A second kick knocked out the window. The supervillain’s fist reached out. Her segmented bracers ran the rim of the pane to clear away the burrs and shards that had been left behind. She swung out of the warehouse before the glass had shattered on the concrete walkway below. She was a blur of cloud white, soulless black, and wine red. The glass shards crunched under her armored boots as she dropped the story and a half to the ground.

“Wrong exit, criminal,” came a loud, authoritative voice.

“Oh, fiddlesticks.” The supervillain pouted. She flipped backwards, landing on her left hand and twisting away from the shimmering bullet. A second pulse shot undulated toward her center of mass but she had drawn her Jian sword, Xie Zhi Ren, during her acrobatics. She slashed through the projectile backhanded. The pulse dissipated with her heavy grunt.

Crimefighter wasn’t much of a hero but he did look like one. He was dark skinned with immaculate black hair slicked back from his unmasked face. His eye color remained obscured behind his gold rimmd Blueyes visor. He had the strong jaw and the hard body. The supervillain saw a joke.

Gulf City, like every small city in America, had its own Crimefighter and Action Boy. The off-brand superheroes that operated primarily as a local PR arm of Great Justice and secondarily as heroes. The supervillain saw the gold trimmed red armor, the breastplate designed to show off broad shoulders and abdominal muscles, as a testament of mediocrity. Yet, he had still been outfitted by all of the resources of Great Justice.

His plate armor was worn over scaled under-armor that covered his arms and legs. He wore boots that put her armored greaves to shame. His forearms were covered in gauntlets to match. His cape fluttered pathetically, drooping in the stinking Gulf of Mexico breeze; he stood as if he wore a golden battle flag. His sigil was a bright gold C, like the captain’s emblem on a hockey jersey, burnished over his left breast. He held a fat-mouthed pulse-stunner in his right hand. The supervillain was ready.

“Wicked Sharp, identity unknown,” Crimefighter read from his Blueeyes HUD, “known associate of Jefferson Grant, alias Doctor Nightmares. Wanted for questioning in relation to countless grand thefts, massive vandalism, four disappearances, --

“Oh, the boy can read!” Wicked Sharp grinned smartly.

“-- and two acts of domestic terrorism,” finished Crimefighter.

“Oh, shove it in next the stick! Les Belle blew up that ship and The Young Defenders burned down that campus!” she snarled. “Those were your acts of domestic terrorism.”

She whined and air quoted but she was smiling. Her identity was still a secret even after Doctor Nightmares’ wasn’t. She had expected the interference on behalf of her superiors. They really had given up on Jeff. She should have ditched much earlier. She hoped her three years of service was worth the sparkplug they had promised her. A little superspeed would go a long way. Until then, she had her sword, her wits, and her skills.

Wicked Sharp was an excellent swordswoman. Xie Zhi Ren moved with surgical precision. She aligned for Crimefighter’s center of mass. Her cheongsam was crafted from a highly protective fabric that didn’t cover her arms and legs. The cheongsam was white with a phoenix design in red. Its skirt barely hardly covered the tops of her thighs. A winding red sash rolled off her hips and had scabbarded her sword. Her raven hair was pulled up into a tail and was tied in a ribbon to match her sash. Both silken lengths rippled in the wind, mocking Crimefighter’s heavier cape. Segmented bracers protected the front half of her forearms. Enameled boots armored up and over her knees.

“Surrender and we can proceed without violence.”

Wicked Sharp’s eyes looked out from her eye mask with humor. She cocked her dark lips. “Some first date you are! You don’t even want to have a bit of fun before you try and take me home!”

“Criminal--” Crimefighter seemed shocked that the supervillain would rush him. He fired at her, but she swayed to one side. His thumb ratcheted the dial on the side of the gun.

Wicked Sharp wheeled through the undulating projectiles. Xie Zhi Ren squealed as it took in the oscillating kinetic energy. Pimples of dull red light blossomed down the white blade. The skirts of her cheongsam rose up over the muscles of her thighs. She stepped down hard, her foot landing sideways between Crimefighter’s greaves. Her right hand twisting aside his chromed stunner. Her left hand adjusting the grip on her sword. One quick strike, through the Dragonsilk and ceramic armor and in below the diaphragm would immobilize the hero.

She didn’t want him dead. Murdering supervillains didn’t fight K-Mart Crimefighters. Murderers fought Challengers. She had witnessed Meteor Man in Arizona. She’d seen footage of Daybreaker off the coast of Massachusetts. She had heard stories of the new kid, Titan, destroying a tank by smashing it with another tank. A Challenger dropping from the sky would end her.

“This is over,” Wicked Sharp declared and lunged. Her body wrenched forward. She slammed her shoulder into Crimefighter’s breastplate but her sword wouldn’t penetrate a millimeter.

Generally, if someone is carrying a pulse-stunner, they’re not quite capable in the closest of quarters. This Crimefighter failed to meet Wicked Sharp’s assumptions. His left hand slammed into her chest in an open palm strike. She was lifted off the ground. She slammed her shoulders back into the warehouse’s concrete wall.

Her vision blurred a moment under her mask. She had less than a second to react. She only managed to avoid Crimefighter’s next attack by a hair. Not even her hair. The pulse damaged the tip of her ponytail. She felt the tingles all the way into her scalp.

“Nice punch,” Wicked Sharp growled. Crimefighter was slowly walking towards her. Pulses rippled the air. The lighter the shots, the better the accuracy.

“Leave your weapon and strip off your armor and you will be brought in without further injury,” he announced. He projected confidence. Wicked Sharp had faced Crimefighters from Jacksonville to Juneau. She hadn’t even needed her sword in most of those fights. She had drawn steel today because circumstances demanded speed. She had gone for the brutal move because she had needed to get away.

“Dammit!” she hissed. A pulse grazed her shoulder as she tried to tumble into position for another lunge. Crimefighter was closing the distance. She was on his schedule. This was going to have to be a fight. Wicked Sharp wasn’t going to take out this Crimefighter alone. Losing to superhero knock-offs was unacceptable. She had to change the plan.

The first stagings of Doctor Nightmares’ mad science laboratory were built inside the warehouse. He hadn’t even taken the time to booby trap the complex or devise his patent pending, ridiculous, thrilling, but always effective, escape plan. The warehouse appeared abandoned from the street. It appeared abandoned from the fight. Blacked out windows hid everything but the hiss, gurgle, and stench of boiling chemicals.

Wicked Sharp made for bay doors. An unloaded truck waited at the dock. She twisted out and around the onslaught of pulse bubbles. Her sword was starting to sing with the energy it had absorbed. The dull red pimples grew livid and were linked by a spiderweb of hot metal. Crimefighter approached.

“My agent is taking out your compatriots inside.” Crimefighter ratcheted down the blaster as the distance closed. He did not relent, his shots grew heavier and flew in imperfect trajectories. Wicked Sharp weaved away from a blast that vibrated the massive truck. A center of mass hit and she’d be an erratic sponge on the asphalt.

“You sent an Action Boy into a faceoff against Doctor Nightmares!” she laughed, maybe she cackled. “How badly did you need the insurance money?”

“I’m more than confident--”

But Crimefighter hadn’t been confident. He stammered a moment. Wicked Sharp grabbed the back segment of her left arm bracer. It split away from her wrist into two half moons. The squeal of steel blades was shrill as they outfolded from all four ends. They were shurikens, boomerang shaped throwing stars, and they were arcing and airborne in a casual backhand throw. The first shrieked along the barrel of Crimefighter’s pulse gun. Metal, plastic, and fiberglass peeled back from the gash. The second shuriken sliced the arm off of Crimefighter’s Blueeyes. The breeze whisked his scored hair from his head. The optics fell down and the next pulse from his blaster expended more than a third of its energy out the side. Crimefighter cussed as the kick threw the gun across his body.

The blaster had been Wicked Sharp’s aim. She wanted that weapon out of commission. Its destruction wasn’t as complete as she had desired. She had sent her second blade for Crimefighter’s jugular. Risky! Stupid! A successful hit there would be very dangerous, very loud, very heard by super reinforcements. The tingle in her shoulder hand opened her fingers a couple milliseconds too early. The shuriken had gone sixteen centimeters too high. He had pulled his head aside in time to save his eye.

“Well, seems like there’s no more fun to be had out here,” Wicked Sharp laughed, and she landed a backflip onto the lip under the door. “Let’s see how our boys are doing.”

Xie Zhi Ren whistled as Wicked Sharp pirouetted. The hot sword sheared away a wide triangle of the rolling steel door. The ruined door crumpled behind her before she tried to backflip into the warehouse.

Her acrobatics were to dodge Crimefighter’s furious assault. He had ratcheted the pulse gun way down but even the lightest bullet erupted shimmering sparks out of the gash, destroyed his aim, and tried to paralyse his trigger finger. Still, his first shot was accurate. His first shot was a fluke. He hit Wicked Sharp mid backflip square in her achilles tendon. Her whole leg spasmed like she was trying to knee herself in the chin. Her mass contracted; her speed increased. Her planned three-sixty became a four-fifty. She hit the concrete floor with her shoulders and skidded wildly for four meters.

Evidence was clear that Action Boy had rocketed through the warehouse. Shark and Grizzly, two of Doctor Nightmares’ three henchmen, were gagged and hanging from overhead cranes. A forklift was overturned. There were black marks of soot crisscrossing the floor showing how the fight had moved into the laboratory at the back. There was a second structure inside the massive void of the warehouse: a concrete bunker with a sheet steel door. No sounds of the fight carried out into the warehouse. Just the gurgle from the brass reactor that poked out of its roof.

“I am through with you!” hollered Crimefighter tossing aside his blaster. He ripped a page from Wicked Sharp’s book. He barrelled at her full speed. He was a pace away before she could spin up onto her unsteady legs. She was better at this kind of combat.

His Dragonsilk and ceramic breastplate had combined to stop her sword. That wasn’t nothing. Xie Zhi Ren was a hundred and ten centimeter weapon from pommel to tip. The blade was flexible, strong and wickedly sharp. The material wasn’t some simple alloy; it was made of metal PR-75. Pearlsteel wasn’t steel or even some iron alloy; guinea pigs weren’t swine. Pearlsteel was incredibly flexible and strong. More importantly it held an incredible edge.

Even with Xie Zhi Ren, Wicked Sharp knew she couldn’t cut the Dragonsilk, but just because the weave caught her sword didn’t mean it stopped her momentum as she cleft through meat or bone beneath. That was what the plates and ceramic scales were for. They had the mass to stop the blows, but they cracked and crumbled with stress. Enough hits to the same spot and she’d slide her sword through Crimefighter like butter. Her knee wobbled out from under her. She had no idea how long that could take. She needed a better solution.

Crimefighter started with a haymaker. He wanted to turn her into a wet pink mist and move on. Even semi-crippled she easily dodged the overhand punch that threw Crimefighter with all the momentum of his run. Xie Zhi Ren shrieked as she crisscrossed her way around the breastplate. Her movements were as lightning. She overcommitted on her last slice down his back and tucked away in a quick roll. She couldn’t sprint away towards the laboratory. She hobbled with all of her might.

Outside, her actions with her bracelet blades had been hurried. That pulse cannon could have won the fight in a single lucky shot. She had taken a pathetic blow and it might have already turned the tide against her. Her leg was recovering but even if she was at her best in five minutes, Crimefighter wanted this fight done in five seconds. He was coming after her again. Wicked Sharp settled on the door.

“Huwaah!” bellowed Crimefighter.

“You were the second best Crimefighter I’d ever seen.” Wicked Sharp dove ahead of his charge. He had wanted his shoulder in the small of her back while he drove her into the floor. She didn’t perform a somersault, but a twist, rolling away to the left as her right hand snaked the sash from her hips. Crimefighter saw the red ripple and the white flash as in two motions, Wicked Sharp snapped the sash and looped it around Crimefighter’s neck. The snap ejected six ten centimeter tasseled spikes. Four were deflected by his armor but two matched her planned precision. Pearlsteel blades dug deep into weak points in his armpits Xie Zhi Ren had discovered. The lasso around his neck wasn’t a noose, it had just enough grip for Wicked Sharp to impart Crimefighter enough velocity to crash into the door.

The rush job hinges had been installed by Grizzly. They squealed and snapped as the superhero rammed through the threshold and slammed down onto the rubber matted floor. He howled, cloaked in anger and pain as he threw off the crumpled steel sheet. It clanked against a metal cabinet. Wicked Sharp climbed up onto one knee. Her back leg still responded poorly. She balanced on Xie Zhi Ren.

Crimefighter didn’t work with an Action Boy. Crimefighter worked with an Action Girl. She was young, with her blond ponytail whipping opposite her Blueeyes domino mask. Her green eyes seemed void black behind the sheen. Her uniform wasn’t armored like Crimefighter’s. She was dressed more like a cheerleader. Her gold sleeveless top bared some of her midriff before her red skirt continued from her hips. She had a short cape, red as her skirt, that fell just beyond her butt. Gold leather bracers and knee-high boots completed her outfit.

“Seriously, Doc?” Wicked Sharp stood next to the hero. “I didn’t even think you liked girls.”

Their final henchmen, Nighthawk, was propped up against a wall. The drool and ragdoll posture advertised that he was the first of Doctor Nightmares’ lab rats. In the center of the laboratory, before a steel table, Doctor Nightmares had captured Action Girl. He stood with a bright smug smile. He had pulled his goggles down around his neck, completely revealing his big-eared black face. His brown eyes with their gray polluted irises were opened bright and wide. He was an imposing figure in spite of his gleeful expression. He was a hundred and ninety centimeters tall and one hundred kilos. He was plumper than Crimefighter’s chiseled shape. He had no supervillain dress sense. His body armor, just a kevlar vest, was on an office chair across the room. The Cowls t-shirt he wore told the journey of their 2005 tour. It was faded and bleach pitted. He wore his lab coat all the way open. His laser gun was nowhere to be found. He seemed to be unarmed. Except, his green-brown cargo pants were bunched over the tops of his yellow galoshes. His weapon, turgid and long, glistened with saliva and delved into Action Girl’s smudged lips.

“Oh, Sharpie!” Doctor Nightmares slipped his fingers through Action Girl’s blonde hair. He was grinning like an idiot, “It works!”

The young heroine seemed to frown around the supervillain. She was using all the muscles her in stomach, chest, shoulders, throat and mouth to climb up Doctor Nightmares. Her throat bulged with his invasion. She grunted and shuddered. Determination filled her eyes. Mascara ran over her mask.

“Action Girl!” shrieked Crimefighter. He reached for his empty stunner holster, “Get your filthy hands off of her!”

Wicked Sharp responded quickly to Crimefighter’s outburst. Her sword scoured across the ground as she quickly but awkwardly moved herself between hero and fellatio.

“It’s OK,” Action Girl’s mouth left Doctor Nightmares with a pop. Her voice had an adorable local Texas twang, “I’ll just finish up here and we can get back to work.”

Crimefighter shuddered to a confused and uneasy stop. Wicked Sharp turned. Doctor Nightmares was well equipped and he only looked larger still for the petite heroine struggling to reach his base.

“This is what you used it for?” Wicked Sharp laughed, “I might have suspected this from someone else but from you, Jeff, I’m kind of shocked.”

He brushed aside Action Girl’s bangs. She was starting to push up with her knees from the rubber floor each time she filled her mouth. Each stroke had her croaking and sputtering. Doctor Nightmares was coated in a miasma of saliva strings. Drips pattered onto Action Girl’s uniform. The tops of her ample breasts were catching most of it.

“Oh no. She offered on her own volition,” shrugged Doctor Nightmares. “Said she was really good at it. Maybe oversold herself a little but I can forgive a bit of youthful enthusiasm.”

The kneeling heroine flashed angry eyes up at Doctor Nightmares but her ire soon faded into hurt. He murmured a wordless smiling apology. He kept his left hand in her hair, massaging her scalp and playing with her ponytail as she aspired to improve her performance. Eager and quick, she moved up and down him. He met her enthusiasm with short swings of hips. She pulled back breathless.

“Take your time,” Doctor Nightmares scratched his day old stubble. Wicked Sharp could age his laboratories based on the volume of Doctor Nightmares’ beard, “I could do this all day.”

“My throat’s getting sore,” Action Girl said. She had had her palms flat against the front of Doctor Nightmares’ thighs. Now they circled him and dragged towards his face. “It never hurts with anyone else.”

Crimefighter responded emotionally to Action Girl’s comments. She hadn’t sounded uncomfortable; her voice was awash in wonder. Wicked Sharp almost didn’t react to Crimefighter’s rush. Her sword didn’t penetrate but her other hand continued his forward momentum into a throw. Crimefighter slammed down on his back. Wicked Sharp’s leg collapsed under her and she fell on top of Crimefighter.

“Maybe her imprinting is a side effect of a vitamin Y overdose. I’ll need a larger sample size to be certain,” Doctor Nightmares nudged Action Girl back into motion. She was keen to try again. This time there was a lot more obvious tongue. She swirled and coddled the tip and pumped in superstrong pulls towards her face. Doctor Nightmares groaned at high spiking pitch.

“Oh, of course. What’s next? A brunette? Maybe a redhead?” Wicked Sharp tried not to scream as Doctor Nightmares threw her aside. She was still awkward, slow, far closer to the exit than to helping her partner. Doctor Nightmares looked down as Crimefighter tried to shake off his disbelief and stun.

“I was thinking someone more Latina,” Doctor Nightmares replied. His goofy smile grew more genuine. He met Wicked Sharp’s eyes and she felt his seriousness. “You don’t have to stay. I know where we stand and you have your career to think about.”

“You knew?” Wicked Sharp was gutshot with delayed guilt from when she had tried to abandon the operation and ran into Crimefighter. She looked down at the hero who was already up on his knees. She started quickly at him.

“I care, you’re my friend.” The sentiment was offset by a loud slurp from Action Girl. He patted her head fondly. “Go! Take care of yourself. I want you to reach your goals. I expect to see you conquering the world in no time.”

“Action Girl!” pleaded Crimefighter. Wicked Sharp was offended he was interrupting their conversation. Action Girl also flashed an offended look. She turned back to Doctor Nightmares. Her shiny eyes begged for his attention. Her flushed skin displayed excitement. Her rushed pace exposed her pride. The shape forced on her mouth could not show her glee.

“Nicole!” Crimefighter stepped forward. “Let that girl go! What kind of monster are you? She’s only 18!”

“Oh thank the irrational idea of an anthropomorphized dictator of the universe!” grumbled Doctor Nightmares. He relaxed with a big breath and his face twisted from idiotic smile to surprised chaos. His right hand returned to Action Girl’s skull and he wobbled. She flinched, revealing a crazed strength but she recovered, coughing and red-eyed as Doctor Nightmares unleashed into her mouth.

“Don’t you find that takes too long to say each time?” Wicked Sharp chuckled for a moment but stopped. Crimefighter was livid and was charging like a mad bull.

“I’m going to kill you ass--”

“No, precious, No you won’t.” Wicked Sharp twisted in front of the roaring superhero. Xie Zhi Ren was flat across barring him from going forward. “I’ll do what it takes to stop Crimefighter.”

“I’m sure we’ll be done here soon,” Doctor Nightmares sighed. “She is improving as we speak.”

Action Girl choked back the bulk of Doctor Nightmares but much fell over her slick jaw and sloughed onto her breasts and knees. She lovingly licked and nurtured him as Doctor Nightmares huffed and puffed. He leaned back gripping the work table. He was uneasy, shaking the apparatus he had built. A green filled round bottom flask’s neck broke in it’s clamp and crashed onto the table. “Oh, no!”

“He’s not stopping, Doc!” Wicked Sharp met the brunt of Crimefighter’s strikes by deflecting them but several times she had to block straight on the flat of Xie Zhi Ren. This wasn’t a fight she could control. She poked three holes in known weak points but Crimefighter only screamed and redoubled his berserk.

“Neither is she!” Doctor Nightmares giggled. Action Girl was all the way up on her knees. Doctor Nightmares was all the way up in her hands. She leaned against him, looking down from his torso where she stroked him double handed between the valley of her breasts. They looked bigger than ever to Doctor Nightmares.

“Don’t be gross.” Wicked Sharp wobbled on her heel. Damn! Feelings like electric bolts jumped from her ankle to her butt. She had thought she was getting better. He landed a second strike. Wicked Sharp winced as his fist landed in the same place as he had hit outside.

“Step aside! How can you let him do this to a woman!” Wicked Sharp had corkscrewed down in front of Crimefighter’s legs. She did not look up to him in any of the ways that Action Girl looked up to Doctor Nightmares. Crimefighter was saturated with confusion and rage at Action Girl. He tried to sweep aside Wicked Sharp with a kick so he could kill Doctor Nightmares. One look at Crimefighter’s face and the rules of engagement were obviously gone. Doctor Nightmares couldn’t bother to care.

“Stop! This isn’t how we do things.” Wicked Sharp managed to guide Crimefighter’s foot off balance and kick out his other heel. He slammed into the rubber matted floor. His scream was bloodthirsty. Wicked Sharp struggled to her feet. Crimefighter was gathering up quicker than she could. Wicked Sharp turned to the careless grin of Doctor Nightmares. “Exit stage left.”

“Oh, no, I need a few minutes yet.” He finally noticed the wobble of Wicked Sharp’s leg. “Do you need a hand? I’ve got a death ray around here somewhere.”

“Death Rays are illegal,” Action Girl whimpered. “They could take you away from me!”

“No one will take you from me,” Doctor Nightmares said sweetly. “We just have to stop Crimefighter first.”

“Brandon’s OK.” Action Girl looked over without rest as she pumped Doctor Nightmares. “He’ll do what’s right. I’ve got this under control, CF, can you take your fight with Wicked Sharp outside?”

“Nicole! He’s done something to you!”

“Nothing I didn’t have to ask for,” Action Girl said, between licks of the tip. “I had to beg actually, but I think he liked that.”

“Yeah, you were so cute,” Doctor Nightmares agreed. “There was no saying no to you.”

“Oh, gag me with a spoon.” Wicked Sharp rolled her eyes but smiled. She brought down a heavy two handed cleave between the scales between Crimefighter’s shoulder and breastplate. He slammed back to his knees.

“I won’t let you do this to her!” Crimefighter vowed.

“It’s even better than that!” Doctor Nightmares’ voice oscillated joyfully. “She’s doing it to herself!”

Wicked Sharp had to hop back from the attack once again. They were so close now. She bumped into Doctor Nightmares’ shoulder. He caught her around the waist as her leg gave out once again.

“Disruptor pulse?”

“Low caliber from a vented blaster. Right in the heel,” Wicked Sharp winced. “Where’s our Noxo?”

“Oh, I had to use it on Nighthawk. He was getting all twisted up about being afraid of needles. What a pussy.”

“I’m going to kill you, Jefferson Grant!” Crimefighter was just longer than Xie Zhi Ren’s reach away. “You run and I’ll hunt you. You stay and I’ll be quick.”

“That’s darker than the shit Arrogant God says,” Doctor Nightmares had an arm around both women and just looked pleased as punch, “Is he always like this Nikki?”

“Nikki?” Action Girl pouted as she looked over at Crimefighter. Her sophomoric smile dissolved into concern. “He’s never been like this before.”

“Maybe he’s jealous?” Wicked Sharp challenged Crimefighter eye to eye. His brown eyes were swimming with bloodshot red. “This might have to get messy.”

“Action Girl, can you give Wicked Sharp a hand in stopping Crimefighter?”

“I shouldn’t work with supervillains,” she said, as she climbed to her feet. She didn’t stop stroking Doctor Nightmares until the last possible second. “But for you, I’ll do anything.”

“I know,” Doctor Nightmares beamed.

“Action Girl! Stop this now!” Crimefighter growled.

“But--”

“We can get you the help you need,” he pleaded. “Let me take this monster in.”

“No.” The clear steel syllable left Action Girl’s messy mouth with bullet force. She flew at Crimefighter as her green eyes hardened with anger. She really flew, not a metaphoric lunge, her boots lifted off the ground and she rocketed forward. The air rippled back from her back mussing up Wicked Sharp’s bangs. She scored four rapid strikes. Crimefighter’s armor took the brunt and he edged back a half foot. He slammed a downward blow to the side of her head and she was completely unbraced while airborne. Action Girl hit shoulder first into the floor and bounced away in a roll.

“Brandon!” she said, aghast, “You really hit me?”

“I’ll deal with you shortly, Nicole,” Crimefighter was charging at Wicked Sharp now. Doctor Nightmares had turned to find the mess of his glassware and was complaining loudly. Crimefighter shouted: “I’m going to enjoy all the paperwork that confirms your deaths.”

“I think not,” Wicked Sharp said, grinning. “Nikki here broke up your ceramics. She’s quite the powerhouse.”

“What?” Crimefighter barked. He had no interest in the answer only in crushing her. Action Girl was floating back to her feet but she wouldn’t be there quickly enough. Wicked Sharp had even more opportunity than last time. A lunge, in just the right place would be agony but it would stop him and he would survive. If he had the right insurance he’d be back in costume in half a year.

“The intermediary’s all over the floor!” whined Doctor Nightmares, catching Action Girl’s attention. Wicked Sharp weaved backwards before changing sword hands. She slid down and forward, pushing off her good leg and balanced on her bad one. The spasm kicked her blade up inches. Xie Zhi Ren slipped in between the plates of Crimefighter’s breastplate and the crease of the scales underneath. The Dragonsilk coated sword impaled Crimefighter’s heart and came back out cleanly.

“Oh no!” Wicked Sharp shrieked as the body of Crimefighter fidgeted dead-eyed on the ground, “Jeff! We have to go now!”

“Oh, don’t be hasty, Mei,” Doctor Nightmares had his trousers knocked out of his hands by Nicole. He had pulled Action Girl against his chest, she was mesmerized and taking him in both her hands again. He held her head, shielding her from seeing the body on the ground,.”I just want to finish up here.”

Wicked Sharp looked over at the starstruck heroine. The Dragonsilk was catching the mess that Crimefighter now was: a balloon of blood growing on the center of his chest. “I’ll get him out of here. What’s our escape route.”

“It’ll have to be the truck,” he shrugged. “I wasn’t planning on getting the railgun pod ready until tomorrow.”

Wicked Sharp dragged Crimefighter out the broken doorway and pitched him to the right, stowing him out of sight of the lab. She could run now but the test was finally a success. Doctor Nightmares’ success was worth billions to her superiors. Yet, The King had claimed they were done with Doctor Nightmares. They didn’t need to be done with her. She looked back at the lab. Inside, the former heroine was in love and oblivious. Run now? Leave the two of them to Meteor Man turning the city block into molten slag? They should have time. This was Gulf City they’d have to come here from at least the nearest Front Line base. Was Dallas or Austin closer? She had time ... unless it was Infinity Blue. She wasn’t already in prison so it probably wasn’t him.