“This is like taking candy from a baby.” Pollux said, as he crashed through the bank wall.
“You said it bro.” Castor said, as he followed behind.
The brothers looked up at the vault before them. “You’re gonna have to take this one.” Pollux said.
Castor’s main cannon began to hum, as it charged its blast. “This is gonna be a big one.” Castor said.
“It’ll have to be.” Pollux said.
Beneath his helmet, Castor smiled. His cannon had reached maximum charge. He braced himself, and unleashed the blast. The air all around him sizzled, as the hot plasma arced out of the cannon and hit the vault door, which vaporised before them. As the smoke cleared, the brothers were surprised to find that the blast had barely left a scratch on the vault door.
“What the hell?” Castor was stunned. Nothing had ever stood up to his blast.
Pollux grabbed the nearest security guard. “WHAT IS IT!?” He demanded, screaming in the man’s face.
The man looked like he had just relieved himself. “… It… It’s… Some new security system. Nothing can break through it. Five Star Technologies installed it a month ago.”
Pollux tossed the man aside, his body hit the ground with a loud thud. “What now?” Pollux asked, not giving the motionless body of the man any more thought.
“We try again.” Castor already had another blast charged, which he unleashed directly at the same point as the first.
The vault door had a crack in it now. “That’s more like it!” Pollux said. “Now we just need to pull it open.”
Castor nodded, and the brothers each grabbed hold of one side of the crack, and began straining, as the vault door shifted, the crack widening a few inches at a time, until finally it was wide enough for the brothers to walk through.
“Piece of cake.” Pollux said.
“Not so fast.”
The twins turned to see Mr Perfect standing in front of them, the rest of the Brat Pack close behind.
“The Brat Pack? You’ve got to be kidding.” Castor said.
“Yeah, what happened? Did daycare let out early?” Pollux asked.
“Come on. We’re clearly all adults.” Pixel said.
“Says the youngest…” Firestorm muttered, earning a punch in the arm from Pixel.
“Guys. Professional.” Mr Perfect hissed.
“Oh this is too precious.” Castor said. “You think you can play with the big boys?”
“I think we need to teach them a lesson.” Pollux said.
“Brats! Let’s do this!” Mr Perfect said.
The teen heroes charged forward, all guns blazing. The villains laughed, as Pollux’s natural invulnerability soaked up the brunt of the attacks, while Castor’s power-armour’s forcefield deflected the rest.
“You’re gonna have to do better than that kids.” Pollux said, as he cracked his knuckles. “But it’s too late.” The larger of the brothers rushed to meet his opponents, arm swinging. His blow caught Fissure’s armoured form, cracking through the rock and concrete and driving the hero straight into Mr Perfect. The two continued in their path, Pixel narrowly teleporting out of the way, before they came to a rest, hitting Firestorm and landing in a tangle on the ground.
“Worst idea ever.” Ice Princess remarked, as Pixel appeared next to her.
“Plan B.” Blackbird said, tossing a small electronic device at Castor. The device ignored the armour’s forcefield, and latched directly onto the carapace.
“What th-“ Castor’s voice amplifier was cut off.
“Bro?” Pollux asked.
Castor’s voice was faint, but could be heard from within the armour. “My armour’s been shut down!”
“Oh hell yeah!” Firestorm shouted.
“What did you do!?” Pollux was enraged, turning to face the heroes, who were back on their feet, if a little shakier than before.
“My mentor had a backup contingency in case of anything. That includes the possibility of The Junker going rogue.” The Blackbird said.
“IP, start icing the floor. Fissure, Firestorm, start hitting Castor with everything you’ve got. It shouldn’t take long to break that tin can open now.” Mr Perfect said.
A light fog began to form around Ice Princess, before condensing onto the ground and then freezing, the ice patch increased in radius at an alarming rate.
Meanwhile, Fissure began seizing chunks of rock from the piles of debris that surrounded them, and tossing them at Castor’s motionless figure. Firestorm followed in suit, his fireballs sailed through the air towards the trapped supervillain. Pollux was too quick, he was in front of his brother, absorbing the attack before it could hit the helpless Castor.
“You’re all going to pay.” Pollux shouted, as he lifted his brother over his shoulder and began to run, ducking and dodging out of the way of the oncoming attacks, more to protect his brother than himself. It didn’t take him long to hit a patch of ice and slip over though, his brother went sailing through the air, as Pollux rolled across the ground.
Mr Perfect seized his opportunity to grab Castor, carrying him into the air, and away from his brother’s protection. “We’ve got this one in the bag Brats, keep Pollux off his balance.” He ordered from the sky.
Pollux was enraged, as he fought to regain his footing, unable to get a solid stance on the icy floor. This was not helped by the constant bombardment from Fissure and Firestorm, only serving to anger the giant further.
“I’m going to kill you!” He raged, as he finally reached his feet again.
“Bring it on.” Pixel said, taunting Pollux from twenty feet away. The villain charged, slipped and hit the ice, sliding straight through the space Pixel had been standing in moments before, until she had teleported to the other side of the room.
“Good job guys. Keep it up, he can’t fight forever.” Mr Perfect said.
“He won’t need to.” Castor said.
“What?” Mr Perfect asked, as Castor’s weapon began to hum
“Your little jammer was broken when I hit the ground. My suit has been rebooting.” Castor said, as he fired a blast at Pixel, who barely had time to teleport out of the way. Castor followed that up with a punch to Mr Perfect, sending the near-invulnerable hero spiralling out of control, the pair crashing into the vault door before Mr Perfect let go of his enemy.
Castor landed beside his brother and helped him to his feet. He then blasted the ground, melting the ice around them.
“We’re going to end you.” Castor said, as his blaster began to hum again.
Mr Perfect struggled to his feet. “We have to finish this.”
“No we don’t.” Blackbird said.
“You’re going to retreat? Good luck.” Castor said.
“No. We just need to hold you for a minute or so.” Blackbird said.
“What?” Mr Perfect was as stunned as the twins.
“The Sonic Boom took off from Las Vegas about ten minutes ago. The West Coast Boomers defeated Apophis. Hell, GL is probably around the corner.” Blackbird said.
“Oh hell yes. The cavalry is on its way!” Firestorm shouted, as he threw a volley of fireballs at Castor, who ignored them.
“Screw that.” Pollux said.
“Amen.” Castor said, as he took off into the air, Pollux running as fast as he could to escape.
The Brats looked at the wreckage around them. It was going to be a long day.

Ally slammed her fists into the punching bag, one after the other, as Fisher looked on.
“No… Hold it like this.” Fisher said, grabbing her arm and changing its position. “If you start here, you get more power.”
Ally nodded, and tried again.
“Much better. Can you feel how much harder you’re hitting it?” Fisher asked.
“Yeah. Thanks.” Ally said, slightly out of breath from the hour she had spent in the gym.
“Personally I think it’s about time we did this. The team needs proper combat training. Mag…” Fisher paused for a moment. “… Miss Liberty made sure all of our team knew how to fight properly.”
Ally looked at her oldest teammate thoughtfully. “You miss her, huh?”
Fisher looked away. He was not an emotional person, and he wasn’t about to start now.
Before Ally could push him for an answer, Mosley walked in. “Clear the way. I’m going to hit something.” He announced.
Fisher took a step back, while Ally darted the other way. Mosley let out an animalistic roar, before slamming the punching bag as hard as he possibly could, following it up with another blow, and another and another.
“You know how much energy you’re wasting with those punches?” Fisher asked.
Mosley glared at him. “I’m not here for a lesson, I’m here to release some anger.” He turned and punched the punching bag again, letting out another scream.
“Don’t you usually just go on patrol when you’re mad?” Ally asked.
“Don’t you usually dress in black and get all emo after Gauss attacks you?” Mosley asked.
Ally’s face fell, and she ran out of the room. “Ally…” Mosley said; the regret obvious in his voice.
Fisher just shook his head.
<><><>
Kevin rubbed his eyes, his hand grazed the stubble that was accumulating on his face. He was tired, but he shook it off. He had work to do.
He stared at the computer screen, the familiar black and white of Wikipedia stared back at him. The world’s information at his fingertips. Everything he could ever want to know, right there. It was about time he put it to use.
He had spent days, ever since that night with Puck, over a week doing nothing but research. He had missed classes, practice, everything. None of that was important.
What was important was the lives he was going to save, the villains he was going to defeat. He was finally doing his job as leader. He was supposed to know all about all their opponents. He was supposed to be prepared. He had to know it all. Every strength, every weakness. He had to have a plan for every one of them. Gauss, Constellation, even Emcee. He had to know them all. He couldn’t risk the team. He couldn’t risk the innocent lives that could be lost because of him. It wasn’t enough to rely on Fisher anymore. It was finally time for him to step up and face his responsibility.
And so he sat there, reading pages about The Chronomancer, and Arachnophobia, into the early hours of the morning, until he fell asleep at his desk.
<><><>
Blackbird’s Nest came to life. The computer systems whirred, as lights flashed and screens glowed. The Blackbird walked through the main door. “Computer, run a full police scan.”
“Yes sir.” The computer said, in its calm, monotone voice. “Scan complete. Four armed robberies in progress. Two within range. You can reach one before the police arrive.”
“Transmit the address to my headset en route, and any changes to the situation.” Blackbird said, pressing a button on the adjacent wall. The wall opened up, revealing a window in the side of the building the original Blackbird had built the Blackbird’s Nest in.
Blackbird took a running jump into the night, his cape acclimatising to the freefall, forming a hard aerofoil, allowing the young vigilante to glide through the air.
He reached the convenience store in minutes, as a man in a ski mask ran out of the door, a bag in one hand, a shotgun in the other. The Blackbird landed next to him. “There’s only one of you?”
The crook jumped back a few steps and levelled his gun at the hero. “Don’t make a move. I’ll shoot!”
Blackbird smirked. “Go on. I dare you.” He took a step forward.
The gunshot rang out into the night, the blast cracked The Blackbird’s body armour, he felt the pellets tear through his skin, but he didn’t flinch. “You’ll have to do better than that.” The Blackbird could already feel the pellets sliding out of his wounds, as his body rushed to heal itself.
In one fluid motion, The Blackbird disarmed his assailant, delivered an elbow to the head, and had him on the ground, his arm across his throat. “At least if there were two of you, we could have made a fight of it.”
Seconds later, the police arrived. The robber was taken into custody, the officers thanked The Blackbird, and he was on his way. Back to the Nest, to find the next criminal.
<><><>
Verona’s phone rang. She looked at the caller ID. Kevin. She took a deep breath to compose herself, and another, before answering.
“What’s up?” She asked, fighting to stop her voice from trembling.
“Team meeting. Penthouse in fifteen?” Kevin replied.
“S-sure.” Verona said.
She looked in the mirror as she hung up. Her makeup was a mess. She sighed, as she began to wipe the mascara from her cheeks.
<><><>
“Castor and Pollux are back in the city.” Kevin said. “Computer, show the video.”
A projector dropped down from the ceiling, and the images appeared on the nearest wall. The obvious aftermath of a super-battle is shown.
“The infamous duo of Castor and Pollux, shown here on file photo, have stolen over two-point-five million dollars worth of merchandise in their crime spree in Downtown Los Angeles. While the West Coast Boomers were unavailable in Seattle, another group of heroes known as Quintessence tried to stop them.” The reporter said.
“Quintessence? Aren’t they…?” Ally trailed off, as Iaso’s face appeared onscreen.
“Someone had to fight. We knew we didn’t have much of a shot, but we had to try.” Iaso said. “I’m at my limits keeping these guys alive.”
“Computer, stop.” Kevin ordered. “Well?”
“Well what?” Mosley asked.
“LatX, Iaso, Fuse and Epic were in Salt Lake City with us. That makes them family. I don’t know Red Shift, but if he’s on their team, he’s one of us too.” Kevin said.
“We’re going old school on them, aren’t we?” Ally asked.
“They send one of yours to the hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue.” Mosley said.
“Not that extreme. But you’ve got it.” Kevin said.
“This isn’t just Captain Blackblood we’re talking about here.” Verona said. “Castor and Pollux are as tough as they come.”
“D13 fought them to a standstill. We can beat them.” Kevin said. “Trust me.”
“Are you sure?” Fisher asked.
“I did the research. Individually, they’ve got us beaten for raw power, but as a team, we’ve got it covered.” Kevin said.
“I could see what I’ve got laying around the Nest…” Blackbird said. “I might have something heavy-duty for the occasion.”
“We need all our resources on this one. Let Hire-A-Hero handle the small stuff for a while. We’ve got one goal. Castor and Pollux will be in Alcatraz, if we have to carry them there ourselves.” Kevin said.