Aeliana flailed her arms; the wind had drowned out her screams as she plummeted toward the ground at a velocity that made her heart leap into her throat. The impact was harsh, as expected, and although she knew nothing in her body had broken from it, she couldn’t help but feel sick at the sound of her body hitting the concrete.

  Her head rattled for only a moment, but it was long enough for her opponent. As an impact more forceful than her fall struck her lower back, driving her body further into the ground and forcing all the air out of her lungs. While she was confident it wouldn’t happen, considering she was pretty much unscathed from the near ten story fall, the thought of her spine breaking under the villain's boot imbedded itself in her mind.

  She gasped and air finally refilled her lungs as the massive boot that had been crushing her just moments ago, now imbedded itself into the pavement beside her head. Her vision was doubling, but she regained sense enough to turn herself and see the massive hand that came down to grab her face. 

  “Ya know, when word got out that there was a newer, smaller Astro Woman in town...” the giant above her started, his hand now gripping her skull. “I was stoked to finally have some new competition!” His other fist smashed into her chest, knocking all the air she’d just gained right back out. His blows, despite being able to level a few small buildings, didn’t do any major damage to her body. However, this guy knew how to fight, and exactly where to strike to ensure that her nigh invulnerability had been rendered almost completely moot. He released her, letting her fall back down to the ground. “I was hoping you’d put up more of a fight.” He remarked.

  Aeliana felt his boot touch down on the side of her head and begin pushing her face into the concrete, causing it to crumble beneath her.

  “Oh well, this was a fun warm up for the day!” He spoke harshly as she felt his boot quickly lift from the side of her head. Her body seemed to move on its own for a moment, as she quickly threw herself out of his stomp that viciously caved in the concrete where her head was only moments ago.

  Steadying herself, Aeliana blinked as her sight slowly realigned itself. The mountain of a villain standing before her turned to meet her stare. His left eye, and the rest of the left half of his face, was entirely cybernetic. Aeliana didn’t expect fighting a cyborg when she’d heard the news of his attack on the local science center. She made a mental note to get more details before heading out on another mission like this.

  “Not a bit of quit in ya, is there?” He remarked. Aeliana smiled. While she’d never heard of this guy before today, a remark like that from a villain, especially in the middle of a fight, had to mean she was doing something right. An alert within her mind went off. An unseen danger was about to make itself known. She reached out with her mind. While her psionic abilities weren’t strong enough to sense much outside of a dozen meters, she was close enough to sense-

  “Oh crap!” Aeliana raised her hands to summon an energy field in front of her just before the laser could hit her chest. The field absorbed it, and as it dissipated, she saw the eye on the villain’s cybernetic side steam as it seemed to enter a sort of cooldown process. “Laser eyes? That’s cool!” She called out as she let her energy field fall, he smirked at her feigned excitement. “Check mine out!” Unleashing a small and controlled beam of the same energy out of her own eyes, she gave a small smirk of her own as the concussive force sent the villain flying backward. A small sigh of relief escaped her as she noticed he narrowly missed the cars on the side of the road. Lucky, she thought, making another mental note to pay more attention to that for the rest of the fight. While most of the civilians in the area had cleared out of the area when the cyborg had begun his attack, Aeliana had received enough lectures about avoiding collateral damage from both of her mothers during training.

  The cyborg rose to his feet, his cybernetic torso now fully exposed as he tore away the rest of his shirt that’d been damaged from her attack. His cybernetic eye glared back at her with an intense red glow. Looks like he’s charged up again. Aeliana braced herself. Mentally reaching into herself to summon the energy for another shield, her heart dropped when she couldn’t find it.

  The laser didn’t hurt that much, though the impact on her chest knocked her off of her feet, sending her careening backward into a lamppost and onto the street. She couldn’t tell how long she’d been dazed for, but when she turned herself over to look into the sky, she saw the cyborg looming over her, his eye charging up for another attack.

  “I’d like to request a timeout.” She groaned. The cyborg’s mouth twisted into a sinister smile as his eye unleashed the most powerful blast yet.

  While the heat of the laser had only slightly intensified, Aeliana was sure its force made it the most powerful attack that’d been thrown during the fight. As it sent her further into the ground, the concrete and dirt began to bury her in the small crater her body had created.

  Several plans came to her mind, and each of them dissipated as the cyborg’s attack only intensified. She couldn’t move. She supposed now would’ve been a justified time to panic.

  No, calm down. She told herself, with the cyborg focused on blasting her, he wouldn’t be attacking anyone else, which was good. And it had to stop at some point, right? As if on cue, the cyborg roared as the laser intensified even further, its heat and force nearly doubling.

  Okay, maybe panic would be justified.

  Summoning all the energy she could muster into her right fist, she kept her left one in front of the laser, pushing against its force. Its heat had finally torn away at her suit’s exterior layer, exposing the metallic-looking mesh that lay underneath the purple patterns.

  She wound back her arm, the energy within it charging and intensifying. She closed her eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath and held it, feeling the energy pulse through her body. Finally, throwing her fist forward, she sent the energy straight at the cyborg’s chest. Aeliana released her breath as the force of the laser finally relented and the cyborg fell backward, out of sight from the crater she now sat in. Using the sides of the crater to pull herself to her feet, she felt her mind race as she realized that the fight would be back on at any moment.

  Pulling herself out of the crater, Aeliana looked over to see the cyborg lying flat on his back a few feet away.

  Wait, did I win? She thought as she slowly approached her opponent. A few of the cybernetic components on his body sparked, but he didn’t move as she drew closer. 

  Extending her leg, she nudged his foot with her own. No response. Aeliana felt her heart flutter. Oh my god, I won! Her mind raced as she tried to figure out what to do. She didn’t have any way to restrain the cyborg, but glancing around for a moment to find something to use, her eyes landed upon the broken lamppost that now laid mangled on the sidewalk. A little lightbulb lit up in her brain. 

  Perfect! Her excitement was almost overwhelming. She thought back to an hour ago, when she saw news about the robbery on the news. Her initial observations of the news coverage had her expecting a group of normal criminals or mercenaries, wielding normal guns with bullets she knew would just bounce off of her on impact. She’d never root for the appearance of a powered villain to appear in the city, especially in such a populated space. However, the fact that her encounter resulted in her defeating what had to have been the most powerful cyborgs that’d appeared in years had her heart fluttering. She thought of what both of her mothers would think, while there would undoubtedly be a lecture about her using her powers without approval or supervision from either of them, she was sure that her victory would make them too proud to be upset for long. It’d have to, right? She shook any doubts out of her mind as she picked up the lamppost, tapping it with her knuckles to gauge its durability. This will do- 

  A sharp jolt of psionic energy pulsed in her mind, a feeling that normally alerted her to an attack of some sort. She dropped the lamppost and pivoted to where the cyborg had been laying, only to be met with a flash of yellow.

  Her vision flashed black and white as she felt herself hit the floor. Was that another laser? She thought as she tried to blink away the flashes. As her senses returned to her, she saw the cyborg looming above her once again, a sadistic metal smile across his face.

  “Didn’t think this would work. Gotta say the lab coats really outdid themselves with this!” He dangled a device that looked like a metal wand. “I know my lasers can push you around. They’ve always been top-notch, especially for facing powered folks. But this dropped you like a sack of potatoes! Did that actually hurt?” It sounded like he was holding back a cackle as he looked at the wand and back at Aeliana. 

  “What... what is...” She hadn’t known how much of an effect the attack had. Her muscles spasmed and seized, her breaths broke as her airways opened and closed on their own. 

  “Ah, I don’t know what it’s called.” The cyborg remarked. “They just told me it’d be able to knock any hero, including Astro Woman, on their ass if need be.” He twirled the wand between his fingers. “I’m not gonna lie, though. I wish I could’ve seen it in action against her. But I’m not trying to be the one to test that out.” His cybernetic eye landed on the lamppost that now laid beside Aeliana. Another smile crossed his face. “You were about to wrap me up in that, weren’t you?” He asked, reaching down to pick it up. “Clever. Not sure how well it’d have worked out for you, though.” 

  Aeliana reached out for the lamppost. She wasn’t sure what she could or would do, but she was sure she didn’t want to see what he’d do with it, either. 

  The cyborg noticed her movements. Finally peeling his eyes away from his weapons, he pointed the wand to her torso and pushed a button. Another bolt of what looked like yellow lightning struck her body. Her arm quickly retracted, moving towards her chest as her body seized up again. This attack differed from the laser. Not only did it have a clear effect on her nervous system, but it actually hurt. As if to add insult to injury, the cyborg slammed the end of the lamppost into her face. It bent against her skull, doing little to no damage outside of just slightly adding to the daze the bolts were ensuing. Noticing the weapon’s futility, the cyborg dropped the post and focused on keeping the wand pointed at her, flipping a switch on its side that intensified its current. 

  Aeliana wasn’t sure what fire felt like to normal people, but she imagined that the sensation these bolts were giving her had to be like the pain of being set ablaze. She wanted to scream, but no sound escaped as her body felt as if it was giving out and caving in on itself. 

  The seemingly endless current finally ceased, leaving Aeliana on her back, her vision glazed over and ears ringing as she tried to once again regain her senses. Blinking away the water that’d formed in her eyes, she looked up to see the cyborg facing away from her, taking a defensive stance as he pointed the wand into the sky and shouting something her now ringing ears couldn’t make out.

  The cyborg shot another yellow bolt, this time into the sky. Aeliana’s eyes finally cleared enough to see what had taken his attention from her. Floating in the sky only a few meters away from the cyborg and herself, Aeliana saw the purple aura of Astro Woman.

  Aeliana watched as the bolts that’d just tormented her flew toward Astro Woman’s chest.

  With a short, effortless wave of her hand, Astro Woman caught the bolt, stopping it in midair. Her eyes glowed purple as she gazed at it curiously.

  “Interesting,” she remarked. “I wonder where you found this.” Her voice was calm as her fingers dipped into the bolt, its energy sparked and fizzled as it entered her hand and traveled through her arm, its yellow glow transforming into a bright purple that resembled her own. She closed her eyes as her body absorbed the energy. 

  The cyborg’s jaw dropped, and his arms fell to his sides as he watched Astro Woman take in the attack that was presumably supposed to have her on the ground like Aeliana had been. 

  “Oh no.” Were the only words he seemed able to piece together as Astro Woman’s eyes opened and locked onto him.

  Aeliana finally pushed herself up to her knees as the cyborg’s legs shakily stepped backwards, away from Astro Woman and herself. His equally shaky arm raised the wand up to Astro Woman again, firing a few more bolts, all of which fizzled as they came into contact with Astro Woman’s body. In a flash that was quicker than any of the lasers and bolts that’d flown during the battle, Astro Woman appeared in front of Aeliana, lifting the cyborg by his neck. 

  “You should know better by now, Skirmish.” Astro Woman spoke, her soft voice made it sound like she was scolding a child rather than speaking to a villain. “Your shenanigans have grown old.” 

  Skirmish, Aeliana thought, that was an old school villain she’d only read about during her studies. He hadn’t been seen in years. There’s no way this cyborg can be Skirmish.

  The cyborg’s fearful demeanor shifted to one almost completely vacant as he looked back at Astro Woman. 

  “It is you who should know better, Astro Woman.” He responded, his voice more monotone and robotic than before. “Your interference in my work has always been annoying, but futile. This day is no different.” The cybernetic eye sparked as it rotated sporadically. “You and your friend should enjoy your victory. It will be short lived.” The cyborg’s voice sputtered as his body began to tremble. Aeliana’s jaw dropped as she watched his clothing and skin spark and burn away, exposing a completely metallic body underneath. Various areas of the metallic husk sparked, several components breaking off and falling to the ground. 

  Astro Woman’s mouth fell into a frown as she let the body of the cyborg drop to the floor. Her eyes softened as she turned to see Aeliana, who’d finally gotten to her feet. 

  “Are you alright?” She asked. Her voice was calm, but Aeliana noticed her eyes darting up and down, scanning her body. Aeliana nodded.

  “Yeah, I’m okay. I was actually doing really well until he used that.” She nodded to the wand that laid next to the cyborg’s body. 

  Astro Woman glanced at the wand, her eyes glowed and a purple aura surrounded the wand, lifting it to her hands. Her eyes looked it over for a moment before returning to Aeliana. Her brow furrowed, and Aeliana felt a familiar energy as Astro Woman’s voice entered her mind.

  Dear daughter, what have you gotten yourself into this time?