"Why don't you do me a favor and surrender, huh kid?" Watchman said, tightly gripping his brass knuckles. Jake just looked at him in silence and smiled.
"No? Fine then. Seems I'll have to best you just like I did your friends," Watchman continued. Jake began walking over to him.
"Good."
"Excuse me?"
"I said good. I honestly don't know what exactly is going on. What I do know is you hurt my friends. My girlfriend... so now I'm gonna make you pay."
As Jake took more steps, Watchman's rocky smile disappeared. This guy emitted some kind of energy that interfered with his magic in a negative way. Shadow Energy? Spectrum Energy? Fon Ti's Energy? He didn't know. What he knew is a fight with him would be close.
He didn't like close fights.
"We don't have to do this, y'know," Watchman said, backing up. Jake stopped and raised an eyebrow.
"You call yourself a hero, right?"
"I'm not a big fan of labels."
"But you consider yourself a good guy."
"Sure."
"Then why are you helping scum like Milten?"
"Why ask that of all things? You want me to help you?"
"Of course! Power like yours would do wonders for me and my organization. All of your powers would! Milten is scum and you know it. Leave him and join the Vigilante League. Then you can call yourself true heroes."
"Every fiber of my being is yelling at me to beat your face into the ground, so I'm gonna have to pass."
"Fine then, suit yourself," Watchman said, getting ready to fight.
Suddenly, he noticed something drop from the sky and land behind the Shadow.
One was a giant man wearing gladiator armor similar to the Broker's.
Another was some kind of beast covered head to toe in shining metal. It had the body of a malnourished giant, the head of a piranha, the tail of a snake, and the claws of a lion.
And the last one was an average-looking man wearing multiple green shields across his chest, limbs, and head. Each shield bore a large "T" symbol front and center.
Sergeant Strong, Silverblade, and their newest recruit, Terrapin. This was Retribution, the Super Society team led by the All-Star Amazo.
Watchman sighed.
"What the hell are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Kingdom City?" Watchman asked, assuming an even more serious battle stance.
The creature let out a long guttural noise and spoke with a strangely feminine voice. A voice Jake began to recognize.
"We were, but our boss detected a multitude of problems here. The Dragon Clan war, Dr. Bolt appearing... you."
Watchman started to sweat.
"You guys can leave. I got this," Jake said, raising his arm to stop an approaching Terrapin.
"Who does this guy think he is? Sorry buster, we don't listen to Milten's goons," Terrapin said, slapping Jake's hand aside. He walked over to Watchman, but Jake placed his arm on his shoulder. That's when Jake realized he was just a little boy.
"Call me whatever you want, but he's mine," Jake said, throwing him into the arms of Strong.
He caught the boy and gave him an odd look.
"What are you looking at, you big idiot? Take his ass down!"
"Uhhh, if you say so," Strong said and put him down.
"Wait," the creature said, silencing the two.
"Why the hostility, Blue? We're all friends here. Why don't we work together?" she said, approaching Jake with a horrible-looking smile.
"Do I know you?"
She then morphed into a more feminine shape, the same form she took at the Super Society meeting.
"Silverblade?"
"I told you I was a monster, didn't I?"
"Amazo gave us an assignment to bring in the High Flyers. We expected you to come, but little did we know one of the Vigilante League's best would show up to ruin the fun."
"I see."
"It seems he's beaten your friends pretty badly. We can't have that. Let's team up and teach this geezer a lesson, shall we?" Silverblade said and reached out for a handshake.
Jake ignored it.
"You came for the High Flyers. You can leave with them. He's mine."
"Oh, I love a man who stands his ground, but now isn't the time. This guy has gained a powerful reputation killing criminals the Society has been trying to put into custody. Taking him out together would give both our teams a massive reputation boost."
"I don't care about that. Or any of this super-politics bullshit. Leave me alone and let me beat his ass."
Silverblade frowned and backed away.
"Well, I won't say I'm a woman of my word. You're not gonna win this, Blue. I should know. I've fought him before. Everyone here has. If you think you're gonna score a win here without us, I got bad news for you."
"Don't care. Leave me alone."
She backed away and ordered her team to grab the High Flyers. She then turned to see a pitch-black figure on the ground, staring at her.
Glaring is the correct word here. Silver smiled at her, pointed at Jake, and winked.
Paulina ran over to Jake and hugged him.
"Thank God you came. I was beginning to think you abandoned us."
"Sorry I was late, I had some business to attend to," Jake said, smiling. "I see Ivy on the ground, but she isn't unconscious. What happened to her? And where's Zack?"
"Codenames, Blue."
Jake shrugged.
"Watchman used some kind of magic time device to stop her in place. Luckily, I'm sure it isn't permanent. As for Guardian, he's in that hole over there. Knocked unconscious trying to save me."
Jake frowned.
"Well, now I gotta beat that guy's ass extra hard. I didn't think it was that bad. Sorry, but we won't get to bring in the High Flyers."
"Well, that doesn't matter now. We need to take this vigilante down."
"Whatever you say, boss."
Jake began walking over to Watchman, who was quickly backing away.
He looked around and assessed the situation. Mamba was down thanks to his Stop Knuckles, Guardian was knocked out, and the Retribution team was gathering the High Flyers. Blue Shadow was his only problem here, but he knew if he fought him, it would be close.
He knew he'd win, but even then Retribution could just attack him afterwards and he wouldn't have the stamina to defeat them.
This wasn't a fight that would end well for him.
He raised his arm for a moment and let something small drop.
A clock.
"Blue! Move now before..."
Before anyone else could react, a flash of lightning blinded them all. Jake made a mad dash for Watchman's general direction but only ended up hitting a wall.
He was gone.
Once the light cleared, Paulina rushed over and helped Jake to his feet.
"He's gone," Jake said, punching the ground.
"Yeah, but that won't be the last we see of him."
"I hope so... I really wished I got to..."
"Thanks for the bountiful harvest, Danger Squad," Silverblade said as she held Wyvern over her shoulder. Terrapin made a giant force field and Strong helped gather the High Flyers inside it.
"This is sure to get us in good graces with our boss."
Paulina gave a quick glance at Jake. She wanted him to stop them from taking the team and all the credit but realized Jake wouldn't care. Plus, a battle with three high-level supers like them didn't seem like something even Jake could win.
"I hope that doesn't bother you, Obsidian," Silverblade said with a smirk.
Paulina rolled her eyes.
"I'll be seeing you, Blue," she continued and winked before turning into a giant dragon. Strong and Terrapin got on her back, and Terrapin used his abilities to make a long green chain attaching the force field to her neck.
Once he finished, the beast took off.
"I have a feeling that won't be the last we see of them, too," Paulina said and turned back to Jake. He wasn't next to her, though.
He ran over to help a recovering Ivy. Paulina did the same and ran over to help Zack, who was slowly crawling out of the hole.
Ivy quickly pushed him away.
"Why were you so late? And who was that?" she said, her tone menacing.
"I thought you'd be more happy to see me."
She didn't say a word.
"She's a friend I met in a Super Society celebration event thing. It happened right after the Dragon Clan bust. When you were still... that."
"Okay, whatever. I don't want you talking to her."
"Why? She seems a little... uh... rough around the edges, but she was genuinely friendly when we first met. If you get to know her, you'll..."
Her gaze stopped him mid-sentence.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good boy," Ivy said, patting his horns playfully and finally smiling, much to his relief.
"Now, where the hell were you?"
"I was... uh..."
"Probably a late-night patrol," Zack said, barely standing up thanks to Paulina. "He does that sometimes. Didn't you know?"
"Really?"
"Y...yeah. I had a bad feeling about tonight so I had to check for threats. Didn't know Milten was just gonna call us for a mission impromptu like that," Jake said, nervously scratching the back of his horn.
He made a mental note to buy Zack a snack once they were back home.
Ivy could tell he was lying but left it at that.
"Okay. At least you came," she said with a sigh.
"Where are Max and Stacya, though?"
"I told you during the call, didn't I?" Zack replied and walked over to slap him at the back of the head, getting Ivy to chuckle. "They've gone to take down the Fire Breathers."
"Are you sure that's okay? Can they handle it by themselves?"
"Honestly, Milten was gonna send Max alone, but he wanted to go with Stacya," Paulina added.
Jake didn't like the sound of that.
"That friendship of theirs is giving me the creeps," Zack mused.
"I'm with you there," Jake agreed.
"We need to talk to Stacya about it. I don't want that bastard using her for whatever bullshit he's cooking up," Ivy said.
"Codenames, guys! Codenames! Whatever. That can all wait till we get back. We need to brief Milten on..."
Suddenly Paulina's communicator began to ring. She tapped it immediately.
"Yes, boss."
"Obsidian. You and your gang head back to base immediately. We have a situation," Milten said over the comms.
"We're on our way, sir," Paulina responded. Zack didn't like the sound of that.
"Let's move," Paulina said as she quickly got on Zack's back.
Not even a moment later, the team was on the move.
Zack swung closer to Jake.
"Hey... Blue... did that Watchman guy give you some speech about..."
"Leaving Milten and joining him?"
"Yeah... it got me thinking... are we the bad guys?"
"Bad guys? We've done way more for this city—no, this country—than its supposed 'heroes.' How can we be the bad guys?"
"I mean... it was all just to prop up Milten and his agenda. I... don't think this is what Captain Rocket would've wanted."
"Best not to think about that stuff right now, babe. We can talk about it when this is all over," Paulina chimed in.
"He's got a point, though," Ivy added, earning a glare from Paulina.
She ignored it and focused on a smile coming from Zack.
She smiled back.
After that, the rest of the trip back home was silent...
To be continued...