EJ's POV
We're on a rooftop of the city, trying to figure out how to play this right, worst-case scenario: Nightmare's plan works, the whole world gets trapped in fears hands, they win and my friends might die, I can't let this happen.
"First we have to find a way to get everyone outta here, we have to protect them," I say.
"How do we do that?" Mal asks. Ricky walks to the edge and moves his fingers around, I see the gold energy spread from his hands all the way across the whole city, using his powers of mind control on the people and leading them safely from the place.
"Nice job," Nini says,
"Anyone wanna give a speech?" He asks, still mind controlling the people. They all look back at me, except Ricky, great. Come on Elijah, you've watched enough Captain America movies to make a good speech.
"Okay. When they come, Ricky gets first crack at them because they need him for some reason, while we all try to shut down the other devices. Now, Nightmare and the Cosmic Witch know we're coming, so they probably have a heavy fire, but that's what being a hero comes with. But Salt Lake, our friends, they didn't, so thank you Curls, for getting them out. They want peaceful lives, we need to protect them...will all we have. We find out what Nighmare's machine does, keep the fight between us and fight together. I know most of us...have been through a lot these path months" this last bit isn't about the battle, it's about Ricky.
"To some, this isn't just about beating them, it's about whether what some people said is right, but their wrong...about everything they said. We all need to step up...and show them what we got. Sound good?"
They all nod, I guess I got this speech thing down. "Now, Ricky can't get the whole city out, so let's give him a hand."
Gina creates various portals for the others to jump through, but I stay with Ricky just in case.
"You think they're wrong about me?" He asks, staying focused on his mind-controlling.
"Huh?"
"What Todd and my mom said about me. You think they're wrong?"
"Of course I do," I tell him. I look down at the city, most of the people got out. I text Ashlyn and tell her to make sure our friends aren't anywhere near us and she says okay.
"Okay team, that abandoned building Ricky talked about...they're there. Be safe" Uncle Dennis says through our earpieces.
I look at Ricky and he gives me a nod. I pick him up and super-speed into the abandoned building. Gina and Nini jump through an open portal, Aurora and Saida ride in on thorns, and the other fly-in. We all just stand there, looking at the device.
"Come to watch your defeat?" Nightmare's voice echoes throughout. Suddenly, he and Ricky's mom fly-in, getting close to the device.
"You must be dreaming if you think you can stop us," Jean says.
"Oh please, this is how you end."
"Guys! Zombies are attacking the city!" Ashlyn screams through our earpieces.
Suddenly, Nightmare and Cosmic Witch fly out. "We gotta protect the city, split up! all the devices are near land!" I say and we all fly away in pairs of 2. Me and Ricky, Gina and Nini, Jean and Sadia, Mal and Bruce, and Lily and Howie.
Ricky and I land on the street and I start to shoot force field projectiles at the zombies. "They have the power-dampening cuffs!" Ricky says, shooting streams of energy, tearing the zombies apart.
"EJ! CITIZENS!" Ricky shouts.
I turn to see zombies running towards the citizens. I fly in front and create a force field wall in front of myself, knocking them back. "Run!" I yell to the people, who quickly obey.
Suddenly, the zombies start shooting at me, like bolts of energy! "When could they do that?!?" I ask.
"Todd must've given them an upgrade," Ricky says.
They all shoot me at the same time and my force field collapses, I flip in the air and fall to the ground flat on my stomach. "Okay...not sure if you noticed, but the zombies can shoot," I say to the others in my earpiece.
"WE NOTICED!!" They scream.
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Nini's POV
Gina and I were surrounded by zombies and we're trying our best to fight them off, but they're too much. We look up at the scaffolding we're near and see Ricky's mom. She presses a button and brown gas starts to fall down the scaffolding, coming near us.
"Ricky's mom activated one," I say in my earpiece.
"Don't breathe it in!" Ashlyn yells.
More zombies start to surround the 2 of us. "How long can you hold your breath?" Gina ask. "I have a record, why?"
"Hold tight!" Gina says and we start to hold our breath. She raises her hands and purple energy surrounds us. I don't get it, how does creating a synthetic entropy trap around us help? Suddenly she throws her hands out and creates a small wave, blowing back the zombies and making them drop the cuffs.
"When'd you learn to do that?" I ask, send electrical bolts to one of the cuffs and it spreads to the others, stopping them from working.
"I practiced my powers when I was away" Gina giggles.
But still, the gas spreads, people inhale it and they start screaming, running around, their fear taking over so bad they started attacking people, wow! They're being driven by fear and madness and now they're trying to claw their own eyes out! This isn't working.
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3rd POV - (This is new!)
Soon, The Cosmic Witch and Nightmare are able to activate all the devices, while the heroes are unaffected by the toxins, the normal people can't stop but see their worst fears, making them scream, run in terror, and attack each other.
The heroes look up in fear and Todd and Lynne fly into the center of the city.
"It's over, we've won, you tried to rise, but you only fell. Try and stop me...but it means nothing to me. Only I have the key to stop it, and you'll never do it...even if you do get your hands on it. The only that will be left in this world...will be pain and fear. And us."
The heroes couldn't help but show ounces of fear, but not because of the fear toxins, but because of what's happening to their city, but they can't let that stop them.
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Mal's POV
I fly into a hotel and find a dad with 2 sons, remind me of my little bro, no time to get emotional. "Hey, everyone on the bed," I say. The three-run and jump on the bed. "Twist of hand and twist of fate. Leave the ground and levitate" I enchant, the bed levitates off the floor and I carry it outside of town where the gas isn't.
Before I leave, I look at the 2 brothers and grab their shoulders. "I lost my brother in all this. Look after each other. Siblings mean the world" I say before flying off, getting back to the fight.
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Jean's POV
Saida and I were fighting off zombies and trying to avoid the power dampening cuffs they had. Thye kept shooting at me, but I created an aura around me that deflected attacks, while Saida grew thrones from the floor to attack, she was completely fine out of all of us since she was immune to all poisons and toxins.
"We got incoming!" Sadia says, but before we can prepare, zombies shoot us and we roll across the street.
We scoot away and they get closer. "On my mark!" I say. I create Aurora's in the sky and bring them down, picking up the zombies and throwing them in the sky. Before they can hit the ground, Saida makes thrones pop out of the ground and pierce them in the chest, killing them.
"Girl power" I give her a fist bump.
"Okay, later we gotta learn how to stop those machines from making those toxins," EJ says through our earpiece.
"But now, we have one job, we tear these things apart. It's like Captain America said: you get hurt, hurt 'em back, you get killed, walk it off."
"How do you walk off getting killed?" Bruce ask.
"Not the point, Bruce!" Mal yells.
I'm sorry this chapter is boring, and I'm also sorry I didn't post over the break, but I used it to write all-new chapters so, for a while, all I'll have to do is post until I have to write again. One thing: I love writing EJ as a leader, shows how he's matured throughout the story. I also think I worried everyone too much about the whole "heartbreaking sacrifice." Nobodies gonna die! I mean, don't get me wrong, someone might just die, but that isn't the sacrifice I was talking about, you'll just have to wait and see.