Author's Note – Hello, everyone! I usually don't do these with my FictionPress stories, but I figured I'd do it with this one. So, some of you have been huge supporters in the Night Shadow stories for a while and I appreciate everything you all have done for me. It warms my heart to know people love my original work. However, I am announcing that the Night Shadow series is currently being reworked. I wasn't too happy with where the story was heading, and I felt some episodes were either too different from others in terms of tone and/or made the story feel cluttered. This episode here is the last one I worked on before I decided to rework the series.

I can't say when the Night Shadow rewrite is happening, but I am working on it as we speak but my main goal is to finish Ballin' Pranksters first. Then we will get to Night Shadow and its corresponding spin off, The Book of Gavroche. I didn't want this one to go to waste, so here it is, the last story of the original Night Shadow series.

Enjoy the show, everyone! See you all for Night Shadow 2.0! :D

"The Sensational Night Shadow in… Adara's Deception"

Chapter 1

Created by The Spectacular SpiderDom

Suggested Music:

(1) Theme of the Resistance (Title Screen Ver.) – Sonic Forces OST

(2) Fighting Onward (Space Port) – Sonic Forces OST

(3) Dino Piranha – Super Mario Galaxy OST

(4) Dino Piranha (Fast) – Super Mario Galaxy OST

~In the city of Seattle, Washington, 2035… (1Start)

A lot has happened in the Emerald City.

There was a streak of robberies committed by The Titanium Rabbit and a Canadian thug group called The Money Dawgs, forcing The Seattle Strikers (Night Shadow, Monsoon Gal, Frosty Beetle, and Pyro Lad) to team up with The Dope Squad (Valentine, Sagittarius, Poncho Mom, and who could forget… BagByte). Together, the eight superheroes managed to thwart The Titanium Rabbit's plans while stopping also Technolocity and The Void League.

Night Shadow's parents, Atticus Moonstone and Darla Prescott "kindly" escorted the heroes' notorious foes to a prison facility known as Sector Nine, where they hoped the villains would get what they deserved.

This did last for a couple of weeks; however, thanks to The Void League's strongest member: Mojo the Pink Gorilla and its stealthiest member, Raven, all of Night Shadow's villains have escaped and they're currently planning their revenge.

The superhero, of course, was rightfully mad that he was so close, yet so far from achieving his dream: marrying his girlfriend, Sydney Connor, and living the rest of his life in peace, but he knew what he had to do.

Two days have gone by since the breakout at Sector Nine, and The Seattle Strikers have done nothing but search. Shockingly, their efforts haven't been successful, but they didn't plan on giving up. Feeling the need for some backup, they decided to call in The Dope Squad from Vancouver.

The heroic eight hopped around, jumped, somersaulted, and leaped across several buildings, waiting for the forces of evil to strike. Running as fast as they could, sweat pouring down their foreheads, performing multiple flips and tricks, feeling a rush of adrenaline through their bodies, every superhero was ready for anything.

Fortunately for them… it didn't take long to enter a deadly confrontation.

Inside an abandoned warehouse, a donnybrook escalated. (1Stop) (2Start)

Mason Moonstone: The Sensational Night Shadow, a French American man with pale skin and hazel eyes dashed around the environment with a blue and black leather suit: the top part was royal blue and he had black elbow pads, black gloves, and a black strap shaped like an X over his chest. Connected to said strap was a belt of the same color, which had a silver buckle in the middle. With black leather pants, he had blue knee pads and black combat boots, which slammed against a prisoner's bald head.

The superhero bounced around the area, landing nothing but punches and kicks on his enemies. Shooting a wave of darkness into the air, he flung himself upward and landed on a catwalk, scaring a few prisoners carrying sniper rifles.

Out of fear, they all loaded their weapons and aimed red lasers at the hero, analyzing the details on his face.

Hiding his secret identity was a royal blue motorcycle helmet with black striped details all around. Black goggles covered his face and he had red digital eyes. With a heavy smirk on his face, he whipped out his twin Sai and twirled them around. It didn't take long for his Dunnere: Shadowy Companion, a black ghostly salamander with a blue beard to land on his master's shoulder and clench his fists.

Night Shadow rushed towards the prisoners at full speed and slammed them against the ground.

RAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!

More gunfire was heard from behind and an armada of bullets flew right towards him.

Widening his eyes and releasing a high-pitched gasp, Night Shadow quickly clapped his hands together and formed a shield of darkness. As the bullets hit the shield, they disappeared from sight, making the escaped prisoners gasp and widen their eyes. Night Shadow's shield soon disappeared, and he whipped out two guns of his own: two silver and purple pistols.

Switching them to Laser Mode, he ran to the side and took cover behind a wooden crate. Popping his head up, he cracked his knuckles and fired three shots of purple energy, knocking down a few enemies while dodging bullets. After taking down a few more enemies, he switched his blasters to Goo Mode and shot not one, not two, but four globs of glittery purple slime.

To his surprise, the slimeballs combined together and splashed right on top of the prisoners, trapping them to the ground. They attempted to get up, but they struggled to move their upper bodies; they waved their legs around as if they were babies sobbing.

Night Shadow jumped back up and took a breath of relief, which was suddenly interrupted when a prisoner approached him from behind. In his knife was a rigid dagger covered in dry blood. Dunnere turned around and quickly tapped his master's shoulder, making strange, lizard-like noises. His master didn't even need to turn around to sense someone coming because the prisoner screamed at the top of his lungs and swung his dagger at the hero's chest.

Before it could hit him though, Night Shadow deflected the blow with the blade of his Sai. He turned around and began to fence with the prisoner.

From left to right, he swiped his twin blades against the enemy's dagger and twirled them between his black-gloved fingers. Every now and then, Night Shadow would land a punch against the prisoner's face. But just before he could finish the job, the prisoner himself performed a volley kick and slammed his black boot across Night Shadow's face.

The superhero tumbled across the ground and wiped a drop of blood from his lip. Growling, he placed his weapons away and felt two swarms of darkness run down his shoulders. They wrapped themselves around his hands, transforming his fingers into razor-sharp claws.

Clapping them together, he rushed toward and swerved to the right, dodging the prisoner's attack. He then dodged to the left before he slid between his legs and kicked the back of his knees. Making the prisoner land on his knees, Night Shadow jumped over him, reached down, grabbed the prisoner by his shoulders, lifted him up in the air, performed a front flip, and slammed him against a pile of crates. A bunch of bags filled with white powder came out and broken shards of wood scattered the floor.

Night Shadow landed on top of a gold railing on the catwalk and took a deep breath.

"Gonna be honest, guys," he said. "…I'm sick of ex-cons."

He looked around the environment and saw nothing but chaos.

The warehouse was nothing more than a wooden shed with multi-colored shipping containers and loads of wooden crates piled on top of each other. He hopped on top of a red shipping container and looked down, seeing his friends battle against more prisoners.

There was Lyra Song: Frosty Beetle, a young Chinese French woman with emerald, green eyes and black and purple striped hair tied in a bun. Her costume was a sky-blue spandex suit covered in white stripes and snowy patterns. Markings of snowflakes were seen on her shoulders, knees, and elbows and she punched a few enemies with her pink fingerless gloves. Slamming her same-colored boots against two more enemies, she extended her bright silver wings and took to the skies, forming snowballs in the palm of her hands. Looking towards Night Shadow, she showed off her dark blue domino mask and she chuckled.

Sitting on her shoulder was Tundra: Guardian of the Snow, a ghostly white demon resembling an arctic fox. She had white fur and grey tuffs around her paws and facial areas.

"Seriously, Shadow?" she inquired. "They're so much fun to toss around!"

Right when she finished forming her snowballs, she quickly descended towards the ground and slammed it with her fists, creating a tsunami of snow that piled on top of the prisoners. She flew towards one that came out quicker than she thought and grabbed them, slamming their heads together. Shielding herself from an array of bullets, she trapped herself in a block of ice before sending said block towards her attacker, bashing him against the wall.

"And shoot… don't forget shoot!" cackled one of the newest members of the team, Garth Huffleklaw: Sagittarius, An African American German man with orange-colored eyes, a black mohawk, and the legs of a horse thanks to Animal Surgery. The suit he wore was mostly black with faint orangish details near his abdominal area. He had two golden belt straps running down his left shoulder which connected to his belt, which had pouches of the same color. A horse logo was printed on his golf belt buckle, and he wore black goggles with dark yellow lenses.

Pulling on his black bow with yellow and black-fingered gloves, he shot three exploding arrows near the top catwalk, to which three prisoners were firing their rifles. They all stopped and laughed at the archer for missing, but as soon as he pressed his remote, the arrow exploded, and the prisoners fell on the floor.

"Verily, my friends," giggled another addition to Night Shadow's team, Gabriella Streeter: Valentine, An American Italian girl with pale skin, red hair, and purple-colored eyes. Considered the leader, heart, and soul of her team (The Dope Squad), she wore a pink leather suit with a single red heart emblem on her shoulders and pink-colored kneepads. Running down her right shoulder was a red strap, and her belt was the same color. In the center was a silver buckle with the letter V sculpted into it. With red leather pants, she clenched her black fingerless gloves and shot a blast of heart-shaped energy. Around her fingers were red brass knuckles and a pink domino mask with mechanical white lenses hid most of her face.

Using her powers of Empath Energy Manipulation, Valentine shot herself into the air and glided around the warehouse, protecting her friends from gunfire by making heart-shaped shields around them and blasting as many soldiers as she could.

She landed beside Night Shadow, who used his powers to send more enemies flying and the two exchanged a nod and a glance. High fiving one another, they grabbed each other's hands and soar into the air. Spinning around faster than the speed of light, they turned around and soared towards the ground. Once they crashed into it, a wave of red and black energy sent some of the prisoners crashing against the walls, windows, and storage containers.

Sagittarius was almost blown away by the impact, but he teleported and landed on higher ground.

"Little warning next time, you guys!" he shouted.

Frosty Beetle simply flew above the energy wave, and she landed on top of a blue storage container. Whipping out her twin Tonfa, she punched a few prisoners in their faces and stomachs, moving as fast as a professional boxer. Finishing one female prisoner with an uppercut, she shot an Ice Blast at another one and watched him land on the floor. She leaped forward and somersaulted towards Sagittarius, whom a prisoner wrapped his arms around. The archer slammed his hoof against the prisoner's foot, freeing himself, and elbowed him in the chest.

But just when two female prisoners tackled the archer and pinned him down, Frosty Beetle surrounded herself in an icy aura and boosted into the prisoners, sending them flying into the air. They landed on their backs and quickly jumped up, loading their pistols.

With the two superheroes standing alone, they shared a smirk and a nod before Sagittarius whipped out one of his arrows and held it towards his new friend. Frosty Beetle snapped her fingers, and the arrow suddenly sparked a sky blue/whitish color. Sagittarius pulled the arrow back against his bowstring and shot it between the two prisoners. While in the air, it flew right towards them and…

PZZZZT!

Both of them were frozen in ice.

"Yeah… on second thought, shooting's probably the best," Frosty Beetle winked, as she and Sagittarius continued fighting.

Night Shadow and Valentine ran down the warehouse, shooting, blasting, and kicking their enemies as they came. As the former performed a few flips and shot lasers from his twin blasters, he heard a familiar ringtone come from his back pocket.

But just before he could answer, he heard a familiar voice.

"Night Shadow,"

Hearing the sound of a soft-spoken female, Night Shadow pulled out a small silver handheld computer with neon green and pink keys. A holographic figure came out of the screen: she had turquoise and dark, green-colored skin and wore a dark purple dress with white outlines around her shoulders and waist. Along with a pink belt with the letter H written in silver, she had white gloves and he hair was blue with white spots. Lastly, she had purple slippers with pink tips.

Her name was Hannah Van Cyrus: Bertram's Assistant.

"What's shakin' bacon?" he greeted.

"You must've mistaken me for a form of meat. My name is Hannah Van-"

"Haha, no, no, Hannah. That's a figure of speech, it's how I greet people," Night Shadow smiled, hearing his phone ring. "What's going on?"

"Your portable telephone is ringing,"

"For the last time, Hannah, it's called a cell phone," Night Shadow replied, as he jumped over a prisoner shooting at him and tripped him off his feet. "But thanks though…. Valentine, could you cover me, please?"

"Sure thing, Night Shadow!" Valentine replied as she formed a heart-shaped shield around herself and her friend. Keeping the shield at bay, she watched as bullets exploded upon impact.

The black and blue hero reached for a phone that was the same color as his costume and answered it. Dunnere tilted his head to the right, trying to listen to the conversation.

"Bonjour?" he asked. (2Stop)

Not too far from the city, three superheroes explored a dark ventilation duct with little to no light. The only source of light they had was a flashlight coming from a cell phone.

There was Alyssa Cordelia: Monsoon Gal, an African American woman with hazel eyes and brunette hair tied into two pigtails. Her costume was a navy-blue suit with white and light blue oceanic-themed details. Her pants were sky blue with faded white stripes, and she had black combat boots. Lastly, she had blue gloves with white fingertips, and she had a light blue domino mask over her face.

Behind her were her two friends.

Steven Adara: Pyro Lad, another African American man with a bright yellow bodysuit with maroon, orange sleeves on his arms and legs. A red shoulder cape hung from his right and a dark red scarf covered his mouth. Over his bluebell eyes were a pair of yellow goggles and he wore dark red boots. Lastly, he had yellow gloves and orange pants with triangular icons. They resembled fire and they were located over his legs and arms.

And Heather Parker: Poncho Mom, a Canadian Greek woman with peach-white skin, grassy green eyes, and red hair wrapped in a ponytail. Her suit was a skin-tight denim costume that was colored dark purple with gold highlights. On her back was a violet poncho with a golden streak running from top to bottom. Her blue and black-fingered gloves were pressed against the ground and her black boots with golden buckles squeaked as she crawled. Over her face was a purple wrestling mask with gold outlines around the eyes. Her mouth was exposed and there was a hole in the back that allowed her hair to stick out.

Sitting against her back pocket was her partner in crime: BagByte, a brown paper bag with a face drawn entirely in marker; he had blue irises, black pupils, and his attire was a hand-knitted orphan blue sweater with white stripes. His red business tie flung up and down as his puppeteer marched forward.

Monsoon Gal was on the phone with Night Shadow, and listening to the conversation was her Elemental Demon, Aqua: Queen of the Sea, a ghostly blue dolphin with long, straight hair of the same color.

"Hey, Night Shadz. Pyro Lad, Poncho Mom, and I are almost to The Titanium Rabbit," she replied. "How are you guys doing?"

"Not too shabby," Night Shadow replied. "Out of all the villains that escaped, he was the only one smart enough to recruit most of the escaped prisoners as his minions. Guess that's what happens when you almost leave The Money Dawgs in a burning building."

"I guess so," Monsoon Gal chuckled. "None of the drugs they're selling got out, right?"

"Doesn't seem like it, they're all focused on us. Which makes me wonder, what is it about drugs that makes supervillains so invested in them? Every mafia movie you see, the story's always about drug cartels. What's that all about?"

"Drugs make money, Nuff said," Pyro Lad said bluntly.

"Makes sense to me," Night Shadow shrugged. "Are you guys doing okay?"

"We're fine, we'll let you know if you need any backup," Monsoon Gal smiled. "Keep me posted in case something happens."

"You got it, MG. À plus tard!" Night Shadow smiled.

"A plush tar?" The hydrokinetic raised an eyebrow. "What is that, some kind of tartar sauce?"

"No, it's French for… argh, never mind. I'll see ya soon."

He hung up the phone call and the three heroes kept crawling through the vents.

Everything was quiet until Poncho Mom started talking.

"Man, it's so cramped in here!" she groaned. "I can barely stretch in here!"

"Shh!" Pyro Lad snarled. "We can't let Titanium Rabbit know we're here so stop talking!"

"Sorry, sorry," Poncho Mom said. "I just can't wait to get out of here."

"We're almost to his office," Monsoon Gal replied. "Just be patient for a little while longer."

"The sooner we get to him, the better," the yellow and red-costumed man nodded. "I can't believe this happened. One moment, we burn Technolocity's headquarters and bring him along with other supervillains to jail. How the hell did they break out so quickly?"

"From what I've heard, Mojo somehow shot a lock on the door with a blast of light," the dark-blue oceanic hero replied, stroking her chin. She shrugged and said, "Sounds silly, I know, but… we have to deal with the way things are now. Come on, we should be getting close."

"Right behind you," the Firestarter replied.

After another moment of silence, Poncho Mom reached BagByte forward and tapped Pyro Lad on the shoulder.

"What is it, Poncho Mom?" he asked with a slightly annoyed groan.

"Actually, this is BagByte," said the puppet, who spoke in a high-pitched that reminded him of a certain cartoon mouse. "I was just thinking… it must be nice for you to be behind Monsoon Gal, right? You get a nice view of her big, blue ocean."

Pyro Lad raised an eyebrow before he looked forward, realizing what he meant.

"Argh!" he snarled in disgust as his partner/crush did the same thing.

"Quiet, guys!" Monsoon Gal hushed those behind her. "I hear something."

The sound of laughter echoed through the air ducts and the three heroes rushed forward.

It didn't take long for them to approach a caged door beneath them, and Monsoon Gal slowly picked it up. Placing it across from her, she looked down and saw a small room filled with warehouse boxes and unconscious guards in black tuxedos. Maniacal laughter continued to hurt her ears as she and her friends slowly climbed down and landed on their feet.

With Pyro Lad whipping out his nunchakus and Poncho Mom clenching her enlarged fists, Monsoon Gal checked the guards' pulses and nodded, relieved they were still alive. She reached for her wooden staff and firmly grasped it. She and the dynamic duo behind her walked forward as they saw a middle-aged man dancing around in a black chair.

That man was none other than Appleseed Johnny: The Titanium Rabbit, a wrinkly-faced man with golden eyes and wore a metal suit covered in fur. The suit was a mixture of royal blue and sky blue with a white stomach along with stripes of the same color, running down his arms and legs. He adjusted his pink bow-tie and leaned against his chair, resting his orange-panted legs with pink polka dots. Scratching his blue bunny ears, he clapped his large white hands together and rooted for this team.

"Give me a T! Give me an I! Give me a T! Give me a T-I-T-A-N-I-U-M-R-A-Double B-I-T!" he cheered. "What's that spell!? The Seattle Strikers and The Dope Squad's demise! Hehehehehehehehehe! Gosh, I can't believe it was so easy to employ escaped convicts from Sector Nine! At this rate, I'll be the dankest supervillain in the world!"

"Every time you talk, a part of my soul leaves my body," Pyro Lad snarled.

Surprised by such a cold remark, Titanium Rabbit turned around and screamed like a little girl. "M-Monsoon Gal!? Pyro Lad!? P-Poncho Mom!? Here!?"

"Congrats, asshole! You know our names," the blue-eyed fire bender grunted, spinning his chained weapons. "Now, are you going to surrender, or do we have to beat you up again?"

Titanium Rabbit smirked and shook his paw. "You technically didn't win last time, my hot-headed little boy. I caused the villains to lose because I decided to blow up Technolocity's portal."

"But we still won that fight, didn't we?" Monsoon Gal grinned.

"Pfft, you didn't win! I just lost!" Titanium Rabbit retorted before he realized what he just said. "No, wait… that didn't come out right. What I meant to say was… you only won because I lost! That's not a winner!"

The two Seattle Strikers and elastic woman were silent.

So silent, they could hear crickets chirping.

"I've had enough of this," Pyro Lad sighed annoyingly.

"Me too, Pyro," Monsoon Gal nodded. "Appleseed Johnny, you're going to back to Sector Nine!"

Titanium Rabbit levitated off of his chair and rose into the air. Two cannons popped out of his shoulders and two carrot missiles were ready to go. "How about we sing a nursery rhyme instead? This little rabbit went to the market and this little rabbit killed the superheroes!" (3Start)

The missiles shot forward, and the three heroes dodged to the side. They pushed the injured guards to the side and shielded them from the explosions. Pyro Lad absorbed the fire created and shot it at Titanium Rabbit, knocking him against the computer.

Monsoon Gal launched herself forward and landed a few hits with her staff. But the supervillain dodged her roundhouse kick and shot her with a laser beam.

Just then, Poncho Mom came rolling towards him in her ball form and landed a heavy kick against his chest.

He went straight through the computer and tumbled across the ground, breaking the machine into smithereens.

"That was a shitty rhyme, by the way," Poncho Mom shook her head in disgust. "I should know because I do poetry all day."

"Yeah, you sit around writing poems about your boyfriend, Night Shadow," BagByte chortled. "Chances are he's got a girlfriend and he's going to file you for harassment!"

"Quiet, you little goober!" the purple demined woman snarled.

"Stop playing with your stupid puppet and get into the fight!" Pyro Lad shouted as he spun his weapons and ran towards his enemy.

Titanium Rabbit smirked and dodged Pyro Lad's attacks, landing a solid punch across his face. "Why such a grumpy puss tonight, Pyro Lad? Lighten up and have some fun. You might as well die happy!"

He leaped into the air and shot multiple missiles from his shoulder cannons to which Pyro Lad snapped his fingers and watched them explode. With fire and smoke in the air, the orange and yellow Firestarter summoned the flames around his body and shot them forward, knocking Titanium Rabbit out of the air and onto the ground.

Just before he could get back up, Pyro Lad lunged towards him and landed a powerful uppercut. He jumped upward and landed several hits with his nunchakus before he flipped forward and slammed his foot against his chest, knocking the old psychopath against his chair, breaking it into pieces. Titanium Rabbit growled and smacked Pyro Lad mid-air, watching him tumble across the ground. He was just about to unleash his carrot sword, but at the last second, a wave of water wrapped around his hands and yanked him back.

Monsoon Gal slammed her knee against his face, smacked him with her wooden staff, spun a wave of water around, and splashed him at full force. Titanium Rabbit shielded himself from the hydrokinetic blast before he boosted towards the water bender and threw multiple jabs from left to right. Aside from getting hit once or twice, Monsoon Gal blocked the blows with her weapon and countered against him: she grabbed his arm, kicked his knee, and fired a roundhouse kick. Monsoon Gal splashed him again, but he dodged and shot her with blue-colored energy blasts. She flipped backward and landed on a shelf, evading the blasts.

Poncho Mom, taking the form of a bouncing ball, pounced on top of the iron bunny, and returned back to normal. Enlarging the size of her hands, she threw them down with hopes of hitting him, but all Titanium Rabbit did was grab her hands, spin her around, and throw her across the room.

Pyro Lad got up, only to be hit by his student.

"Sorry, Pyro!" Poncho Mom gasped worryingly.

"Out of my way!" he snarled, shoving her off of his stomach. His hands ignited with flames, and he dashed towards the rabbit. "Appleseed, stop this now or-...oh, shi-"

Bullets shot from his cannons and energy balls blasted from his hands, Titanium Rabbit cackled over Pyro Lad's sentence and watched an armada of projectiles fly towards him. At first, the hero widened his eyes before his partner/crush landed in front of him and block them with a wave of water.

She clapped her hands and sent said wave splashing into him, which made him fall on his rear.

She twirled her staff and stood alongside her friends as they ran forward and leaped into the air.

Back inside the warehouse, The escaped prisoners kicked down the entrance and ran inside. They loaded their weapons and aimed them at the heroes inside, firing bullets that were easily dodged.

Night Shadow formed a shield of darkness around himself and Valentine, who told him to open part of the shield so she could shoot down the prisoners with heart-shaped blasts.

As for Sagittarius and Frosty Beetle, the former sat on top of the latter's shoulders and shot everyone with a bunch of boxing glove arrows. Black headphones sat over his head, and he bopped his head to Rock N'Roll music, whistling as he watched his arrows clap against his enemies' faces.

Closing his eyes, he continued humming to the rhythm before the sky-blue/white heroine gasped. She widened her green eyes and dove downward, avoiding a rocket that blew open part of the roof.

More rockets flew towards Night Shadow and Valentine.

The former of which caught it with his shadowy tentacles and chucked it back. He made sure not to actually hit someone and end their lives, so he aimed it to the side and a group of soldiers were shot to the right, rolling across the ground. They groaned in pain but were quickly knocked unconscious once Night Shadow punched and kicked them all over. Valentine grabbed two goons, slapped their heads together, and shot them in the air with an energy blast. To rub salt on their wounds, Night Shadow swung upward and slammed them against the ground with his giant fists.

Sagittarius and Frosty Beetle somersaulted against the ground and jumped upward.

The black and yellow archer teleported to the catwalk above, smacking several enemies with his bow whereas the cryokinetic rolled herself into a snowball and slammed herself down, blanketing an army of prisoners in soft, white, freezing cold powder.

Night Shadow watched as Frosty Beetle swooped in and scooped a guy from behind; she carried him upward before she tossed him through a glass window. He smirked before he rushed forward, grabbing enemies by their necks, and slamming them against several tables.

"Has anyone heard from MG and the others yet?" he inquired, roundhouse kicking a female goon. "I wouldn't want them to beat up my former principal without me!... not gonna lie, that sounded less hurtful in my head."

"Don't feel that way, Shadz," Frosty Beetle smirked, shooting blasts of snow on top of four enemies. One of the female prisoners kicked her in the back and another one punched her across the jaw. "Argh! Son of a-"

SLAM!

She formed fists of snow and punched them on both sides.

"Sorry about that!" she yelled. "What was I saying? Oh, yeah! Appleseed's a psycho, so I wouldn't feel bad about kicking the shit out of him! To answer your question though, no! I haven't heard from the team!"

She turned her attention to The Dope Squad's couple and asked, "How about you two love birds? Heard anything from the others!?"

Valentine defended herself and her boyfriend from an array of missiles and bullets before a quick snap of her fingers sent an energy field around the warehouse, knocking everyone except the heroes back against the wall. Pushing her tomato red hair out of her face, she turned to the other heroes and shook her head.

"Nothing yet, I'm hoping they're okay. How about you, Sagittarius?... Sagittarius!?"

The dark-skinned archer just kept dancing.

Night Shadow and Frosty Beetle shared an annoyed glare before the former reached over and pulled part of the headphones off of the archer's ears.

"Hey, Fancy Dancer!" he called. "Pay attention!"

"Heh, heh, sorry," Sagittarius chuckled. "Hold on a second."

Without even looking, he reached for an arrow, pulled it back against his bow, and shot a female sniper down.

"And no, I haven't heard from the others," he replied with a smirk. "Yeah, these headphones aren't as soundproof as you think."

WHAM!

As if the heroes weren't tired enough, more and more soldiers escaped from the supply room with weapons in their hands. This time, some firmly grasped riot shields, and other goons wore cybernetic armor with the Seattle Police Department's logo on their chests. Night Shadow rolled his eyes in frustration while everyone else clenched their fists.

"I think it's time we wrap this up," Valentine nodded to her friends.

"The sooner we wrap this up, the better. Bubba Shikka!" Night Shadow called out.

"I'll never understand what that means, but what he said!" Sagittarius chimed in.

The heroes banded together and watched the prisoners rush towards them at once.

All of them gripped their weapons tightly and shared a smirking glance.

And like clockwork, they all ran in separate directions, preparing to unleash their finishing move.

First, Night Shadow and Frosty Beetle evaded multiple projectiles before they leaped into the air. To get extra height, the icy heroine grabbed her shadowy companion's hands and soared upward; a flicker of ice flew out of her wings as she sped up. When they got high enough, both of them high-fived each other so hard, a shockwave and ice and darkness appeared. But then, they descended downward and as they dove faster and faster, auras of their respective powers formed around their bodies, and they circled around Titanium Rabbit's soldiers. They attempted to shoot them, but it was to no avail.

Seeing a tornado of black and white form around their enemies, Valentine and Sagittarius shared a kiss before they joined in the fun, knowing what to do. The pink-colored empath used her powers to push herself upward and landed on top of a railing. With one hand, she blocked all of the bullets and missiles while she shot heart-shaped energy balls into the atmokinetic tornado. The prisoners in the field raised their eyebrows and tried to escape, but Dunnere and Tundra peeked their heads out and kicked them down.

Finally, Sagittarius rubbed his soft, dark-skinned arms and cracked his fingers.

"Say g'night, Cash Puppies!"

"The rabbit told us we were The Money Dawgs!" a prisoner shouted.

"Not anymore!" he replied as he teleported upward and hovered over the field.

He shot not one, not two, but seven explosive arrows and they landed on the ground.

Blinking red lights, they all exploded at the same time and sent the prisoners flying into the air, where they were trapped in a field made of ice and darkness. Night Shadow and Frosty Beetle peeled themselves out of the field and flew around, exchanging a clever wink.

Within a matter of seconds…

CLAP!

They smacked their hands together and the field exploded, sending all of them flying downward and into the floor.

Some landed on top of storage crates, others crashed into boxes, and some fell through the windows.

As for the others, they all tumbled out of the door. (3Stop)

Feeling fatigued, Night Shadow and Frosty Beetle landed safely near their friends, huffing, and puffing. They shared a quick laugh before they watched Dunnere and Tundra high-five. Their owners did the same before they patted each other's shoulders.

"Nice work, Frosty," Night Shadow winked. "Though… could you slow down during the flying section. I almost threw up the gyro I had for lunch."

"You know what I always say, you either fly high or you kiss the ground," she chuckled.

"You have never said that before in your life."

"I just did."

Valentine and Sagittarius approached them, patting their backs.

"Nice work, my dudes," the latter winked. "That… was awesome! Looked like something that came out of a video game!"

"Well, having supernatural powers allows us to defy the laws of physics," Frosty Beetle smiled. "And cheat death."

"Looks like everyone's down," Valentine nodded, looking around the room. "I hope we didn't hurt them too severely."

"Trust me when I say this, Valentine," Night Shadow grinned. "We won't kill them, but their hospital bill will."

"Ha-ha, if you want to look at it that way," she laughed.

"Okay, everyone," the black and blue superhero said, taking a deep breath. He pulled out Hannah's handheld computer and logged in to Monsoon Gal's tracker, which showed him where she was. "Doesn't look like the others are far from here. Let's get to them before Titanium Rabbit, still can't believe he thought that was a good name, does something stupid."

"Trust me when I say this, my dude," Sagittarius wiped his forehead. "Nothing was more stupid than trying to open another portal inside a small building. I still have ash in my underpants!"

"TMI, Sage, TMI," Valentine cringed in disgust.

"Come on, team!" Night Shadow shot a dark whip forward and flew out of the broken window. "Last one there has to kiss one of Techy's toy penguins!"

Frosty Beetle, Sagittarius, and Valentine followed close behind. (4Start)

"Mwa-hahahahahaha! Try as you'd like, Seattle Strikers! There's nothing you can do to stop me!" Titanium Rabbit laughed as he flew backward and shot more missiles and carrot-shaped rockets at his foes, who all evaded to the side and shot back with their elemental powers. Though, Poncho Mom had trouble catching up due to Monsoon Gal and Pyro Lad being faster than her. "All of those weapons shall me mine and everyone will pay for mocking me!"

"The problem with you is that you're trying to fit in with a generation that doesn't want you to be involved!" Monsoon Gal snarled, splashing him with a wave of water. She jumped on top of him and punched his jaw. "Your constant desire to be trendy turned you into a psycho! I'm not even sure how I can sympathize with you, but this has to stop! We're not going to let you kill anyone else!"

"You've already taken enough lives away!" Pyro Lad shouted at the top of his lungs. "You're no different than Edwin Alonzo!You're nothing but a piece of scum who thinks killing is the only answer!? Killers like you belong in Sector Nine! Whether you like or not, you're going back there where you'll hopefully rot in a cell!"

BAM! WHOOSH!

Once he slammed both fists against the ground, a bolt of fire rose from the ground and struck itself through Titanium Rabbit's chest plate. It wasn't powerful enough to kill him, but it damaged most of the armor, leaving a giant black mark that exposed part of his silver stomach.

Titanium Rabbit coughed before he curled his feet up and kicked Pyro Lad, sending him crashing into Monsoon Gal.

"Aww, what's the matter, Hothead?" he chuckled evilly. "I know you're grumpy, but you're really grumpy tonight. Did something spark the old match? Oh, are you having romance issues with Monsoon Gal? I know you two have kind of a on and off thing going on. Ha-ha, oh! Maybe you're having family issues! Was Daddy not there when you were a kid? Did he say he was going to the grocery store only to not come back at all? Or perhaps you're having issues financially! I can't imagine you make a lot of money dressed like a clown!"

"…shut… up." He mumbled.

"What's that?"

"…shut… up…" he snarled again, trying not to lose his temper.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you over your-"

"I SAID… SHUT. UP!" Pyro Lad shouted, as he clapped his hands and a wave of fire shot forward.

Titanium Rabbit leaped out of the way and shot him with a laser.

Suddenly, his shoulder cannons popped up.

"Look out, folks! It's about to be the fourth of July in here! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I LOVE THIS JOB!"

Once again, Titanium Rabbit raised his arms and aimed them high, launching missiles, bullets, and rockets at the three heroes. Panicked, Poncho Mom leaped in front of Pyro Lad and extended her body, knowing it would probably kill her in the process. But she didn't care, she wanted to protect her friend. Just in the blink of an eye, Monsoon Gal pushed her behind and formed a wall of water, which shielded all of the projectiles. She did nod to Poncho Mom though, thanking her for the offer to protect her friend. Speaking of which, she turned around and spoke to him sternly.

"Calm down, Pyro Lad!" she grunted. "What's the matter with you?"

"I-I'm sorry, it's just…" Pyro Lad replied before he stopped to take a deep breath. "Something's been bothering me all day today… and what he just said about… Grr, I'm sorry, MG! I just… can't focus!"

"I'd love to talk about it later, but now isn't a good time," Monsoon Gal nodded, feeling sympathy for her crush. "Take a deep breath, get yourself together, and focus on one thing at a time."

The fire bender closed his bluebell eyes and did what he was told. Pressing his hands together, he felt a bit of stress leave his body and he opened them back up, clenching his fists and nodding to his partner. "All right… I think I'm good for the most part. Thanks."

"No problem. Gotta make sure our team's one hundred percent, right?" Monsoon Gal smirked.

"You mean your team," he shrugged.

"However, you want to dub it," she chuckled. "Now, let's focus! Poncho Mom, I need you and Pyro Lad to provide a distraction. When I give my signal, I need you to hold Appleseed down while Pyro and I combine our powers together. We should be able to penetrate his armor! Is everyone clear on the plan?"

Pyro Lad and Poncho Mom exchanged a glance before they nodded.

"Good!" Monsoon Gal smiled before she slammed her water shield on top of Titanium Rabbit, leaving him soaked and wet. Just when he got up and wiped his lip, she and her friends clenched their weapons and lunged into battle. "Let's do it to it!"

Just like their friends in the warehouse, the three heroes thought of a plan to end this battle once and for all. Pyro Lad and Poncho Mom did as they were told and went ahead of their leader. They ran faster than the speed of light, dodging and jumping over bullets, missiles, and energy blasts. Pyro Lad dove forward and somersaulted across the ground, landing a fiery uppercut against Titanium Rabbit's neck. Before he flew halfway upward, Poncho Mom caught him mid-air, performed a front flip, and slammed the villain against the ground.

Monsoon Gal spun her staff and shared a quick glance with Aqua.

The water bender took a deep breath before she stored her weapon away and motioned to her partner/crush, who gave her a wink before he punched Titanium Rabbit and ran towards her.

"So, the two lovers want to die, huh!?" Titanium Rabbit cackled. "I've always wanted to kill a cute superhero couple!"

Poncho Mom jumped on top of his shoulder cannons, preventing them from firing, and she landed beside him. She stretched her face and stuck her tongue out, shaking her rear.

"Don't you disrespect my OTP!" she exclaimed happily.

"I thought you and Night Shadow were OTP," she said in BagByte's voice.

"No, no, we're Mega OTP. Monsoon Gal and Pyro Lad are just OTP!"

"Silly vocabulary like that is why this generation shall perish!" Titanium Rabbit growled as he flew forward in an attempt to grab her, but she jumped over him and stuck her tongue out again, making a raspberry with her mouth.

"You're just jealous because you're not cool!" she giggled.

"As if you're any cooler," BagByte said sarcastically. "You're the one that plays with me, a puppet!"

"I thought you hated that word," the red-haired girl scratched her head.

"It's only okay if I say it," her puppet replied.

"I'm confused!" Titanium Rabbit howled. "Is he sentient or are you just that insane!?"

Monsoon Gal and Pyro Lad listened to their banter before they locked hands and nodded.

"You ready?" she asked with a smirk.

"Always," he nodded.

Water and fire suddenly swarmed around their bodies and reached up to their fists. The colors combined into a light-purple hue, and they locked eyes with the villain, who was just kicked by the elastic woman. Just before Poncho Mom could land another attack, she saw that the heroes were surrounded by different elements and she instinctively moved out of the way, whipping out her cell phone.

"Oh, this is so going online!" she smiled, pressing the record button on her camera.

Titanium Rabbit's eyes widened as he watched both elemental heroes jump into the air, finding themselves covered in a purple swirl of water and fire. Together, they joined hands and spun around in a complete circle before they turned into a ball and dove downward. At first, they missed Titanium Rabbit who boosted to the right, but with a little bit of precision, they ricocheted off of the wall and pierced through The Titanium Rabbit's armor.

With that, they broke out of their atmokinetic state and went to town; they stood on both sides and flew through the air, punching and kicking the supervillain as much as they pleased.

Poncho Mom screamed with delight and recorded the whole thing, not even caring that she was shaking the camera.

Pyro Lad landed one more punch before Monsoon Gal sliced the cannons right off of Titanium Rabbit's shoulders. With one quick smack, Pyro Lad got down on one knee, ignited his fists full of flames, and jabbed it into the rabbit's groin. Screaming in pain, the former principal was knocked into the air by the hydrokinetic leader and his leg was grabbed by the fire bender, who spun him around three times before the blue-costumed heroine landed the final blow.

SMACK! (4Stop)

Like a baseball bat, she slammed her staff against his stomach and sent him flying across the room.

He flew through several shelves, two walls, and landed against a desk with a picture of a superhero named The Harlem Knight against the wall. He landed on his side and coughed out a drop of blood. A black bruise covered his right eye and most of his lips were bloody. His armor was covered in scratch marks, burnt marks, and dents created by Poncho Mom's fists. He struggled to get back up and fight the heroes, but his weak arm muscles caused him to fall over.

Monsoon Gal, Pyro Lad, and Poncho Mom walked through the damaged office and surrounded the supervillain, whose vision was hazy and he looked at the three of them.

He moaned, laughed, and pointed at them. "H-hey… I-I d-dunno about… about y-you guys… b-but… I feel dank…"

They raised their eyebrows.

"Good night!" he snapped his fingers before he fell asleep, snoring loudly.

"What a dumbass," Pyro Lad rolled his eyes.

"Took the words out of my mouth, Fire Boy," Poncho Mom nodded, posting the video she took online. She labeled it #Water&FireOTP before she clicked Send.

"It's Pyro Lad."

"Oh, come on, I gotta give you some nickname, don't I?" she teased, nudging his arm.

"Well, maybe come up with a better one," he mumbled.

"All right, all right, enough you two," Monsoon Gal nodded. "We won… and that's all that matters."

Suddenly, Night Shadow and the others entered the room.

All eyes were on the unconscious villain.

"Oof," Frosty Beetle chortled, cupping her hands over her mouth. "Damn, Pyro. Were you responsible for that? Hot damn, you gave him quite a beating."

"Wasn't just me," Pyro Lad folded his arms, pointing to his best friend and student. "It was a team effort. Besides, he's a monster. He doesn't deserve to die, but hopefully, this makes him think twice before he launches another attack."

"Man, I wanted a shot at him," Night Shadow moaned playfully, but then he shrugged. "Ah, well. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose."

"Then what good is him winning if all he does is lose?" Sagittarius inquired, which got a laugh out of his teammates except for Pyro Lad. "Well, folks. I'd say that's pretty much a wrap. Whaddya, say we take this old fart outside and bring him to the po-po?"

"I couldn't agree more, Sagittarius," Night Shadow winked. "Chuck another one up for… for…"

He stroked his chin and so did Dunnere.

It didn't take him long to snap his fingers and say, "The Dope Seattle Strike Force."

Everyone blankly stared.

He felt embarrassed. "…no?"

Everyone shook their heads while Pyro Lad facepalmed.