Villains Wear Masks
Chapter 18: Gathering forces

“Is Fall Out Boy still cool?”

~ Oliver Queen (Green Arrow)

Taylor Hale sat in the middle of Wild Fire headquarters with a bored expression, throwing a bouncing ball at the wall opposite to her, catching it, and bouncing it again. On Mera Deauxma’s rolling chair, she sighed and took a look around the room. It was dark and locked up from the outside. For some reason Mera and her superhero buddy weren’t trying to fight crime tonight.

Figured. The one time she went to them for help and they weren’t in.

The Black Tiger gang just started moving. For some reason they had become agitated, hearing news from an outside source. It was probably way past midnight, but she had her hopes high that Wild Fire would be awake and ready to help her take down some goons.

Only that morning April Watson had arrived back in Kingdom City, White Knight’s damsel. Her arrival caused Black Knight to move out of his lair, which gave the Black Tiger gang free reign to mess around near the border of Kingdom Hills because White Knight was busy. She had already had a long night stopping their petty crimes, when they all suddenly stopped themselves and congregated at a private airplane hangar owned by the Schow Corporation. The streets were cleared by the time Taylor headed to Wild Fire headquarters looking for reinforcements. April Watson had long since escaped from Black Knight and presumably sat at her comfy home cuddling with her hero.

Out of boredom, Taylor turned on their TVs to the news. Maybe she could replace some robbers while she waited.

“Reports are still rolling in from San Francisco . . .”

The story gave her a shock. Oh, so that’s why the gang was at the hangar. They were getting ready to welcome their newly freed leader.

But, hadn’t April Watson been in the city only hours ago? Why had she all of a sudden shown up at the prison right as a major breakout happened? Taylor wondered if anyone else in the brainwashed city would even notice the strangeness. They were probably all too busy worried for the prissy upper class know-it-all to see the curious connection.

Maybe X had outside help after all

One thing was certain. Kingdom City would need its unusually large number of superheroes to fight off this threat.

The door behind her opened unexpectedly, shedding light into the dark room. In staggered Mera Deauxma and her new boy toy, Xander Mendez. She really thought he was an alright kid, just a bit too enthusiastic about his duty to save the world. Too trusting of friends who may stab you in the back. But, Taylor always knew Mera had a thing for superheroes. Emphasis on the super part of the word.

“Taylor?”

“Hey, Bestie. You finally decided to show your face?”

Mera gave her ex a nasty look, “In case you haven’t noticed, this is Ross’s headquarters, not yours. You can’t just walk in unannounced.”

Taylor chuckled. “The city is going to the dogs anyways, haven’t you seen the news?”

There was no mention of how Taylor had only just now watched the story on the SNN and had not known for a long time like she inferred.

“No? What happened? Is Ross okay?”

“Please,” Taylor scoffed, “I don’t give a rat’s ass about him. X is back. Just broke out of prison, maybe with April Watson’s help. I don’t know for sure though, just spitting out theories. I always thought she was a bit stuck up.”

Mera ignored the last part of the comment. “X escaped? As in the guy who got my mother killed?”

Oh, she almost forgot about that part. Mera’s crusade started because a tyrant running the city sold her mother a drug that got her killed. Taylor remembered hearing about it from Mera during their more vulnerable moments. Taylor liked to try and forget those times now that she knew the kind of person Mera really was.

“Yeah, and he took a lot of other super villains from the prison as well,” Taylor informed her, “It’s like Azkaban a bit, isn’t it?” she pondered. “A practically clean record followed by sudden mass breakouts.”

Xander furrowed his eyebrows and reared back, “Wait, you’ve read Harry Potter?”

“Who hasn’t at this point?” Taylor defended, crossing her arms. “Besides, what’s more important is the gang of Black Tiger ghouls at a private airplane hangar that need beating up. I could use a good hero for help. You mind?”

Xander was confounded. “You want to go after him now?”

Taylor shrugged. “Might as well try before he gets power.”

“Not so fast.”

At the door stood a guy Taylor didn’t know. He had striking natural red hair and was tall and lanky. His eyes looked sunken, as if he had just faced a terrible ordeal. Whoever he was, Taylor was glad not to be him.

“Ian?” Mera asked, both surprised and accusatory in tone. “Why are you here?”

“You can’t go after X right now,” Ian urged, ignoring Mera. “You have to wait until tomorrow.”

“Why?” Xander turned on him. Taylor didn’t think Xander was capable of sounding that mad in one word. He was making a change for the better not taking everything with unicorns and rainbows. “Why should we wait to take down the guy who put my mom in the hospital?”

Taylor didn’t know that.

Ian ran a hand through his hair, “It’s not that simple.”

“Oh, yeah? And why should I trust you, huh? You betrayed MASKED by getting close to my friend and you betrayed him by telling him a lie.”

So he was a MASKED agent like Mera’s aunt, good to know.

Ian looked down at Xander like he was a kid who needed to be put straight. “I used to know a kid like you, younger than me and thought the world of superheroes was just peachy before he got a reality check. X just escaped the highest security prison in the world and brought along a numerous amount of super villains with him. You’re only one person.”

“Two!” Taylor added.

“Yes,” Ian sighed, “and two is no match against the entire Black Tiger gang and X himself.”

“Why wait until tomorrow then?” Mera asked, always the voice of reason. “What makes you think he’ll be even easier to take down after he gets his bearings?”

“There’s a Charity Ball at Rossi Corp tomorrow night. The security will be focused on the ball, not as much so on protecting the secrets in the labs. If X wants enough of The Pill to take down the entire city, he needs more PF-08-02, which Xander conveniently destroyed when he got his powers. However, when Rossi Corp acquired Paramount Pharmaceuticals they started to make PF-08-02 from a small usable sample recovered. Trevor didn’t know why he was making the serum, just that his father had a reason. Unluckily for us, X most likely knows about its existence and will probably try and steal it when the security is low at the ball.

“You see, physically defeating X won’t get rid of his vision and his product. First we need to make sure the PF-08-02 is in the possession of the good guys. We’re going to have to steal it first, then we can try to fight him off.”

Everyone seemed to be in agreeance.

“How are we supposed to break in to a Rossi Corp Charity Ball?” Taylor pondered. “Xander is the friend, so he may have access, but the rest of us . . .”

“Actually,” Ian looked down, seemingly ashamed, “Trevor kind of-”

There was a sort of banging noise as the door behind Ian opened again. Taylor recognized Wild Fire, or Ross Gustin by his wavy hair, though his grim expression did not match what she had in her memory bank of the hero. In his arms was the reason for his dark features.

“Ross, who is that?” Mera asked, rushing to help him carry the raven haired Latina in his arms as she seemed to be slipping.

“Get her in the containment area first.” Ross showed no signs of other emotions, and no explanation was added. They heaved the girl onto a bed in a secluded corner of the lair that was blocked off by metal bars. When Ross was a safe distance away and the girl securely in the room, Mera pressed a couple of buttons on the pad nearby. A blue hue was suddenly obvious in between the bars.

“Turn the Merlonium concentration down, Mera,” Ross spoke quietly.

The hue got lighter and she turned to him, “You want to tell me why you brought a girl in our super villain containment area? I thought you were out studying tonight.”

He collapsed in a different rolling chair from Taylor’s and looked at his friend with a pleading gaze. Ross was even grimmer than Ian had been when he walked in.

“That’s Arctic Frost, isn’t it?” Taylor asked.

Ross winced at the words.

“How’d you have time to finally capture her if you were studying with that girl you liked?” Mera asked, but by the time she finished the answer was clear to everyone in the room. Ross’s longing gaze at the unconscious girl was enough of a tell.

Mera put her hand to her mouth in awe and looked over at the Merlonium cage. Xander turned to Ross with an uncertain gaze, “You fell for your arch enemy?”

The hero’s gaze hardened. “It’s not like I meant to. I didn’t . . .”

“Why isn’t she being held at the police station?” Mera asked quietly.

“We have a holding area for villains, we might as well use it.”

The two seemed to be treading on thin ice.

Mera turned on her friend, “Shouldn’t your arch enemy be on her way to Alcatraz right now? Why haven’t you turned her in?”

“Well,” Taylor butted in, “Alcatraz isn’t exactly living up to its role as a top notch super villain prison right now.”

“How do you mean?” Ross asked.

Ian stepped up and explained the situation to Ross, whose expression just kept getting grimmer with each word.

“So X orchestrated a mass breakout and the only time you think we have a chance at stopping him is at the Rossi Corp Charity Ball tomorrow?”

Ian nodded, “You just about summed it up.”

“Oh, you forgot about April Watson potentially being the outside help for his breakout,” Taylor added.

No one responded to the outrageous suggestion.

“How are we getting in?” Ross asked.

“You and Mera I’ll probably be able to forge identities for,” Ian assured, “something enough to get you in to the party with no suspicions. Xander, Taylor, and I can sneak in through the air ducts once the former disable the alarms. I’ll be able to direct you to the labs and we can snatch the serum hopefully before anyone is the wiser.”

Xander furrowed his eyebrows. “Wait, I’m Trevor’s friend, why can’t I just go in as that to the ball?”

Ian winced. “He knows you’re Momentum.”

“What?” Xander felt his heart race and his skin go cold. “How did he replace out? Does he at least know I didn’t kill his father?”

“He wouldn’t let me get that part out. You know how self-assuring and righteous he can get sometimes,” Ian defended.

Mera tilted her head, “Wait, so you told him about Xander? Why should we trust you if you let that slip to the guy who thinks my boyfriend killed his father?”

Ian sighed. “I never outright said it. He assumed it was Xander through small clues he noticed. That doesn’t matter right now though, what matters is stopping X from destroying this city again. Xander’s already paid a price because of X’s endeavors, and that was while he was operating from behind prison walls. Imagine the destruction he’ll be able to bring now that he’s free.”

His speech had the desired effect on the room. Mera’s mother had been taken by The Pill, and now Xander’s was on the line as well. No one was going to argue that X needed to be stopped as soon as possible.

“In the mean time we should all probably catch up on sleep,” Mera offered. “It’s almost morning and we’ve had a really late night.”

She was right. Somehow it was insane to believe it had only been one night.

Taylor raised her hand in the air. “I’ll take the first watch on Elsa, you guys need sleep way more than I do right now.”

“Thanks, Taylor.” Ross’s eyes were red and puffy, he needed the rest more than any of them. “Call me over if she wakes up, please?”

Taylor nodded and Mera sent death glares Ross couldn’t see towards him. She didn’t approve.

Tomorrow everything would be going down.