Laura lapped the base a couple of times, looking for a gap in the barriers, but found nothing. She was getting frustrated until she heard something strange. It sounded like a gigantic tarp flapping against the wind. Then she looked up and felt a chill. It wasn’t a tarp, but the gigantic wings of a dragon spread out as it glided over her. That couldn’t be Draego, could it? Laura had always thought that calling himself Draego was to overcompensate for a napoleon complex, shame for not being a full dragon. If Draego could go full dragon, why hadn’t he ever done this before?

Before Laura could process what she was seeing, the dragon looked back, recognizing the new superhero known as Celerity. Without even changing his flight path, he opened his jaws and unleashed flames that formed into fireballs. Those fireballs went straight for Laura, leaving smoke trails in their wake.

    “Not good,” she said.

    Laura ran across the plain, the fireballs closing in on her and following her as she changed direction. Even with super speed, the fireballs caught up to her. Laura began zigzagging, barely dodging as the fireballs exploded on the ground.

    After a moment of fireballs barely missing her, a few flew ahead and hovered over her. Laura realized they were all going to drop at once, giving her no room to dodge. She counted the fireballs and prepared to jump at the last moment.

    The fireballs dropped, and Laura jumped, barely slipping through them as they landed, leaving a gigantic explosion beneath her. Soaring through the air, Laura breathed a sigh of relief. If she’d been caught in that explosion…

    There was one more fireball, one that slipped out of the smoke trails from the other fireballs. Laura felt her heart pounding as her face went white. She couldn’t dodge mid air, and this last fireball was heading straight for her. For a moment, she thought it was all over.

    Then something grabbed her from behind, pushing her away from the fireball at the last moment. It was SteelStar, who now held Laura with one arm supporting her back and the other arm under her knees. The fireball immediately turned to follow them, and Laura grabbed onto SteelStar’s neck to keep from falling off.

    “You okay, Celerity?” asked SteelStar.

    In the excitement, it took a moment for her to realize he was talking to her. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m fine.”

    Laura noticed that Steel’stars arms and the front of his torso were normal flesh, not metal. He must have changed part of his body to keep from injuring her when he caught her. She also noticed that SteelStar had to start bobbing and weaving to avoid the fireball still chasing them.

    And then something came between them and the fireball, taking the explosion and being knocked back in the air. It was Centurion, flying with his antigravity device and blocking the fireball with a red, glowing shield. As he stopped, Centurion realized he could feel the heat through the shield and even through his armor. His suit also gave an electronic beep, warning that heat was approaching intolerable levels. He doubted he could continuously block fire with his shield and once again lamented that the E.H.O.D. had given him the shock resistant armor instead of the heat resistant set.

    With the fireball gone, SteelStar flew down and let Laura jump down as he turned his entire body metal again. Together, the three made their way to catch Draego and Deathstare. SteelStar and Centurion flew close to the ground to talk with Celerity as she ran with them. They quickly reached the city limits, where people still took refuge inside buildings.

    “So does anyone have a plan?” asked Centurion.

    “You and Celerity chase after Deathstare,” said SteelStar. “I’ll try and keep Draego distracted.”

    “Are you crazy?!” demanded Centurion. “I don’t know if you noticed, but he’s turned into a full dragon! Do you have any idea how powerful a full dragon is?!”

    “And you’re dad’s Magknight, right?” asked Laura. “He’s had trouble with an evil dragon or two. How many Magcannons can you do at a time?”

    SteelStar grimaced and reluctantly admitted, “Three in a day.”

    It wasn’t much more than what John Gatlin could do at Andy’s age, but as the superhero Magknight, he’d spent years building up his strength. Andy and John’s bodies could store a lot of electricity by default, but John had spent years training to build up how much energy he could use, not unlike exercising a muscle. In his heyday, Magknight could shoot magcannons all day before running out of energy. SteelStar was nowhere near that level yet.

    Celerity was right. His father had fought dragons in full dragon form, and it usually took ten magcannons; more if he didn’t hit the same spot more than once. SteelStar didn’t stand a chance by himself, and he knew it.

    “It doesn’t matter,” said SteelStar. “Deathstare has the fugori crystal. He has to be a bigger priority.”

    “Actually,” said Centurion, his voice grave. “Draego might be a bigger problem. Before they were sealed, dragons had an incredibly strong instinct to destroy. Scorchwing holds that in check by living as a human most of the time, but a half dragon might not be able to.”

    “What are you saying?” asked SteelStar.

    “It’s the only reason I can think of that Draego wouldn’t have used this power until now. If he starts getting the urge to destroy things randomly, he could lose track of why he’s here and ignore the crystal. The fugori crystal is a big enough score that I can imagine him risking it, but if he loses control of himself and starts destroying, a lot of people are going to get hurt.”

    SteelStar gritted his metal teeth. This was really, really bad. Why did he keep getting catastrophes like this? This was the kind of thing you dealt with when you’ve been a superhero for a few years, not a few days.

    “Let me handle Deathstare,” said Laura.

    SteelStar frowned. “Are you sure, Celerity? His power is pretty much tailor made to fight speedsters. He can defend himself from any direction you attack from.”

    “I know,” said Laura, still getting used to being called by her superhero name. “But if I find a way to get close, I can end this with one hit. I won’t be much help against that dragon.”

    “You sure about this?” asked Centurion.

    “I’m not sure about anything,” said Laura. “But we gotta play the hand we’re dealt. You two handle Draego. I’ll go after Deathstare.”

    SteelStar nodded solemnly, “Alright. Good luck, Celerity.”

    Laura smiled. She realized she would have to get used to people calling her that. If she didn’t want to confuse herself, she would have to think of herself as Celerity as well.

    “You too, SteelStar,” said Celerity.

    Centurion and SteelStar flew up to intercept the dragon while Celerity ran to catch up with Deathstare’s motorcycle.

    “We have to get Draego out of the city,” SteelStar shouted as he flew.

    “Go for the wings,” shouted Centurion. “And go up at full throttle. We’ll get him above the buildings.”

    “Right!”

    The two superheroes flew forward, getting ahead of Draego and diving low to get under his wings. Deathstare, from his motorcycle, saw them with the eyes on his back and charged those eyes to shoot lasers.

    At that moment, two things happened. SteelStar anticipated Deathstare interfering, so he sent many small lightning bolts from his fingertips, spreading them out in a wide pattern. Deathstare was forced to deflect the lightning bolts with his lasers rather than attack. At the same time, Celerity rushed forward, eventually taking Deathstare’s attention. He swerved away from the lightning and charged lasers on the side of his body. Celerity retreated immediately, diving behind a building as lasers impacted the wall. That was enough to distract Deathstare as centurion and SteelStar impacted Draego’s wings, changing the dragon’s flight path upward.

    “Draego!” shouted Deathstare.

    Draego snarled. They got over the buildings quickly at their speed, but they weren’t high above them before Draego flapped his wings, sending the two superheroes flying away. They corrected quickly but were forced to fly away as Draego dived at them, spewing blue fire from his jaws.

    SteelStar and Centurion flew up, and Draego flapped his wings to gain height as he chased them. SteelStar felt some relief as the buildings got further and further away below them. That should avoid any unnecessary destruction.

    SteelStar still had a bullet in his right gauntlet from before, so he turned around to fly backward, putting his left hand on his right wrist to keep his arm steady. Soon he charged the bullet with electricity and unleashed it. The electrified bullet bounced off Draego’s head, making him flinch, but didn’t seem to do any real damage.

    The next moment, Draego looked back with an even angrier look as he unleashed jet streams from all four of his claws to close the distance between him and the heroes. He opened his maw and unleashed blue flames.

    “Scatter!” cried Centurion.

    SteelStar and Centurion flew in opposite directions, barely missing the flames. Centurion got another warning from his suit that the heat was near unacceptable limits, making him grit his teeth in frustration.

    “We need a stronger attack,” shouted SteelStar. “Can you enhance my Magcannon?”

    “I can only enhance something through physical contact,” shouted Centurion.

    So that wouldn’t work. The bullet would stop being enhanced the moment it left SteelStar’s wrist, not to mention the damage it could do to Centurion’s finger. They have to come up with something else.

    In the meantime, Draego had apparently chosen SteelStar as his primary target. The dragon chased the metal superhero, the jets on his claws roaring as his wings rippled in the wind. Draego, for his part, was getting more and more furious. He was starting to get annoyed with this metal superhero. He was going to tear him apart, and then he’d destroy this city just to…

    He shook his draconic head. The ring’s magic was getting to him, infusing him with the ancient dragon’s instinct for destruction. He’d get these heroes off their backs and meet back up with the others. He would not waste time destroying things needlessly.

###

Celerity ran through the city, following Deathstare by the sound of his motorcycle. She knew if she got too close, he’d shoot lasers accurate enough to track even a speedster. With so many lasers, she wouldn’t be able to slip through, so she needed a plan. She knew from some online research that Deathstare could combine lasers to form a bigger one. If he were forced to use that, he’d have fewer lasers to shoot her with. She’d just need to throw something at him that forced him to use the big laser. Fortunately, liability for public property damage could be excused legally if it could be justified during hero work. Celerity figured retrieving the fugori crystal counted.

    She ran ahead, easily getting in front of Deathstare. She was only within his view for a split second before she punched the ground, her shockwave knocking a chunk of asphalt out of the ground and into the air. Since she only had super strength while moving fast, she spun in place five times in a split second and punched the flying asphalt, sending it right toward Deathstare as he rode between two cars.

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    Deathstare opened eyes all over his chest and combined lasers to knock away the chunk. As he did, Celerity slipped around and aimed her hand at Deathstare’s forehead, hoping to knock him out. As Deathstare blasted the flying boulder away, he stretched out one arm and opened the eyes there.

    Celerity’s eyes grew wide as she dodged to the right, narrowly getting behind a car that got dented by the lasers from his arm. She zigzagged through a couple of other cars as lasers chased her before taking shelter behind a building. The boulder was thrown away, crashing to the sidewalk as Deathstare drove through.

    Celerity stood with her back to a wall for a moment. Sweat dripped down her skin, and her heart pounded as she took quick, strained breaths. Those lasers had gotten close, and judging by the damage they’d done to those cars, it would only take one hit to take her out. She stayed there for a moment, trying to calm down.

    Get ahold of yourself, she thought. You’ve got a job to do.

    She took a deep breath and sped off, her mind racing for another plan.

###

SteelStar flew ahead, hoping to lead Draego away from the city. Centurion followed close by, seeing what he was doing and understanding. Draego threw blasts of blue fire at both of them, but they barely kept out of distance. Draego kept glancing down at the buildings below, getting the urge to rip the buildings apart. He’d been warned about this but hadn’t expected it to be this intense. It was like an itch in his head that he couldn’t scratch.

    Then he realized he was getting farther and farther away from Deathstare, which was a problem on its own. Maybe the threat of a little destruction would get these two to stay put so he could deal with them.

    Draego swerved down.

    “No!” cried SteelStar, turning to go after him.

    “Wait, kid!” cried Centurion.

    SteelStar looked in confusion to see Centurion aim his wrist. A thin steel cable shot from Centurion’s armor, and at the end of that cable, two more cables extended and spun around.

When it hit, the cables wrapped around the creature’s neck. Centurion then charged the cable with red energy to strengthen it.

    “Help me pull!” shouted Centurion.

    “Right!” cried SteelStar as he grabbed the cable. Just as Draego was about to unleash fire at a building, the pair yanked hard, tilting the dragon’s head up and sending the flames away harmlessly. The two groaned as they kept pulling the dragon away towards the city's edge and back to the open plain they’d come from.

    For a minute or two, Draego struggled to get the wire off his neck. Centurion’s power kept the claws from cutting the wire, and it was too tight around his neck to slip his claws under it. For a minute, he struggled, then began flapping his wings to throw them off. The pair wobbled in the air as the wings made the wind roar.

    “Hold on!” cried SteelStar.

    “I’m holding!” said Centurion.

    They managed to make it past the line of buildings when Draego’s thrashing finally forced SteelStar’s hands to slip from the cable.

    “Centurion!”

    Draego then used one powerful flap of his wings to send himself downward, taking Centurion with him. Centurion, his eyes wide, released the cable and opened his shield, putting it between himself and the ground. Draego hit the ground, kicking up dust, and Centurion hit soon afterward, his shield absorbing most of the impact and leaving a crater beneath him.

    Fortunately, they were just outside the city, missing any buildings. SteelStar flew down to check on Centurion, but the armored superhero got up quickly. Before SteelStar reached him, he noticed Draego opening his maw.

    “Look out!” cried SteelStar, grabbing Centurion by the waist and pulling him away from the flames. They just barely escaped the heat, and Centurion’s suit gave him the heat warning again.

    “Thanks,” said Centurion irritably. “Now let me go.”

    SteelStar rolled his eyes as he released Centurion. The pair flew a few feet above the ground and faced Draego. The dragon glared at them, his eyes filled with rage as each breath released smoke from his nostrils.

    “Any plan?” asked SteelStar.

    “Not yet,” said Centurion. “But I’ll keep you posted.”

    And the pair rushed forward as Draego ran forward on all fours, releasing a deafening roar.

###

Celerity, keeping cars between herself and Deathstare, punched the ground, sending a shockwave to rip up the road ahead of Deathstare before running back and hitting the ground to send a shockwave behind him. This left the road on either side of him as rubble, which would hopefully prevent him from driving out of that area. She then punched the ground and sent a few shockwaves aimed directly at the bike.

    Deathstare, however, aimed a few eyes on his chest, forming a perfect line of lasers that flattened the rubble in front of him, making a new path for him to ride over. He also shot a few lasers behind him, blasting the shockwaves Celerity had sent and dispersing the energy in little craters.

    Celerity gritted her teeth in frustration as she ran after him. She kept her distance to avoid those lasers but had this sinking feeling she’d have to get close again at some point.

    She was quickly running out of ideas.

###

SteelStar flew in and punched Draego’s head, his fist charged with electricity, but flew away immediately as Draego’s jaws shot blue flames at him. Centurion flew in a moment later, a hammer extending from the armor in his wrist. He charged the hammer with red energy and struck Draego in the head, and while the dragon flinched, he didn’t seem hurt and snapped at Centurion with his jaws.

    As Centurion flew away, SteelStar lamented that neither of them was doing any damage. He threw a lightning bolt, but it deflected off Draego’s scales and got the dragon’s attention. Draego leaped up, and SteelStar dodged a swipe from Draego’s claws only to get caught in a wave of blue flames. SteelStar felt the heat wash over him as he exited the fire, his entire metal body red hot, including his gauntlets and boots. Distracted by the heat, he didn’t notice Draego’s tail swipe through the air until it slammed into him.

    SteelStar was knocked to the ground, kicking up dirt and leaving a ditch before stopping. He lay there, groaning in pain and holding his side where the tail had struck. Since his bones were made of metal, they wouldn’t break, but they would bend, and SteelStar was certain the metal on the side of his body was bent slightly. He closed his eyes, stifling a scream from the pain.

    Centurion watched him, gritting his teeth under his helmet. Centurion was feeling the heat just from getting close to Draego. He’d avoided that fire, but the dragon’s body still gave off enough heat to trigger his suit’s heat warning. To make matters worse, it was becoming clear that nothing they were doing would take down this monster. Centurion had thought of one way, but he really didn’t want to use it.

    Draego, still in the form of a full dragon, watched SteelStar lay there in pain and felt a supreme sense of satisfaction. This little hero had interfered one too many times, and Draego would take great pleasure in destroying him.

    And it was with that simple thought, that he’d take pleasure in destroying something, that the urge to destroy finally took over. He would punish SteelStar for getting in his way by destroying what SteelStar wished to protect. With an evil grin on his draconic face, Draego turned and looked towards the nearby buildings of Partition City. Centurion saw him look that way and got a sinking feeling.

    “Uh oh,” said Centurion.

###

Celerity kept running through the city, keeping the sound of Deathstare’s motorcycle within earshot as she considered her options. She finally concluded that the only way to get close to Deathstare was to make him close his eyes. He was immune to any blinding light, so she would have to get something in his eyes that his lasers couldn’t deflect, like dust or smoke. That wouldn’t be easy. She could control her kinetic energy to knock around chunks of asphalt, but turning solid objects into dust proved more difficult. She could spread around existing dust or turn water into vapor, but she’d either have to find some, which would risk losing Deathstare, or hope that Deathstare happened to pass something she could use.

    No, wait, there was water everywhere. There were pipes beneath the road and sewers beneath even that. Celerity didn’t think bursting pipes would be a good idea, but she’d have to time it just right if she used the sewer water. If she could get enough water in his eyes, he might be forced to close them, and water vapor wasn’t something those lasers could deflect.

    She grimaced. Going into the sewer was going to be pretty gross, but she had a job to do.

    She took a deep breath, then ran behind Deathstare, watching for any manhole covers. She saw two, one ahead of him and one he had just passed. She ran up to one and slapped the ground, sending a shockwave to knock the manhole cover into the air. In a split second, she was down in the sewer. As she landed, making a splash, she spun for a moment, making a whirlpool around her legs, and then punched the water's surface.

    This sent a shockwave down the liquid before forcing the water up, bursting out the other manhole cover only to explode into the air, spreading water vapor in every direction. Celerity spun again, then jumped out of the manhole she’d just come from. As she landed on the road above, She could see Deathstare forced to stop his motorcycle, unable to drive forward with water in his eyes.

    The eyes on the front of his body, at least. The eyes on his back were fine and charging lasers.

    Celerity immediately ran around the nearby cars as lasers tore up the area she’d just been. She kept cars between herself as she ran to get in front of Deathstare, each car getting blasted one by one. Once she was in front of the supervillain, she moved to attack.

    By now, though, the vapor had cleared, and the eyes on Deathstare’s front were beginning to open. She could see green light peeking out between their eyelids. For a moment, Celerity was tempted to flee, her body hesitating for a split second, but this was her last chance. If this didn’t work, she’d have no other plan for getting close to him.

    She ran up to him, and just as his eyes opened fully, green lasers ready to fire. Celerity reached up and tapped his forehead. Just like Fast-Track had taught her, she sent the shockwave to the fluid in his inner ear. By spinning that fluid, she made his senses so disoriented that he started to sway, glowing green eyes spinning all over his body.

    Celerity tensed for a moment, certain the lasers rip her to shreds at any moment, but Deathstare fell backward off the motorcycle. The green lights went out, and all his eyes closed as he passed out.

    Celerity ran up and caught the front of his costume just before he hit the pavement, then let him fall gently. She stopped to rest her hands on her knees, panting. After that moment, she checked to make sure Deathstare was actually passed out, and when she was certain he was, she sighed in relief.

    The motorcycle fell over a moment later, and Celerity quickly moved over to check on the canister attached to it. Sure enough, when she opened it, she could see the yellow crystal still inside. She closed it, then raised her hands to the sky.

    “Yeah!” she cried. “I did it! Whoo hoo!”

    She stood there, feeling exhilarated. Maybe this superhero gig would work out after all.

###

SteelStar, through the pain in his side, managed to stand up, his metal body still red hot. When he looked up, he saw the giant dragon Draego lifting his head and taking a deep breath. A moment later, SteelStar heard the roaring of wind. Draego was inhaling an insane amount of air, his lungs seemingly bottomless. If Draego unleashed that kind of firepower, it could do unimaginable damage, and he was aimed directly at the city.

    “No,” said SteelStar.

    He flew up, charged his red hot fist with electricity, and tried to punch Draego in the head. Draego’s head barely shook, so SteelStar punched again and again but then was forced to pull back and scream when one of his blows hurt.

    He cradled his hand for a moment, his eyes shut tight as he recovered. Then he gritted his teeth in determination and put both hands on the dragon, sending electricity directly into the scales. Draego didn’t even seem to notice. SteelStar stopped, and if his eyes could produce tears in his metal form, they would. He thought of finding water to cool off, but that wouldn’t help him damage the dragon.

    Centurion watched SteelStar struggle and realized he didn’t have any other choice. There was only one way they could stop that dragon, and he wasn’t even sure it would work. Still, he didn’t sign up to be a superhero for nothing.

    Centurion flew over and landed on Draego’s back, ignoring the inevitable warning from his suit about the heat as he reinforced the armor with his power.

    “Kid!” cried Centurion. “Hit me with everything you got!”

    SteelStar looked at him, confused, “Are you crazy?!”

    “Trust me!” cried Centurion. “I can enhance the electricity as it passes through the outer layer of my armor!”

    “That will kill you!”

    “Don’t tell me what I…” Centurion snapped before shaking his head. “There’s no time! You’re just gonna have to trust me!”

    SteelStar felt frozen. He couldn’t do this again. He couldn’t throw his power at a fellow superhero. Not again.

    “But…”

    Suddenly Draego stopped inhaling. Centurion quickly shot out two cables from his wrist and wrapped them around the Dragon’s Horns, pulling his head and keeping it pointed in the air. Draego began thrashing, but Centurion kept himself planted right where he was.

    “Do it!” cried Centurion.

    Draego was ready to unleash his flames, and SteelStar realized he was out of time. Clenching his red hot metal fists, SteelStar channeled his full power, glowing red as electricity lanced off his body.

    “You’d better know what you’re doing!” SteelStar screamed.

    The metal superhero flew up and shot a powerful blast of lightning that struck Centurion’s red, glowing armor. The electricity ran through the outer metal layer of Centurion’s suit, and Centurion’s energy turned everything red, enhancing both the lightning and the shock resistant layer inside his suit. The electricity then ran through Centurion’s metal boots and into the dragon. The dragon convulsed violently, red lightning lancing over his entire body as he roared in pain. Fire erupted from the dragon’s jaws as Centurion kept his head pointed up with the cables.

    Pure white flames were thrown into the sky, roaring as they flew upward before exploding high in the air. SteelStar watched it in awe. If Draego had successfully sent those flames to the city…

    Finally, the flames sputtered out, heading to the sky to fade away. Draego swayed on all fours for a moment before falling. Centurion, detaching the cables from his wrists, flew off Draego’s back just as the dragon crashed into the ground, smoke drifting off his scaly body. Centurion’s suit was still giving the heat warning, but he’d gotten off just before the heat reached intolerable levels. He removed his helmet, taking deep breaths as sweat ran down his face.

    SteelStar flew over, “You okay.”

    “Yeah,” said Centurion, panting. “I’ll be alright.”

    A moment later, Draego’s body turned to smoke. The smoke spread out and faded away. All that was left was a dragon shaped crater, and in the center of that crater, Draego lay face down and passed out in his human form, wearing his normal clothing. Around his finger, the gold ring that had enabled the transformation turned to dust, blowing away in the wind.

    SteelStar watched this for a moment, his face beginning to look less red as his metal body started to cool down. SteelStar then looked over at Centurion, who looked away sheepishly. SteelStar couldn’t believe the armored superhero had survived that much electricity, especially when enhancing it with his own power. It just didn’t make sense.

    Still, SteelStar didn’t dwell on that. The two of them had saved the city. Barely, but they’d done it, and he took as much comfort from that victory as he could.