Enigmatic: Sapphire City Supers

Chapter 32: A Dream is a Wish Your Villain Makes

"What do we do now?" I asked Ewan, feeling torn by the many conflicting demands on my attention.

"The people who haven't got out yet are the main concern. Gareth and Cobalt are tougher customers. Let's see how the others are getting on."

In the main auditorium we were surprised to find things wrapping up. Seb, Gaia and Wasp were ushering the last of the public out with grim expressions.

"Hey guys," Seb said, wincing as the stragglers flicked us suspicious looks on their way out. "Is everyone out front okay?"

"Physically, sure. Emotionally, not so much. They've taken a beating." I answered.

"A couple of them attacked Tempest," Ewan elaborated, giving my arm a squeeze.

Seb wrinkled his nose at the gesture, and then frowned. "That's not good. I'm guessing you're okay, but obviously this has really thrown them, just like Morgan wants."

"I wonder what his endgame is here. Surely it's more than just random chaos?" I mused. "What happened while we were gone?"

"Once Zeus here busted the doors open and people started flooding out, the Villains seemed to kind of give up," Gaia answered. "It was pretty weird."

"That teleporting idiot was too fast for us again," Seb grumbled. "He got all the other Villains out of here before we could nab any of them. None of us have seen Morgan since this began."

"Ugh, Dopey," I sighed. "Only good for one thing but damn if he isn't good at it. Lexa is safe, so that just leaves Cobalt and Gareth. I don't think Morgan would risk keeping Gareth here, so whatever he's done with him isn't something we can fix immediately. I don't know what he really wanted with Cobalt besides having a Super to parade around, so they might have left him here if he's served his purpose."

"Should we check backstage?" Wasp suggested, obviously keen to get in on the conversation.

"Seems logical," Gaia smiled at her, and something about its warmth made me wonder if I wasn't the only one with an intra team romance in the room.

No time to reflect on tender moments, though. We had a dumbass to rescue.

The immediate backstage area was devoid of any presence, dumbass or otherwise. We spent a bit of time roughing the place up, looking for any trace of him, before a thought struck me like a bolt of Seb's lightning.

"The lighting booth," I blurted out. "It's tucked away and pretty private."

"How do you know that?" Seb asked, crooking an eyebrow.

"Lexa hooked up with a tech guy there when she was assisting a show one time," I grinned slyly. "Nobody caught them."

He looked like he wished he hadn't asked, which made me laugh. "Come on heroes, there's more grunt work to do!" I encouraged sarcastically.

I made a mental note to tell Lexa what a genius she was when we saw the slumped over figure sprawled in the corner of the lighting booth.

Wasp checked his pulse. "It's a bit slow, but regular. Looks like he's probably been Poisoned."

"That's a pretty good shiner he's blossoming, probably decked for good measure too," Ewan added, not bothering to keep the satisfaction out of his voice.

"Well, he is a big blockhead so it's not surprising that they needed a little extra," Seb remarked dryly. I did a bad job covering up a giggle.

I only felt a little bit guilty about it.