5.01

Silas, Hunter, Jimena, and Stick teleported back to the tree house. Freja chose to stay behind, unsure if returning to Athena City was the best thing for her right now.

“Has anyone heard from Gauzelle?” Silas asked.

“Nope. Maybe we should check with Michael,” said Hunter.

“It couldn’t hurt,” said Jimena. Hunter flicked on one of the screens in the tree house and contacted Michael at his hideout.

“Hey Michael.” Michael’s face appeared on the screen. He looked tired. He looked old.

“Hey everyone, how’s it going? How’d you go in the tournament?”

“I think we did good. Freja, um, Woolpack, was our extra teammate,” said Silas.

“Oh good.”

“Have you heard from Gauzelle? Do you know where she is?” asked Hunter.

“I know where she is, yes. But I haven’t heard from her.”

“Where is she?” asked Jimena.

“She’s with an old associate of mine. Someone I knew a long time ago. Her name is Xera.”

“You heard of her?” Hunter looked at Silas.

“Name doesn’t seem to ring a bell. Who was she?”

“Lady Chaos.” There was almost a hint of dread in Michael’s voice.

“What? Why would you send her there? Xera’s a madwoman.” Stick had entered the room.

“She’s the most powerful psychic I know. If anyone could help Gauzelle, it’s her.”

“There’s plenty of psychics out there Michael. You didn’t need to go to her.”

“She said she knew Delphine. I wanted to make sure Gauzelle had the best in the field to help her with her situation. Xera owes me, whether she likes to admit it or not. So I called in the favour. Gauzelle will be okay.”

“What do we do until she comes back?” asked Silas.

“What you lot normally do. Be the best heroes you can be. There’s always room for improvement and so you should. Look, I’ve got another call. I’ve gotta go.” The screen flicked off, leaving the four of them baffled. Michael hadn’t seemed like his normal self.

“Well, that answers that. Who’s Lady Chaos?” Silas asked Stick.

“A failed tyrant from years ago. She had a small country under her rule, and she had plans to take over more of the world. She failed though. Was overthrown by that country, with the whole world watching. She withdrew to her private island and has done almost nothing ever since.”

“Sounds pretty serious,” said Jimena.

“She is. I can only imagine Gauzelle would be having a tough time with her.”

Suddenly another face popped up on the screen.

“Hey Stick, we’ve got a bit of a problem. That Turbo guy is back with his friend. More people have died, and Green Thumb has said he can’t save them all. We need help.”

“That didn’t take long. We only just got back,” said Silas. The four of them teleported downtown to where the unfolding chaos was.

***

Virgil, Gina and Shiro were sitting at a table, eating a lavish meal prepared by Pierre.

A man wearing a suit that had been torn to shreds, stood in the middle of the room. He looked at the trio with quaking fear.

“Like I said before. The Flower Shop gang works for me now. If you don’t like it, you’re more than welcome to leave. But I imagine my father’s syndicate will be after you lot any ways. Last I heard, he wasn’t very happy with you lot.”

“We’ll be protected by you if we do?” the man’s voice quivered.

“Of course. If you do work for me and follow my orders, we will protect you.”

“You’ll be going to war with your father!” the man spat.

“When we’re ready, we will. We’re biding our time right now.” Virgil laughed and he motioned to the shadows. A trio of members grabbed the man by his arms and pulled him out of the warehouse.

“Just be careful, sir. You wouldn’t want to set your father off too early. He’d squash us before we got anywhere. Forge more alliances first.” Pierre started to clean the table.

“Oh I plan to. Have any of your old contacts gotten back to you?”

“Not yet, but I’m sure they will soon. Some will agree with what you’re doing and would join the cause. Others would be willing to step away and see what unfolds.

“Good.”

***

Michael ended his call with Hunter and the others. He felt a little guilty with the way he had spoken to them. He just felt so tired.

“Michael, there’s finally been a confirmed sighting of her.”

“Hello Sofia. Sorry, a sighting of who?”

“Of the Trash Queen.” Michael was hit with a surge of panicked energy.

“Seriously? By whom?”

“An elderly lizardfolk. Said someone from his family saw her kill someone. We’re looking into it now. I’ll report back once I know anything.”

“Hurry Sofia. We need to get on top of this now.”

“I know. We’re doing everything we can. Take care of yourself Michael. We can handle this.” Sofia’s face flicked off and Michael sank down on his couch.

The news continued on in the background. The reporter mentioned Steamblast, and Michael pulled himself up from the couch and turned the volume up.

“The criminal known as Steamblast has been confirmed to officially be back and is active. He has already hit jewellery stores and destroyed property. Witnesses claim he’s come across Copter and the two have had a fight.”

Footage shifted to that from a phone. The camera was shaky, and it took a while before it stopped and focussed on a standoff that quickly turned into a scuffle. Michael could clearly see it was a fight between Copter and Steamblast.

Steamblast made quick work of Copter, destroying his propeller pack, and beating him to a bloody pulp. It was graphic and Michael was shocked they’d show something so disturbing on the main news without any warning.

“You’re just adding to my troubles.” Michael grabbed his rapier and teleported to where the showdown between the two criminals had taken place. He figured it wasn’t live footage, but he wanted to scout the place. Maybe there were witnesses that had seen where Steamblast had gone.