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Chapter 25
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The underground base provided by the B-P-S was in shambles, to be optimistic. Mortar Mage had checked the news as the others had done after they got home from the party, because tremors like what they’d felt were not frequent in the east coast. Not even with the underground lairs, or the metahumans and technology tunneling beneath the city on the regular, some things like earthquakes were just infrequent.

When he’d seen the crater where the estate should have been, he knew there was no time to waste. Mortar had made plans to survey the old base and salvage what he could. He moved quickly that same night. Soil and twisted scraps of metal continued to cry through the limited space while he examined the former base with a flashlight. The mage did not have long down here. Worst of all, he had to be careful. Mortar hated being careful like cats hated taking showers. This feat was a great waterfall in his eyes.

The remaining weapons and other defenses had been smashed beyond repair. The medical examination room was as buried as half of the corridors and most of the meeting room.

Mortar slipped through portal after portal to get to the other side of barricades once he knew for certain there was a place to appear. It was how he had gotten into the base, for that matter, but not without dropping a few short mounds of dirt on the ground outside the mansion. If anyone in the League liked the idea of taking soil from their old home into their new one, then they were in luck, though Mortar was certain no one told him of such habits.

If his breathable air ran low before time was up for being down here, then Mortar knew to open a portal to somewhere that had plenty of good air. Masks and filters be damned; he didn't have time to mess with all of that.

After some searching and probing about the disheveled base, he found the room he was looking for. Just like so much of the underground base, half of the room was submerged in dirt and rock. Some of the equipment and machinery had been smashed or buried. Luckily, the one thing he needed most was still intact. Mortar used his magic to shield himself from the falling debris, and to undo some screws. The base rumbled, and he knew that this trip had to count. Mortar had to grab what he needed and go.

The rumbling only got worse while Mortar worked. He was halfway done with his recovery effort when the ceiling decided it was a good time to come down. It cracked and it roared.

He was out of time.

Princess Undercut and the boys had intercepted a police broadcast late in the morning. The Steel Canyon branch of the Paragon Mutual Bank was under attack. It wasn’t being robbed, nor even hostages being held for ransom, but it was being assaulted.

War Lagoon beat the others there by a fraction of a second, and wasted no time using his power to cloud the lights from outside the bank’s doors.

Psi Wizard used his mind to scry for whomever was inside the bank. He found two men, both using psi blockers, and neither one of them angry nor nervous as far as he could tell.

“Something’s not right,” Psi Wizard said to the others.

“Then we’ll make it right,” said Princess Undercut, who reached for the door.

“No, wait!”

The glass doors and adjacent windows crashed open, and a villain charged into her like a football player blocking someone from the opposing team. It was Bullman, a level eight with a hard head, a harder helmet, and a pair of minotaur-themed pauldrons on his shoulders that went with his brown and gold look.

Bullman rammed Princess Undercut into the barricade of police cars. He remembered the last time he had fought these heroes, and didn’t care about this one’s invulnerability. He could still find a way to hurt anyone if he tried.

Meanwhile, War Lagoon was too busy trying to hold whomever it was that remained inside the darkened bank. He could feel the other person pushing through the shadows, cutting into them somehow.

The men heard the villain’s laugh then, and knew who it was.

“Spliceler,” said Psi Wizard. This was a villain known for brutally stabbing or slashing his victims with a pair of knives, moving too fast for anyone who wasn’t a speedster, and being able to incorporate any of a few elements into his attacks. He was supposed to be locked up in California, waiting an eternity for a death sentence to be carried out.

“I can’t hold him for much longer,” said War Lagoon.

Psi Wizard was caught in the middle, saving his wife or his friend, unable to use his psych powers against either villain.

Kyra huddled into a corner of the main hallway of the school with her hands over her ears. Lights flickered around her as she held up her quasi-invisibility, but nothing she did had any effect on the chanting whispers she was hearing. What was happening? She didn’t know where it came from, but it felt like the chanting noises ebbed away at her being like warm, running water on a block of ice.

She screamed out. The few people present looked around, but saw no one. Kyra thrashed against the lockers a couple times before stumbling back toward the gym. The laugh she’d heard before came again. Against the chanting, it relieved her. Kyra still knew it to be evil, but it relieved her to hear it instead of those whispers.

Then Kyra laughed to herself. She could see Mary now, supervising the kids during their PE period. The laughter continued while the claws withdrew from Kyra’s bracelets, and a tear rolled down her cheek. There was only one way to make this better.

Only one way that this could end.

Maryann glanced over when her class, and the students in other classes, reacted suddenly to a silhouette surrounded by an electrical storm. It was hard to make out the silhouette’s shape, but Mary ordered everyone to get back.

“When that Vambraceman Captain said you three would be coming,” said Bullman, who had Princess Undercut pinned to a now-wrecked police car, “I have to say I was skeptical. Keep you busy, he said. But, I have a better idea. I’m going to make you scream in agony about a thousand different ways before I’m done with you.”

“Distract us from what?” asked Princess Undercut.

“He didn’t say. Now, be a good girl and scream for me.” Bullman pushed his body weight into her, and she winced. The big man was too heavy for her to push.

One officer took a shot at Bullman’s ceramic helmet, barely scraping the side of it, but the lieutenant on the scene pressed down on the officer’s weapon and berated him for getting involved. He even reminded the officer that the members of the Dallevan League were wanted for questioning.

Another officer, one who wasn’t wearing psi blockers—he must have been a rookie or else forgetful, Psi Wizard figured—took another shot at the helmet, and hit the same spot.

“Hold your fire, men!” ordered the lieutenant. “The next officer who disobeys my order will hand in his gun and badge this instant.”

Bullman chuckled. Puny bullets did not affect him or the woman he was about to torture in broad daylight, and in front of the city now that the news cameras were rolling.

A split second later, Psi Wizard rammed the business end of a specially designed police baton into the same spot of the ceramic helmet. The baton shattered the reinforced plating and hit against the villain’s skin. The baton shocked Bullman with as much juice as it could dish out, which caused it to burn out after a short time. Bullman turned and smacked Psi Wizard aside.

However, this allowed Princess Undercut to slip out of Bullman’s grasp, and she ran for the bank. She let her training and instincts take over, with a combination she had used several times while blindfolded, and blocked the first attack that was meant for War Lagoon with one hand while she punched Spliceler in the face with the other. She followed it up with a kick, which knocked the villain back into the shadows.

“Think you can hold him a minute?” Princess Undercut asked War Lagoon.

“I’ll try. Make it fast, whatever you’re going to do,” he replied. Holding someone like this took a lot of energy.

She ran back to the perimeter of cop cars, and stood on top of one hood. Princess Undercut said to the Lieutenant, “Hey, hand me one of your suppressor cuffs?”

“You’re wanted for questioning,” the lieutenant said.

“So, what, you’re going to let the villains win?”

“As far as I know, you’re suspected of being villains yourselves.”

“Look, it doesn’t matter what you’ve been told. We have a pair of known villains here who need to be brought down. I’m asking you nicely because I have no desire to steal from you. So toss me one of those damn cuffs already.”

Several yards away, Bullman approached Psi Wizard, who had yet to get back up after being knocked to the ground by the big guy. Bullman taunted him, “You’re a weak little man. Stupid too. Did you think a little shock was going to stop me?”

Psi Wizard said, “Your surprise was a bonus, and it got Princess Undercut free.” The shock had done more than that, but he was holding back for the right moment.

“It got you killed now, little man. What do you say to that?” Bullman picked up Psi Wizard with one hand.

“I’ll keep my buzzwords to myself.” His psychic powers assaulted Bullman’s mental state instantly now that the psi blockers were fried. Bullman fell to his knees. “But, everyone else you hurt has something to say.” With one hand, he pushed Bullman back by the forehead.

The gaping hole on the side of Bullman’s ceramic helmet was the perfect spot after all. The baton had destroyed the device above the man’s ear, and now every repressed emotion or memory Bullman had from the times he’d hurt and killed people was coming back with a terrible vengeance. There was a good chance that this would leave the villain in a catatonic state for days, all the while writhing over the things he'd done, but at least the villain still drew breath.

When he turned, Psi Wizard saw Spliceler break free of the shadows again, which now dissipated. From the looks of things, that left Princess Undercut to deal with him.

She proceeded to block every attack she could, but Princess Undercut was not fast enough to keep every swipe of the blade from touching. Her costume tore in a few places as a result, but luckily her skin resisted being cut.

Spliceler said, “Every invuln has an element, girl, and I know yours. I know I can cut you with ease.” He slid a knife through two fingers, drawing ice, and thrust toward her with as much strength and speed as he could manage. The blade penetrated flesh.

Everyone gasped when it happened.

Everyone, that was, but War Lagoon. The knife had plunged into a dark circle right over Princess Undercut’s chest, and it was now stuck inside the back of Spliceler’s leg.

“I’m not out of power, you know,” said War Lagoon.

Princess Undercut looked at him with a twitching eye, and asked, “Cut things close much?”

“Let’s detain these creeps, and get going.”

“Right.” She wrestled with Spliceler, who was screaming in pain, and applied the power suppressor cuffs on his arms.

The doctors on the scene were already checking on Bullman, confirming his livelihood and limited capacity to do anything with it, when another ran to the second villain to tend to his leg wound. The police wanted to cheer for the heroes, but they were holding back the civilians and journalists.

A police bulletin broadcast from their vehicles:

“Calling all units, there has been a fight and kidnapping at Steel Canyon Intermediate School. The kidnap victim has been described as . . .”