As I drove, I looked up at the helicopters closing in on us. They had spotlights shining down on the truck from above.

Just as I considered ways to get rid of them, Terrordactyl flew up to the helicopter, and reached through the window to yank out the pilot. As he let the pilot fall, the helicopter flew out of control and crashed into the trees. The other helicopters quickly peeled off with Terrordactyl chasing them.

"Where to now?" Mystericon yelled over the roar of the engine.

"To rescue my true love," I called back.

I pulled off the freeway and onto a short road. I climbed out, and the men in the back climbed out to stand before me. There were ten of them besides the Mechanical Menace, Mystiericon, and Terrordactyl.

I folded my arms. "We are free men, and I won't keep you. If any of you want to make your way on your own, you can. However, you can also join me instead. But you should know I am not bound for escape. I have a purpose. From here, I will rescue Lady Thunder and my companion, Brutus. Then I want to see what she wants, because I'm not going over her wishes again. But if she agrees, I will finish the weapon and kill Captain Maximum. Once he is gone, I will take control of Saint Newton. If you help me, the city will be ours to rule. Does anyone want to leave?"

The men all looked at each other for a few seconds.

The Mechanical Menace raised a metal fist. "Let's do it!"

The men all cheered and clapped their hands.

I smiled, feeling proud to have a group of men following me. "Good. Let's take stock. Tell me your powers."

The men all went over their abilities. One (Quantum) could teleport ten feet in any direction, one (Redeye) could fire laser beams from his eyes, one (Hotfoot) could run at lightning speed, one (Shockwave) could make shockwaves by clapping his hands, one (Gymnasty) had superhuman agility, one (Predatorn) had razor sharp claws in his hands, one (Soundwave) had supernatural hearing, one (Flamboyant) could create fire from his hands, another (Opera) could create sonic booms by screaming, and the tenth (Rampart) could create force fields.

"All right," I said, "we'll make our way to the women's prison. Climb aboard."

I got back behind the wheel and headed off once they all climbed inside.

The women's prison wasn't far. I drove up to the front gate, but stopped several feet ahead and called out, "Quantum, Hotfoot, Terrordactyl, go on ahead and take out the guards."

Quantum vanished in a puff of ash while Hotfoot became a blur. Terrordactyl flew over and dive-bombed the guard station. I could hear screaming and gunshots coming from it minutes later.

"Flamboyant, Shockwave, break down the gate!"

The two men climbed out and sent a blast of fire and a pulsating beam to smash through the gates. They climbed back in while I drove up to the gate. The guards lay dead by the smashed station, and I let Quantum and Hotfoot back into the trailer before I drove on.

Alarms rang out as the truck roared up to the main building. Guards came charging out of the doors and windows, some flying, and others running, while a few rode on electric carts.

"Mystericon," I said, "they seem to outnumber us. Can you make them see a larger crowd?"

Mystericon nodded while using his gem to make an army of soldiers come pouring out of the truck and rush at the attacking security guards. The guards began to scatter while shooting at the imaginary soldiers. In the chaos, we rolled through them up to the front entrance.

I climbed out, and called out, "We need to find her. She was injured so she would be in the medical wing. Let's go!"

The Mechanical Menace charged at the front doors and punched them to knock them down. The other prisoners rushed in after him.

I paused to call out to Mystericon. "Keep them busy out here as long as you can."

He gave me a thumbs-up.

I knew it wouldn't take long before the guards discovered the deception.

We charged through the visitors entrance, and by the time I walked in, the entire wall separating the lobby from the rest of the prison had been destroyed. I couldn't hold back a smile as I passed through the torn gates and broken plaster, following my companions as they wreaked destruction on the prison.

With most of the guards outside fighting the ghost army, we had little resistance. Rampart created a force field bubble that protected most of us from the guns and power beams the remaining guards threw at us, and we fired back ten times stronger. We made our way through the halls of the prison, leaving destruction in our wake.

I stopped when we came inside, and turned to Soundwave. "Can you tell where Lady Thunder is?"

Soundwave pointed. "I hear her. She's this way."

We followed him and made our way through the general population aea where the prisoners cheered and banged on the bars. Passing the women into the medical wing, Shockwave blasted down the doors. We faced even fewer guards here, and the few who remained quickly fled.

Soundwave led me into an area with medical equipment like a hospital. He took me to one of the doors. I looked through the window on the door to see Lady Thunder lying in a bed in a room with cuffs on her hands and feet.

I used my TK to rip the door open myself, and hurried to her side. "Are you all right, my darling?"

She rolled unfocused eyes onto me. "C-Carter? I kn-knew you w-would come--"

"Don't try to talk. We'll get you out of here."

The Mechanical Menace ripped off her handcuffs and picked up her bed surprisingly gently. I let him carry her as I headed out of the room. Rather than make our way back the way we came, I ordered Shockwave and Opera to just blow apart the nearest wall leading to the outside.

We ran for the truck, and I could tell that Mystericon's illusions had run their course. The guads largely ignored the imaginary soldiers, running for the prison instead. When we climbed out of the hole in the wall, they started focusing on us, but Rampart's force field protected us as we reached the truck. The other prisoners helped Lady Thunder inside, and we drove off out of the prison grounds.

I looked to Mystericon next to me. "Now for my faithful hound. Where might they have taken him?"

Mystericon thought for a moment. "Mystericon only know one place where keep superpowered animals, Curie County Animal Control."

"Our next stop."

It wasn't long before we reached the busy streets of St. Newton again, and before we went too far, I decided we needed to abandon the truck. They would be looking for it, and we could do better. I drove around the city until I came across a city bus. I pulled ahead of the bus, and jackknifed the truck in the road to block its path.

The bus driver came out yelling, "What the hell--"

Before he could get another word out, Predatorn leaped onto him with his claws, and the driver never spoke again. Stepping over his corpse, we all climbed into the bus. Only one old woman was sitting in the back, and she ran screaming at the sight of us. The others laid Lady Thunder's bed in the aisle while the men took seats, and I settled in the back with her while Gymnasty took over driving duty, since he said he'd driven a bus before.

We drove across the city to Curie County Animal Control to find it mostly empty and closed for the night. The only thing to indicate it might be anything other than the average animal shelter were the reinforced doors and windows.

Our arrival caused someone to come outside, waving his hands.

"We're closed," he called out.

He jumped back as my gang of prisoners climbed out of the bus and encircled him. "Hey, wh-what is this?"

"We're here for a dog," I said. "Dark brown. Stands about five feet tall, six feet long. Incredibly strong. Goes by the name of Brutus."

The man stammered. "Yeah, we-we got him just a few hours ago."

"You'll take me to him."

Predatorn held up his hands to pop out sharp claws, and growled.

The animal control officer stumbled back. "Y-Yeah, sure."

He ran for the door while I followed him.

We walked through the lobby into the back of the building, where the animal control officer went to a door as thick and bulky as a bank vault. He used a set of keys to unlock various locks, and hauled the metal door open.

On the other side, rows of cages held animals unlike any I had ever seen. Some of them were recognizable like dogs and cats, but all of them had something unusual about them. One cat glowed bright green. A dog had antennae and blue fur. More animals didn't look familiar at all. A creature like a gigantic bee with claws like a lobster buzzed around its cage while a huge slug-like creature whispered "Nevermore" over and over with disturbingly human speech.

The animal control officer looked at me and nodded. "Yeah, you get used to it. Whenever some whacko makes a monster, they end up here."

He led the way to another door at the other end of the hallway. "This is where we keep the animals too strong for the regular cages. I gotta say, Brutus is one of the strongest I've ever seen."

As we came closer, I could hear him barking and roaring on the other side. The ground and walls shook with loud booms over and over again.

The animal control officer unlocked the door, and pulled it open to show a room with an enormous cage. The bars were a foot thick, and they still looked bent and warped. Inside the cage, Brutus snarled and banged his head against the bars, causing them to shake and twist despite their thickness.

He stopped when he spotted me, barked, and wagged his tail.

I reached through the bars to stroke his head. "Good boy."

The animal control officer staggered back. "Wow. You're his owner, all right. He-he bit off the hand of the last guy who tried to pet him."

"As well he should." I pointed to him. "Unlock it."

The officer shrank back. "I-I don't wanna get anywhere near him."

He tossed me the keys, and ran out of the room.

I unlocked the door of the cage, and Brutus leaped out to tackle me. The other prisoners yelled and rushed forward until they saw Brutus licking my face while wagging his tail.

I patted him on the head. "Come on. We're going home."

We all headed out. We saw no sign of the animal control officer on our way out, and I didn't worry about leaving the place unlocked.

I opened the back of the bus and let Brutus hop inside. The other prisoners shrank away from him, but I pointed at my dog and said, "Sit. Stay."

Brutus dropped onto the floor of the bus next to Lady Thunder, wagging his tail. She managed to scratch behind his ear, and he laid his head on her chest, whimpering.

The Mechanical Menace chuckled. "Good thing he's well-trained."

We all climbed back inside, and Gymnasty started to drive again.

"She needs a doctor," I said, and we drove to Doctor Cyclops.

We arrived at his mansion quickly, and the prisoners helped me bring her out of the bus and to the doctor. The doctor took one look at Lady Thunder, and nodded.

"You know," he said, "I'm thinking of starting a loyalty program for injury-prone supervillains. Buy five services, get one free."

"Most amusing. Fix her." I led the Menace as he wheeled her through the mansion to his elevator. Brutus waited by the door along with the other prisoners.

Doctor Cyclops brought her into his operating room, and gave her injections and operated his equipment, and minutes later, she opened her eyes and gasped for breath.

I kissed her, and held her hands while looking into her eyes. "My darling, I want you to know I was wrong. I was wrong to put my thoughts of revenge over us. If it's what you want, I'll put it all aside. We'll leave the city, we'll go into hiding, we'll have a quiet life, just like you wanted."

I pointed at the Mechanical Menace. "But he has the part I needed to finish the weapon. We can kill Captain Maximum, but I leave it up to you. What do you want?"

She rubbed her head while whispering, "No, you were right, Carter. Captain Maximum needs to be stopped."

My heart leaped as I asked, "Do you mean--"

She glared at me. "Yeah. Let's kill him. I want to nail that asshole's balls to the wall."