The Heroes' Guild

And mom called spelunking a useless hobby, Electron joked as he climbed his way through the debris toward his psychically ordered destination.

Do you get tired of making that joke every time? Sparkle, the telepath directing him, asked.

You love it.

Sparkle sent the impression of rolling her eyes, causing Electron to imitate the motion.

Do you get tired of moving my face for your entertainment?

About as tired as you get of the jokes.

Touché.

He made no more commentary as he made his way to the impressive alcove that trapped a young boy.

“Hi there,” Electron said.

Plan of attack? he asked Sparkle.

Teddy Bear.

On it.

The boy stared at him.

“Are you a superhero?” the boy asked.

“Yeah, I’m Electron.”

“No you’re not! Electron had armor.”

Right, the other guy. Hopefully the kid liked arguing enough to distract him.

“I’m not that Electron. I had the name first.”

“What can you do?”

Electron gestured at his shrunken body.

“Cool. Can you grow back?”

“Not right now. There wouldn’t be room for both of us in here.”

“Can you shrink me, too?”

“No,” Electron admitted, “Just me, but my friends are working to get you out, which is why I’m here.”

The boy looked curiously at him.

“I’m a signal that my telepath friend uses to direct some people who can move the rock to where you are.”

“Whoa!”

“She found you earlier, but I make the location exact.”

“Cool! What’s she called?”

“Sparkle!”

The kid’s face was disappointed. Electron shrugged.

“You’d understand if you met her.”

The boy seemed unconvinced.

“Can I sit next to you?” Electron asked.

The boy moved slightly.

“If you get scared at all, you can grab me and squeeze me as tight as you can.”

“I’m not scared.”

“Well, if you manage to knock me out before my friends get through, I’ll give you five dollars when I wake up.”

The kid grabbed him and squeezed as hard as possible.

One of these days a kid’s going to manage it. Sparkle warned.

Not today.

“Get whatever you want on this next stop ladies, on us,” Gash, the lead-singer of the Blah Guards said. He’d been saying that for every stop since they’d dealt with the dragon.

The Radi8s had discussed and made a point of not accepting the generosity beyond stuff they would have gotten themselves anyway.

“You’re as broke as we are,” Brit argued, “You can’t be offering this much.”

“Harsh,” Lloyd, the drummer, commented.

“You saved our lives,” Harumi, lead guitar insisted, “The entire venue’s lives.”

“Even if it took away from our breakfast date,” Lloyd muttered quiet enough for only Bela to hear. He was watching her for a response.

“Do you want an apology?” she asked, unsure. Lloyd was nice enough, and she was comfortable around him, but that could always change on a dime.

He chuckled.

“Oh, you saved my life, how dare you,” he put on a voice this time so Bela would understand his sarcasm.

“Guess we’ll have to wait until next show.”

“Unless a monster catches us again.”

Bela looked for some wood to hit, but came up empty. Lloyd handed her his drumsticks. She lightly rapped on them before returning them.

“Thank you.”

“Least I could do after you let me borrow yours, another thing overshadowed by the kaiju.”

“Dragon,” Bela corrected, “After all that gunk was gone, it was definitely a dragon.”

Before Lloyd could make further comment, the bus stopped.

“Last pee break before our final stop,” the manager warned, “Next stop is set up and lunch.”

The crew all cheered for lunch.

Bela waited for everyone else to get off first so she could help Brit not feel like she was going to break something just by walking. Bree helped by giving her just enough microwaves to defy gravity, but not much more than that.

Between shows, Brit covered as much skin as possible, and wore sunglasses under a black veil, along with the highest SPF sunscreen she could find on every piece of skin within the realm of exposed. It earned some looks, but very few people actually cared.

“So what were you chatting about with drummer boy?” Bree asked once Brit was safely out of the vehicle.

“None of your business.”

“I think I heard him mention a date,” Brit added.

She still wasn’t over the radiation exposure if she heard that.

“Sorry to interrupt the conversation, ladies,” an American woman that wasn’t one of the crew said behind them, “But I need your help with something.”

They turned around, cautiously. Bela readied a forcefield in front of them.

“Tesla Coil?” Bree identified as the other two watched, stunned.

Tesla Coil was standing next to someone in a cloak, the slight glint of armor giving away Tetra’s identity.

“We don’t have much time here. Are you willing to help us with an experiment?”

“What kind of experiment?” Bela asked. Superheroes or no, these were strangers.

“The kind to determine how a group of empowereds successfully purged dark magek from a creature,” Tetra explained.

“Dark magek?” Bree asked.

“How is that different than regular Magek?”

“It means you’re more likely to die of exposure to it,” Tesla Coil explained simply.

“And you want us to…?” Brit prompted.

“Destroy some of it.”

“Are you willing to save the world, girls?”

The Radi8s looked at each other, sharing the same look on their faces.

“We’ll do it,” they said.

Johnny watched Jon on the phone call. He and Wisteria were being watched back.

“Who’s Mandie?” Wisteria asked. That was probably who was on the call. Her old professor hadn’t been wrong thus far.

“My babysitter,” the kid said.

“Mandie is kind of like family to us,” Val explained, “And she knows some people that are probably worried about this whole situation.”

“And what’s the situation exactly?” Johnny asked.

“That chimera we saw was one symptom of a growing disease,” Brendan warned as he stepped out of his cockpit, “Creatures from Magek are being pulled through portals and infected with dark magek. The portals apparently are staying around as well, which indicates our mastermind is waiting for a moment to strike.”

“Strike what?”

“You’ve seen how many people it takes to handle just one of these infected animals. Now, just imagine the result of hundreds across the world, thousands even. It would devastate two worlds in one fell swoop.”

Johnny had his problems with the world at the moment, at all moments really, but an attack that large…

“How effective is disinfection on the danger,” he asked. Maintaining Scuro for that long was a struggle, but he’d gladly take the toll to save a few people.

“Not effective enough,” Prof. Hunter said, “Which is why the portals need to be handled. Can you try your hand at it with your Servant of Darkness?”

He’d already returned Scuro to the deck and didn’t want to resummon her for such a small question.

“We can try,” he said.

She watched him carefully.

“I don’t even know if it will be necessary,” she admitted, “I’m just pretty sure we’re all involved.”

“Involved in what?” Wisteria asked.

“What else?” Val explained, “Saving the world.”

“I may have made some allies,” they caught Jon explaining, “That might be able to help.”

He paused for a moment.

“No, I’m not actually sure if they’re really allies, or if they’re willing to help, but I think it’s worth a shot.”

Another response from the person on the other line.

“Val and Viktorya are with me, and El, along with the Water Master, who might be connected to Tetra, and…” He gestured toward Johnny and Wisteria.

“Tarot and Gamble,” Wist explained without hesitation.

“Tarot and Gamble.”

The voice on the phone laughed loud enough to hear.

“Yeah, the real deal. One of them pulled out a shadow lady who helped us find the portal, and the other used to study under Viktorya for awhile.”

“I don’t know what all she can do, but I recognize what Scuro means.”

Jon looked concerned for a moment as Mandie kept talking.

“I think Mandie watched the cartoon,” Wist commented, leaning against Johnny.

“If she doesn’t accept us, we’ll just do what we can on our own.”

“And if she does?” Val asked.

“Then we’ll help you lot.”

“Can you follow orders?”

“You make it sound like war.”

“War can sound like that.”

Prof. Hunter hadn’t explained her husband and sister-in-law, but something in that moment made Johnny feel like Val at least might be the oldest on the ship now that Scuro was hidden, maybe even if Scuro was still active.

“Will you follow orders?” Wist asked.

“Depends on if they’re any good,” Val said, “I haven’t been a good soldier since my twenties.”

“And you are…”

“80,” Val said.

“You’re in your eighties?”

“I turned 80 last December,” Val said, “So I’m technically in my eighties I guess. How old are you two?”

“37,” Wist answered, “Young and spry, or old and decrepit depending on who you’re talking to.”

Johnny didn’t think it wise to tell an unwrinkled 80-year-old cursed individual their actual age.

“Seem spry enough to me,” Val said, “And I’m incredibly spry for my age.”

She laughed in the tone of an old woman but with the clarity of someone younger than them.

“Understood,” Jon said, “Stay alive.”

He set down his phone and looked around.

“So who wants to help save the world?”

Wisteria raised her hand immediately, not fast enough to match El’s speed though.

“I’d like to keep it intact at least,” Johnny said. It seemed like a suicide mission as far as he understood it.

“I’m already on this mission,” Evil acknowledged, “And I suspect we’ll need to act soon.”

Bree and Bela leaned on Brit as they suddenly appeared somewhere from within the shadow.

“Are you the one that infected it?” Bela asked, “Are you going to kill us now?”

“I understand why you’d think that,” Tesla Coil said, putting an arm in front of her companion, “But Tetra’s magek is only superficially similar to dark magek.”

“Why?”

“Cruel coincidence?” she offered.

“How are we supposed to save the world?” Brit asked in a loud whisper.

Tetra and Tesla Coil moved to the side, showing a black runic circle floating in the air.

“That looks nasty,” Bree noted.

“We need you to destroy it,” Tesla Coil said, “If you can. This is the experiment.”

Bela and Brit took a step back so Bree was the closest one.

She rubbed her palms, gathering a small amount of UV radiation. The portal was out in the open, so she was far from convinced this would work.

“It worked on the dragon,” she muttered.

“There’s something like a black strip,” Tesla Coil said, “Try to focus on there.”

Bree traced her fingers around it, netting a sudden chill, until she spotted the place where it seemed thickest.

She clenched her hand around it, trying to build the worst sunburn ever seen, but the thing didn’t react.

“Bela.”

Bela walked over, placing a barely visible forcefield around the area as Bree focused her efforts on that for multiplication.

Nothing happened.

“Anything you can do, Brit?”

Brit tried to pull at the circle, but she couldn’t actually hold it.

“It’s a bust!” the girls said in unison.

Tetra summoned a sword to walk closer, but Tesla Coil put a hand in front of her again.

“My turn.”

“You can’t be—”

The girls moved away, watching intently.

Tesla Coil’s left hand crackled with electricity as she grabbed the densest part.

The circle crackled, then faded.

“He probably noticed that,” Tesla Coil admitted.

“Little Conscience is in the safest place possible.”

“I’ll look into extra security, but I’d be more worried about your network.”

“The masters are already in the line of fire, and my remaining family is in a differently safe place.”

They were obviously having a conversation without the girls.

“If you still want to help, you’ll be in line of fire.” Tesla Coil finally said to them, “We’ll be launching a joint attack in a few days. Are you on board?”

“Can I get a set of those gloves?” Bree asked.

“Electrokinetics only, I fear.”

Bree snapped in disappointment. She only had radiation, not electricity.

She looked at her companions. They might have a concert. They wouldn’t have a concert if the world ended.

“We’re in,” they said.

“Can we go back to our crew until you need us though?” Bela asked.

“I’m surprised you agreed to meet,” Ali said as she sat in the booth.

Jet Bessar was a pretty man. His eyes were an alluring honey brown, and his smile shown brightly against dark skin. Were Ali more sentimental and less shrewd, she’d consider this a date.

“You and I both know why I agreed to this,” Bessar said.

“Why?”

“You checked the forums,” he said, “You trust me to be an asset, so I’ll trust you to be one for me.”

She passed him the file.

“I suspect it’s all the same information for Tetra, but I can’t risk my department being diplomatically insubordinate.”

“Big words,” Bessar noted, “Nothing more dangerous than an eloquent cop.”

Ali clicked her tongue.

“If I weren’t dangerous, I wouldn’t have gotten the job,” she admitted, “I have to wonder though, did you know the forum information would alter jurisdiction?”

“Of course not, that might be considered obstruction of justice.”

His cheeky bright smile indicated elsewise.

She couldn’t make him feel too smart.

“Would your career take that much of a hit if things were made public?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Hathaway doesn’t need a roommate,” Ali said, “Or a plus one.”

She got up before Bessar could try claiming otherwise.

“You’re right,” she said, “We could be very helpful to each other, as long as you can get that information where it ought to go.”