The ball wound down without further incident, and Heather joined them for dinner, seemingly having to tear herself away from her fans.

How she’d made fans among the Manitians in a matter of minutes was up for speculation.

Mr. Demetre laid out the terms of their wager:

Since it was a draw, the spirit forge would remain in his house, and Natalie would be allowed to visit it with a chaperone and up to two guests on the weekends.

That way, the Demetre family got to make contact with Nat on a semi-regular basis, but she was not beholden to them, and Nat got intermittent use of a Spirit Forge to hone the skills that had been implanted in her by Gerome.

On the original subject of the duel, Perry got to maintain that he’d been forced into dancing, but he had to admit it probably wasn’t Kloth Bloom that Neverre Demetre was wearing (even though it was).

Win some, lose some.

The only reason Perry had gotten a draw was because Gramma had been in his corner. But his grandmother being on hand to skew the call in his favor was part of the setup phase of the duel, so Perry felt like he’d earned it. At least somewhat.

The two shook hands and sealed the deal, while Nat looked on with interest, gnawing on a chicken bone.

Afterwards, Perry and Heather got to have the last few songs of the night with Natalie, and they all went home and collapsed into bed in various states of exhaustion.

***The Next Day***

“It seems as though the Manitians are plotting some kind of coup-d’etat.” The newscaster said, in front of a greenscreen which projected Perry’s speech onto it. They kept looping back to and emphasizing Perry’s ‘Take their industry’ words.

“Be careful if you must go through the southeastern district, this is Jerry Camp of FCNN seven, keeping an eye out for further developments.”

“Oh come on,” Perry muttered, turning off the TV. “ ’copy the human’s methods of mass production and set up a large amount of infrastructure and advanced logistics to support the cause of retaking Manita’ doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well as ‘take their industry’. Whaddya think we’re gonna do, steal whole factories along with their supply chains? Freakin’ idiots.”

“You’re not planning to take over Franklin City, are you, Perry?” Heather asked.

“No!” Perry lobbed the remote at Heather, which she dodged with a laugh. The Lab Control Center dutifully caught the remote and set it back down in front of the T.V.

“Alright,” Perry said, turning to look over the team.

Wraith, Hardcase, Breaker, and Plagius stood there, ready to go.

“Here’s your belt, Breaker,” Perry said, handing Breaker his hardlight belt by Lightshow. “I haven’t fully paid for that yet, so if you break it or lose it, I swear to god,” Perry muttered, shaking his fist.

“Cool,” Breaker murmured, putting on the belt and turning the dial.

Instantly the dance-based super looked like a completely different person, taking on the features of a lanky hobo, right down to the worn, patchy clothes. He even felt like a different person, as the hologram surrounding him provided tactile response, something Perry couldn’t actually do.

“Clap your hands for backup dancers. There’s also a button on the belt and a voice command, should you lose an arm or trachea.”

Breaker went pale for a moment, but clapped his hands anyway.

Instantly, a chevron of eight identical hobos appeared around Breaker, making him impossible to pick out at a glance.

All nine of them did the Boogy Nights pose, fluidly matching breaker’s movement.

“Yeah, that’s pretty awesome,” Breaker said as he turned the belt off, a grin gradually forcing its way past the fear of death and dismemberment. “Thank you!” His smile broke for a moment. “I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to…”

Perry smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. “No problem. You do your job sandbagging the juggernauts like Mass Driver, and you’ll more than pay for it in just a handful of missions.”

“Okay.” Breaker nodded.

“Any powers manifest yet?” Perry asked, turning to Plagius.

“Nah, I mean, I barely have super-strength.” Plagius said, “I’ve been trying to make plants grow ever since I drained Umm…what was that guy’s name?”

“lord of Annihilation.” Breaker supplied.

“Couldn’t’ve just called himself Green Thumb?” Plagius asked before shrugging. “Ever since him, I’ve been trying to make plants grow, but nothing’s happening.”

“That’s good,” Perry said, nodding.

“….Why?” Plagius asked with a scowl.

“Because it means your retainment is very low, and that means we don’t have to worry as much as we might otherwise about your mental state. It’s actually a good thing. Unchecked exponential growth is seriously bad news.”

Pot, meet Kettle.

“Oh, okay.” Plagius shrugged, seemingly not entirely convinced.

“On the other hand, it does mean we’re going to have to put more effort into growing your powers until you pop off on your own.”

“Okay, so tonight we’re going on patrol,” Perry said. “If we run across any fliers or speedsters, try and funnel them to Plagius, our long term goal is to boost his mobility until he can catch his own prey and serve as our speedster, but we’re not quite there yet.”

“Breaker, you hang back in disguise, and if any situation looks like it’s turning against us, figure out who’s the worst offender, and, you know, do your thing.”

Breaker nodded.

“Wraith, pick off stragglers and be generally sneaky. If you can ambush and subdue a speedster or flier, pass ‘em over to Plagius. Hardcase, pin down anything that appears to be giving any of us trouble.”

Hardcase nodded.

“You guys ready?” Perry met their eyes one by one, exchanging a nod. “Alright, let’s go out on patrol.”

Breaker pressed a button on his belt and a pair of hardlight propulsion boots appeared on his feet, along with a helmet and a stabilizing exoskeleton that gradually pushed him up into the air.

“Oh my god, this is awesome!” Breaker shouted, flying up out of the hangar. “I love this thing!”

Plagius watched Breaker sail into the sky, expression envious.

“Can I-“

“It’s sixty million dollars.” Perry interrupted.

Plagius looked like he’d swallowed a bug. “Oh.”

“Yeah…but that’s what we’re hunting fliers for. We’re gonna have you in the air before you know it.” Perry said.

“Cool. I guess I’ll take the stairs,” Plagius said with a sigh as Hardcase and Wraith flew out of the hanger and into the night sky.

Look at this punk sulking when he got handed one of the most O.P. power-sets, and has a team actively trying to support it and power-level him.

Perry rolled his eyes and followed Plagius up the stairs, clicking on his Nexus tracker and setting their status to Active.

***A Bored Nexus I.T. Guy***

“Hey, we got a pretty nasty situation created by some dude who can manifest emotions as weird shadow-things,” Brett said, showing Joe their options.

“It’s not city-ending, the girl’s only busting up a suburb, so Chemestro might be a little bit overkill. We can send the other -” Joe said, before casting a double-take at the name.

“Hit the Nemesis tab for me, would you?” Joe asked.

“Oh, whaddya know?” Brett said when he saw the team leader for the other team pop up as Chemestro’s official nemesis.

“Do we have vision in that area?” Joe asked.

“Does a super-bear shit in the woods?” Brett replied.

“Slow night everywhere else?” Joe asked.

“Take a look for yourself,” Brett said, motioning to the screen. Super activity was dead tonight, save that one spot.

“Get the other guys on the horn and start a pool. I’ll get the snacks,” Joe said, heaving himself out of his seat.

***Paradox***

“Alright, looks like we’ve got an assignment.” Perry said, checking his Nexus uplink. A Wildcard/Minder hybrid was destroying a small suburb.

Perry pointed out their direction and Plagius climbed up on Hardcase’s cockpit, then the five of them blasted off, screaming through the whistling air towards the northwest side of town. It was only a couple blocks away from Perry’s neighborhood.

Please don’t be Vanessa Brown, please don’t be Vanessa Brown.

The satisfaction of punching her in the face would pale in comparison to the long irritation that having her as a contemporary would cause.

“Shut up, SHUT UP!” A young woman’s voice rang through the air as they approached the flaming house. Inky black tendrils of shadow were chasing a well-built young man as he ducked behind cars parked along the side of the street.

“Babe, I don’t know what you’re-“

“you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about, you prick!” A girl in fishnets, black lipstick and a ragged black coat shouted as she pulled some intangible thing out of the scrambling young boy, before doubling over and regurgitating a dozen tiny hyenas, yipping and cackling as they began to chase the muscular normie.

“Huh,” Perry mused. That’s an interesting power set. I have no idea what it does.

“Hey, I think that guy goes to my high school,” Hardcase said. “He’s on the football team.”

“Hardcase, can you evac?” Perry asked, pointing at the guy around their age, sprinting just a bit slower than the shadow hyenas following him.

“Sure.” Hardcase’s mechsuit blasted forward and slammed down in front of the jock, causing him to screech to a halt on the asphalt, barefoot and…now that Perry was paying attention, he was naked.

Hmm…

Perry glanced back at the furious-looking goth girl, and over at the burning home. Things were starting to click into place. This seemed like it was a sex-based Trigger High. Those got weird. At least according to what Perry had heard.

“Heather, you think you can talk her down?” Perry asked as Hardcase grabbed the naked football player and blasted into the sky, drawing a shrill shriek out of the teen.

Heather glanced over the three boys awkwardly avoiding her gaze and rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

Heather bounced forward, turning into a teardrop shape before landing directly in front of the goth girl.

“HEY!” Heather shouted as she coalesced back into a human figure. “Cut that shit out!” She pointed at the torn-up Cadillac the jock had been hiding behind. “Your feelings aren’t worth a Caddy!”

“I made a mistake,” Perry muttered, blasting his jets forward.

The goth girl’s expression went from furious, to demonic. “I can see it all, your fears, insecurities, jealousy…guilt. And I can use all of it to crush you, you freaking normie, with your stupid…GAH!”

An invisible surge pulled itself out of Wraith’s body, making the hair on Perry’s arm stand up as it emerged, before being ingested by the goth girl.

She let out a hideous wretch and from her open mouth, a long black worm slipped out onto the ground, quickly growing into a black, amorphous mass that dominated the street, bigger than a house. A single eye opened on the face of that writhing mass, and it oriented on Wraith.

“No,” Wraith breathed, tears welling in her eyes. She seemed to be stuck in shock somehow upon seeing the strange manifestation.

Okay, that’s weird, Perry thought, grabbing Wraith around the waist and flinging her up and away, over the nearby house and into their backyard.

She seemed to collect herself in midair, long enough to form herself into a sail to slow her descent.

“Can you put a quick end to this?” Perry asked Breaker over the intercom as he dove face-first into the amorphous creature. As he touched it, a cold wave of uncertainty assaulted him.

Pain, insecurity, self-hate, and jealousy nearly stunned him into immobility. Thankfully Perry’s suit did not need him to be in top form to continue flying.

Perry pushed the writhing mass back a step as Heather gathered herself, appearing on top of the house she’d been tossed over.

It seems to be some kind of manifestation of raw emotions. And not the good kind.

“Hey, goth chick!” Breaker shouted, pointing at the girl. “I challenge you to-“ Breaker began coughing violently, doubled over in pain.

Perry’s brows raised, and a flash of movement caught his attention, where Chemestro was landing in the street, directly in front of the rest of his team composed of-

Perry blinked.

Dazzle, Monolith, and…Jetset.

How in the hell did he get those three?

“Thank you for securing the civilian, but your assistance is no longer required. Leave the rest to us.” Chemestro said, adjusting his gloves, the light of the streetlamp adding definition to his six-pack and rippling muscles.

Goddamnit, Perry thought, scowling.

“Jetset, Dazzle, the hell are you doing on this cretin’s team?” Perry asked, pointing at the two of them.

“Pay was good,” Dazzle said with a shrug.

“Titan’s team got disbanded shortly after Hardcase and Warcry got scalped, then he got made a Nexus officer.” Jetset said, a bit of a harsh edge to his voice.

Ooh. Perry totally stole Hardcase. That was death knell #1 for Titan’s crew.

“Well, I’m sorry to tell you this, but we’ve got the situation under control, so why don’t you go…I don’t know, do pushups somewhere or something.” Perry said, directing his attention back to Chemestro.

Chemestro’s eye twitched.

“I challenge-“ Breaker devolved back into a coughing fit.

Perry glanced between Chemestro and Breaker. “You better stop messing with Breaker before I give you another hug.” Perry said, putting enough emphasis on the word that it was understood there would be no hugging.

“I’ve been inoculated.”

“What, did you kidnap a girl and force her to hug you?” Perry joked.

Chemestro shot forward as Perry’s armor began to dissolve…But not quite fast enough.

Perry leaned into the punch and met knuckles with his own face-plate.

Crunch.

Chemestro’s lips formed a thin line as he stepped backwards, his broken fingers straightening themselves. He never even glanced away from Perry.

“Monolith, get the girl,” Chemestro said, pointing at the goth chick.

“If it’s all the same to you boss, I’ve got something of a score to settle with Paradox, here.” Monolith said, cracking his obsidian knuckles.

Chemestro panned a dead-eyed gaze over Monolith.

“Fine. you and Dazzle keep him busy while we make the arrest.”

“Yo, Aluminum Falcon!” the goth girl shouted, lobbing a squirming mass of inky black towards Perry.

When did she-

Perry dodged, but the thing grew wings and swerved midair, forming into an emaciated bat-like figure which latched its skeletal arms around Perry’s neck, freezing him in place as it began to whisper straight into his mind.

Cripple. Dullard. A thousand years of greatness and one mistake: You. No home, because you have no people. Trapped between two worlds, and never quite adequate for either of the-

The crippling whispers were cut off by Monolith’s energy beam catching Perry full in the chest, scattering the apparition to the wind and launching him backwards into a family van.

“I guess we’re doing this,” Perry muttered, peeling himself out of the van’s crumpled sheet metal.