Saving Supervillains 1 Chapter 37 (Patreon)

Swiping my comms back to the team, I saw Venus float in the sky above the building. “Venus, any help from your prince charming?”

“No, but I’m sure he’ll come through. He’s in the city, after all. And we are destined to be together.”

“Uh huh,” I made a non-committal grunt. “Let’s hope he comes through for you. Until then, start blasting exterior columns on the building.”

The ground shook as Rocksolid came charging down the street like a tank at full speed. He crashed through the side of the building, coming out the other side a few moments later.

“Stella, get out of there. How’s the hole looking?”

“Big enough to fit a bus.” She sounded excited as she burst out of the glass side of the building with a little whoop.

The other supers seemed to be having fun smashing the building as well. Rocksolid threw his arms up in victory after he blasted through more of the structure.

Villains fled like rats in a collapsing warren; unfortunately, they weren’t the main concern right now.

Heroes flocked in, joining Melody in clearing the building before the first sign of collapse showed. The roof bowed in, and the upper level came down hard. It smashed into the next level like a set of dominoes. The floors crumbled, smashing into the next.

“Do what you can to minimize the harm to surrounding buildings,” I instructed.

“Trying,” Pulsar grunted.

I reached out my own power, making barriers along the side to contain the falling debris, sending it all down the hole that Stella and I had made.

The entire Bureau was working as one, trying to collapse the building down on top of the Chimera. The foundation of the building sank as the sinkhole around the building widened. It began swallowing the street, making a neighboring building sag to the side.

The streets were flooded with people as they ran to clear themselves of the disaster. They headed for underground shelters that were part of the plan for moments like these.

Wrath landed next to me in a red and gold super suit. “What’s the report?”

“We got everyone out and dropped the building on the titan.” The sinkhole in front of us had swallowed the whole building, and there had been no noise from the Chimera for the moment.

“That will not stop it,” Kim said what we were all thinking.

“No, but”—I pointed down at the street—“all of those people are now clear.”

“Good work.” Kim clapped me on the shoulder, giving Angelina a strange look. “What’s she doing here?”

Angelina shrank back, but I grabbed her and kept her close. “She was vital in working for me to recover Melody.”

Kim looked her over before turning back to me. “I guess you were right. Some villains can be saved. Good work. Angelina.”

Angelina’s face was the definition of shock. “Thank you, Director.”

“Call me Kim.” She didn’t do formal with people she liked and apparently Angelina had just been added to that list.

Their polite discussion was interrupted as a barbed tentacle shot out of the pit.

“Looks like it’s game time.” Kim rose into the air on dark red fire as she summoned a rain of fire as fireballs the size of a car appeared in the sky above her. She hurtled them down into the pit.

As if on cue, dozens of various powers hammered into the pit.

I knew it wasn’t going to do more than continue to stall the Chimera. It was a titan based on the sheer mass of ki flowing within it. It would be able to heal from those blasts.

“Venus, have any new friends?” I checked in with our best hope unless I were to make a move myself.

“Not yet,” she snapped back. “But I told you, he will come. We are destined.”

I hated to encourage her imagination of this destined love, but I did need her supercharged.

I knew she would want to dig into my head, but luckily, mental voices weren’t like physical ones. She wouldn’t be able to piece it together if I kept her out of my thoughts. I could do this without putting myself at too much risk if she behaved.

Pushing ki into her, I heard a gasp over our comms.

You’re back! she shouted into my mind, her thoughts trickling with excitement.

I put on my grumpiest thoughts and refortified my mind. If you probe my mind again, I’ll never come back.

But—

No buts. That was an egregious violation of my privacy. I can’t trust you. But my city is under attack, so I am giving you ONE more chance.

Her thoughts became much less energetic, only brushing my mind enough to communicate. I… I understand. Please give me another chance. I won’t invade your privacy again.

At least she sounded properly chastised and scared that I would really not come back if she pushed.

You have your chance, put it to good use. I distanced my mind from hers as I flooded her with ki.

Venus started gathering light, floating far above the titan. It was like Point City had its own personal sun growing above it.

Since the last time I’d tried this, I’d learned more about powers. This time, I worked to not only supercharge her but also expand her powers, just a little, worried that I’d ruin this all if I pushed it too far.

“Venus, that doesn’t look like your normal power,” I commented over the comms.

“No, he’s back. I feel… maybe even stronger than before.”

“Hm, maybe he is closer.” I made up a random excuse as I continued to expand her power as much as I could. “Let’s see what you can do.”

I rejoined the common line. “Venus is about to fire. Stand clear.”

Any supers in the area moved far enough away from the pit to avoid too much damage.

Switching back to our team line, I ordered, “Fire.”

The world went white as Venus fired a massive beam into the pit.

Surrounding the pit, the streets blew apart from the blast. After a moment of the sustained beam, it trickled off. The entire downtown area was quiet, watching and waiting.

“Well, that was impressive,” Angelina commented.

I was still blinking the spots out of my eyes. “Yeah, it was, but we need to see the damage.”

There was still a mass of ki below the surface, but it was chaotic. The closest interpretation I had was that it was hurt and trying to rapidly heal.

The Chimera exploded out of the pit, and I saw the full monster for the first time.

Its reptilian head sported wide bovine horns. It was like someone had tried, and failed, to make a dragon. Below that, it had feathers and a pair of massive wings that eventually transitioned into an octopus base with dozens of tentacles that branched at the tips.

Along its back there was a large patch of missing feathers and crispy skin, like a thanksgiving turkey fresh out of the oven.

“That’s disgusting,” Stella said. “Do I get to fight the titan this time?”

I stared at the thing, another thought occurring to me. I switched the comms over to Kim and Beatrix. “It has wings. Kim, it has wings.”

“So— oh. That just might work.” Kim picked up on what I was suggesting.

Beatrix hadn’t picked up on it yet. “What about its wings?”

“If it can fly, then we can get it up in the air and lead it out of the city.” I put it together for her. “We need all heroes that can fly pestering it from above while Venus gives it another go. Anyone on the ground needs to back off, focus on preventing collateral damage.”

I paused, saying the part that had been left unsaid. “But whoever leads it out of the city might not come back.”

The message spread rapidly, and heroes buzzed above it like flies.

The Chimera flapped its wings, leveling the surrounding buildings. But it managed to get liftoff, flying up into the air as its tentacles reached out, trying to snag heroes from the air.

“Girls, be careful,” I told my team. “Gather up around Venus and focus on protecting her.”

Another beam lanced across the draconic face, melting its scales and possibly making it uglier than before, but it still wasn’t enough to kill the titan. It was, however, enough to massively piss it off.

The Chimera focused on Venus and gave chase. Its wings beat above the city in earth-shaking booms.

Wrath’s crimson fire streaked across the sky, catching up with Venus. I could hear her over the comms.

“Venus, tell your friend I want a boost.”

I wondered what Wrath had planned.

Hello, if you are able to, can you boost Wrath?

I didn’t respond, instead focusing on Wrath. I pushed ki into her as I dialed back on Venus.

With Wrath there was no mental connection, but I could see her fire grow several times over before splashing into the Chimera’s face.

I knew exactly what she was doing, but I still had to ask. “Kim, what are you doing?”

“I’ll be the one to lead it out of the city,” she said decisively. “I’m immortal, after all.”

“If the Chimera gets you…” My voice trailed off with the thought of her immortality in its digestive system.

“Yeah… that would suck.” She broke off from the other heroes. The Chimera successfully focused on her as she continued to lob huge fireballs across its face.

I switched my comms back. “Everyone, let her lead it out of the city and wish her the best.”

Wrath kept flying, and the Chimera chased her past the city limit and kept going.

I had a sinking feeling in my gut that I’d never see her again.

“Wrath, you are getting to the edge of comms range,” I told her.

“Take good care of the Bureau.”

Damn it.

Even if it didn’t get her, she wasn’t going to be able to circle back without dragging it back to the city.

I turned off my comms and looked around. Seeing nothing watching my spot on top of the building, I handed my tablet to Angelina. “Can you turn into me?”

Her body shifted, and I watched as I materialized in front of me. It was the weirdest thing to watch.

She saw my frown. “I’ll only do this if you ask.”

“Fair enough.” I pulled off my communicator and stuck it to her neck. “I’ll be back shortly. Just pretend to be me. Tell the girls to help with recovery around the site of the fight.”

My entire body repulsed light, and I turned black as the void. Then I blasted off the roof, making a big show in the air before flying off to catch Wrath. Speeding up, I flew past the Chimera in no time, before flying even with Wrath.

Her head glanced to the side, and then she did a double take. “You.”

“Me.” I garbled my voice as I gathered one of my beads of destruction in my hand. “Thanks for luring it outside the city. Let’s get it a little further away.”

Wrath nodded dumbly, flying by my side with a smile growing on her face. “Thank you for coming to help me.”

I snorted to keep up the act, but I did want to help her. I knew I’d miss her at the Bureau, and I was starting to believe she was doing some good, even if there were still changes needed.

Flying together, we led it out from the city towards the mountains to the west.

“This is far enough. Head back to the city.” I released a controlled amount from the bead of destruction.

The air boomed, and the clouds parted as I blew a clean hole in the Chimera’s wing. Out here, I no longer had to hold back.

It staggered in the air, dipping down to the side that lost lift and crashing into craggy foothills below. A large strip of trees were flattened by its colossal body as it skidded to a stop.

Wrath hadn’t left, though. Instead, she hovered by me with wide eyes. “You really could kill a titan.”

Holding out both palms, I restored the energy lost in the first bead while gathering enough energy to form another. The air crackled with black lightning that seemed to jump between the two beads.

I released small, controlled blasts, testing it out. I hadn’t tried this before; this part of my power was too dangerous to play with. But I needed to take this thing down, and it would make the perfect chance for me to practice controlling this.

I rapidly fired off three bursts from each bead before they ran dry. It was surprisingly hard to aim at this distance, just a slight change in angle made a tremendous difference.

Each beam struck the Chimera and the surrounding area, blowing dirt and debris miles into the air. The entire base of the mountain range was covered in the dust, but I wasn’t about to wait unarmed.

Two more beads formed on the palms of my hand as I waited and watched the dust settle.

Wrath floated on her fire not far off, watching me. “You could demand the whole city, hold it hostage. Hell, you could probably rule the whole eastern nine cities.”

“Sounds like a lot of work, if you ask me. I’d rather just be another person living in the city,” I said.

She floated close, like she was going to try and comfort me, but I blocked her with a dark tendril.

“Oh look, it’s still alive. Guess I need to put a little more effort into this.”

I emptied the two new beads into the Chimera before summoning another two and shooting a sustained blast down below.

The dust from that forced the two of us to float higher.

“That ought to do it.” I dusted my hands off, reaching out to sense the space where the Chimera had been. I could feel the ki bleeding out of it; it was dead.

“How can I get a hold of you if we have another disaster like this?” Kim didn’t stop staring at the dust as it settled.

“You don’t. I don’t work for the BSH, and I will never be a hero. However, I couldn’t stand by and watch this sudden titan wreck the city and kill those I interact with on a daily basis.”

Kim looked crestfallen, and she reached out, grabbing onto the tendril. “Please, I want to help you. After what you said the other night, I can tell you are still hurting because of what I did. I need to make amends.”

“Goodbye, Director.” I pried her off of me and shot back to the city, making myself invisible as I went.

I hoped Angelina had successfully covered. I needed to get back before Kim was back in range for comms.

I flew through the city, which was a mess. But people were coming out in droves to pick everything up. Tens of thousands of people were gathered among the wreckage of eight buildings, helping the heroes sift through the mess and move out the debris.

Angelina was still on top of the building, pretending to be me.

Landing invisibly next to her, I plucked the comms off her neck.

“—are in charge now that Kim is gone.” Beatrix sounded on the other end of the line.

Angelina jumped at my sudden removal of her comms and looked into the space I occupied with a rueful smile.

“Let’s hold off on that Beatrix. If I take over for her so quickly, it’ll be seen poorly. Let’s just keep managing this mess, and I’ll act in her stead as the Deputy Director.” Taking my tablet back, I swiped off all the comms. “Heading down to see this through from the ground. Join me?”

As we fell into the alley, she shifted back to her amorphous body to slow our descent.

“You weren’t gone long.” She stared at me. “Is it dead?”

“Yes.” I double checked to make sure all the comms were off. “It’s dead and Kim is coming back. So we just need to clean up. Stick with me; help where you can.”

I turned the comms back on.

“Roger.” Angelina moved out of the alley with me and joined me in a bucket line that was passing head-sized chunks of concrete out of the mess.

My tablet pinged with a call from Kim.

I did my best to sound surprised. “Kim, did you lose it already?”

“No. It’s dead.”

“What?!” I yelled into my comms for effect. “Dead? That’s impossible.”

She sighed. “It’s incredible, unbelievable, and terrifying at the same time. Void showed up after I got it out of the city. That super… he actually killed a titan by himself.”

I stayed silent as I tried to keep a smirk off my face. “That’s good news, although a hell of a lot of power to have in one person.” I paused for dramatic effect before wanting to lighten the mood. “Hurry on back. Beatrix is already trying to give me your job. We can talk more when you get here.”