Theatre of Heels- Chapter 6: Teacher Disputes

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Golden Gladiator yanked his sword out of its hilt and charged.

Madame Migraine waved her hand and the tables in front of them vaulted into the far wall, giving the teachers room to maneuver. Cyber Gauntlet’s armor hummed as multiple compartments opened around his frame and cannons, missile launchers and one buzzsaw popped out. Shadowhunter stepped back to make way for his more durable panelists.

Autumn Lightning had a different plan.

“Finally, some action!” His body crackled with electricity as he flew at the winged creature, a bolt of energy lanced out of his outstretched hands. The demon flew above the attack. Erica screamed and ducked below the destructive beam that destroyed the back of her chair.

The monster dove at him and cracked the butt of its spear across Autumn Lightning’s face. Autumn Lightning’s field winked out as he crashed into the far wall and slumped to the floor.

Erica stared at his unconscious body, panting. That creep almost killed me!

The Dean’s roar pulled her attention around in time to see him slash at the invader. The demon dodged the attack and lashed back with its spear. Sparks sprayed off Golden Gladiator’s metallic skin. The winged beast flew around the Dean and jabbed its staff into the small of the metal hero's back, sending Golden Gladiator staggering forward.

Cyber Gauntlet took aim, and Erica tried to scramble out of the way, but he saw how close she was to his line of fire and lowered his weapon. Shadowhunter leapt past him and engaged the demon head-on. The demon spun around to face him. The pair transformed into tornadic blur of motion as they fought with a violent series of martial arts. A loud smack erupted from the melee and the demon stumbled back.

The tables catapulted off the ground at the creature. It swung its spear around and shattered the first missile in half and batted the second table out the window. Erica threw her arms over her face as chunks of wood peppered her.

The demon’s wings pumped furiously as it hurled itself at Madame Migraine. The Professor of Telepathic Subterfuge stared at the demon intently. It tumbled to the ground, grabbing its head.

Is she going to take that thing out? Erica wondered.

Madame Migraine sneered. “Your brute force means nothing to me, you insignificant—”

The psychic’s eyes widened as it glared at her. “What are you doing?”

The demon hurled its spear at her. Madame Migraine screamed.

Cyber Gauntlet’s pincer arm blurred in front of the psychic as he snatched the weapon out of the air before it could skewer her. The robotic professor looked at their adversary, his still-human eyes wide. He stammered, “What do you think—”

The demon pounced on him grabbing its spear, it judo rolled the armored hero over its shoulder tossing him to the floor with a colossal crash.

It twisted around and drove a swift kick into Madame Migraine’s gut. She flew backwards gasping. Golden Gladiator and Shadowhunter closed in on it from opposite directions. It stepped on Cyber Gauntlet’s prone back and shot in the air through the gap of the charging heroes. In that space its eyes fell on Erica, and the latter gulped.

Uh oh.

The demon dove at her, spear first.

Erica did what any other Kirby Lee Sidekick Academy candidate would have done in her place: she fell backwards over her chair with a scream. Fortunately, she’d already drawn the ray gun she’d built for herself in her first semester.

Unfortunately, she accidently pulled the trigger and the weapon discharged. Her oncoming foe ducked beneath the violent beam of energy, but Dean Golden Gladiator, who was just behind it, wasn’t as lucky. The concussive blast struck the surprised giant square in the face.

The following moments will become legend for all who enter the Kirby Lee Sidekick Academy. It will be known as a Belfry Maneuver.

Golden Gladiator’s sword slipped from his hand as he toppled with mighty crash through the already broken window behind him. Shadowhunter, who was about to throw one of his famed sleep darts at the demon, caught the movement in his periphery just in time to catch pommel of Golden Gladiator’s sword square in the face. He crumpled into an unconscious heap as his dart tumbled from his hand. The dart flitted end over end through the air, until it fell tip-first onto Cyber Gauntlet, who’d just hauled himself off the floor. If it had struck anywhere else, the dart would have harmlessly bounced off his armor; however, the tiny missile followed the same Murphy’s Law as everything else and jabbed into Cyber Gauntlet’s still-human-fleshed neck. The cybernetic professor’s eyes rolled up into the back of his head as Shadowhunter’s fast-acting sleep agent kicked in. He teetered and rolled back to the corner where Madame Migraine was still sucking wind from the earlier kick. She looked up with mounting horror. “No! You cybernetic simpleton don’t—”

Crash! The half-ton armored professor collapsed onto her, snoring.

For a moment, both Erica and her adversary stared at the other end of the room. Then they both looked at each other to confirm that they had indeed just witnessed the same thing. It was in this moment that it hit her: she was alone against her very first supervillain.

Her adversary smiled.