Making the Situation Worse

If a new supervillain enters the city, most of the time, it would be taken care of quite easily, as Hailey would be able to flick them out using her authority over the five most capable people in Denver. But to cause this much damage in just a split second, and demanding for Mystical specifically...it wasn't looking good.

I stumbled, trying hard not to walk too quickly, only to discover that I was floating on air now, and much harder to control.

Victor dragged me down like a wild kite. "We're almost there!"

I hugged him, and suddenly, the floor beneath us collapsed.

I was thrown head over heels, feeling as if the wind had punched me in the gut, and landed on ice-cold water and concrete. I was shaking involuntarily.

It seemed I had landed in the sewers beneath, and I could already see the water trickling in from the pile of rubble in front of me.

Wait, where did Victor go?

"Victor?" I yelled at the rubble. No way. Not him. "Victor!" I sat up, scrambling to find where the hell he is.

The ground split apart beneath my feet with every step I took. Vine grew green, then brown, snaking across the rubble as I desperately tried to find where he was under all that. No, this can't be happening again.

"Hey!" Another voice yelled on top of the rubble. "Avalanche, you have a lot of explaining to do. This is my territory, and I had specifically ordered an all-clear zone."

"It's under orders, friend. What is the use of an all-clear zone? You never use these."

He's right there, the dreaded tyrant. I couldn't believe I'm seeing his black cloak. Right in front of me. Just twenty feet away.

SLAM! One of the vines go errant and a tree slams down at Dystopia. I stood up, alarmed, and frantically waved my hand to move the tree away. Holy crap, wait, I actually flattened him?

A knife was placed on my throat from behind me, and a smooth voice replied to my attack. "Nice try. Who are you? You're not Mystical."

Too good to be true. "I'm not-I-"

Vines began to wrap up around us, "Gah!" He let me go, trying to cut free as a flurry of blades surrounded him, and dicing the greenery until they turned to dust.

I decided to bail while he's stuck, inadvertently launching myself into the air, all out of control. I'm still shaking, why can't I stop shaking?

The vines stretched out in every direction, strangling the area flowers and leaves and bark. Trees decay. The rollercoasters stumble to a stop, freezing everything in my surroundings in a palace of green and spring.

Suddenly, Hailey teleported beside me. Grabbing my arm as she pulled a sheet of concrete below us as a sort of floor. "Charlotte-stop, you're going to strangle the park. Calm down. Take deep breaths."

Breath in, breath out. That's right.

"Finally you decided to appear. And with a friend no less."

Hailey smacked a cardboard mask over my face. I held it on. "I'm here now, Avalanche. You already destroyed the park. The radiation shield was effective, but I found it already. The city is already in ruins, what else are you going to ruin? There's nothing for you to rob here."

"There is one thing."

"What? Your ego? It sounded like Dystopia didn't want you here." Hailey looked around the rubble and the flowering vines and plants. "Speaking of which, where are you guys? I've never seen an S-class and A-class supervillain duo want to hide from me."

"What a waste of effort." Dystopia suddenly burst out of the pile of vines. "Mystical, if you would let me deal with Avalanche?"

"I would, but I feel you're just trying to distract me from something else."

I looked over and deflected a couple of dozen blades behind her. We stood back to back, trees ready to be launched. "I guess this is the beginning. I'm technically under your command, right?"

Avalanche emerged from the rubble, throwing aside a piece of concrete. I've heard of him before. Supposedly he occupies a few mountains in the Rocky Mountains. Assuming that gray-tan getup, I guess he doesn't like to be taken seriously. "There's two of them." He grumbled. "Well, this is inconvenient."

"What the hell were your orders?" Dystopia exclaimed.

"Important ones, I'll explain later." Avalanche stared down Hailey. "Just keep the more powerful one alive."

BOOM! The ground cracked where Avalanche stood, as he jumped up to Hailey's height. She looked unimpressed, and pointed her finger at him, holding him in suspension mid-air. "Wow. Are you done yet, or should I throw you acros….?"

Her words suddenly slurred and slowed.

I looked over and saw Avalanche's eyes suddenly glow. Swirls of golden glitter.

Pretty sure strength-based supers don't have glowing eyes. What the hell does the gold color mean? I looked over to Hailey, seeing that her expression was slack.

I slapped Avalanche out of the air with a tree and pushed Hailey to the floor. We floated down into the rubble. "Hai-Mystical! Mystical, can you hear me?" I shook her shoulders, but her eyes were the exact same gold color as Avalanche's. She was completely out of it.

"I suggest you leave before you get further involved in this." Dystopia approached us.

I looked up, glaring at both of them. Vines snapped to attention, thorned with cactus spines and explosive touch-me-not. "Go away!"

Both of them want to catch Hailey. So I just need to escape with her.

Dystopia suddenly disappeared. I whirled around almost instantly and scratched a figure across the chest. Run! Faster!

I flew up into the air, dragging Hailey with me, but someone yanked me down by the ankle, and suddenly I was launched across all of space and time into a wall.

HUuaasp! The air was knocked out of my lungs. Hot pain wracked through my back. Did I break some ribs? What happened? I shook the white haze of pain from my eyes and fell forward onto the ground, peeling myself off the wall. Hailey was sprawled out on the ground before me, eyes closed. She was bleeding.

"Geez, it only took one hit. Two birds killed." Avalanche tossed a bounder aside. "Have you really not been able to hit Mystical at all?"

"That, or the new super distracted her." Dystopia replied. "Is this for the MIA experiment?"

I pretended to close my eyes, frozen in fear.

"Oh definitely." Avalanche stopped right before me. "I only prepared a container for one, do you have an extra?"

"You want the super that knocked you out of the air?"

"Hey, she nearly squashed you too."

"And strangled me. Her powers are powerful, but she doesn't fully know how to use them yet. I suggest leaving her with me for a while before we begin an operation on her."

Yup, just pretending to be dead. Nothing to see here. Am I really going to become one of the missing supers?

As I heard the snow and foliage shuffle around me, the more I decided that perhaps I can try to cause another distraction, and fly up when they aren't expecting it. Avalanche is definitely not the real Avalanche, so his super strength shouldn't be a problem. I just needed to move before Dystopia activated his superspeed.

"Hey!"

A voice shouted across the way. Wait, that's Dad's voice!

I looked up as both of them whirled around to find...Supernova? Isn't he the one that destroyed Italy and Switzerland by accident? I stared at him, the foliage moving away as I tried to quietly sit up. No, that's definitely him, the red armor matches.

Wait, why the hell does he sound like my dad?

"Shit!" A ball of plasma slammed into the ground between them both, forcing them apart. Fake Avalanche had a hold of Hailey's hand. I grabbed her other hand and yanked her towards me.

"Get the hell away from my daughter!" Supernova leaped across the rubble with a single step.

Dystopia looked around, glaring at both sides as I readied vines. The bark was already gathering around his legs.

Suddenly power cables flew and electrified the ground with electricity. I firmly planted both my legs on the ground as waters rushed in faster. Metal pieces forced together as makeshift bullets sprayed around him in a circle. Blades flew out at me, and I forced the bark up into a shield to protect myself.

KABOOM! Water rushed around my legs, up to my knees.

Run! Fly! I took off abruptly, zipping upward into the sky.

"Over here!" A voice yelled. Ambulances sounded in the distance. Military personnel gathered down one street, forming a line, and advancing. Mom was running towards me. I've never seen her skin turn white like that before. I flew down, and both of us crash-landed into Mom. She managed to stay standing.

"Baby are you okay?"

"I think. Mom-"

A brilliant golden light stretched the shadows on the falling snow, a burst displaced the air around me, nearly pushing me over, and faded after a brief moment. I turned to look at the mushroom cloud that rose hundreds of feet above from a smoking black crater.

"Is that Dad?" I looked back at Mom worriedly.

"We'll talk later." She took Hailey and frowned as she assessed her situation, her hands cupping her cheeks as light poured into her. "This isn't good." The blood dried around her abdomen.

I looked at the flooding water, held my hands up, and closed the broken dam with pillars of a tree after tree. There's nothing I can do about the current water situation.

The line of soldiers marched past us. Their radiation shields held up as they approach the wreckage. I spotted a familiar man approaching the two of us. Mr. Dante, Hailey's dad. Mr. Dante was a tall man, salt and pepper gray hair, always dressed in a suit and tie, and he could not appear less intimidating as he cradled Hailey in his arms.

I've been told that both of her parents don't have superpowers, so how did Hailey get her superpowers then? She is a second-generation super, after all.

Mom gestured for me to follow her as we went around. "Let's go. We need to get your father back before the Department scours the area."

I walked with her, keeping up as quickly as I can. The skyscrapers around us still had lights, and the streets were strewn with rocks. I followed her over the wall of the crater and climbed into the burning bowl. The water was boiling hot, steaming, but I could see the muddy red water where Supernova stood. Where Dad stood.

"Dad?!" I floated over the boiling pool, looking around. The steam burned my skin.

"I got him!" Mom said behind me. I looked over and saw her bundle something that looked about the size of a basketball in a blanket. Wait, why in the world would she grab a basketball? Don't tell me that's Dad's severed head in there!

"Let's go," She caught my horrified expression, "I did say I'll explain later." She began walking briskly away from the scene as the radiation shields approached the area. It feels like my flying ability is sputtering. The news did say powers activate when near radiation and new persons lose the ability to use powers near radiation after having manifested.

"Yes! My car is still here." She put down the blood-red sack in the shotgun seat and turned on the engine. "Go sit down. Any questions you have, I'll explain. Let's try not to make the situation worse."

I slid into the back seat, making a face. "Is Dad in that sack?"

"Yes. I'll revive him soon. He's fine."

"He's fine? He's a severed head...he exploded!" I didn't know if I should be worried, mourning, or confused.

"It's just...First-generation supers are different, darling." Mom explained. "Very very different. Like I said, I'll explain."

"Is Hailey going to be alright?" I asked. "What about Victor? Benjamin?

"Victor and Ben? We'll know as soon as the reports show up at the hospital. As for Hailey, I tried to heal her as best I could, but this might call for one of the registered healers to help." She sighed. "Psychic damage isn't easy to get rid of. I don't have the power to do that."

"You said you can revive people, like bringing people back from the dead. Why not psychic ability?"

"It's not really bringing people back from the dead, I'm not powerful."

"Honey, no." The sack suddenly spoke. I launched back in my seat in terror. "You shouldn't belittle yourself like that."