"Down to their last hope. Just eight heroes remained in Boomtown following the defeat of The Nuclear Family and CATS. There was an opening, a weakness that evil could exploit...
"Soon, this town will be mine. Very soon."
Cackles came from C.R.A.W.L., Callous, Snow Giant, and Flying Buttress at Madame Sin's announcement. The Masked Cavalier said nothing, as he was busy peering at the Shark Tank and trying to figure out how it worked.
Meanwhile, in the Nuclear Zone, the final eight were gathered and discussing which one of them would drop out of the outcoming battle for Boomtown.
"It should be me, I guess," said Glitterbug. "I can lead the resistance from social media if... you know..."
Silence fell over the others, save for Bee Girl's droning hum. It was broken by Darvin the Monster Hunter's grunt. Morphin' Orphan and Cyco remained silent.
"Yes," said Master Phoenix, the leader of what remained. "Stay behind, Glitterbug. We need you as our last fail-safe."
"We'll win!" declared the Patriot Missile, while Pathway rolled her eyes. "Glitterbug's not the only one who knows social media, dude."
"You wish to withdraw?"
Pathway sighed.
"Duh, no, Master Phoenix. I'm just say-"
"Let us go then."
The teen glowered as the old man interrupted her, but followed as the group rushed to catch Madame Sin and her cabal unawares.
They did, but failed to take advantage.
Darvin the Monster Hunter was stunned early in the battle, and it looked like a tidal loss upcoming for the heroes, but then Bee Girl and Cyco sent out swarms of bees and energy respectively, resulting in all three ninjas accompanying Madame Sin and Flying Buttress being beaten. Snow Giant fell to the Patriot Missile's punch soon after.
Madame Sin became stunned and was nearly defeated, but just barely managed to dodge Darvin the Monster Hunter's vampiric attack. Also stunned were C.R.A.W.L. and the Shark Tank.
Darvin the Monster Hunter went down, but then so did Madame Sin after the Patriot Missile's aggressive move to literally punch her lights out. The Shark Tank was likewise disabled and looked to be so damaged as to be out of commission for some time.
Pathway calmly channeled her teen anger into providing intelligence for more attack avenues for the heroes, and moving her teammates out of dangerous positions. She also psionically shocked C.R.A.W.L. and put him on the verge of defeat.
The Masked Cavalier surprisingly downed Cyco, removing the defenders' most powerful threat, but time was not on the invaders' side. C.R.A.W.L. fell to a Morphin' Orphan blast and only luck saved Callous from Pathway's psionic shot that would have eliminated him.
It didn't matter. Patriot Missile continued to launch himself at Callous and the Masked Cavalier until they fell unconscious, Pathway's teleportation abilities keeping the heroes safe from further injury.
They'd done it... against all odds, the heroes saved Boomtown from falling into the clutches of Madame Sin.
"Thank you, Pathway. We owe this victory to you and Patriot Missile," Master Phoenix said solemnly.
Pathway only smiled, then looked irritated as The Patriot Missile laughed, "Told you we'd win!"
In the aftermath, Flying Buttress was committed to an insane asylum, while Snow Giant joined the ranks of jailed villains.
A post-issue series of panels revealed the robotic protector Mainframe was once again active.
***
"Best issue yet," Geoff told the air. "I thought sure Madame Sin was gonna take over Boomtown."
The next day at lunch, Trent agreed.
"Yoooo duuuude, Pathway got it going on! Patriot Missile wouldn't have done jack if she kept pulling him back!"
"Do you have a new bae?"
"Well..." grinned Trent, "You know me and those blonde girls."
"Like Lisa, the chick that works at Electronics Warehouse?"
"You know it!"
"You're both nerds," interjected Ira, pushing his glasses up on his nose.
"Um, you're sitting with us dude. That makes you a nerd, too!"
Trent and Ira fell into bickering and bantering while Geoff looked out at the cool autumn landscape outside the cafeteria windows of Central Community College. The academic standards weren't exactly high. It was the kind of place where you only went if you didn't have the grades to get into a university, wanted to save money by getting your gen eds out of the way before transferring, or were one of those people who wanted to change to a vocational field later in life.
The three of them had gone to the same high school together, and though they were college freshmen now, Geoff still felt in a lot of ways like he was still in high school. He'd left home right away to get away from Dad's drinking. Mom split years ago, and Geoff hadn't spoken to her much since then. A card and call on his birthday. That was about it.
"Hey, Earth to Geoff. Earth to Geoff."
"What? Sorry, Trent."
"It's cool. Hey, Ira left to go to the library. Wanna walk around before Algebra?"
"Sure."