Chapter 9

Lila stared at her front door as she steeled her nerves. This was the deciding factor on whether or not she would be a villain. She set her jaw and raised a hand to open the door. Before she could open it, she felt Piper grab her other hand. She turned to her friend who smiled and nodded at her. She returned the smile and opened the door.

"Mom, Dad- I'm home!"

Lila tugged Piper into the kitchen with her. They both let go and sat down at the dining table. When they settled themselves, Daniel smiled at the two, "How was school?"

"It was fine until two people ruined it with their presence." Lila huffed.

"Perhaps it'd be better if they didn't exist at all." Piper pouted.

"Piper, Lila..." Catherine scolded lightly.

"Sorry, Auntie." Piper smiled sheepishly.

"So, why did you bring Piper today?" Catherine asked her daughter.

"She's in on the plan."

"Lila!"

"She said it was fine. Plus, she won't actually be on the scene."

Catherine pinched the bridge of her nose, "Explain."

Lila explained her side of the story from when she had spoken with Piper the night before until the part where she decided to finalize the plans. She left out the part about her confrontation with James and the imminent blowout that could happen. Her mother had taken one look at Leo and Harriet and she looked so happy and proud. It wasn't fair if Lila was the one who broke it to her. It wasn't her place.

There was a pause before Catherine sighed and smiled at her daughter, "I believe these are well thought of."

"Thanks, mom." Lila returned the smile.

Piper tilted her head and hummed, "So, when exactly are you planning on going through with this?"

"Either tomorrow or the next day." Lila shrugged, "Just within the week."

"Why the rush?" Daniel looked at his daughter with a raised eyebrow.

"I... I think it's better if my brothers would know how it feels like to face a villain early."

"But the saying goes, 'better late than never'." Daniel pointed out.

"Yeah- I just... don't want to be too late." Lila smiled at her dad. It was painful to lie but she knew there were some things she can't just blurt out. It was Harriet's call, the ball was in her court. It's her time to decide whether she wants to continue dating Leo or face the facts.

Daniel hummed before he nodded, "Very well... Be careful out there, Lila."

"I will." Lila nodded with a determined grin.

Two weeks flew by with no incident and the boys were enjoying their free afternoon. Will had a fry hanging from his mouth as he fiddled with his phone. Tim tapped his fingers against the table and he stared down at the half-eaten burger in front of him. Leo bit into his slice of pizza and changed the channel to the television.

"Dude..." Tim hissed as Will bumped into him for the fifth time.

"Shshhshshs," Will shushed him as he glared at his screen, "There's this one horrible person who-"

"Can you two quit it." Leo sighed as he turned the television's volume up. "I need to see this."

"Just cause Harriet said so?" Will snorted.

"Shut up." Leo tossed a fry at Will who dodged it and stuck out his tongue.

"Will you two-"

The siren cut Tim off and the three boys perked up. Will screamed and threw his phone at the wall while Tim shoved him off the couch. Leo turned the television off and threw the remote on the couch. The three rushed up to their separate rooms. It wasn't long before three different colored streaks of light appeared and raced towards the city.

It wasn't long before they reached the eye of the storm. Literally. On their way to the capital, the streets and roads were in chaos but the capital itself was quiet. Leo, or Comet, scanned the area with apprehension. The place empty, completely deserted.

"What in the..." Will, or Tempest, muttered to himself.

"This- there's no one here." Tim, or Berserk, squinted as he looked around.

"That we can see," Comet added as he flew around the capital a few more times.

There was absolute silence as Comet continued to hover about the area. Tempest frowned and muttered to himself about the madness of their situation while Berserk sighed to himself and crossed his arms in impatience. The oldest frowned and his eyes darted back and forth around the area. It didn't make any sense to him. There was no visible threat yet the people seem to be scared of something.

Tempest yawned and leaned against a building, "Well, if nothing's here and it's just a false alarm-"

He cut himself off when the ground began to shake. He turned to look at his brother but he held the same shocked look. He stood upright and scanned the area for the disturbance until his answer practically burst from the ground.

Comet and Berserk screamed for Tempest as he raised himself higher and the... thing followed him up. With gritted teeth, the hero allowed the water in the air to surround whatever was following him and condense together. It didn't take long until the figure froze mid-air due to the condensed particles around it.

Before the trio could inspect what it was, the water burst out and left nothing in its wake except for a small shower. Tempest's jaw fell open as he stared at the empty place. He swore he had a firm grip on the figure. He had it constricted!

"What the hell was that!" Berserk shouted out as he took his place beside his gaping brother.

"Whatever it was- it was powerful." Comet observed the droplets of water as they started to shake, responding to his brother's emotions.

"It- I had it!" Tempest hissed out as he pointed at the empty space. "It was right there!"

"There's nothing there." Berserk snorted.

Comet sighed as he cut Tempest off, "Not the time, Berserk. This is probably our first real villain."

Right after he spoke, a laugh echoed around the capital. Smoke emerged from the top of a short building that was leveled with the boys. As the smoke dispersed, a female appeared with a large, shark-like grin. Her bright blonde hair was pinned up in a mess of curls and her bright orange eyes were unnatural. A fox-like mask rested on the side of her face as her orange dress cascaded into nine different sections behind her.

"So," She spread her arms outward in a grand sweeping gesture, "this is the Elemental Trio..."

Comet puffed out his chest and glared at the unknown and suspicious figure, "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" The girl giggled. The laugh was unsettling and the boys felt a shiver crawl up their spine. They shook it off and watched the giggling female with guarded eyes. "I'm your downfall."

Tempest couldn't help but snort at the statement, "That's overly cliche."

Berserk smirked back, "And how do we know you will follow up on that?"

The female calmly tilted her head to the side with a serene smile, "Because... I can do this."

With a snap of her fingers, she disappeared and multiple copies of her appeared all around. On the streets, on top of buildings and by the trees. They all simultaneously turned to stare at the three. They flinched and the mass of copies smirked at them.

"Should we..." Tempest shrunk into himself. "...run?"

"No." Comet scowled as he observed the duplicates. "We fight."

"If that's your choice, heroes." The villain's voice echoed around the area. "Then so be it."

The wave of copies jumped up and targeted the heroes. Somehow, many were able to keep themselves afloat and the brothers wondered what exactly the new villain was capable of.

Berserk scowled as at least ten copies targeted him. He spread his arms wide and clapped them together, creating a large sound wave. The copies fizzled for a moment before they regained their shape and continued to target him. He cursed under his breath and flew up higher to minimize the damage it might cause.

Tempest sneered when the other copies targeted him. He flew up higher, even higher than Berserk was, and took a deep breath. When the copies were almost at arms length, he blew at them and the copies froze in the air. He smirked in triumph when another sound blast hit the skies and Tempest was blown back a bit. He turned to shout at Berserk when the copies he trapped lunged at him. He hissed when he realized the ice broke because of the sound blast.

Comet stayed in his area and scanned the area. There was a glint of ice before he dodged the large and sharp icicle. He scowled but remained focused on his job. When he noticed a clump of blonde hair he pushed himself to grab at her throat. He had her in his grip but he noticed her wide grin. He tightened the grip a bit when he noted the confident glint in her eyes.

"Wrong one..."