“This is gonna be fun.” The Basher cracked his knuckles. “Did you kids miss me?”
“You know you sound like a child molester, right?” Firestorm asked.
“Oh, I’m gonna enjoy pounding you.” Basher said, earning an incredulous stare from Firestorm.
“Does he… I mean…” Firestorm cracked up.
“Serious faces guys.” Belle said. “They’ve got upgrades.”
”Plan?” Belle used her telepathy to open a mental conversation between the whole team.
”I’ve got Redemption. Pixel, keep Daytripper occupied. Belle, Helix as per usual. Fissure and Ice Princess, The Basher, use the Pollux strategy. Blackbird, you get Firefly, you know the family power, and you should be able to play her pretty easily. Firestorm and Universe, you’re our powerhouses, so Firestorm gets Raider, Universe gets Kingfisher. Sorry guys, we just need them kept busy until we can regroup.” Mr Perfect said.
”It’s fine.” Mr Universe said. ”Blackbird, when you take out Firefly, start on Daytripper, bring Pixel back into play, she’s our wildcard. Assess the scene yourself after that, go for battles you can win, not who needs the most help.”
“I think we’ve given them long enough to formulate their plan, don’t you?” Helix sneered. “What, you didn’t think we hadn’t clued on to what you were doing?”
“Kingfisher, attack.” Daytripper ordered, before the Brats could formulate a response.
“Not happening.” Mr Universe shouted, as he seized a pair of cars, slamming them into the villain before he was able to attack. Kingfisher was unfazed by the attack.
“You’ll just be the first one to die.” Kingfisher said, as he flew towards Mr Universe, glowing with green energy.
“Wrong again.” Mr Universe said, as he took off into the air, trying to lead Kingfisher somewhere he couldn’t harm the other Brats.
Kingfisher had other ideas, lunging forward for Fissure, but Mr Universe countered by lifting the rebar from the concrete below Kingfisher, launching him skyward.
“You’re really asking for it?” The villain snarled.
Mr Universe smirked. “Yep.”
The other Brats wasted no time matching up against their opponents. Mr Perfect tackled Redemption with as much force as he could muster, driving the cyborg backwards into the wall of a nearby building. He hoped the occupants had evacuated, there was no time to worry about bystanders. The Assembly had to be stopped.
The Basher was surrounded by ice, as Fissure began pelting him with bowling ball-sized chunks of concrete, which shattered on his skin, barely hurting the behemoth. The Basher charged forward, but slipped on the ice, crashing down and sliding along, towards Fissure, who had, in the meantime, summoned his armour to cover his body.
While Helix and Belle were unmoving, minds locked in a battle no-one else could see, Blackbird was dodging Firefly’s attacks with relative ease, just biding his time for the obvious strike. It didn’t take long, a roundhouse kick to the solar plexus knocked her backwards, and Blackbird dropped a knee on her head to knock her out.
He began watching Pixel and Daytripper, as the villain tried to appear anywhere to aid his allies, with Pixel hot on his heels. But he was forming a pattern. It didn’t take Blackbird to figure out the three positions Daytripper was most likely to appear in. Blackbird wasn’t quite as ambidextrous as he thought he was, but he was more than capable of throwing two shuriken with his right hand, and a third with his left. The trick was to aim above Pixel’s head level, so he wouldn’t accidentally hit his teammate, and to also aim for a non-lethal blow, just enough to shock the teleporter.
He waited for Daytripper to appear, and let loose his attack. Moments later, Daytripper appeared, and one of the shurikens sliced across his cheek. The teleporter raised his hand to his face and looked at the blood on his fingers. He didn’t have time to react to the taser strike, which left him unconscious.
Pixel was already on top of Helix, a sleeper hold applied, in order to distract the psychic, giving Belle the upper hand. He finally broke his battle with Belle, trusting his defensive walls to hold for the moment, and lifted Pixel over his head with his telekinesis.
Blackbird ended Helix’s part in the battle with a well-placed boot to the face.
Firestorm wasn’t sure exactly what he was supposed to be doing with Raider. He didn’t have any forcefields, but she did. Her attacks were far too powerful for him to withstand. She most likely had him physically beaten too, she was a hypersoldier afterall. So far sheer dumb luck had allowed him to survive the fight.
“Who the hell are you supposed to be anyway?” Firestorm asked, as he tossed a fireball at her, which dissipated on her shield. “I mean, I get that you’re one of those clone babies or whatever, but who is your original?”
Raider ignored his question. Instead, she blasted at him with her radioactive beams, which he narrowly ducked. Pixel had to be affecting this battle; there was no way he was that lucky.
“I’m sure I’d remember a face like that.” Firestorm said. “I mean really, no-one is that ugly. Not on the current scene.”
Raider began unleashing a barrage of blasts, Firestorm ducked behind a car, luckily Raider didn’t see where he had gone.
“Did I hit a sore spot?” Firestorm taunted, as he darted along the row of cars which had parked on the side of the road. Moments later, the car he had been hiding behind exploded.
“I hurt your feelings? Are you sure you’re the badass supervillain you want us to think you are?” Firestorm shouted again, this time darting back a car. The car in front of him exploded. He was behind a car with no cover on either side. He was trapped. But Raider didn’t know that. He created a tiny, white-hot flame and melted a chunk out of the car in front of him. He let the piece of metal cool and tossed it across the now-empty parking space and listened as it clattered on the ground behind the next car.
He dove moments after, as Raider disintegrated the car she thought he was hiding behind, a look of rage and pain contorting her face. He tossed fireball after fireball at her, her forcefield was down to allow her to use her blasts, and even the hypersoldier couldn’t react fast enough to switch back. Firestorm’s quick-fire shots weren’t enough to hurt her badly, but the damage was done. She collapsed on the ground, in tears. A complete failure.
Firestorm approached her quietly, the half-melted remains of the disintegrated car’s tire-iron in his hand. A quick blow to the temple would probably have killed most people, but she was far tougher than them. Still, she was rendered unconscious on the ground.
He looked at the battlefield around him. Belle had used her powers to take down The Basher, effectively putting him to sleep psychically, Firefly and Daytripper were both already unconscious. That left their aerial foes.
Firestorm looked up just as Mr Universe shouted “Look out!”
Kingfisher had shattered half the windows of one of the nearby skyscrapers, and had used his powers to throw a large number of the shards of glass in a deadly cloud at Firestorm. There was no way he could escape the radius of the attack. Firestorm stood there frozen, as he waited for his death.

Lee grimaced, as he pulled his body across the street towards his brother, and his brother’s girlfriend’s motionless bodies. He had to check on them. He ignored the pain in his legs as best he could, as he used his arms to drag his metallic form across the ground. He knew if he changed back, things would only get worse.
The asphalt in front of him twisted and grew, until it took the form of a large man, standing with a slender girl, before turning to flesh, revealing Fissure and Iaso.
“Go…” Fissure said, as he collapsed to the ground, the strain of carrying two people across the country too much for him.
“Lee!” Iaso shouted. “What happened?” She bent over him and her hands began to glow. “Change forms so I can fix this.”
“Don’t worry about me.” Lee said. “I’ll live. Go to the others.” He pointed at his teammates.
“Oh god…” Iaso said, rushing forward to her former leader. She placed her hands over his abdomen, and the glow began again, enveloping his entire body. The glow continued for thirty seconds before fading, leaving Cal in full health, if still unconscious.
Iaso wiped the sweat from her brow. Cal’s injuries were ridiculous. How had he survived? She shrugged and turned to Ossuary.
“Oh god Michelle, what the hell happened?” Iaso looked over the bony exoskeleton that had been crushed around her friend. She struggled to pull away a piece large enough for her to get her hand under. Once she had succeeded, she reached out with her power. The glow began again, but after thirty seconds, it wasn’t done.
“I… Michelle…” Iaso gasped, as her healing energies were drained into the injured girl. They remained connected for a full minute, before Iaso passed out, her job not finished.
Lee shook his head. He was going to have to survive until the ambulance got there. Even then, his legs were in pretty bad shape. Who could guarantee they’d be able to help him? He had to stay conscious to keep his body steel, and intact. He had to wait for Iaso to wake up and heal him. Maybe Fissure could help.
Lee crawled forward another foot, and another, until he could reach Fissure. He slapped the time traveller as hard as he could, but he was out cold. Lee collapsed on the ground, the sudden movement sending a jolt through his broken, twisted legs. The pain was too much. Lee passed out.
His body turned back to flesh, and he began to bleed from the places his bones had broken through his skin.
<><><>
“Lee is stable.” Fisher said. “Iaso and I came to as the ambulance arrived. She gave him enough energy to survive surgery. They pieced his legs back together. Iaso regained her strength, and healed them on the spot. Apparently the reordering of the bones would have been the hardest part.”
“Thank god.” Kevin said. “But what we need to figure out is what’s going on here?”
“Sir?” Fisher asked.
“What’s the big picture? Who are these guys? Why are they working with Daytripper? Are they part of the Assembly of Evil? Why did they attack our allies?” Kevin asked.
“I… They do work for Carmichael.” Fisher said. “That much I know.”
“Liar.”
Kevin and Fisher turned to the other man in the darkened office. Matt was not amused.
“Sir, I assure you, that’s true.” Fisher said.
“If Daytripper helped them, they must be part of the Assembly.” Kevin agreed.
“Not that.” Matt said. “That’s not all you know.”
Kevin looked at Fisher. “Is he right?”
Fisher took a deep breath. “Yes.”
“Who is Kingfisher?” Matt asked.
“The first hyper soldier.” Fisher replied.
“What are his powers? Who is hybridised in his DNA?” Matt asked.
“Emerald.”
“The founding East Coast Boomer? No way was she that powerful!”
“She never reached her full potential. And the hyper-soldier process tends to strengthen powers as well as the physical body.”
“So what? Kingfisher led Carmichael’s forces?”
“No. He was the opposition.”
Kevin screwed up his face, as he tried to figure out what was happening. “I don’t get it.”
“He… He was the biggest villain of my time. He killed Captain Awesome. He was Carmichael’s attack dog. He was painted as a villain, and attacked anyone he was ordered to. US Force fought him just often enough that the public didn’t catch on, or even the members of US Force for that matter. He is nearly unstoppable. And a complete psychopath.” Fisher explained.
“And what about Raider?” Matt asked. “Where does she fit in with all this?”
Fisher shook his head. “That I honestly don’t know.”
Matt’s face contorted into a sneer. “Sure, I believe you.” He said. “We’re going to have to face these two sooner or later. What are you hiding? What else haven’t you told us?”
Fisher stared at Matt. “What are you talking about? I’ve told you everything. Raider may have been a failure in my timeline.”
Matt threw his hands in the air and let out a sigh of disgust. But Kevin was the one who spoke up.
“You haven’t told us everything.” He said. He looked Fisher straight in the eye. “We know Matt and I start the new Boomers, and the Rebellion with Cal. Lee joins US Force. Mosley’s there, Blackbird is there, the Sawyers and the band have their place, so does Cobalt. What about the rest? What happens to Katie?”
Fisher doesn’t have a reply.
“Or Verona? Or Hannah?” Kevin adds, earning a raised eyebrow from Matt.
Fisher remains silent.
“What about Aperture? Or Ossuary? Or Epic? Or The Gibbon?” Kevin demands. “What happened? Is this it? Is Kingfisher the reason? Does Kingfisher kill someone? Or Raider?”
“Our timelines have diverged too much. Much of what we have done this past year was not given to me in my briefing.” Fisher said, finally breaking his silence.
“You’re avoiding the question.” Matt said.
“I…”
The alarm began to ring throughout the penthouse. Ally appeared in their midst. “Suit up!” She said.
“The Assembly is here.”

“Ok Brats, we’re touching down in five minutes.” The pilot’s voice buzzed in the team’s ears. “We’ll be landing on the roof of the building.”
“Thanks Steve.” Mr Perfect replied through his commlink. “Ok guys, what have we got on these guys?”
The team looked across the helicopter to Mr Universe. “Ummm… Fissure?” He said.
Fissure nodded. “The Untouchables. They’re middle-range. Nothing spectacular. They’ve fought Captain Awesome a few times. They escaped in the big Alcatraz breakout.”
At the mention of the breakout, the team went silent. Gauss had almost killed Mr Universe that day, and had in fact killed dozens of others.
“Jericho is unstoppable.” Mr Universe took over the briefing. “He’s indestructible. Once he gets moving, you can’t stop him. He’s not exactly quick, but he’s one hell of a battering ram.”
“Bliss controls emotions. This is a psychic ability, not pheromone control, so we’re all subject to it.” Fissure continued.
“Dusk goes intangible. Think Cai of Liberty Force, only nowhere near as deadly.” Mr Universe said.
“And last, but not least, Fallout. He radiates energy at an alarming rate. You cannot stand within twenty feet of him without the temperature becoming unbearable. He wears a costume made of lead to stop himself from being a danger to his teammates, but he can withdraw sections of his costume at any time. Radiation sickness is likely, not to mention the damage from the heat, and the chance of cancer.” Fissure finished.
“He’s our first target. We can’t risk bystanders.” Mr Perfect said. “Belle, can you keep Bliss distracted?” He looked to his girlfriend, who nodded affirmative. “Fissure, I need you to contain him. Just pile on the layers. Keep his costume intact if possible. We need the extra layer. Mr Universe, you’re on that too. Like Hadi at Gitmo. Layer upon layer.”
“Makes sense.” Mr Universe nodded.
“Firestorm, Dusk may be intangible, but fire may affect him, so he’s yours.” Mr Perfect said.
“Sounds like fun.” Firestorm cracked his knuckles.
“Ice Princess, Blackbird, Pixel and I will take Jericho. Same as with Pollux. Keep him off balance with ice, and misdirection.” Mr Perfect finishes.
The remaining teammates simply nodded their assent. “Ok Brats. Let’s do this.”
<><><>
Cal and Lee Richards sat at their desks on opposite sides of the room. Cal was poring over their budget, Lee was on YouTube.
“We’re going to have to pick up some more jobs or something.” Cal said. “The insurance on this place alone is through the roof.”
“Maybe we should have thought this through a little better, I mean, it’s not like this is New York. Supervillains don’t come here as often as they do anywhere else.” Lee said.
“They’re still around though, and the cops aren’t equipped.” Michelle walked in, a tray of coffees in her hand.
“But we’re big time.” Lee said. “I mean, we took down the Order of Darkness.”
Cal didn’t have time for a response, as a car came tearing through their front window. He barely had time to throw Michelle out of the way, turning his own body to steel in the process.
Lee transformed himself, and Michelle covered herself in a bony armour.
“Ok Trilogy, time for us to earn that retainer.” Cal said.
“This is going to be fun.” Kingfisher said, as he lifted another car above his head.
<><><>
“You can’t defeat us!” Epic’s voice echoed from three storeys up, as he swung at the girl attacking his team.
Raider’s forcefield went up just in time to block the attack. “You’ll have to try harder than that.” Raider said, dropping her forcefield and hitting Epic with an energy blast, knocking him on his rear.
“Fuse?” LatX ordered, as he tried to analyse their enemy. If Epic was unable to hit her, then he wasn’t going to be able to do much to her himself. Still, perhaps Fuse’s abilities would fare better.
“One fastball, coming up.” The diminutive heroine said, as she assumed a pitcher’s stance, a ball of energy forming in her hand. With an almost major-league level pitch, Fuse’s aim was perfect. The speed of the attack left Raider with no time to react, and the ball bounced straight off her chest, before exploding in front of her.
The blast sent Raider flying backward, but she managed to catch herself with a shield.
“Red Streak.” LatX ordered, as he slingshotted himself at the villainess, rolling himself into a ball in midair. He felt himself bounce off her shield, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t the real attack. He twisted his neck at an impossible angle and saw exactly what he’d hoped. Her shield was down, and Red Streak was bearing down on her, his own force field was directed straight at her.
“Too easy.” LatX smiled.
Raiders’ eyes went wide when she saw the ginger-haired speedster heading towards her. She panicked, and released energy in all directions, knocking the heroes off their feet.
It was Raider’s turn to smile. “My turn.”
<><><>
“You fight worse than your girlfriend.” Kingfisher taunted, as he hefted Cal over his head, piledriving him into the concrete below.
Cal groaned on the ground, and turned to look at Ossuary’s prone form laying across the street. He had to get to her. He climbed up on one knee. A roundhouse kick to the ribs sent him tumbling back to the ground. “I didn’t say you could get up.”
“You son of a bitch.” Lee said. He lay twisted on the ground some distance away. Kingfisher had wasted no time in disabling the stronger of the brothers, wrenching Lee’s legs out of his sockets easily, even in his steel form.
It hadn’t taken much for Kingfisher to disable Ossuary, using the energy he controlled to bind her, cracking through the exoskeleton she had erected, and crushing her beneath it. She hadn’t lasted long before passing out.
Which left him with only one adversary, and he was savouring it.
Cal struggled to his feet, and this time he made it. Kingfisher made no attempt to stop him. Cal rushed to his girlfriend’s side. Cal let out a sigh of relief when he saw she was breathing, if shallowly. He had to end this now.
Kingfisher’s deep laugh rang through the street, as he advanced on Cal, who straightened to face him.
“We’re done here.” Cal said. “Back off.”
Kingfisher’s laugh just got louder.
“I’m not letting you win here.” Cal said. “Stand down.”
“Make me.” Kingfisher taunted.
Cal assumed a combat pose, as Kingfisher flew forward and seized the hero in a huge bearhug. He tossed Cal into the air, catching him in a tight grip around the legs.
“I’m going to kill your girlfriend.” Kingfisher’s laughter hadn’t stopped. “And I’m going to use you to do it.” The villain raised Cal like a club, readying the death blow.
Cal couldn’t let him do it. He transformed back to his human form. He had to stop himself from hurting Michelle, even if it was going to kill him.
Kingfisher swung Cal downward, crashing him down on top of Ossuary’s prone form.
Kingfisher’s expression turned to rage. “How dare you!?” He demanded. “You want to take away my fun?”
“Kingfisher.” Daytripper ordered.
“What!?” The rage didn’t leave Kingfisher’s eyes, as he turned to face the teleporter.
“You’re done.” Daytripper said. “You’ve passed your test.”
“I’m going to kill them all.” Kingfisher said.
“No. You can’t kill them.” Daytripper said. “The Brat Pack will come looking for us. We need to control the fight. That’s how we’ll win. We choose the time and place. Not them.”
“Let them come.” Kingfisher said, as he reached down for Cal’s unconscious form. He missed, his hand instead hitting the floor of the training area at his headquarters.
The villain screamed in rage as he began pounding at the reinforced concrete, cracking it to the very foundations.
<><><>
Iaso crouched over Epic’s body, her healing energies flowing out, into the unconscious size-changer. “You idiot.” She muttered, as his wounds closed up, and his bruising disappeared.
She turned her vision back to the battle. LatX had wrapped himself around Fuse, to protect her, and was bouncing around the street, as Fuse lobbed her explosive energy at Raider, who was shielding against every blow. Red Streak was having similar luck, as he crashed his battering ram into her forcefield, neither was budging.
But the heroes were weakening, growing tired, while Raider was just as fresh as she was in the beginning. One of Fuse’s shots went wild, and Red Streak was hit in the leg with shrapnel, putting his high-speed running to a halt. Raider took her chance, dropped the shield and hit LatX with an energy blast, knocking him off Fuse, and leaving the two falling from ten feet up. They hit the ground with a loud crack.
“Raider. The test is over.” Daytripper was standing next to her.
“But I almost had them.” Raider said.
“Almost isn’t good enough. Kingfisher has crippled Lee Richards, Ossuary is bleeding internally, and Cal Richards is beaten. The test is over.” Daytripper said, placing a hand on Raider’s shoulder. The two disappeared instantaneously.
<><><>
“It was a simple matter of tactics.” Mr Perfect told the reporter. “We did what we knew had worked for us in the past, from battle and from training. It’s all about the teamwork.”
As the authorities loaded the battered, bruised and inhibitor-collared criminals into their transports, Mr Perfect was dealing with the assorted press that had arrived on the scene.
Off to the side, Mr Universe’s cellphone rang. His eyes went wide. “Perfect… We have to go. Now.” He said.
“What?” Mr Perfect turned from the interview, midway through answering a question.
“Iaso just called. Quintessence just got decimated by an unknown, calls herself Raider. Got teleported out by a guy in a suit.” Mr Universe said.
“Daytripper?” Mr Perfect asked.
“Sounds like it. He said another one guy, Kingfisher, fought Trilogy in Texas, and they’re in a bad way. Iaso wants us to fly her out there.” Mr Universe said.
“Kingfisher?” Fissure’s usually expressionless face was the picture of fear. “Flying is too slow. Where is Iaso?”
“Near Quintessence’s office. Why?” Mr Universe asked.
“If Trilogy have fought Kingfisher, they’re probably dead.” Fissure said, as he melded into the road.