Castle Siege
As plans were finalized and the heroes prepared, time continued to pass. The students of SUPER continued to attend classes, the faculty continued to do their jobs, and the CHS hero teams continued to help citizens and apprehend criminals.
The day of Elizabella’s planned party finally arrived.
“Is everyone in position?” Juanita says over comms as she approaches the front gate of Elizabella’s castle.
“Team IQA is at the ready.” Isabella says as her and her team hide near the entrance of a hedge maze behind the castle.
“The Sergeant Rick Squadron is at the rendezvous point.” Rick says as he and his team are crouching down behind a few bushes on the left side of the castle.
“SUPER is prepared for the signal.” Isaac says as he, the remaining faculty of the school, and the heroes in training hide behind the trees on the right side of the castle.
“Team Prism is currently making their way into the throne room, but we aren’t there yet.” Pythia says as she and the rest of her team are sneaking through the catacomb-like tunnels below the castle “We should be there within the next fifteen minutes or so though.”
“Alright. Prism, continue making your way to the throne room. Everyone else. Stay in position until Isaac and Isabella give the signal. Over and out.” Juanita is now right in front of the castle’s front gate.
Windsor Stone, The Rook, seemed to be the bouncer to this party.
“State your name and I’ll see if you're on the list.” Windsor says nonchalantly without looking up from the checklist that was in front of him.
“Juanita De La Primera.” The leader of the Central Hero Society states.
Windsor glances up from his clipboard.
“Oh, Miss Primera. The Queen didn’t tell me that you were coming. I’d think she would’ve informed me of such a high profile guest being in attendance.”
“That makes sense. My invitation only arrived a couple of days ago. Everyone probably has been so busy with planning that this information just got lost in the shuffle.”
“May I see this invitation?”
“Yes. Here it is.” Juanita says as she presents an invite card that looked just like all the others, but also just so happened to be an incredibly convincing fake that Violet made for her.
“This seems to be legit.” Windsor says as he takes another glance over at his list. “...I…don’t think I see you on the list though…”
“With my invitation being so last minute, it seems likely that the guest list might not be the most up-to-date version and printed before my invite was sent out.”
“...Uh…” Windsor groans in confusion as he quickly glances back and forth between the invite and the guest list. “...Right this way, ma’am…”
“Thank you.” Juanita says with a bow as Windsor lifts up a velvet rope and enters the castle.
Windsor nods his head and turns his attention towards the next guest in line.
As Juanita enters the castle she takes in the decor. The walls and floors were mostly comprised of various shades of gray stone, the doors, tables, and chairs were almost all made of wood, there were various oil paintings of what she assumed to be other members of the family, and there was a long red carpet rolled across the middle of the room that continued under the door that lead into the throne room.
Juanita scanned the people in the room until she eventually found who she was looking for.
“Elizabella Newton.” Juanita says as she approaches The Queen.
“Juanita De La Primera.” Elizabella responds in a monotone voice and dull expression. “I don’t remember inviting you to my party.”
“With how many people are here I am not surprised that I’ve been forgotten in the shuffle.” Juanita says as she takes a glass of wine from a passing serving tray. “Being as well known and important as I am though I am surprised that nobody I have talked to has remembered that I have been invited though. I’ve decided not to take it personally though.”
Juanita takes out her invite and hands it to Elizabella.
The Queen glances at it for a moment and immediately recognizes it as her daughter’s handwriting, but doesn’t acknowledge this fact.
“...Hmm…Must have slipped my mind I guess…” Elizabella says with a slight shrug.
“And you must be King Edward Newton." Juanita says as she turns her attention to the man who was standing right next to Elizabella.
He was a tall blonde man with slicked back hair and a well-kept moustache and beard who was wearing a white suit with gold trim and a golden cape that almost went down to the floor.
“That I am.” Edward says with a slight bow of his head and a small smirk on his face.
“I’m guessing you are here for a reason?” Elizabella asks the superhero.
“She probably just thought that the party sounded fun.” Edward interjects.
Elizabella slowly turns towards her husband as a deep scowl quickly appears on her face.
“What have I told you about speaking out of turn?” The Queen said as her eyes shot daggers at Edward.
“...To…to not do it…” Edward says as he awkwardly glances to the side.
Elizabella turns her attention back towards Juanita as she waits for her response.
“I just wanted to discuss a potential business opportunity with you.” Juanita states.
Elizabella’s eyes lit up with dollar signs as a wide grin appeared on her face.
“Is the CHS finally considering the use of Chess Company weapons?”
“That is what I would like to discuss, yes.”
“Then right this way, ma’am! We’ll talk in that room over there.” Elizabella says as she wraps an arm around Juanita’s shoulders and quickly makes her way across the red carpet and to the door of the throne room.
Two guards bow and open up the door to the room as the two women enter and close the door once they are in the room.
“I’ve had a contract prepared for this! Wait here a second!” Elizabella says as she heads over to a desk at the side of the room. For someone with a regal demeanor like Elizabella, the state of her work desk was surprising. It is covered with hundreds of papers scattered around the top surface of the desk. So many in fact that the wood surface of the desk itself wasn’t visible. Juanita expected someone of such a position to be more organized than she was.
‘That explains how my invite was forgotten about.’ Juanita thinks to herself as she gets a call.
“Where is that damn contract!” Elizabella yells to herself as she angrily slides a couple dozen papers off of her desk and onto the floor.
Juanita presses a button on her communicator.
“Team Prism is now in position.” Pythia responds and she and her team are right underneath the throne room and near the entrance of a hidden trap door.
“Okay. I’m currently talking to Elizabella. Wait for the signal.” Juanita says as she ends the call and walks over to Elizabella.
“Where the hell is it?!” Elizabella screams as slams a fist down on her desk which causes even more papers to fly in almost every direction.
“I didn’t expect such language from someone of your stature?” Juanita asks with a small grin.
Elizabella gives a slight blush and quickly composes herself.
“My apologies. I know such language is unbecoming of me. It’s just that my mind has just been all over the place from planning this party. You understand, right?”
“Yeah. I know the feeling.” Juanita says as she glances to the ground right beside her and immediately finds the contract. “Is this it?”
“Yes!” Elizabella shouts before clearing her throat and calming herself down. “...I…I mean, yes. That is what I was looking for…”
“I would just like to remind you that this isn’t a guaranteed yes.” Juanita says as she begins to scan the contract in front of her. “I just thought that I would consider your offer.”
“Oh, if you still need convincing then I can give you a showcase.” Elizabella says as she presses the intercom button on her desk. “Send in The Knight, a couple of guards, and some of our most recent weapons. I’m doing a demonstration.”
Within a few minutes the expected guests enter the room with the weapons in tow.
Elizabella opens up a secret control panel on her desk and presses a button which causes a couple of hay combat dummies wearing armor to rise out of the ground.
“We will be showcasing our newest model of sword, gun, and shield.”
Krystal takes what appears to be a white futuristic-looking sword hilt from one of the guards and faces the first of the three combat dummies. She presses a button on the hilt and a full 5 foot blade made of light emerges from it. She slashes diagonally and easily cuts through the hay dummy and its armor.
She then takes a white futuristic-looking gun from the next guard. It seems like all of the items have a similar color scheme and also all dawn the Chess Company logo somewhere on them. She presses a button on the gun, points it toward the next hay combat dummy, and fires. This sends a white laser through the dummy which causes it to collapse and catch on fire, but this also damages the wall of the throne room behind it and causes a tapestry to catch fire.
Elizabella pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.
“Why didn’t one of you hold the shield behind the dummy so that the wall wasn’t damaged?”
“Why do you have a training area in a throne room that you care about the appearance of?” Juanita asks with a raised eyebrow and cocky expression.
Elizabella grumbles to herself and folds her arms.
“Let’s just demonstrate the shield!” Elizabella says as she smacks her palm against her face. “And hold the shield behind the dummy so I can see that you are actually listening to me!”
“Yes, your majesty!” Krystal and the three guards all shout in unison.
Krystal then takes a shield from the third guard and gives him the gun and stands behind the training dummy as she was ordered to do.
“Turn the gun up to full power! I can take it!” Krystal shouts.
Elizabella clears her throat.
“...Oh yeah…The shield can take it too…”
The guard does as instructed and turns the gun to full power, aims towards the training dummy and Krystal, and fires.
The laser easily flies through the dummy and sets it on fire just like the last one, but when it hits the shield Krystal was holding it reflects off it and flies back towards the person who shot the gun.
The laser blast hits him and causes him to fly backwards. The other two guards quickly head towards him to check to see if he is okay and the guard sits up slightly and gives a thumbs up before collapsing against the floor.
Juanita turns towards Elizabella with a concerned expression.
“...He’ll be fine…The Chess Company makes good armor too…” Elizabella says as she gives a nonchalant wave of her hand. “So! Are you convinced?”
Juanita thinks to herself as she takes a sip of the wine she grabbed earlier.
“...Eh…These weapons look too dangerous…I think we’re okay…”
“...Um…The lower settings on my weapons…aren’t as lethal as the higher settings…” Elizabella says as she tries to convince Juanita that these weapons are a worthwhile investment and herself that this deal could still go well.
“I think I’ve seen enough.” Juanita says as she finishes her drink and places the glass on Elizabella’s messy table.
“...Wait, were you just trying to waste my time?” Elizabella says as her anger begins to rise again. “You didn’t even want to make a deal with me in the first place, did you?”
“What can I say? I’m just unconvinced.” Juanita says with a shrug. “Maybe if the presentation didn’t end with one of your guards getting shot our conversation would be going differently.”
“Don’t you dare mock me, Miss Primera!” Elizabella shouts as she flips her desk to the side in her fit of rage.
“Are you really trying to threaten the leader of the Central Hero Society?” Juanita says as she pushes her glasses back into place. “I wouldn’t consider that to be a very smart business move.”
“Guards, seize her!” Elizabella commands as she angrily points at the superhero.
“I’d like to see you try!” Juanita says as she snaps. 10 clones with the numbers 2 through 11 on their foreheads suddenly materialize.
The main Juanita turns around and thinks to herself ‘Now!’
Two of Juanita’s clones roll up the red carpet in the middle of the throne room and kick it towards the door.
This reveals a trap door underneath it that Ilma easily punches through and sends flying through a nearby stained glass window.
“Knock knock!” Ilma says through a chuckle as she emerges from the underground passage. “We’re here!”
Ilma walks up the steps that lead into the throne room and is followed by Francine, Pythia, Ezmeralda, Pat, and Thomas.
“Wait! Who invited these…freaks to my party?” Elizabella practically spits out through gritted teeth.
“That’s no way to talk to superheroes.” Pythia says as she wags her finger towards The Queen.
“Speaking of talking.” Elizabella turns her attention towards Pat Tracker. “You can’t contact your subordinates with a functioning intercom, right?”
Pat pulls on the device until he yanks the plug from the wall and then slams it against the floor which causes the device to smash into hundreds of small pieces.
Two of Juanita’s copies already restrained the two remaining conscious guards in the room.
Krystal summons a black shield made from her darkness powers and slams it against the ground. She sends black tendrils towards all of Juanita’s copies and the members of Team Prism.
Thomas gets on his skateboard and uses his speedboost arrows to quickly evade Krystal’s tentacles.
“You’re gonna have to be quicker than that to catch me!” Thomas taunts as he sticks his tongue out.
After falling for the taunt, Krystal slams her shield against the ground again and sends all the tendrils towards Thomas.
“You’re too slow!” The skater boy says with a shit eating grin.
“How dare you mock me!” Krystal shouts back. “I am the black knight!”
“Knight is right! You’re putting me to sleep!”
“That’s enough!” Krystal says as she raises her shield again.
Before she is able to slam it against the ground Ez uses her psychic powers to lift the shield back up.
Ilma dashes towards Krystal and punches her right in the middle of her chest. This causes her to fly backwards into a nearby wall.
Francine walks over to the guards that Juanita was restraining.
“Hey boys! Would you mind helping me with something?” She says as she bats her eyelashes.
Both guards' eyes become hearts as they are now under Francine’s control.
Juanita, Team Prism, and the guards that Fran’s controlling now surround Elizabella and Krystal.
“That’s our move, your majesty.” Pythia says with a smug grin. “Now it’s your turn.”
Instead of the angry reaction they expected. Elizabella just laughs instead.
“...What’s so funny?” Ez asks as she cocks her head to the side in confusion.
“You think I’ve lost? Did you really think that it would be that easy to defeat me?” Elizabella says as she continues to laugh like a maniac.
“From the shadows!” Elizabella shouts.
A stone slab suddenly falls from the ceiling.
Dust from the rubble quickly funnels through the room as seven silhouetted figures drop from the ceiling.
As the dust settles, Mezu Kanabo, Joan Grace, Piper O’ Possum, Billy Gardner, Pierre Papyrus, Noir, and Ori Sawano emerge.
“The Shadow Union!” Juanita shouts. “Why are you showing your face here?”
“Let’s just say that we made a deal.” Noir says as he laughs.