One of the figures glanced over the rooftop edges and down to the other smaller brownstones that lined the streets.   “What an odd thing to find in the heart of Greenwich Village,” he mused.

“You would find oddities amusing,” the taller, thinner female said.

“Quiet, both of you!” the more muscular female snapped softly. “We need to get inside!” She led the group towards what appeared to be a doorway at the open end of the natural area. The woman pointed to a handle one the wooden square set into the ground. “That would be a way in.” She started to reach for it.

“Think that’s wise?” the other male asked. “It could be booby-trapped.”

The woman pulled her hand back and considered. “You are right.” She turned to the third woman who had been silent the entire time. “You! Try the door.”

The silent woman nodded and moved forward into the light. Blonde hair cascaded down to her shoulders. But her face was covered completely by an expressionless mask of gray.  Only narrow eye-slits and an opening near her mouth showed any of her features. She started to reach for the handle, paused, and then turned to a nearby stone sculpture. Picking up a loose bird figure from it, she returned to the trapdoor and waved the stone figure before the door. The door shimmered and a metal bolt could be heard on the other side sliding open.

As she placed the figure back on the fountain, the masked woman saw her reflection in the water.   The image changed briefly to that of another woman, a brunette in a rose colored mask with a tiara on her forehead. The stone in the tiara glowed and the image changed again. This time it was the blonde woman again but without the gray full facemask. And then a red domino mask appeared on the image of the face.

The puzzled woman put her hand to the water, sending a ripple through it. The image faded from view as the ripple tore through it.

The woman was snapped out of the moment when the heavier woman called to her. “Agent, come!” Without a word, she then returned to the door and lifted the handle. She stepped back to give the others access to the doorway.

“How did she do that?” the second male marveled.

“She must know all the tricks to this fun house,” the thinner woman said.

“And I made sure she would remember them,” the first male said proudly.

“Enough!” the muscular woman snapped. She turned to the doorway. “We’ll let her go first, just in case there are any other surprises.” She gestured. “After you.”

The silent woman nodded and began to descend the stairway. The other four quickly followed suit, their colorful costumes catching briefly in the moonlight as they moved from the shadows of the garden to the darkness of the stairway that led into the mansion.

***

Matthew Bradley had just dozed off a moment before when the sound of muffled voices in the hall startled him back awake. “Huh?” he muttered. The ten year old boy got off his bed and moved to the closed door. Already the voices were fading in the distance. Carefully, slowly, he turned the knob and peered out the crack.

Down the hall, he saw five unfamiliar figures disappear into one of the rooms.

That’s Alan’s study! he thought. But who are they? He started to move out of his room to investigate when he heard the sounds of what appeared to be some kind of confrontation. His first instinct was to run closer to see what was happening. Matthew got within fifty feet of the study door when the sounds stopped as suddenly as they had started.

Then he heard the voices again. He froze in his path for a moment and listened for the one familiar one he knew.

He did not hear it.

This is not good! he thought. In a panic, he quickly ran back to his room and closed the door behind him. His heart was racing, but he did his best to calm himself. Cannot change now! Not in the house! I would not be able to move around easily. And without my dragon form, I could not help Alan. Especially if those people have beaten him! Given his magical powers, what chance would I have? What do I do? What do I do?

Just then, an apparition appeared before the boy. It was fully formed and detailed, albeit transparent and immaterial. He recognized the face instantly. “Alan?” Matthew asked. “Are you dead? Are you a ghost?”

The apparition shook its head. “No, Matthew. This is my astral form. I managed to project it before they captured me. There are intruders in the mansion with evil intent. I must go and summon help. You must hide yourself until our friends arrive.” And with that, the astral image flew off and passed right through the outside wall of the house.

Matthew Bradley immediately scampered underneath his bed, allowing the bed-skirt to drop down behind him to keep him hidden. Got to stay quiet and calm, he told himself.  Alan will get help and it will all be okay.>

***

At that very moment, six other costumed heroes who made up the Protectors’ roster were on their way to Greenwich Village. Three of them flew low, while one ran along the ground nearby two that slid along on an icy slide.

An African-American male dressed in green held on to the waist of the red-haired female dressed in purple and red, that later who was making that same icy slide. “I owe you all a big thanks for helpin' out against Steel Claw,” the User said.  “Between the six of us, we definitely put a tight squeeze on his operations!”

The blonde male in orange and green dropped down along side of them but continued to fly thanks to his sonic song. “No problem,” Larynx said. “Just don’t be putting the squeeze on my lady there or I’ll have to reciprocate with yours.”

“Larynx!” Hydro Girl scolded.

User put up his free hand.  “It’s cool, man,” he said with a laugh. “I’m not about to move in on your action.”

The raven haired beauty in white swooped down and flew on the other side. “He knows better,” Night Owl smiled. “Otherwise, his ‘action’ will think about relocating back to sunny California.”

User smiled at her. “No chance of that, lady. I like things just as they are.”

The blue and red garbed speedster that ran, or for him more like jogged, beside them made a gesture by sticking his finger in his mouth. “Aaaaaaah,” Ricochet mocked. “All that cutesy couple stuff makes me want to gag.”

The brown haired female in white with colorful trim dropped down beside him. “Be nice, Ricochet,” Rainbow said. “Someday you’ll be in a relationship too.” The two couples laughed at this.

“Thanks for kicking the single guy, Rainbow,” Ricochet replied. “I figured you’d side with me here, given that you’re single and all too.”  He paused and then his eyes lit up.  “Say….”

“Forget it,” Rainbow said.  “I don’t date younger guys.” The two couples laughed again.

“Ha ha, you guys are funny,” the speedster said. “Tell you what; I’ll meet you guys at the mansion. If you’re nice, I’ll even share some take-out…”

Ricochet’s words were cut short as an image appeared ahead of the group’s path.

“Mystifier!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Or to be more precise, his astral image!” User added.

“Friends,” the image of their teammate said. “I must warn you! My home has been invaded and I have been attacked.”

“I’m there!” Ricochet said.  In a blur, he raced off.

“Ric, wait!” Larynx cried out. But the eighteen year old was already out of earshot. “Damn! We better get after him.”

“Mystifier, who attacked you? And is Matthew okay?” Hydro Girl asked.

“Matthew is safe,” the image said. “And as for my attackers, it is the…aaaaaah…!" The face on the image twisted in anguish as the hands reached for the sides of his skull. And, then, the image just vanished.

“What happened?” Night Owl asked.

“His astral image disappeared!” User said.

“Then we better do as Ricochet did and get to the manor,” the blind heroine replied. “If Mystifier’s astral image vanished, that means at the very least he has lost consciousness or worse!”

Without haste, the five remaining heroes pressed onward. And along the way, they formulated their plans.

***

Ricochet was soon down Bleecker treet and up the steps to the brownstone belonging to Alan Haygner, the young man who was also secretly the sorcerer known as Mystifier. At the speed which he was moving, no passersby would have even noticed his entrance through the front door.

I’ll check his study first, the speedster thought as he bound up the stairs in the front foray and then went left across the catwalk. When he didn’t join us earlier, he said he was doing some investigating or research of his own. Ricochet burst into the room where he expected his teammate to be and found the blue and red robed figure lying on the center of the ornate rug on the floor.  “Mystifier!” he shouted as he raced to his friend’s side.

As he knelt down, Ricochet was hit with an intense case of vertigo. “Aaaaaaaaah!” he cried out, clutching his hands to the sides of his head. He started to glance about for the source of the attack.

“Looking for me?” a wicked voice asked as a bare, blue hand touched the young man’s shoulder.   Ricochet let out another scream as a more intense wave of chaos danced through his brain. The man with the blue skin and the shock of white hair smiled in a sinister manner. “That’s right, boy, scream for me! Scream as the delirium grips your brain and sends it spinning!”

Ricochet collapsed on the floor next to his unconscious teammate.

Dr. Delirium laughed.  “Two down.”

***

Minutes later, on the rooftop of the manor, Rainbow flew in for a landing. I hope Mystifier is okay, she thought. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to him. Her white boots touched down on the cobblestone path, and she started to walk towards the trapdoor that led down into the house. She shook her head. No! I have to think positively. We can stop whoever…oh! She noticed the open door with the stairwell leading below.

“This must be how the intruders got…iiiiiiiiiiii!” A bolt of golden energy struck the heroine squarely in the back, knocking her to the ground.

From the shadows stepped a thin blonde beauty in black and yellow. About her gloved hands glowed remnants of golden energy. “Well, well, well,” the woman said, “looks like I get to handle the illusionist. This’ll be easy.”

Rainbow frowned as she turned to face her attacker. “Golden Greek! I wouldn’t count your chickens before they hatch!” She thrust out her hands, releasing a blast of multicolored energy at her attacker.

The villainess was knocked backwards by the unexpected blast but recovered quickly. “So, you’ve gotten some new powers since we last met,” she said. “How quaint. But do you know how to use them?” The Golden Greek fired back with another barrage of energy.

Rainbow countered with one of her own.

The two blasts met in between the women and scattered sparks in the air like fireworks on the 4^th of July.

“I think that answers your question,” Rainbow said confidently.

Golden Greek smiled wickedly. “I didn’t hear any bells indicating that class was dismissed. I’ll teach you a lesson you won’t soon forget, girl!” And with that, the battle of the blasting beauties was on.

***

Meanwhile, the User entered the dwelling through the back entrance. There was a short hallway that led past a small room which he glanced into as he walked past. Must be like some servant’s quarters, he thought to himself. Alan seems like a pretty private guy. I can’t imagine him having anyone about to do the domestic duties. He turned the corner which led into one side of the kitchen. Still, he does manage to keep this place spotless. Either he’s got some magic brooms hidden somewhere or he’s the Felix Unger of the super-hero set.

The kitchen was dark; however User was familiar with the layout and had little trouble making his way around. Funny – I was expecting to hear a bit more commotion. It’s quiet – too quiet! His hand slowly slid across the counter as he walked by it.

He paused and turned his head suddenly as if he heard a sound behind him.

The darkness light up quickly as a burst of flames shot directly at him.

From the corner emerged a male figure dressed in red and orange. A small gold crown sat atop his black hair. “Did someone ask for a Protector well-done?” Prince Pyro laughed as the fire continued to flow from his hands and about its target.

“Not me!” User said as walked through the fire. The surface of his skin was unharmed, having been transformed just in time by touching the marble counter surface and absorbing its properties. “I prefer my steaks like you probably prefer your beatings – rare!” He lunged forward with his fists flying. “Unfortunately, you aren’t going to get it that way, Pyro!” The villain dodged out of the way, and User’s punches instead splintered the wooden cabinets behind him.

“Looks like I’ll have to turn up the heat to high,” Prince Pyro replied. He blasted at User again. The fire also caught the cabinet remnants and ignited them.

“Hey!” User exclaimed.   “Don’t be all trashin’ the place and what not!” He started to stomp out the fire before it could spread further.

Prince Pyro kept on blasting. “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!”

***

At the same moment, Larynx and Hydro Girl came through the open front door. “Someone entered this way!” the male hero said. “Some nerve!”

“It could have been Ricochet,” the red head reminded him. “We need to find out who broke in here and why.”

“You should be able to tell the ‘who’ easy enough,” a gruff female voice said as a heavy oak end table came flying through the air.

“Hydro Girl, down!” Larynx warned. With his sonic powers, he blasted the wooden projectile to smithereens before it could strike them.

“And the ‘why’ should be pretty obvious too!” the woman added. “We want all of you dead!”

“Madame Mammoth!” Hydro Girl exclaimed. “Then the Octagon is back!” She thrust out her hands and projected a stream of ice to begin incasing the woman.

“Not the Octagon, sweetie!” Mammoth corrected her as she pounded her mighty fists on the ice forming about her feet and legs. The ice shattered from the powerful blows. “We’re now the Evil Elite!”

“Garbage by any other name still stinks!” Larynx said. He began his sonic song in hopes to unnerve their enemy.

Madame Mammoth threw her hands to her ears. “We’re better equipped than you can imagine!” she said. “And we have a surprise or two up our sleeves! Silence him!”

Just then, Larynx was struck from behind by a blow to the back of the head. As he fell to the ground, his sonic song was terminated.

“Larynx!” Hydro Girl exclaimed. She turned to see another woman in a gray face mask standing next to her fallen beau.

Just then, User came tumbling back through the doorway to the kitchen. Pyro was right behind him, and flames could be seen dancing about them both.

Hydro Girl instinctively let fly a flood of water in their direction. The deluge washed over them both, sending Pyro flying backwards, and also extinguished the stray fires he had started.

“Thanks for the bath, red!” User said as he started to rise. “It was getting’ a little out of control there.”

“Agent, put him out! I’ll take care of the other one!” Mammoth hurled a chair across the room. Hydro Girl did not turn in time to avoid being knocked over by it.

The woman in the gray mask bound across the way and landed a one-two-punch before User could fully rise to his feet. As he fell to the ground, he transformed back to his natural human form. The woman picked him up and threw him over her shoulder.

“Good,” Mammoth commended as she pulled Hydro Girl up from the remains of the broken furniture.   “Get Larynx too.” She then saw her criminal cohort returning from where Hydro Girl’s blast had pushed him, his hair and costume drenched. “Let’s go, Pyro. We need to get these three upstairs with the others.”

The fire-wielding villain spit water from his mouth before following his team leader.

***

Matthew heard a light tapping on his window pane. He peeked out from under the bed to see what was causing it, and his face lit up. Outside, there was a vision in white perched on the brick window sill. Night Owl!

The boy pulled himself out of his hiding spot, ran to the window, unlocked it and raised it up.   “Night Owl!” he cried. “I am so happy to see you. Mystifier has been attacked!”

“Shhhhh,” the heroine said putting her finger to her lips. “Keep your voice down.”

“Mystifier has been attacked,” the boy repeated in a whisper.

“I know,” she said as she started to climb inside. “He contacted the rest of the team as we were on our way here. The others should be inside the house by now.”

“I have been hearing a lot of noise from downstairs,” Matthew said. “I think they ran into whoever attacked Mystifier. I hope they are okay.”

Night Owl started to walk to the closed bedroom door. “Do you know how many there are?”

“I saw five earlier,” he said. “I think that is all.”

“Hmmm,” Night Owl pondered.  She then stopped, her acute hearing having picked up the sound of voices. She motioned to the boy to remain still. He did so.

She moved to the door and pressed her ear to it. She could hear the sounds of voices and heavy footsteps on the stairs. She pointed in the direction she heard them and then made a gesture of walking steps with her fingers so that the child could understand. The voices got louder and clearer as they reached the top of the landing. Then they faded a bit as the group went into one of the rooms down the hall.

After a moment, she turned back to the boy and began to whisper in his ear. “From what I heard, I think I know who the attackers are,” Night Owl said softly. “User mentioned them to me before. They are pretty powerful as a group. It sounds like they have got the others and are taking them to the study where Mystifier is. Now, here is what we are going to do…”

Matthew listened intently as the woman outlined her plan.

***

“And that’s the last of them,” Golden Greek said as she deposited Rainbow’s unconscious body next to the other five beaten heroes. “Now that we have them all together, we can proceed.”

“I say we burn down this house with them in it,” Prince Pyro suggested as he rung the last bits of water from his shirt.

“Why be so hasty?” Dr. Delirium said as he stroked one of the antique chairs in the study. “I think there might be a lot of valuable things in this house, not to mention the possibility of using it as a base of operations. They won’t need it where they’re going.”

“It does beat musty old warehouses,” Golden Greek considered.

“I make the call!” Madame Mammoth said. She paused for a second to consider. Then she turned to their gray masked colleague who had said nothing the entire time. A smile crossed her face. “I’m thinking that maybe the ultimate form of execution would be at the hands of one of their own. Agent, remove your mask.”

The blonde woman complied, pulling the facemask away. That revealed that underneath the face of Diana Kane, the woman was also the heroine named Amazon.

“Good,” Mammoth said. “Now, let’s see which one we should have you kill first. Let’s start with the sorcerer.”

Diana took a step towards the group and then stopped. Her face remained expressionless.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Mammoth growled.

The woman remained motionless.

“Delirium, I thought you said she would do whatever we told her to while in this state!” Mammoth snapped.

“She should,” the macabre doctor said. “Her subconscious must have some reservation though. Perhaps she just needs a little extra motivation.” He started to step towards her.

Just then, in the doorway of the study, Matthew Bradley appeared. Out of the corner of his eye, the boy saw Night Owl who was mouthing to him ‘just like I told you’.

With a vacant look on his face, the boy said in a sing-song voice, “Won’t you come and play with me?”   He then turned and darted towards the catwalk.

“A kid?” Golden Greek shouted.

“Pyro! Delirium! After him!” Mammoth ordered.

“Maybe it’s a ghos…?” Pyro started to question.

“Do it!”

Not wishing to anger the woman further, the two male villains went running out of the room after the boy. "Where did he go?” Delirium asked as they reached the railing.

“I told you it was a ghost!” Pyro said. “It vanished.”

“It wasn’t a ghost!” Delirium replied.

“Looking for me?” a deep voice growled as the head of a dragon craned upwards to face them. In the foray, the giant dragon stood, no longer the boy Matthew Bradley but the transformed dragon called Flamethrower.

“What the…?” Delirium said, showing a bit of shock on his gruesome face.

“I told you we should burn this place down! It’s a spook house!” Pyro exclaimed. He thrust out his hands and let fire a stream of flame at the dragon’s face.

The dragon instead opened its mouth and sucked the fire in, feeding on it. “Mmmmm, good,” he said.

“You idiot!” Delirium said as he smacked Pyro on the back of the head. “You’re probably just making it stronger!”

The two men felt a firm grip on the backs of their necks, and their heads were suddenly slammed into one another with great force. “You’re the idiots,” Night Owl said as she released her grip on the two and they fell to the ground hard. “Letting a kid distract you like that. For shame.”

“Did I do good?” the dragon asked.

Night Owl nodded. “Perfect.” She picked up the two villains and tossed them downward. The dragon caught them in its taloned claw. “Watch these two while I work on the others.”

Night Owl flew back into the study. “Game’s over, ladies!” she said.

“Who is that?” Golden Greek asked.

“No clue! Get her!” Mammoth ordered. The two villainesses charged the heroine in white.

At that exact moment, Ricochet started to come around. “…what…hit…me…?” he muttered as he shook off the last of the effects of Delirium’s touch. He blinked and quickly realized what was going on. The others here. Mammoth and the Greek. And…Diana?

Instinctively, he rushed to Diana Kane’s side. “Dee, it’s me! Are you okay?” Ricochet touched her face gently. “Come on, wake up.” He snapped his fingers a few times. “Come on.”

He noticed that her one hand was in her pocket as if she was trying to retrieve something. Ricochet, moving quickly, removed her hand and then the item. It was a sapphire colored gemstone. “What’s this?”

The stone began to glow suddenly and then bathed Diana in its light.

Her eyes grew wide, then she blinked twice. Then, her whole body relaxed a bit and her facial expression relaxed. “What…?” she said. “Where am I?”

Ricochet smiled.  “Dee, you’re okay,” he said as he gave her a great big hug.

“Ricochet?” she said.  She glanced about. “How did I get here?”

The speedster released his grip. “We’ll sort that out later,” he said as he placed the gemstone on the table. “We’ve got some villains to round up first!” He noticed that Night Owl was not faring to well against the two.

Diana Kane clenched her fist and felt a surge of strength she hadn’t felt since her powers were stripped away while battling the Destroyer. “Leave Mammoth to me!” she said as she charged forward.

“You got it!” Ricochet said. He raced across the room and pulled down the heavy cords from the large velvet drapes. Forming a make-shift lariat, he threw it about the Golden Greek and tugged hard.

“Hey, Mammoth!” Diana called out. “I believe I owe you something!”

The muscular woman spun about to see her foe approaching. “Agent, stop!” she ordered.

Diana let a punch fly.   “Only after you’re beaten!” she said.  A powerful punch sent Mammoth flying backwards.

***

Half of the Protectors team stood in the Greenwich Village streets as the authorities pulled away with the captive villains. “Feels good to finally tie off those loose ends,” User said. “Hopefully it’ll be a long time before we have to face any of those characters again.”

“Maybe Mysty should have used his magic to do more than just remove the memories of his and Amazon’s secret identities from their consciousness,” Larynx suggested.

Night Owl frowned. “I think was that probably enough,” she said. “Any more and it would be no better than what they tried to do to Amazon.”

“Good point,” User agreed.

“I supposed,” Larynx conceded.

Hydro Girl glanced back at Haygner Manor across the way. “It’ll take awhile to repair all of the damage they did as well.”

Inside the house, Rainbow handed Diana Kane a cup of hot tea. “Here you,” she said. “This’ll help.”

“Thanks, Amanda,” Diana replied. She took a sip and let the warm liquid slide down her throat.

Ricochet rushed back into the room. “Well, I did a quick assessment,” he said to Mystifier. “Looks like some minor repairs here and there, but all entrances are secure.”

“They didn’t need to break in. They just used me to get them access.” The blonde woman let out a brief sigh.

“It is not your fault, Diana,” Mystifier said. “You were an unwilling pawn in their attempted power play. Luckily for us, they failed.”

“Luckily they didn’t count on our newest members like Night Owl and Matt here,” Ricochet said as he rubbed his hand through the brown hair of the young lad sitting on the floor.

“Hey, Tommy,” the boy said.

Rainbow sat down next to her friend. “So, do you remember everything that happened?” she asked.

Diana nodded. “Yeah, it’s all coming back to me now, thanks to this.” She held the sapphire colored gemstone in her hand. “I found it in their headquarters while they were making their plans. I guess they took it from Star Light just before they killed her.” She turned to Mystifier. “Can you return this to the Justice Gang, Mystifier? I’m sure Space Lord would like it back.”

“Of course,” the sorcerer said as he took the item from her. “I will be most glad to.”

“So, are you coming back to the team right away?” Ricochet asked hopefully.

“Not right away, Tommy,” she replied. “While it does appear that the stone restored part of my powers when it restored my memories, it didn’t restore them all. I don’t feel like I can grow larger like I used to. The strength levels appear to be there, but I won’t know for sure until I test them.” She took another sip of tea. “And even then, I need to take some time to get the rest of my life back in order too. I’ve been away for way too long.  I’m going to have to figure out how to explain it to my family and employer without giving away my secret.  After that, we’ll see.”

“Well, you know there’s always a place for you on the team,” Rainbow said.

“Definitely!” Ricochet said. “Amazon and the Protectors go together like peanut butter and jelly.”

“Hey!” User called as the others entered the room. “Did someone mention some food? All that fightin' has got me hungry. Who’s up for pizza or Chinese?”

And so it goes.