Atomic Rebooted

64. Justice

CLAIRE

I stepped through the portal into the salted road, right before the steps of City Hall. On their top stood Mayor McQueen, Chief Owens, and Thornton Andersen, the CEO of Atomic Energy.

At the bottom of the steps were Tenebrous, Black Phoenix, and Titanio, and they were gearing up for a fight.

"Oh great, the vigilantes are here," Chief Owens muttered as we showed up.

"We're the New Crusaders," I corrected, looking straight at the villains. "Get back from them."

"Really, you're defending them?" Tenebrous demanded as he raised his ray-gun. "Heretic, I would've thought better of you."

"Yeah, well, I'm not letting the innocent civilians get hurt," Heretic said as she raised her own ray-gun back at him. She glanced at me. "Enough good people have gotten hurt because of me. I'm not letting that happen anymore."

"You forget that no one's innocent in this city," Tenebrous snarled. "They're all complicit, they all let this happen."

"You're wrong." Heretic shook her head. "You used to understand the difference, but you don't, not anymore."

She paused. "I'm sorry, old friend."

She then fired—but nothing happened.

That's when everyone's head turned to Titanio.

Aka, our biggest problem.

"Thank you, Titanio." Tenebrous drawled. "Renegade, Psyche, I thought you would stay out of this after how the last fight ended. You look ridiculous with that terrible patch job."

"It's Aegis now," I declared, planting my hands on my hips.

I'd thrown together my new costume over the course of the day. It was white and teal, with a silver mask. It still needed some work, but I owned it. There was just something about it that felt uniquely me, you know what I mean?

I was no longer just an heir to my mother's legacy.

I'd created a legacy.

"Doesn't matter," Renegade said. "We'll bring you to justice all the same."

I looked over my shoulder to the mayor and his aides. "Run inside, we'll come and find you when we've defeated him. Don't come out until then."

The mayor looked as if he wanted to argue, but a pretty blonde aide pushed him inside, noticing the severity of the situation unfolding in front of us.

This was going to be a fair fight— or at least, that's what I thought.

Henry, Mira, and Tristan went for Titanio, taking to the skies to fight in a blur of lights. Heretic and Tenebrous began fighting for control over Tenebrous's ray-gun.

And that left me to go after Black Phoenix.

She just smiled behind her elegant black mask with red rhinestones as balls of fire formed in her fist.

"You shouldn't be playing with fire, you're going to get burned, little girl," Black Phoenix sneered before launching the first in a series of fireballs at me.

I didn't want to use up my energy on her, so I dived to the ground and rolled, trusting my own instincts as I fought to get closer— only for her to launch off.

"Guess we're doing this the hard way," I muttered, and I remembered what I had practiced the day before— and I flew, using my energy blasts to propel myself up into the air.

It was just in time, too, as Tenebrous then touched the stone of the steps and sent the projectiles hurtling at Tristan— some of which grazed him as he created the portal to disappear.