I’mfineI’mfineI’mfineI’mfineI’mfine…
“All right, thank y’all for your patience!” Blackjack said over the loudspeakers. “Get yourselves some rest, because classes start tomorrow!”
I opened my eyes, seeing Blackjack and Everywhere Man leave through the Tri-Hole before it disappeared. Relief flooded through every part of my body as I collapsed back into my chair. I wasn’t the only one. The suddenness had past, and one by one everyone started looking around, seeing who was left and who wasn’t. Most of the fliers and some of the others with more boring powers were gone, as well as the Cyclops from Carnivore’s gang.
So was Artok. Yes!
Everyone I liked was still here. Cheers and cries of relief started circling those of us still left as everyone shared hugs and high fives. Though I’ve never been much for closeness, it felt good to hug Showstopper, Felix, and even Odigjod and Firewall, though through her suit it felt like she was trying to break my back.
I saw Nevermore in a small group hugging her two remaining friends, and we exchanged smiles and nods.
Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?
#Supervillainy101: The Third Cataclysm
Every thirty to forty years since the rise of the supers, Earth has gone through what scientists have called “Cataclysms.” Apparently, our universe has something close to an infinite number of alternate universes sharing the same space (roughly) full of the same planets and people, just slightly off. (Makes me wonder what all the alternate versions of me are like.) Sometimes these universes get slightly out of sync and collide, and in order to make things right again, a battle needs to take place.
Don’t ask me to explain the whys here. I don’t know why they only started happening once the supers rose, nor do I understand why a battle’s supposed to take place to fix it. All I know is that all the superheroes of all the participating dimensions have to take part, and occasionally a universe is destroyed or merged with another, and sometimes we get new heroes out of it.
The Third Cataclysm occurred in 1969, when some brainwashed clone of El Capitán from an alternate universe grabbed the fabric of reality and ripped it in half, nearly destroying all existence. Most of our heroes were involved in repelling a Gray invasion on the moon and couldn’t come back to Earth in time to save it.
Seeing this, several of the most influential villains of the day decided to step in to save the world. Led by Otis Shylock, Professor Death, Blackjack, and Dr. Tongue, an army of nearly one hundred supervillains and a few stray heroes and sidekicks worked around the clock to right the fabric of existence, ending this Cataclysm faster than either of the previous two had under the heroes.
Realizing what they could do together, Otis Shylock and Professor Death did something that had never been dreamt of in the past: they created a team of supervillains. With nearly thirty members, the Villain’s Union created a criminal empire the likes of which the world had never seen, elevating this odd group of petty thugs to celebrity status almost overnight.
Of course, the sight of a group of villains working together was too dangerous to let stand, and in response the heroes reformed a new version of the Protectors (a group temporarily created to fight in World War II and disbanded shortly thereafter) to confront the threat that this group clearly posed.
The War on Villainy had begun.
#LessonLearned: Sometimes adversity has a way of bonding people.
7
THE CHIN
It was three weeks before we felt strong enough to make it to “The Chin.”
Three weeks of struggle.
Three weeks of nonstop classes in performance and diction, in stage fighting and real fighting, in using our powers and gaining the confidence to look like we’d been using them forever.
Three weeks of lousy sleep and lousier food.
Three weeks of watching pretty much everyone but me get laid.
Three weeks of constant judgment by
“All right, thank y’all for your patience!” Blackjack said over the loudspeakers. “Get yourselves some rest, because classes start tomorrow!”
I opened my eyes, seeing Blackjack and Everywhere Man leave through the Tri-Hole before it disappeared. Relief flooded through every part of my body as I collapsed back into my chair. I wasn’t the only one. The suddenness had past, and one by one everyone started looking around, seeing who was left and who wasn’t. Most of the fliers and some of the others with more boring powers were gone, as well as the Cyclops from Carnivore’s gang.
So was Artok. Yes!
Everyone I liked was still here. Cheers and cries of relief started circling those of us still left as everyone shared hugs and high fives. Though I’ve never been much for closeness, it felt good to hug Showstopper, Felix, and even Odigjod and Firewall, though through her suit it felt like she was trying to break my back.
I saw Nevermore in a small group hugging her two remaining friends, and we exchanged smiles and nods.
Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?
#Supervillainy101: The Third Cataclysm
Every thirty to forty years since the rise of the supers, Earth has gone through what scientists have called “Cataclysms.” Apparently, our universe has something close to an infinite number of alternate universes sharing the same space (roughly) full of the same planets and people, just slightly off. (Makes me wonder what all the alternate versions of me are like.) Sometimes these universes get slightly out of sync and collide, and in order to make things right again, a battle needs to take place.
Don’t ask me to explain the whys here. I don’t know why they only started happening once the supers rose, nor do I understand why a battle’s supposed to take place to fix it. All I know is that all the superheroes of all the participating dimensions have to take part, and occasionally a universe is destroyed or merged with another, and sometimes we get new heroes out of it.
The Third Cataclysm occurred in 1969, when some brainwashed clone of El Capitán from an alternate universe grabbed the fabric of reality and ripped it in half, nearly destroying all existence. Most of our heroes were involved in repelling a Gray invasion on the moon and couldn’t come back to Earth in time to save it.
Seeing this, several of the most influential villains of the day decided to step in to save the world. Led by Otis Shylock, Professor Death, Blackjack, and Dr. Tongue, an army of nearly one hundred supervillains and a few stray heroes and sidekicks worked around the clock to right the fabric of existence, ending this Cataclysm faster than either of the previous two had under the heroes.
Realizing what they could do together, Otis Shylock and Professor Death did something that had never been dreamt of in the past: they created a team of supervillains. With nearly thirty members, the Villain’s Union created a criminal empire the likes of which the world had never seen, elevating this odd group of petty thugs to celebrity status almost overnight.
Of course, the sight of a group of villains working together was too dangerous to let stand, and in response the heroes reformed a new version of the Protectors (a group temporarily created to fight in World War II and disbanded shortly thereafter) to confront the threat that this group clearly posed.
The War on Villainy had begun.
#LessonLearned: Sometimes adversity has a way of bonding people.
7
THE CHIN
It was three weeks before we felt strong enough to make it to “The Chin.”
Three weeks of struggle.
Three weeks of nonstop classes in performance and diction, in stage fighting and real fighting, in using our powers and gaining the confidence to look like we’d been using them forever.
Three weeks of lousy sleep and lousier food.
Three weeks of watching pretty much everyone but me get laid.
Three weeks of constant judgment by
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