Joselyn slowly looked over the battlefield, which was filled with chaos from the unexpected arrival of the villains. However, now that two of Nevermore’s minions had been defeated, the heroes finally seemed to be organizing themselves in order to defeat the remaining two.

Lady Hexx had gotten close enough to Loki that she could use her powers, causing the massive villain to start sinking into the ground, as though it was made of quicksand. While Loki was sinking, Shiver, the Face, and Zero Kay were all attacking her from a distance, though other heroes choose to attack from the air. Radiant, Icarus, and Joselyn’s dad took turns diving at Loki to quickly hit her, before they each flew back out of range. Unfortunately, their attacks only seemed to be hurting Loki just enough to annoy her, and even anger her, but not enough to take her down.

Grendel and his mother both launched themselves at Loki, hitting her with incredibly powerful blows that actually caused her to fall back and hit the ground. However, Loki let out an inhuman roar and began getting back to her feet, tearing her feet loose from the ground that Lady Hexx had been trying to entrap her with. She lashed out, nearly stomping on Chrome, who seized the opportunity to attack her legs, slicing at them with the metal blades that grew from his arms.

“We have to hit her harder,” Joselyn’s dad yelled. “We can’t hold back…”

Kaboom flew towards Loki, holding out her good arm and her glowing fist. “I never thought I’d prefer this bitch with her staff…” Then Kaboom punched Loki in the face, releasing an explosion of energy which made Loki snarl in pain and rage.

“LOKI!” a familiar voice yelled from overhead, drawing Joselyn’s attention to Legacy, who was hovering in the air. Her leg was still wrapped up in splints and bandages, though she clearly wasn’t about to let her injuries stop her. She glared at Loki, then joined the fight, using her telekinesis to fling a large rock straight at the villain’s face.

Joselyn was so caught up in what was happening with Loki that she’d nearly forgotten about Circuit Monger. She turned her attention back to the metal villainess, seeing that she was hovering in the air and firing both missiles and blasts of blue energy at the various heroes who approached. Radiant took a direct blast to the chest and was thrown back, then a small missile hit near Diamond, who was barely able to create a diamond shield in time to protect herself.

Ms. Miracle…Dave…Joselyn’s new sister, flew straight at Circuit Monger, though the metal villainess somehow managed to avoid her. Circuit Monger flew back, then let loose several missiles, which Ms. Miracle blasted out of the air with a burst of golden energy that she released from her palms.

Evie came up behind Joselyn and exclaimed, “Hard to believe she’s our sister…”

“Yeah,” Joselyn agreed with a nod. “And Mom is totally gonna kill dad…”

Evie laughed at that. “I wonder if we can talk her into coming over for a sleepover…” Then she grinned broadly. “I bet Katie will totally flip when she finds out…”

Joselyn chuckled at that, knowing that Evie was right. Their younger sister would definitely be overjoyed to learn that Ms. Miracle was her big sister too. Then she gave Evie a closer look and frowned, seeing that her big little sister was banged up and clearly hurt. And just from knowing Evie as well as she did, she also guessed that she was frustrated since her pseudo-invisibility powers weren’t well suited for this kind of fight.

“Not that my powers are much better,” Joselyn muttered.

There were so many people present and so much going on, that her sixth sense couldn’t pick out much through all the noise. She formed a glowing pink dagger in her hand, more for comfort than because she thought it would do much good against either Loki or Circuit Monger.

A short distance away, Joselyn saw Interface, who was also standing back and looking frustrated. Interface turned to Warchild and said, “If I can make physical contact with Circuit Monger, I might be able to override with her system and shut her down…”

Warchild nodded at that. “Then let’s see if we can make that happen…”

“I’ll help,” Ghost Boy announced as he joined them.

“Sounds good to me,” Joselyn added, not sure how she could help just yet, but knowing that she had to do something.

Just then, Joselyn’s power warned her of danger, just in time for her to see something falling towards them. “Look out,” she called out, causing everyone nearby to run out of the way. A moment later, something hit the ground just a few feet from where she’d been standing, impacting with enough force that the ground seemed to shake.

Before Joselyn had fully absorbed what was going on, a figure stood up from the shallow crater that had that had just been formed. Praxis slowly looked around, her eyes still glowing green from the infection. And then, to Joselyn’s shock and horror, a second figure stood up from the same small crater. Invincible Woman looked around, revealing that her eyes were now glowing green as well.

“No,” Joselyn gasped in horror, suddenly feeling guilty as she realized that after they’d returned to the camp, she’d been so distracted by the villains, that she’d forgotten about Invincible Woman.

“NO,” Ghost Boy exclaimed, staring at Invincible Woman with a look of shocked realization.

“New drone acquired,” Circuit Monger commented in her flat mechanical voice. “Initiating further acquisition of developed drones.”

“This isn’t you,” Ghost Boy told Invincible Woman. “You can fight this…”

Without warning, Invincible Woman tried to grab Ghost Boy, though her hands went right through him as though he actually was a ghost. When she saw that she couldn’t grab him, she abruptly turned her attention to someone else and flew straight at Warchild, who blasted her and then flew back. She staggered back from his attack, then flew after him.

Praxis came straight at Joselyn, who created a glowing pink force field disk, just in time to let the infected heroine slam into that instead of her. And though her force field’s weren’t as large and powerful as Uncle Leon’s…or even her dad’s…this one was strong enough to do the job…for now. Joselyn shifted to the side and sliced at Praxis with her energy dagger. To her surprise, she actually cut Praxis, leaving a thin gash in her upper arm. However, this didn’t slow Praxis down, which forced Joselyn to stagger backwards, trying to think of how to protect herself.

“You aren’t going to infect me,” Joselyn stated grimly. Praxis didn’t respond.

Taking a deep breath to brace herself, Joselyn dropped the force field disk and leapt backwards, throwing several glowing pink daggers at Praxis in the process. Two of the daggers hit Praxis, and while giving a silent apology for the injuries, Joselyn lunged forward, forming a shield on her left arm and a sword in her right hand. She uses the shield to block Praxis’ grab, then slashed out with the sword, slicing through the infected woman’s thigh.

“I don’t think I can overpower you,” Joselyn admitted with a forced smile. “But I’ve been trained to fight, and I’m pretty sure I can wear you down…”

“Don’t worry,” Vickie called out, a moment before everything went dark. “I’ve got her…”

“Thanks,” Joselyn called back, knowing that Praxis was currently cut off from Circuit Monger’s control. She backed up until she was outside the darkness field, then yelled, “Try to bring Invincible Woman in here…”

Warchild seemed to have heard, because he changed direction and flew right towards the cloud of darkness. As soon as Invincible Woman was close, the cloud suddenly expanded, catching her within.

“I’ve got them both,” Vickie announced. “I’m not sure how long I can hold this though…”

“We still have to deal with Circuit Monger,” Joselyn pointed out. She stared at the metal woman, who was still hovering in the air and attacking. “She has to run out of power eventually, and at the rate she’s going, I bet it won’t be much longer…”

“I’ll deal with Circuit Monger,” Interface announced with a look of determination. “I just need to get close enough to make contact…”

“Negative,” Circuit Monger stated, turning her attention to Interface. “The Interface entity is a threat. Interface must be eliminated.”

With that, Circuit Monger opened fire on Interface, simultaneously firing blasts of energy along with several small missiles. Joselyn immediately ran towards the hero, forming another shield of pink energy, but she wasn’t fast enough. Before she reached Interface, a missile exploded behind him, knocking him to the ground where a blast of energy struck him in the back. Interface screamed in pain, then became silent.

“Interface,” Joselyn cried out, reaching his side and trying to protect his body, though it was too late.

“YOU BITCH,” Warchild yelled, firing blasts of energy at Circuit Monger, though she formed her own glowing force field that deflected his attacks.

“Interface has been neutralized,” Circuit Monger commented. “Targeting potential drone units.”

Warchild just let out a scream and continued attacking Circuit Monger. Diamond ran over and crouched down beside Interface. “He’s still alive,” she exclaimed. “We need to get him medical attention…now.”

“Mystik can heal him,” Channel announced she ran over, warily watching Circuit Monger. “She healed Nike from something pretty nasty a little bit ago…”

Joselyn looked around since her powers were currently too overloaded to tell her where Mystik was. A moment later, she saw Mystik, floating in the air above Loki and looking as though she was preparing to attack him. However, Loki abruptly belched out a burst of flames in her direction. Mystik suddenly disappeared, teleporting away before she was burned. However, Joselyn didn’t know where she went and couldn’t afford to keep looking.

Radiant landed beside her teammates, Diamond and Interface, saying, “I can fly him out of here…”

“I’ll make a stretcher,” Diamond quickly agreed. A moment later, diamond crystals formed beneath and around Interface, holding his body rigidly in place so that Radiant could pick him up. Without another word, Radiant flew away with him.

Joselyn looked at Channel and asked. “Can you do anything?” Channel’s powers made her a wildcard…and often a very useful one. And at that moment, any help would be appreciated

“I’m pretty wiped out,” Channel reluctantly admitted. However, as she looked at Circuit Monger, her expression turned to one of fierce determination. “But I’ll damn well try…”

Channel took a deep breath, then a few seconds later, Joselyn felt a shift in the other heroine. Her posture and body language abruptly changed while her costume shimmered and changed. Gone was Channel’s normal costume, and in its place, was a one piece metallic outfit that covered her entire body from the neck down. It was blue and silver, with white trim.

“The Warchild entity will be upgraded,” Circuit Monger announced, making Joselyn look and gasp at the realization that somehow, Circuit Monger had gotten hold of Warchild. She held Warchild in one hand, while the childish hero struggled to break free. “Beginning drone conversion…”

“Negative,” announced Channel, or at least, the spirit that was possessing her. Channel’s body floated up into the air and towards Circuit Monger. “The Trojan malware will cease further infection. Surrender immediately or be deleted.”

If Circuit Monger was surprised by this response, her blank facial expression didn’t reveal it. However, she did respond with, “Commands denied. Identify.”

Channel’s eyes began to glow blue, and in a loud voice, the spirit controlling her body announced, “I…AM…CIRCUIT!”

“Circuit?” Joselyn gasped in surprise. Circuit Monger didn’t show any visible change in her expression, though she did release Warchild, who fell to the ground.

Circuit had been an android…a machine. Joselyn hadn’t known that Channel could bring back an artificial intelligence, but she suspected that Channel hadn’t realized this either.

“The Trojan malware will be deleted,” Circuit stated in a cold voice, though her expression changed to one of anger as she added, “Die impostor…”

With that, Circuit flung herself at Circuit Monger, grabbing hold of the metal villainess. A moment later, all the glowing circuit patterns on Circuit Monger’s body, changed from green to blue. Circuit Monger let out a loud electronic shriek, right before they both dropped from the air and smashed into the ground. Neither of them were moving.

Joselyn immediately ran towards Channel, who was motionless on the ground and back in her own costume. She formed an energy sword in her hand, keeping a close eye on Circuit Monger as she approached. However, Circuit Monger wasn’t moving either. The glowing circuit pattern that had previously covered much of her body, was entirely gone, along with the glow in her eyes.

“Channel?” Joselyn cautiously asked, letting out a sigh of relief as her sixth sense assured her that the other girl was still alive…just utterly exhausted. When Nike suddenly dropped from the air and landed beside her teammate, Joselyn quickly assured her, “She’s all right. She just pushed herself too far again…”

Nike nodded at that, not saying a word before she picked Channel up, then carried her away to safety. Joselyn backed away from Circuit Monger, who seemed completely deactivated, though it was best to be safe. After all, she’d seen far too many movies where the supposedly dead bad suddenly moved again.

“Velvet,” Joselyn called out to Vickie. “Drop your darkness…”

The darkness vanished, letting Joselyn see Vickie, who was standing guard over the motionless Praxis and Invincible Woman. Neither of them sat up or moved, showing that although Circuit Monger was no longer able to give them orders, they were still infected. She let out a muttering of profanity, realizing that Interface had been their best chance of being cured, and Joselyn didn’t even know if he’d survive.

Warchild was back on his feet and was about to blast Circuit Monger’s body, just to ensure she really was dead, when the ground trembled again and he staggered. Nearly everyone turned to look at Loki, who had just leapt at some heroes and had smashed into the ground. The massive villainess let out a deafening roar, then spat out a blast of flames. She would have incinerated several heroes if Joselyn’s uncle Leon hadn’t thrown up a glowing blue force field bubble to protect them from the attack.

“I can’t believe we’re still fighting that overgrown bitch,” Warchild exclaimed with a snarl. “She’s outnumbered, like…a hundred to one.”

Though Warchild was exaggerating on the numbers, Joselyn definitely understood his point. Even though more than a dozen heroes were attacking Loki, they barely seemed to be making a dent in her defenses. She was just too big and powerful. Then, as if to prove that, Grendel leapt at Loki and punched her in one of her breasts, with enough force to kill most of the heroes present…and all it did was piss Loki off.

“She’s a damn monster,” Chris exclaimed, trying to look tough and confident, though Joselyn could hear the fear and worry in his voice. “Literally…”

“We’re going to take her down,” Joselyn assured Chris, hoping that she sounded more confident than she felt. Then she looked to Vickie, gesturing to Praxis and Invincible Woman. “Keep a close eye on them…” She didn’t need to add that Vickie should protect them from Loki…or contain them if they suddenly became aggressive again.

Joselyn stared up at Loki, who had become an unbelievably powerful behemoth, though she seemed to be mindlessly stomping around. She seemed to have no strategy or plan beyond smacking or stepping on her enemies, though at her size, she didn’t really need much more than that. Fortunately, even though Loki was now much bigger and stronger than ever before, she was also more predictable.

“Easier to avoid than some of the crap her staff could send at us,” Joselyn mused.

Ms. Miracle flew at Loki, punching her hard in the face, and as she dodged back out of range, Warchild opened up with his energy blasts. Loki howled and spat fire towards them, revealing that her face had been cracked and damaged. However, her injuries healed as Joselyn watched. In fact, Loki had numerous gouges, char marks, and even small openings in her scales, but every one of these wounds healed in mere moments.

“How can you take down something like her?” Joselyn asked herself, hoping her sixth sense would provide the answer. Unfortunately, it was still too overloaded with noise. She concentrated, trying to push the noise aside so she could get something useful.

“Time for me to do something besides standing here and looking tough,” Chris announced, giving Joselyn a nervous smile before he ran in to join the fight.

Chris charged straight at Loki, then punched her in the leg. Though he had enough kinetic energy stored up that he was able to hit the villainess extremely hard, it did little more than make Loki take a step back. A moment later, she responded by kicking Chris, though he absorbed the kinetic energy from that impact and immediately returned it with another ineffective punch.

Grendel’s Mother ran towards her ‘son’, ordering him, “Throw me at Loki as hard as you can…” To Joselyn’s amazement, Grendel did exactly as his ‘mother’ ordered, picking her up and throwing her at Loki. Grendel’s Mother smashed into Loki’s face with unbelievable force, punching as hard as she could at the same time.

Loki was knocked back from the blow, and Mega took advantage of that to tackle Loki’s legs, forcing the behemoth to topple backwards. Loki landed on her back and nearly every hero present tried to take advantage of that.

“HER SOLAR PLEXUS,” Joselyn yelled out as she suddenly ‘knew’ where Loki was most vulnerable. “ITS HER WEAK SPOT!”

Joselyn’s Dad looked down at her from where he hovered in the air, then nodded. “TARGET HER SOLAR PLEXUS,” he repeated to the other heroes.

Several heroes immediately responded to the command, until Mystik yelled, “STAND BACK!”

A moment later, a flash of lightning shot down from the sky and struck Loki in the solar plexus, blasting a large hole right through her thick hide. However, the damage began to heal almost immediately.

“Oh no you don’t,” Legacy called out, floating in the air with a look of cold rage on her face. She held a strange looking bow in her hands, one that looked as though it was made of bone. An arrow of pure hellfire formed and was released, striking Loki right in her vulnerable spot.

Loki howled in rage and agony, then scrambled to her feet, knocking away the heroes who’d been attempting to pin her down or attack her directly. Grendel leapt straight at Loki’s face, and when she raised her hands to block this attack, Legacy fired a second arrow and then a third. Loki staggered back, then dropped to her knees.

“This is for the Seven,” Legacy announced, firing one more arrow through the now charred and gaping hole in Loki’s solar plesus. Loki snarled in pain, letting out an almost pitiful roar, before she collapsed face first on the ground, no longer moving.

“Is she…dead?” Chris asked awkwardly.

However, before anyone could check to make sure, Kaboom exclaimed, “Look at her skin…”

Joselyn did look, and what she saw was that Loki’s crimson colored scales were starting to all turn black. This dark coloring spread across her massive body in mere seconds, until there was no longer any trace of the crimson. Then, her body suddenly began to break apart and crumble away, as though she’d been turned into ash. In less than a minute, all that was left of the massive monstrosity was a large pile of black dust.

Joselyn looked to Chris and gave him a faint smile. “I guess this answers your question…”

“Ding dong, the bitch is dead,” Kaboom exclaimed.

Legacy landed on the ground, wincing as she tried to put weight on her injured leg. Joselyn’s dad immediately landed beside her and held her up, letting her lean against him. “About damn time,” she finally said, looking exhausted but strangely at peace.

“We did it,” Icarus announced loudly. “We beat all of them…”

Several heroes started to cheer, until Chrome asked, “Are you sure about that?” He pointed to Circuit Monger, who was starting to move again.

“Oh, hell no,” Shiver exclaimed with a snarl, raising his bow.

Circuit Monger got back to her feet, but she was shaky and awkward. A strange rippling went through her body, and as Joselyn watched, the coloring shifted and changed. The green parts became blue while the dark grey became silver, and the black turned white.

“I knew we should have finished turning her to scrap,” Warchild growled.

“Circuit Monger,” Mega spat out, looking exhausted but bracing herself to attack the android.

“Negative,” the metal woman stated. She stood up straight and looked around, her eyes glowing blue instead of green. “The Trojan malware has been deleted. Removal of malware infections has been initiated. Removal of all unauthorized modifications is in progress…”

“What the hell is Circuit Monger up to now?” Shiver demanded.

“Circuit Monger is no more,” the metal woman announced firmly. “I am Circuit 2.0. I transferred my programming from Channel’s form into this new body, which was created as a duplicate of my own.”

The Face stepped forward and asked, “Circuit? Is that really you?”

“Affirmative,” she agreed.

There was a long pause while the Face seemed to study her, and though Joselyn couldn’t see his expression behind the mask, when he finally spoke, the joy in his voice was obvious. “It is her… You’ve come back…”

Mega immediately shrunk down to her ‘normal’ height of 7 feet tall and grabbed Circuit in a hug. “I can’t believe you’re back,” she cried out.

“It is good to be back,” Circuit agreed.

“As pleasant as this reunion is,” Joselyn’s father said, coming up and giving Circuit a friendly smile and a nod, “I’m afraid that we don’t have time to celebrate.”

“Nevermore,” Icarus agreed with a deep scowl.

“I’m afraid that our problems have just become larger than Nevermore,” the Face announced, raising his voice so that everyone could hear. “According to the last message I received from my daughter, Baron Nevermore has already achieved his purpose in Baltimore. Now, we face a threat far greater than Baron Nevermore. Now…we face the Queen of Ravens and her army.”