Because of their leader, Golden Queen’s minions were effectively low power supers. They weren’t afraid to charge forward into a hail of gunfire, and they swiftly tore apart some of Swarm’s clones, where they melted away into piles of sludge that quickly dissolved into nothing.

The woman herself was behind cover- the buildings HVAC’s on one side and a human wall on the other, where she was healing minions as quickly as they were being shot by Swarm’s flanking maneuver.

One might wonder, then, how we were supposed to defeat Golden Queen. Swarm was already down to nearly half his numbers, and she had basically unlimited power and healing. The answer was quite simple really, a well-known weakness anyone going against her had to exploit. She couldn’t heal herself. Thus the human wall.

Acid Man’s lobbed attack had one of the minions throwing up his arms to block it. A brave maneuver that led to the man’s sleeves being completely dissolved in an instant, along with some of his skin. The golden skinned and horned woman behind him was already pouring power into him to shield him and heal those wounds, but some of Acid Man’s attack slipped past, spilling over her upper body. Most supers had some inherent durability, even if they weren’t necessarily the bruiser type. That applied to Golden Queen as well- but there were divots in her mask from the acid and red patches on her otherwise golden skin. A direct hit would have been at the limits of what she could handle.

Mage’s Reach came in from above, and a brave minion sacrificed himself, pulling down his mistress and covering her with his body. If that had been all I would have just slipped around him, but another grabbed onto the hand and wrestled it to the ground- for which he got shocked. I had saved Shocking Grasp for the last moment, but I couldn’t get it down to the exact instant I touched my target- so the first thing that touched the hand got shocked.

All that, and a magic cat paw slipped past unnoticed, Golden Queen only turning her head towards the source of power she sensed before it slapped her on the shoulder. The full power of the spell flowed into her, and she collapsed.

Her minions were quick to respond, grabbing her and carrying her towards the stairs on the far side. Swarm’s clones had been wiped out on that side, as well as most of those in the flanking position. Golden Queen’s minions also dragged off her other minions- unless they were fully dead she could more or less heal them, though the power database indicated there could be significant side effects if they weren’t healed almost immediately.

Golden Queen’s eyes fluttered open just before she disappeared behind the building, but she didn’t seem to resist her minion’s decision to retreat. That was smart, because we could certainly get her again if she stayed- even if it ended up costing Midnight and I more mana. Then she’d get taken in. Even if villains were out in force for Christmas, they could still get arrested. However, even though we could have probably chased her down and done so, we were also expected to be reasonable. There were more villains to fight, and there were only so many the system could handle at once. Best for people to be high profile or doing more than a simple ambush plot against Santa.

There was a knock, a ringing metal sound on the stairs behind us. “I’m announcing my presence so you don’t overreact, alright?” came an unfamiliar voice. I couldn’t say I would recognize it on its own, but upon seeing Swarm step out I could vaguely place it as his.

“What are your intentions?” Acid Man asked.

“I’m here to make sure Santa gets through alright,” Swarm said, his arms crossed in front of him. “Got a problem with that?”

“You’re not working with Rodentia, are you?” I furrowed my brow. She was currently fighting the rest of our squad, so him splitting off here to keep the rest of us occupied made sense.

“I’m not wearing stupid rat ears, am I?” He pointed to his head.

Midnight harrumphed, “So? You could be incognito.”

“No way she’d allow that,” Swarm shook his head. “Anyway, I’m not being paid to fight against you right now, so don’t worry about it. It’s never personal, just gotta pay the bills.”

“If you’re not interested in villainous acts,” I said, “Why did you not sign up to become a mercenary?”

“Criminal record before I got my powers,” he shrugged. Then he pointed, “Hey, a block that way your giant friend seems to be having some trouble.”

I didn’t turn away, instead keeping my focus on him while trying to sense Great Girl’s power. It wasn’t so obvious feeling as others, but with a clear direction to focus I certainly felt it could be true. “How do you know? You can’t see that from here.”

“I have freaking clones. Anyway it’s that spook guy,” then his eyes widened and he fell to his hands and knees. “Dammit, he saw me,” he rolled over to lean against something, hand clutching his head. “Listen, you can go help or not. I’m gonna stay here.”

“Spook guy?” Acid Man asked.

“Hmm,” I frowned, stepping over towards the edge of the building. I couldn’t see what was happening, but focusing for a moment I felt a wave of discomfort. “Seems to be Gloom. We should go.” I turned to my companions, “Midnight, get on- and use Mental Freedom on us. I’ll get Acid Man.”

It wasn’t a cheap spell, but if we were going anywhere near Gloom we would need it. I did not like that guy. Then again, would anyone? The way he used his abilities, he had to be pretty awful in general.

Once we got down onto the right street, we could see the battle. As much as it was possible to see a battle involving Gloom, anyway. Darkvision was no good against supernatural emptiness and void. The street was cloaked with it, all centering around Great Girl herself. She was howling with rage- quite literally, given her lupine features. Her claws were slashing wildly into the darkness where vague outlines of a cloaked figure occasionally appeared- or rather more of a cloak without the figure. She didn’t look injured, but I wasn’t sure that meant anything against this particular opponent.

Assessing the situation, I didn’t have long to think about plans. “Midnight, do you have enough mana to Haste us, Acid Man, and then Great Girl?”

“Just barely,” Midnight said.

“Then please do that. Acid Man, we’re going to move in. Wait for an opening. I’m going to try to make one.”

The slight breeze suddenly felt slow as time poured through me. I didn’t wait for Midnight to cast on Acid Man, but instead started a steady march inward. Stepping into the darkness was like diving into a pool of wriggling bones. Unpleasant, confusion. Scary, certainly- but magic was protecting me from the worst of it. It must have been so much more difficult for Great Girl to last in it longer.

I trudged through the horribleness to get to Great Girl, moving with intent. Mana flowed into me, and I reached out to touch Great Girl’s currently eight foot frame just below the shoulder. My magic flowed into her, while at the same time her eyes turned to regard me- and the claws swiped out.

With Haste I could react more quickly, but my magic hadn’t fully finished entering her. I dodged closer instead of away, stepping around her while keeping my hand in contact. Her claws still tore through my Force Armor and into my shoulder- despite also having Stoneskin. My spell finished, I leapt back.

“Turlough? Sorry!” Great Girl yelled. “I didn’t know you were here!”

“Don’t worry about it! Just fight!” I didn’t know how she was going to do that, but at least she could resist the mental oppression. It would steadily eat through our defenses, but they would give us a chance. Besides, Gloom couldn’t be completely invincible. Stargirl could hurt him. Though she was currently unavailable and also still a jerk.

I focused on the unpleasantness around me. I could sense power everywhere, but I was looking for the source. Unless Gloom was actually everywhere, which I doubted. Powers all had constraints, though for some those constraints were less able to be noticed.

Something reached into my head. Even with Mental Freedom, I felt a dark hand coming out of my face, and when it tore back out of my head I saw my dead mother’s skull. That was terrifying on more than just the supernatural level, but most concerning was that I knew what it was even though I’d never seen either of my parents. I clenched my teeth, one of my tusks digging into my cheek. The physical pain provided some clarity along with the remaining threads of magic.

Midnight appeared by my side, boosting Great Girl. Haste flowed through her, bringing her movements back to the same flow as mine. She was still clearly angry, but her emotions were enough in check to attack with some measure of precision, reaching for shadows and the edges of a black cloak.

I clutched my staff in hand, trying to sense Gloom. I’d vaguely felt him before the attack, but it wasn’t fast enough to react. I tried not to remain too still or predictable, stepping around. My foot slipped slightly, reminding me that there was unnatural snow unrelated to the spooky villain.

Acid Man had joined the fray. I felt and saw Gloom attack him, but he withstood the attack with only a grimace and a partial transformation. I wondered if Gloom’s spooky hands could be dissolved in acid. I hoped so.

Great Girl was menaced the most often, but she was already able to endure his efforts without magic supporting her. Clearly it wasn’t pleasant, but she held on.

Midnight was swept over in a tide once, but the attack felt weak. Maybe Gloom would actually have to stoop down to hit him fully? So he might be physically present and not flying around like a cloak.

The assault seemed to last forever, though part of that was due to Haste’s mental distortion.

Then my chance came. I felt another attack coming for me. From the side, this time. I angled my staff, making use of the stored mana and the remaining handful I had, jabbing it towards where I assumed a gut would be. Dispelling magic poured through it and into… something. Something hit me in the head and I staggered back. I caught a glimpse of a man all in black, including a mask and of course a ragged cloak. Unfortunate. I tried to grab for the mask- but even hasted, Gloom ducked back, leaving my reach. Until powerful claws sent him stumbling forward, and I clasped it in my hand. I saw a face for the briefest moment, snarling in pain but distinctly feminine. Huh.

Then Gloom’s form once more turned insubstantial, a mass of darkness washing over and through me. I had the feeling it would have been unspeakably awful if Gloom’s powers were functioning fully, instead it just felt like being covered in bugs. Which wasn’t great, but on the scale of mild unpleasantness to ultimate despair, it was towards the former.

The darkness was still for a moment, then faded.

“Where did he go?” Great Girl yelled. “Turlough, do that again so we can catch him!”

“I’m completely out of mana,” I shook my head. “Also he might be a she.”

“What?” Great Girl said, and I simply held up the mask. “You saw Gloom’s face?”

“Not clearly,” I admitted. I reached into a pocket, grabbing a mana crystal. I did want to catch Gloom if we could, so as I began to absorb the mana I looked around, sensing for that particular power. But I was so low on mana as to be barely conscious, and Gloom wasn’t that easy to sense.

Great Girl ran down the nearest alley, but stopped when she didn’t see anything- or, apparently, smell any traces.

Fifteen seconds later, when I had a full point of mana to spare, I used Storage on the mask. That was going to be useful later, and I couldn’t afford to have it snatched or destroyed.