Sam Starn wondered if he was going to die. Walking trees were all around him. Why had he flown into New York?

That was a dumb question. He knew why he had flown in. His strategist had asked him for transport and he had agreed. He just hadn’t known what would happen would happen.

Seeker had known because she had kitted up with her heavy assault gear. She must have thought he would run when he saw how bad things were. Maybe he would have.

“All right, Cap,” said the third member of their team in his ear. “I’m coming in on the trees to your right. I think I can punch a hole for you two to get through.”

“Moving,” said Sam. He jumped across a car hood, ran to a wall cutting him off from a small park beyond, and scaled it in a second. He dropped down on the other side, baton in hand.

The Rocket came down and turned at the last second. Blasts from his power caught the nearest trees in their wooden faces and knocked them over. He flew up in the air.

Sam dropped fire extinguisher foam on the burning trees as he ran through the playground. He left the invaders trying to light themselves back up before the Rocket came back and did something to them.

Seeker was somewhere ahead, moving toward some unknown goal. She carried her rifle at the ready. She had opted for a long coat to conceal the body armor and equipment she wore. A dark face mask covered her round features. Her eyes glittered copper sometimes when she moved under street lights.

Occasionally the rifle spoke. When it did, a dead tree fell with the flame escaping its body.

Sam’s team was at the edge of the deployment. He had heard of big hero battles before he put on his mask, but that had seemed removed from what he and his team did.

His sister had been the Captain before him. She had led a team that had vanished during an assault on a mad scientist lair. He found her lair and trained up to replace her.

He had changed the colors on his copy of her uniform to stand out and make his own way.

Seeker had joined after he had established himself. She said she needed work to hone her ability. Just picking stocks made money, but wasn’t helping her skill any. She wanted it to be better than that.

The Rocket had found out about what they were doing and asked to join them. He had already been a hero for a while, a legacy from World War Two. They needed someone who could do high speed chases and air searches. He was perfect for that.

And his dad had been on the Stars with Sam’s sister when the team had disappeared. It had felt wrong to turn him away.

So the three of them had trained up with Seeker taking any weapon she could from any armed bandit they caught up with. Half of the things she was carrying was stolen from crooks they had taken down in the middle of their crimes.

Rocket’s grandfather flew by over head. He pulled one of the flying platforms into a roll. The crew fell out as the ship rolled into the ground. He flew off to find someone else he could knock out of the air.

Sam knocked a tree out of his way with his shoulder. He told some onlooker to get clear and try to move away from the battle. They didn’t need for a civilian to be stomped into the ground while they were trying to protect the city.

The civilian waved at him with a lit cigar and strolled down the road.

Sam headed along the road, leaping over anything in his way. He had worked for hours to learn how to move smoothly over obstacles. He paused when he saw someone using the roof of a building to shoot out in the night.

“Seeker?,” Sam said into his radio. “Can you see me south of a sniper shooting into the park?”

“That’s me, Captain,” said Seeker. “I’m giving cover fire for others fighting down there.”

“Can you point me and Rocket in?,” said Sam. “We’ll help take care of this.”

“Uncle Steve is down there with some of his friends,” said Seeker. “He’ll probably shoot a flare now that you’re close enough to help out.”

A rocket flew into the air and exploded in a cloud of fireworks. That must be my mark, thought Sam as he raced deeper into the park. The embers slowly faded away as they fell.

Sam rushed forward. Seeker’s Uncle Steve used to adventure back in the day. He had met the man a couple of times. He had probably flown in to help Seeker when the news of the battle had broken out.

The Captain saw the older adventurer in the middle of a pack of wolves. The wolves had too many eyes and teeth. He supposed they were shock troops of some kind.

He noted some other costumed adventurers with the retired aviator. He decided he could introduce himself when he had saved the day. He booted the nearest wolf from behind as he charged up on the scene. The animal flew out of his way and landed with a whimper. It jumped to face Sam with a growl on its lips and a glare in its eyes.

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“Seeker says hi,” said Sam. He readied himself for an attack from the wolves. His baton didn’t seem that much of a threat to them.

A bullet streaking through the park punctuated his statement.

“You kids shouldn’t be here,” said Uncle Steve. He unloaded his shotgun into the wolves from his side of the ring. Some of them went down, while the rest scattered. “This is some end of the world stuff going on here.”

“Seeker would have tried to come on her own if we tried to back out,” said Sam. He booted another wolf out of his way. “She’s really stubborn.”

The two Rockets did a fly by to try to keep the sky over the park clear of the enemy. They attracted some weird birds that they allowed to chase them before using their jets on them.

Sam looked around. Why were they holding the park? They should move out to the other side and push the trees back where they would be easier to take apart. The weird animals could be rounded up by Animal Control, or some other agency, and taken in when this was over.

“Am I too late, Steve?,” asked a man in a dark suit, blasting wolves out of his way with glances.

“No, Steve,” said Charlton. The adventurer adjusted his old pilot’s hat. “Are you sure you can do this?”

“I guess,” said the other Steve. “I still think Memphis could help you more.”

“Your talent is the only thing that can help us,” said Charlton. “Cap, this is Stephen Scry. Steve, this is the Captain from the Shooting Stars. When the push comes, Steve, that’s when we’re going to need you the most.”

“I got it,” said the man in the dark suit. He rubbed his hands together. “I haven’t done anything like this in a while. I’m going to need a second to warm up.”

“The push is getting ready to happen,” Charlton said. He looked up at the sky. “Marty is getting ready to do his thing.”

Sam wondered what was going to happen. He looked up too. Explosions marked purple light blasting the enemy from the sky. Giants appeared as a giant flaming tree emerged from the cloud bank that had issued the trees and invading species. He wondered again how he had thought he would make difference in the face of the power being thrown around, when the Mark had been killed like that.

A kaiju appeared on the street. It rushed forward and helped the giants with the tree. It roared a blast of fire against the enemy.

“This is it,” said Charlton. “This is the end.”

“Once I get started, I won’t be able to defend myself,” said Scry.

“We’ve got you,” said Charlton. He blasted a crow out of the air.

Blue flame blasted across the city. It went through the tree queen. She staggered back into the cloud. Letters of light formed to disperse the cloud.

“Now, Steve,” said Charlton. He kept an eye on the park.

Sam took the other side. He wasn’t worried. Seeker had a rifle away from the

fighting. The Rockets were in the air overhead. Other costumed adventurers were spread out away from his position. He saw one of the Finches using something for batting practice and winced.

An eye of light formed around Scry. He stood still and closed his eyes. Sam heard the sound of pages snapping in the air. Another cloud ring formed in the park. The grayness thinned to reveal a place of gray stone on the other side. Costumed and masked people jumped through the door, looking around at the park. They held themselves ready to fight.

The magician let go of his spell and the cloud collapsed. He held himself together, taking deep breaths to steady himself.

Sam looked at one of the people who had come through. She wore almost the same costume he had in blue. He couldn’t keep a grin from his face.

“Amanda?,” he put his baton in holster. “Amanda?”

“Sam?,” said the woman. “Why are you wearing one of my costumes?”

“Where have you been?,” asked Sam. “What happened?”

“Not now,” said one of the other heroes. “We’re still in trouble.”

“It’s almost over,” said Charlton. “The main enemy has been defeated. The rest is the clean up.”

One of the others took to the sky, reuniting with the Rockets. Sam grinned as the three flew through the air. They chased each other.

“I think we have some catching up to do,” said Amanda. “We’ve been stranded for thirty years.”

“The current situation is an invasion from another dimension,” said Sam. “We’ve lost the Mark, and who knows who else. I have a couple of partners helping me, and Captain Charlton figured out how to get you back somehow.”

“Steve did it,” said Charlton, gesturing at the man in the dark suit. “But the rest will have to wait until we make sure the park is clear, and the enemy hasn’t decided to kill civilians since they might be stuck here.”

“I think we can handle that part,” said Amanda. “This is more masks than I have ever seen.”

“It’s one of the bigger assemblies,” said Charlton. He pushed his cap back. “The excitement is dying down. We’ll be gathering our dead until morning. You folks should go ahead. There’s a place south of here. We’ll meet there in a couple of hours.”

“Thank you,” said Sam. He shook Charlton’s hand, then Scry’s. He was all grins.

“Everyone safe?,” asked Seeker over the radio.

“Yes,” said Sam. “We’re moving south. Your uncle said his group would catch up with us now that the fight is almost done.”

“I have one more shot to take, then I am on my way,” said Seeker.

He nodded, despite knowing she couldn’t see him unless she was looking at the group with the scope on her rifle.

“Why are you wearing a version of my costume?,” asked Amanda.

“I found your files and decided to take over for you,” said Sam. “Seeker and the Rocket decided to pitch in. We’ve been doing okay.”

“I have so much to catch up on,” said Amanda. “Wait. Why were you going through my stuff?”

“The county foreclosed on your house,” said Sam. “I went in and cleaned everything out and put it in a storage unit. I’ll give you the key when we figure out what to do.”

“All of my friends must think I ran off,” said Amanda.

“They know you were missing,” said Sam. “I don’t know how you can explain this to them. You might have to say you were stranded and couldn’t call.”

“This is going to take some getting used to,” said Amanda. “Thirty years is a long time to be away from home.”

“The worst part is people got over you being missing and moved on with their lives,” said Sam. “Except for me.”

“It will be like coming back from the dead,” said Amanda. “I’m not ready for that yet.”

“Let’s find this place Cap Charlton was talking about and see if we can get some food, and I’ll try to explain some of the things that have happened since you’ve been gone,” said Sam. “I admit I never thought I would see you again.”

“Same here,” said Amanda. “We built a base out there to survive. Baseline could never quite get us close to home. The call today, tonight, had come out of the blue. When we get out there, someone will find that place if it is still standing and go I wonder what happened here.”

“That’ll be a couple of centuries at least,” said Sam.

“Maybe,” said Amanda. “We found some things out there we can use to expand the space programs here.”

“So you’re going to be an astronaut?,” asked Sam.

“I don’t see why not,” said Amanda.

“There might be some trouble ahead,” said one of Amanda’s group. He wore a mask with an eye on it.

“Sean, this is my brother, Sam,” said Amanda. “Sam, this is Sean. He’s our recon expert.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Sam.

“Okay,” said Sean. “Are we looking into this?”

“I don’t see why not,” said Amanda.