by J Bennett
“Strong as Iron,” Leo says next to me, and there’s something in his voice. It might be admiration.
I don’t feel strong. I’ve never felt strong. But I’m learning to be a better actor. I give Leo a nod and follow Sequoia.
The day is warm, but a soft breeze makes it comfortable. A few wispy clouds stretch across the sky, and I see heavy gray clouds in the distance. A storm is coming.
“Are you angry?” I ask Sequoia as I jog to catch up to him.
He keeps his gaze forward. “What do I have to be angry about?”
It could be the cruel way I treated Lysee, but that was all part of our plan. No, I think his tight jaw and clenched fists have something to do with what Lysee said about my feelings for Leo.
“It’s just that you’ve been—” I begin.
“Iron, we need to focus on the mission.”
Leo’s cam drone follows us. It’s right for Sequoia to use my henchman name, but it still stings. We walk the rest of the way in silence while I feel prickles on the back of my neck. It feels like an army of ghosts is watching us. I keep catching flickers of movement, shifting shadows, at the corner of my eye, but it must just be my adrenaline-soaked imagination.
In the center of the Square, the statue of The Hero rises in front of us, almost blinding in the sunlight. It looks so much like Beacon, big and towering, kissed by the sun. At the base of the statue, The Professor waits impatiently, arms crossed in front of his chest, frowning. He taps his foot as his wild hair waves in the breeze.
Ash Anders looks stoically out across the square. His hands are nominally tied in front of him, but he doesn’t wear a gag or blindfold. He also seems to have convinced The Professor against any type of leg shackles. Mermaid and Gold stand on either side of him, faces like stone. Kitty is here, too, a smile plastered on her synthetic lips. Our three remaining cam drones buzz around the ensemble, soaking in the tension.
Gold sees us first, along with the cam drone following us. “Finally!” he says. “Kitty, release control of the cams.”
The three cam drones drop unceremoniously from the air only to swoop back up just before hitting the ground. I can’t imagine Leo appreciated that abrupt handoff, but he got control of them just in time.
“Wonderful! Now I can help guard the prisoner,” Kitty chirps. She practically skips over to Ash Anders, her tail swishing with each step. “Someone’s been a bad boy,” she says to him in a husky voice. “Don’t you dare even try to escape.”
“Welcome, welcome, my elements,” The Professor says. “You’ve successfully recovered my producer?”
“We did,” I confirm.
“Well done.” Our boss nods. “You don’t happen to have my original prisoner handy, do you?”
I shake my head. “Shine didn’t show.”
The Professor squints across the square, then glances at his Band. One min till noon. “I suppose we’ll have to make do with the one we have.” He gives a menacing grin to Ash Anders.
We wait. Sequoia and I take our spots behind Ash Anders so that we effectively surround him without blocking the cams. My eyes keep flicking to my Band to check the time. I notice the others doing the same. The numbers flip.
Noon.
The Professor steps out from the shadow of The Hero.
“Ooooh, Beacon,” he taunts, his voice carrying across the empty Square. “I have your present wrapped up all nice and tidy. Why don’t you come out and fetch him?”
He turns to Ash Anders and pulls a highly modified laz pistol from his lab coat. Colorful wires and blinking lights cover the gun. A strange tube sticks out of the side. “On your knees,” The Professor barks at our prisoner. “If Beacon doesn’t show, I might as well see if my atom fuser prototype works.”
Anders doesn’t move. He looks romantically bedraggled, his expression haughty and proud.
“I said kneel!” The Professor bellows and stamps his foot for good measure.
Ash Anders yawns.
Gold gives him a kick to the back of his knees. Anders makes a good show of stumbling forward and hitting his knees on the grass. Gold puts a heavy hand on the mayor’s shoulder.
“I admire your courage, Mr. Mayor,” he says, “but the boss says go down, so you better stay there.” Gold’s voice is tight with emotion. The gravity of this moment is even getting to him.
I’m no better off. Adrenaline pumps through my body, and my stomach churns with fear, excitement, and serious nausea.
“Now, let’s see,” The Professor says, sauntering around Ash Anders, banging his cane with each step. He fiddles with his gun. “I’m not sure I remember the right setting, and this is a prototype after all, so the results might be a little unpredictable.” He grins.
I plaster a careless smile on my face and give a little laugh that sounds squeaky in my ears. I feel Sequoia looming next to me. I hope he’s minding his face and looking appropriately sinister. We won’t get a second shot at this scene, so it needs to be perfect for our ep.
The Professor presses a sensor pad on his gun, and it glows a bright green. A small gear begins to turn on the side of the weap.
“Looks like Beacon was too afraid to face me,” The Professor announces. “Quite the right move. Unfortunately, Mayor Anders, that means you’ve got no hope of rescue.” His words are smooth and perfectly articulated. If he’s afraid of what’s to come, I can’t see it. Instead, he seems to fully embody his role. He is The Professor. I almost believe he’ll zap Ash Anders any moment.
The Professor gazes down at his hostage and sneers. “Any last words?”
Ash Anders takes a deep breath. “As a matter of fact…”
“Stop,” a voice calls, echoing through the stillness of the day.
It’s a familiar voice. A voice that has uplifted generations, a voice that could spell our doom. A slim figure walks to the edge of the bank’s roof just across from the statue. Even from a distance, Beacon makes a powerful impression. Her armored costume gleams in the sunlight, and her streaming golden hair wafts in the breeze. She looks like some ancient Greek goddess, ready to strike vengeance against all who oppose her.
She jumps off the roof and executes a flawless front flip, her propulsion boots slowing her descent so that she lands softly on her feet. Four cam drones float around her, recording from every angle.
“I am here,” she says simply.
“Well, well, well,” The Professor gloats. “I’m not surprised your foolish morality got the better of you. Did you come alone and unarmed as promised?”
Beacon holds out her arms and spins, revealing that her Light Blade and Aura Arcs don’t hang from the belt around her waist.
“Then you are a damn fool!” The Professor cackles at her. “Did you really think I would just let my darling little mayor walk away? Not a chance! Now I have two guinea pigs for my lab.”
I glance at Ash Anders out of the corner of my eye. Gold pretends to watch the exchange between Beacon and The Professor with consuming interest. With a quick flip of his lab coat, he clearly reveals the laz pistol in his belt. Ash Anders quickly shimmies out of the rope bindings, just the way Mermaid showed him. Now, he carefully puts one foot beneath him.
My attention snaps back to the confrontation. Beacon laughs, showcasing perfect white teeth. “Oh, Professor, where are all those IQ points you always brag about? Of course I knew you’d double-cross me. You didn’t think I’d really come alone, did you?”
A confident laugh rumbles above us, and we gaze around, trying to spot its source. Then I see him, a resplendent figure standing on the roof of the Grand Museum. Shine’s costume glows orange, like fire, and he holds Beacon’s Light Blade in one hand, her Aura Arcs in the other.
“I don’t believe I ever thanked you for your hospitality, Professor,” Shine calls. “Perhaps you’d let me repay the favor.”
Even as I gape dramatically for the cams, I can’t help but be impressed. Somehow Adan made a deal with Beacon. He must have realized that this confrontation with The Pro
fessor, the inevitable rescue of Ash Anders, would ensure Beacon’s continued reign as our city’s top hero. He found a way back into her good graces so he could ride the ratings wave. I wonder what he did, what he said to convince her to take him back. I probs don’t want to know.
Ash Anders makes his move. He leaps to his feet, grabs Gold’s gun, and shoots at The Professor.
“No!” Mermaid cries, leaping in front of the shot. She takes the hit and crumples to the ground, arms splayed. The gun was on the lowest laz setting, but you’d never know it by how still Mermaid lays on the ground.
“Why you!” The Professor hollers.
Ash Anders shoots at him, which was def not in the plan we agreed to, but Sequoia is already moving, grabbing The Professor and tossing him behind the statue.
Flustered and screaming curses, The Professor points his gun at Beacon and pulls the trigger. The weap rattles, wheezes, then several of the gears fall off, as planned. There was no way Ash Anders would allow The Professor to point a real weapon in his face.
“Blight!” The Professor hollers as the mayor sprints away. “Get him!” our boss hollers, then he whirls toward Beacon. “And… and get her too!” He hurls the gun to the ground and stomps on it.
I sprint after Ash Anders. In my peripheral, I see Shine leap from the roof of the museum.
“It’s over, Professor. Time to go on a long, long sabbatical,” Beacon is saying while she stalks toward him.
The Professor releases his infamous laugh. “Oh, my dear, every good scientist knows that not every experiment will be a success. That’s why one should always devise a backup plan.” The Professor sticks two fingers in his mouth and whistles.
Ash Anders pauses and so do I, even though I know what’s coming. In the hush, a tall, beautiful woman steps from behind the city tour booth. Her hair is black as night and falls all the way down to her hips. An intricate golden crown sits upon her head. Her lips are ruby red, and black liner rims her eyes ending in sharp points at the corner of each eye. Four bare-chest, glistening men surround her.
“Cleopatra!” Beacon hisses, her expression crumbling into rage. Her reaction is so good, I can’t tell if it’s real or fake.
Cleopatra touches the thick golden band around her neck, and it shivers to life, red eyes opening, forked tongue poking out of its mouth. The robo snake slides down her arm and then shifts into a short blade.
“It’s time we face each other at last,” Cleopatra says. She takes one step forward and a howl cuts through the afternoon. Everyone knows what that means. I look around frantically and Lobo bounds out from between the taco shop and drone rental store. A tattered wolf pelt hangs off his back. His shaggy hair, beard, and filed teeth make him look truly fearsome. No wonder this dark and conflicted hero appeals to so many viewers. Lobo leaps dramatically onto a lamppost, assisted by magnetic gloves and boots, and lets out a second curdling howl.
Another figure emerges from behind the taco shop, a handsome, muscled black man wearing a sleeveless shirt stamped with a shooting star across his chest. I recognize my old coworker, DeAngelo. The last time I saw him, he was only a nameless stickup guy with dreams of riding Lobo’s wolf pelt to fame and glory. Looks like he’s managed to pull off that lobotomy plan.
I would be impressed if my mind wasn’t spinning with the implications of what’s happening.
“So you’ve brought a few friends,” The Professor says, his expression malevolent. Then he smiles. “Well, it just so happens that I’ve called in a few old favors as well.”
He grabs a corked test tube from an inner pocket in his lab coat and throws it to the ground. The glass shatters, releasing a billow of black smoke that rises in a column, darkening the face of The Hero statue.
At this signal, figures begin emerging from nooks and crannies all around the square. Lizard Man, Pinn, and The Scream, all from the Dark League, step out of the alleyway next to the mayor’s mansion. The Vengeful Knight rides zir robo horse right out of the Buddhist temple. Nurse Pippi bounds from the wreckage of the Redemption Café, clutching an impossibly large needle in each hand. A few more painted, glowing figures slink into the Square, carrying an odd assortment of weapons.
The Professor’s grin grows. “I believe you’re outnumbered,” he says softly to Beacon.
Beacon looks around at the approaching villains, but she doesn’t seem upset or even perturbed. Then she settles her gaze back on The Professor. “No matter how hard you try, no matter how many you set against me, you cannot stop the light!”
The dark plume from The Professor’s signal is dissipating allowing the sun to break through. It lights up Beacon in a dazzle of gold. At that moment, three sky skimmers scream overhead and circle us.
The Dragon Riders are back for round two.
On the other side of the square, near where Nurse Pippi emerged, a figure flutters down from a decorative tree. Hummingbird, the reformed vil, shimmers in an array of dazzling colors. The Museum doors open, and I recognize Gust and Rain from the Elementals, along with two new members wearing the costumes of Flame and Seed. Someone darts out behind the ice cream cart just ahead of me, blocking my path to Ash Anders. I recognize him. Even The Kid is here, his duster jacket sweeping behind him, his eyes hidden behind his hopelessly outdated sunglasses.
I gaze around the Square, now filled with beautiful and fearsome people wearing beautiful and fearsome costumes, each one holding a weapon and gazing around to pick a target.
I look to my boss for instructions. The Professor’s face is serene. He understands what this is.
He and Beacon have accomplished something that’s only happened once before in the entire history of our town, something that will ensure a ratings bonanza like no other for the ones who make it out.
“BRAWL!” DeAngelo hollers. I barely manage to unhook my lasso before utter chaos descends.
Chapter 27
If you're ever in a brawl, Rule One: Survive. Rule Two: Find the cape with the highest ratings and punch 'em in the face. ~ Tickles the Elf, The Henchman’s Survival Guide
~
Voices rise. Weapons cut through the air. Bodies hurtle toward each other.
The first and only brawl to rock this city happened over ten years ago and pitted Beacon against Ebony Hex, a twisted, evil version of herself. The property damage to the Square was extensive, but the ratings gushed and held for months. New stars emerged from the wreckage, while others were left bleeding in the dust, their injuries so severe their shows got swiped.
And that was before the Castillo v PAGS decision.
As these thoughts scroll through my mind, I catch sight of Ash Anders disappearing through the crowd of tangled bodies. Already, the whoops of battle are turning into grunts of pain.
Panic seizes me, ripping electrical sparks up and down my spine. My feet are planted to the ground.
What do I do?
Where do I go?
But I know the answer. The Professor. My boss needs to make it out of this thing in one piece. Otherwise, he’ll never get to enjoy the swell of ratings from this glorious boondoggle he’s created. If he goes down, so does our show.
I have to get to him. Protect him. And avoid any ghastly injuries myself.
Bodies lurch and grapple around me. Cleopatra’s high priestess—a beautiful blonde in a white armor-plated dress—delivers a fierce blow to Seed, the newly minted Elemental, as he vainly tries to work the computerized cuffs on his costume. He goes down, blood exploding from his mouth. Cam drones buzz above us, dancing around each other and swinging down to catch a certain fight. Two crash into each other and spiral down together, almost landing on top of Cleopatra who is trying to make her way to Beacon, who herself is fighting toward Ash Anders. The Vengeful Knight’s robo horse gallops just in front of me, sparks pouring from a deep gash in its side, its rider nowhere to be seen.
Fortunately, my low status as a henchman makes me an unworthy target for most. Everyone will be looking to take down someone bigger, more popular tha
n themselves. I just need to be careful not to get caught in any crossfire.
I deftly move around the fighting pairs, struggling to make it back to The Hero statue. Sweat pours down my body and my heart drums in my ears. Something hurtles at me, and I throw myself to the ground. I recognize Lizard’s boomerang tail as it sails overhead and spins toward Lobo, who deftly leaps out of the way. On its way back, the tail crashes into a parked tourist trolley, ironically right into an image of Lizard pasted on the side of the trolley.
I leap to my feet, hunching low, looking out for threats. Through the maze of bodies, I catch sight of The Professor up ahead. Just as I straighten up, a body slams into me. I hit the ground hard and my teeth clap together. For a moment, I lay dazed, gasping for breath, but I see movement next to me and force myself to sit up.
DeAngelo shakily pulls himself to his feet. Did he tackled me on purpose, or was he thrown into me from another fight? Whatever the answer, DeAngelo seems to make up his mind and lurches toward me. He isn’t wearing the spangled tights and shiny cape that was part of our embarrassing uniforms at the Redemption Café when we worked together. Now he looks suitably intimidating in the ripped jeans, tight shirt that show off his well-developed muscles, and glittering star mask covering his face. DeAngelo takes a swing at me. I fall back to the ground and watch his knuckles skim the air just over my face. I roll to the side, scramble to my knees, and lash out a leg to sweep his ankles.
DeAngelo tumbles down hard, the air punching out of his lungs. He flops onto his back, wheezing. I could finish him, but as I glance ahead, I see The Professor is in trouble. Sequoia grapples with one of the Dragon Riders, while Mermaid and Gold stand back-to-back as three members of the Glory League surround them. I don’t even remember seeing those sparkle-doused capes join the fight.
The Professor is unprotected, shooting his spasmodic ice ray at a Glory League member in a short silver dress who approaches warily.
“PROFESSOR!” Shine bellows, and now I see the orange glow of his costume as he tears through the crowd, making his way toward my boss.
