Fall of Heroes by Jeramey Kraatz Page B

rigidly to the microphone.
    â€œWe were going to wait until the end of the ceremony to share the good news,” he said, “but I guess now is as good a time as any. Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the actions of these delusional impostors. What they’re saying is simply impossible.”
    â€œNo,” Amp said, stepping forward, his voice echoing through the crowd. “Look! This is Lone Star and Lux! These are your protectors. Your heroes !”
    â€œBut how can that be when Lux is right here?” Photon asked.
    It took a moment for Alex to figure out what Photon was talking about, but then he couldn’t miss her. Floating down from the roof of a nearby building was Lux. Or at least, it was someone who looked exactly like every photo of Lux Alex had ever seen. Her hair was splayed about around her head, beautiful and luminous, as if producing a light of its own. Her eyes were bright and vibrant. On the ground in front of the stage, the other Lux reached out and gripped Lone Star’s arm. She already looked tired and weary from the Gloom, but all the blood had now drained from her face. It wasn’t that the two women looked drastically different, but there was no denying that the woman slowly drifting to the stage and waving to the shouting crowds looked more like a superhero.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Alex asked. “Wait, we do have the real Lux, right?”
    â€œLook,” Gage said, as his goggles whirred. “Did you see that? A slight ripple across the new one’s face.”
    â€œNovo,” Mallory spat.
    â€œShe’s put herself back together,” Bug whispered, his eyes glinting metallic.
    Dread sent Alex’s heart plummeting into his stomach.
    â€œBut how is she flying? And her hair . . . those aren’t her powers.”
    â€œThe hair’s a trick of the lighting,” Gage said. “If she can fake any material with her powers, she can produce highly reflective strands of hair. And she’s not flying. Photon’s doing it. Look at the belts and emblems on the new Ranger uniforms. They’re all metal. He’s using his powers to create the illusion that she’s flying.”
    Novo alighted on the stage and walked to the podium. She smiled and waved as if she were in some sort of pageant. The crowd cheered and backed farther away from the five intruders at the foot of the stage.
    â€œYou have no idea how happy I am to be back, my friends,” she said into the microphone, her voice a lilting singsong. “The New Rangers have rescued me from a terrible fate. In the coming days, I’ll be sharing the story of how Shade, Photon, Volt, and Titan faced great evil to save me. But for now, I’d just like to thank them, publicly, and to say to the real Lone Star, wherever he is: we will find you, and you’ll rejoin our ranks.” She turned her head down to the Gloom-weathered man at the foot of the stage. “Soon.”
    â€œNo!” Lone Star shouted. “You are not Lux. Lux is here .”
    â€œIf that’s true,” Shade said, leaning over the microphone, “why doesn’t she show us some of her powers? Why don’t both of you fly up here and prove to the good people of this city that you are who you say you are?”
    Lone Star and Lux stared back at her.
    â€œI thought not,” Shade said.
    There was a gasp somewhere off to the right side of the stage, which morphed into screams. A pillar of darkness had grown out of the earth, and out of it walked three figures clad in black, hooded trench coats. Phantom. Barrage. Julie.
    Alex’s hand went icy as the mark of Cloak surfaced on his palm. A grinning, inky-black skull.
    â€œOh crap,” Misty said.
    â€œVillains!” Photon took the microphone. “You would try to trick the public with henchmen made up to look like the heroes of this city?”
    Phantom stepped forward. Even far away, Alex could see the glee