by Sapphire
Good guys keep their promises. That’s what Mind Slayer told me. We’re predictable that way. But bad guys are predictable, too.
I made my deal with Mind Slayer, got the information she promised me about the raid on the Antiquities Museum. She told me that Medusa had her eye on an item called the Necklace of Luvah that was part of the Aleister Crowley collection. The Crowley collection was on tour from a museum in England, and the necklace would only be in Millennium City for a few more days.
I told the other Champions the deal. No one was too thrilled at the hands off Psimon rule, but they were all willing to abide by it.
“That will seriously limit what we can do,” Defender said.
“I know. But I promised.”
He nodded. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. But this means we have to be alert.”
“Aren’t we always?” Kinetik asked.
We made our plans and were lying in wait for Psimon and Medusa at the museum. Witchcraft and I were hiding near the exhibit, hidden by one of her spells so that they couldn’t see us or sense our presence. Since both of us have very good distance attacks, that seemed like a good idea. Kinetik disguised himself as a museum guard, and Ironclad and Defender put on suits of armor that hid their faces and then stood perfectly still pretending to be statues.
We were ready. Defender had given us gadgets to let us know when someone entered the museum; Witchcraft had spells waiting that would let us hear the PSI crew once they were in the museum.
Sure enough, they broke in at a quarter past midnight. Medusa used her psionic powers to freeze the museum guards, but she wasn’t fast enough to get Kinetik. He ran – slowing himself down just enough to hide his superpowered speed. Psimon immediately ordered their henchman after the “guard” – “Don’t let him call for help!”
“Psimon, don’t move. I need to make sure he’s the only one,” Mind Slayer said.
“We have to move faster,” Medusa snapped.
“Don’t get your panties in a twist,” Mind Slayer said. “I’m not letting Psimon walk into danger. Got that?”
“Don’t you mean you’re protecting both of us from danger?” Medusa said. Now, I couldn’t see Medusa, but from her tone of voice I’m sure her lip was curled in disgust.
“Yeah. That’s right,” Mind Slayer snarled back.
“Now, Medusa, Mind Slayer is just doing her job,” Psimon said. The smugness in his voice just made me want to smack him. It’s obvious he’s playing the two women against each other. I hate that in any man, much less a supervillain!
Thanks to Witchcraft’s magic, we could hear Mind Slayer muttering as she did a quick survey of the area. “Bimbette better be here, or I’m gonna put my boot through Medusa, so help me.”
I admit, Witchcraft and I nearly giggled. Except, of course, superheroes lying in wait never giggle – that would give away our position.
“We’re fine,” she said. “You can check, too, if you want,” she told Psimon. This was the reason Witchcraft had cast a spell to shield our minds. Psimon can sense people, if he looks for them. The spell would be enough to cover us, but Defender and Ironclad might not be so lucky. We weren’t sure of Psimon’s range.
“I’m sure you’ve done an admirable job,” Psimon told her. “Shall we?”
“About time,” Medusa huffed.
“Ready?” I whispered to Witchcraft.
“Ready.”
At which point I slammed Medusa with an energy blast and Witchcraft cast a spell to temporarily blind her. If she couldn’t see us, we were betting she also couldn’t freeze us.
It worked beautifully. My attack blew her back, and Witchcraft’s blinded her. Mind Slayer immediately slapped up a force bubble around Psimon and began growling at us. She threw her mental blades at us, but somehow none of them hit.
“We need to get out of here, Psimon,” she said.
“Grab Medusa!” Psimon shouted.
Mind Slayer shook her head. “You’re in too much danger.” She went to grab hold of him and fly him out of there, but he refused.
“No, I’ve called the others back.” He broke free of Mind Slayer’s grip and threw a psionic energy blast at me.
It wasn’t enough to hurt, but it did unsettle me. It also freed me of my promise to Mind Slayer. “That’s it!” I shouted. “Get him!”
And that’s when all chaos broke loose. Ironclad and Defender came out of hiding. Psimon’s minions returned from chasing Kinetik. And Kinetik, of course, came diving back into the fray. I was throwing energy blasts and shielding myself and Witchcraft. Witchcraft was casting spells to suppress psionic powers. One of the minions was telekinetic, and began tossing around stray objet d’art. Defender knocked out two of the minions by backhanding them into a wall.
Through it all, Medusa groped around on the floor, unable to see and calling for Psimon.
“We have to grab her before he gets to her!” I shouted.
Ironclad immediately redirected and swooped Medusa up.
“Oh!” Medusa said. She pushed against Ironclad’s massive shoulder, “Oh, my…”
Honestly, I think she was halfway tempted to let Ironclad capture her. He has that kind of affect on some women.
Psimon, however, went ballistic. It was like some tremendous battle armor made out of sheer psionic willpower encased him, and he ran at Ironclad. Which surprised Ironclad, I have to say.
In all that confusion, Psimon got Medusa back. Mind Slayer grabbed hold of them and flew them out of one of the upper windows, and we managed to capture all the minions they’d left behind.
So, was it a success? Kind of. We prevented Medusa from getting her hands on the necklace, which could have amplified her powers a hundred fold. Imagine her freezing people without having to see them, or even be near them. Just by thinking of them. And imagine that state lasting more than a day, the way it does now, and lasting years. I don’t like to think what that would have done to the world.
However, we didn’t capture Medusa. Or Psimon. We did get the minions, which is useful. And none of us were hurt.
But… Before they left, Mind Slayer used her mental powers to smash through a glass case protecting a bronze wrist cuff. Defender saw her slip it on before she left. According to the collection inventory, it was a gift Crowley had made for one of his lovers. It was rumored to have the ability to inspire tremendous emotional devotion, if used by the right person.
Which leaves me wondering if the whole thing was a set up. Was Mind Slayer just setting up us Champions? Did Psimon and Medusa know? Of course, Medusa seemed pretty stunned by our presence, as did Psimon. Had Mind Slayer set us all up? Had she told Medusa about the necklace as a method of getting herself into the museum. And then tell us as a way to distract Medusa and Psimon from what she was doing? All for a chance at making Psimon love her as much as she did him?
I don’t know. I can understand, I think, why she might have done that. On the other hand, I think she dealt with me with as much good faith as she could. She didn’t lie. And she would have let us capture Medusa if she could. But.
Bad guys are predictable. You can trust them to always be looking out for the main chance. Even when they’re honest with you. Even when they keep their word. They still use other people. Because they don’t know how not to.
