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Chapter 30
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“Is anyone home?” Pixeletta called out as she entered the base.

The lights were on. So either someone was here, or the last person to leave forgot to turn them off.

Part of the way down the entry hallway, she saw something mechanical to her left inside of an alcove barely seen when first walking in. She turned her head to find what looked like a big gun sticking out of the ground. It wasn't aiming for her, so she took it as a sign that the base defenses had at least been installed.

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Chapter 28
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Fireworks blazed the sky on the night of the 31st. Most of Paragon City thought nothing of it, or at least nothing out of the ordinary. However, they were close to the prison on multiple sides, and no one official had approved of the display.

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Chapter 26
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Throughout Paragon City, the battle waged on.

Walter Dallevan and his fighting companions prepared to go down like a trio of badasses, but the numbers of surrounding invaders were assaulted from behind in several places. Explosions popped from one direction, soldiers came in from another, an icon from a third, and the hunter Dissarap lunged into a crowd of invaders from the fourth.

Author's Note: These next four chapters are, arguably, one of my favorite mini-arcs through the entire trilogy. I hope y'all enjoy it.

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Chapter 24
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They came on a Saturday morning.

Men and women in suits arrived in a suburban neighborhood, and blocked off a cul-de-sac with only their fancy cars and commanding, yet secretive presence.

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Chapter 22
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The news was in a frenzy that following morning. In a city full of heroes, and “promising” villains, something like an explosion at a major skyscraper did not go unnoticed. It had been a moment, at least for Judy, where her heart pounded and she thought everything slowed to a crawl. In that space where time hadn’t flowed for her, she thought her heroic life had ended in the worst way possible. Yet it hadn’t, even though one bomb had gone off.

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Chapter 20
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“Hi, you’ve reached the office of Doctor Terrell. Sorry we cannot come to the phone right now. My people have their moments, but even they have their limits. If this is an emergency, please hang up and dial 9-1-1. If you are calling about an appointment, my hours are Monday through—“

The message cut off suddenly. A man with a slight lisp answered:

“Doctor Terrell’s office!”

Judy said, “Oh hi, you’re open on a Sunday?”

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Chapter 18
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The three men and one woman were taken into police custody within Talos Hospital, where their identities were uncovered. They were the group responsible, years ago, for blackmailing a number of celebrity daughters into making underage sex videos, and then threatening to release those if the celebrities didn’t send money to offshore accounts to be picked up.

It took a combined effort of heroes and numerous agencies to cut those funds and try to keep the videos from getting out.

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Chapter 16
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“These medium range earphones are great, Mortar. Good work.”

“Ah, it’s no problem at all. It’s the least that I can do. Is everyone in place?”

“All set. Are the girls not patrolling tonight?”

“We’re both at the festival enjoying ourselves, sweeties.”

“Aw, is little Pixeletta dressed up in a cute and embarrassing outfit? I want to see.”

“I happen to have a camera, and I’m posted nearby.”

“You guys do know I can hear you too, right?” Judy whispered hoarsely.

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Chapter 14
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“And that’s the first act, everyone, good job,” said the teacher right before the bell rang. Everyone put away their copies of the book the class was reading—an old and classic play about a prince whose widowed mother married his father’s brother—when the teacher also reminded them, “Don’t forget your two paragraphs on the subject of revenge like we discussed. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

Judy joined everyone in filing out of the door when she heard a familiar and welcome voice call out, “Hey, Judy!”

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chapter 12
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At first, Pixeletta thought that her abilities would be enough to get her anywhere in the city, or almost anywhere in the world, as long as there was an internet connection or some sort of smart phone, as few as those were in the autumn of 2008.

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Chapter 10
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Judy drifted, constantly aware of the time. Forty-six minutes passed, and she could not sleep. Judy was someone who could usually fall asleep in under five minutes.

Yet, here, inside the computer that she shared with her mom, Judy had no such luck.

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Chapter 8
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Over the next few days, Judy narrowly avoided walking into the boys’ locker room out of habit, and entered the girls’ one with some timidity. She remained calm when she realized that no one was looking Judy’s way because every girl was too busy changing clothes or chatting out of sight.

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Chapter 6
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When classes resumed on Monday, it was almost like nothing had happened, except Jude could tell that that was a lie. Everyone still felt the impact of what had happened on Friday, and then on Saturday. No one wanted to talk about it, as far as Jude could tell, but at least everyone was trying to move on with life.

It was the day of the week when a couple of the P.E. coaches had their students either jog or walk around the track ring for a couple laps before sitting down in the bleachers and warm sunlight.

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Chapter 4
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Jude ached all over when he awoke. The room was different from what he remembered, whatever he was lying on was hard and flat, and there was only the one soft thing touching his arm. Most of what he could see at the moment was the ceiling with a light over him, though it wasn’t turned on. The room was a bit on the dark side, and he needed to figure out where he was.

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Chapter 2
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“Dead? There’s no way!”

Various students and teachers said something to that effect. School closed early that day. Getting ahold of Julian’s mother was close to impossible when everyone got out. Luckily, Julian’s new friend had awesome parents.

Denise beckoned Julian over to their car. Her father was the one driving.

“Hello.” Julian wasn’t sure what else to say, but felt compelled to say more.

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Chapter 31
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Throughout the city of Paragon, more than half of the people fell unconscious with the coming of the enveloping light. Throughout the nether realm, bolts of lightning, red and blue, crashed, and more reality clouds formed.

It was only a matter of time before the two realms melded completely.

Author's Note: I have decided, for this time, to combine chapters 28 and 29 into a single post due to the shortness of the former. This story is also nearly over. Thank you all for reading and getting this far. =)

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Chapter 26
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Mary and Kyra had both gone missing. Mortar Mage was the first to arrive at the school, dirtied and bleeding from a couple minor injuries, but neither he nor the others learned much from the students, teachers, or talking guinea pig.

“Nice fellow, that guinea pig,” said Mortar as the heroes left.

Night was falling, and the four heroes sat in the mansion, recovering from all that had happened that day.

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Chapter 24
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She had expected the room to be stuffy or decorated with all sorts of diagrams on female physiology, but this one was neither. The air was circulated and filtered silently. The walls had pictures of natural sights around the world. Tatiana examined the pictures for a few minutes before taking out her phone to read something on the Internet. After waiting a considerable while, as was normal with any doctor’s office, she was joined by Doctor Trish Terrell.

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Chapter 20
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Trash knuckle was on the edge of the neutralizing field when it had formed. By the time his flying powers had come back, the towering man was badly hurt from crashing into the side of Striga Isle and in need of medical help, regardless of his criminal background.

Author's Note: We are about halfway done with the first story written for this trilogy, word-count-wise. I had written this as a teaser of the second story, the prequel. I hope you enjoy this foresight into how the supergroup had formed, and get a laugh or three out of this chapter. In any case, thank you for reading.

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Chapter 16
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A news helicopter flew over Siren’s Gauntlet this morning. They only ever came this way when there was a story to sell. After a long week, an anonymous tip had sent the team and their flying craft toward the Vambraceman base to the northwest.