Leporine turned pink and stepped back, stuttering. Zerimona narrowed her eyes and thrust the power outwards into a thick metal pole from the nearby fence. With a ping it sprang free and flew at Max.
"Hey!" Max jumped back in fear and braced himself. The pole struck him between the legs at twenty years per hour and bounced off with a clunk.
Toby let out an "Ooohhh!" in sympathy and then blinked, confused, when Max didn't immediately drop to the floor in the foetal position.
"Ha!" Max cried triumphantly. "Your telekinesis tricks don't work on me!"
Zerimona gave him a bemused look. "Are you wearing a cup?"
"Always best to be prepared." Max grinned and winked. Zerimona rolled her eyes and dug deeper into her reserves of power. Another pole burst out and struck Max on the temple. "N-no fair!" he said, swaying, his eyes rolling in their sockets, and collapsed to the floor.
"Hi five!" Leporine turned to Zerimona, his eyes lit up with elation, and held up a hand. She smiled back and smacked his palm.
"Good job, team mate."
"Really?" Leporine's smile stretched even wider. "Well, I mean, you did most of the work there."
"You stood up to an opponent and engaged him in dialogue. That's a crucial skill to have." Zerimona gave him an approving smile. "Come on, we need to finish the patrol."
"Don't think it'll be that easy," A smug voice came from just behind them. Zerimona whipped around, grabbing Toby by the shoulder and spinning him too. A short man, looking strangely dapper even when clad in a maroon jumpsuit, stood with his head tilted to the side. A pungent, unidentifiable smell drifted off him. Toby's smile disappeared and was replaced by a confused frown. He wrinkled his nose.
"Phereman. Max never stopped being your sidekick, did he?" Zerimona said, the realisation hitting her as the facts snapped together in her brain. Out of the frying pan, into the fire, to use a cliche.
"Catch on quickly, don't we?" The man - Phereman - smirked at the two of them. "This will be fun."
"Phereman?" Toby whispered in Zerimona's ear. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"He controls and manipulates pheromones," she replied, not bothering to keep her voice down. "It's a surprisingly powerful talent if used well."
"Is that why he smells?" Toby asked, glancing back at the small, menacing figure.
"You know what this smell is?" Phereman interrupted impatiently. "It's the smell of your impending doom."
"And what exactly is this doom you have planned then?" Zerimona tapped her foot. "You better be able to carry it out in the next fifteen minutes, 'cause our shift's ending at four."
"Oh, don't worry," Phereman said, smiling unpleasantly. "It won't take long."
"So," Zerimona said. Phrases from the Handbook bubbled up in her mind. Villains are almost always inordinately proud of their evil schemes, and love explaining them to their would-be-opponents. "What was Max for then? An expendable decoy?"
"Keep up well, don't you? Yes, he was to drain your energy, test your strength. You defeated him surprisingly quickly."
"Surprisingly?" Zerimona raised an eyebrow. "I was second in my year at Super Academy, let me remind you."
"Really?" Leporine's eyes widened. "I nearly didn't graduate at all!"
"I know," Zerimona said through gritted teeth.
"Ah, yes!" Phereman stared gleefully at Leporine. "Rabbit Boy! I've heard all about you."
"M-my name is Leporine," the teenager said, trying not to tremble as he met the villain's eyes.
"Alright, that's enough," Zerimona said, after Toby had squirmed for a couple of seconds. "I'm assuming that, as the most successful Super aside from Bewilder Boy, who, might I point out, takes power enhancing tablets twice daily despite the well documented side effects, you want me out of the way so you can continue with your nefarious plans?"
"Bingo!" Phereman clapped his hands delightedly. "Oh, this will be fun." He stood there, smiling, his eyes darting from one to the other, and his eyes gleamed. Zerimona clenched her fists, summoning the inner strength she had developed from ten years of being top of her field in a crime fighting profession dominated by male heroes. She knew what trick he was playing, and she could withstand it. Leprorine, though...
She felt it first in the pit of her stomach; a deep seated, ancient unease that told her to flee, flee, scurry away because this place smelt of danger. She looked round at Toby. His eyes were wide and his face was pale. He was clenching his fists tightly, his knuckles standing out white, his shoulders hunched in. Phereman chuckled lightly. Zerimona glared at him and put an arm around Toby's shoulder.
"Listen to me." She whispered it quietly, hoping against hope that beneath the the fumbling and the stuttering and the fondness for watching Teletubbies he had that elusive quality that was essential to all supers: bravery. "This'll pass in a minute, and it's his only power. Just don't turn your back."
But it was growing, growing to a scream, a primal instinct that she had to fight to resist. It would be so easy to turn, jump down and find a safe place to wait it out, but she couldn't do that because there were people depending on her. And anyway, who was he? Just a stupid little man who thought he could take on the world and beat it. All bark and no bite.
"You don't smell of doom," she ground out. "You smell of old fish."
Toby giggled. Phereman's eyes flashed with anger, and the spell was broken. Zerimona breathed a sigh of relief. The knot in her stomach slowly unwound itself as the blood began to thrum in her veins once more.
"Nice try!" she called. "Nice try, but it's gonna take more than that to beat us. What've you got?"
Phereman smiled coldly. The gleeful spark had disappeared from his eyes and they beat down on the two Supers with a furious, focused precision. He reached behind his back and pulled out a dull black handgun, snapping off the safety catch calmly. "Powers are all very well, but there's nothing like a gun for killing, is there? Simple, clean, none of this summoning your inner energy twaddle. I like that." He lifted his arm, angled the muzzle at Zerimona then at Leporine. Ten feet between us, Zerimona thought slowly. The statistics trickled upwards from some closed area of her brain, while her body stiffened with fear. A bullet travels at anything from one to four thousand feet per second. I could do it. Maybe.
"Say your goodbyes, ladies," Phereman said coolly. Zerimona rolled her eyes and forced her muscles to loosen.
Phereman pulled the trigger. Zerimona felt the crack and the shockwaves rippling out, willed the bullet to slow with all her might and she hoped to God Leporine had the sense to dive on the floor and it was spiralling towards her and Phereman had stumbled back from the force and oh God oh God where was Leporine? The bullet spun, stuttered, clattered on the concrete of the rooftop. She looked around wildly. A crumpled orange suit lay in a heap beside her. Where the hell was her assistant?
"GET IT OFF ME! AAARGH!" The villain was sprawled out, flailing his hands wildly and lashing out with his legs while a white rabbit lolloped over him and gnawed on his ear. "I'm bleeding!"
Zerimona stifled a giggle. "Why so you are, Phereman. Well, maybe next time you'll know not to threated a Super gifted with rabbit powers. The bunny jumped up in agreement and thumped its foot on Phereman's chest. He screamed and shut his eyes tightly, drawing his legs inwards. "Alright Leporine!" Zerimona called. "I think you've terrified our opponent enough for today." The rabbit pattered over the whimpering evildoer and stared blankly up at her with pale pink eyes. It squeaked.
With a puff of fur, the rabbit stretched and grew and within seconds Leporine was standing before her once more, a delighted grin on his face. "Ha!" He jumped up and down in triumph.
"Well done! I think that's a new power you've uncovered," Zerimona said, smiling with a warm rush of pride.
"Yeah! Take that you jerk!" Leporine beamed. Phereman growled something unintelligible and gathered himself, his face puce red to match his suit.
"I think that's a job well done. Although, Lep, you might want to..." Zerimona began, fighting the urge to laugh.
"Yeah?" Leporine looked up.
"Well, you're... You're rather naked."
Leporine's head snapped down and then up again. "Oh. Oh, yeah... Well, I'll just go, I'll just get my suit on then shall I?"
"I did tell you getting changed quickly was a vital skill." Zerimona snickered and averted her eyes as Leporine hopped on the spot and tugged furiously at the Lycra. She glanced at her watch. Five to four; Infernia would be coming out soon to take over from them. Perfect timing.
Five minutes lighter, with both heroes fully clad and their success radioed to Super HQ, they strolled once more over the rooftops towards the office. Leporine waved triumphantly to the postman and continued onwards, breaking out into a dance now and then. "Wait till I tell my mum! And my dad too, maybe they'll finally accept that this is a suitable career choice. She'll tell all the neighbours about how I defeated the baddy, I bet she will."
"Not to put a damper on your happiness, but that was a pretty unconventional take-down. There's going to be at least seventeen extra forms to fill in." Zerimona said lightly.
"But you'll help, right?" Leporine looked at her with those damnable rabbit eyes.
"I suppose I will," she conceded. "First things first, let's put the kettle on and have a cup of tea." Together they walked through the doors and sat down on the rickety chairs. It had been a busy shift, and there was work to do to prepare for tomorrow, but first they would take the time to bask in their victory. They were an unconventional pair, that was for sure, but if there was one thing that the day had proved, it was that Zerimona and Leporine were more than capable of taking on the enemies of Sullingham and kicking some evil villain ass.
