At my direction, the bus drove us through St. Newton to the grimy ghetto where I kept my lair. I worried that the warehouse might be under guard, and I was right. Numerous police cars parked in the street with yellow warning tape blocking the front gate. I was more concerned about Captain Maximum, but saw no sign of him.

That worried me. I knew that he had to have heard of my escape from the prison by now, and had to have known I would head to my warehouse. If he wasn't there soon, he would be. I wouldn't have long.

I could only hope that all of my equipment remained at the warehouse. I didn't think the police would have time to take it all. As I hoped, I could see the remains of my battle with Captain Maximum in front of my laboratory. My robots remained in pieces that police officers stacked in piles, but more police officers loaded my exoskeleton into a waiting crate.

On the other side of the street, fire trucks had lined up with firemen working to put out the fires in the building Captain Maximum had collapsed, and hauled bodies out of it. A news crew stood outside with a female reporter standing in front of it facing a camera, talking into a microphone. No doubt she went on about the unavoidable tragedy.

As the bus drove down the street, two police officers walked into its path, holding up their hands.

"Police business," one called out. "Go around."

I used my telekinesis to lift them both into the air, slam their heads together, and drop them to the ground.

The grunts and thuds of their hitting the ground made the other officers drop what they had, and draw their guns.

"Freeze!" they yelled. "Hands up!"

I nodded to the men behind me. "Gentlemen, I'd like to retrieve my property."

The men all roared as they poured out of the bus into the street. The police were quickly overwhelmed as the prisoners blasted and fought through them, protected from bullets by Rampart. By the time I climbed down from the bus to the road, the police lay dead in the street.

The firemen ran, and I allowed them to go, but pointed at the film crew trying to escape as well.

I pointed at their van. "Stop them."

The cameraman and reporter had jumped into the news van, but the Mechanical Menace had stomped in front of it, and drove his metal fist into the engine. Lady Thunder went to the back and tore it open, revealing the screaming man and woman inside.

I limped up to them with a cold smile. "Good evening. Fancy meeting you here."

The reporter waved to her cameraman. "Keep rolling."

He nodded and swung his camera onto his shoulder.

She brought the microphone to her mouth as she forced a weak smile. "I'm here now on the scene with Mastermind. H-He's killed all the police on the scene."

"Yes. And I have a message for Captain Maximum. I know you're watching, and I'm not hiding. This will be our final battle and I want it seen by the world."

Cadillac Escalades came roaring down the street towards us, and Madman and his other gang members jumped out. All of them carried semi-automatic rifles and handguns.

Madman had a big smile as he charged up to me, and took my hand in a complex shake. "Yo, I thought you were done for good, Big Brain."

I chuckled, surprisingly happy to see him. "Not quite. But I suggest you and your friends leave the area. Captain Maximum will be here soon, and either I will kill him or he will kill me."

Madman looked at his gang and they all exchanged nods. "We ain't goin' nowhere, fam'. This is our hood, and we gonna protect it from anybody, and that includes Captain Asshole. Plus, it's personal."

Madman pointed at the collapsed building across the street. "We all had people in that building. My cousins lived in there, dog. The Captain killed 'em all for nothin'. We want payback."

He held out a hand. "But it's more than that. We know you got big things in store for you, Mastermind, and we want in. You been good to us. This is my crew, but we wanna join up with you."

The other gang members nodded.

I looked over the gang, and at the prisoners I had gathered before me, and at Lady Thunder. She gave me a nod.

I faced them. "All right, gentlemen, I welcome you to this, our final battle. We have all been rejected by the world, and called criminals and villains, but tonight we will stop the true villain. We are the only ones who can stop Captain Maximum which means at this moment, we are the heroes. Captain Maximum has been preying on our fair city, and that ends tonight. I won't promise you victory but I can promise you we will give him the fight of his life."

The men all cheered, Lady Thunder clapped, and Brutus barked at my side.

I pointed to the men. "All right, my weapon takes thirty seconds to charge for each shot. That means we have to hold him back until I can fire and punch through his skin. Terrordactyl, Quantum, I want you to be the first wave. Attack him while he's still in the air. Mystericon, give him a few more enemies to fight up there to wear him down. Redeye, Shockwave, Opera, Flamboyant, fire when he gets close enough and don't stop. Rampart, your force field may not stand up against him, but it will slow him down. Madman, you and your men will get into cover. Your guns won't penetrate his skin so your job is to distract him until we can get it off. But save your bullets because if we can remove his skin, your guns will kill him."

I looked at Soundwave and shrugged. "Just...listen for trouble."

Soundwave grinned. "I know my powers aren't up for combat, but if I get the chance, I'll fight, too."

A low roar made us all look up to see a streak of light coming across from the night sky. I didn't need to see it get any closer to know who it was.

"This is it." I pointed at the reporter. "Do not stop filming, no matter what."

I limped as fast as I could to the crate with my battle suit. "Menace, your regulator, if you please."

The Mechanical Menace nodded before a hatch popped open on the back of his neck. He pulled a small round device from it with his right hand as his left arm and left leg went limp.

"This better work," he growled as he handed it to Lady Thunder.

She ran over to me where I stood pulling on my battlesuit. It had been torn open when Captain Maximum pulled it off me, so it wouldn't provide the protection or enhance my strength but it still had the phaser attached to the arm. That's what I really needed.

I flipped open the hatch on the side of the phaser, and Lady Thunder snapped the regulator into place. When I closed the hatch and flipped on the phaser, I felt it vibrate as it began to warm up. It would be thirty seconds before I could fire the shot, but that seemed like an eternity as I watched Captain Maximum fly down towards me.

"Gentlemen," I yelled, "take your places!"

The Lennox gang ran for their cars and behind cover while Terrordactyl flapped his wings to soar up into the sky. Quantum vanished in a puff of smoke, and reappeared ten feet above us, teleporting again another ten feet up, and kept it up to make his way into the air.

Mystericon waved his hands and his gem glowed while a flock of bird-like men appeared around him and took off.

Lady Thunder threw her arms around my neck and gave me a kiss. "I love you."

I grinned. "I love you, too."

She balled up her fists and looked up while biting her lower lip.

Terrordactyl slammed into Captain Maximum above us, but he was quickly sent tumbling to the ground with a single punch from the captain. I was disappointed at how quickly he was dispatched.

Quantum popped up next to Captain Maximum, punching him, and quickly vanished to reappear next to him and punch again. I felt hopeful that Quantum might keep him occupied, but somehow the captain was able to anticipate where Quantum would reappear and grab him by the neck. A loud crack rang out, and Quantum fell from his hand out of sight.

Mystericon's bird-men attacked, swooping around him, and swiping, but he ignored them and just flew through them.

Mystericon shook his head. "They're not fooling him."

I looked at my weapon. Twenty seconds before firing.

"Light him up," the Menace yelled.

Redeye, Shockwave, Opera, and Flamboyant all fired up into the sky, and their flames and lasers and sound waves formed a cone that closed onto him. He held up an arm and plowed through it, getting closer.

Ten seconds.

Rampart held up his hands, and a shimmering bubble popped around us. Captain Maximum punched his way through it like paper.

"Fuck you," Madman yelled from behind the door of his Escalade, and opened fire.

Their bullets pounded into him in a stream, but ricocheted in all directions as they bounced off his skin.

Captain Maximum flew close enough that I could see the murderous look on his face. He had a fist drawn back, aimed right for me. I aimed my phaser at him.

The rifle beeped.

I pulled the trigger.

A blast of energy came out of the phaser, and slammed into Captain Maximum, knocking him out of the sky. His jetpack exploded on his back as he crashed to the ground in front of me.

For a moment, we all froze in shock. Had it actually worked? Or was he just faking it like last time?

Captain Maximum lay in the street, still.

His left arm twitched.

We all stepped back as Captain Maximum rose to his feet. I felt my heart sink. He was still alive.

But when he straightened, something came out of his chest. It took a moment before I recognized it as a tentacle. The suit had been pierced, and his true body came out.

He looked down at the tentacle writhing in front of him and started laughing. "So you got another regulator after all? I figured you would but not so soon."

He looked at the reporter. "And you're recording this. Is this going out live, ma'am?"

The reporter recoiled from his wriggling tentacle as she nodded. "Yes, it is."

His smile widened. "Fine. My secret is out. I was getting tired of this whole superhero charade, anyway. You did me a favor, Mastermind. Now I can drop the act and speak my mind."

Captain Maximum turned to look into the camera. "You humans are so pitiful it's disgusting. You're so easily impressed. You give up your freedoms to anyone who shows even a fraction of superiority and bow down to them like children. And your technology is laughable. I have become your most beloved hero with mere toys. I came here to find slaves for the battle to maintain my father's empire, and I had hoped to take the time to make you stronger so you could be a fraction more useful as the cannon fodder we need. With this change in plans, we can just move on to the last stage, taking control of your planet. If I can't take this world through your love, I'll take it by force."

His chest exploded with tentacles. The twisting flesh curled down to peel off his human skin.

The creature that came out of it looked even more monstrous than what I had seen in the video. Its upper half had a mass of tentacles attached to a slithering body with spidery legs. A huge red eye came out of the squirming mass, and it let out a roar so loud that it made all of us cover our ears in pain.

"Fire," I yelled.

The gang members and my supervillain team all opened fire. Their bullets and beams plowed into Captain Maximum but this time, they seemed to have an effect. Small holes opened on its black flesh, along with spurts of purple blood.

Yet the creature let out a chuckle before it growled in a deeper and more bubbly voice, "Your weapons are like insects buzzing about me. They can sting but cannot kill me. Did you think I would be helpless without this fragile skin? No, not at all."

One of the tentacles unrolled to hold up a glowing red sphere. "You will be made an example of, Saint Newton. This bomb will crush the city in one minute, and I will move on to the next city and the next. When enough of your people have suffered and died, you will declare me your master."

It pulled a metal tab out of the bomb and threw it to the ground, where it began to glow brighter and hum louder with each passing second.

The creature unfolded leathery wings from its back, and flapped them to take off.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Lady Thunder ran up and leaped to grab hold of two of the monster's legs.

Brutus bounded up and grabbed one more leg in his jaws while the rest of our army continued to pound it with its weapons.

My first thought was to rescue Lady Thunder and Brutus, but I knew the bomb had to be the priority. If it went off, nothing else mattered. I limped over to the bomb Captain Maximum left behind.

A cursory glance made me realize its mechanism was based on the same power system as the exoskeleton. In fact, it seemed to be nothing more than a power core set to overload. With my limited knowledge of alien technology, I could see that the metal tab Captain Maximum had pulled out would need to be re-inserted. That meant I had to stop him and get it back.

I knew from my analysis that the Omega Anti-Matter Phaser could kill Captain Maximum's true form but it seemed like he had some sort of armor or force field. The only place it would definitely be vulnerable would be its eye. My weapon would take another twenty seconds to charge again, and with it flying higher, I couldn't get a clear shot from the ground.

I used my telekinesis to try to hold the alien creature in place, but it was far stronger than it looked. It still continued to fly higher, just slower than before.

As the others focused on the monster rising above us, I hobbled to my warehouse and began to climb a ladder bolted to its side. It wasn't that steady, considering the damage from my fight with Captain Maximum earlier, so I could only hope it would hold.

I made my way up the ladder as fast as I could, trying not to look down or at the beast whose wings sent gusts of wind over me. It seemed like the roof kept getting farther away instead of nearer, and screams grew louder on the ground as the hum of the bomb became stronger.

I finally reached the edge of the roof, and scrambled up onto it. From the roof, I turned to face the edge and aimed down the length of my rifle. The creature that had once been Captain Maximum had passed the rooftop and kept going to float several stories above me. Lady Thunder and Brutus still clung to its long legs, and Lady Thunder had climbed higher to punch the monster's underbelly. It didn't seem to hurt it but did slow it down.

The creature turned its huge single eye towards me and let out a roar.

At that moment, I dared to say the words "This is for my parents" and fired.

The shot went clear through the eye, and out the other side.

The creature's roar cut short and its wings went limp, and it fell from the sky to crash onto the ground. It gurgled and collapsed into a pile of rippling flesh before falling still.

I scrambled down the ladder to the ground, and hurried over to the captain's corpse. I panicked at the thought of my love crushed underneath it but before I even reached it, the tentacles shifted, and Brutus came backing out, dragging Lady Thunder in his teeth.

"Good boy," I laughed.

I wanted to embrace her, but reminded myself of the bomb Captain Maximum left behind. We only had a few seconds. I dug through the tentacles until I found the tab it held. Running back to the bomb, I inserted the key.

The bomb went dark and silent.

With the monster dead and the bomb defused, I could focus my attention on Lady Thunder and my dog. I ran back to Brutus who knelt next to her, licking slime from her face.

She opened her eyes and looked up at me. "Did-did we do it?"

I kissed her and smiled. "Yes, we did it."

She opened her eyes and looked up at me. "Did-did we do it?"

I kissed her and smiled. "Yes, we did it."

"Yeah," Madman yelled while shooting into the air. "We did it."

The other gang members cheered, and shot as well. Other people in the buildings around us cheered and clapped. Even the news reporter applauded. I didn't care about any of them. I just cared about kissing Lady Thunder, and I did.

At that moment, my lifelong dream of killing Captain Maximum had ended. I thought it would feel hollow, but I felt better than ever. My parents' death had been avenged.

The news reporter scurried over the wreckage of the street, yelling at me, "Mastermind, Mastermind! It looks like you've won. And after what he said, it looks like Captain Maximum really was the alien you claimed. And he was trying to take over the world. Anything you have to add?"

I smiled at the camera. "Yes. I'm just getting started."

The police came shortly afterwards, and Lady Thunder, Brutus, and I were all arrested. As we were rounded up, I didn't try to escape this time. I knew I could escape again if I chose, but I also felt a sense of peace like I cannot express. The police responded to me in an even more hostile way, though. If it hadn't been for the reporter, I'm sure some would have been liberal with their tasers and nightsticks. I didn't blame them, considering how many of them I had killed.

Hours later, I climbed out of a police car and walked up to City Hall once again, but this time in costume and with Lady Thunder and Brutus with me. As I walked through the crowd with a path cleared by rows of police officers, I saw some people booing and holding up protest signs, but more who cheered and waved at me. Having seen Captain Maximum transform and proclaim his intentions live on the air, few could doubt my story this time.

Lady Thunder held my hand and walked alongside me as Brutus walked on my other side. Even Brutus had his chest puffed out with pride. It felt good.

We climbed the stairs to the podium where the mayor and chief of police stood. Chief Nichols had my gun in his hand, and studied it as the mayor approached the microphone.

"Ah, here he is," the mayor said into a microphone that made his voice echo over the city square. "Mastermind, you have committed numerous crimes and murders, and you will be forced to pay for them. However, I'm the first one to admit that Saint Newton and I owe you an apology. Though your methods may have been...unconventional, you exposed the true nature of Captain Maximum, and saved not only this city, but the world."

I looked up at Lady Thunder, and she gave me a wink.

The mayor smiled. "For that, this city owes you a debt of gratitude. And I'm prepared to offer you a reduced sentence."

He reached out to shake my hand.

I let the hand stay extended for a few seconds before I said, "I don't want the city's gratitude or a reduced sentence. I want the city."

Lady Thunder snapped her handcuffs while Brutus lunged for the police chief. He easily broke out of his muzzle, and chomped down on the chief's neck. As the chief collapsed, bleeding, Brutus snatched my gun from him and tossed it to me.

I pointed the gun at the mayor and pulled the trigger. The mayor exploded into a cloud of ashes as people screamed and started running. His bodyguards ran up to me, but I blasted them too. When police officers came running up the stairs, Lady Thunder charged into them, sending them flying in all directions with punches and kicks.

Before anyone could escape, Madman and his gang came roaring up from every street, and blocked the roads with their cars. My army of supervillains came flying down on jetpacks, landed on the edges of the square, and moved in, weapons raised at the screaming crowds.

I turned to the nearest camera and yelled, "This city is mine now. All mine."

I put my arm around Lady Thunder, and she kissed me, and we looked out over the crowds cowering before me.

At last, St. Newton was mine. And there was nothing to stop me.

At least, that's what I thought. It turned out there was something, but that is a story for another day.