Big City Villain | BOOK ONE

Revamped Chapter Eleven: Just When It Was Getting Good

"Anti-Gravity's here!"

The crowd responded with applause and cheered my brother's hero name. I would have rolled my eyes at his timing, except I knew Benj. Theatrics was not his signature. Sure, he wore a bright cherry red super suit, but putting on unnecessary shows was not Benj's style. He hated attention even more than I did.

"Who's Anti-Gravity?" Elora asked. Her voice shook, and her eyes widened in fright. She must have forgotten that this was not her first time seeing a super in action, or maybe a villain dabbling in heroics didn't count.

"King City's golden boy," I replied absentmindedly. I was staring at the football and trying to figure out who was behind such an odd display. Maybe it was Benj; maybe he decided to change his image.

"He can do something like that?"

"Kind of," Charlie, the ever-knowledgeable superhero nerd, said. "He can manipulate gravity, but he has to be nearby in order to do something like this. I don't see him, and invisibility isn't one of his powers. Unless he's hiding in the crowd?"

I shook my head. "The football's not hovering."

"What?"

"It's not hovering." I pointed at it. I could barely make out what was holding it from the distance. "It looks like there's a sheet of metal..." My blood ran cold. "That is not—"

The bleachers shook again, much more violently, enough that Charlie and Elora felt it. I climbed onto my seat and scanned the skies, the field, the crowd, everywhere. /Where oh where could they be?/ If I were a brand new villain setting the stage for a grand reveal, what would I do next? Fire. Let's be honest, it'd be a grand display of raining fire set to Adele's 'Set Fire To the Rain.' The only question was, what was taking them so long to show themselves?

As if in answer to my unspoken question, the sky darkened with large, rumbling clouds coming in from nowhere. A lightning bolt tore through the football and struck the ground. Thunder roared deafeningly, and the crowd erupted into pure chaos.

The spectators on the bleachers started running off and trampling anyone who stood in their way. Too much commotion and continuous thunder drowned out the teachers trying to redirect them to safety. Panic was their only compass, and it did a poor job at it.

Lightning flashed again and backlit the silhouette of a super in the sky. They flew closer to the field, and with a sleek neon green outfit and electricity buzzing out of their fingertips, I had a good enough idea that this was not a good guy.

I pushed on Charlie's back to get him moving. "Let's go, idiot!"

"You're the one who's gaping!" he shot back as he grabbed Elora's hand and took off running down the bleachers.

I was close on his heels and would have made it off the benches if I didn't trip on the last step. I hit the ground hard enough that I was stunned and nearly lost my glasses, which would have automatically put the new villain at the top of my hit list. The night was young, though, so there was still a chance.

"Oh, how the tables have turned," the villain said. He was close enough that I could feel the static electricity coming off him. He bent down, grabbed a fistful of my hair, and yanked my head up. "Hello, Coal Black. How does it feel to be a hostage this time?"

/This time?/ There was never even a first time! I sneered at the ugly villain and would have set myself on fire if I hadn't seen a couple of straggling curious high schoolers in the corner of my eye. I was not about to be the first super in King City to reveal his identity.

"Who are you?" I asked as I tried to twist out of his grasp. He only had to yank on my hair again to get me to quit struggling. "How do you know who I am?"

"I'm your best friend, Neod, and we have a proposition for you, Headphones."

"We?" A sick feeling churned in my gut. I already knew who the other member of his party was before he said a word.

"My accomplice, City Sweeper. We want to offer you—"

Whatever his offer was, I didn't find out. Why? I'll tell you, reader, because my /real/ best friend body slammed Neod, or whatever he calls himself, and tackled him to the ground. What Charlie lacked in the powers department, he made up for in the battle he fought. He was a completely unsuper, totally normal teenager facing off with a big bad villain. That was a sight to be seen.

"You!" Charlie yelled. He made sure to drive a punch with every word he said. "Leave! My! Best! Friend! Alone!"

I don't think Charlie realized that Neod could kill him instantly if he wanted to. Lightning supers were no joke. With that thought, I jumped to my feet and tried to grab Char before he was literally charred. His fists were flying wild, and I had to brave a few punches in order to wrap my arms around his waist and drag him away to relative safety.

If Neod decided to attack, then I was going to have to use my powers, and Charlie was going to be in for a big surprise.

"Let us go!" I shouted and stood in front of Char protectively. It was a pretty weak demand, but at this point, I was just trying to buy some time. Where were those worthless superheroes when you needed them?

Riled up and angry, Neod shot up several feet and raised his hands. Behind us, the bleachers shook violently and lifted into the air. Ah. So he's a magnetized /and/ electrified super. That was not a good combination, and this was not going to end well.

Neod clenched his fists and the bleachers responded by crumpling into a ball as easily as if it were paper, and threw it at us.

There was no running from the ball of death. A magnetic super like him could easily redirect it to follow us. I grabbed Charlie's arm, pulled him down to the ground, and readied myself to absorb the shock upon impact.

Except, it never came.

Instead, the ball was sliced clean in two and hit the ground on both sides of us. Both sides were still steaming.

I looked up and found Anti-Gravity standing before us, cape whipping around in the wind like he was some brave hero in a comic book. Took him long enough. If it wasn't for the fact that Charlie was beside me, I would have told Benj off for taking his sweet time to come to his twin brother's rescue. I'll just be sure to save it for later.

"Anti-Gravity!" Neod screamed in fury. A ball of electricity formed in his fists, but they weren't as bright as before. "I'd kill you if City Sweeper didn't want the honor."

"Then tell City Sweeper to quit hiding behind lame notes! If he wants a face-off, then let's do it! I've got all night."

"You can't fight anyone. You're weak." Neod laughed like a maniac and threw the lightning at us. "Prepare yourself Anti-Gravity! We're coming for you!"