Page 94 of No Capes

“Totally.” I raise my hands. “What do I do?”

D.S. shouts instructions and whitewater force flows through me. I shake, trying to hold it. The entire sky blasts electric blue as his powers mix with my super-charged rain clouds, the sheer strength of it enough to bring down a city.

Holy Aces.

The power feels unstoppable.

With a thundering boom, the sky echoes and bright lightning strikes in the distance. White bolts crackle with iridescent brilliance, forming an otherworldly vortex around the mansion that tethers our combined energy to the clouds and shields us inside.

I steal a look at D.S. and watch as sparks surge down his suit, electrifying his shadows and illuminating him against the universe.

“How long do we need to hold this?” I yell. My special gloves help, but I still have to strain my energy to make the shield. I direct the clouds to release more rain.

“As long as we can,” he shouts.

CRACK.

Harsh figures crash against our vortex. The Supers.

“Is there a Super who can break through force-fields?” I yell.

“Only me. I’m the only Super who can charge electrons.”

Nerd.

“What happens when we drop the vortex,” I shout. Notif,when. “The Supers still have power. They have numbers. How do we fight them all at once?”

“We don’t,” Dark Static yells. “Golden Ace does.”

Hurry, Golden Ace.

Where is he?

“This is a valiant effort,” a cruel voice comes from behind us, “that’s much too late.” He casually observes us in a gray suit and white tie. Despite the wind, his dark hair stays perfectly in place, and the light from our vortex makes him glow.

Phil Bridges smiles directly at me.

Thirty

Dark Static and I can’t attack Phil without the vortex coming down.Supers can only use one power at a time,D.S. warned. That limitation hinders us significantly in the battle against Capital City’s other Supers, who crash against the vortex with all their power. Supers throw ferocious winds and toxic vermillion flames, and it takes all my concentration to keep the vortex from slipping.

Phil steps forward. “I’ll admit I didn’t expect a team-up. A hydro-electric shield. Clever.”

“Then you are stupider than you look,” D.S. spits back.

CRACK.A long oak branch bounces on the grass, a casualty of the storm, which Phil calmly sidesteps. “It’s good to see you, Fox. You’re everything I hoped you would be.”

A whirl of yellow strength hurls at Phil as Golden Ace flies out of the mansion. The impact of it should have knocked the mayor off his feet, but he snaps his fingers and Golden Ace smacks against the air, falling back.

Uh oh.

This must be Phil’s secret,secretpower, beyond his charm-likeability-thing.

D.S. lurches toward the mayor, attempting to knock him off his balance, leaving me to hold off the other Supers by myself. The full weight of the vortex almost knocks me out.

Phil stops Dark Static with a second, easy snap, and D.S. stumbles backward. It looks like Phil can make his own force-fields out air.

I gasp.