“Mental Boy to Hypnos. Come in Hypnos.”

“Hypnos here. What do you need, Mental Boy?”

“I'm bored.”

“This isn't a proper use of a secure line, Mental Boy.”

“But I'm bored!”

“You're the one who wanted to hang out at Justice Mountain.”

This was true. The idea of Justice Mountain was appealing with its crime computers, training facilities, and the alien inspired Dart hyper-transport launcher. In theory, there were many fascinating toys to play with, but in practice, monitor duty was a drag.

“I didn't know it was going to be so boring. I’d rather have stayed at the school.”

“I tried to tell you that, but you didn’t believe me.”

“Yeah, you’re always trying to keep me away from the cool stuff, so I thought monitor duty would be cool.”

“Oh, so that’s how to motivate you.”

“What?”

“Never mind. Moving on. Just to lend some legitimacy to this waste of resources, give me a quick report on what our heroes are up to.”

“They’re all doing secret ID stuff except for Carla.”

“Code names, Mental Boy. Always use code names. So, what does Ice Princess have going?”

“She’s following a lead on Black Skull. I think she found a witness to that nuclear sub hijacking.”

“Okay, so she’s just going to get a deposition.”

“A what?”

“She’s just going to talk to a guy.”

“Right. Why didn’t you just say it that way to begin with?”

“I did. You see, deposition means…”

“Hold on, I got a call on another line.” Hypnos gave an understanding grunt, and Mental Boy took the other call.

“Justice Mountain here. Go ahead, Ice Princess.”

Mental Boy could hear labored breathing on the other end of the line. Nothing else.

“Justice Mountain to Ice Princess. Go ahead.”

“It was a trap,” Ice Princess managed to say. “Black Skull ambushed me. He brought Pyra. I got away and made a barricade, but as soon as they find me Pyra will melt right through it. I’m burned and I need back up.”

“Uh,” Mental Boy said. “Just a second.” The young superhuman told himself not to panic. He had been drilled on the correct protocols a number of times. He never actually paid attention, but something may have stuck with him. It didn’t help any that he mentally linked with Ice Princess when he took the call. She sounded professional and brave over the comm, but she was hurt worse than she let on and she was scared.

It hurts, oh god, it hurts.

“Hypnos, Carla… Ice Princess is in trouble. She got ambushed by Black Skull and Pyra.”

“You have her coordinates?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Send me a Dart.”

Mental Boy ran to the Dart console and turned various knobs until the numbers on one display matched Ice Princess’ coordinates and the coordinates on the other display matched Hypnos’. He pressed the Launch button, but nothing happened. He got the same result the second, third and fourth times he pressed it.

“Hypnos, the Dart won’t launch. I think it’s broke.”

“Did you remember to open the hatch first?”

“Why the hell is that a separate step?”

“Language, Mental Boy. Open the hatch and try again.”

Mental Boy did as instructed and a small, sleek aircraft burst from the mountainside and quickly disappeared over the horizon.

“Dart launched, Hypnos. It’ll be there in a few seconds.”

“Good. Check on Ice Princess.”

“Got it.” Mental Boy switched frequencies. “Ice Princess, Hypnos is on his way. What’s your status?”

“Tell him to get the lead out. I can hear them getting closer. It’s just a matter of time until they find me.” They’re going to burn me, oh god; I don’t want to die that way.

“It’ll be okay, Ice Princess. You don’t have to be scared.”

“I’m not scared.” Like hell I’m not.

“Mental Boy, this is Hypnos. Where’s my Dart?”

“I don’t know. It should be there by now.”

“Justice Mountain, this is Bow Shock. Why did you send me a Dart?”

“Damn it.”

“Language, Mental Boy.”

“Hypnos, I’m resending the Dart. Just a second.” Mental Boy ran back to the Dart console, made the necessary changes and launched another dart which as before disappeared over the horizon, but in a slightly different direction.

“Justice Mountain. Bow Shock here. Why do I have a Dart?”

“That was a mistake, Bow Shock. I meant to send that to Hypnos.”

“Is something going down?”

“Yeah, Ice Princess has been ambushed.”

“Okay, I’m on my way.”

“Hypnos is closer.”

“I’m still on my way.”

“Hypnos to Justice Mountain, I’m en route to Ice Princess’ location. I’ll report when I can.”

“Ditto that,” Bow Shock said.

Mental Boy switched the large display to national radar and watched as the two blips converged on Ice Princess’ position. Hypnos arrived first. Bow Shock was less than a minute behind. Bow Shock, either by accident or by design, left his comm open. Mental Boy heard the Dart land a bit harder than expected judging from Bow Shock’s language. Then there was the sound of footfalls that changed tone when Bow Shock entered the building. Everything got noisy then. There was the rushing sound of Pyra’s flame vortex, and Black Skull’s maniacal laughter.

“What’s up?” Bow Shock asked.

“Ice Princess is at the bottom of those stairs,” Hypnos said. “She’s trying to maintain her ice shield as Pyra tries to melt it. Black Skull is lying in wait just around the corner.”
“Did you get a shot at either of them?”

“No, they were ready for me.” Hypnos telepathy could reach anyone on this half of the continent, but his hypnotic gaze required direct eye contact. Most villains knew that. Hypnos’ combat strategy largely entailed tricking the bad guys into looking in his direction.

“Are they ready for me?” Bow Shock asked.

“They don’t yet know you’re here.”

“They're about to find out.”

Static overwhelmed the transmission every time Bow Shock fired one of his electro arrows. In between Mental Boy heard Black Skull's inhuman screams of pain. After those ended he heard Pyra's cursing.

“Jesus Christ, Skull, what the hell is going on up there? Who...”

“Come upstairs, Pyra,” Hypnos said.

“Okay,” she answered. Mental Boy heard Pyra's measured steps on the stairs.

“Very good, Pyra. Now, guard Black Skull while Bow Shock and I see to Ice Princess.”

“Okay.”

There were more footfalls and some shuffling sounds accompanied by murmurings from the three Justice Patrollers. Mental Boy busied himself with his emergency duties.

“I can help you with the pain,” Hypnos said.

“No thanks,” Ice Princess replied. “I want to be clear headed just in case.”

“Very well. Let me know if you change your mind.”

“Mental Boy to Hypnos. I've contacted the authorities. They're on their way.”

“Good, good. An ambulance, too?”

“Ambulance, police, fire department. I had them send everything they had.”

“Good work, son. We can take it from here.”

Mental Boy pushed his chair away from the monitor console and took a breath. He eased away from his mental contact with Ice Princess.

Don't go!

Mental Boy was startled. Ice Princess?

Yeah. Please keep me company just for the ambulance ride. I'm just a bit wigged out right now. I could use someone to talk to.

How did you know I was here?

Oh please, I've worked with mentalists all my life. I've learned to notice when someone is kicking around inside my head.

Okay... Carla?

Yes, Richie?

I'm sorry.

Sorry, for what?

I was supposed to send the first Dart to Hypnos, but I accidentally sent it to Bow Shock instead, and I couldn't figure out how to launch the Dart, and it all wasted a bunch of time and you could have been hurt worse, and I'm sorry.

Mental Boy could feel Ice Princess' gentle laughter in his mind. Oh, sweetie, you did fine. No harm done at all. You really came through.

But it could have gone a whole bunch smoother.

That's almost always the case. All that matters are the results. You did a great job, Richie. You're a real hero.

You think I'm a hero?

Absolutely.

Think I'm ready to join Justice Patrol?

How old are you again?

Fifteen.

Hang in there, kid. You'll make it someday.