girls ignored me. I wanted them, they didn’t care. This is the first time that any girl has wanted me first. And only the second time that any girl has ever loved me at all.”
“So just because she’s crushing on you, it’s ok to cheat on your girlfriend?”
“No… Of course not. I didn’t mean to…”
“Then how could you?”
“It was after the Assembly trounced us. I was devastated. We all were. You remember what it was like.”
“I do, but I didn’t do anything that stupid.”
“Didn’t you? Mosley and Fisher both fought it out, Kevin just focused on being better, Ally broke down. What did you do?”
“… I… This isn’t about what I did.”
“Isn’t it?”
“No. This is about you and Hannah, and that slut.”
“Don’t even. You want to talk about this? Fine. I want to talk about your drinking.”
“What? There’s nothing to talk about!”
“Then there’s nothing to talk about here either.” Mr Universe stormed away.
<><><>
Hyper Girl sat on her bed awestruck, as Mr Universe stepped back into her tent, having composed himself.
“What’s wrong babe?” He asked.
“Nothing’s wrong.” Hyper Girl said.
“What did GL and Talon want?”
“Talon’s moving back to New York, and she’s going to be starting a new East Coast Boomers.”
“But what does that have to do with you?”
“They want to buy out my Hire-A-Hero contract.”
“You mean…?”
“Yeah. I’m going to be a Boomer.”