Page 95 of No Capes
If he can create force-fields… maybe he can break into them. Capital City is in more danger than we guessed.
“Hold it a little longer,” Golden Ace shouts to me. Even with the rain to fortify me, I can barely keep my arms above my head.
Dark Static reaches for the pocket hidden in his super suit, where he stored his mirror. Golden Ace does the same. Synchronized, the heroes aim their small squares of glass at Phil.
Phil grimaces, but doesn’t seem surprised.How? We know about his secret weakness.
Unease splinters through me as I realize: If Phil isn’t surprised, he’s ready.
D.S. must have reached the same understanding, because he lunges at Phil, wasting no more time. As he knocks into Phil, they both crash to the ground and my legs finally give out.
I fall forward, scraping the grass, and the sky changes from electric blue to midnight black as the vortex splits apart.
In the second we have before the other Supers arrive in full force, Phil clicks his tongue. “Madeline Roberts. Not so Super after all.”
Dark Static moves quickly. While Golden Ace keeps his mirror aimed at Phil, D.S. shouts at me, “Switch your gel!” He holds his gloved hands apart, summoning a white ball of electricity that he hurls at Phil in a flash. It should be enough to stun—but not kill.
In the split second before the electricity hits Phil, a swirl of purple knocks into Golden Ace, sending the mirror flying. It plummets to the ground, shattering into tiny pieces—too small for an obvious reflection.
An invisible field shields Phil just in time to avoid Dark Static’s electricity, while the rest of Capital City’s Supers land on the grass around us. A few who don’t have flight powers run in from the yard. There are about twelve total.
Bursts of wind, piles of dirt, and the fastest Supers all zoom toward D.S, who jumps in the air, flying and shooting red lasers near—not at—the other Supers.
I take an extra gel packet from my jacket and throw the old one out of my gloves. As I press the fresh packet inside my hands, relief, hydration, and adrenaline charge through me.
Golden Ace jumps into the sky. “It’s not Static you should be after. It’s Bridges. He’s a Super. He’s trying to take over the city!”
“Nice try,” one Super shouts back.
Oh no.Phil’s force-fields are invisible. The other Supers can’t see that Phil has powers.
“You’re one to talk,” a tall Super replies, whose hands are carefully folded behind his feathered purple suit.
Materio.
“Maybe you’re shooting for the same thing,” says Materio.
“Is that what it looks like I’m doing?” Golden Ace yells. He touches on the ground diplomatically. Materio closes in, like a jaguar on the prowl, playing with his food.
It makes sense that the Supers would be jealous of Golden Ace, but to turn on him this quickly? They would believe Phil’s word over his? Is Phil’s likeability powerthatstrong?
In the sky, D.S. fights several Supers at once. I recognize some of them, like Owl, a nocturnal Super with talons and super-senses; Coco, who can shoot chocolate sauce from her fingertips; and Vent, who can create wind; but I don’t remember the others. Ithinkthey retired before Golden Ace came. Three chase him in the air, and the others try to attack him from the ground by blasting holes in the grass and creating general chaos. One throws rocks.
I can’t believe this. Rocks? Really? Then a rock bursts in a gust of wind, and D.S. dodges its debris with milliseconds to spare.
Ah.Superrocks.
Blasts of rock-wind, combined with Vent’s powers, hinder D.S.’s flight, and he touches down on the dirt beneath a tree. Stepping back into the tree’s shadow, D.S. disappears.
I can’t tell if he used the shadow to camouflage or portal.
“Attack!” cries Coco, shooting gooey chocolate toward the tree. It hits the branches and oozes down the trunk like slime, creating a sticky puddle. D.S. won’t be able to hide there again without getting stuck.
The chocolate power isn’tterrible.
SZZZZT. A ball of electricity bursts from a different tree and the other Supers scatter. The ball hits one of Arielle’s hedges, setting it on fire. In the chaos, Dark Static jumps back into the sky, ready to attack.
A red and yellow Super flies behind Dark Static. “Let’s see how your fire mixes with mine,” she yells. She drops a few feet as blue smoke shoots from her fists. Her spandex suit twists around her torso, fading into her yellow hair like a flame from a candle.
