Willow immediately summoned fire in her hand and forced her way past the heroes trying to protect her and Daniel. With a flick of her wrist, she flung a field of fire out towards the legion of warlocks in a motion as casually as one might skip a stone. Most of them managed to dodge it, but a few got the hem of their cloaks caught in the fire. The ordinary guards were sent scrambling for cover.

Not wanting to be left out of the fun, Daniel tore the huge, heavy door off its hinges, chucking it at the guards who were unlucky enough to not have cover.

One of the guards still left standing noticed how fast AJ was running as a distraction for the warlocks so that Roxanne could hit them on the side of the head. They were surprised when he didn’t even break a stride as stun darts dotted up and down his pants legs right before he hit them in the face.

Rebecca yanked the guns away from a group of guards before pushing a warlock into the wall, giving Joan a clear shot for her fists and legs as she attacked like a vicious animal. Her style wasn’t formal at all. But her swings had power, and her muscles made up most of her skinny body.

“Any tips for taking down a magic user, Roxie? This was the one thing Phoenix didn't cover!” Nightingale asked. She swung her staff at a warlock, but they dodged.

“Probably with science,” Roxanne hummed thoughtfully, leaping over a spell shot.

Roxie’s next move was to shoot a group of gnats at the warlock’s face. She was too busy trying to wave the flies away to shoot a spell back, which let Daniel deck her in the face.

“Oh yeah!” Roxanne cheered. “Up top!” She held out her hand to Daniel for a high five, but he just waved at her.

“Nevermind, we’ll work on it.” Roxanne promised him, smiling sheepishly.

Tyro simply grinned at the Novas, flicking ashes off the shoulder of his jacket right before he got a face full of water from Joseph’s belt.

“Pitiful really, Alexandrene you really think your powers are a match for mine? You all are nothing but a bunch of fools!” Tyro jeered, water dripping from his shimmering shield.

Emma was ready to knock the smug look off of Tyro’s face an hour ago. She grabbed the discs still in her belt, only to be shocked by a rather large burst of static electricity. She was too angry to be in pain, and with her rage surging through her body, she flung all three discs at Tyro. For a split second, she saw a flash of lightning on each disc, before the exploded in a blinding display of smoke and metal, not even halfway to Tyro.

“What the-?” Emma glanced down at her belt, at her hands, at Tyro, just in time to see him shoot a spell in her direction. She braced herself, but it never hit her.

For the second time, Emma heard Roxanne shout a strange, ethereal word, her hands glowing white and held above her head. Nightingale and all her new friends glowed as white as Roxanne’s hands for just a moment, before it faded and threw them back into the fight.

“That should protect you from any sorcery for a while!” She told them. “But it'll wear off pretty quick and it negates my magic-” she paused to duck behind Joan and dodge a flying gun. “-and probably Joey's too, so make your move!” She said.

Feeling invincible, Willow charged at the first warlock she reached, setting his clothes on fire. He wasn’t nearly as collected and confident as Tyro was, screaming and attempting to stamp out the flames in his cloak. Willow rolled her eyes, throwing more fire at another warlock, who was distracted by her wrestling match with Joseph. A hit from Daniel knocked them both out of range of the fire, which landed on the floor and spread across the carpet.

“I think I like this one!” Joan nodded, finally taking down the warlock she and her sister were tag-teaming with an impressive spin-kick.

Daniel shoved the unconscious warlock off of Joseph.

“She seems to have the right idea,” The Alexandrene noted, “Her flames are causing chaos!”

“Everyone copy Willow! Set as much stuff on fire as possible!” Rebecca shouted.

“You okay?” Daniel grunted, looking Joseph up and down. The more refined young man was hunched over, leaning on his knees to support himself, and he appeared to be sweating.

Joseph shook his head, “I do not do very well around fire.” He tried to brush it off as nothing.

“Neither do I,” Emma gritted her teeth. Short bursts were fine, but this was starting to unease her. She pulled Starling to the least flaming corner, beating the guards back with their staffs.

He was right, however, the flames were causing more of a ruckus than a fight between a dozen teenagers, fifty security guards, and six magicians already could be. The flames were spreading rapidly, convincing the remains of security to flee, and even the three remaining unnamed warlocks.

“Fools,” Tyro growled. He made an effort to swallow his rage as Willow launched herself at him with a war cry.

He grabbed her by the collar of her black suit, like a very tired parent who was used to their child’s temper tantrums. “Well, come along Willy and Danny, you've had your playdate, but it's back to the vault for you.” He reached for Daniel, but Willow smacked him in the face, bolstered by a very rude curse word.

Tyro couldn’t contain his anger any longer. He flung Willow through the flames across the room, crashing into the wall barely moving.

Tyro floated ominously across the room, and the teens watched, frozen by fear or Tyro’s magic no one knew.

“You really think you'd make it out there?” Tyro snarled as he loomed over Willow. She winced and tried to move, but her head was too heavy to stand up.

“Get away from her!” Emma found the strength to move, leaping over the flames to reach Tyro and the Willow.

“Those people won't appreciate your gifts, they'll be frightened of you. They'll hate you.” He warned, ignoring Nightingale. She was no threat. He raised his arms, summoning a spell.

“Like you're doing much better locking them up down here!” Emma dove between Willow and Tyro. As his arms came down with an angry red spell, Emma swung a punch.

Her chest tingled, suddenly tight as if something was trying to burst out. Her heart shouted, spreading to her legs as she planted her feet, and to her arms as Tyro suddenly flew backwards, flailing. Lightning crackled between Emma’s fist and where she’d hit Tyro, the heavy scent of static mixing with the scent of the second-biggest bonfire Emma had even seen.

Sam’s grin, however, was the biggest she’d ever seen on his face. “Cool! Emma how'd you do that?” He asked. AJ and the others stared in shock at Tyro’s limp body, twitching with electricity every other second

Emma’s whole body shook, and she suddenly felt very overwhelmed. “I-I don’t- How did I do that?” She asked, as if anyone else would have an answer as they all rushed over to her.

“We can figure that out later,” Joan patted her shoulder in a barely affectionate way. Daniel gently helped Willow to her feet, feeling up her forehead as if she might have a fever.

“Your lightning and Willow's fire are the only two things that have fazed him in the slightest. You two have the best chance of taking him down.” Joseph said, gripping Emma’s shoulder tightly.

Willow nodded firmly, took a moment to regain her own balance, and then sprung towards Tyro once more, her hands surrounded by fire. She wasted no time dealing hit after hit to try and ensure that he stayed down

“O-okay, how do I do this?” Emma took a shaky breath, pulling off her gloves. Meshtex was an insulation, taking off her gloves would make “her” electricity stronger, wouldn’t it?

Tiny little lightning bolts shot back and forth between her fingertips. At first they hurt, but they grew duller the longer they went on.

“Y-you guys may wanna take cover.” She advised. Seeing the sparks jumping between her hands, the others wasted no time ducking behind the door that Daniel had previously removed from its frame.

Willow met Nightingale’s gaze as she nervously approached the dazed sorcerer. “Chin down, hands and eyes aimed at your target, relax your shoulders!” She barked a quick series of instructions before rolling out of the way of a rather weak magic blast, having no time nor patience for a proper lesson.

Emma tucked in her chin, focusing on Tyro. She held out her hands splaying in his direction. Just by thinking about it, she could feel the power building up within her chest, begging to be let loose. The air around her hummed, sensing the power.

“So. Cool!!” Starling squealed. Emma nearly sighed with relief when she glimpsed the others pulling him back behind shelter.

“Now!” Willow shouted. Emma took a moment to realize that she was talking to her.

Fire and lightning hit Tyro at the same time, but his skull-shattering screams made even those elements feel ice cold. Willow’s head was rattling, especially with her head injury, but she ignored it. This man, this creature, brainwashed her. He hurt her. He hurt Daniel. He held them against their will.

And what of those other kids? The ones who were sick, and just never seen again? What had he done to them?

Her fury fed the fire, which grew more and more intense until finally, Tyro went silent.

Emma immediately stopped her lightning. “Wait!” She grabbed Willow’s arm.

“What?” She snapped, eyes so wild they made Emma take a step back.

“Don’t...don’t kill him.” She said, sounding weak and pitiful compared to Willow’s conviction. “Heroes don’t kill.”

Willow tilted her head to the side. “I am not a hero.” She said.

“Yeah, but I am. And I don’t kill people.” Emma’s hands hung at her side. “I’m not gonna help you kill him.”

Willow shrugged. “Fine by me, I’m not gonna make you do something you don’t want to do.”

“How noble of you, Nova two-point-three.”

The two spun around. Tyro was staggered, but he was standing, a ball of red energy in his fist.

His eyes not leaving Emma’s, he dropped the fistful of energy. It collided with the floor, sending a spider’s web of glowing white cracks spreading across the floors and ceiling.

The floor where the ball had dropped crumbled away, revealing a massive, glowing portal right beneath the floor.

“I told you!” Starling and Roxanne shouted in unison.

Tyro stood at the edge of the rapidly crumbling floor. Wind ripped through the room as the portal gained strength, the white-hot cracks inching towards the walls.

“You think the world will still accept you, Nova two-point three?” He asked.

Willow shot a ball of furious flame at him, but Tyro allowed the floor to fall away beneath his feet, sending him falling down to the portal beneath, and effectively dodging the blast.

“Come on!” Emma grabbed Willow’s arm before she could leap after Tyro, pulling her over to the wall where their friends were congregated, as far from the cracks as they could.

“The portal’s collapsing,” Roxanne gasped for breath as the wind attacked them. Rebecca tried to redirect any debris flung their way, often sending it down into the dark center of the portal after Tyro, but not even her awesome powers could best the force of gravity.

“Well, where do we go now?” AJ asked. He held Rebecca’s hand to keep her from flying off in the wind, and then he gripped Joan’s hand to keep himself from flying away.

“There!” Starling pointed down to the portal, as if it were obvious. “I think we should follow that!”

Everyone looked at each other doubtfully.

“We don’t even know where it goes,” Daniel mumbled.

“If anyone's got a better idea I'd love to hear it!” Nightingale said, clinging to one last brick hold on the wall. Silence was the only answer she needed.

“Into the portal.” Joseph said.

One by one, they each let go of their holds on the wall, allowing themselves to be sucked around and around and around, down to the bottom of the portal.

“This is gonna hurt,” Roxanne squeezed her eyes shut, gripping Joan’s hand tightly.

The tiny hole at the bottom of the portal was nowhere near big enough to fit a teenager through, at least at first glance. But it was able to take Tyro, so maybe it would work.

Squeezing through was long and painful, especially when pulling multiple people through at one time. Slowly, they each made it through, Where instead of being sucked into a portal, the nine were now falling through thin air towards the regular, two-story N-Corp Labs, from a height of over fifty stories, with fifty floors of stone, brick, mortar, and plenty of heavy, expensive, science equipment getting ready to fall on top of them.