Page 116 of Fanning the Flames

As he lobbed fragments at Gus, Quake said, “How much can you take now? Still as indestructible after all these years?”

Perry blew some of the errant wreckage into the hole in the street. Mark and Otis pulled at stuff along the edges of the debris-nado. Gus kept advancing, taking the hits, never wavering from the man who held all her focus.

Joan couldn’t help watching. “She really is amazing,” she murmured to herself.

Quake condensed the debris and shaped it into a tall funnel. He slammed it in Gus’s direction with a loud cry. Joan flew toward it, then was blown to the side. She grabbed onto a streetlight and held tight.

Perry floated in front of Gus, sending gale-force winds from his mouth, his hands, from every part of him. The rubble sailed into the sky but would have to come down somewhere.

Joan zoomed up and shot small fireballs at it all. Mark joined her to crack it with ice chunks. A helicopter hovered too close for comfort.

The remains floated down, ash and muddy wet splats. Messy but not fatal. Otis grabbed a large piece of blacktop and lowered it safely.

Messy. Wet and messy.“Hey,” Joan said, waving Mark over. “Can we make it rain?”

“Ether style?”

“Try a different ratio of fire to ice and flood everything around Quake. He can’t control water.”

Mark nodded. They coasted down to the rubble pile in front of Gus and Perry. Joan ducked an incoming bunch of rocks, then watched Mark’s steady stream of ice pellets. She kept the intensity of her flames low, just enough to melt the ice.

A blur circled around and around Quake, encasing him in a watery ball.Zee.

It was working—Quake couldn’t find purchase through the water. The remaining debris in the air fell to the ground.

Otis flew into the water and emerged with Quake. He headed straight for the river. Of course—drop him in the water to keep him contained.

Quake flung his hands, rumbling the ground one last time.

Joan and Mark stopped, as did Zee. They sped over to the twins. “About time,” Mark teased.

“Busy taking care of the other Villains in attendance.” Zee ran over to where Kade and Sherrelle had an unconscious Ether and Squawk under an archway at headquarters.

They said something to Kade that made him shake his head, make a pained face, and mime vomiting. Zee said something else, to which Kade reluctantly agreed. They wrapped an arm around their hulking cohort and raced off toward the river. The big guy needed to keep Quake secure. Moving that fast was probably a barfy trip.

Wait, where was?—

Ah. Darlene stood with fists on hips, staring inside the huge hole in the earth. Prowl couldn’t find her footing or grip to get out of it.

“Noooo!” she screeched from down below. “You cowards don’t get to win!”

“Looks like we do,” Joan said. She peered into the mucky pit at a very angry Prowl—no longer Ricki to her. “Told you this was my city.”

The Villain caterwauled some more. Pride blossomed in Joan’s chest. They’d done it. Vector City was broken but safe.

She turned to check on Gus and Perry. It had gotten sunny at some point, so…

Where were they? She stepped over holes in the ground and broken crap. Oh, there was Per, pulling a few errant chunks of concrete from a pile. The columns at HQ had been a little damaged.

Mark hurried past her, wobbling on the unstable ground. “What’s wrong?”

“Help,” Perry croaked. “Gus.”

Oh, shit. Joan clambered over to where he was digging. Gus was probably fine. She was unbreakable. Just a little buried, right?

“The concrete fell,” Perry said. “The last thing Quake did. Moved the earth under what was closest to her.”

“She’s okay,” Joan said. “Maybe knocked out or something.”

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