The owner of Grounds Zero, Wrigley Mills, doesn’t expect her coffee shop to be very busy 10 minutes before closing on a Friday night. By that time, not a lot of people in Callan are looking for coffee to drink. But on the first Friday night since reopening, Grounds Zero is bumping.
Wrigley had to close the shop down about a month ago when Alpha Girl and the Chessperados duked it out right outside, causing damage that took a lot of time and money to repair. Closing a small business, a coffee shop no less, for a month can be hard to come back from. Which is why Wrigley isn’t stressed about how busy she is right now. She’s relieved.
Among the full house are some of Callan’s most famous citizens. Mayor Sehren Chase and Police Chief Normand Ryder are arguing about the city’s decision to outlaw vigilantism. Retired public servant Denise Vaughan is playing chess against local phenom Johnny Gordon, who keeps beating her in less and less moves to Ms. Vaughan’s amazement. The owner of the most popular bar in Callan, Billy O’Reilly is throwing away his second cup of black coffee and gathering his things.
“Well unfortunately an actual bar closes much later than a coffee bar,” O’Reilly says. “So I gotta go to work.”
This reminds everyone of the time, and they all begin to pack up and head out. There’s one person who comes into the bar as everyone else leaves though.
“Mr. Real,” Wrigley states the man’s name as if that’s all the greeting necessary for their relationship. “I’ll be closed soon.”
“I’ll just wait right here,” Mr. Real says as he unbuttons the jacket of his white suit with navy pinstripes and sits down at a table in the furthest corner from the coffee shop’s entrance. “I’ll take a large black coffee, please.”
Wrigley prepares a cup of coffee for the last time that night, then closes up shop. When she’s sure there’s no one else in the building, she leads Mr. Real to the basement.
In the basement, Emperror is working with Busy Bots to repair the broken pieces of the Chessperados using reverse-engineered erronium while Hypernator naps in the corner. The sight of the worst villains Callan has encountered in one small space together is something Wrigley hopes she never gets used to.
“It’s been a month,” Wrigley nervously declares to Mr. Real. “That was the deal.”
Mr. Real chuckles. “Be careful not to bite the hand that feeds you. Grounds Zero would be permanently closed and you’d be bankrupt if it weren’t for me. And you didn’t make enough this week to pay off the debt, regardless of how busy you were.”
He’s right, Wrigley thinks. She turns and goes back upstairs. Waiting for her right outside the basement door with a look of shock and desperation is Billy O’Reilly.
“I went to the bathroom, and when I came out I was locked in the shop.”
“I’m sorry, O’Reilly. I’ll let you out.”
As Wrigley heads to the door, O’Reilly doesn’t follow. He’s frozen.
“What deal have you made with him?” he asks Wrigley.
Now she’s frozen.
Once she musters up the courage to face O’Reilly, Mr. Real has emerged from the basement.
“I’m paying Ms. Mills to use her basement to give my associates a space to rehabilitate,” Mr. Real informs O’Reilly nonchalantly.
Mr. Real left the basement door open. O’Reilly looks down the stairs and sees Busy Bots, then Emperror.
“Your associates are super villains?”
“They are reformed and rehabilitating,” Mr. Real assures O’Reilly with a gentle smile.
O’Reilly shakes his head frantically and rushes toward Wrigley, grabbing her shoulders.
“This isn’t right,” he says. “You can’t be part of whatever this is, Wrigley.”
Wrigley swipes his hands away from her.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she fires back at him. “Grounds Zero was going to go out of business. I’m doing what’s best for me.”
O’Reilly continues to shake his head, slower now, and wipes something from his eye. He turns to Mr. Real.
“I bet Alpha Girl would like to know about this.”
“Do you have contact information for the outlawed superhero?” Mr. Real responds as if he knew what O’Reilly was going to say.
“I’m close with the police chief and the mayor,” O’Reilly states information everyone in the room is already aware of.
Mr. Real snickers and shakes his head at O’Reilly’s naivety. “This is all perfectly legal, Mr. O’Reilly. Once Callanians see the progress we’ve made in rehabilitating these so-called villains, they’ll fund this project.
“There are no more heroes and villains. There are only Callanians. And we will thrive together… without Alpha Girl causing more problems than she solves.”
O’Reilly loses it and throws his fist at Mr. Real’s jaw. Mr. Real grabs the fist before it lands and pushes O’Reilly away.
“That’s enough,” Wrigley says as she steps between them. “O’Reilly, it’s time for you to go.”
O’Reilly nods in understanding. He stops before pushing the door open to leave.
“So you signed the petition to outlaw Alpha Girl?”
“It was to outlaw vigilantism, O’Reilly,” Wrigley corrects him in attempt to justify her actions.
O’Reilly walks out.
“Not everyone values progress as much as we do, Ms. Mills,” Mr. Real attempts to comfort Wrigley. “What we’re doing here is going to change Callan forever.”
“Are the trucks ready?” Wrigley asks Mr. Real as she locks the coffee shop’s doors again.
“Of course. Feel free to round up our associates while I use the bathroom.”
“Hey, wait a second,” Wrigley snaps in protest. “I don’t talk to them. That’s your jurisdiction.”
He’s already walked away. Wrigley sighs in frustration and heads down the basement of her coffee shop to tell the rehabilitating super villains it’s time to go. When she makes it far enough down the stairs to see the progress they’ve made today, she’s stunned. Emperror is staring at his work. Inside a large glass tank is a kneeling black-and-white 10-foot-tall feminine robot with a horse’s head wearing a platinum crown with black and white gems.
“The Queen of Kings,” Mr. Real declares with pride. “You’ve done well, Emperror.”
Mr. Real rolls his eyes at the confused look on Wrigley’s face. “The reverse-engineered erronium doesn’t just put broken things back together - it makes them better. The Chessperados were a fierce group, but the thing about groups is they can disband. Combining their abilities into one ultra-powerful weapon is more efficient. Emperror’s work will certainly be remembered.”
Mr. Real pulls a device out of his pocket and presses a button on it. Suddenly, Emperror begins to seize and writhe in pain before dropping to the floor unconscious.
“What the hell did you do?!” Wrigley cries.
“I no longer require his services, and he knows too much.”
“You said this was all perfectly legal.”
“It is, Ms. Mills. Don’t worry. I’ll clean up this mess. Like you said, this is my jurisdiction.”
Wrigley walks away in horror. Mr. Real’s voice stops her before she steps on the stairs.
“Now that the work is complete, Ms. Mills, I suppose we will no longer be requiring your services.”
Wrigley’s heart drops to the floor before her adrenaline yanks it back up and forces it to pump like a drill sergeant yelling at a maggot. She runs up the basement stairs faster than she’s capable of running.
“Get her,” Mr. Real commands the Busy Bots. They follow their orders and hunt Wrigley, multiplying into more Busy Bots on the way.
When Wrigley busts the basement door open to escape, she’s greeted by a yawning Hypernator. She doesn’t have time to stop herself before she runs right into his nightgown and comes out of the other side falling asleep while floating in space. Outside the nightgown, she’s lying unconscious on the floor of her coffee shop surrounded by Busy Bots. Mr. Real methodically makes his way up the stairs.
As Wrigley fights her sleep in the nightgown dimension, the space is suddenly lit up bright gold. Her desire to sleep fades, and before she knows it, she’s awakened in her actual body outside the nightgown. Alpha Girl is there, fighting the bad guys Wrigley’s been helping.
Hypernator is passed out cold as he’s smothered by his inside-out nightgown. The Busy Bots are struggling to multiply faster than Alpha Girl is tearing them apart. Mr. Real is nowhere to be found. Wrigley turns to the basement door. It’s open.
“Alpha Girl! Get out of here!”
Before Alpha Girl can react, the floor beneath her caves as the Queen of Kings erupts through it like magma from an overdue volcano. When she lands, she thrusts her open palm to her side and transforms it into a long black blade.
“Target acquired.”
The giant robot warrior horse lady lunges at Alpha Girl and swings her new sword hand right at her neck. Alpha Girl barely managed to dodge it before Queen of Kings planted her feet, turned around and nailed the hero in the face with her non-sword fist, sending Alpha Girl flying out of the coffee shop.
A mob of Callanians surrounds the wounded and rattled hero as she collects herself. She’s given no time to prepare for the next attack. The Queen of Kings stays behind as the fatal blow is delivered by her master.
“Stay back!” Mr. Real commands Alpha Girl as he marches out of the coffee shop. “You’ve damaged this establishment enough already!”
Among the confused bystanders is Mayor Chase. “What’s going on here?” she inquires frantically.
“What’s going on here is this ‘hero’ is breaking the law,” Mr. Real declares, pointing at Alpha Girl. “As we were discussing business, she showed up to exact vengeance on Ms. Mills for voting to outlaw vigilantism. If my robot hadn’t been ready, Ms. Mills might not have been able to tell us the story herself.”
He turns around to where Wrigley is struggling to get to her feet next to the Queen of Kings. Mr. Real nods at the Queen, and she moves her blade hand down toward Wrigley. Alpha Girl sees this and jets toward Wrigley. Just as she reaches them, the Queen transforms her other hand into a shield that prevents Alpha Girl from touching Wrigley. When the dust settles, the crowd of Callanians can see the robot is lifting Wrigley off the ground with a hand that is no longer a blade.
Alpha Girl rises as slowly as you’d expect someone to after flying at the speed of light toward a solid metal shield. She won’t be up for long.
“Alpha Girl, that’s enough,” Police Chief Normand Ryder says behind her. “Why don’t you come with me?”
She turns around and sees he’s pointing his gun at her. She shakes in horror even though the bullet couldn’t cause her any physical pain. She looks around and sees the faces of all the people she’s sworn to defend, terrified of her.
“I…” she tries to explain herself. “I’m not here to hurt anyone…”
“Clearly,” Mr. Real snorts. “I’m sure you didn’t mean to hurt this city every time you threw a bank robber through a wall. I’m sure you didn’t mean to put everyone in danger when your power drove petty criminals to experiments to gain their own super abilities. I’m sure you didn’t mean to bring Callan to the brink of total annihilation when you arrived here.”
Alpha Girl’s head falls. Her eyes lock on the ground as she tries desperately not to let tears fall out.
“And here we are,” Mr. Real continues. “I came to this city because of the potential I saw. A city with the population of Callan should be the biggest market in the world. Callanians belong in the highest class. But the threat of this god-like inhuman has kept businesses from reaching all their potential customers. The police force is understaffed and largely unimportant because she’s declared herself the sheriff.
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely. What happens when the citizens try to check that power? This.”
The crowd of Callanians follow Mr. Real’s finger, which is pointed at Wrigley. Billy O’Reilly pushes his way through the mob and runs to her.
“Kid, are you alright?” he asks her. “Tell me what happened. It can’t be true, can it?”
The Queen of Kings behind Wrigley uses her telekinetic power to force Wrigley to nod her head and confirm everything Mr. Real said.
“I can’t believe it…” O’Reilly says as he slowly turns to Alpha Girl. “We all believed in you.”
“Alpha Gril, you need to come with me,” Chief Ryder says as he grabs her wrist.
Mr. Real shakes his head at the chief.
“You think a prison cell will hold her?” he asks rhetorically. “This kind of power simply cannot be allowed to exist. Not in the hands of someone who has proven to be a traitor in pursuit of total domination of the city.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Queen of Kings, extract her power.”
The robot leaps toward Alpha Girl, who’s caught off guard and forced to the ground. As she fights, she sees flashes of Callanians watching the madness. She closes her eyes and looks for their spirits. She’s been shut out. The Queen falls back as she suddenly absorbs all of the hero’s power. Alpha Girl has given up.
Queen of Kings begins to light up very bright. Smoke emits from her head. She begins to melt. She can’t contain the power.
“Transfer the power to me,” Mr. Real commands.
With what little strength the Queen can summon, she thrusts her hands forward and blasts the power at her master. Queen of Kings melts as the power drains from her. The blasts sends Mr. Real back toward the crowd. The Callanians catch him and lift him up as he collapses.
In an unconscious state, Mr. Real feels the energy flowing through his body, mind and spirit. He feels the spirits of the Callanians around him trying to wake him up. He’s done it.
His eyes burst open, glowing with the light that used to glow from Alpha Girl’s eyes. He sees Alpha Girl’s limp body lying on the ground. He finds Wrigley staring with her mouth open as if she’s having trouble inhaling reality.
“Ms. Mills,” he says to her telepathically. “Thank you.”
Wrigley faints. Before anyone can rush to her aid, Mr. Real connects to all their minds.
“Callan is mine.”
Every Callanian faints.
Later…
“Neo Callan named the safest city in the world today as crime rates reach the lowest in human history,” a news anchor tells his audience from a TV in Neo Callan’s most popular coffee shop.
“Here is your Real coffee, ma’am,” a robot barista says as he brings a young woman her order. “Thanks for choosing Real Coffee.”
Everyone stares at the woman as she leaves the coffee shop. With everyone else wearing white suits with navy pinstripes, she sticks out like a sore thumb with her golden curly hair and white shirt and gold skirt.
Real Coffee’s manager walks in as the woman walks out.
“Hi, Ms. Mills,” the woman greets the manager, who’s wearing what everyone else is wearing. “I hope you have a great day.”
“Thank you, Alissa,” Ms. Mills replies. “Everyday is a great day in Neo Callan.”