Jennifer gets a present.

While Dinah was training with Matt, Flannery clicked on the TV and telekinetically switched Channels until she stumbled onto a movie and sat back to watch. "This looks fun."

"Alright Matt, you ready?" Dinah asked him as she picked up the bow.

"I think so. So the name of the game is catching these right?" Matthew asked and took off his jacket.

The Return

We're baaaaaaa-aaaaaaaack!

An Ultra Girl Story: The Switch

Flannery Kingston. Ultra Girl.  BGB.

The city had quieted down after Game Master was arrested and the people of Exodus got back to their normal lives. Sable had purchased a giant clock tower to serve as the Justice Patrol's base of operations and they were moving in the tech today. Stronghold was carrying in the heaviest stuff while Dinah got to work on designing their security system. Ultra Girl meanwhile was handling a pair of would be super villains alongside her mother, Jennifer.
The male villain attacked with energy blasts from his hands. Ultra Girl TKed his arms and made him aim upwards, away from the people. She then slammed him through a wall. The female villain was laughing and teleporting around while shooting at Jennifer, who ducked down behind her car. "Darn it all, stay still!" She popped up and fired again with the gun in one hand and the taser in the other. The villainess teleported to avoid the bullet and reappeared behind Jennifer only to be shocked by the tazer that Jennifer had pointed behind herself.
Jennifer stood up, turned around and pistol whipped the woman into unconsciousness. Jennifer smiled and holstered her gun. "And that's how we do it."
She high-fived her daughter.
"I could have stopped her for you."
"I had it handled kiddo."
"So what did these two want anyway?"
"Ehhh, bank robbery, make a name for themselves, I dunno I wasn't really listening to them."
The two laughed.
"Alright, I'm getting these two to jail. We'll talk later."
(About my allowance raise?)
(Don't push it kiddo.)

Jennifer drove off with the criminals locked in the back of her car.

Ultra Girl laughed and headed to the Clock Tower.

"And with this, The Tower Security is online." Artemis said as she finished setting up the security.

"Sweet, we have our own headquarters now."

The computer beeped. Artemis pressed the button and a view screen came up, zooming in to show Ultra Girl. Artemis flipped a switch and she was scanned, verifying it was the real her. The doors opened up. Ultra Girl walked in and TKed herself up to the top floor, pressing a hand against the scanner and being allowed into the control room. "Hey there Flan!" Matthew smiled, his mask off. "How do you like the place?"
"This is amazing. You guys have outdone yourselves with this."

"Oh go on."
"Have you told her about the epic security systems?"
"Sure. We have reinforced titanium lining the walls, camera's that can monitor everything in the clock tower, a security system of knock out gas, tranquilizer darts, electric traps, and more." Dinah listed. "And we're just getting started."
"And you guys set all of this up in the clock tower?"
"Yep."
"Okay.  By the way, do you have anything to drink or eat in here?"
"There's food and drink in the fridge over there." Dinah pointed.
"Thanks!" She TKed it open and a soda and a pizza slice, heating it up in the microwave. "Hit me." Matthew said.
Flannery tossed him a soda. He grabbed and opened it up. Flannery got herself a paper plate and sat down to eat.
"Hey by the way we have speed training later Matt."
"You're on."
(Speed training?) Flannery asked both of them telepathically.
"Arrow catching." Dinah smiled.

Epilogue

Afterwords, the entire criminal organization that Game Master was involved with was tracked down and arrested by the Legion of Justice and The Protectors and LION working together. For exposing the organization, the Justice Patrol received medals and a great deal of recognition from the superhero community. They even got to meet Captain Justice himself. Stronghold was in utter awe of the man, of the entire Alliance of Heroes. Jennifer hugged her daughter when she returned home, so proud of her. Matthew took a photo of the team posing with their medals and placed it, along with his medal in the box in his closet along with the costume. Dinah showed hers off to Song. Sable hung up hers on the wall. Dude and Carmella returned to the Academy and proudly displayed theirs to their classmates.
Sally, Jim and Chandra returned to their civilian lives and are receiving regular therapy sessions for what they went through down in the prison. In fact, Mr and Mrs D'Amico were the ones in charge of their therapy sessions, even providing their services free of charge. Under the urgings of Robin, Sally actually took things one step further and has begun taking kickboxing lessons. She has gone on record saying that she wants to repay the heroes for the help they gave her.
The prison was cleaned up and dismantled by AureliCorp and a new building was built in it's place, a chemical plant.
Life soon went back to normal for the heroes.

And Matthew? Matthew has a date with Dinah. There's a dance at The Institute and they were invited.


And our adventures continue.

Aftermath

The team arrived at LION base and ran inside. "Medic! We need a medic here!" Artemis called to them.
The medical team ran out to see what the commotion was and they saw the condition Stronghold was. "Give him to us! We'll put him in the vita tank." A doctor said. The LION Organization's vita tanks utilized a combination of medicinal liquids and nano-machines to heal just about any injury that a patient had, both internal and external.
Emma worked on the computers to set the vita tank as he was being prepped for it. His costume was taken off and they saw just how badly injured he really was. Black and blue bruises covered his chest, stomach and face and there bloody cuts all over his body. On his chest, his legs, his arms, his face and on his back, with an especially bloody cut on his back. He had broken bones inside and cracked ribs. His hands were bloody and bruised from the constant fighting and usage of the brass knuckles. There were even burn marks on his body. "Matthew...God, what did you go through down there?" Flannery asked.
Dinah was silent, just holding a hand as Emma finished prepping the vita chamber. The doctors carefully lifted him up and placed him inside the vita chamber and they pulled down the breathing mask and put it on his face and hooked him up before closing it back up. "We're ready."
Emma turned it on and the vita tank filled up with the glowing blue liquid, the nanomachines already working to cover his body and fix up his internal and external wounds.
With Dinah keeping an eye on him, Sable filled Mary and Sophia in on the prison. From what Stronghold had told them, there was an army of psychopaths down there and there were also various criminal lunatics in different locations around the city.

Minutes later, LION Soldiers and Agent Song had been dispatched to Exodus City. A team was sent down into the prison and others were sent to round up the beaten criminal lunatics that the Justice Patrol had beaten.

Mary Crossenberg herself went down as well and marched through the cells, backhanding a random psychotic who tried to grab her so hard she broke his jaw and continued on, heading right to the monitor room.

Chef was helping The Gentleman out down hallways when they both got slammed by a shockwave that smacked them into a wall and knocked them both out. "Targets secured." Song said.

Arriving at the monitor room, Mary sat down and worked with the computer, hacking through his security with ease. She smiled and copied all of the information down on a disc. She contacted Sophia. "Mary to base. I have a list of all his friends and contacts."


 At LION.

Stronghold's eyes slowly opened. He blinked a few times until his vision cleared. He was underwater apparently and he felt something crawling all over him. The crawling sensation seceeded as he water drained. Once it gone, the mask on his face pulled itself off and a door opened up in front of him. He looked around. "Wha...what the...where am I?"
A team of doctors gave him a sheet to wear and lead him into another room where there were scrubs laid out for him.
He had just finished getting his green pants on when Dinah walked in. She blushed slightly.
"DINAH! Hey!" He ran over and hugged her. "Ummm....where am I?"
"LION Base. We had you in a vita tank." She said as she hugged him back.
"Vita Tank?"
"It's kinda complicated but it fixed you right up."
Matthew paused for a moment and backed up, looking at himself. "Now that you mention it...all the wounds are gone...I feel like a million bucks!"
"Yeah, they work like a charm. You know....I was...really worried about you."
"I appreciate it....and thanks for saving me Dinah."
"It was nothing." She smiled.
The two stared at each other for a few brief seconds before they started to lean forward, their lips inches apart.
"Hey man how you feeling?" Dude asked as he walked in.
They sighed. "Hello Dude." Matthew waved as he got his shirt on.
"Woah...ummm...am I interrupting?"
"Now why would you think that?" Dinah asked as the others walked in.
"Hey guys, we get him?"
"Oh yeah, we got him." Flannery said. "Beat him to hell and locked him up in a cell. LION rounded up the others already and they're getting ready to go after his viewers."
"Viewers? What?"
"Yeah....there psycho's watching the whole thing on camera's. He had an entire network behind him. LION informed the heroes and they're taking them down now." Carmella summed up.
"The heroes...you mean....as in the big leagues?"
"That's right. Captain Justice, Union Jack, Lightspeed, all of them. We exposed the criminal network and they're taking them down." Sable said.
"Woah.......that's freaking awesome!"
"Right?"
"So...uh, Sally and them?"
"On their way here now. We got them all fixed up at Halworth's."
"Alright, cool, cool....one last question."
"Your costume is being fixed up as we speak."
"And that settles that."
"Come on, I'll give you a tour of the base." Dinah said and pulled him along with her. Matthew slipped some shoes on and followed her.

"Really? No way, four ninja's at once?" Matthew laughed.
"Totally. If they had sent, I don't know, maybe eight or so, I might have actually had trouble." Dinah joked.
"You're amazing, you know that?" Matthew asked. "I've had my powers so long I'd almost forgotten how hard it can be to fight without-"
"And you still wiped the floor with everything down there and inspired a trio of civilians to take up arms and fight against their kidnappers. The powers make you super strong, the costume has some tricks, but it's the man, you, that makes the hero. Never tell yourself anything different."
Matthew smiled. "Thanks, Dinah." The two held each other's hands as they continued the tour.

Sally, Jim and Chandra were escorted in by Sophia Cynaburg. "Sh-she's huge..." Was all Sally could say as she saw the musclebound blonde. She laughed. "Thanks. Right this way."

They found the Justice Patrol sitting around a table laughing and eating pizza and drinking soda. They had changed out of their costumes and were hanging out in street clothes.
Matthew looked up at them and waved. "Is-is that?"
Jim recognized Carmella. "That's them!"

They walked over. "Excuse us, can we sit here?" Chandra asked.

Matthew smiled. "Go right ahead, as far as I'm concerned, you're one of us anyway."
They sat down. "You're...just a kid."
"Teenager to be specific." Matthew pointed out as he sipped the soda.
 "So....Stronghold...ummm..."
"Hey, it's cool, you can call me Matthew. Guys, this is Sally, Jim and Chandra."
"Matthew told us about you, you guys are pretty badass for someone with no training." Flannery said.
"Thank you again. All of you, for saving us and for everything you do for the city." Sally said to them. "You're heroes. Superheroes, all of you."
Sable raised her drink. "Cheers."
The civilians got some drinks for themselves and raised their drinks with the heroes, toasting with them. "Cheers!"

Confrontation

"Damn...damn...dammit." Game Master cursed as he ran through the hallway and activated the security systems, sent the army after them and ran for it. The kids were better than he thought, he did not expect this. Fortunately, he had one last ace up his sleeve. The creatures were not the only thing he bought on the black market. All of the gambling, betting on the fights, rigging the battles, making multiple-millions of dollars. It was enough to buy his last resort weapon. The shutter doors slammed down behind him as he ran down the hallway and exited up to the surface, through a hidden door in the ground and continued on until he came to it's hiding spot. He pulled off a camouflage cloak off of it and laughed.  "Yesss....yess...here it is." He continued laughing. "Come and get me heroes. I'm waiting."

Ultra Girl sent a TK wave down the hallway while Artemis threw shuriken at the ceiling guns, blowing them up while the guards were flung down the hall like rag dolls. They continued on, easily dealing with the security.
Eventually, they arrived at the monitor room. It was empty, but the computer was still on and functioning and a door was open. Artemis smiled. "We can use this, find everything about him."
"We'll come back later. For now, let's settle on beating him down."
"You know it."
They continued forward, blasting down the shutter doors.

"Long story short, these guys were all kidnapped by a gang of psychopaths." Carmella explained to Wendy. "They helped Stronghold fight them but they got hurt."
"Wait, Stronghold needed help?"
"I'll explain later, right now, I need to go back them up. Can you do your thing?"
"Got the fountain right here. I'll call you when they're all healed up."
"Thanks. I'll pay you back." Carmella said and ran back to Exodus City and Wendy got to work on healing the civilians.

Back at the prison, the Justice Patrol broke through the last door and exited to a clearing.
"Alright, he couldn't have gotten far. Ultra, can you find him?"
Ultra Girl reached out with her telepathy and her eyes widened. "SCATTER!"
They did so without asking questions as rockets flew at them. The rockets exploded against the ground around them. They stood up and looked up to see Game Master arriving in a mecha suit.

"Hello Justice Patrol. So nice to finally meet you all in person."
"So you're the bastard behind all of this?!" Stronghold yelled at him.
"I am the Game Master and I have to say, I am very impressed that you survived this long Stronghold but in your condition, I doubt you will be able to put up much of a fight. And none of you are going to be able to challenge this suit's power."
"We'll have to see about that. Justice Patrol, TAKE HIM APART!"
Game Master laughed as a head came up and surrounded the cockpit. "By all means, try."

He fired the rockets at them rapidly. Ultra Girl flew away from them up into the air and Artemis and Reaper ran to the left. Dude zipped around the battlefield and Stronghold leaped up over one of the rockets right at Game Master and tried to punch him only for the villain to slam one of the metal hands against him and slamming him down onto the ground. The suit raised up a giant foot and stomped down on him only for Stronghold to raise up his hands and stopped it. Due to the damage he had taken earlier and the exhaution though, he had trouble holding it up and the foot started to press down on him. He was saved by Ultra Girl though who sent a telekinetic blast at the suit, knocking it off of him and then shielding herself when the rockets came right at her. Reaper and Artemis threw bombs at the back of it, causing explosions on the back of it and damaging it. Stronghold got up and began slamming his fists against the robot as hard as he could, starting to dent it.
Game Master pressed a button and an electric current surrounded the suit, causing Stronghold to yell and fall back.
As another rocket was loading, Dude zipped up and threw the stun rod into the barrel, causing the rocket to explode inside the arm, blowing it off. The suit raised up the red devices on it's back and they lit up brightly and fired off energy waves at them.
Stronghold super jumped away and rolled to his feet as the beams blew away the ground. Ultra Girl flew up directly above him and sent down a telekinetic wave down at it, slamming the suit with it and pushing it down to the ground. He raised the good arm of the suit straight up and the bright green orb in the center, glowed and a beam of energy fired up at her while the rockets also flew up at Ultra Girl. She flew backwards several feet to avoid the beam and then sent out a telekinetic wave to destroy the rockets.
Carmella returned with one hell of an entrance, grabbing up a 4 ton boulder and rushing he suit at super speed and smashing the boulder against the suit's head. Smashing in the robot's head and Stronghold followed suit by uprooting a tree and jumping over and swinging the tree at the suit's side, knocking it over and smashing the tree to splinters. With the suit down, Reaper unsheathed the Reaper Blade and changed the blade to beam scythe mode, using the chance to slice off the suit's good arm and then followed this up by spinning the scythe above her head and slicing into the suit's torso. Artemis pulled out a bomb and threw it into the gaping cut in the torso, blowing apart the suit.

Game Master was flung clear of the explosion, his suit blown right off, revealing body armor underneath it. He lay still for a few moments before slowly lifting himself up and trying to crawl away.
Dude zipped up and grabbed him. "And just where do you think you're going?" He asked as he pulled Game Master up to his feet and giving him a super fast punch, backhand and spin kick combo. He stumbled back and Reaper got him next and gave him a brutal beatdown combo before punching him over to Artemis who slashed him with her sword, cutting him across the chest. Carmella zipped over next and kicked him in the stomach and then threw him up to Ultra Girl who telekinetically slammed him down onto the ground and then threw him over to Stronghold who punched him in the face, shattering his helmet and slamming him down to the ground.
Game Master was defeated and beaten to hell.

Stronghold took a few deep breaths. "Is....is it over?"
"Yeah Matt, it's over."
Stronghold smiled and then fell over, passing out from his wounds and exhaustion. Ultra Girl caught him.
Reaper called it in. "Come on, let's get him to LION."

Salvation

"Damn....it's all six of them!"
"What do we do?"
"SHOOT THEM!" The Captain ordered.
"S-sir?"
"That's an order!"
Stronghold smiled and cracked his knuckles. "Too little too late."
"Let's take 'em guys." Ultra Girl said.
The guards opened fire and Stronghold charged up the stairs, the machine gun bullets bouncing off his skin. He grabbed the closest guard and tossed him against the wall hard enough to knock him out and then turned and kicked the next guard through the air. "It is so good to be back." He laughed. A guard pulled out a stun rod and swung it at him. Stronghold turned and grabbed it in his hand. He stared down the guard for a moment before crushing it in his hand. "Huh. Tingled." He smirked before headbutting the thug.
One of the guards backed away and tried to shoot the civilians but noticed his gun was gone. "Excuse me?" He turned to see The Dude holding his gun. "Is this yours?" He asked before swinging it at the guard by the barrel at super speed, knocking him out.
Carmella grabbed a guard, turned him around and suplexed him into the ground. "Haven't done that in awhile."
Ultra Girl telekinetically lifted two guards into the air, removed their weapons, crushed said weapons and then tossed them against the wall. "That's what you get for threatening my friend."
Reaper pulled out the scythe sword and slashed through a guard's gun and then punched him hard enough to send him flying 12 feet away.
Artemis raced towards another guard, moving too fast for him to get a solid shot on and unsheathing her sword and slicing apart his gun and then leaping up and kicking him with both feet in the face, resheathing her sword and then pulling him up and giving him a rapid fire punch kick combo.
The Justice Patrol took down the guards in seconds. "YEAH! Ahh, it is so good to be working with you guys again."
With the situation under control, they checked on the three civilians and Stronghold took a seat to fill them in on what they had missed while they did their best to clean his wounds. "God, you look horrible." Ultra Girl said.
"I know. It's been insane down here. Sooo...um, how did you find us?"
"We found samples of a code from other civilians that directed us here and one of the villains was stupid enough to let slip that he took you here and we got him talking." Artemis said. 
"Wait, civilians?"
"Yeah, there were battles topside too. We all won of course." Dude smiled.
"And one of them told us about the jammers, so I turned them off when we got here..."
"And then I navigated." Ultra Girl explained.
"Man, you guys got here in just in time. Big ugly over there was about to smash me."
"I've been meaning to ask about that."
"Well, I don't know either. The ugly thing you guys ran past earlier nearly killed us all and that was just the first one and we were so busted up we got beaten down by that thing."
Sally sat up. "You....all of you...thank you."
"You're all...amazing." Chandra said.
"Yeah...Stronghold...Stronghold's been protecting us all the whole time..we owe him a lot." Jim smiled.

"Alright, what's the plan?"
"I'm taking them back to the elevator." Carmella said as Sally climbed up on her back and she picked up Chandra and Jim. "And then it's straight to Halworth's with you three, my friends there can fix you right up."
"What...about them?"
"We're going after the madman responsible for all of this." Stronghold said. "I've been itching to get my hands on him. For all of his victims down here, for throwing us to these psycho's and for threatening our city. We're gonna make him pay."
"Are you sure you're good to fight?" Artemis asked, concerned.
"I'll be fine. I'm seeing this through."
"Strong....Stronghold....win this. Make...these bastards pay." Sally spoke up.
Stronghold gave her a thumb's up.
 "I'll be back as soon as I can." Carmella said and speeded off with the civilians.

"Alright then, shall we?" Stronghold asked and stood up again.
Dude grabbed a stun rod. "Let's." The heroes proceeded through the open doorway.