Super Volume 2

New Heroes

Lila's POV
"How is that even possible? Time magic doesn't exist!" Josh exclaimed. "Yes it does." Amber replied. We looked over at her. "I wield the power of time with this staff, and with Ember by my side, we can even time travel. But it can only be wielded by those who understand how delicate time really is." She explained. "Yeah, and even though mortals like us can't be born with time magic, that doesn't exclude illegal time spells." Ember added. "You think a time spell did this?" I asked. "We know it did." They nodded. "Ok! Well, if I'm right and The Arrows were wiped from history, then the matrix probably doesn't even exist." I groaned. Mia shook her head and I looked at her. "If they really did cast a time spell, then it wouldn't have changed any buildings. That's why the HQ is still standing. If The Arrows really never existed, then this building would be rubble, but here we are. That's why time spells are forbidden. They can change people's minds, but they can't change what's actually happened. So everything is just... abandoned." Mia explained. "How do you know that?" Ember asked. "Oh I love learning about spells and magical artifacts. For instance, I know you two wield the Chrajx." She gestured to their staffs. "Oh wow! You said it right! That's all the proof I need." Ember laughed, and Amber smiled. "So let's head for the matrix then. Maybe we can find something else there." I said, and everyone agreed.

We all got in my car and I drove us there. Amber and Ember transformed back to normal, and we made our way inside. The lights were already on when we came out of the elevator. "The power is still on, and the system still recognized us." I noted. "Zephyr! Are you here?" Amber shouted. Her voice echoed around the room. "Oh jeez-" Ember huffed. "She's not here! And we thought no one would be!" A boy yelled. Two people super-sped over to us, and a fox jumped off of the boy's back. "April! Peyton! Lucas! You're still here!" I smiled. "Yeah. It's our job! Of course Gypsy got kidnapped with the others since her mom was a villain... you guys know about the spell, right?" Peyton transformed back to his human form. "Yeah we figured it out." I nodded. "Well, not everything. Do you guys know anything we don't?" Amber asked. "Oh sure! We have all of Zane and Zephyr's notes. Come on! We'll explain everything in the board room." Peyton led the way.

We all sat down together, and Peyton stood up at the board. "We knew something was wrong as soon as dad started questioning when we got a job. He pretty much hasn't given us a break since the whole Pink Wings thing, so something was up. Then we came here and it was dead!" He exclaimed. "And what have you found out?" I asked. "From what we've analyzed, all of our parents have had their memories wiped thanks to this time spell. We haven't been able to find our friends, but we have noticed that Riley is still trackable by the system, so she wasn't taken. We also noticed that only two adults were kidnapped with our friends. Arc and Gabe." Peyton explained. "Why them? Why not anyone else?" Ember asked. "Here's where the spell comes in. You said that you think it wiped The Arrows from history, and you're not completely wrong. We've been digging for hours, and as far as the world is concerned, The Arrows don't exist. Neither does Aethra, or Weather Vane, or Accelerator. Paws was a hero briefly, but retired after Zill was locked in prison. Without The Arrows to help her, she was defeated." Peyton showed us a few pictures. "So what exactly did the spell do? And how do we break it?" I asked. "April, tell them what you found." Peyton smiled. April opened her laptop and showed us a very old news report. "This is the report of a house fire, over thirty years ago. It says that even though the mother and brother were lost, the rest of the family survived. Now look at this happy picture of them. Look familiar?" She asked. We squinted at it. "No." I shook my head. "Seriously? Ok, well, this is Gold and Red. That, behind them, is their dad. David changed their memories, and made false reports like this one, to make it as if he had found them after the fire." She explained. Peyton pulled the picture up on the board. "And without the tragedy of losing everything, Regina and Kayla never started The Arrows. None of them found each other, and without the threat of an entire team against her, Paws never needed a team of her own. She simply took out Zill, and settled into Earth all alone." Peyton explained. "What about Charlie?" Amber asked. "Oh yeah! He's here, but he never found Zed again. I don't know how to explain that one, but he and Apollo live together by themselves now." He explained. "Again, how do we fix this?" I asked. "Oh, it's standard spell removal. Love'll do it." Peyton pointed at me. "But their partners are also under the spell." I replied. Mia put her hand on my shoulder. "That's not what he means. Love comes in all kinds. In this case, the love from our family will break the spell." She explained. "We were with them this morning! That clearly didn't work." I spat. "It's not that simple. We're all gonna have to step up for this. We have to find a way to remind them that this isn't our reality." Mia explained. "Yes! Lucas is going to work on helping our dad while April and I try to find the others." Peyton added. "And what about the parents that aren't ours?" I asked. Peyton opened his mouth, but then stopped and shrugged. "We'll have to figure something out." He sighed.

Just then, the alarm went off, and April scrambled to pull up the feed. "Dinotron attack in the city... wait what?" She raised an eyebrow. "They never stopped Techna... shit! You all have to go!" Peyton ordered. Amber and Ember jumped up, and we just watched them head to the door. Amber raised an eyebrow at us. "Are you coming?" She asked. "We're not superheroes." I replied. "Lila, now isn't the time to be stubborn. Our entire family is missing! Ember and I might be the last heroes in the city! We need your help!" She exclaimed. Josh stood up. "Let's do it. What do we have left to lose?" He asked. "Ok but we don't have suits or weapons." I replied. "Actually! Your father set something aside for you in case you ever changed your minds. Follow me!" April ran out the door and we hesitantly followed.

There were three Arrow costumes ready for us all this time. For some reason, I was surprised, even though it seemed obvious. Josh was given the color brown. Mia got teal, and I got white. "What are you waiting for? Bathrooms that way! Go change!" April ordered. I hesitated for a second, but grabbed the costume, and hurried to get changed. Dad had shown us how to use these once before, but now that we had to use a magic grapple to swing across the city, it seemed a lot scarier. "You're sure you don't want in my portal?" Ember asked. "Yeah. We'll meet you there." I nodded. Ember nodded and she left with Amber. Then I looked at my siblings. "You ready to do what we swore we wouldn't?" I asked. They smiled back at me and I took a deep breath. "Let's go then." I said.

We swung over to the scene, and screamed as we came crashing down onto the roof of a building. "I think I broke something." Josh groaned. Mia helped him up and I looked up in horror at the Dinotron. "Solar Flare! What do we do?" I shouted. Amber dropped in beside us. "Shock Wave needs more time to charge up a bolt that can destroy this thing. We need to keep it distracted!" She explained. "Who is that?" Josh pointed up and I panicked. "That's Gypsy! This isn't her mom's creation. It's hers!" I realized. "Ok, new plan. I'll keep it distracted. You three, shoot down Pink Wings!" Amber ordered, and we agreed. Amber jumped back into the fight, and Gypsy immediately darted down at her. I picked up my bow and shook as I shot an arrow at her. She backed up as she saw it coming, and her head snapped over at us. "Oh shit." I mumbled. Mia shot another arrow at her, but Gypsy just flew around it, and bolted after us. She tackled me to the ground, and punched me across the face. "You think I'm going to let my mothers legacy die with you super-freaks?! Think again!" She punched me again and again, until Mia ripped her off of me. Josh then shot her in the wing, and Mia pinned her down. She wiggled under grasp, but Mia practically sat on her to keep her down. "Are you ok?" Josh helped me up. I groaned in pain and rubbed at my jaw. Then I looked down at Gypsy. "I'm fine. Let's see if this will work." I bent down to her. "You need to stop this. This isn't real! What would Zephyr say if she saw you right now?" I asked. "I don't know who you're talking about!" Gypsy spat. "It won't work. We need Zephyr to talk to her." Mia said. "Then let's just bring her back to the matrix. We can lock her up there until we find Zephyr." I replied. Just then, a huge bolt of lightning struck right through the Dinotron, and it fell to the ground.