I shook myself out of my distraction and struck against the small woman I still had targeted. Her attention was entirely focused on Scott, about to deliver another of those devastating power drains, so she never felt me coming. She made a quiet sound of pain and fell limply to the ground.
     Flame now focused his attention on Scott, who barely evaded his next strike and shouted a warning at Promethean—the invisible ninja woman again. Her blade whicked through the fabric of his costume.
     I could hear Lucky's battle below, she sounded as if she had things under control there. Flame was the only enemy visible; the other woman I still couldn't see. I targeted him carefully and with a certain amount of trepidation, remembering the previous night's staring match.
     "Scott, where is she?" Promethean called. The robot shaped himself into a pointer. Promethean pulled a new trick; a vast wave of plasma rolled out from him down a corridor in the air, liberally charring everything in its path.
     "Yes!" Scott yelled; she'd been hit, was hurt, but still conscious.
     Flame set the top of the building on fire where Scott had been coiled a moment before. Lucky and Monster sailed out a window several stories up and hit the street below, came up facing one another, ready to resume battle.
     Scott must have attacked the invisible woman, since I couldn't see what the hell he was aiming at; he pinned her within his substance while she struggled fiercely.
     I missed Flame. Just barely. Goddammit. And now he was looking at me.
     Promethean fired off a plasma blast at him, distracting him. Flame turned, met the blast with his own power—standoff again.
     "Ma'am, if you don't stop struggling I may have to hurt you," Scott informed his captive politely.
     Lucky picked up a Volvo and swung it at Monster. He caught hold of the car, yanked it away from her and swung back. She leaped out of the way, sprayed by bits of car as it shattered against the asphalt from the force of the blow.
     The air crackled between Promethean and Flame. The point of impact was inching back toward Promethean when it suddenly completely overwhelmed him; he dodged madly.
     "Sorry, ma'am." Scott squeezed carefully. She stopped struggling.
     I tried again on Flame, with no better results; too much energy was coursing through his body for my power to have any effect, he just threw me off like I was nothing.
     Lucky brought her staff up alongside Monster's head; he rolled with the blow, came back up with a VW bus in his hands and slammed it down at her. Her staff cut it in half. Monster had the most furious expression on his face I have ever seen; Lucky's smile taunted him.
     Flame dropped down, caught up No-Name's unconscious body and decided on the better part of valor. Promethean shot after him on a comet's tail of plasma. Scott followed, moving from rooftop to rooftop with shocking speed, ready to provide backup and catch any falling bodies.
     The dogfight was out of visual range in a very short period of time; I could see hints and sparks of plasma off in the evening-dimmed distance as they dueled. I went after Monster, grappled for an instant against his strength and lost the hold. Lucky slammed her staff into his groin, he managed to partially block it, but we still had the satisfaction of watching his eyes bug out for an instant—before he threw a picture-perfect punch straight to her jaw.
     He bounded toward where she lay flat on her back on the other side of the street, shaking off that blow. I took my time aiming at him. A news chopper had shown up sometime in the last few minutes and headed off toward Promethean's aerial battle for some of the best footage they've gotten since Phoenix left.
     This time I connected. He screamed—more in rage than pain, I think—as foxfire outlined his body for an instant. He jumped impossibly, kicked off the side of the building, and launched himself at me. Bounced off my shield in what looked like a controlled fashion and headed away over the rooftops, dodging erratically enough to evade my follow-up.
     A brilliant blue line of force snapped out and lashed around his leg; Lucky was standing on top of the next building over, her staff transformed into what looks like a whip. She hauled back hard; Monster tripped and slammed with all his momentum into a wall. Lights out. I am impressed.
     Scott reappeared with two unconscious villains under his "arms." The police were cordoning off the area around the fight.
     It had taken, all told, about a minute and a half. The enemy had traded their single rescued member for five.

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