Rex Rogue And The League Of Teenage Supervillains

by C. H. Aalberry

  “Don’t do that!” shouted Lady Perfect.

  “Sorry, it’s more difficult to control him that you might think,” Riot Master said with a smile.

  He sent Mister Wonderful flying right into another metal talon, and then another. Alarms were ringing loudly, and the whole building shook. Lady Perfect flew right up to Riot Master and stood face to face.

  “Stop this!” she yelled.

  “Do you want to know the most important thing about being a supervillain?” Riot Master asked.

  “No!”

  “Do you know the most important thing about being a supervillains?

  “No, what?” she asked despite her anger.

  He grabbed her arm and power pulsed down his arm and into her body. She cried out as he took control but there was nothing she could do to stop him. Her eyes turned red; she fell back from Riot Master, and then floated to his side as his obedient servant.

  “Betrayal us inevitable, of course. Hahahaha!”

  Becoming a supervillain wasn’t so much a learning curve as a learning cliff, and Lady Perfect had fallen right off it. Riot Master did a dance around the stasis field as sparks began to fly along its circuits. Riot Master had flown Mister Wonderful into to many delicate pieces of equipment, and the whole crystal prison was vibrating loudly. Alarms began to ring with increasing desperation, but no–one was coming to help. The Psychic Psycho stirred in his prison; Rex frowned, but Riot Master was too busy with his victory dance to notice.

  “So much power for a corpse… and it’s all mine!” Riot Master yelled, and started laughing loudly.

  Rex stepped out of his hiding place. He was wearing his Duke Terror mask and costume.

  “He isn’t dead, Geoffrey,” said Rex loudly.

  “What? Where did you come from?” demanded Riot Master.

  “He isn’t dead,” warned Rex again.

  “Of course he’s dead! It’s been ten years!” said Riot Master.

  The crystals behind him began to crack, but he didn’t notice. He motioned for Lady Perfect and she floated towards Rex. She was too slow and he stepped aside easily as she flew past him and bashed into a wall with a bang. Riot Master didn’t seem to care. He turned back to the crystal holding the Psychic Psycho and placed a hand on the crystal, peering inside.

  “Look at him. What a magnificent corpse…”

  “Step away, Geoffrey,” Rex warned.

  Riot Master ignored Rex. He leaned against the column to peer closer at the Psychic Psycho. The column began to crack as the Psychic Psycho’s head turned slowly to look right back at him. Geoffrey the Riot Master screamed as the Psychic Psycho’s hand broke through his crystal prison and grabbed Ralph’s neck. Crystal snapped and fell to dust as the Psychic Psycho pulled himself free of his cage. Rex reached for his teleport belt but the Psychic Psycho clicked his fingers and Rex was frozen in place.

  “I have slept… and watched… for so long. It feels… so very good… to be free…” the Psychic Psycho said, stretching his arms in the air.

  “I woke you! It was me, it was me!” said Riot Master, squirming in the Psychic Psycho’s hold.

  “Do not lie to me about your motives… I will not allow it,” said the Psychic Psycho pleasantly. “But you did release me, and for that I will allow you to live. For now.”

  He released Riot Master, dropping him to the ground. Riot Master tried to flee, but the Psychic Psycho laughed and Riot Master floated off his feet, unable to leave.

  “But what have we here?” the Psychic Psycho asked, turning towards Rex.

  Rex’s holo–jacket flickered and died, changing from his Duke Terror costume back to his normal black . The Psychic Psycho smiled and Rex’s mask was ripped off his face. It floated up to the Psychic Psycho and he flicked it with disdain.

  “And what are you? A mask, an illusion, a lie? You think these things can protect you from the world? From me? No, only power can do that… and what power do you have, you fragile actor? None. Is that why you have sought me out? For power, like that I have given so many others. Yes, you need my power.”

  Rex met the Psychic Psycho’s bright blue eyes. The Psychic Psycho was the universe’s most powerful superhuman, and he was offering something that all of Rex’s scheming and plotting could never deliver.

  “Don’t help Rex!” yelped Riot Master.

  “But his mind is delicious… so full of schemes and spinning wheels! I could use something like that, even if the vessel is weak. Will you join me?”

  The Psychic Psycho and Riot Master looked at Rex expectantly, but he shook his head.

  “I don’t want power; I want revenge.”

  “And you shall have it, with my help! Who do you hate, child? Who will you seek out and destroy?”

  Rex took a deep breath.

  “You,” he said. “You killed my parents.”

  The Psychic Psycho laughed at this, and the whole building shook.

  “I killed a great many parents, child, it was something of a hobby of mine. I shall enjoy taking it up again, when I am back in the world. My first act will be to rain this wretched star castle onto Newtopia, and thus cleanse the world of my enemies. You can’t stop me.”

  “I will,” Rex whispered.

  “How? What power do you have that can challenge me? None. I won’t even enjoy watching you die. I shall–”

  Jenny appeared in a flash of light. She took one look at Rex and yelled in surprise.

  “Rex ? What are you doing here?”

  “Jenny? Help me!” said Rex.

  Jenny punched the Psychic Psycho in his head as hard as she could. It was a punch capable of shattering stone, but all it did to the Psychic Psycho was stun him for a second. Rex grabbed his mask out of the air as Jenny picked him up and leapt off the column. They escaped in a flash of teleport belts.

  “No!” yelled Riot Master in frustration.

  The Psychic Psycho just smiled. He clicked his fingers and he and Riot Master floated into the Icarus sky. Riot Master struggled in vain to escape, but he was completely overpowered by the Psychic Psycho’s telekinesis. The Psychic Psycho himself stared dreamily around the Icarus, ignoring Riot Master’s attempts to escape. He stretched out his arms and legs, then pointed a finger at the ground. A building exploded and the pieces floating into the sky and forming a ring of debris around the Psychic Psycho. The ring caught fire and pieces of flaming rubbish shot out into the city of Icarus. The fires spread rapidly as screams and smoke rose into the air. For the first time in its history, the perfect world of Icarus had been touched by true chaos.

  The Psychic Psycho smiled with satisfaction at a job well done.

  “And this is only the start. Come, Riot Master, we have a world to burn.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: DON’T SEND A HERO TO DO A VILLAIN’S JOB

  Do not allow anyone to get close enough to shoot you. Easy to say, hard to do.

  –Rex Rogue’s guide for aspiring supervillains, unpublished.

  Jenny and Rex arrived in Rex’s small command room with a bang.

  “Boss, who is this?” asked Slade as his hand slipped towards the big red alarm button on his desk.

  “Lady Smash, and we don’t have time for discussions right now. Call every member of the League except for Riot Master and tell them I need to see them right away.”

  “But they are still in the temple trap,” Slade said, “it will be hard to get hold of them. It’s still chaos in there.”

  “Close the temple trap down immediately and pull our people out,” ordered Rex. “Tell the League that we have bigger problems to deal with than the world’s superheroes.”

  Slade got to work immediately, but Skyre wasn’t as easily convinced.

  “We drag black stone until our walls are unassailable only to invite the adder in with us! Who is she, another spy?” Skyre demanded.

  “What? No, the spy was Riot Master. He’s on the Icarus and he’s teamed up with some of the superheroes to cause us trouble,” said Rex. “This is my girl
friend.”

  “Oh… is that all? Mad Robbo already told us he was up there. We found all the bombs and disabled them, so we should be fine down here. You can relax, boss,” said Slade.

  There was a long, long silence while Rex decided what else to tell his team of his terrible news. Skyre frowned at his silence, and Slade’s smile faded quickly.

  “I…” said Rex, and for the first time in his life he was at a loss for words.

  “What new terror has sealed the lips of one so villainous, rendering him powerless to the oncoming tides of darkness? You can trust us, Rex,” said Skyre impatiently.

  Rex could only shake his head, and it was up to Jenny to help him out, although she was almost too scared to talk.

  “The Psychic Psycho is alive and free on the Icarus,” she said.

  Everyone in the room stood in silence for a second, frozen by her words.

  “It’s true. The Psychic Psycho is trying to bring the Icarus down onto Newtopia. Slade, get our very best teams ready. We only have one chance to move on this; no second chances.”

  “You are heading to the Icarus?” asked Slade.

  “With everything I’ve got. This thing is too big for us to sit on the sidelines, so it’s time to go big or go home.”

  “Shall we muster our reserves and offer our puny lives as sacrifices to a dark new master? Will we join him?” asked Skyre eagerly.

  “You want to join him? To let him bring down the Icarus on Newtopia? I can’t let you do that,” said Slade.

  He stood up and pulled a gun out from under his desk. He aimed it right at Rex with a shaking hand. Rex groaned. Jenny was about to dive at Slade when Rex waved her back.

  “Slade, what are you doing? Put the gun down, we don’t have time for this!” Rex said impatiently.

  “No, I can’t let you go up to join the Psychic Psycho and destroy the Icarus,” insisted Slade, the gun wobbling in his hands.

  “Your parents live in Newtopia, don’t they? I had forgotten that in all the excitement,” said Rex.

  “They do. I may be a villain, but I’m not heartless!” explained Slade seriously.

  “A dark heart beats to its own rhythm, yet we all must dance together! Were you the one who sold us out to Team Icarus?” demanded Skyre.

  “No! Those guys are idiots. I didn’t want to stop you from being a supervillain, but I’d rather kill you than let you hurt my family!” said Slade.

  “I’d really rather you didn’t. Skyre, do you want to help me out here?”

  Skyre was watching Slade with interest. She didn’t seem too worried by the gun, and she turned back to her computer screen.

  “You think your finger seals your fate, but your doom is borne on other wings. Pull the trigger,” she said to Slade.

  “Not you, too, Skyre!” yelled Rex in dismay.

  “Pull the trigger!” Skyre shouted.

  Slade panicked and pulled the trigger.

  The gun didn’t fire. Slade examined it in confusion as he backed against a wall. Skyre leapt up and put him in an arm lock, slamming him against a wall.

  “I took the bullets out. Seriously, I don’t blink and I don’t sleep… did you really think I wouldn’t notice you had a GUN under your desk?” she demanded.

  “Good one, Skyre. You really had me worried there for a second,” Rex said.

  Skyre shrugged. A corner of her mouth rose a tiny bit as if she was going to break out in a smile, but then she forced it down and gave Rex a blank look.

  “But you know I’m right! You can’t let the Icarus crash back to Earth!” said Slade.

  Rex laughed loudly and shook his head in amusement. Jenny was watching him carefully, still unsure of what was going on and whose side Rex was on – or even who Rex really was.

  “I realize this must be confusing for you all, but I’m going to the Icarus to kill the Psychic Psycho.”

  “Good!” said Jenny, relaxing a little.

  “But Icarus in flames would crush our Newtopian enemies, leaving only the most broken survivors to bend to our will!” protested Skyre.

  “But what then? I’d rather live in a corner of paradise than rule a world of ashes! You know that Newtopia has the best pizza, nowhere else can compare. Besides, Psychic Psycho is a real pain in the ass and we don’t want him running around again telling us what to do.”

  Skyre frowned, and Rex knew he had made at least two winning points out of a possible three. That would have to be good enough.

  “So… you are saving the world? Does this make you one of the good guys?” asked Jenny uncertainly

  “Good is a relative term,” said Rex.

  He nodded to Skyre and she hit Slade with a stun gun.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: THE LEAGUE STRIKES BACK

  People who wear black clothing to stand out from the crowd are rebelling in the most conformist and unoriginal way imaginable. Don’t be scared to be creative, even if that means you get odd looks.

  –Rex Rogue’s guide for aspiring supervillains, unpublished.

  Jenny and Rex arrived early at the library first, so they finally had a chance to talk. Rex started.

  “I’m… I’m Duke Terror. I wanted to tell you earlier, but things were going so well and I didn’t know how to explain myself.”

  “My real name is Jennifer… my friends call me Jenny, or even Jen,” Jenny said.

  “Jenny… that’s a nice name. Anyway, the people we are waiting for are called the League of Teenage Supervillains. They are weird, but they can help us if they want to.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “What? How?” asked Rex in surprise.

  “Are you really Duke Terror?” Jenny asked quickly.

  “Yes. I was also Master SCREAM before that. I’ve had lots of disguises over the years.”

  Rex gave Jenny a weak smile. He was expecting her to be angry, or maybe not to believe him. Instead she was smiling.

  “You were Master SCREAM? I always thought he was super cool! But how can this be possible? You are way too young to be such a legendary supervillain!”

  “Ha! With enough makeup and masks anyone can look like anything. It’s just a matter of attitude and confidence, really. What are you smiling at?”

  “My boyfriend is a supervillain… come on, that’s pretty cool.”

  Rex bowed slightly, and blushed.

  “Are there any other secrets I should know about?” Jenny said.

  Rex considered his answer carefully.

  “Plenty… too many to talk about now! Come on, the others will be arriving soon.”

  Chaotica was standing on the wooden table, waiting impatiently. Rex stopped before she saw him or Jenny.

  “I don’t know what I should tell them about you… they don’t like outsiders,” he said to Jenny.

  “I can turn invisible, so they won’t even know I’m here,” Jenny said, demonstrating her power.

  “Wow! That solves that problem nicely. Okay, let’s go!”

  The other supervillains arrived minutes later. There was no joking or messing about; they had been annoyed to leave the temple trap, but they knew something incredibly important must have come up. Rex gathered them around the wooden table and started talking immediately.

  “I’m sorry about dragging you away from the fun you were having, but you know I wouldn’t have done it if wasn’t necessary. The big news is that although we all thought the Psychic Psycho was dead, I found out today that he isn’t. Mister Wonderful found him ten years ago and locked him in a stasis field. He and the Icarus Elite have somehow been using the Psychic Psycho’s powers to greatly boost their own, which explains why they are so much stronger than everyone else. It turns out that Lady Perfect and Captain Amazing wanted more of the power for themselves, so they teamed up with Riot Master to overthrow Mister Wonderful. Riot Master betrayed them, as he was always going to. Unfortunately Riot Master also set the Psychic Psycho free, because Riot Master is an idiot, and now the Psychic Psycho is planning to crash the Icarus into Newtopia.
”

  “Riot Master is an idiot,” agreed Chaotica, and everyone nodded.

  “He’s also a coward, so I bet he’s working for the Psychic Psycho rather than challenging him,” put in Code Cutter.

  Rex nodded; he thought so to.

  “This means,” Rex said, “that there are two powerful supervillains on the Icarus with plans to destroy the world. I know we would normally encourage this sort of thing, but things are really getting out of hand. I say we go up there and stop them before it’s too late. Any questions?”

  Rex sat back as the League considered his words. There was a lot of head scratching and frowning: they weren’t used to working as a team, and they certainly weren’t used to being the good guys. The League of Teenage Supervillains was confused.

  “You want us to save the world? I don’t know how I feel about that,” said Chaotica doubtfully.

  “Yeah… but constantly being the villain has been making you predictable,” Rex countered evenly.

  “Me? Predictable? Me? What? No way, I’m not predictable! Take that back!”

  “So you are in, then. Good. Anyone else not convinced we need to act?”

  “I already have plans for tonight,” complained Code Cutter.

  “You live in Newtopia and you never leave your room… so did your plans include dying today when the Icarus crashes?” asked Rex patiently.

  “Yeah… point taken. Fine, I’m in then, but you owe me one.”

  “And you two?” Rex asked RoboRodent and Flux.

  “If Riot Master is working for the Psychic Psycho, then he’ll have a bunch of superheroes under his control, right? I bet he’s grabbing each superhero as they return from our temple trap and forcing them to join him… an army of superheroes all waiting for us.”

  “I guess so,” Rex admitted.

  “Good, because I loaded Swiss with all kinds of weapons for the temple but I haven’t had a chance to use them yet, and I’m itching to see what they can do,” said RoboRodent enthusiastically. He seemed to think for a second before adding, “Plus my parents still live in Newtopia, so I’m happy to help.”