I knew I didn't have long. Captain Maximum would definitely strike after the prison had locked down for the night, which would be in five hours.

After two hours, I was released into the general population for dinner. I headed into the cafeteria, got my plate of tasteless food, and sought out the Mechanical Menace. He sat at a table with two other supervillains. I headed right for him.

The Mechanical Menace looked up at me with a big smile. "Hey, there he is, the man of the hour. Sit yourself down, Mastermind."

The other villains shifted to allow me to sit down.

"Call me Donald. That's my real name." The Menace pointed at the two other prisoners. "These are my crew in here. We used to work together on the outside."

He pointed to a prisoner who had green skin and bat-like wings on his back. "This is Jerry, he goes by Terrordactyl. He's the flier."

He pointed at a prisoner who seemed made of shiny gold. "That's Pete, he's known as Mystericon. He makes illusions with a crystal in his head."

Terrordactyl leaned over to me. "I gotta know, what was it like? Tell us all about the fight between you and Captain Maximum."

I waved a hand. "I don't have time to entertain you with my stories. I have two matters to attend to. The first is a mesotonic regulator. It's the only thing I needed for a weapon that could kill Captain Maximum. Menace, do you have one?"

He shrugged and tapped his side. "Yeah, it's right here. But it's the only thing that regulates my cybernetic parts to my brain so I ain't gonna give it up for just anything."

"Then I offer you my second matter, and the most important gift of all, escape."

The Menace chuckled. "You've only been here a few hours, and you're already thinking about escape? There's guys who've been here for years and couldn't get out. What makes you think you can?"

"Because I have the will, the knowledge, and a reason. Now are you in? Or out?"

Terrordactyl narrowed his eyes. "I'm interested. What've you got in mind?"

"First, I need to know what security is available. Go over it with me."

The thin and yellow man on the other side of the table pointed at the bars on the nearby windows. "Mystericon tell you, no way to escape. Mystericon says the bars on cells, doors, windows are all hypertanium, hardest to break. Mystericon says cameras watching everywhere, prison guard with a hundred eyes watch all at once."

"Yeah," Terrordactyl grumbled. "He used to be EyeSpy. All the guards are retired superheroes."

The golden man continued by pointing at a guard who walked through the cafeteria, watching everyone closely. "Mystericon says, guards all have powers. Mystericon show you, that one have freeze power."

He tapped on his own forehead where a metal strip encircled his head. "Prison take away all powers, including Mystericon's mind crystal. Cannot escape without powers."

"Right." I nodded. "So the first thing we need to do is get our powers back. They gave me an injection of something that dampens my psychic ability. How about you?"

The Menace held up a clawed hand. "They put a restraining bolt on me that reduces my strength. Couldn't bend a straw."

The green winged man growled, "They gave me a shot that gives me vertigo so I can't fly."

Mystericon's large eyes blinked. "Mystericon cannot make illusions without crystal on head."

I looked them over. "All right, I can take care of that. I can remove your restraining bolt, Menace. Once I do that, can you break the bars?"

The Menace nodded. "Absolutely."

"Right. Once your strength is restored, we'll need to get out of the cell block. Mystericon, could you use your illusions to keep the cameras from seeing us?"

Mystericon shrugged. "Mystericon could, if Mystericon's crystal was free."

"Do we know where it's being kept?"

Terrordactyl rumbled again. "They keep all our inhibitors in a storage room, guarded and under lock and key."

"All right, if I can get to that storage room, that should allow me to find the chemicals I need to counteract my TK suppression, and Terrordactyl's flight. That would also let me remove the headband from Mystericon. With the four of us empowered, we could escape easily. I can remove Menace's restraining bolt with the proper tools. What mechanical devices do we have access to?"

Mystericon pointed to a cheap AM/FM radio playing hip-hop next to him. "This all Mystericon has."

Terrordactyl held up a small metal box on his belt with headphones. "I got this cheap-ass MP3 player."

"They will do. Cover me."

While the others circled around me to hide me from the guards, I took them and quickly disassembled them, finding a small amount of electronics inside. By taking parts from them, I managed to make a circuit that had the power to overload the restraining bolt.

The Menace pulled down the back of his shirt to expose a small metal plug on it. I attached the circuit to the Menace's bolt, and touched wires together. He jerked for a moment before blinking and breaking into a smile.

He swivelled the claw on one hand. "Hell yeah, now we're talking."

"Next, we need a diversion. We have to start a prison riot."

The Menace chuckled. "That part should be easy. They got half the gangs in Saint Newton in here, and they're ready to blow. The Omega Warriors and the Feline Four are always tangling with each other."

I looked over where he pointed. Two groups of prisoners sat at tables apart from the others. One group all had omega symbols tattooed on their foreheads, and the other all had fur and cat ears. They occasionally threw each other nasty looks.

I clapped my hands. "Right, one riot coming up."

I picked up an apple from my tray, and got up. As I passed the group of Omega Warriors, I threw the apple at one of the heads of the Feline Four. It bounced off, and the prisoner hissed as he spun around. I walked swiftly so the only people he saw were the Omega Warriors.

The Feline Four roared like lions as they tackled the Omega Warriors. As they punched and kicked each other, other prisoners began to break into groups and fight.

The guards drew batons and waded into the fight while the public address system yelled, "Lockdown, lockdown! Everyone to their cells!"

One of the guards fired a blast of fire from his hands that engulfed two prisoners while another guard made some prisoners float to the ceiling. It wasn't enough to stop the riot from continuing.

I led the others in a rush to the cafeteria doors. While the guards fought for order, and the prisoners all shoving their way out, no one noticed the Menace push on the doors and smash them open. When the doors opened, the rioting prisoners poured out into the hallway with us.

More guards came running down the hallway, but the flood of prisoners pushed them back. It became a madhouse as the guards shot and fought their way through the horde of men, only to be pushed back by their overwhelming numbers.

As we ran through the crowd, I yelled, "Which way?"

The Menace pointed down an adjoining hall. "Here!"

He led the way, charging through another hallway that led deeper into the prison with more guards and prisoners fighting each other. We came to a door that was bulky and had a "No Admittance" sign on it. The Menace dug his hands into the metal, and tore the door off its hinges. Inside, we found rows of shelves with an assortment of equipment and tools on them, the collection of weapons and gear that made the prisoners helpless.

I ran inside, ignoring everything except a refrigerated cabinet on one wall. It held a collection of bottles with liquids and powders. That's what I needed.

I smashed the glass on the cabinet to reach inside and pull out a handful of bottles. I combined the chemicals quickly to make the antidote for my neural suppression, and jammed a syringe into it. Filling the syringe, I stuck it in my arm and injected myself. As it made its way into my system, I mixed another batch, this time to cure Terrordactyl's vertigo.

I turned while filling another syringe, and Terrordactyl stumbled up to me.

"Will this work?" he asked.

"Yes." I jammed the syringe into his arm.

"Are you sure? Are you a doctor?"

I gave him a dry smile. "No. I'm a mad scientist."

Terrordactyl blinked. "Hey, I think it's working."

I looked out at the room where other prisoners began scurrying in, grabbing things off the shelves. "I'm quite sure it's working for me."

I pointed at Mystericon and the headband on his forehead shattered, revealing a glowing red gem. "I believe this is yours?"

Mystericon broke into a smile as the crystal glowed. "Yes, this is Mystericon's mind crystal."

"Excellent. Mystericon, make sure the guards and cameras don't see us."

Mystericon held up his hands, and we all seemed to shimmer like we had become made of smoke. "Only Mystericon and friends can see each other now."

I charged out of the room as more of the prisoners rushed inside, all seizing hold of weapons and tools to make their own escape. Prisoners came running out with their powers restored and firing back at the guards. One prisoner had gloves on his hands that made metal bars rip out of the walls and slap around the guards.

Another prisoner used a tool to pull off glasses strapped onto his face, and laser beams blasted from his eyes.

Through the battle, I charged down hallways, using my telekinesis to throw guards and prisoners out of my way. I headed for the nearest exit, and the Mechanical Menace smashed it open.

Night had fallen, and we rushed out onto the grassy field surrounding the prison. Sirens wailed and prison guards rushed from the towers and walls to the main building where the riot took place. They all ran and flew past us without even a second glance as we headed for the prison walls.

I turned to Terrordactyl who unfolded his wings to spread wide. He reached out to take our hands and fly us over, but I stopped and looked back.

I had planned to have us fly over the wall and escape, but looking at the prisoners at war with the guards made me realize I had a formidable army at our disposal. It seemed a shame to waste it.

I pointed to the Mechanical Menace. "Menace, do you believe you can break down these walls?"

He looked at the thick concrete barriers and shrugged. "Yeah, if I get a running start."

"Mystericon, turn off your illusions. Terrordactyl, give the Menace the flying start he needs."

Mystericon's gem glowed and the shimmer I could see on us vanished. Some of the guards looked at us, and yelled.

Terrordactyl flapped his wings to lift himself into the air, swooped over the Menace, and carried him to the outside wall.

As they flew, I turned to the prison, and yelled, "Men, if you want to be free, join us!"

The guards and prisoners alike stopped to look as Terrordactyl flew over the wall and dropped the Mechanical Menace like a cannonball into it. He smashed through the thick concrete, and his fists tore it apart like a machine, leaving a gaping hole in seconds.

The prisoners let out a cheer and rushed for the hole. The guards began to fire, cutting them down, but the forces overwhelmed them.

I ran ahead of them through the wall to the other side, where we rushed into a forest. In the moonlight, we ran through brush and grass while we heard helicopters beginning to thump over our heads.

We broke through onto a highway where a few cars roared by. I immediately spotted a semi-truck driving past, and decided that would be our escape vehicle. I used my telekinesis to give a car a push, just enough to get it to spin out of control, and crash into another car. The traffic came to a halt with screeching tires and honking horns.

The Mechanical Menace ran up to the passenger door, and ripped it open to yell at the shocked driver, "Get out!"

The driver leaped out while I climbed into the cab, and other prisoners scrambled to the back. Someone must have broken the lock on the trailer, because I heard the door rumble open, and men yelling as they climbed inside.

I got behind the wheel, and slammed the gas while Mystericon jumped into the passenger seat. Boxes tumbled out of the back as the men in the trailer threw them out to make room, and I steered the truck through the traffic jam.

I drove off, knowing the police helicopter were in pursuit, but not caring. I had gotten out of the prison. I was free, and ready to continue my revenge.