The Final Showdown - The Moon Trilogy - Book 3

Chapter three:

Benjamin and Rachel came out first, laughing about something that Clarity hadn't quite caught. They wore matching cloaks—long, black and billowing around them in a wind that seemed to come from nowhere. They were something straight out of a fantasy novel, except for the fact that they seemed to think something was hilarious.

"What's so funny?" Clarity watched as they made their progress to sit across from her on the couch.

She was pretty sure that Benjamin attempted to explain, but she couldn't make heads or tails of what he was saying, but at least she had company while she waited for the others to emerge.

Sam appeared not long after the giggle-twins. His suit, as she'd noticed before, was mostly black. It looked like Kevlar—something stiff enough to provide armor-like protection, while still remaining flexible enough to move around easily. The only holes were for his tail and the dark ovals of glass for his eyes. As it turns out, the hint of bright orange had even smaller than she'd expected. Only the cuffs of his sleeves and pants were bright orange.

"What do you think?" Sam asked. His mouth was covered, so his voice was a bit muffled. "I got it on a job awhile back. Don't ask why though. I'm pretty sure those guys were off the deep end. But you have to admit, it is pretty nice." He finished, giving a little twirl to show off the whole thing. Clarity laughed when he stopped spinning with a flourish and a ridiculously exaggerated bow.

"It's not what I was expecting." She admitted with another laugh that she didn't manage to hold back.

"Me neither. I forgot about it completely until today." He sat on an armchair and pulled the helmet part of it away from the rest of the suit.

About a minute and a half later, which seemed like much longer, Alex all but dragged Xenia into the room behind him.

Like she'd been expecting, Alex's outfit was the most colorful, but it wasn't as crazy as she thought it would be. It was mostly black, but there were also several streaks of bright, electric blue that seemed to glow in the sunlight that shone through the window. Blue was probably the last color she'd been expecting. The goggles attached to the head part were also blue, although just a bit more subdued of a shade. His shoes, seemingly attached to his outfit, were the only other thing in the less vibrant blue. Long slots fitted with nearly invisible zippers allowed for his wings to fit through the back without ripping the fabric every time.

"Where'd you even get that?" Rachel asked, at the same time that Benjamin uttered his approval in a quick one-word exclamation.

"I've had it for a while, actually." Alex shrugged. Clarity probably should have found that more surprising than she did. But of course, Alex would just have a superhero costume just laying around.

To Clarity's absolute surprise, Scarlett had a pretty much exact replica of her own outfit. A hooded metallic jumpsuit with matching shoes. One of the only differences that Clarity could see was the color. It was gold instead of silver. It was either a wild coincidence, or Scarlett had intentionally copied Clarity.

There was only one more to go now that Scarlett was among them.

While she waited, she decided to change into her own outfit. Scarlett didn't look stupid, which hopefully meant that Clarity wouldn't, either.

Everyone else had the same reaction as she had upon seeing Scarlett. The two of them were accidentally matching, and the rest of the group approved whole-heartedly that out of them all, the two teleporters would happen to pull such a stunt.

Looking at all of them, it felt surreal.

This was really happening—something so absurd, yet sobering in its serious nature. They were actually endeavoring to become superheroes.