The Gathering, Part Three

Korra stole the ball from Peter and bounced it off of his head for a moment before sinking another basket. She was enjoying herself, and enjoying the fact that she was enjoying herself. It had only been a week, but being at Ms. Morris' school wasn't all that bad. She wished there were a few more students, as opposed to just the five of them, but she was getting along with her new family.

Which made her think about her old family. She'd left without even leaving her parents a note. Without even letting her parents know that she wasn't their son anymore. Hell, as far as she was concerned, she wasn't really even their daughter. Josh Reston's parents had never really paid any attention to him, so what guarantee did she have that they'd pay attention to her now as Korra Reston?

She had none. It was obvious.

Korra sank another basket and then almost intentionally lost the ball to Peter, who made his own basket and then stopped bouncing the ball. "What's wrong?" he asked.

She sat down on the bench on the edge of the court. "Have you thought about your parents since you came here?"

He sat down, then shrugged. "I've thought about them. I wrote 'em a letter the other day. My dad called me yesterday. Why?"

She sighed. "My parents didn't really care about me before. They went away for a week and never even came up to check on me before leaving, and then I never left them a note when I left."

"Did you know you were coming here?"

She shook her head. "Not till I met you. I knew I was heading in this direction, but I didn't know where I was going or why."

He put his arm around her. "Hey, you should put it out of your mind. If they cared that little about you before, you really think they're gonna like you more now that you're a walking spark plug?"

She giggled. "No. They'd probably be afraid of me."

"I bet they would be." He laughed. "Then you'd really be like one of the X-Men."

They both had a good laugh over that, until it was interupted by Colin walking up to them. "You guys seen Monica or Brandon? I haven't been able to find them all night."

Korra answered, "I think I saw them getting into a limo earlier."

"A limo?"

"Yeah. Long car, most of the time black, folks your age usually rent them for the prom?"

He scowled. "I know what a limo is, Kor. You see which way they went?"

Korra was about to answer, but they were all interupted by a singular thought in their heads. Meet me in my bedroom, children. Something has happened.

***

I wished that I wasn't in the limo, otherwise I would have trashed it. Well, I would have wanted Brandon out of the car, too, but at the same time, I did kinda wanna kick his ass. He brought me into this situation and all he wanted to do now was take a frickin' nap?! Real manly, buddy.

Of course, the gold-eyed freak in front of me just kept smiling. I wanted to beat the crap out of him the most. He was the one who had kidnapped me (is it really kidnapping when you get in the limo willingly? Oh, wait, yeah, it is, because I didn't know this was going to happen), and was holding my friend and I hostage, so I wanted to just outright destroy him. If I was good enough with my powers, I'd blow his spleen up.

The bald woman hadn't done much at all. She hadn't even said a whole lot. She just held onto Mr. Gold Eyes' arm like she was his obedient girlfriend, but something about her told me she wasn't as obedient as her looks implied. I spent most of my time in the car studying her, wondering what her powers were, because I just knew they were both Chosen.

"Jose?" a voice to my left asked. I looked and saw my mother sitting beside me on the seat. "Why did you get yourself in this situation, honey?"

"Mom? What's... How?"

She reached out and touched my face. "Jose, my son... Please tell me you've been a good boy for your aunt?"

I scooted away from the ghost beside me. "No way... You're dead. Who the hell are you?!"

Mom closed her eyes and smiled. "Please, son, don't give your life aw - " Thankfully, she was cut off, and she disappeared. I was extremely scared, now.

I looked over at the bald woman who looked very shocked herself. "Nobody told us that they're part of a little freak team.

Mr. Gold Eyes turned to her. "What? Freak team?"

"Yeah. There's a group of them, these two and a few more. They all live in that mansion we picked them up at, and they've all got powers." She scowled. "And their boss is a telepath."

Gold Eyes smiled and rubbed at his chin. "Really? I wonder how our benefactor missed that..." He shook his head. "Not important. What's paramount now is that we return to headquarters. Cloak is waiting for us."

I finally spoke up, "What the hell was that?!"

Gold Eyes continued smiling. "That's beautiful Necro's power. She can reach into your thoughts and pull the dead lives from your mind. Obviously, because she can go so deeply to find your dead, she can pull thoughts as well. She's a telepath of a different flavor, you could say." He sat back in his seat. "Tell me a little more about your telepath. What's he like?" I didn't answer. "C'mon, sweetheart, you can tell me." Still didn't answer. "Okay. Don't talk. Our benefactor will get answers out of you when we arrive."

This time I burst out with anger. "Who is your benefactor?!"

Gold Eyes just kept smiling. It was like all he did was smile. What the hell was his power, smiling deviously?

Lucky me, my anger was concealing what I was actually doing.

The whole while, I used a little trick that Ms. Morris taught me, to use my power to feel things and send energy toward them. Lucky me, the underside of a car is tied into the engine block as well. Touching the seat, I forced energy through the fabric of the seat, down to the fuel line, straight to the engine. I couldn't send a lot at any one time, otherwise I'd blow up the fuel line and blow myself up, but blowing up the engine was good enough. Whoever was driving probably pissed their pants when the engine shot straight through the hood.

The sudden stop - and flip - of the limo disoriented Gold Eyes and his girlfriend, and I pushed Brandon through the door and jumped out after. I reoriented myself, grabbed Brandon, and hurried as fast as I could to the nearest alley. I kept us going one way, then another, kept us from going one specific route the whole time. I needed to find a cop, or something. Actually, what I really needed to do was wake Brandon up.

I smacked him in the face to wake him up, but that didn't work right away. I took a deep breath, got myself ready for what would happen after, and then slugged him. He woke up instantly, used his earth control powers to grab me, then realized what he was doing. "What's goin' on?" he asked, looking around and confused.

"You don't remember?" I asked, once he let go of me. "We got in that limo and then you fell unconscious?"

"Limo? What limo?"

"The one we got in, that you rented for our date."

He raised an eyebrow. "Date? I asked you out on a date?"

I sighed. "We'll have to sort this out later, let's just run right now, because the bad guys are after us, since I blew up their limo."

He rubbed at his head. "What the hell happened to me that I can't remember all that?"

I punched him in the face again. "I don't know, I don't care, let's just go!"

***

Knight held the head that Guardian had brought him. The technology looked familiar, and not just from the evening news a month ago. He unscrewed the faceplate and found a flat panel underneath. Whoever designed this, they did a good job, he thought. The memory chip was likely underneath the panel that had been under the faceplate. He took his screwdriver and pried it off, and then felt himself against a brick wall. There was nothing underneath the panel. The head was empty.

Guardian had a very surprised look on his face. "What the hell?!" the man eating a sandwich asked.

"I can only assume the x-ray vision part of Superman's powers slipped past you?"

"That and the freeze breath. So, what's running these things?

Knight sat back in his seat. "I don't know. No sort of electronic brain, unless it was in the body." He turned his head slightly toward Guardian. "I don't suppose you brought one of those, too?"

Guardian shook his head. "No. And something tells me that they've probably cleaned house since I left."

"Whoever they are. We're not exactly the best super hero team if we don't know a thing about our enemies."

Guardian patted him on the shoulder. "We're work-in-progress. I'm sure the Justice League didn't know who their enemies were to begin with."

Knight raised an eyebrow. "You never read comics as a kid, did you?"

"No, I didn't."

Knight stood and took the head over to the computer on the opposite wall. He set the head down on a flat green panel and pressed a button on the side. He waited, and waited, and waited, and then, a readout appeared on the monitor. "What the hell?" he asked, leaning forward to read the display. "There's something organic in this thing!"

Guardian picked it up and ripped a piece off of it. "Where?" He held up the extremely empty shell of the robot's head. "There's nothing in this thing."

"It's not a specific piece, there's brain tissue interlaced with the metal." Knight pointed to the image displayed on the monitor. "It didn't have an electronic brain in it, it had a human brain throughout it."

Guardian almost looked as though he was going to throw up. "Whoever these guys are, we need to stop them from doing this to more people." He took a long look at the robot's head. "And we need to do it soon."

***

Blackhole stood high above the city, on top of one of his black holes. He looked down at the millions moving about and wondered just where the robot's creators could be among those millions. None of them seemed to be doing anything wrong, anything out of the ordinary. He held up his hand and another black hole appeared, this one almost like a window looking out on the ground below. People passed by, people shopped, people played with their dogs in the park, people fought. Nothing was different from any other day in East City.

He sighed. How does this work? There's nothing out of the ordinary anywhere in that city, there's just millions of people going about their daily business, none of them even aware that there's a super powered psychopath out there, plotting their deaths. He shook his head, then touched his earpiece. "Terror, what'chu got?"

He heard her sigh now. "Nothing. None of these people even have the potential fear of evil robots jumping around. It's only been a month since that kid fought one, shouldn't there be at least one person thinking about it?"

"I don't know, hun, maybe we're looking in the wrong places. You report back to Knight, I'm going to stretch out my powers a little bit. Maybe then I can find something."

"Don't bother," a voice behind him said. He turned around and saw Angel hovering there, arms folded under her breasts. "I think I know where to look."

"You do?"

She took a breath. "There's a spot I can't feel."

Blackhole tapped his earpiece. "You guys hear that? Angel says she knows where to look."

***

We went about one block further before Brandon stood still, perfectly straight, and then said, in a weird, monotone voice, "You can't run from me, Jose. I know everywhere you are."

I stopped and stared him straight in the face, knowing that I wasn't really staring at Brandon, I was staring at whoever it was had been controlling him earlier, whoever Gold Eyes' myserious benefactor was. I asked the obvious question: "Who are you?"

Though Brandon's facial expression didn't change, I could tell that the Benefactor was smiling. "I'm no one of consequence. No one would ever notice me on the street. I'm no one, I'm nothing. You've seen me many times, and you've never known who I was."

"Are you at the mansion?"

"In a manner of speaking. I've been in your head the whole time. I've been in Brandon's head the whole time. Interesting tidbit about your headmaster: I can't read her mind."

That's a good thing. I was hoping we had some sort of ace up our sleeve. "What do you want?"

Again, no facial expression on Brandon, but I knew the Benefactor was smiling. "I want you, Quake. I want to use you, again."

"You were that weird feeling in my head that day," I said, not a question, but a statement.

"I was. We did wonderful things that day. And we will do wonderful things again." Using Brandon's own hands, the Benefactor reached up and grabbed Brandon's head. "Or else, I'll snap this one's neck. As long as you serve me today, this one lives."

I stood there, looking deep into Brandon's eyes, knowing I was looking at the Benefactor's eyes as well. He knew I had no choice, just like I knew it. "Fine. Let him go, and I'll go with you."

This time, Brandon's mouth did smile, though the rest of his face was still expressionless. I felt a hand on my shoulder, turned my head and saw Gold Eyes standing there, a smile on his face, too. I closed my eyes and sighed. Here I go again.

***

Korra stood at the edge of a building and looked down at the wreck of the limo that had taken Monica and Brandon. Her phone was in a pocket on the strap of her bag. She tapped a button and said, "I found the car. Trashed." She jumped down from the roof, still amazed that a drop from such a height didn't hurt her, or even cause a scratch. She peeked inside and saw very little blood, save the mangled body of whoever had been driving. I hope they're okay.

She noticed for the first time that there were no cops around. Actually, there weren't even any people around. It was the weirdest thing. She tapped her phone again. "Anybody know why there's nobody here? No cops, no innocent bystanders who just wanna see a flipped car, it's just the car."

Korra, get away from the vehicle! Ms. Morris' voice came through her head. She quickly jumped for the closest building and started to climb - a skill she'd honed in her free time even before her change - and as soon as she hit the roof, the limo exploded. "Whoa!" Thank you a lot, Ms. Morris.

Anything I can do to help one of my students. Colin and Peter have found Brandon, unconsious just a few blocks east. Meet up with them, and then go to four-five-four-six Grandborough Avenue, in Haven's Court.

Korra nodded, then ran the rooftops until she found her friends, knelt down beside the now semi-conscious Brandon. She landed by them and then sat down on the back step of a music store. Brandon looked like he'd been run over by a garbage truck, then left in the sewer. He was clean, he just looked like crap.

"Anybody get the license number of that semi that ran me down?" Brandon asked, making Korra giggle. She'd thought the exact same thing. "And where's Monica?"

Colin said, "I was about to ask you the same question. What happened?"

Brandon shook his head. "I don't know. I blacked out after we got away from the limo. I don't even remember the limo."

"What do you remember?"

"Monica telling me that we had to get away. Then we ran, and I blacked out again. After that, I woke up to you guys."

Ms. Morris' voice filled all their heads. This is a disturbing development. It means they have their own telepath.

Colin asked, "What do we do now?"

Be cautious. Brandon's experience sounds like similar experiences cropping up about other telepaths. If that's the case, then Monica may not be acting of her own will. She'll need to be taken down without any harm done to her.

Korra said, "I'm doing better with my knock-out blasts."

Colin rubbed at the back of his neck. "Yeah, I know."

Good. That's our play, then. Peter and Colin will distract Monica, while Korra will knock her unconscious.

Brandon tried to get up, then landed on his ass again. Colin put his hand on Brandon's chest. "What about me?" Brandon asked.

You're in no condition to help, Brandon, I'm sorry. You've been weakened, and your safety is at risk.

"What about Monica's safety? This is my fault!"

Korra stood up and walked over to Brandon. "It's not your fault. Whoever these guys were, they used you. We'll take care of it, nobody's holding it against you."

Listen to Korra, Brandon. She's absolutely right about it.

Brandon closed his eyes and nodded his head, slowly. "Fine," he said, through gritted teeth. Korra felt a little better.

Colin asked. "Are we going to find these guys at four-five-four-six Grandborough?"

I'm not sure. But you'll aid the other team in their search. They seem to believe they've found who they're looking for, and I can't help but think these two events are related.

Peter asked, "What other team?"

***

Knight stood on the ledge overlooking the warehouse that Angel had led them to. He was waiting for the rest of the team, alongside Angel and Blackhole, who both beat him there. Guardian and Terror had yet to arrive.

"So," Blackhole said, "I came here with my black holes, and Angel... well... flew," he heard Angel giggle at that remark, "but how did you get here? You have some sort of Batmobile, or something?"

Knight rolled his eyes. "It's called the Chariot."

"Oh! I get it! Knight, Chariot. Real creative."

Guardian landed beside Angel. "So, this place is it?"

"So Angel tells us," Knight said.

Guardian turned to Angel. "What is this place?"

She sighed. "All I can tell you is that this is the place. I can't say anymore."

"Secrets can kill people," Terror said. Knight had noticed her climbing up the building using window ledges.

Angel nodded. "Not my secrets. They keep people alive."

"Whether you believe her or not," Knight said, turning to his team, "Angel's telling the truth."

Guardian folded his arms across his chest. "It's not important right now. We're all here, let's get inside, now."

Knight shook his head. "We're still waiting."

"For what?" Blackhole asked.

"The rest of the team."

Terror counted them, then gave a confused look. "There's five of us here, there's always been five of us."

"Remember the associate I spoke of? Her team is on the way."

***

Brandon finally managed to stand about ten minutes after his friends left, and then fell back down again. He couldn't figure out why he was in such pain. He needed to think, to clear his head, but even that was difficult. He couldn't seem to focus.

"Y'know, having a lady talk to you, in your mind no less, can be a pretty weird experience when you've only ever seen this person through a window that you had to sneak up to a place to know about anyway."

Brandon looked up at the sound of the voice and saw a girl with long brown hair, wearing an odd outfit predominantly yellow and black, but there were red stripes under the arms. Her mask looked almost like a direct plagurism of Spider-Man's mask, save for the colors. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"You can thank your super special telepathic cripple boss for that." The girl dropped from the thread she'd been hanging from. "I came to help you get back to your mansion out of town. Our ride should be here in just about..." She held up her arm and pretended to look at a watch, then a car pulled up at the edge of the alley. "Oh, now." The girl helped him to his feet and fireman's carried him to the car. She helped him into the car and then hopped around to the passenger's side. She slipped in through the window and then pulled off her mask. "Okay, Dad, we can go."

Brandon recognized the driver as the police officer that had arrived with Monica and Colin. "Officer Harkins?" he asked, weakly.

"Captain Harkins, to those of you that aren't the commissioner, or the chief of police," the cop answered. "You're just lucky that boss of yours has a direct line to my daughter's head."

The girl spun around in her seat. "What he means is that I was called away from spending time with my boyfriend, and he's happy."

"You're Arachnya," Brandon said.

"Yeah, but you can call me Charlie. I'm also a full-time photographer, semi-part-time reporter at the Daily News Brigade."

"Why did Ms. Morris call on you to help me?"

"Because I was in the neighborhood. Lucky you, so was my dad."

Captain Harkins added, "Her little boyfriend that I haven't met yet lives around here somewhere."

"Hey," Brandon said, "can you guys keep it down a little? It feels like I've got a mega hangover."

Charlie plopped back in her seat. "Trust me, you have no idea what a hangover feels like yet."

"How do you know?" Captain Harkins asked.

***

Knight saw as the first of Ms. Morris' students appeared, hopping over the opposite edge of the building. A young girl, shoulder-length dark red hair, wearing a yellow and black jacket and plain blue jeans, with a yellow bag slung around her shoulder. She didn't look to be any more than twelve or thirteen. After her was a boy about the same age, who ran at the speed of light. The last one to arrive was a very average looking young man, in his late teens.

Knight stepped forward and walked up to the older teen. "I take it you're in charge?" he asked the boy.

"We're a team, none of us is really in charge."

"And the others?"

"Quake and Tremor are out of commission. Quake was kidnapped by someone, and Tremor's been attacked."

"Quake? Tremor?" Blackhole asked. "Pretty goofy names, kid."

Knight turned toward Blackhole. "They came from the same creatures that created you, too." He turned back to the boy. "So, what can we call you three?"

He pointed at the runner. "Feet." Now at the girl. "Spark." Then at himself. "Hold-Up."

Knight nodded. "Welcome. I hope you're ready to get your hands dirty. This fight may not end well."

Almost as if on cue, the wall of the warehouse they'd been watching exploded. Knight ducked down and watched as four people walked out from the whole in the wall. A man, who he recognized as GoldenEye; two older women, Necro and Port; and then one younger woman, who Knight realized was Quake. Behind them were twelve more of the robots that Guardian had fought.

What the hell? Knight asked himself. He stood back up and stood ready. He watched GoldenEye grab Quake by the arm, then point to the group of costumed heroes standing atop the building. She walked forward, held out one hand, and the roof they were on burst in a circle around them, dropping them twelve feet down to the top-most floor.

***

I did what GoldenEye asked, then I scowled at him. I'd just attacked a group of heroes, and I wanted to hurl. Port made herself scarce, probably teleporting up to the building where everybody was. I just stood there, arms folded under my breasts, and waited for this all to be over. Whatever it was the Benefactor wanted me to do, he told no one other than GoldenEye.

A cube van pulled up to us and most of the robots hopped in the back. I was about to, but GoldenEye stopped me. "Wait," he said.

Then something hit him in the chest.

Feet stopped about two feet in front of me and waved his hand. Necro just about grabbed him, but he sped away just as quickly. Great. My friends were here, too. I looked up at the building and watched Guardian rise up, holding Port by the neck. After that, a big hole appeared in front of Necro and I, and a guy in a white suit stepped forward. A woman in a black dress and cape walked out behind him, alongside Hold-Up. That woman with the Angel wings that I met last week flew up from the building's roof, and then Spark jumped up onto the building ledge. The last one to move was a guy who appeared to have a Batman complex.

And there we were, in the middle of a super-powered Mexican stand-off.

Oh... shit.

***

Spark held her hand open and created a ball of electricity about the size of a grenade. In fact, that was pretty much what it was. She threw it in the back of the cube van with all the robots in it and five seconds later, there were a dozen very pissed off robots crawling out of the remains of a cube van. Oh... yay. That may have done more harm than good. She jumped up into the air and landed on a near-by power line, then slid across it and jumped off, landing on the street.

Two of the robots ran after her, laser beams shooting out of their eyes. She dodged them, shot electricity from her fingers at them, but it didn't seem to do much besides anger the robots. She almost thought she heard them growling as she dodged past them and ended up closer to the van. The two robots turned around and focused their lasers back on her, forcing her to jump on top of the van.

Spark created two electricity grenades and threw them at the robots. The grenades stuck to the machines like they were covered in duct tape, and then they exploded. Two down, ten to go.

***

Guardian held the woman known as Port by the neck and threw her up into the air. He knew she would just teleport away, and that was exactly what she did, grabbing onto his leg and pulling him down until he managed to regain his balance. He tried kicking her off, but she just teleported to a different part of him and kept causing him to fall further and further to the ground.

"This isn't working," he said, then he grabbed her by her hair. He lifted her up again and held her face to face. "Pull me down any further, I'll burn holes in your stomach."

"Not very boy scout of you," she growled at him.

He smiled. "Girl scouts, actually." He threw her again, this time she teleported down to the ground, out of his reach. Good girl.

***

Knight threw two boomerang blades at the nearest robot. He then jumped on another and turned its head to direct its laser beams at the one he'd thrown the blades at. Once the first one was destroyed, he twisted the head off of the second one and threw it up in the air, where Guardian grabbed it and crushed it in his hands.

Knight looked around and didn't see GoldenEye standing anywhere among the chaos. Where did he go? he asked himself. His concentration was then divided between that question and the robot fist about to take his face off. He ducked out of the way and planted an explosive on the robot's chest, then pressed the button on his gauntlet.

This was already turning into a nightmare.

***

The woman known to them as Necro was about to hit Terror in the face when she focused her powers on Necro's brain. She saw what Necro saw, and Necro saw worms spilling from every orafice in her body. She fell to her knees and tried to stop the worms from escaping, but it didn't seem to be working. She screamed in pain as the worms began to burst from her mouth, it probably felt to her like they were filling her lungs.

Terror looked around for the ringleader, the man known as GoldenEye, but she didn't see him. Something was up about that.

***

Feet sped inside the warehouse after Quake, but he didn't see her. He stopped and looked around, only to be smacked in the face by a metal arm. He looked up and saw one of those robots standing over him. Just before the robot made contact with him again, he moved. Then again, and again, and again, until the robot eventually stopped trying to hit him, then he stopped and made a face at the robot, only to get kicked in the back of the head by a second robot.

"Aw, crap..."

The first robot was suddenly lifted up into the air, and then thrown at the opposite wall. Feet turned to see Hold-Up standing there, reaching out with his powers. He grabbed the second robot and just managed to get it in the air before it exploded.

Both boys looked to see what had happened, only to see Quake standing there, a very angry look on her face. "C'mon, guys. There's an asshole with gold eyes that we've got to beat the crap out of."

***

Blackhole used his powers to get up into the air where Guardian was, and opened a hole for Guardian to throw some damaged robots into. "This is kinda fun, ain't it?" he asked.

Guardian gave him a look. "Fun?"

"Hey, last week, I wasn't doing anything with my powers. Now, we're beatin' down evil robots."

Guardian punched a hole into the face of the latest robot. "Maybe. At least they're not humans." He tossed the robot into the hole. "That looks like all of them."

Blackhole looked around. "Where'd Angel go?"

***

GoldenEye just made it inside the room before Svetlana shut the door. "You almost didn't make it."

He made a face. "Svetlana, my dear, have I ever let you down?"

A third voice entered the conversation, "No, but you've let me down." Between them, the angel she'd seen at the bank suddenly lowered herself down to the floor. "Both of you." Svetlana pulled a gun, but the angel knocked it out of her hand with one wing. "Don't," the angel said.

"How about you stop taking my gun away and let me shoot you, and I'll be just fine?" Svetlana asked.

The angel rolled her eyes and sighed, then turned to GoldenEye. "Has this been your plan this whole time, Trevor? Cause chaos on a grand scale to distract the heroes of East City, then slip away? You weren't this cowardly when you were a simple choir girl, afraid of the slightest hint at violence."

Svetlana laughed. "Choir girl? That's impressive!"

The angel turned back to her. "And you, Svetlana? Running isn't in your blood. Not when you were a young boy, on the streets of Stalingrad. You'd killed seventeen KGB before you were ten, and managed to keep yourself out of the public spotlight. What about your Benefactor changed your tune?"

GoldenEye had procured a baseball bat from somewhere (Svetlana had had her attention focused squarely on the angel), and while her back was turned, hit the angel in the back of the head with it. "I'm tired of hearing this!" he shouted. He hit her in the side. "It's time for you to die, Angel!"

In the second it took Svetlana to blink, the door was spread open by invisible hands, and then GoldenEye's baseball bat exploded in a shower of splinters. Another blink, and suddenly Svetlana was pushed up against the computer console she'd been standing in front of. The boy looked no older than a pre-teen.

Quake walked in and punched GoldenEye right in the jaw.

***

After the punch, I kicked him in the gut. He doubled over, and then I kneed him in the face. A spin-kick later and he fell against a computer console on the wall opposite the door. I grabbed him by the collar and hit him in the face two more times, then shoved him against the computer. Sparks flew all over the floor. "That's for making me hurt my friends, you sonuvabitch!" I picked him up by the collar again. "Where's he at?! Where's your precious Benefactor?! I wanna beat the shit out of him for using me and my friends!"

Hold-Up grabbed me by the shoulder and tried to pry me off of GoldenEye, but it didn't work. Finally, GoldenEye spat out some blood and then smiled that goddamned smile again. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

I started feeding energy through my hands into his skin and was very ready to make his entire body explode.

***

Angel regained consciousness just in time to stop Quake from doing the very thing that she'd joined Knight's team to stop. She grabbed Quake and slammed her against the wall beside the damaged door. "Stop," she said, her voice calm, "this can't be undone."

Quake was fuming. "I don't want to undo this! I want that bastard dead!"

Angel nodded. "I understand, but if you do this, thousands will suffer."

"What?!"

She sighed. "It's hard to understand, but it's true. I'll explain it to you, someday. Today, we need to take these three in, and let the law take care of them. I'll help them withstand the Benefactor's mind control, they won't escape this time."

Tears were streaking down Quake's face. "They used me... Twice..."

Angel hugged the teenager. "I understand. I'm sorry. They'll pay for their crimes, though, you don't have to worry." And Angel prayed that she was telling the girl the truth.

***

Brandon looked at the television screen and watched as three Chosen were placed in cop cars, and a whole lot of destroyed robots were tossed in a garbage truck. He watched as the news crew took the microphone around to each of the heroes, including Monica, and breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want her to go down just for saving his life.

Everything's worked out fine, Brandon, Ms. Morris' voice filled his thoughts, we'll all be together again, soon.

***

Spark sat on top of a street light and looked out at the whole of the crowd that had gathered to talk to each of them. She smiled. Hey, first time out in public as a super hero, and I help save the day. I feel like celebrating.

She jumped down from the street light and was about to join her friends when she caught sight of two people worming their way through the crowd. No way. She made her way toward the police line and then stood face to face with her parents. She knew, somehow, that they somehow knew who she was. She then felt extremely sad. "I'm sorry I ran away," she said.

Her mother slid around the sawhorse and embraced her in a hug that Korra Reston had never felt when she was Josh Reston, and Korra returned the hug, with tears streaming down her face. "Don't you say you're sorry again," her mother said, "you don't ever have a reason to be sorry."

***

I rubbed at my arm as I sat on the trunk of my aunt's car. She was standing before me, a smile on her face that I don't think I've seen since before the day she bailed me out of jail, a month ago. A lot had happened to me since then. "You did good here today, Monica," she said.

"I nearly killed a guy."

"But Angel stopped you."

"She almost couldn't. The whole time she was talking to me, I wanted to blow that guy up."

Aunt Holly sat down beside me. "You wouldn't have."

I laughed. "How do you know? I killed a limo driver earlier today."

She patted me on the head. "You killed a guy kidnapping you earlier today. Self-defense, the biggest plea I hear in the courtrooms these days."

I laughed again. "You think that'd hold up?"

"It won't have to."

I leaned my head against my aunt's shoulder, and she wrapped an arm around my waist, and I felt good, for the first time in a month.

***

Gustav Hammond admired the video set-up that Cloak had in his secret lair. He had to admit, the Benefactor was quite the man to work with. "I assume this whole thing was all part of your grand plan?" Gustav asked.

He turned around and saw the Benefactor standing at the railing, much like he always seemed to be. The Benefactor didn't turn to look at him. "Of course it is. It's taken over two hundred centuries to perfect, but everything I do is a part of the plan."

Gustav walked up beside the Benefactor. "It must be one helluva plan, if losing twice is a good thing."

The Benefactor smiled. "Not good, no. Great." He slapped Gustav on the back. "Brilliant things are coming, Gustav, and the Chosen won't know what hit 'em." His smile widened. "Or who."