“You have a one track mind, don't you?”
“Damn straight.” I coughed before clearing my throat and addressing everyone. “I've returned from a meeting with Death. I'm not being figurative here, I mean I literally met with the Grim Reaper.”
“Makes sense to me.” Cindy nodded.
“I've encountered stranger beings,” Diabloman said, going along with it.
“Cool!” Amanda exclaimed, accepting my explanation without question.
“Huh. I expected more resistance,” I said, blinking.
“It's not like you're the first to meet a godlike entity during a near-death experience,” Angel Eyes said, looking disdainful. His mask was missing and I wondered if he was aware he'd cast spells without it. I decided not to tell him because I didn't want to spoil the moment.
“I believe you, Gary.” Mandy patted me on the hand.
“She has named ruler of the world and her chosen disciple. Furthermore, she has charged me with the most holy task of destroying the Brotherhood of Infamy!” I said, raising my hands in an almost spiritual manner.
Everyone stared at me blankly.
“Oh, come on! That breaks your suspension of disbelief?” I exclaimed, throwing my hands out.
“The irony is, for once, you're telling the truth.”
“Right,” Mandy said, rolling her eyes. “Listen, I'm glad you’re okay. Things are bad, though. I’ve got a call from numerous refugee centers across town. A lot of them are under siege by the undead. The Brotherhood of Infamy is making their final push to take over the city.”
That was bad. I still didn't have a full stock of what was happening with the city's zombie problem but if Mandy’s militias couldn't hold them back then things were going to get worse before they got better.
There was also the little bitty tiny problem of the fact that all of these undead were apparently part of a larger plan to summon Zul-Barbas. When he arrived, it was in the words of a famous movie Marine, “Game over, man, game over.”
“It gets worse,” I said, sighing. “Death said the end of the world is happening tonight.”
That turned out to be the wrong thing to say as all of the supervillains in my group shared a glance which told me they were no longer interested in hanging around.
Crap.
Angel Eyes spoke his objections first. “I suggest we abandon this place and head to some island in the Aegean. We can harvest a small population of humanity to breed as slaves and use magic to keep the rest of the world out. In a few centuries, after all of the zombies have rotted away, we can return to dominate the world's ruins. Simple and effective.”
“I support this plan,” Cindy said, raising her hand. “Especially the part about being on a sunny isolated island with Angel Eyes.”
“Wow, guys. Way to show the team spirit,” I said, shaking my head. I tried an alternative approach to convincing them it was in their best interests to save the world, though. I doubted appealing to their altruism would work. “That plan won’t work, though. Seriously, do you know how much work rebuilding the Earth would be even with slaves? We might as well not take over the world if we have the responsibility of rebuilding it! Have you seen any post-apocalypse films? Everything’s broken! I can't live without the internet or toilets.”
“I hadn't considered that,” Angel Eyes said, rubbing his chin.
“Are they good guys or bad guys?” Amanda looked to Mandy. “Because, I'm having difficulty telling.”
“She's good, I'm bad.” I gestured to myself then my wife then pointed my henchmen. “They’re badder. The Brotherhood of Infamy? The worst.”
Cindy lowered her head, faking hurt. “I’m more naughty than bad.”
Diabloman made an annoyed grumbling noise. “I will help you save the world. I am going to, if you’ll pardon the phrase, catch hell from my demonic masters for it, though.”
“Thank you, D,” I said, glad at least someone was on my side.
“Fine,” Cindy said, sighing. “I’m in.”
Adonis looked away. “I suppose I could barter this with mistress and a few other gods to get favors. Besides, the worst that could happen is I’m banished to the Underworld for a few centuries. The benefit of immortality.”
Amanda, though, was troubled. “What are we going to do? I should call Sunlight for instructions.”
“Sunlight doesn't know which end his ass is on,” I said to her. “Surely you've realized that by now.”
I was being unfair to Sunlight and felt a little guilty for it. No, the guy shouldn't be fighting supervillains as an old man but he did a lot better than any non-superpowered person should. Besides, I had to admire anybody who had the balls to continue fighting crime when all the criminals were now cannibalistic undead.
“He’s a hero but, no, you’re right. Sunlight can’t help,” Amanda muttered, looking at her cellphone. “We need The Book of Midnight. If we stay on mission, we’ll be able to salvage this. “Amanda put her hands on her hips, looking taller and more regal than her five foot two frame should allow. “Okay, I was willing to postpone my arresting of you on the grounds of the city about to be destroyed by an evil god and his zombie army. If you assist me in defusing the threat, I will even consider allowing you to go in hopes you'll reform and put your abilities to good use.”
“I quake with terror at the possibility of your going after me,” Angel Eyes said, his voice dull with sarcasm.
“You should,” Mandy said, smirking. “She’s taken down tougher villains than you.”
“Et tu, Mandy?” Angel Eyes said.
For my part, I had to admire Amanda’s brass. Spotting a golden light travelling through the air, I made a decision. “I don’t think we should go straight after The Book of Midnight, though.”
“Why’s that?” Mandy asked.
The arrival of Ultragoddess was like a torch shining in the darkness of Falconcrest City's darkest hour. Gabrielle was wearing a white-and-gold form fitting alien polymer costume which had a long-flowing golden cape hovering behind her. She had ditched her short-skirt for a pair of shorts built into the top like a runner's outfit. Gabrielle wore her thigh-high boots over bare legs, more as a fashion statement than anything else since she was invulnerable to anything short of a nuclear bomb.
The Ultraforce appeared around her as a nimbus of light, a chain of glowing white energy extending behind her in a bubble which was wrapped about the Shadow Seven. There were actually six of them, Ultragoddess included, due to one of their number falling months earlier. I'd filled in for them on the moon and I supposed Mandy had been doing the same while they were visiting Falconcrest City.
There was General Venom the terrorist turned red, white, and blue power-armored knight in shining armor. Beside him the Red Schoolgirl, who was a cursed Goth samurai in a black and white sailor fuku. Bronze Medalist, an African American speedster who'd come out as the Silver Lightning's partner in two senses years back. The Black Witch, who was dressed in a tight black leather assemble and pointy witch's hat which made me very uncomfortable to look at given her relationship to my wife. Finally, there was the Human Tank, a transgendered woman in a bulky suit of metal armor which could level a city block.
The Shadow Seven were an oddball mixture of villains and heroes, each of them determined to do what was right even if they didn't get any credit for it or outright incurred the wrath of the wider world. They were champions I could respect, even if I still clung to my increasingly brittle justification that supervillainy was cool.
While it was more metaphorical than literal, the presence of Ultragoddess seemed to banish the dark energy gathered in the air around us. I felt less like giving up and more like doing some good, a strange feeling for me if you hadn't guessed.
I loved Gabrielle, always would, and while I wasn't going toss away five years of marriage to pursue something which would be toxic to both of us, I hoped I could renew our friendship. Keith had reminded me of a time when I wasn't so angry at the world and it was probably a goo
d idea I start to work on recovering that period.
“So does this mean you're abandoning supervillainy?” Cloak asked.
“Ask me again when the world isn't ending,” I said, shaking my head. Looking up to Gabrielle, I said, “Hey.”
“It's good to see you're back, Gary,” Gabrielle said, smiling at me. “Though, perhaps not at the best of times.”
“Eh, the world is always ending,” I said, shrugging. “Either Entropicus is attacking us with his Cross-Time Empire, Pyronnus is trying to destroy the galaxy, a Great Beast is coming into this universe, Mister Hoppy is rewriting reality, or one of the interstellar powers is trying to bomb Earth into submission.”
“You forgot Atlantis invading or the Ultraterrestials,” Cloak said. “There's also a few Dimension Lords you wouldn't know about I used to tangle with.”
“I'm not mentioning P.H.A.N.T.O.M, Unity, the Emerald Sign, or various world-ending supervillain plots either,” I told my Cloak. “We’ve survived all of those, we'll survive this.”
“Your optimism is encouraging,” Gabrielle said.
“Except the bad guys only have to win once,” Cindy said, frowning.
Diabloman said, “Not necessarily true. Good cheats. One time I destroyed the world only for them to reverse time.”
“No shit, they can do that!?” Cindy said, staring.
Diabloman nodded.
“Those bastards!” Cindy said, shocked.
Gabrielle looked at Mandy. “Hello, Munin.”
“Hugin,” Mandy said, back.
“Pardon?” I asked.
“They're the codenames we use to communicate via radio,” Gabrielle said, looking back at me. “Mandy and I have been coordinating our defense of the city since the dome went up. You've married a very formidable woman, Gary.”
“Thank you,” I said.
The Black Witch waved to Mandy.
Mandy waved back, embarrassed.
I frowned, trying not to let my jealousy get the better of me. He who lives in glass houses, shouldn't carry a rocket-launcher and all that. “We were just discussing our next move. We're hoping to get the Book of Midnight to prevent Zul-Barbas from getting summoned.”
I looked over at Amanda, seeing her positively bouncing up and down at the presence of Ultragoddess.
Apparently, she was a fan.
“It's an honor to meet you!” Amanda said, grinning from ear-to-ear.
“Uh, thanks,” Gabrielle said, not really looking too comfortable with the adoration. She'd started her covert ops team precisely because she'd gotten sick and tired of the limelight. “Getting the Book is a good plan. It may work.”
“May?” Amanda said, stopping in mid-squee.
“We don't know where the Brotherhood is operating their ritual from but it's very likely they've already gotten everything they need to know from the book,” Gabrielle said, frowning. “I've identified the leader of the cult as a woman named Lucretia Despayre. She's going by the moniker of the Nightmaster and possesses powers easily equal to anything we've faced before. The Nightmaster has a cloak like yours, Gary, but with much-much greater powers.”
“Who names their child Lucretia Despayre?” I asked, missing the point of what she was saying.
“Someone who wants to raise their child to end the world?” Cindy asked.
“Point taken.”
“What's the situation?” Mandy asked, still checking on her radio feed. “I know the attacks are getting bad but I don't know how bad.”
“Very bad,” Gabrielle said, looking at me. “We've come here for reinforcements.”
Gabrielle was one of the most powerful superheroes in the world.
That was not good.
Amanda surprised me with her next statement. “Gary, we don't have time to waste on saving people here.”
“Saving people is never a waste,” Gabrielle said, looking down at Amanda.
“It is when it kills other people,” Amanda said, looking back and meeting her gaze head-on.
“What's the biggest target right now?” I asked, wheels starting to turn in my head.
“The Falconcrest Football Stadium,” Gabrielle answered, looking up at the invisible dome above our heads. “When the dome came, we tried to move as many of the unevacuated there as possible except for those we needed to run essential services. There are a few minor supers we've drafted for the defense as well as military personnel but nothing which will hold out against the Brotherhood's necromancers, Amazons, and dinosaurs.”
“Hold up,” Cindy spoke. “What were those last two?”
“Amazons and dinosaurs,” I said, shrugging. “Get with the program, Cindy.”
Cindy shot me a glare. “Excuse me, Mr. I've gone to the moon now I'm too cool to hang with my henchwoman. Some of us are still adjusting to the high-grade stuff. We're going to fighting dinosaurs and feminist separatists now?”
“Amazons aren't separatists,” I said, surprising everyone. “Speaking as a feminist myself, they're also not particularly devoted to the cause of female social justice either—at least beyond believing they're the equal to any man. The Daughters of Ares are a multi-racial tribe of warriors who just happen to restrict their military traditions to women.”
Everyone looked at me.
I paused. “I dated a couple in college.”
Simultaneously.
Fun bunch.
Scary, but fun.
Diabloman looked at me then Ultragoddess, Mandy, and Cindy. “I am confused on every conceivable level.”
“You and me both pal,” the Black Witch said.
“The Amazons are not invincible,” Angel Eyes said, speaking as if he knew their tactics from personal experience. Which, now that I thought about it, he probably did. “They are very well-trained warriors with access to P.H.A.N.T.O.M weaponry, magic granted by their father, and super-tech provided by their alien contacts. They can be killed if the protection spells on their armor can be overwhelmed, though.”
“Why would they be helping the Brotherhood destroy the world?” Amanda asked.
“Most likely money,” Angel Eyes said, shrugging. “The Daughters of Ares will never break a contract even if it is not in their best interest. They have no fear of death, either, since loyalty to the gods guarantees them a place in Elysium—even the God of War and Cowards.”
“Do you think any of the Reaper's Cloak wearers will be joining in the attack?” I asked.
“A good third of the Brotherhood's forces are presence. The rest are spread through the city,” Gabrielle said, frowning. “Why?”
“It's a long-shot but with only a few hours to midnight, we need to hit the cult hard in such a way as to weaken them. I say we go there, wipe out the bastards, and save a bunch of lives. It might weaken their plans to raise Zul-Barbas. If it doesn't work, we'll still have retrieving the book to fall back on.”
“That's an awfully risky plan if they're summoning their god now,” Amanda said, showing, again, she was probably the most ruthless of us.
I didn't want to admit my plan was because I didn't want to leave however many refugees they'd saved to die. I was a bastard but not that much of a bastard. “Every which way we go is risky. I'm asking you to follow m...Gabrielle's lead. Mandy?”
“I agree, we should help,” Mandy said, making me breathe a sigh of relief. With her support, I had everyone.
“Good,” Gabrielle said. “Let's go make some dinosaur steaks.”
Chapter Sixteen
Where We have a Big Splash Page Fight
Ultragoddess looked at Mandy's torn and battered evening dress. “We should probably get you something a little more functional before we head off. Selena?”
The Black Witch nodded and raised her stage-wand at Mandy before saying, “Abracadabra!”
The Black Witch was the avatar of Hecate or her chosen one, I wasn't sure which or whether it made a difference. Created by Professor Thule in much the same manner as myself, she wielded magic by force of will rather than spells
or focus objects. As such, she was prone to using cheap costume shop props and generic wizardry words than things used by more “serious” mages.
I'd, I kid you not, seen her kill a man with an Avada Kedavra spell.
The Black Witch's magic whirled around Mandy's tattered attire and then did a swirl of white pixie dust which resembled the effects from the animated Cinderella movie. It was Selena's idea of a joke, I think.
Mandy's attire melted away and she was briefly naked before her outfit was replaced with a black leather costume, long overcoat, and a silver N amulet at the base of her neck. If not for her Eurasian features and the amulet, I’d have said she was a pretty close ringer for Kate Beckinsale in Underworld.
“That's your costume?” I asked, blinking.
“Do you like it?” Mandy asked, smiling.
“Yes and no.”
“No?”
“You look outrageously hot. However, now I’m afraid I’ll be utterly distracted during battle.”
Mandy rolled her eyes.
Cindy interrupted our moment. “Cool costume, but can you do anything?”
“I kick a lot of ass,” Mandy said, staring. “That's enough.”
Cindy looked at her, blinked, and then shrugged. “Works for me.”
“I'm not comfortable teaming up with these guys,” Bronze Medalist said, surprising me. “Gary is okay, he's not like most supervillains. However, Diabloman is a murderer and a madman. I knew the Guitarist and Spellbinder. They were good people and he took their lives or as much did.”
“We don't have a choice,” Gabrielle said, staring down. “We need all hands on deck. Besides, I made this team to redeem the wicked as well as fight evil.”
“There is no redemption in Hell,” Diabloman said, his voice cold but certain. “That does not mean I will not help.”
Bronze Medalist didn't look happy but I doubted anyone would given the situation. It wasn't like the friends and family of the Black Witch or General Venom's victims would feel any different than he did. He would let it go, though, because he was a professional. Both he and the Silver Lightning had worked with worse than Diabloman in New Angeles to protect the innocent.
The Games of Supervillainy (The Supervillainy Saga Book 2) Page 13