“She’s here.”

Pippa glances around. The cave opening in front of her looks completely normal to her.

“You sure?” She asks.

Whirlpool glares at her which Pippa takes as an indication to shut up.

“This cave is surrounded by water, Sunny. Water not currently in the sea. It’s pretty obvious,” she says, gesturing to the swirling water just below the opening. This would not appear so strange if they were near a body of water. But they aren’t.

“It’s Beacon,” she corrects once again because she can’t help herself.

Whirlpool rolls her eyes. An action Pippa is becoming very familiar with. “I don’t care for your silly hero moniker.”

“I know. I don’t care for yours either. Should I call you Swirly?” Pippa teases. Whirlpool scrowls, eyes narrow at her. “Fine, Beacon. You win.”

Maybe they can get along. Pippa just needs to speak Whirlpool’s language. Insults and sarcasm.

They both turn back to the task at hand.

“How is this going to go down?”

“You ask a lot of questions.”

“You don’t answer enough of them.”

After a beat where they have a small standoff, Whirlpool sighs and begins, “I’m going to burst into her evil lair. I’ll distract her. Maybe with words, maybe with fighting. Whatever my mother decides she’s in the mood for. I have to play into her hand.”

“As you are doing that, I sneak around you and free Cotton,” Pippa finishes for her though Whirlpool doesn’t appear to appreciate that.

“Yes and no. You need to get behind her and dry the air with you light and heat powers. Hit her with all you have if that’s what it takes.” While Pippa understands that they need to disable Flood’s source of power, she’s a bit hesitant to go all scorched earth on her.

“Um…how much is too much?” Light powers are seemingly harmless, but when you get a blast of concentrated light, there’s heat. And Beacon can generate a lot of heat.

Whirlpool shakes her head, her spindly hair dangling into her face. “She can take it. I promise you that. You won’t permanently hurt her. And if you do, that won’t be the worst thing in the world.”

If Flood wasn’t the most dangerous villain that Pippa has ever witnessed, she would object that no one deserves to be really hurt. But she took Cotton and she needs to be stopped.

“You ready to get back my brother, Beacon?”

“Whenever you are.”

OoOoO

“Oh Mother! I know you’re in here!” Whirlpool yells, making small tornadoes of water stay at both sides of her. “I think you have something that isn’t yours.”

Pippa’s foot nervously taps on the ground as she waits outside the entrance until she’s sure Whirlpool has Flood’s attention. It’s not normal for her to have to rely on someone else. Beacon is a hero, but a solo hero with occasional allies.

“Darling. How wonderful for you to join us. Now it is a proper family reunion,” a smooth, deep voice echoes in the cave. It oozes confidence and power. From voice alone, she reminds Pippa of the Evil Queen from Snow White. Intimidating, and she hasn’t even seen her yet.

“Where is Water Craze?” Whirlpool gets straight to the point in a tone so flippant, Pippa would feel bad for Flood if she wasn’t…..you know, Flood. She wonders what it was like growing up around a supervillain.

She always thought even villains love their kids. But maybe not all of them.

“So you care of about your brother all of a sudden?” Flood taunts.

“More than you. I can see him. Just give him to me and you don’t have to see me again.”

Pippa knows that the part about being able to visualize Cotton is directed to herself. She’s telling Pippa that Cotton is near. Close enough for her to get to.

Flood must say something quietly or make a gesture that annoys Whirlpool because she scoffs.

“I don’t think I will,” Flood insists.

Why can’t anything be easy?

A whip of water hits the walls, the sound bouncing off the sides that Pippa can clearly hear it. They both are revving up their abilities.

“Well if that’s how it is, then I guess I’ll have to get him myself,” Whirlpool says.

Pippa peeks her head just barely around the wall to see.

Whirlpool is on a ginormous, powerful whirlpool, water whips in both hands. Flood is a bit obscured from Pippa’s view but from what she can see, she is in a fury of tiny razors of ice and blocks of water. This won’t be fun.

If this is her not even at full capacity, she shudders to think of her at 100%.

With both of them focused on one another, Pippa slips in. She has to power down completely as to not draw attention. Creeping further along the side, her heart pounds as she cringes at any noise her shoes make.

Whirlpool and Flood are throwing various forms of water at one another. Whirlpool is just encased in water and frozen. But the ice shakes and she breaks through, evidently that’s happened to her before. In turn, she tries to strike her with her whips but the moment that they get close to Flood, the water loses it’s form. Flood is too strong.

Pippa sees Cotton now. He isn’t even tied, just controlled from the water in his body.

She’s close enough now. Using her power, she begins to heat up the room, drying it gradually, hoping that Flood doesn’t notice.

It is a brutal battle of sheer strength and strategy between the mother and daughter. Even with Pippa drying the air, Flood still manages to immobilize Whirlpool, taking control of the water in her body just like she did Cotton. She probably could have done that earlier but sounds like someone who likes to play with their food before taking a bite.

“Is that all you got, Brooke?” Flood says with glee dripping from her tone. Pippa couldn’t even relish in finding out Whirlpool’s name since Flood’s victorious, toothy smile had Pippa shuddering.

Whirlpool isn’t phased by being caught. Matching her mother’s expression, she announces, “Actually, I have my ace.”

Pippa guesses that her signal. With that, she concentrates all the light into her palms, feeling the heat. It’s not Pippa in this moment. She’s Beacon.

Beacon shoots out her hands and a ball of pure light hurdles towards Flood.

With her back to her, the water villain attempts to block it with a wall of water, but her small sun ball burns right through it, steaming up the space. Her blast hits Flood hard, causing her to fall to the ground, writhing in pain from the heat. Burns cover her body, skin sizzling from the attack.

It honestly feels like a desert in the cave. With how much energy she is expelling, her veins could have been filled with lava and she would believe it.

Whirlpool—Brooke and Cotton, having been released from their mother’s hold, both relax, now their bodies are back under their own control. “Tink, we’ve got to go,” Cotton says, voice hoarse. He grabs her hand and tugs her towards the opening of the cave.

Brooke stays rooted in place, glaring at Flood who is still on the ground. “Come on, Brooke, we need to go before she’s back to strength,” Cotton insists.

He’s in pain. Pippa can see him clenching his jaw and his grip on her hand is too tight. He needs a hospital.

Brooke’s gaze lingers on their mother, the burns already healing.

“Yeah, let’s go,” she finally agrees.

As they leave, Flood lets out a laugh. Not one that is joyous but of the maniacal kind. “You’ll come crawling back when the hero’s life isn’t what it’s cut out to be. A villain may not be as glamorous, but we at least have the guts to do what needs to be done.”

Her words echo in Beacon’s mind even after they can’t hear her laugh anymore.

——

(I didn’t edit this so I hope there’s no too many grammatical errors.)