Go-Go sat in medical. Her vision fell in and out of focus, lost in the static of the off-white fabric of the privacy screen. She snapped back to reality as the screen opened.

Ms. Kimbell, the school nurse practitioner smiled. "Still have the shakes?"

Go-Go looked up shaking her head. "It might be the pain meds."

Kimbell checked the pupils and breathing. 200 beats a minute and 75 breadths a minute. Normal for a speedster. "How much NoNap have you been taking?"

Go-Go paused too long for the answer. "A few days this week.”

"You know the importance of sleep for Speedsters. NoNap can not replace sleep." Kimbell walked out of the room.

"I know," Go-Go said.

"Stay here until your nerves calm down. But don't leave until one of the girls can walk you back to the dorms," Kimbell said.

Go-Go watched the curtain close "Thank you." Her hands shook. It's slow nerves. That's all slow nerves, Go-Go thought. She rubbed her knuckles to work out the shakes. Damn that girl. I'm a speedster. The shakes should have passed by now.

Maple looked around the curtain. She came into the room to sit down next to Go-Go. "Did you get hurt?"

"My face got scratched up. Why is it always my face?" Go-Go said.

Maple fiddled with her pen and steno pad. "Do you know the girl in the skull mask?"

"No. But she'll know me," Go-Go said.

The pen and steno pad were set to the side. "Her school name is Melissa Muldune. She's in the middle school. I need you to avoid her.”

"Avoid her? Avoid? She could have killed Gyaru at Homecoming. And let a lion loose in the school. And Honey. I wear dentures because of her." Go-Go said.

"You can't do anything about her.”

"No Maple. Shes only a teleporter. If I can get behind her. I'm going to twist that bitch's head off," Go-Go said.

"Jenny, her real name is Misty Sparks.”

Go-Go looked at Maple. She lost focus for a second and slipped off the chair. "No No No!" She kicked the floor with her heels and knocked the floor tiles lose.

"It may already be too late. If Blitzy Sparks comes back to North Carolina. Things will get out of hand," Maple said.

"Why? Why is she here?" Go-Go started to cry. "I have seven months left. Why?"

Maple moved down to the floor and held Go-Go's hand.

Coy walked through the old unused warehouse behind the school. Susan had turned it into a robotics shop. The Gorilla Works. Colby had been along for the ride to keep an eye on the girl. Half-finished gorillas and cases of bananas filled the back half. A Robo-Gorilla in overalls and a work hat slowly pushed a broom. An open kitchen along the left side of the warehouse had white tile and was well-lit. Colby, at the kitchen table, surfed the internet. The girl’s ordered surplus supplies under Colby’s sidekick license and applied for grants to the League of Science and D A R P A.

Coy had explained to Colby. "The first job of a grant writer is to fund the grant writing.” After that, the shop ran as smoothly as one would expect from two teenage girls.

Coy stopped at the kitchen; the sounds of tools dropped to the floor could be heard in the darkness. Susan ran over to them, grease stains and all.

"When will this new Robo-Gorilla be online?" Coy said. A bunker jacket and fire fighter’s helmet lay on the work bench.

"Eight this evening," Susan said.

"How many are left?" Coy said.

"We have twenty ready out of the forty planned. The loss of the six hurts," Colby said. The twenty Gorillas stood off in the shadows. Eyes glowing red with each jacked into charging ports.

“The six were older models, but their sacrifice spurred change and improvement,” Susan said. “I’ll be ready for lions next time.”

Coy looked around, nodding at the progress over the last few weeks. “Have a protocol to deal with school defense. We can't stop fights on school grounds, but we can finish them."

"That may take some time," Colby said.

"Don't let this interfere with your school work.” Coy said that as a teacher but it was unnecessary. Colby’s grades hadn’t changed. Susan’s grades had improved away from the public system.

"Yes sir." Both girls said.

"What is our threat?" Susan said.

Coy picked up the fire helmet. "No specific threat but look to defeating Rudy Powers as a threshold," He said setting the helmet back down.

"That would require me to build a very large Robo-Gorilla," Susan said.

"Are you opposed to building Giant Robot Gorillas?" To Coy the idea of large was subjective. The standard robot, if a bespoke robot gorillas could be called standard, weighed in at nine hundred pounds of steel. If they stood upright each would be seven foot tall.

"No," Susan said.

"It's all in the funding," Coy said.

The bus stopped on the edge of Uptown. Flat and Puddles got off to walk around. The Uptown had a tight but cozy feel. Home to the city’s vampires and ghouls. It was too far from the beltway for Super villains to do much. Heroes and Villains lived and died by the interstate in Charlotte. They were following up a leed from a skate hero who had seen the Arc-Duke in the area.

"And you really killed a lion?" Puddles had regretted missing the gym fight.

"I didn't want to. Why are we using the city bus?" Flat said to change the subject.

Puddles looked over the route map. "Using mass transit sets a good example to the community."

"I got a feeling the bad guys take the bus," Flat said.

"Some. The bad guys walk a lot. Most are homeless henchmen. The Arc-Duke is a rare success story," Puddles said.

"I don't see him as a success." Flat saw a food truck down the street. It had a logo of a skeleton. It leaned back to sip coffee from a teacup. "Hey. The Barista. Let's get some coffee.”

The smells of freshly roasted coffee beans and cinnamon glaze poured from the Dark Barista's food truck.

"Hi Barista, extra big super with extra mocha, please," Puddles said.

"Puddles and Flat. What brings you to Uptown?" The Barista said.

"We're on patrol looking for the Arc-Duke," Puddles said.

"It's on the streets, that the Arc-Duke did in the Doc. Everyone's looking for him. There will be a line.”

"Let me have the same. And a shot of Turkish espresso please,” Flat said. “We don't have any leads. All we know is the Arc-Duke is in Charlotte."

"That building right behind us. C O D has an office. Attorneys' Brothers and Brothers, LLC," The Barista said.

"What kind of attorneys?" Flat watched the Barista pour a near coffee syrup into an espresso cup.

"No idea. But I saw the Arc-Duke and his pet Gerrr stop by the other day," The Barista said.

"I'm not afraid of Gerrr or Arc." Flat knocked back the espresso.

"Good," The Barista said handing them the extra big super mochas.

"Do you want to check it out?" Puddles said

"Best lead all day," Flat said. The two girls drank the coffee and watched the building.

After the girls left, a man in a fedora and a gray canvas pea coat stopped at the truck.

"Black coffee. COD is not quite the slick operation, they once were," Doctor Enamel said.

"No, Emanuel. The girls are on the right track," The Barista poured black coffee from a silver samovar.

"Don't underestimate them. That wolf girl and her boyfriend are the ones that drove me to retire.”

"They were in middle school back then, it's worse now, and we are still old men," The Barista said.

"Yuri, I'd love to see this play out, but I need to be dead in Jacksonville. Thanks for helping Kim with the move.”

"Just a few more years for me to join you. Good luck my friend," The Barista said.

"You too." Doctor Enamel said.

Inside the art-deco lobby, No one was at the reception desk. Flat looked at the building directory. Attorneys' Brothers and Brothers LLC, on the thirteenth floor.

"We should call this in," Puddles said.

"Your right," Flat said. With a Ding the elevator opened.

"What are we going to do?" Puddles said.

"I'm going to ask for a bathroom," Flat said as Puddles scrolled through the menu of the satellite phone. She found the School's Hero Control number.

"Hey Colby, its Puddles. Log us in at the Attorneys' Brothers and Brothers LLC office," Puddles said.

"Address?" Colby said.

Ding. The elevator opened on the 13th floor. "I don't know. We're following up leads.”

"I'll look it up. Don't be lazy next time," Colby said.

Flat and Puddles got off the elevator. Another sparse lobby with a feeling of abandonment. A green carpeted hallway and a single door. Brass letters read Attorneys' Brothers and Brothers, LLC.

"This is the place. Wait here," Flat said.

"Colby, hold on, Flats going to ask them for a bathroom," Puddles said.

"That trick never works," Colby said.

Flat reached out to knock. The office door blew open with fire. Puddles felt her body roll with the blast. Splinters from the door frame flew about the room. As Puddles pulled a large splinter from her head her vision cleared. Flat ran into the now shattered door. A wave of black smoke rolled up to the ceiling.

Colby yelled from the other end of the phone. Puddles stumbled down the stairwell. "The door blew up. I'm getting out of the building.”

"How's Flick?" Colby said.

"She ran into the office. I think she's fine," Puddles said.

Flat raised her arms too late to shield her face as pieces of the door hit. It felt like a solid wind. Her ears rang, but she could see. Flat ran inside. A ripped-open file cabinet poured smoke.

A man covered in flames walked around the cabinets. The fire flickered around him to pool at his feet like water. He walked over to her. Flat cringed from the heat. The air cleared around him. Hot but breathable.

Dark Inferno, She thought. Puddles had a magazine pin-up of the man in her bedroom.

He dropped the Rolodex to the floor. It burnt to ash. "You're welcome," Dark Inferno said and raised his hand to a window. The air around his hand warped light as a mirage and the glass melted. With a blast of fire at the edge of the window, he jumped off the building.

Flat walked to the window as the smoke cleared to watch the man fly across the sky. A rolling burst of fire and smoke from his legs. Her ears had stopped ringing in time to hear a click, click, click from a file cabinet. As she turned, the office exploded. Flat flew out into the street.

Puddles found Flat; the girl lay on the ground rag-dolled. The concrete had cracked under Flat's weight. Her neck bent at an unnatural angle.

"Colby, I need fire trucks and an ambulance. I don't know where we are. Flat got thrown from the building," Puddles said.

"I got your location, fire rescue and squad on the way," Colby said.

"Flat's hurt bad," Puddles said.

"Don't move her. But stay with her," Colby said.

The Dark Barista came running over, huffing breath. He carried the silver samovar.

"Barista?"

"It will be all right. Babushka's Eldritch Samovar has never failed," The Barista said.

The Samovar glowed fairy green as inky black coffee poured into a matching small silver pot. The etched figures of skeletons on the Samovar started to dance as the coffee flowed out.

"What are you doing?" Puddle said.

The Barista placed the spout into Flats mouth and poured the small pot of dark coffee. Her neck returned to a normal position and her limbs straightened. Flat started to cough, and splattered up coffee as her eyes opened. Then looked around. Flat tried to sit up, but Puddles held her shoulders.

"Don't get up," Puddles said.

"That's the best coffee. I've ever had.”

The Dark Barista knelt next to them. "Good enough for the dead to come back for a second cup," The Barista said.

The kitchen smelled of baked apples. With leftover pie dough, Blitzy had made turnovers that would keep her husband and son off the pie until after dinner. The two men read the newspaper and had coffee at the kitchen table.

A wave of heat distorted the window. Blitzy felt it on her neck. She turned to see a bright glow in the yard. Arc had gotten out of his chair and looked at the light. Spark-Gap started to channel power. A braid of electricity flowed between his hands.

Blitzy flipped the table over to cover them. She went to the living room to pick up the cat to take her to the front yard. She cut around the side of the house to see a man in the air. Fire sprayed like a rocket from his lower body.

Blitzy recognized the black and red flame pattern costume of Dark Inferno. That's all he ever came across to Blitzy. A costume.

Spark-Gap channeled electricity to shield them from the heat and fire rolling into the house. Elemental forces could counter each other for a time. Blitzy would have to be quick with the time her husband would buy them. She was quick. Arc tapped his father's power to pull long whips of electricity. Dark Inferno came down lower. He started to send bursts of fireballs into the melted bay window. Arc snapped the electric whips to lash the balls away. One bounced down the hallway to the bathroom. Others popped blasting the kitchen with flame.

Blitzy pulled up a paving stone from the walkway to throw. Dark Inferno blasted the stone a moment before it hit. The rock shattered in mid air. She zipped and threw another and another until she ran out of paving stones. Dark Inferno had to back off from the house, blasting the stream of rocks. This gave Arc time to come out with the electric whips. Spark-Gap stayed close to Arc to be a shield. Dark Inferno's heat blasts knocked away the lashes.

Archie can keep him occupied, Blitzy thought. She grabbed a can of bug spray from the shed and unwound the garden hose into the yard. She dropped a rake under him, then turned on the hose.

The water hit Dark Inferno's feet with a steam explosion. He fell to the ground. The rake flipped up as he stood to knock him in the head. And Blitzy tossed in the bug spray. It soon popped in the heat. She heard coughing. That bought them a few more seconds.

Arc lashed into the steam with the electric whips. Spark-Gap placed his hand on Blitzy's shoulder, and a static charge flowed through her. She handed off the hose to run around the column of steam. Arc brought an electric whip down on his mother. She ran it around and around the costumed man.

The steam turned into a cyclone with a cherry red light at its center. Spark Gap laughed as he sprayed more water into the spinning storm. Blitzy could see Dark Inferno struggle to push heat out, to keep the electricity away.

Blitzy ran into the spinning cyclone. Her hand reached out to touch Dark Inferno. Like flicking a finger through a flame, she wouldn’t burn. Her fingers were inches away from releasing the static charge. A wave of pure heat pulsed from the center of the cyclone. The trees, the house, and the Sparks family turned to ash. Heat so intense the updraft snuffed out the nearby fires. Dark Inferno remained in a charred circle. A column of smoke climbed into the sky.

An uneventful flight back from New Jersey. At the Virginia border, Dark Inferno turned along the blue ridge mountains. His phone rang as he passed into Tennessee. On a quiet mountaintop, he landed carefully not to burn the trees and checked his phone. His daughter had called. He returned the call.

"Daddy?"

"Hey, Peggy. Anymore trouble at school? No more fights in the gym?" Dark Inferno said.

"No," Margret said.

"Good. I'll be home Saturday afternoon," Dark Inferno said.