Fallout

Hey. Sorry, it's been a while, hasn't it? There's been quite a lot of cleaning up to do in the aftermath of HG. Everyone's ok. I've got everyone new phones, Hana saved mine but HG took everyone else's and had them destroyed. Ragnarok got me to upgrade his with a bunch of stuff, just like his old one, so it connects to the SOLAR base etc, so I expect he'll be in touch soon.

We limped away from the ruins, flames leaping high behind us. My left leg was dragging, and I was glad to discover I could summon my staff from quantum storage to lean on.as I hobbled along. Healthbar was completely drained from the fight, and the dark sky offered no solar power for her to recharge. There was a hopeful pink glow off to our left, but for now, everyone was staying injured.

The adrenaline we'd all been running on had faded, and everyone was close to collapsing. Except Cecil, his RCR was working hard to repair him. He tugged at Healthbar's shirt. Hey, Healthbar, you can convert dark darker powers into the sunny healing ones, right?'
'Urgh....sort of. It's more of a trade though...ow...I need to take health before I can dispense it, so it's sort of a dark healing.'
'But the healing bit works the same right, same effects?'
'Basically, yeah...nngh...healing is healing.'
He grabbed her hand. 'Take what you need.'
'Uh..HUH?! No!'
'Oh come on, aren't I immortal? I've got more life left than you lot anyway.'
She didn't have the strength to argue further. Smiling gratefully, her hand glowed with dark light, making Cecil wince. She looked refreshed, and waved her free hand, casting a beam of light over the group. We felt a rush of energy, and several clicks were heard as broken bones reconnected, open wounds scabbed over, and aches and pains faded away. Healthbar screamed and the soothing warmth faded. We all turned to see her staring in horror at Cecil. He had looked about nine, but he'd visibly aged, now seeming to be about 12, with a couple of grey hairs in his fringe. He looked at himself, surprised, and grinned. 'Wow, I've been stuck for years! Oh we are DEFINITELY doing this again!' Then he noticed his fringe. 'Ah. Perhaps not...'

We thanked him for his sacrifice, but Healthbar flatly refused to do it again, and we agreed. We'd last until daybreak. He'd helped us enough. Healthbar's hair was a shade darker, and I didn't trust the Vampire not to try and seize control again.

We struggled on, still limping, but feeling a lot better. We'd gone about half a mile when we heard vehicles screeching to a halt, and found ourselves blinking and wincing in the sudden dazzling brightness of headlights.
'Stay where you are!' A voice yelled, and I could feel the buzz of cameras being turned on. A policeman strode out of the light, gun pointed at us. 'Freeze! Who are you? What happened here?!'
I realized the destruction of HG's base had attracted quite a lot of attention, and police and media were now investigating. I turned to face the others. 'Do you trust me?'
Everyone nodded. Some of the new recruits looked a bit unsure, but nodded with the rest.
'Good. We can't hide anymore. It's not working. We have to tell the world.'
'I said freeze!' The policeman yelled.
'Urgh, fine.' I sighed, turning back to him. I waved at his gun, and it began to freeze, ice coating the barrel. He screamed and dropped it, and a woman next to him turned to mutter to a man holding a camera.
'You may as well come forward, we need to talk to you.'
Gasping, the woman crept forwards, still whispering excitedly into her microphone.
'We are now approaching the group, who have been caught fleeing the scene of the explosion, and just moments ago disarmed a policeman from feet away-'
'Please stop, we can explain everything if you give us a chance.'
'Huh? Oh, uh, ok. And you are?'
'I'm Tempest, and we're a group called VHS. We are evolved humans with superhuman abilities, and we've been saving the world in secret for a few years now.'
She just stared. A crowd was forming behind her, and I could see more cameras.
'What channel are you on?'
'.....I'm BBC, we'll be sending this in for the morning news.'
'So we aren't live?'
'Uh, no.'
'Well we are now, and on every channel. We need everyone to see.'
'Wha-?'
I focused, and managed a small fireball in the palm of my hand. Wincing, I watched the reporter gasp, and the cameraman zoom in.
'See? We have powers, but we can't hide anymore. We want to help, do more, but we can't do that if we have to stay secret. The government tried to lock away people like us, and we were so busy hiding that we couldn't stop HG when he took over the world. Now the planet is in chaos, but we want to fix it. Put everything back as it was.'
I gestured to Healthbar, Lily, Pete, Cleone, and Tingle. We formed a circle, holding hands.
'This world is a mess right now, and I'm so sorry for everything you've all been through. We can't rewind time, we can't rewrite what happened, but we can repair the damage. Cleone and Pete are going to boost our powers, and we're going to try and reach out, to everything, everyone, everywhere. and undo as much damage as we can. I can restore plantlife and software, Healthbar can heal injuries and undo any of the more recent deaths, Tingle can wipe out any traces of HG's power, and Lily can control objects at a molecular level, fixing pretty much everything else. We can't undo what happened, but we can set the world straight again.'
The crowd waited expectantly, curious.
'Give it a sec, Healthbar needs to finish healing us first, and for that we need-'
Dawn finally arrived, the sun emerging from behind some ruins and bathing the scene in glorious sunlight. Healthbar began to glow, and all signs of harm vanished from her face, her hair returning to it's usual colour.
'There we go. Watch closely people, we're about to heal the world.'
Healthbar's glow spread round the circle, and a huge surge of power erupted from us, shooting out in all directions. Nothing but white light, everywhere. I whited out, locked into the circle as the world trembled.

Epic showdown. Again.

I woke up, bleary eyed and with a pounding headache, lifting my head from the floor to squint around as the room slowly came into focus. I was in a small, square red stone room, with a security camera in a high corner. I felt a tugging at the sharp pain in my shoulder, and looked round to see a tiny robot pulling desperately at the patch that had been stabbed in there. The robot had slightly blocky limbs and a rectangular body that were still recognisable as having been an iPhone. A piece of the touch screen served as the head, with thin wires flowing from behind hair. On the screen, Hana's face was filled with concentration as she pulled weakly at the power patch with tiny wire fingers, trying to remove it.

'Hana! The transformer modifications work then?!'

'Yeah, and I still have full use of my powers. I've disabled your patch, but there's only so much strength you can put in a phone...'

I glanced up at the camera, focusing hard as I blinked at it. It froze, and I reached for the patch, swearing as I tugged it out of my shoulder. I rolled over, staring up at the ceiling. Eventually, I managed to sit up, feeling my strength returning. 'Thanks Hana. Splitting up before they stole all my tech was a wise decision.'

'Yeah, I've seen what they did to the rest of it. Ouch.'

'Aww, I wanted it back! Damn. Oh well, we'd best be getting on.'

I faced the door. There was no keypad, no lock, nothing. It was just a slab of metal. Right, plan B. I stared at the stone wall next to door and clenched my fist, making a crushing gesture. A door sized area shattered, crumbling to dust. With Hana's on my shoulder, I ran out into the corridor. It seemed like the lower levels of the facility had been carved out of the layers of rock beneath the main building. My room was on its own in the corridor, and we ran off, looking for the others. 'Hana, did you disable everyone else's patches too?'

'Doing it now.'

I found a staircase and hurtled up it. 'How long before they recover?'

'Quicker than you, they're already awake.'

A guard came round a corner. I froze the floor and shot along it, sliding into him and slammed him into the wall. He collapsed, and I started running again. 'Come on guys, where are you?!' I thought as loud as I could. I heard a faint buzzing a regular, dull thud noise from up ahead. Another guard ran out of a doorway and raised his gun, but used it to gesture further down the corridor. 'We're close' he said in a strangely flat tone. 'Left at the junction.' He winced and collapsed. I turned left as he' d instructed, and saw two guards running at me. They had their guns pointed at me before I could blast them, but one suddenly clutched his neck, letting out a cry of pain and collapsing. I saw three wasps flying out from under his collar as he fell. The other guards gasped as a ghostly vision of a young woman flashed into being between him and me. Tildy yelled 'Hurry! They know we're breaking out!' before screaming and rushing at the other guard. He shrieked as she passed through him. Now I could hear music, guiding me onwards.

At the next junction I turned right, following the bright glow and smell of burning metal. I had reached the right corridor. The thuds were explained as a metal fist burst through the wall on my left, and I heard Ragnarok cheering. Healthbar had melted her door, and offered me a drained smile as I approached. 'Woah, that takes some getting used to' she chuckled, looking me up and down. 'that is you right?'

'Yup.' I laughed. The first real proper laugh for a long time. I made my crushing motion again, breaking open doorways for Doolittle, Tingle and Playwrite.

Rag had finished forcing his way out of his room, and did a double take when he saw me. 'Whoah, sorry. Mind giving me a buzz?' I sent a jolt of electricity at him, and his metallic body crackled with the energy.

I ran along the corridor, breaking everyone else out. Doolittle was confused at my yelp of joy and a hug that lifted her off her feet. Once everyone was gathered, we set off for the upper levels.

'Why hasn't HG come and stopped us?' Doolittle asked as we ran.

'FDiffy bought me some time.' I said. 'I hope he's OK.'

'Who's Fdiffy?'

We were approaching the comms centre. There was a troop of guards outside, and they turned as they heard us approach.

'Keep them busy guys, I need to have a word with our host.'

Everyone nodded, and I leapt through the locked door, opening an audio link to HG's grand hall. I studied the monitors showing the room. HG was gloating, but the figure in front of him grinned.

'Did you really think ou could best me? ME?! You fool! I am the greatest Equinox who ever lived!I have beaten you at every turn! Which reminds me, I really must thank you for posting everything you were up to, it was very useful. Your virtual defences were pitiful, I've been reading your blog for months! I've known your every move all the time! You even posted your invasion plan for here! As soon as I read it, I knew exactly where your new team was heading! I've sent a group of guards after each of them! It's over! You've lost!'

A cut and bruised face tilted upwards to stare at him. 'And how'd that work out?'

HG faltered. 'What?'

'Allow me to explain.' I cut in over the comms. 'He's referring to the fact that you must have sent them quite a long time ago. Have you heard from any of them?'

'Who's that?'

'Answer the question.'

'Well, no.'

'Oh dear, that can't be good, can it?'

'Who are you? What are you talking about?'

'I'm talking about nobody being where you think they are.'

'What?!'

'Well, it serves you right for snooping doesn't it? You read something you shouldn't have, and now you're in trouble.'

'What?! WHO ARE YOU?'

'Can't you guess?'

I cut the connection and left the room.there were no guards left to fight, so we made our way to the grand hall. We didn't come across any more guards. Clearly Jingle had his job well.

As we got closer to th hall I could hear rushing water. 'Ah, the ammo stores, excellent. I lined myself up so I had a straight path, and ran through the wall, holding my breath. The room was completely full of water, and in the middle, someone was whirling frantically round and round. Freezing cold emanated from me as I ran through, spreading through the water and turning it to ice. I grabbed Maelstrom and pushed him ahead of the me, phasing him through the wall on the other side, leaving a solid room of ice behind us. 'Well, I'd like to see them reload now! How are you?'

'Dizzy....really dizzy....'

Healthbar placed a hand on his shoulder, and he seemed to feel better.

We had reached a door, and I pushed it open. We were on a metal walkway, looking down on HG. He was staring at a screen showing the remains of the holding area.

'How did they get out?! What have you done!?' He stared at the figure in front of him, and then blinked, confused. 'Wait! Something's wrong! What....no.....No!'

'Yes.' I called, and he whipped round to gaze up at me. He took in the rest of VHS behind me, and a look of panic flickered across his face. 'But you don't have the ability to....and the patches...you couldn't....' his eyes flicked between me and his captive, and what little colour there was drained from his face. 'Nooo!'

'We had to keep you distracted enough to let the passive illusions slip under your radar, but I guess you had to notice sometime.'

The grey face and black cloak of Shade faded from me, and down on the floor below, FDiffy was revealed as his illusion of me vanished.

HG stared at us. 'No! That's not how it went! That's not what you said!' He pointed at FDiffy. 'HE's Shade, not you!'

'Nope. That's just what I put in the post. We know you've been reading it. You KNOW we know. I put that in the blog too.'

I leapt over the railing, landing safely on the floor with a puff of air. I started walking towards him. 'I can't believe you fell for it! Was it the bit about you not knowing about FDiffy? Is that what you got you?' I grinned. 'YOU fool.'

I tried to grab him, but he backed away. 'You still can't stop me! I can stop anything you send at me! You have no idea of my power!'

'Actually, I do. You can 'flip' things. Reversal, switching, whatever you want to call it. My blog's defenses didn't trust you. Flip! They do. You've been treating people's minds like computers. Someone has willpower. Flip! They don't. I'm guessing that's the only way you could catch Healthbar. I assume you flipped the effects of her powers, meaning she healed you when she meant to harm?'

'He did!' She yelled from above.

'It's true, that IS my power.'

He waved a hand, and FDiffy gulped. He gasped, and looked woozy.

'What did you do?'

'I 'flipped' his breathing. Now oxygen goes out, and CO2 goes in. I didn't change which of the two his body needs though.'

'You monster!'
'He will only be the first!'
I could smell burning again, and an angry golden glow was coming from above.
'You have gathered your friends here, now see them die!'

He swept a hand in the direction of the railings, but flinched, his hand seeming to bounce off the air, as if burned.

'No.'

We looked up, and I had to shield my eyes. Healthbar was ablaze with golden light, and there was fury in her eyes. She was holding hands with Playwrite and Doolittle. The whole group was holding hands, standing in a line, with the golden light surrounding them like a protective aura.

'No.' Healthbar said again. 'You will not harm us. I will not allow it.'

HG snarled and made a flipping motion with his hand. Healthbar smiled as the cloud of darkness she'd created in front of her was morphed into golden light, which was absorbed into her protective barrier. He tried again, and the same thing happened. FDiffy seemed to recover a little. His body was fighting the swap, HG was having to focus on holding it in place!

'Keep going Healthbar!' I yelled, launching streams of lightning at him. I knew it wouldn't kill him, he'd be able to recover, but I had to take his attention off FDiffy. He was distracted by Healthbar, and gave a cry of pain as the lightning hit, and turned to me. He screamed at me, but kept motioning at Healthbar, who kept making more dark smog.

FDiffy was recovering, his body slowly winning the fight for control of his breathing. HG yelled, flying backwards, and Healthbar let out a 'Ha!' of triumph. While his attention was on me, she'd shone a beam of healing light at HG, who, not realizing, had flipped it, so that what hit him was a glowing black beam of her dark powers, blasting him off his feet. FDiffy seemed to gulp, and breathed in deeply, free at last. He pulled himself up onto his knees, gasping for air, and glared at HG.

'You.....you....I....that was.......you.....you're just....just...'

He was struggling to find the right word, trying to describe exactly what he was feeling.

'You're....you're....'

He was on his feet now, and pointed an accusing finger. 'You're..just....just....STINKY!!'

I don't think I'd really believed it until then. Sure he had the colour scheme, and the ability, but I think there had always been a part of me, deep down, that refused to believe that the Diffy I knew could have become this hardened warrior. But hearing him now, and seeing that familiar look on his face, I knew. I finally saw a shadow of the old Diffy in his eyes.

HG shot something at Diffy, who was hunched over again, breathing heavily. I saw HG shoot, and leapt. 'Diffy, look out!'

I knocked him to the floor, just dodging being shot myself. Diffy was staring at me. 'What?'

'You called me Diffy.'

'Yeah...'

'Without the F'

'Oh, yeah, well...'

Next thing I knew he was hugging me, beaming.

'Tempest! So you don't think I'm a fake anymore?!''

'Fake? The F stood for Future...'

'Oh. I don't care I'm just happy! Thank you for saving me!'

'Uh, you're welcome?'

'Does this mean you forgive me about Precog?'

'No, but I'm not mad at you anymore.'

'I'll take that. I'm sorry I had to lie, but-'

'WHEN YOU TWO HAVE QUITE FINISHED?!'

Healthbar had been blocking us from shots with a cloud of darkness, but seemed to be weakening. She grimaced as another shot hit our cover.

'Sorry!' I got up, and faced HG.'Face it, you've lost!'
'Oh really?'
He smiled, and the back wall slid upwards to reveal a solid mass of monsters, horrific creatures that belonged in nightmares. claws, pincers, bat wings, horn, fangs, hooves, a crazy mish-mash of animal and human, demonic versions of fairytale characters, and golems made of stone.
Me and Diffy shared a look, and sighed. 'When does this guy NOT have an army?'
'As you say Tempest, I can bend the obedience of others to my will. A familiar face, I believe?'
I peered into the swarm, and noticed someone near the front, with glazed eyes, moving her arms like a puppeteer. 'Jorgia?! I thought she died?'
'She can Warp Reality! You really think she would surrender to death so easily?'
The hellish creations charged. Me and Diffy ran for the nearest wall, desperate to limit how many angles we could be attacked from.
We nearly made it. We were only a couple of metres away when the creatures got to us. We found ourselves drowning in a sea of monsters, all jabbing and slashing at us. Diffy grabbed the nearest head, and beams of multicoloured foggy light started to waft from his eyes. HG laughed, and flipped his hand, and the beams began to retreat. Diffy began to scream, and cut off his attack at once. 'He flipped my spooky cloud! I can't do it!'
'Same here!' All my powers were being flipped into nothingness, fading before they did any good. I resorted to punching a vampiric tinkerbell in the face, sending her flying, but a large grey cyclops took her place, reaching for me with it's huge hands.

Then four things happened at once.
There was a yell from above, and Healthbar led the charge over the railing, dropping onto the monsters below.
A series of bangs rang out as doors slammed open. The rest of my new team had arrived from their various missions of sabotage.
The main doors blew off their hinges, crumpled and broken, and Dragon stormed in, livid. 'STOP! I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO HARM THESE NOBLE SOULS! THEY ARE UNDER MY PROTECTION!'
The wall off to my right exploded, clouds of brick dust swept over us, and, coughing, I looked up to see a very short, oddly shaped silhouette.
Diffy beamed. 'I told you! Secret weapon!'
'What?'
'I told you someone was working up a attack. When you arrived in the future, who was free?'
'...Oh.....No way....'
the shape looked rather like a rather spiky lion, about the size of a dog, being ridden by something like a very large egg, wearing a sailors hat and holding up something pointy.
The dust began to clear, and there he was. Sitting on blue and black spiky cat creature, weilding a dagger like a sword, his red hat emblazened with it's signature smiley face.
'DIFFY!'
'Oi! Stinky! You has my frends. Now you in BIIIIIG trubble.'
He turned to call behind him 'Code Cheescake! Code Cheesecake! Go Go Go!'
Figures ran in past him. I saw Cleone, Freezeframe, Evan, the guy we rescued who can turn things to dust, and so many more. Diffy had gone and found anyone and everyone he could that we had helped over the past few years. True, he only seemed to have about 7 people, but it was impressive. Dust guy was pushing into the creatures, reducing them to dust. Across the room, Tingle was having a similar effect. Diffy had clambered off his mount, and it had let out a small roar and leapt into the fray, crackling with energy. 'Teempeeest!' Diffy was running over to me in the cute, waddling way I'd missed so much.
'Tempest! You's ALIVE! Also, I has an ouchy, look.'
He held out a yellow paw with a small cut on it. Beaming, I got out a plaster, and stuck it on, wrapping him in a hug. I felt how solid he seemed, and thought back to what else Future Diffy had said to me. Something about his power that I'd missed, something about Paris.....
I felt Diffy hug me, and then pull away. 'Tempest! I is liking the hug, and all the happy, but I needs to go. I has peeple saving to do.'
'Of course, but promise me something?'
'What?'
'Never let anything change you. I know we might get annoyed sometimes, but we all love you, and we're proud of you. Look at what you did! Thank you. Thank you for coming and saving us. You are awesome, and you must never let anyone or anything change that. Just keep being you. Promise?'
'Of corse! Hehe, you being all soppy!'
'Ha! Yeah. Now go. Save the world.'
Diffy beamed, and turned away, running at the monsters. He lashed out with his blade, jabbing at ankles, shins and tails.
'Stabby! Stabby Stabbity stabbity stab stab! You all in biiiiig trouble! 1 for you, 1 for you, ooh, you has 4 legs, you gets 2! Jab! Take dat! and dis! Raaar!'
He vanished from sight, but his progress was marked by the wiggly line of creatures crying out in pain and falling to the floor.
I turned to look at Future Diffy. 'I know he hasn't gone all dark yet, but you were never very innocent were you?'
'Nah, I'm pretty twisted inside.'
I saw that dust guy bad become a whirling vortex of dust, surging through the creatures, writhing wildly, as if he was losing control.
Future Diffy grinned and leapt to his feet. He looked over at HG, who was looking advancing on Dragon. 'He looks suitably distracted, let's try this again.'
He spun slowly on the spot, and coloured light whirled round him, turning him into...
'Woah. And I thought Shade fighting for us sounded fun.'
'EX-TER-MIN-ATE!!'
He'd become a Dalek. He whirred off, blasting at foes as he went.
'Huh....the beams....they're....working? OH.'
My train of thought was derailed by a Squid faced pirate swiping at me. He was electrocuted and burst into nothingness. I started making my way over to intercept HG, who was still after Dragon. Dragon had reached Jorgia, and held a hand up to her head. 'Sleep now, little one. You have been used and mistreated, and must stop this while you still can.'
His hand glowed, and she looked like she'd been struck between the eyes. She collapsed, and her army faded from sight.
Diffy cheered, and ran over to Healthbar, hugging her leg tightly. 'Healthy! I did good!'
'Yes you did! Well done Diffy!'
Future Diffy became himself again, and walked over to them. 'Oh, Diffy, I wonder if you could help me with something.'
Diffy narrowed his eyes, suspicious. 'Who's you?'
'I'm..a new friend of Tempest's. A new, old friend. I can do what you can do, and I was hoping you could help me with something.'
'I'z listening...'
'Well, the stinker with the hood is currently distracte trying to get near Dragon, but he's holding him off. Now, I want to nightmare cloud him to pay him to give him some idea of the hell we've all been through, but I can't do it on my own. Do you think we could do it together?'
Diffy looked surprised. 'You...you WANTS me to spooky face him? Help yoo do one?'
Future Diffy bowed low. 'It would be an Honour to work with you.'
Diffy looked up at Healthbar, and then at me. Everyone was nodding.
Diffy glared at HG. 'Let's spooky!'
He and his future self ran At HG, wisps of colourful light streaming from their eyes. The combined force was too much for HG to stop, and he reeled, screaming as a cloud of flickering light surrounded his head. I ran over to the others, and was relieved to see that Doolittle had survived this time. Dust guy hadn't made it though. He'd forced his power into overdrive, become that tornado, and lost control. It looked like he hadn't managed to change back, fading and scattering. I wish we could have done something to help him. There had been too many deaths around HG. He had to be stopped.
The building groaned and rumbled, and cracks appeared on some of the walls. I heard a explosion somewhere far off.
'Ah, that's my bad.' Doom winced. 'I thought we'd be out by now.'
Blackmage had a go at fusing some of the cracks closed, but the building shook, knocking us all off our feet.
The Diffys yelled, slammed to the floor by the quake, and HG took his chance, dispelling the cloud and swooping down on them. He face was locked in a grimace of hatred, and dark energy was burning round him like an Aura. A beam of it shot at Diffy, who grabbed by Future Diffy, rolling out of the way.
'Oh come on! You can shoot energy beams?! How does that even work?!'
The Diffys were in a corner, they had nowhere to go. We were all charging at HG, trying to stop him, block the beam anything-
Dragon got there first. He flew towards HG with a roar, and HG turned to face him, his beam of dark energy striking him squarely in the chest. Dragon stopped, frozen in midair, and let out a yell. He began to glow with red and orange energy, which became an Aura to rival HG's. the beam that linked the two of them burst into flames, and HG snarled.
They both seemed frozen now, eyes locked on each other as their power struggle raged. At the centre of the beam, a ball of energy was growing, crackling and flickering between orangey gold and deepest. The ball of energy kept letting loose small shot, blasts firing off in all directions. The walls wer crumbling, chunks of ceiling were falling around us, and several small fires had started. I hauled Future Diffy to his feet, and he ran to the others, hugging Diffy close to his chest. We all gathered in a terrified huddle, watching Dragon and HG as they leant towards each other, throwing everything they had into the fight. Dragon started to shake, and vibrate, starting to blur. HG's cloak was aflame, fire consuming him, but all his focus was on the beam. Dragon grimaced, coming back into focus, but his whole body was glowing orange, and he was becoming transparent. He closed his eyes for a second, brow furrowed, and burst into flames, his robes ablaze. He turned to us, with tears in his eyes. 'Fly you fools!' and exploded in a ball of fire.
I scooped us all up in a forcefield and shot us out of the door, landing on the road outside with a thump. We all turned back to see the building come crashing down, a raging inferno reducing the entire complex to rubble.
There was another explosion, huge this time, destroying everything that remained. I put up a forcefield against flying chunks of burning rubble, and shared a look with the rest of the team. We'd done it. We'd beaten HG and survived. Well, most of us.
Dragon.
Thank you Dragon. Thank you for watching over us, for helping us. For saving our lives. You will be missed.
Thank you for everything.

The only way in.

Sorry for the long gap, we've had a hard time getting around undetected. We've picked up Jingle (I say 'picked up', it was more like 'saved from being killed'). He had no idea who we were of course, he's been on the run and hasn't had access to a computer for a while, so he didn't know about my trip into the future.

We can see the fortress where HG is holding everyone. He hasn't finished building all the separate facilities he has planned for them yet, so with luck we can save everyone in one go. FDiffy says there's only one option for getting in, at least at the moment. 'One of us needs to get caught. You've seen what he's got set up all over the country, he'll be able to detect any kind of attempt we make to break in.

'Right. But we need to get in to break everyone out.'

'Yep.'

'And we need to do it soon?'

'Yep. There will be an attack on this building in a few days. It will help you greatly, but you need to have shut down the defenses first.'

'So we managed to shut it down the first time round?'

'Yeah, but it went badly wrong in pretty much every way.'

Doom grinned 'But you didn't have us last time, right? We joined later?'

'True.' FDiffy looked at me. 'So, plan?'

Everybody turned to me expectantly.

'Oh right yeah.. uh...I can't wait until Tingle's back to check if our ideas will work...Ok. Give me a sec..'
I closed my eyes, thinking,
'FDiffy, can you hide us? Make us invisible?'

'Sure, but they'd know we were trying to enter the building. the sensors would pick up an unauthorized entry, even if the cameras couldn't see us.'

'But if one of us was escorted in...'

'The guards have access rights, they'd get us in without setting anything off.'

'Ok. What about when we're inside?'
'Anyone invisible should find somewhere to hide. Quickly. I can hide us from the guards, but if HG turns up...'
'What about being disguised?'
'I could hide two disguises, maybe, if I made them REALLY passive. He's bound to be quite distracted at the moment.'
'Right, right right right....ok.' I turned to the rest of my new team. 'When we get in, I need you to hide in the most useful places you can. Doom, get nice and high up, so you're overlooking as much of the action as possible. Take out anyone trying to stop our escapees. Maelstrom, try to find the main guardroom, or the breakroom, wherever there are the most guards. Cause some swirly, watery chaos, keep as many as you can trapped. Blackmage, head for the weapons store. Transmute them. Break them. Turn them to dust, or butterflies, whatever. Make sure any guards that ARE at the scene can't shoot us. Darkblade, find the security center. Grab one of your giant cheeseknife sword things from the wall and hack everything in there to pieces. Jingle, find us a quick escape route, and secure it.'

Everyone nodded, but seemed nervous. Even Doom look a little concerned. 'Are you sure we're ready?' Darkblade asked, staring up at the huge building ahead of us. 'I know we need to do this, and I want to help, I do, but this is big. Can't we catch a burglar or something first?'

'We ARE the burglars. I know you can do this. And thank you so much, everyone, for saying you'll try.'

Determined faces smiled back at me. 'So what part do we play?' FDiffy asked.
'Isn't it obvious? I'm the one that has to get captured.'
'Don't be thick! I thought it'd be me!'
'Aren't you the one he really wants at the moment?' Blackmage asked, frowning.
'Exactly. There's a good chance he'll just kill anyone he doesn't recognise, but he should put me with the others. Anyway, aren't I supposed to try and break into here alone soon anyway?'
FDiffy considered this. 'Yeah, you do. What about me?'
'Technically you shouldn't exist yet, so it's best if it's not you I'm seen breaking in with.'
'Soooo.....?'
'Well, I think things have got so bad that Shade might actually side with me on this...'
FDiffy smiled, and his whole body seemed to ripple. Shade grinned at us, black robes swirling eerily.


Boom!
The fireball struck the door, blasting it off it's hinges, leaving the doorway burning. Shadows swept from Shade, filling the corridor beyond. Bolts of lightning caused security cameras to explode, and ice swept across the windows until they shattered.
I grinned. 'Think they've noticed?'
Guards stumbled out of the dark corridor, and hurried to surround us, guns raised.
We were led at gunpoint through the remains of the doorway, into the base. We were led into an anti-chamber, with stairs leading up and down. HG descended the staircase majestically, a sinister smile shining out from the depths of his hood. 'Ah Tempest! So I have you at last! It wasn't exactly a subtle attack. Granted, nothing would have worked, but surely, walking through the wall would have been woth a try...'
'You've got my friends. I'm angry. I felt like blowing stuff up.'
'By all means, feel free to vent your feelings. While you still can.'
'Meaning...'
HG nodded at the guards. 'Take the shadow man to the cells with the others. Show the stormbringer to our deluxe accomodation. I wish to have words with him before he.....meets his end.'
I decided that panicking was probably my best bet at this point. 'Oh please no! Stop! Waaaiit!' I kicked out at a guard, and aimed a punch at another. Then there was a stabbing pain in my shoulder.
I'm being led away now. I can feel my strengtyh failing, my mind is getting heavy, but there's something I need to do. Something....important. But what...is...it?
My phone! Get pocket...it out of...phone....pocket....hand....
Holding phone...no, that's wrong...the other thing....throw...
Now...just one more thing....a word...what word? Important word. Why do I keep thinking of a truck? and primes?.....
Optimus?
No, wait..that's it!
'TRANSFORM!'

An all new team that I've known for months.

Sorry for such a long absence, we've had to be VERY careful sneaking around gathering everyone. HG's takeover has definitely been slowed by something/someone, but he's watching for us. The worst thing I've come across so far has been these sort of tower/beacon things he's set up, that emit some sort of Electromagnetic field. It detects any use of technopathy, and tries to shut down the source, while warning HG about it! If it wasn't for Hana, I'd have been knocked out (again), and we only just escaped capture, but he knows we're active, so we've had to work extra hard to avoid detection.

But we've done it. We've got our new recruits.
It was weird to meet them all for the first time, having known them for so long. Especially as I knew some of them from Uni. But this was meeting them as future heroes, seeing them as they would become, if that makes sense. Very little does about all this.

We got to Doom's and were reaching out to knock when the door opened.
'Hey, you must be Tempest.'
'Oh, uh, hey. Yeah, I am. How do you know?'
'Hana's been showing me the blog. I'd have found it hard to believe if it weren't for the fact that the digital remains of a dead woman was right there nodding at me. Plus that thing in france with the T-rex was all over the news. And of course-' She pointed up at the dark sky, and round at the otherwise deserted street, with an HG tower visible a few streets over. '-and everything.'
'UH, yeah. So-'
'Will I join you, gain a superpower, and blast evil in the face with lasers?'
'Well, yeah.'
'Do you have my laser blasters?'
I held two out. 'Stolen yesterday, upgraded this morning.'
She took them, tucking one into her belt. She fired the other, narrowly missing an empty crisp packet and sending a lamppost crashing onto the road. She looked at me. 'Soooooo, super aiming powers?'
I showed her a small phial of black liquid 'Ready and waiting'
'Then let's go and show HG who he's dealing with.'





'I can't believe I'm hearing this.'
'Why? Seems like a perfectly reasonable response to me.'
'Maelstrom, please! We need you!'
'Nope.'
'Hana showed you the blog?'
'She did.'
'And?'
'We have a terrible time.'
'No we don-'
'We get shot at! Bullets, lasers, Psychos with superpowers! Everyone tries to KILL US!'
'But they fail!'
'They got Doolittle.'
I winced. 'Don't remind me. But she isn't dead yet, and I'm not going to let it happen!'
'Not interested.'
'But we save the world!'
'You plan the attack before I show up. Why should I help? You've got trigger happy over there, go get magic guy, he seems to do more.'
'You help keep us all alive at the end!'
'And nearly destroy myself in the process by the sound of it! What's in this for me?'
'Uh...Superpowers?'
He pointed at FDiffy. 'According to him, I get that fairly soon anyway.'
'Yes, and you are forced to use them to fight for your life. This is choosing to go into battle, head held high, trying to stop HG before the world becomes utterly screwed.'
He raised an eyebrow. 'and?'
I sighed. 'And every member of VHS gets access to our bottomless bank account, free use of almost all the advanced tech in our super awesome base, a bullet proof vest, protection of family members, and a goodie bag containing a membership pendant, a small taser, and lollipops.'
Doom waggled the lollipop stick protruding from her mouth at Maelstrom. 'They're really nice!' She said with difficulty.
Maelstrom narrowed his eyes. 'Hmmmm. I DO like money. and lollipops. and you swear I won't die?'
'You were still alive in the future, weren't you?'
'Aren't you trying to change that future?'
'...........Valid point. I swear to do everything in my power to keep you alive.'
Maelstrom considered. 'Ok, I'm in.'




'So let me get this straight. I get to fight bad guys, save the world, and be a Hero, AND, according to the blog, I get to use magic?'
'It's not really magic, it's a weak form of reality warping that allows you manipulate a form of energy that can transmute one form of matter to another, resulting in-'
'MAGIC?!'
'Yeah, it basically gives you magic.'
'YES!Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!!And I shall be called Blackmage, and ALL SHALL FEAR ME!'
'Excellent!'
I turned to Maelstrom 'See? That's more the sort of reaction we were looking for.'
He pulled a face, adjusting his bulletproof vest.




'Hey, we're-'
'VHS, yeah.'
'Hana showed you the blog, didn't she?'
'Yes.'
'Well?'
'How exactly do I get the giant cheeseknife sword?'
You pull it from a stone pillar. The structural integrity of the pillar is weakened though.'
'So I can pull swords from stone? Like King Arthur?'
'Future you told me you can draw weapons out of almost anything.'
Darkblade nodded. 'Sounds good. Alright, I'll join.'
'Yay!'


FDiffy says Jingle will be nearer the area the others are being held in, so we'll try and find him when we get there. Bye for now!

An unexpected guest

I'm not sure how long I lay there, thinking through everything I'd seen in that bleak, dead world of the future. I kept being drawn back to those last moments, and the last thing I saw as HG's base crumbled and burned around me, and I was being shoved backwards, into the shimmering light of Moira's timescoop.

Precog.

Strapped into a simple metal throne, a simple circlet of metal round his head, with wires flowing from it to the top of the throne. Long rolls of paper were scrolling past his hands, as he imprinted drawing after drawing, symbol after symbol, sentence after sentence of predictions for HG. But in that last second, as the world rippled away into nothingness around me, he looked up. His head jerked upwards, and Precog looked straight at me. Shining white eyes stared into mine. He saw me, recognised me. He smiled, and I heard two words inside my head:

Hand Bullets.

He's alive. I don't know how, but he's alive, and needs rescuing. I have no idea what his message means, but it must have been important. He had no time, but chose those two words to share with me, they must mean something.

I WILL find out. Find him.

There was a fit of coughing next to me. Remembering the second thud I'd heard, I turned to look. FDiffy emerged from a cloud of dust, crawling towards me, blinking madly to clear his vision.
'You ok?' he rasped, coughing again. 'This place is in quite a state, isn't it?'
I sat up, turning away from him. 'Why didn't you tell me.'
'What?'
I got to my feet, limping over to the base's computer. 'You didn't tell me. In fact, you actively tried to stop me finding out.'
'Ah, yeah, that. I'm sorry, but it would have been better for you if you hadn't found out, I was trying to make it easier for you.'
I placed a hand on the side of the computer, sending a current through it. The computer flickered into life.
'Oh yeah? Why would it be easier if I still thought one of my best friends was dead?'
'One of OUR best friends. Now that you know he's alive, you'll waste time trying to look for him. Time you don't have.'
'Of course I'm going to look for him! You may recall I was looking for him when he WAS dead, or when I thought he was. Anyway, how does that justify trying to keep it from me?!'
'Because you won't find him. None of us could, until he turned up there. You need to focus on stopping HG.'
The computer had rebooted, and Hana had shifted to it to help restore what remained of our system.
'That IS my focus, but if HG has him in the future, he may well have him now.'
'Nope, not for a few years yet. Besides, that future's already changed slightly.'
'Do you mean everything Glutton did?'
'Partly, but WE just changed something else.'
'You mean you, right? Future You never came back here originally?'
'Yep. If he, well, I...no. If HE had, I'd have had help, and known more about what would happen.'
'So how come you're here now?'
'When I got Moira to open the ripple, you were trying to push me out of the way so you could see Precog. At the moment I shoved you back into the ripple, you were holding my arm. I sort of got...pulled in, I suppose.'
Hana had finisheed her checks. 'They've all been contacted. They've seen the blog, and are expecting us to visit.'
As she transferred back to my phone, I turned to at last look at FDiffy.
'I'm still mad at you, but we have work to do. Are you coming?'
'Coming where?'
'To Doom's house of course. We have some old friends to recruit.'

2 Minutes to save the world.

HG was just standing there, cackling, as his timer ticked down to whatever diabolical cataclysm he had planned. I was exhausted, wounded, and filled with dread. But I could feel a tiny spark of hope. Feed that spark! I thought. Keep him talking. Back up is coming.
'2 Minutes?' I sighed, exasperated. 'Oh come on, Madonna got 4, and I bet she wasn't facing anything as bad as you.'
113.
'Ha! Is that all you can do?! Make jokes! Aren't you even going to try and stop me?'
110.
I looked around the chamber, taking everything in. The vast array of buttons had come back out, the smooth metallic walls, the huge red screen with the timer in the centre, and a single blue pixel blinking in a bottom corner. The hole in the middle of the floor where the lift should be.
108.
'Well you don't expect me to just run at you do you? The one on one fight thing hardly ever works against supervillains. I'm certainly not risking it now.'
103.
'A wise decision. On the other hand, what have you got to lose at this point?'
100.
'Oh I'm optimistic, let's see how things work out. What about you? You'll be destroyed with us. Surely that's not something you'd allow?'
094.
'Quite right! But I have had many years to grow stronger since your time. I have learnt how to use my gift on the most powerful forces of nature, giving me power over life itself! My mortality has been reversed, ensuring that I shall never die! I shall watch you all perish, see the world burn, and then rebuild, when all who oppose me are nothing but dust! I AM ETERNAL!'
'....Oh. Bugger.'
076.
More cackling. Man that guy loves evil laughter. I glanced at the screen. There were now 19 blue pixels dotted randomly about the screen. An 20th appeared as I watched. Then three more.
075.
HG turned to the passageway as a screeching sound was heard, with the roar of an engine.
074.
The bus Playwrite was driving the original one I'd somehow summoned, came speeding up the last bit of the tunnel, fire and water and lasers and beams of light streaming from it's top deck,skidding round as he brought it to an abrupt stop.
073.
The heat was getting unbearable now, it had kept rising since that moment I'd felt in the tunnel.
072.
The bus groaned, parked sideways at the top of the slope. I could see every window was broken, and people had been fighting shadow creatures as it drove along. VHS started to pile out, a mixture of the people I'd known for years, and all the new friends I'd made while I was here.
071.
Future me was getting off. He nodded at me, with a hint of a smile. I seem to have gained his approval at last.
070.
'Ah! I'm glad you could make it. You can all die together. How nice for you!'
Jingle glared. 'We came here to destroy you! If this is the end, at least we can take you with us!'
I sighed. 'I'm not sure about that. He says he's immortal now. Tingle? HG is immortal.'
Tingle nodded at my test statement. 'Sorry, but that's true.'
Doom swore.
059.
Hundreds of blue pixels now littered the screen, surrounding the timer, with new ones replacing red pixels all the time.
'I don't care.' said FDiffy. 'You will not win. You think you're unstoppable, but nothing's really changed. Immortality's just a word, another ability we have to get round. You can't rely on abilities to keep you safe. We've had ours prevented or blocked or taken away so many times, and we've done it to others. Abilities mean nothing. What matters is loyalty, friendship, working together to win. We are together, and you have nobody. Good will triumph, united, as a family!'
043.
We all cheered FDiffy, who was staring daggers at HG, fists clenched, steely determination etched all over his face.
A third of the screen was blue now.
HG considered FDiffy for a moment, and smiled. 'Sorry if I don't take you seriously, it's just that none of you have the power to kill me. For all your noble words, there isn't anything you can actually DO...'
034.
'He's got a point.' Maelstrom look dejected. 'We don't actually have anything that could hurt him.'
031.
'You don't even have that model of mars from SOLAR's observatory anymore.' said Jingle.
029.
Blackmage frowned. 'Oh yeah, I heard about that. What happened to it?'
027.
I grinned. 'I'm glad you asked. HG's right, we don't have an ability that can hurt him. But a while ago, it occured to me that, in order to acheive the same result, a smaller sun would have to be MUCH closer to the Earth than the original. I asked Tingle exactly how big poor Healthbar's generated sun was, and calculated quite how close she must be. Then I sent a flying warmachine up to her, with instructions to blast the control collar, with the aim of kicking her out of the destructive loop that put her in that coma. You may have notice that the sun's warmth flickered off a while ago, and that it's been getting hotter ever since.'
010.
FDiffy looked shocked. 'You mean-'
009.
There was a heat haze now, and intense light seemed to be burning through the ceiling. HG paled, running for his bank of switches and buttons.
I beamed. 'Yes.'
008.
Darkblade threw his sword. Half the screen was blue.
007.
The sword stabbed into the ground infront of HG, cutting him off.
006.
'Mars. Known as-'
005.
HG darted round the sword, but Blackmage pulled him back, surrounding him in blue energy.
'The bringer...'
004.
Three quarters of the screen. Hg was being held back by forcefields, energy, plants, everything we had to hold him in place.
'OF.....'
003.
Everything holding HG withered, flickered, dying under the force of his power. Water started swirling round my fingers. Maelstrom and Future Me took the hint, joining in.
'WAR!'
002.
We swept the water round everyone creating a thick, protective dome around us.
HG was free, lunging for a button.
A blazing column of fire burst through the ceiling above him, slamming him to the floor. Pinned under an inferno of fury, pain, and revenge.
The screen was entirely blue, but the timer was still red, she wasn't going to make it!
001.
The blue flooded the red timer. HG screamed inside the firestorm. Steam filled the room as our water barrier evaporated as fast as we could generate it. Maelstrom was spinning furiously, a blur inside a vortex of water. It was just possible to make out, through the steam, a second dark shape inside the fire. A figure, suspended above HG, head towards the floor, feet flowing upwards towards the ceiling. A hand was stretching out, reaching for HG's chest. He was gasping in between screams now, as if struggling to breathe. Parts of the room were starting to melt. The ground was shaking, as if it was about to break open.
The timer stopped.



The fire was starting to die down, and we stopped creating water, watching our barrier hiss into steam. Maelstrom slowed from a blur, coming to a stumbling, dazed stop. He fell backwards, and was caught by Tingle and Don.
'You think you're unbeatable just because you can control your lifeforce? Well so can she.'
We could all see Healthbar now, floating above HG, with her hand on his heart. Golden energy burned around them, and her hand has shining with power. Her face was filled with rage, and her eyes burned with vengeance.
'I have watched from above.' She said, fire crackling and stars twinkling in her voice. 'I have observed you from on high, I have seen all you have done. THIS. ENDS. NOW.'
He was little more than a skeleton now. Twitching and jerking under the force of Healthbar's anger, wasting away as his life was drained and his body burned.
The column of flame faded, and Healthbar slowly spun upright, landing gracefully next to him. Casting him a scornful look, she turned to us, and her face broke out in a smile. She staggered forwards, unstable on her feet after so long. Future me ran to meet her, embracing her in a hug.
'I've missed all of you so much!'
'We've missed you too! I'm sorry for what happened to you.'
We cheered, and everyone crowded round to congratulate her, but I was distracted by HG, rasping weakly on the floor.
'How the HELL is he STILL alive!?'
Healthbar frowned. 'I don't know....I thought I drained him completely...'
'You fools.....I told you......I am....everlasting......'
He was, incredibly, slowly recovering. His skull-like face was filling out, his sunken cheeks swelling. I heard running feet, and saw that the surviving shadow warriors from the tunnel were advancing, eager to complete the job of destroying us.
'Seriously? Do these guys EVER give up?'
Healthbar frowned, and her hair faded to a deep, shining black. The fighters skidded to a stop, and went down on one knee, head bowed, facing Healthbar.
'You serve me now. Do not harm us, and be ready to help.'
'Yes, my Lady' chorused the group.
'Well THAT makes things easier.' said Playwrite.
The distraction had allowed HG to push himself into a sitting position. Reaching up, he slapped a recovering hand onto a red panel, which glowed green. We tried to rush him but a huge jolt sent us sprawling to the far side of the room, which started to tilt.
What's happening!?' Panicked Broadcast.
'The world is breaking apart at the seems.' Tingle explained, looking horrified.
'What?!' I yelled.
'I'm doing my best to hold it together but we don't have long.'
'YOU're holding the earth togeth- how?!'
'Dragon....gave me....' he groaned, holding his head. He didn't finish the sentence, he was too focused, and whatever he was doing was clearly taking a lot out of him.
HG coughed up blood, hair regrowing to cover his head. 'You will pay...you will ALL pay....Resume countdown!' This last comment was shouted at the computer. A light by the pad flashed, and the screen flickered to red for a moment.
The timer ticked.

Everyone tensed, expecting the worst, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes and looked at the screen. And laughed.
101.
'What! What is the meaning of this! How do you meddle with my command center, it was designed specifically to counter your technopathic interference!'
'Trust me, I know. That's some impressive wiring you've got there. And there's no way anybody else could hack their way past all your security systems in a different way. Not with all the time you've had to set them up. If however, they started years ago, when there were fewer defences.....'
Doom was looking at the timer. 'But what happened to it? 101? What's that?'
I was still laughing. 'It's not 101. It's lol.'
A blue face appeared about the timer, looking smug. 'Nice to see you all again!'
'HANA!'
I was glad to see her. 'You cut it pretty fine!'
Hana rolled her eyes. 'Have you got any idea how many layers of encryption I've had to work through? I had to beat as many as I could in our time, then come back along the time link, which I am having to hold open all by myself thank you very much, then use what control I gained back then to get access to the deeper levels of security-'
'Thank you for saving all our lives.'
'You're welcome.'
HG was struggling to his feet. I punched him. He fell down again.
The world shook again, and pat of the wall began to distort, warping and twisting.
'His control over the world is failing!' Yelled Tingle, who was awake again, terror filling his face. 'He's used his power to change the world so much, and now the planet can't cope on it's own. I'm doing what I can, but without his power holding his changes in place, everything's starting to unravel!'
'Everyone but Tingle, FDiffy and me rushed HG, determined to destroy him. Maybe if his power died, it's influence would to?
'It's no good!' I yelled. 'He can't die! We've seen that! It's too late!'
I turned to FDiffy. 'I thought we'd done it, I thought we'd won, but we're too late! We're still going to lose!'
'Not necessarily. Have you learned enough about him? If you went back now, do you think you could stop him?'
'I...I don't know. I think so, but what if he's already learned how to become immortal, or set this place up, or-'
'Let's hope he hasn't. But look what you've done.' He gestured at everyone.
'We're back together. You reunited us, led us as a team to fight together, and we got so close. If you get back, do you think you could beat him?'
'I.....Yes. I promise you, he will fall. But can I even get back?'
'Let's find out. MOIRA!'
A burst of white light blazed into being infront of me. I felt the world start to spin.
Hana looked shocked, and called out. 'Tempest! I've found something! You need to see this!'
A door slid open next to the screen. I heard HG screaming in pain. 'I will still win! He has promised me! He has seen it!'
I squinted in the bright light. I saw a shape in a small room through the door. FDiffy looked, and started to panic. 'No! He doesn't need to see that! Don't look!'
He pushed me, and I grabbed his arm to stop him getting in the way. The contents of the room came into focus, and I gasped, my scream cut off as the world span, and everything vanished.

Next thing I know, I'm falling to the ground, landing hard. I hear a similar thud nearby, but I don't investigate. Because only a single thought fills my mind at that moment.

Precog is alive.

The turning tide

The battle was more even now. We were still vastly outnumbered, but the balance was shifting, as more and more people streamed down the ice ramp, joining the fight, reducing HG's shadow warriors to smoke and dust. Whooping with delight, I resumed blasting. HG was staring round, his smile faltering, shock and horror breaking through. He saw me, and pointed a skeletal finger, quivering with rage. 'YOU! YOU DID THIS! My glorious army, my unconquerable force of millions! You did this, with all your meddling! You made this! DIE! DIE!!!!'
He leapt from his throne, face twisted in fury. I panicked, and thrust out a hand to defend myself.
I swear, I am NOT kidding about this next bit. A bus, a full size, double decker bus, shot from my hand. It slammed into HG, sending him flying, screaming, into the sea of his fighters. The bus kept charging forwards at great speed, smashing through HG's throne, leaving a pile of shards and splinters as it vanished, engine roaring, into crowd.
I stared at my hand, stunned, and then looked at where the bus had gone. 'I...I assume there's an explanation for that. Or there will be. Or something.'
FDiffy ran past, arms huge and hulkish, crushing fighters. 'That. Was SO. COOL!'
Laughing, I swept my hand round in a curve. The bus moved with it, turning round and driving through another group of fighters. I saw Playwrite' laser blaster failing, and hoardes of fighters were closing in on him, so I sent the bus screeching over to him, bringing it to an abrupt halt as it destroyed a huge group of his attackers. 'Get in!' I yelled, and waited until he clambered up into the drivers seat and started the engine before turning my attention back to HG. He was floating over the chaos, heading for the hole in the ceiling.
'No!' I went to follow him, but a flock of airborn shadow fighters blocked my way. I froze them, sending them plummeting to the floor, and sent my forcefield platform shooting after HG. I passed the bus, and saw Playwrite had picked up Doom, who was now firing her laser eye beams out of the broken front window on the upper level. 'Get everyone else! We need to wrap this up!' I yelled as I went by, and Playwrite nodded, heading for Tingle, who had stopped to clutch his head, as if in pain.
HG had gone past the hole. Confused, I followed him. He was heading for an end wall, which was opening, revealing a large passageway. Blackmage was near the opening, and jumped backwards as the wall next to him jerked, and began sliding away. 'Tell Playwrite I meant EVERYONE. Our side have to get out, I'm going to destroy this place.'
He nodded, as a dragon comprised of blue energy leapt from his circle of light, clearing a path for him. I saw there were now at least seven buses racing around the huge cavern. Good, they could make sure everyone got a ride to safety. I set off, up the slope, storming upwards in pursuit. Shadow fighters started to swarm up after me, but I couldn't risk blocking the tunnel. The buses would need a quick escape. I saw HG ahead, and sped up. 'Stop! Get back here!'
'Ha! Does that ever actually work?'
'Good point.'
I shot lightning at him instead, as the huge path continued to curve upwards.
It happened very suddenly, and I know everyone else felt it too. There was a sudden wave of cold, sweeping over everything and everyone, and then I felt the temperature start to rise again.
Ahead, HG faltered, then carried on. I grinned. It had worked.
I heard Playwrite in my head as I chased HG past a turn off that seemed to lead outside. 'Everyone's clear! Destroy the hordes!'
I avenged Doolittle the same way I did Precog. I clenched my hand into a fist, feeling the rock and earth around the cavern crash inwards, destroying it, crushing it into oblivion. I heard sounds of fighting behind me, closer than the noise of the destruction I was causing.
I reached the top of the tunnel, and saw it came out in the wide corridor we'd been in earlier that lead to the central chamber. I ran to it, and saw HG frantically typing away at the vast array of buttons. The big screen was flashing red, and there was a box at it's centre, containing three numbers. As I arrived, the numbers started counting down from 120. HG turned to me, his face alight with glee. 'You're too late, Hero! This is the end! You will ALL perish, and this world shall be mine! You fought valiantly, but you have failed. In two minutes, EVERYTHING. WILL. END!'

Drowning in a sea of shadows

HG's dark hordes rushed towards us, and despite the blank, empty grey eyes, they conveyed malice with every fibre of their being. Maybe it was the snarling. Or the screaming. Or the fangs. Or the twisted expressions of pure hatred. Or the fact that they were trying kill us.
FDiffy looked thoughtful as he watched their approach. 'I feel like we need something to yell.'
'What?'
'Like 'For Aslan!' or something.'
'Sparta?'
'The future?'
'The past?'
'Freedom?'
I knew exactly who we were fighting for. He'd tried to stop this happening, he'd watched over us for so long, he'd fought HG with everything he had, and he'd given his life trying to bring HG down.
'For Dragon.'
'FOR DRAGON!'
With a roar, we broke our circle and surged forwards to meet our attackers, tearing into them.
With fire in one hand and lightning in the other, I started blasting. I put up a forcefield, but a fighter with blades for arms sliced through it like butter, causing it to flicker and vanish.
I rarely use gravitational manipulation, but this seemed a good time. I created a black hole in front of me, sucking shadow people into nothingness, but after each one it got smaller, winking out of existence after the tenth. Damn. This was going to be a LOT harder than I thought.
Blasting madly in all directions, I checked on the others. Darkblade was charging forwards, sword thrust ahead of him, destroying enemies as the blade plunged straight through any fighter unfortunate enough to get in the way. Blackmage was blasting them by hurling handfuls of blue fire at his attackers, the floor around him eroding in particles of blue light as he converted it to energy.
Maelstrom was disappearing into a swirling torrent of water, sweeping up enemies and churning them round until they dissapated into smoke.
Doom was firing madly, Jump was stabbing with a dagger while teleporting rapidly, dodging every attack, Centaur was taking on a group of fanged, winged, and clawed fighters having morphed his own, Tingle was running through the crowd, holding his arms out, enemies puffing out of existence at his touch.
It was a few hours later that things started to go wrong. Playwrite's telepathy didn't work on their minds, so he'd been given a guards blaster, and was firing lasers with a panicked look. The sheer number of fighters was making up for there frailty. One hit or blast, any decent attack that hit a shadow fighter would destroy them, reducing them to nothing but puffs of black smoke and a small pile of dust, but every time one was destroyed, another would take it's place, and they were getter closer. A blade armed fighter slashed my shoulder, Blackmage had sunk into a ditch caused by his power and was being piled in on, Tingle had suffered burns to his left arm, both of Doom's blasters had run out of power, forcing her to resort to laser vision which, while effective, made it harder for her to see what she was doing. Jump was getting worn out, and the pauses between her jumps were getting longer, leaving her vulnerable to attack. Scorch, far away, was flying through the air, blazing with fire, but was having to flee from a huge number of airborn foes. Darkblade was onto his third sword now, the others having been broken. He had a cut on his cheek, and the ceiling above him was buckling, it's pillars weakened by whatever it was he did to make weapons from them.
It was then we had our first loss. It was so fast, there was nothing any of us could have done. One moment Doolittle was riding a tiger through a crowd of warriors, waving a spear, then there was a scream. The tiger and it's rider were gone, suddenly lost in the depths of the army, leaving nothing but a splatter of blood on a pillar. We yelled, cries of regret and rage, shocked at what had just happened.
I shot past Jingle, destroying an attacker that was sneaking up on him. He flashed a weak smile, ensnaring another with tinsle. I was still determined to reach HG, all my focus on making him pay. I sucked another group of shadowmen into nothing ness with a black hole.
'Ha! You still have Gravitational Manipulation!' Future me was backing past me, firing beams of greenish blue light from his hands. 'Oh I miss that power! Give it to me!'
He grabbed my arm, and I felt a surge of power. My black hole flickered and died.
'What?! Oi! How did you-?!'
'Pete wasn't around. I needed more powers. I found a way.'
He rose into the air, soaring off to help Don. Resisting the urge to follow him and punch him in the face, I kept heading for HG. He started to laugh, gesturing. A huge wave of shadow people swept over me, blocking everything from view.
I have no idea how long I was submerged, but for a long time, all I knew was pain. Pain, and elemental blasts as I tried to free myself. I must have moved while fighting, because suddenly, HG's voice was close, gloating at me from above.
'You see? You are pathetic. Did Moira really think you could stop me? You will die here, Tempest, as Doolittle did, and there is nothing you can do. It may comfort you to think that, by dying now, you will be spared from having to watch the rest of your little friends get struck down, because let me assure you, YOU WILL ALL DIE.'
That was the wrong thing to say. I roared, exploding, a huge dome of fire and electricity blasting in all directions. I saw surprise cross HG's face as every fighter for metres round me was obliterated. Scorch cheered from over head, dropping a water balloon on my head. It broke, and I felt warmth spread through me, and saw my injuries shrinking, the wound in my shoulder healing before my eyes. Scorch passed over the others, dropping more balloons, and I saw Blackmage burst from his ditch in a cloud of firey blue energy. Everyone was being healed, and setting into the army with renewed vigour.
More good news. The hole in the ceiling was suddenly filled with bodies, a stream of people flooding into the room. Somebody was making a ramp of ice from the hole to the ground, and what seemed to be everyone from the forest was rushing down it, eager to join the fray. 'At last!' shouted Darkblade, beaming. He turned to me. We explained the situation. EVERYONE wanted to help. The world was full of equinoxes fighting back against HG, and every single one of them came to support us. Support you. Reuniting VHS spread hope throughout the world, and that's keeping everyone going. Nicely done.'
I gazed round at the two armies, as they tore into each other, both sides determined to do as much damage as possible. But now it was a much fairer fight. I grinned. Maybe there was a chance. Maybe this wasn't so impossible. Maybe we could win this afterall.