A 400 meter long, emerald-class container ship Eternal Sunshine, operated by a Russian shipping company Vladivostok-Maine appeared in the sky above the little town of Saint Mary. The normally sea-bound ship didn’t have very long to contemplate its fate as it plummeted down onto the town from ten thousand meters in the air at nine meters per second, flipping to the side and releasing a rain of twenty thousand shipping containers.

It was quite lucky that the Catastrophe-barrier shield was still active and had caught the rain of containers with its embrace. The containers bounced off the shield with horrid booms, warping and bending and smashing against each other as they fell. Eternal Sunshine slammed into the barrier shield after the containers, two hundred thousand metric tons of steel impacting into the Catastrophe-barrier, making it buckle and ripple with arrays of colors.

“Why the shit does this tiny ass town have a Barrier shield?! It's not an Acadian citadel like New Toronto!” Magnetron growled. He stood on the bridge of his Soviet Finishing trawler base ship Magnitogorsk-Central along with a hit team of thirty villains under his command. He held Magnitogorsk in the air with his power. One member of his team had teleported it here along with Eternal Sunshine.

A techie drew his attention with a yell. Something was pinging on the radar. Magnetron turned his head and saw a Yakuza submarine floating in the air a few thousand meters to his right, held aloft by electromagnetic engines. A small nuclear warhead rocket flew from the submarine, detonating against the Catastrophe-barrier shield. It vaporized half of the shipping containers in a blinding, fiery explosion.

"Damn Japs are after our contract!" Magnetron growled. He focused on his power trying to redirect a flying container at the submarine. The submarine shot the incoming container with laser gunfire.

"Multiple incoming targets!" The techie yelled.

Magnetron swore. He saw a variety of weaponized mundane transit and actual war machines flashing into existence all around, all attempting to take down the same shield, to destroy the tiny town with gunfire, rayguns, sonic weapons and even giant rocks.

A 400 tonne Komatsu 2290Z giant haul truck full of rocks stood on the ground. A small man in a silver suit picked up enormous rocks from the back, flinging them into the shield.

A 16 tons, CH-53 NUSA Super Stallion helicopter wielding a a155mm howitzer buzzed down from the clouds to pummel at the shield.

A Ruskadian Lun-class 100 tonne ekranoplan flew from the direction of lake Eerie, launching several surface to air missiles at the shield.

It seemed that numerous villain groups were all after the contract on Alexa and all had the same idea of attacking the town from afar.

The shield held on. The villains turned against each other with righteous fury. Magnetron screamed as a giant rock punched right through the bridge of his ship, turning four of his men into pulp in seconds. He could stop metal rockets or bullets, but not boulders or lasers.

"Tally ho, chavs. This contract is mine!" A jolly, British voice came into existence on the bridge of Magnitogorsk. “I see you’ve partaken in redecoration. Say, that’s a nice boulder!”

It was Lord Burgundy, a famous headhunter. He teleported right into the bridge, standing atop the boulder, wielding a musket. The musket turned towards Magnetron's head.

"Bugger off, Burgundy!" Magnetron yelled as the musket fired.

The steel balls froze right in front of Magnetron's face as he applied his power to them.

Another boulder punched straight through Magnitogorsk, turning the ship sideways.

"Did you hear, Maggie? They shut down Tartarus due to that bigly explosion!" The British hunter reloaded his rifle. "Anything goes!"

Magnetron was pissed. The damn boulder had taken his teleporter man. He wouldn't be getting away from this place. He flung several containers in the direction of the Polish truck.

"Bet I'm going to get her first! Tallyho!" Lord Burgundy vanished just as several Russian supers shot the spot where he stood, managing to damage the bridge even further.

"You fucking imbeciles! Useless!" Magnetron yelled. Enraged, he took control of dozens of shipping containers, making a sphere out of them around his ship, straining his power. A few missiles from the ekranoplan struck against the containers, shrapnel raining all over his ship.

A laser ray fired from a pink flying minivan, cutting Magnitogorsk-Central in half, going straight through the ship as if it was made of butter. Two more of his men died, divided by the ray.

Magnetron screamed, struggling to hold his ship together as one piece.

. . .

Mr. Canard stood on the street, watching the shield buckle under attacks of multiple supers. He didn't think he would have to fight villains so soon, but here he was, directing people out of the streets into doomsday shelters beneath the hero-owned businesses. He didn't know how long the shield would hold. For some reason the heroes weren't showing up. Maybe they were pissed off at Alexa and chose not to protect the town anymore.

. . .

The cathedral’s stained glass windows shook as powerful wind swept across town created by the wobbling shield overhead. Sounds of explosions resounded in the distance.

“Uh? What’s going on?” Martin perked up, listening to distant gunfire.

[Not much. Just some villains duking it out.] Alexa shrugged, stretching her legs onto him. [Everybody wants a piece of me these days! I’m popular. We should be fine, unless they got a very specific shield-busting...]

A screeching explosion resounded from overhead as a SUSA shield buster bomb dropped from a giant bomber plane that joined in the fray. “Yeehaw! Get her, boys!” A Texan villain yelled, waving a cowboy hat at the constantly increasing gathering of angry villains.

The catastrophe shield shimmered and shattered, as the anti-shield bomb did its job.

“Yes! Finally!” Magnetron flung a few containers at the ancient cathedral in the centre of town. A new, blue shield suddenly came into being, growing outwards from the cathedral. The container along with a few rocks immediately bounced off the new shield. A ray of light shot out from the central spire, unfolding into an enormous hologram of Alexa.

“Sup, fellow villains?” She grinned. “Thanks for coming to my Hero Academy acceptance party. I know you’re all excited to be here, but do be careful in vaporising my citizens. They’ve very fragile, unlike me. Also there’s about a gazillion super-designed hydrogen bombs buried in town, so try not to aim for the ground.” Alexa held up a metal nuclear bomb suitcase. “See? Just like this one.”

Magnetron froze. Was she lying? Was she really capable enough to make that big of a kill switch?

Alexa brought Cottie into the holo-projection. “Here’s an Equalizer. She’s been assigned to watch me because I have way too many bombs for reasonability! You know these guys don’t dick around. Tell them exactly how many bombs I usually threaten people with, will you Miss Enforcer?”

“Eighteen quintillion thermonuclear bombs.” Cottie spoke without an expression on her face.

“Fuck.” Magnetron choked. He was losing control of the situation.

. . .

Lord Burgundy appeared in front of Alexa, aiming his rifle at her face. The expansion of the shield has seemingly made the cathedral far less teleportation-proof. Cottie swung Eva into the path of his rifle, knocking it off to the side just as he pressed the trigger. The villain’s rifle shot sent metal buckshots in a wide arc, one of the balls cutting across Alexa’s forehead, the rest of them going through Ember who could do absolutely nothing as she could not get out of the way fast enough.

Colors vanished from the world as Cottie pressed Eva’s trigger. She used her black railgun like a bat, smashing Burgundy’s rifle in half. Burgundy was not deterred. He jumped back and pulled out a flintlock pistol. Cottie fired Eva and the hunter’s head exploded like a ripe melon, showering the cathedral’s interior in blood and gore.

“Come on! I just cleaned the floors in here!” Alexa complained. She turned her head back to Ember, who was slumped on the pew, bleeding from several deep holes. “Shit.”

“Ember!” Martin rushed to his sister. He saw, felt that she was dying.

[Don’t go into the light Dimmy!] Alexa rushed towards the bleeding redhead. [Focus on your power fractal! Wake up!]

[This is all your fault. You all suck.] Ember thought as her heart stopped.

. . .

Alexa’s hologram in the sky did not show any of the fight within the cathedral. It was a recording that Alexa and Cottie made only 30 minutes ago.

“Villains, thanks for attacking Saint Mary! Excellent work! As you can see, not a single hero came here to stop you. Heroes have seemingly forsaken this town because they are terrified of me. They’re the ones who hired you all on darknet. That’s right. The Justice League of Titanomachy wants me dead. That’s how nice they really are, which is to say, not at all!” Alexa’s hologram spoke in the sky. “I declare Saint Mary the capital of New Alexandria. The heroes have grown too corrupt for their own good. They have failed us. Any and all human or villain nations who wish to become something bigger and throw off the yolk of the Superstate are welcome to join me. Strike while the iron is hot. Unite with Alexandria, invest in A-credits while the Superstate is struggling to unbury itself out of the financial hole brought about by their failures. They failed to make a fair prison, failed to stop Nonpareil's sudden insanity! I welcome both earth-based heroes, villains and humans into my Empire!” The holographic Alexa laughed, flickering in hypnotic patterns of fractal spirals. “From this day going forth, Alexandria declares a war against the Superstate for failing to protect humanity! I bet I can do a far better job than all of the heroes of Titanomachy put together! Mercenary villains, I congratulate you all. I’ve just scanned each and every one of you before my shield went up. Since you all love killing so much, I’ve put up a contract for 100 billion A-credits up on darknet for a death-match type scenario. Let the hunger games begin! The last villain mercenary remaining alive in my sky wins the one hundred billion. Toodles!”

Magnetron gasped as his power fractal burned out, his ship coming apart under the baggage of missiles and raygun fire. The mercenaries had turned from the shield, now truly trying to end each other in full force. Not a single shot flew towards New Alexandria now, as they were terrified of the vast nuclear bombs therein. The Equalizer Enforcers never lied, were incapable of deception. Alexa was off the board, the contracts to kill her didn’t even come close to 100 billion A-credits which was increasing in worth with every minute! Each of the villain mercenaries however was fair game now! Alexa had gathered all of the active, greedy, murderous villains that the Superstated had failed to catch. She had brought them all in one place like fruit flies on a honeydew and had closed the trap shut with only a single suggestion. None of them would survive this. Alexa didn’t have to pay anyone if they were all dead.

The Russian villain realised this as he and his team fell from the sky. His last thought was that coming here had been a terrible mistake.

. . .

Ember blinked. She was definitely dead. She lifted up her incredibly pale hand stained in blood and looked down at the holes in her chest. “What the shit?”

“Sorry.” Alexa was busy wrapping up a bleeding gash in her own head. “You totally died. Unexpected, I know. One moment you’re fine and then you’re dead. The Universe is a harsh mistress.”

“Gee, thanks. Thanks a whole lot, you guys.” Ember gritted her teeth.

“Nobody will suspect you not being a super now.” Alexa nodded. “What with your heart not beating and you not needing to breathe and all of those holes.”

“I’m not a super.” Ember said. “I’m just freaking dead.”

Alexa shrugged. “Not everyone gets lucky, like Martin over here. Some people just straight up die without gaining powers.”

“This is seriously not cool.” The pale redhead waved her hands. “Am I your punching bag or something? Why do I always get the short stick with you?”

“Aw, come on Dimmy, I love you the most. I’ve had my eye on you the longest. You’re the key to everyone’s future. Martin and Cottie are cool beans, but they're far less heroic and amazing. I took Titanomachy from the sky all thanks to you. Thank you for being the best!” Alexa hugged the dead girl. “Brrr… you’re turning cold.”

Ember squinted at Alexa, fuming.

“What? Being a zombie is cool! Think of all the things you can do now!” Alexa waved her hands.

“What things?!”

“Uhh… you can be an extra in zombie films without needing makeup? Zombie movies are big these days, you know.” Alexa smiled and Ember punched her.

“Ow! Help! I’m being attacked by an unruly zombie!” Alexa yelled, running away from irate Ember, circling the wooden pew that now featured a few extra holes in it as well.

[What did you do?] Cottie blinked at Martin, observing a clearly dead girl who was acting far too impossibly alive.

[Saved her mental pattern in her spider.] Martin sighed, not sure how to feel about this sudden development. [She’s the brain spider driving her own dead body now.]

“I swear to God I’m going to murder you!” Ember pelted Alexa with her fists whenever she managed to come close to the silver-haired girl.

“Eeeek! I didn’t plan this, I swear!” Alexa yelled, circling the pew. “I don’t manage the entire universe yet! Workplace accidents happen! This is why I wear a hardhat! Ow! Oh, I know! You won’t need to pay for food or electricity now! Think of the overall bill savings! Also, you can declare yourself dead and not pay taxes! Ow! Silver lining! Ow! Come on!”