The young villain grunted, as he hefted the ten ton weight over his head, using the aura of emerald energy he wielded. “I’m getting bored now.” He said, tossing it aside.
“Patience. There are only a few more tests.” Daytripper said. His new charge’s powers were exceeding expectations. The trainers at the lab had clearly been doing their job. Daytripper had expected to have to talk Kingfisher through his exercises, that there would be months of training to be done, but here he was, wielding his powers to almost their full potential.
“I’m sick of your little games.” Kingfisher said. “Give me the Brat Pack.”
“All in good time. You must remember: they’ve been at this for a long time. They’ve got the field experience.” Daytripper said. “Power isn’t going to be enough.”
“I’m stronger than Mr Perfect, or Fissure. I’m more powerful than Mr Universe.” Kingfisher smirked. “And the others aren’t worth mentioning.”
“Don’t underestimate them. That’s an error too many have made.” Daytripper had far too many defeats at the hands of the Brat Pack to be quite as cavalier about their abilities.
“How many times have they fought someone as strong as me?” Kingfisher demanded, unleashing a blast of green energy, shattering the enormous lead weight into thousands of tiny shards.
“They’ve defeated almost everything that’s been thrown at them. Gauss, The Order of Darkness, Blue Shift. Castor and Pollux. The Assembly only beat them once, and that was because we had Gauss.” Daytripper said.
“And now you have me.” Kingfisher said.
“And they have the Ice Princess and Blackbird.” Daytripper countered.
“And we have Butterface.” Kingfisher said.
“Raider. Her codename is Raider.” Daytripper corrected.
“Whatever.” Kingfisher shrugged.
<><><>
“Come on.” Firefly taunted, as she tossed another fireball at Raider, who erected a barrier of radiation, dissipating the energy of the fireball.
Raider returned the attack with a blast of her own, but Firefly easily ducked out of the way.
“Is that the best you can do? No wonder Daytripper didn’t want to have to put up with you. You’re pathetic.” Firefly said.
Raider threw both hands out at Firefly, a wave of energy directed at the young villainess, who managed to leap over it.
“You’re completely useless. You don’t deserve to be on the team.” Firefly continued, this time attacking the other girl with a volley of fireballs, which again met their end on a forcefield.
But Firefly followed her attack. Raider had dropped her shield before she realised Firefly was within striking distance, punching Raider in the face.
“The Boss doesn’t want you too roughed up, but I don’t think anyone is going to notice if your face gets any more deformed.” Firefly taunted, as she began raining jabs on Raider’s face.
The hypersoldier designated 002 collapsed and curled into a ball, sobbing.
<><><>
“This one is pretty simple.” Mr Universe said. “Standard crap with these guys.”
He floated in the air next to Mr Perfect, below them was the courthouse, where a crowd of thousands had been worked into a frenzy, a riot threatening to break out at any moment. Barricaded within the courthouse were the everyday employees, including several judges, and the people involved in the biggest case of the year, Anthony Jackson was being tried for the murder of his wife and child. He also happened to be a mutant, with the power to turn his body into glass. While this power wasn’t relative to his case, or even very useful, the case had attracted the attention of the Human Right Initiative.
They had tried the subtle approach, planting members throughout the crowds outside the courthouse, spreading their racist message, putting violent thoughts into the minds of the regular citizens. The spark was lit, and the people began to grow restless. The Human Right Initiative then announced publicly that they were sending a contingent of their Race Warriors, the newly-coined term for their army of zealots, who fought the “good fight” against superhumans using Sickle power-armours bought on the Russian blackmarket after the fall of the Soviet Union. The armours had also now been spray-painted red, white and blue, in case their message wasn’t received by the general public.
The Brats were on the scene almost immediately, just waiting for the Race Warriors to show their faces.
“Ok, we know we can take these guys.” Mr Perfect said. “You’re ok to do crowd control?”
“Of course. They jam my powers anyway. I’ll keep any of their attacks from hitting the civilians, and I’ll use the fences to keep the civilians from getting into the building.” Mr Universe said.
“I can’t imagine we’ll take long to beat these guys. Then we’ll help disperse the crowd.” Mr Perfect said.
“You’d better marshal the troops. They’re coming.” Mr Universe could sense the magnetic distortion from a mile away.
<><><>
“Are they ready for field testing?” Senator Carmichael asked.
“Kingfisher is, without a doubt.” Daytripper said. “He’s a little cocky, but I think we can work it out of him. Field testing should put his powers to the test.”
“And Raider?”
“She’s emotionally unstable. Firefly was able to reduce her to tears. In the field with us, she’d be a liability. She has the power, but she doesn’t have the self-confidence. Firestorm would break her, and then those imbeciles would probably turn her to their side.” Daytripper said. “We can’t take her with us.”
“Field test her anyway. I want each of them fighting alone. And I have just the targets for you…”
<><><>
“That’s got to be a record.” Mr Universe said.
“What?” Mr Perfect asked.
“The HRI. You guys had them in like, ten minutes.” Mr Universe said.
“Fissure and me took down like, twenty of them in about two minutes one time.” Firestorm said.
“It wasn’t quite that many.” Fissure murmured.
“And the crowd!” Mr Universe said. “Belle, when did you learn to control emotions like that?”
Belle smiled. “It’s not really control. I just like, think warm and fuzzy thoughts en masse. Most people don’t expect it, and just assume it’s their own thought. It’s not perfect, but it helps.”
“I’ll say.” Mr Perfect said.
“So what’s next for us?” Mr Universe asked.
“We’re about due for another big one, aren’t we?” Firestorm asked.
“I hope not.” Belle said.
“Me too.” Pixel agreed.