NINETEEN

Invulnergirl had to hand it to Hank, it had been a pretty brave move, attacking Queen Neanderthal with a chair. Not smart, but brave. It had served a purpose, as the villainess had let go of her neck. Now she just had to prevent her snapping his neck.

“Lady,” the told her mom. “Toss me your jacket.”

“My jacket?” her mom wondered.

“Just do it.”

Her mom obliged and took off her jacket, tossing it to Invulnergirl. She snatched it from the air.

Queen Neanderthal raised a fist, ready to smash it into Hank’s face. Invulnergirl understood she would probably destroy the kid’s face. That’s why she jumped on Queen Neanderthal’s back and wrapped her mom’s coat around her face. She put her knees in the villainess’ back, putting all her strength in tightening the high quality fabric around her face.

Queen Neanderthal tried to get Invulnergirl off her back, smashing against her body. The heroine knew she had to hang on. The blows dealt to her might not hurt her, but if Queen Neanderthal got a good grip on her, she might be able to throw her off her back. Gritting her teeth, Invulnergirl put in even more effort in her endeavor to cut off her enemy’s air supply.

After a few minutes Invulnergirl felt Queen Neanderthal’s body slack. She went down on the ground, face first.

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“Man, that took some effort,” she said. Then she took the jacket from the ground and held it out to her mom. “Here’s your jacket back.”

Mom gave it a grossed-out look. “No thanks.”

“I guess I understand. Okay, let’s get you both of the building now,” Invulnergirl said.

“What’s going on? And… Interesting to meet you in person, Invulnergirl. You look a bit familiar have we met before?” Mom asked.

Invulnergirl had been afraid of that. There’s only so much a mask and trying to disguise your voice can do for you. “All we superheroes probably look alike to you.”

“No, don’t think that’s the case,” mom said.

“No time for that now. We have to get away from here. The building is under siege by a bunch of supervillains,” Invulnergirl said. “I will lead you out of here.”

“We’re with,” Hank told her. “Thanks!”

Invulnergirl gave her friend a wink. “Sure thing. We got this.”

They walked out of the interrogation room and stumbled on a dozen unconscious or dead cops. She gasped, appalled by the sight. The person responsible for this was there as well. A guy who looked like your textbook metalhead. Long, black hair. Torn jeans. But also arms which seemed to be made of metal.

The metalhead saw her. He smiled. “A superhero, right? Nice. Been too long I carved up one.”

Invulnergirl shuddered when she saw his arms transform into huge knives. Then she understood she had nothing to fear from them. She made a “come on” gesture with her hand, saying, “Try, Metallica.”

“Name’s Speed Metal. And I will!” he said and with superspeed ran at her.

She also ran towards him, hurling herself at him, horizontally in the air. They collided, at that speed it was like being hit by a bullet for Speed Metal. He was knocked down in an instant. Invulnergirl landed on her feet, smiling.

“It looks like I’m really getting the hang of this superhero thing. Come on, follow me guys!”

Unfortunately, as soon as they rounded the corner another threat awaited them. One she found particularly scary.