“I think it does! I thought you were dead, so how did you survive?” said Jenny.
Rex thought carefully before speaking; he could tell that the League didn’t want to hear any more of his lies.
“I survived the pulse gun because Professor Engelmanthing built a shield into my jacket. I used my teleporter to get to one of Code Cutter’s drones,” Rex explained.
“Don’t avoid the real question!” Flux snapped.
“Come on guys, is this really the time–”
“YES” they shouted in unison, and Rex sighed theatrically.
“Fine. You know how every superhero and supervillain has something they are very vulnerable against? Like how magnesium makes Captain Amazing lose his strength?”
The League nodded; it was a well–known fact.
“Well, I can tell what people’s weaknesses are just by looking at them. I have been able to since I was five.”
“Like RoboRodent’s. Nice,” Flux said, who was quick on the uptake.
“Cats. I could have guesses that,” said Code Cutter dismissively.
“But not just any cats… only white cats with black paws and cute pink collars,” Rex corrected her.
“Yeah… scary,” said RoboRodent nervously.
“That’s my power,” said Rex.
“And?” asked Flux.
“And what? And I’m a really good actor and great at planning heists, isn’t that enough?”
“Do you even belong in the League if that’s all you can do?” asked Code Cutter’s robotic presence.
“Yeah, it’s not much,” agreed Chaotica unkindly.
“Well, Code Cutter, I think you would change your mind very quickly if I were to convince your parents to let some sunlight into your room, don’t you? And I’m sure I have another organized Rubik’s cube for you, Chaotica.”
“Objection retracted,” said Code Cutter quickly.
“Seconded!” said Chaotica.
“Black paws,” muttered RoboRodent, who was still shivering in fear.
“So are we good, Flux?” Rex asked.
“I don’t know if your power is really that great or scary, frankly,” she said.
“Maybe this will convince you!”
Rex pulled an old–fashioned clockwork fob watch out of his pocket and held it out to Flux. The clock’s gears were rusty and turned so slowly that the second hand took minutes to count out a full rotation. Flux wilted when she saw it, backing up against the wall to get away from Rex. The very sight of time stalling in that way made Flux ill.
“Ugh… it’s so unhurried! Put it away! Your power is awful, Rex.”
“Yeah, I can see why you would think so, but we are going to need it to stop the Psychic Psycho.”
“So what now?” Chaotica asked, taking her aluminum hat off absentmindedly.
Riot Master’s eyes flicked as he noticed. He smiled, seeing a way out of his predicament.
“You can’t beat the Psychic Psycho,” he called out. “Chaotica is the only one who could hurt him, but she’s too scared to get close.”
“What did you say?” Chaotica demanded.
Rex tried to grab her, but she pushed past him. Riot Master snickered.
“Coward,” he said, spitting at her feet.
“How dare you!” she screamed, lunging at him.
“No!” yelled Rex
Chaotica grabbed Riot Master’s neck, but that was exactly what he wanted. Her eyes turned red and he took control of her. She touched the teleport controls on her belt and they both disappeared, leaving a confused Swiss clutching at the air between its paws.
Rex sighed.
“Chaotica, why can’t you ever just stick to the plan? Robbo, take the boys and take that idiot Riot Master down. Don’t hurt Chaotica or she may turn you into a deckchair.”
“Gotcha, boss. Let’s go, boys!”
“Code Cutter, do you have the Icarus propulsion under your control yet?” asked Rex.
“I do. A couple of brain washed superheroes tried to take it back, but those ninjas of yours were very helpful in locking the building down. I think the Icarus is safe, for now.”
“Good.”
“What about the Psychic Psycho?” asked Jenny.
“And who exactly are you, anyway?” demanded RoboRodent, turning to Jenny.
“This is Lady Smash, my girlfriend. She’s a supervillain in training. She can bench press a bus.”
“My girlfriend can play eleven different instruments at once,” said RoboRodent proudly.
“Focus, people, this isn’t a game of who has the coolestgirlfriend. The Psychic Psycho is still out there somewhere, but I don’t know where,” said Code Cutter.
“But there are a bunch of superheroes landing over there,” Jenny pointed out, “I bet Riot Master is also there.”
Rex picked up Riot Master’s binoculars and looked down at the crowd of superheroes. Jenny was right; he could see Riot Master and the Outback Rangers.
“Got them! How are you doing down there, Robbo?” Rex asked over his phone.
“Got him cornered, boss. I’ll put you on speaker,” said Robbo.
Riot Master was holding Chaotica like a shield while he waited for his mind–controlled heroes to rescue him.
“I’m getting out of here, and you lot are dead,” he said smugly.
Possessed superheroes dropped down beside Riot Master, and it was clear that Robbo and his friends couldn’t fight them all.
“I’m heading over there,” said Flux, but even she wasn’t quick enough.
Robbo yelled in frustration and threw his boomerang right past Chaotica’s head. The weapon flew off into the sky. Robbo and his friends began to back away from Riot Master as more superheroes arrived to protect him.
“You really think you can out play me? I’m a supervillain and you are just a minion with your stupid curly sticks and knives. Real villains don’t even need weapons, we have people for that,” Riot Master said with a smile.
Chaotica raised her chaos caster, but Robbo and his friends were already diving for cover. The chaos caster’s bright light burned and transformed everything it touched, but the Outback Rangers scrambled to safety.
“Do you want to know a funny thing about my curly sticks?” Robbo called out from behind a wall.
“No. And shut up,” said Riot Master.
There was a loud crack as Robbo’s boomerang hit the back of Riot Master’s head. Riot Master fell to the ground, and his body guard of superheroes fell down as well, half–asleep. Flux appeared from a side street and grabbed Chaotica, sliding an aluminum hat over her head.
“I thought we were dead right then… what kind of an ignoramus doesn’t recognize a boomerang when he sees it?” Robbo said.
“Dull headed, that one,” agreed Bluey, and spat a thick glob of blue goop onto the ground.
“Chaotic gonna be angry,” said Pretty Boy, his face lighting up eagerly at the thought.
Chaotica had already recovered from Riot Master’s powers and was looking for revenge.
“Steal my mind once, shame on you. Steal it twice and I’ll hunt you down and make you pay. There won’t be a third time,” she said, glaring at him.
“You can’t even hurt me!” Riot Master shouted back, “The Psychic Psycho has given me too much power!”
“Chaos… chaos always wins. You are much stronger than I had expected, but this time I’m willing to go all the way down the fractal chains of energy that bind the universe until I find the strength to destroy you. It might kill me and tear apart the very fabric of the universe itself, but I’m willing to take that risk,” Chaotica replied thoughtfully, patting her chaos caster.
She smiled a mad, dangerous, wonderful smile that shattered mirrors and made trees grow in spirals. Flux ran and hid as dark shadows gathered around Chaotica.
“Get behind a wall,” yelled Robbo.
Chaotica raised her chaos caster and laughed. A surge of bright colors ripped through the air and pushed Riot Master into th
e ground. He screamed, but the scream ended quickly, replaced by metal bouncing on stone. The rainbow lights stopped, and Riot Master was gone. In his place was a pattern of pennies in the shape of a man and a large pumpkin where his head should have been. Chaotica picked one of the coins up.
“Shiny,” she said, slipping it into her pocket.
The superheroes were starting to recover, so Chaotica and the Outback Rangers slipped away. Flux counted all the pennies and then picked up Robbo’s boomerang.
“They always come back,” she said, pocketing it.
Then she was off, running back up to Rex and joining him on the roof.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: PSYCHO!
Devilry attracts devilry, which is why a committing a truly great crime is the best kind of advertising you could hope for.
–Rex Rogue’s guide for aspiring supervillains, unpublished.
“The superheroes are beginning to come back to their senses,” Rex said, pointing to small groups of heroes who were gathering together. “They are joining Grim Shadow in her a search for the Psychic Psycho.”
His phone rang – it was Skyre.
“The demon’s own swarm to him like flies to a carcass. Steel Samantha has found the Psychic Psycho,” Skyre warned.
“What? Where was she last?”
“In the Icarus Research Center,” Code Cutter announced. “I have video.”
She projected a holographic display at their feet. The Psychic Psycho had found a huge squid in one of the Science Center’s marine labs and had dragged it into the air. He was floating amongst its tentacles and fins, caressing them. The beast screamed and tried to pull away, but the Psychic Psycho grabbed a tentacle and twisted cruelly. The squid screamed as its skin broke and blue blood poured out. Steel Samantha walked into the hall, flanked by two of her gothic goons. Samantha had a harpoon gun in her hand and a long cut down one side of her face.
“Hello there,” the Psychic Psycho said without looking around.
“What is she doing?” said Rex in frustration.
“I only need the strongest,” said the Psychic Psycho, still not looking at Samantha.
He clicked his fingers and the gothic goons beside Samantha burst into black shadows that melted away, leaving her alone. She didn’t seem to care.
“I have come to join you,” she said calmly.
“So you have. You are a powerful lady, I can tell, but I can give you more power still. You will be free of those who would control you, free to take a piece of the world for yourself? You are steel, but wouldn’t you prefer to be diamond?”
The squid was squirming in the Psychic Psycho’s grip, so he ripped a piece of a tentacle off and threw it down to Steel Samantha. She did not look away, but her eyes flickered slightly.
“Steel has always served adequately. Why are you hurting that creature?”
“Why? I enjoy hurting things, don’t you?”
Steel Samantha considered this.
“I enjoy power… I often use that power without concern for others,” she conceded. “I hear that you can give me power enough to be a master, not a servant. I have served others for far too long.”
“Power! You will have it, of course. I prefer giving pain, and when I rule the world below I shall hurt anything and everyone I find. Will you join me, steel lady?”
The squid squealed in terror as he rose towards its eyes. It tried to pull away as he bit the creature’s face, drawing blood and ichor that ran down his chin. He spat a chunk of the squid to the ground and laughed so loudly that the building shook.
“You really are a psycho,” realized Steel Samantha suddenly.
She may have had a steel body and a hard reputation, but Steel Samantha loved animals. It was a weakness that even Rex didn’t know about, and it was one of her very few redeeming features. She didn’t wince as the Psychic Psycho tore another tentacle off the squid, but her hands clenched into fists.
The Psychic Psycho just laughed.
“Do I scare you? I do, don’t I? And I lied – I have no allies, only slaves. Serve or die, steel lady. What would you chose?”
“This,” said Steel Samantha, arming her rocket–propelled harpoon gun.
“No!” screamed Skyre over the phone.
The Psychic Psycho smiled and the video feed went dead. The whole Icarus shook as if in pain, and smoke rose in the distance.
“The superheroes are gathering around the Science Center,” Jenny said.
She grabbed Rex as he reached for his teleport belt.
Dozens of superheroes were already at the Science Center when Rex and Jenny arrived. The Grim Shadow was organizing them in lines in the air, just waiting for the Psychic Psycho to make his move. Rex pulled a gun out of his pocket and cocked it.
“I just need one shot,” he said to Jenny.
She nodded towards the back of the building where a side door stood wide open. They were almost in the building when it exploded, falling upwards into the air in chunks of twisted metal and broken stone that formed a shield of debris. Bits of dead squid floated in the shield, and long loops of blood and water surrounded the Psychic Psycho. He stood in the cloud of his wreckage with one arm extended, holding Steel Samantha dangling before him like a ragdoll.
“I can’t get a shot through all that floating rubbish… we need to get closer,” muttered Rex.
Jenny picked him up and they circled around the Psychic Psycho’s back.
“Hello, everyone. Look who I found!” the Psychic Psycho said to the crowd of superheroes gathering around him, waving Steel Samantha like she was a toy.
Rex took a shot, but it bounced off a steel pylon floating beside the Psychic Psycho. He cursed quietly and reloaded.
“She didn’t want to join me,” the Psychic Psycho said cheerfully.
He threw Samantha into the air and she exploded into tiny drops of blue that evaporated before they hit the ground. Her scream lasted longer than her body. It echoed through the Icarus, a grotesque sound that grew louder and louder until it stopped suddenly.
“She was much stronger than most of you will ever be, although she could not fly. I told her she could join me or she could die, and she did not join. I extend the same offer to you now.”
A few of the superheroes looked as if they were considering his offer, and the others backed away slightly. One hero in gold rallied the others with a roar, dashing forward and hitting the Psychic Psycho with blasts of green energy. The other superheroes followed close behind him as the Grim Shadow tried to hold them back. The superheroes were swarming over the Psychic Psycho, but he was using his power to knock them aside like they were paper airplanes flying into a tempest.
“Classic superhero stupidity,” complained Rex bitterly as he aimed his gun at the Psychic Psycho’s back.
Jenny frowned as the golden superhero flew past her and landed hard on the ground. She tried to pick him up but he was as soft as butter and melted into the ground. The surviving heroes were swarming over the Psychic Psycho and stopping Rex getting his shot.
“Everyone get out of my way!” ordered Rex, but no–one heard him except Jenny.
Rex finally took a shot, but at the last second a superhero intercepted it, accidently taking the bullet meant for the Psychic Psycho. More heroes rushed at forward, but their best efforts barely slowed the Psychic Psycho down. He was just too strong.
“Your efforts are pointless, little birdies,” the Psychic Psycho said with a wicked smile.
He clapped his hands and a tsunami of light threw the army of superhumans across the Icarus as if they were confetti in a storm. Rex tumbled through the air and Jenny caught him by the ankle. She pulled him close and held her arms around him as they hit a wall, breaking right through it and landing in a bedroom. Jenny bounced back to her feet, but Rex hit the ground and didn’t get up.
“Rex, you’re bleeding,” Jenny said with concern.
Blood trickled down his face, dripping like tears. His mask was shattered, and his hologram jacket flickered
and faded to black. He looked around for his gun but it was lost. Rex groaned. He was wounded, he was out gunned, and he was a long way from home.
Jenny had to help him sit up.
Without his mask or jacket, without his tricks or henchmen, without his friends in the League, Rex looked like a normal teenager. It seemed impossible that he could stop the Psychic Psycho.
“We need to run, Rex. We can’t go on alone,” Jenny said.
Rex wiped the dust off his face and smiled.
“But we aren’t alone… I just need to make a quick call.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED OFTEN
Go where you like and do what you like, that’s the life of a supervillain. But if you mess with my plans and I’ll come over to your house and burn it down to ashes.
–Rex Rogue’s guide for aspiring supervillains, unpublished.
Superheroes and supervillains attacked the Psychic Psycho in squadrons, in droves, in waves.
Their best efforts were failing, and Rex and Jenny could hear the Psychic Psycho’s happy chuckling as the ground rumbled and the sky roared. Rex groaned as Jenny checked his ribs.
“A couple are broken,” she said.
“That’s not our biggest problem,” Rex said.
He showed her his red phone which had cracked into two pieces, then threw the phone against the wall in frustration. It shattered, sending red shards and computer chips flying everywhere.
“This is the worst time to be disconnected! Only the Newtopian phones are powerful enough to reach Earth from here, and where am I supposed to get one of those at a time like this?”
“I have a phone,” said Jenny, offering Rex her blue phone.
“It has to be a… wait, this type of phone is only given to Newtopian agents. Who did you steal this from?”
“Um… I didn’t steal it, Rex. Sorry. I freelance for Newtopia, that’s why I was investigating your base, and why I dressed up as Lady Smash to infiltrate your plans.”
She expected Rex to be angry, but he just laughed.
“How could I not have worked that out? I must be getting slow. Anyway, call your handler for me, would you?”
Jenny pushed call on her phone and Voice picked up a second later.
Rex Rogue And The League Of Teenage Supervillains Page 18