Londyn clenched her fist as she stood before a wall of monitors. In front of her, the faces of the world’s leaders. Behind her, smoke rising from burning skyscrapers and ruined streets.

“And what exactly do you expect us to do, Director?! Our armies are shattered, our people are being held hostage. They’re all holed up in population centers, we can’t even use the nuclear option. What choice do we have left?”

“I understand that, Mr. President, but we can’t just surrender to this madman.”

“I don’t see what choice we have.”

“I agree.”

“It’s foolish to resist, Director.”

“Then don’t. Just let me handle it, as usual.”

“What exactly do you think you can do, Director?”

“What we always do, find this guy and beat him down.”

“You think you can stop someone capable of all this? You couldn’t even save Ulsan!”

“Not me, Prime Minister, heroes. All of them.”

“It’s too risky. If you fail, millions could die.”

“Here we call that Tuesday.”

“We’ve already made a decision, Director.”

“And I think it’s a stupid decision, so I’m going to ignore it. And it’s not your choice to make.”

“Then tell us, Director, whose choice is it?”

Londyn looked them in the eyes.

“The heroes. He said he wants them to surrender too. And heroes don’t give up without a fight.”

The world leaders exchanged glances.

“Look, I’m not asking you to do this with us. Go, hide in your bunkers and write your surrender speeches. But at least give us a chance.”

“...what do you want?”

“One chance. One shot, with everything we got. Share your intel if you’re feeling bold. We’ll save the day or go down swinging. Then, you can surrender all you want.”

The world leaders looked at each other once more. The President of the United States closed his eyes and heaved a sigh.

“You have twenty-four hours, Director. Make them count.”

The world leaders signed off the call. Londyn closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

Sometimes she missed being just a minion.

And then her phone rang.

“Bob.”

“Londyn.”

“Please tell me there’s not another Herald. I really can’t deal with anything else today.”

“You already have one.”

“...do you know something?”

“A location.”

Londyn caught herself, sensation from her legs vanishing for a moment as her eyes grew wide.

“Bob, I love you.”

“You won’t when you arrive.”

“...that bad, huh?”

“He makes the Heralds look like street magicians”

Londyn sighed.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re all in either way. I’ll see if I can stir up some contingencies.”

“You’ll need them.”

Londyn nodded.

“That’s my job. Thank you Bob, we have a chance now.”

“You’re welcome.”

“And Bob…”

“Yes?”

“Stay safe out there.”

“You too.”

The phone clicked. Londyn walked down towards her assistant. The assistant was staring at her. Londyn could see slight trembling and moisture building in her eyes as she gripped her hands.

“Assemble the League. All of them.”

The assistant nodded and rushed out of the room.

Londyn turned to her phone, thinking for a moment, and then punching in a number.

If she did this right, she might have a few more cards to play.

The edge of her mouth curled up.

The President gave her twenty four hours.

And now, that was plenty of time.

All thanks to a faceless minion.

Londyn stepped into the circular conference room, a remote held in her hand. Countless heroes stood around the room, all shapes and sizes. She quietly clicked her tongue. Less than she hoped. But more than she feared.

It would have to do.

The chattering and fidgeting stopped as she stepped to the front of the room.

“Thank you for coming, everyone. We’re short on time, so let’s get right into it.”

“Director, excuse me.”

Londyn turned to the man sitting in the front row. He had a golden helmet with fuzzy antennae from the forehead and fancy robes more suited to a royal ball than a battlefield.

“Yes, Majestic Moth?”

“Well, what’s the point? What chance do we have against all this?”

Londyn raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, look around. There’s so few of us. Even if we can win on our own, millions of people will die wherever we’re not. Wouldn’t we save more lives…if we just surrendered?”

“Now see here!”

“You coward!”

“You’re out of line!”

“QUIET.”

The whole room turned to Londyn.

“You’d be right…”

Everyone’s eyes widened at the Director’s words. The edge of Londyn’s mouth curled up.

“...if it weren’t for one thing. I know where the Necrosaurus is hiding.”

Everyone’s eyes grew wider. And then narrowed. Someone pounded their fist into their palm. Another started a deep chuckle.

Londyn turned to the wall behind her and pressed her remote. A monitor lit up, showing an aerial view of the Pamir mountains. The view zoomed in on a single mountain, a black spot becoming visible at its peak. Soon the heroes could see a black castle. Some dark figures could be seen moving around it even from this height.

“How did you even find this?”

“I have my ways.”

“You’re certain of this?”

Londyn nodded her head.

“He’s there.”

“Do you have a plan?”

Londyn nodded.

“We can’t fight a war of attrition, so we’ll use a decoy. Most of you will insert onto the neighboring peak, and then assault the castle directly. Meanwhile an infiltration team will enter the castle from behind and go for the big boss himself.”

There was silence in the room.

“That’s not much of a plan.”

“Suicide really.”

“What’s a small team going to do against this guy?”

Londyn pressed the remote again. The monitor changed to a split screen, showing two different heroes battling the dinosaurs.

“The infiltration team will consist of Aurora Legion, The Gentle Gloom, and Dragontooth. As you can see, The Gentle Gloom and Voidspeaker’s powers seem especially potent against this threat, likely due to them having a similar nature as Necrosaurus. They will go with the infiltration team, which should give them an edge against the Necrosaurus as well as his creatures.”

“Is taking him down even a good idea? What if those monsters go crazy when they lose their leashes?”

Londyn turned to Voidspeaker.

“Can you explain?”

“Oh, uh, me?! Um…I-I guess…”

Chronolock nudged his side. He took a deep breath.

“R-Right, so this is definitely a dark magic ritual, each of those things has the same sort of dark energy flowing through them. And the flow is identical in each one, so it’s a constant connection through a single conduit, otherwise there’d be minor fluctuations in the…”

“What does that mean, kid?”

Chronolock shook her head and whispered into his ear.

“In English.”

Voidspeaker jumped and swallowed.

“O-Oh…um, right, sorry. S-So, it’s like this, we stop the conduit, we stop the magic.”

“Which means?”

“Um, all the dinosaurs should drop.”

There was a moment of silence as the heroes rubbed their chins and twirled their hair. Finally someone spoke up again.

“How will they get inside?”

“We’ve discovered that Gentle Gloom can possess the dinosaur corpses if they are drained of Necrosaurus’s power and left in good condition. Voidspeaker has been doing this the entire time so there's plenty to choose from. We will have Gentle Gloom possess one of the larger fliers and carry the infiltration team in.”

“That will only work until they reach the castle.”

“Yes, they will need to move quickly. And we will need to work to keep Necrosaurus distracted.”

“How do we know he’ll go for it? Won’t he suspect something if we attack head on?”

Londyn smiled.

“I think he’ll go for it.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m coming with you.”

The heroes glanced at each other and the room filled with murmurs.

“I know it’s not the most elegant plan. There are a lot of unknowns here, and the risk of failure is high.”

Londyn glanced around the room, looking each hero in the eye.

“But this is what we do. This is what we signed up for. When the world faces a threat it cannot comprehend or handle. When all seems lost and failure seems inevitable. When there's no time and little hope. That’s when they send us. That’s when we stand. Because we can do the things that they can't. We can get it done. We can find a way. And if there’s no way, then we can make one.”

Londyn paused.

“Because you’re heroes. And that’s what heroes do.”

She turned and walked to the door.

“There’s a good chance we won’t make it out alive. Each of you should decide for yourself, I won’t blame you if you stay behind. But I’m going. If there’s even a small chance we can stop this, then I’m going to try. Anyone who’s with me, suit up and get to the hanger. We leave in five.”

A moment of silence as Londyn left the room.

Wonder Knight stood up.

“I’m going.”

Pink Star stood too.

“So am I.”

Chronolock stood up and yanked Voidspeaker to his feet.

“Hey!”

“You’re part of the plan, you have to go.”

“I know! You could’ve let me stand on my own!”

“You’re just kids, you don’t know what you’re getting into, what it means to go now.”

Everyone turned to the man who spoke.

Captain Hot Devil stood and walked up to Wonder Knight, staring him down.

Then he placed a hand on his shoulder.

“That’s why I’m coming with you.”

He glanced around the room.

“We all are.”

One by one the heroes stood.

“Yes we are.”

“I’m with you too.”

“Let’s get that sucker.”

“I never liked Jurassic Park.”

Everyone turned to the last person seated. Majestic Moth threw up his hands.

“Ok fine! Fine! I’m going! We’re all going! We’re all going to die together! There! Happy now?!”

Captain Hot Devil tapped Wonder Knight on the shoulder. Wonder Knight turned back to glance at him, and he nodded.

Wonder Knight turned to the standing heroes.

“International League of Superheroes, move out!”