ã€ŠDualityã€‹


 1. Heroes/Villains 1

    ¡°By my body, I swear to become the Aegis that protects the ones unable to protect themselves. By my mind, I swear to set aside the disputes that divide us when the inevitable arrives. By my soul, I swear to stand on the shoulders of the fallen and seek vengeance.¡±

    - Oath sworn publicly by Archangel, Kinetic, and Hope after the third appearance of Quetzalcoatl. Fulfilled by one, and later sworn by Victorious.

    _____________________________________________________________________

    ¡°Pick a fight with me.¡±

    I should¡¯ve known better. It was late enough that the sun had gone down, I wasn¡¯t familiar with the area yet, and this area was a particularly seedy area of an infamously seedy city. The only comfort was the still hot cup of cocoa I had bought on impulse ten minutes prior. It had been cooked too hot and scalded my tongue on the first sip, but had just reached reasonable drinking temperature. Being out at this time was asking for trouble and to top it off, I was pretty sure I¡¯d made a wrong turn trying to get home.

    The guy mugging me had a few inches over me, putting him at around six foot and forcing me to look up to meet his eyes. His clothes were rough around the edges, and I saw a bruise going up his neck and creeping over his jaw. He had a knife, I could see it strapped in a holster on his belt, which had me on edge.

    He was taking a really strange angle to approach mugging from though.

    ¡°Hey. Did you hear me?¡±

    ¡°I heard you.¡± I said reluctantly. I didn¡¯t want to pick a fight with him. I¡¯d just come out of the theatre. A movie I¡¯d been waiting for had come out earlier in the week and this had been the first chance I¡¯d had to see it.

    It had been a good one. A drama about a lonely girl whose world had come apart at the edges, causing her to realise her life was just a movie. Typical fourth wall breaking, but I¡¯d been pleasantly surprised several times watching it. By the end it became a piece about finding friendship in unsuspecting places and closed on a wholesome note. I¡¯d give it an eight overall. But that was neither here nor there.

    Here was a guy who I wanted nothing to do with trying to pick a fight with me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a figure in a hoodie a few dozen feet back leaning against a wall.

    ¡°Is he with you?¡± I asked, gesturing with my thumb.

    ¡°Yeah, but he¡¯s not fighting you. You and me. That¡¯s it.¡±

    ¡°...¡± I looked past him, wistfully looking at a worn poster barely hanging on to a bus stop.

    Long ago, a heroic silhouette would have advertised the Sentinel, and how they were here to protect us. The fine print would have informed me that the Sentinel did in fact use precognitive facilities to predict certain crimes and promised that sensitive information relating to such events would not be used for any purposes beyond securing the safety of the public.

    The Sentinel was an organisation of crime fighters with superpowers. They were heroes by another name. People who had been fortunate enough to manifest abilities that could only be described as ¡®supernatural¡¯ and had decided to use it for the purposes of ¡®good¡¯.

    I couldn¡¯t help but wonder where they were now. Maybe they only showed up after the first punch was thrown. Maybe they wouldn¡¯t show up at all.

    They probably wouldn¡¯t show up. That was the reputation they had.

    ¡°Is it the knife?¡± The guy asked, putting a hand on the weapon.

    I tensed, ready to give him a face full of hot chocolate.

    The man¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change as he unclasped the holster from his belt and tossed it to one side. The knife hit the wall and dropped to the ground with a soft thud. My eyes returned to the man. There wasn¡¯t any crazy in his eyes, and it didn¡¯t look like he was enjoying this. It didn¡¯t look like he was regretting this either. However, he was apparently unarmed right now so I let myself relax somewhat.

    ¡°Just punch me.¡± He tapped his jaw where it was bruised. ¡°Come on.¡±

    I didn¡¯t let myself react. He was playing the same tune as he had been the entire time so I was able to keep my expression even as I tried to think of a way out of this. I did have an ace up my sleeve.

    The Sentinel was made up of normal people who had superpowers. I had no idea how they got their abilities but they were far from the all-seeing crime fighting force they made themselves out to be. They wouldn¡¯t be appearing to save me today. They would be too busy dealing with the darker side of the coin. The ones who had turned to selfishness after getting their powers.

    For all I knew there was a bank heist happening right now. Three blocks away from that two gangs could be starting off the next gang war, each headed by someone with powers. The Sentinel would be managing those things, not worrying their heads about some kid getting mugged.

    Well, some kid with superpowers getting mugged.

    ¡°What are you waiting for?¡±

    There were three factors stopping me from using my power to remove myself from the situation. The first was that I didn¡¯t want to reveal that I had powers. Not to my friends, not to my family, and definitely not to strangers that seemed like they had gang affiliations. Who else would have the gall to pick fights with randoms on the street? Plus, the degree of secrecy both heroes and villains seemed to enjoy appealed to me.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you five dollars to throw the first punch.¡±

    The second was my power, or the one that could be used for fighting. Of all the powers I could have manifested, I got telekinesis. It didn¡¯t matter how big or heavy something was, I could move it as I pleased. The catch was that it wasn¡¯t conventional telekinetic movement. If I wanted to move something in a direction I had to mentally alter the force on something and decide how exactly it would change. It gave me a lot of versatility on paper, but I could only use it on things I touched.

    That meant the only things I could use my power on right now were my clothes, my keys, my drink, and my Vphone. Maybe I could use my keys as a bludgeoning weapon? That would cut my hands.

    ¡°Five not good enough? How¡¯s twenty?¡±

    The third was simple. I didn¡¯t know how to fight.

    ¡°Mate, I was going home.¡± I said.

    ¡°Are you scared?¡±

    I picked my words. ¡°I¡¯m not interested.¡±

    ¡°Surely you have something you need to work out.¡±

    ¡°...¡± Memories flashed in front of my eyes, but I didn¡¯t say anything. This guy wasn¡¯t listening to a word I said.

    ¡°Teacher that you hate? Girl troubles?¡±

    ¡°Seriously, I¡¯m not interested.¡±

    ¡°Punch me in the fucking face.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± I said. This guy was beginning to sound like a broken record. Though, he didn¡¯t have any forthcoming responses to that. He closed his mouth. The silence dragged on.

    ¡°Are you going to let me go?¡± I chanced.

    ¡°No.¡±

    He said it as a declaration. As crazy as the situation was, this guy still looked as serious as ever. We looked at each other. He wasn¡¯t giving any ground.

    ¡°What would get you to let me walk away?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Fighting me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not interested.¡± I said again.

    ¡°Why not?¡± When I didn¡¯t say anything I saw him switch tactic before he said it. ¡°Are you a pussy?¡±

    Now he was trying to goad me. It hit a relatively soft spot, but it was such a blatant attempt to get a rise out of me it failed in doing anything.

    ¡°I¡¯d rather not fight.¡± I told him. There was an instant shift in his expression. His fist unclenched. He had been holding it so tight that it was completely white, and now colour was snaking its way back across his hand.

    ¡°So you¡¯re not a fighter.¡± There was something in his voice that sounded like gratification. It put me on edge.

    ¡°Well yeah.¡± I agreed, and threw my drink at his face.

    The problem with throwing liquid is that it¡¯s nothing like throwing a rock. Liquid sloshes around, leaves its container if you move the container the right way, and therefore could not be likened to pitching a baseball straight at a target. Though, my adversary had been right about to make his move, and the dark liquid had taken him off guard. It gave me a moment to act. I used that moment to try and double down on it by punching him in the face.

    I got a fist in the face before I connected, and the next moment I was looking at the skyline. The next moment the skyline was sideways, and what breath I had left escaped me at the same moment. Then the ache on the side of my face made itself known.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    The guy circled around me.

    ¡°Right now you¡¯re either a fighter...¡±

    A boot hit my stomach making me curl up in pain.

    ¡°Or you¡¯re a punching bag.¡±

    My arm flared in pain as it was driven into the ground. He had stamped on it.

    ¡°You threw the first punch though. I appreciate that.¡±

    I wish I could say I used my power to get out of there, but a facet of my power was complicating things. While it allowed me near complete control over things that I touched, it also let me know exactly what forces were acting on said objects. Gravity, friction, other science words. It let me know it all.

    Well, ¡®let¡¯ is the wrong word. It was a sixth sense that couldn¡¯t be turned off. If I wanted to flex the mental muscle that let me move things, I needed to be making conscious changes to that information. However, as I was currently being beaten, I didn¡¯t really have that mental capacity. Each blow became both a physical and a mental attack.

    It was all I could do to take it.

    After a while- I don¡¯t know how long- my mugger grabbed my arm and pulled it up. I tried to stay in the fetal position but wasn¡¯t strong enough to do so. When I was left hanging and no punches came I raised my head.

    Now that I had a closer look at this guy I could see that his face was actually quite young. He wasn¡¯t that much older than I was. His eyes were sizing me up.

    ¡°When I let go. Stay standing.¡± He told me.

    Barely hearing him and noticing some blood had spattered on the ground below me, I nodded deliriously. He released my arm and I let it fall while remaining standing. At the same time I tried a swing with my other arm, but it was easily sidestepped.

    ¡°Thanks for this.¡±

    Before I could ask him what he meant, he punched me in the chest. All the resistance had been beaten out of me, and I was taken off my feet and ended up sprawled against a wall. That last blow seemed more vicious than any of the rest. The part of my chest that had been hit flared with pain in time with my heartbeat.

    The next thing I knew he was rifling through my pockets. He took my phone. A short while later it was dropped in my lap. I could see there was an active call. The american emergency number.

    Twenty dollars landed next to it.

    And then he was gone.

    ~~~

    Black.

    Then sirens.

    ~~~

    ¡°Careful. It¡¯s not broken but there might be a fracture.¡±

    Firm hands gripped my legs and armpits, and my head was lifted slightly. I was lifted onto something, with whoever was lifting me taking care to keep my head from rolling around. I was laid down on something that wouldn¡¯t let me turn my head. Then I was lifted up and rolled away.

    They put me in an ambulance. I recognised that. It brought me back to reality for a bit. There was a bump in the road that jostled me the rest of the way. I couldn¡¯t turn my head, but I could see a paramedic was sitting off to my side. They had a hand keeping the bed I was on steady.

    He made eye contact. ¡°How are you feeling?¡±

    I tried to speak but choked on something in my mouth. Despite the blockage, air flowed freely. I struggled to comprehend the object that was jammed down my throat.

    ¡°Don¡¯t speak. Rate how you¡¯re feeling from one to ten. Use your hands.¡±

    My whole body felt like it was aching, but I was able to lift one hand and give a thumbs up, then turned it into a thumbs down.

    ¡°Humour.¡± There was acknowledgement, but he didn¡¯t laugh. ¡°That¡¯s good. You don¡¯t have any obvious breakages, but that doesn¡¯t rule out fractures or internal bleeding. Did you take a blow to the head?¡±

    I gave him a thumbs up.

    He nodded ¡°Do your best to stay awake. You may have a concussion, but we¡¯ve got you. You¡¯re gonna be fine.¡±

    I nodded as best I could and stared at the ceiling.

    ~~~

    I¡¯d been to hospitals before, but never for anything this serious. That being said, the service I got was much better than anything I¡¯d had in the past. I wasn¡¯t shown the bill, but I was sure there¡¯d be a price to match.

    Such was healthcare in the land of the free.

    For the most part I¡¯d just been battered and bruised. Nothing had been broken but there had been a number of sprains, and I¡¯d only started bleeding in more than a few places. I¡¯d have multicoloured skin in blotches all over my body for a week or two, but they would clear up. I also had a sling, and was under strict orders to take it easy with walking and lifting things.

    While in the ambulance the paramedic had been worried about me having a neck fracture, I¡¯d been lucky enough to get away without that particular injury. Of course, it wasn¡¯t the external bleeding that got the doctors worried.

    The area surrounding my heart had taken significant trauma and had started bleeding internally. There was blood spilling around the kidney as well. So I was sent directly to the operating table to get that solved. There were no complications, but I was kept on hospital grounds for observation. The doctor¡¯s had promised three days maximum before release. That was five days ago. I couldn¡¯t figure out why I was being kept in. Considering the battering, I¡¯d gotten off lightly.

    It was some ridiculous stroke of luck that I didn¡¯t have any debilitating fractures.

    I was originally given a private bed, but once the doctors had spoken to me I was moved to a public ward. The one I was put in was mostly full of people younger than me. It was a short term ward, so over the past five days the population had entirely rotated out, I was the oldest one there. Both in terms of age and tenure.

    Kathrine, my foster mom, had spent the first day and night with me. She and her three daughters visited every day at six thirty in the evening. Give or take an hour. Giving more than taking. I didn¡¯t mind, but at the moment it was three thirty and I was bored.

    The atmosphere of the ward was a strange one. It was full of kids, so there was a lighthearted energy to the place, but it was mixed with a sombreness that wasn¡¯t usually normally associated with people that age. That was probably a result of most of these kids having their first serious injuries and coming face to face with consequences for the first time.

    That being said, not all the kids acted sombre. They were kids. Again, it was a mix.

    Each of us was mobile. I was hooked up to a vitals monitor for obvious reasons, but everyone in the ward also had access to a playroom. It had large building blocks inside that looked like it could keep four year olds interested, as well as a stack of children''s books and some boxes of toys that had been picked out to be safe. By day three I¡¯d been through the stack of books twice.

    Right now that¡¯s where most of my roommates were. I could hear the screams coming through the walls. There was an older screen on one of the walls that I was blankly staring at. It was showing kids movies with subtitles and no volume. The movies were aimed at children still learning how to person, so I wasn¡¯t really the target audience for that stuff. I was looking at it, or, at least, in its general direction. It wasn¡¯t like I had any control over the screen anyway.

    I did have access to my laptop, but the wifi was restricted. There was some description of blocker that meant my legitimate streaming website could only access the G rated stuff I wasn¡¯t interested in. So my options were limited to that or homework, and I didn¡¯t like the prospect of the latter.

    While time slowly weathered itself away I flexed my other power. A far cry from telekinesis, I also had the ability to change the colour of anything I touched, but only where I touched. To say I had been excited when I figured this one out would be an understatement as well as a lie. It had been incredibly underwhelming to realise that I had the power of tagging.

    That being said, I had taken to using that power to pass the time. From what I¡¯d figured out in the months since manifesting, the change in colour was permanent. I could also will things to return to their normal colour. This worked for anything my skin touched, and included my skin. At the moment I was flexing my power by idly drawing faces on the back of my hand, erasing them, and starting again.

    The door opened and I registered someone walking in. Probably one of the kids staying in the ward judging by the height. That¡¯s all I noticed. I was more focused on the kid¡¯s movie more than my hand sketches. There was some drama unfolding between an unreasonably smart baby and his bigger brother involving a pacifier. It was the climax of the episode and I was as invested as I was ever going to be.

    ¡°Are you Michael?¡± The kid asked.

    Annoyed at the interruption, I glanced up and did a double take. The girl must have been around thirteen, going by the height. She was wearing a well fitted combat jacket with three empty utility belts around the waist. Her hands were covered in a tight fitting membrane that had a sheen to them, the light reflecting at strange angles. She had cargo pants that were tucked into her boots, which came up to just under the knees. She had a helmet that covered everything from her cheekbones up. It was a smooth and solid material that swept back and came to three soft points at the back. Her straight blonde hair was left free to drop down below her shoulders. I could see a scar curving up her cheek and under the mask.

    There were no holes for the eyes. Instead, there were what appeared to be orbs of white light shining from where the eyes should be. Her head was following me as I moved, so she could clearly still see somehow. There were more, smaller orbs of yellow dotted around on the helm. The entire ensemble was a deep green colour that faded into orange in places. There was a repeating pattern of subtly darker green squares within squares making an optical illusion that spanned across the entire costume.

    This girl was clearly a hero. I covered the half drawn face on the back of my hand and willed it back to skin colour.

    ¡°Who wants to know?¡± I tested the waters. I wasn¡¯t entirely familiar with the hero population of this city yet.

    She seemed taken aback. ¡°Oh, um. Me. I¡¯m Lucidity. I¡¯m a Sentry.¡±

    Right. The Sentinels had a junior subdivision known as the Sentry. They worked the same jobs, but there was an important distinction between the two organisations: age. People of all sorts got powers. That meant people of all ages could manifest. The Sentry was a team made up solely from under eighteen heroes. If I was to try and become a Sentinel, I¡¯d have to be a Sentry first because of my age.

    If...

    ¡°And why is a Sentry visiting?¡± I asked. This was the closest I¡¯d been to another person with powers. Lucidity didn¡¯t know about mine but something still felt weird, I wasn¡¯t sure how to act.

    ¡°A person told a person told me you could use some cheering up.¡± She told me matter of factly as she came closer. She paused to check the clipboard with my general information. ¡°Just, um... Just seeing what you have.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why I¡¯d need cheering up. I have this adult baby to keep me company.¡± I gestured at the screen.

    ¡°That¡¯s not it.¡± Lucidity shook her head as she put the clipboard back down. ¡°I, um, I heard about why you were admitted here.¡±

    Any warmth on my face froze.

    She continued. ¡°You probably don¡¯t want to hear this from a twelve year old, but I¡¯ve been there. The situations where there¡¯s no way out, it¡¯s painful, and there¡¯s nothing you can do. When everything is just so unfair it doesn¡¯t even make sense. But at the end of it we¡¯re both here, now.

    ¡°It sucks, I know that. What I do is use it as motivation to make it never happen again, and failing that, to have the ability to do more the next time. Because I¡¯m still here, and I¡¯ve chosen to be a hero.¡±

    Lucidity gave a sheepish smile. ¡°That¡¯s um, where we differ I guess.¡±

    I stayed quiet. She definitely had a unique perspective on things.

    ¡°I thought you were thirteen.¡± I said at length. ¡°I¡¯d expect that kind of speech from a thirty year old.¡±

    Lucidity brightened. ¡°You did? I¡¯m not thirteen though!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all that heroic maturity. That was some seriously motivational stuff there.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m early twelve. Like, I have another eleven months before I¡¯m thirteen. I¡¯m twelve and one month.¡±

    A bittersweet smile was showing unbidden on my face. Then it faltered. Something about what Lucidity had said had struck a chord, and her words repeated themselves in my head. Lucidity noticed and became visibly nervous, though she kept the smile going. Her¡¯s was a good outlook. It kept her going. It could keep me going if I adopted it.

    If...

    I made a decision.

    ¡°Hey¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t figure out the right order of words. So I stopped talking to figure out what exactly I wanted to say.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Lucidity looked like she¡¯d just accomplished something and celebrated it, and then started second guessing herself. ¡°Do you want to go flying? That¡¯s something I usually do when I come around here. I can get us some hoverboards.¡±

    I blinked. Hoverboards sounded cool, actually. ¡°No, I¡¯m just wondering what your story is. Y¡¯know, from the beginning.¡±

 1. Heroes/Villains 2

    Being a transplant is rough. I wasn¡¯t born in Graceland, and had only moved here a few months ago. Throw in a complete wipe and reestablishment of the concept of home, and the feeling of alienation was complete. Consequently I was still getting lost going to new places. That being said, there were a few landmarks I had figured out. The manmade lake beside the city was easiest one.

    Lake Shane was an average lake, as far as lakes went. It was manmade, with the dam being originally being constructed in a particularly shallow valley. So when the lake grew to capacity there was still a fair amount of land leftover to build on around it. Hence, Graceland. Only a small portion of the shore remained unlit, and in that area of land a number of small collections of lights showing where the rich people¡¯s mansions were.

    Then there were the skyscrapers. There was one shaped like a hexagon a few blocks from my house that I used as a homing beacon. There was also a cluster of tall buildings downtown. One such high rise was the Sentinel Regulation Tower, called SRT for short by the locals. That was where I was heading now.

    The SRT was easy to pick out because it was the only skyscraper built like a bunker. It wasn¡¯t the tallest, but it was the only skyscraper in Graceland that had three of its four walls built out of solid concrete. The one remaining side being the reflective glass every other tall building seemed to have facing towards the centre of downtown.

    Over the past four days I¡¯d been discharged from hospital when the reason I was being kept in turned out to be a false positive on blood in my lungs, and I¡¯d gotten in contact with the Regulation. The Regulation was the organisation the organised everything related to heroes and couldn¡¯t have a name that was more on the nose. They weren¡¯t a hero organisation per se, it was more accurate to call them a government programme that operated across national borders. The Regulation regulated which superheroes went where, as well as what rules those heroes needed to abide by on a global scale.

    I¡¯d made sure to do the research before reaching out. Making contact and declaring myself as someone that had powers was a point of no return for me. That¡¯s why I did that yesterday after finally being discharged and before I could second guess myself. The man on the phone had told me that I needed to come in to the SRT for an interview to determine my aptitude, and to confirm that I did in fact have powers. They must get a lot of prank calls.

    He also denied my request to meet somewhere that wasn¡¯t in the SRT. I¡¯d spitballed the idea of meeting in a cafe, which he shut down saying that I could be a villain¡¯s underling setting up a trap for all he knew. I was insulted, but it was a fair point.

    Instead of going in through the front door, I¡¯d been given directions to go to an adjacent underground car park and enter that way. The call had ended with me being told that wearing a mask or costume was optional.

    I stopped in front of the building and looked up at it for a few seconds. The SRT had a certain character to it. Public opinion on the tower was mixed, which I knew from the fluff pieces on the news that rolled in every few days. A recent one that stuck out was one with a man complaining about the price of the glass used on the one side of the building, saying the crisis proof material was an obvious weak point and a waste of taxpayer money.

    Shaking the tangential thought from my head, I decided to go in with a mask on.

    The thing was I didn¡¯t actually have a mask. What I did have was my ability to change colour, which basically made me a chameleon. The moment I stepped into the carpark I ran my hands over my face and took all the colour away from it, making it black. Normally I was a typical pale white boy, but with this effect my skin looked like a featureless black void. Right now my face was so black there was simply nothing to be gained from looking at me. All the curves, the minor colour variations, and even the movements I made were lost to the void. I then mentally willed my eyes to a neutral grey colour.

    The trick with the eyes was something I had spent hours practicing in front of the mirror to get right. Using my tagging power as a disguise hadn¡¯t occurred to me right out of the gate, which was something I kicked myself for two weeks after manifesting. That all said and done, I liked the look. As I walked towards my destination I ran my hands over my remaining visible bruises and turned them into a neutral skin tone. That wasn¡¯t something I wanted on display walking into an interview like this.

    Shortly I arrived at the nondescript bague door I¡¯d been told to enter through. The urge to hesitate welled inside, but I squashed it down and opened the door. I needed confidence, even if I was just faking it at this point.

    The first thing I noticed was the air conditioning. It wasn¡¯t blistering outside, but it was warm. The difference was enough for me to notice the cool air wash over me as the quiet hum of the air conditioning reached my ears. I had entered a waiting room straight out of a clinic. There was a decorative pot plant, a few chairs, and a desk with a secretary sitting behind it.

    They had headphones in, which they took out as I walked in. Then they looked at me and waited.

    ¡°I¡¯m here for an interview.¡± I said, feeling a pit of doubt open in my stomach. ¡°I was told to come here around now.¡±

    The secretary blinked, nodded, and started typing rapidly into the keyboard. There was a beat as they looked something up, then went back to typing.

    They paused. ¡°What should I call you?¡±

    Uhh¡­ ¡°Shit.¡± I hadn¡¯t thought about that.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± They resumed typing then hit a final key with a small flourish. ¡°Someone will be down shortly. Please take a seat.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± I drifted over to a seat and sat down. The sound of the air conditioner was only interrupted by the intermittent typing of the secretary, who had put their headphones back in the moment they were done with me.

    I was contemplating how I was sitting down in a waiting room, waiting for the beginning of my superhero career when the person I was waiting for walking in.

    Lucidity had been wearing what looked like stylised combat gear. It set her apart from the crowd without being too intimidating. The guy that just walked in was wearing a full suit of armour.

    He was tall, easily six foot. His armour was made of close fitting metal plates that made him look spindly, like his arms and legs were too long. There were small gaps at the joints where I could see a black material underneath. No allowances had been made for exposed skin, not even for his hair. Each piece of armour was a dull silver colour, and it didn¡¯t reflect at all. When I looked at the costume I couldn¡¯t help but feel that something was very off about it.

    His helmet¡¯s face had no mouth or nose, only two rectangular pieces of glass where his eyes were. The only other feature was the pair of horns that started at his forehead and curled down to where they ended just above his jaw. The horns were tight fitting, with no space to fit a finger around. It would be hard to get a grip on them in a fight. He had an insignia, which was an illustration of the helmet but with more horns and what looked like smoke drifting down from the piece, depicted on his breast and left shoulder.

    There wasn¡¯t a soul in Graceland that didn¡¯t know who this man was. He was easily the most infamous Sentinel in the city. News shows frequently cherry picked him for pieces asking if heroes were too violent. The supervillains he apprehended often showed up to court in multiple casts. To top it all off, the name he picked for himself was Orcus, as in the demon lord.

    Orcus was the guy that was picking me up for an interview. A pit that was growing in my stomach suddenly dropped to depths previously unknown.

    He looked at me. ¡°You are the one interested in joining the Sentry?¡±

    Orcus¡¯ voice had an unnerving effect. There was no meaningful variation in pace or pitch, save for a rise at the end indicating a question. His words were measured, specifically chosen, and unsettling.

    ¡°Yes.¡± It felt like I succeeded in keeping the waver out of my voice.

    Orcus spent a few moments sizing me up, though his head didn¡¯t move. ¡°Follow me.¡± Then turned and left the way he came.

    I glanced at the secretary who was immersed in ignoring me before following. We went into an elevator where I spent an uncomfortable minute not talking to Orcus. He then lead me around a few corners and I found myself in a hallway that must have spanned the width of the building. There were portraits on both walls for most of the length of the hall. Each depicted a different hero in costume and most were clearly taken in a photoshoot. Others were lower quality pictures of heroes in action.

    ¡°This is something I think should be shown to every transhuman.¡± Orcus said. ¡°This hall has the history of all the heroes that have achieved international renown.¡± He gestured to the wall on the right. There were three portraits in each column, and the pictures went all the way down to the end of the hall and around the corner.

    ¡°And those that have served here in Graceland.¡± He gestured to the wall on the left. There were three portraits to a column like the other wall, but they only went halfway down the hall. I recognised a few of the masks.

    ¡°Where we are standing is where the portraits for the earliest heroes are. The timeline begins in 1998 when the Regulation was established. When a hero dies their portrait is replaced with one that is black and white. If a hall like this was made for villains with the same proportions, it could be ten times longer and still not contain the space required to properly document them.¡±

    All but two of the portraits I could see at the moment were black and white. Orcus then kept walking like he hadn¡¯t just dropped a bombshell. I stood there, stunned. When Orcus started talking again I had to shake myself and catch up. As I walked down the corridor the number of coloured portraits started to increase, but that did little to shift my current state of shock.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    ¡°Were someone else performing this interview you would not be given these details. I have given them to you because the perspective this information gives is invaluable.¡± He opened a door and stepped through. I hurried to follow through before the door closed.

    Now we were in a typical meeting room. There was a large screen on one wall and a long table taking up the vast majority of the room. On the wall opposite there were four portraits. Orcus seated himself.

    ¡°Get settled opposite me. Feel free to take your time. I have a few things I need to check and sign before I can conduct the interview.¡± Orcus had pressed a button on the table, which had produced a holographic display and a keyboard had shown up on the surface in front of him. The Sentinel had some impressive tech.

    I paused with one hand on a chair, then glanced at the portraits. Special significance had been given to them by putting them in here. Though, I was interested in what Orcus was doing as well as the pictures. The deciding factor was that I didn¡¯t want to ruin a first impression by staring over Orcus¡¯ shoulder unbidden, so I went to check out the portraits.

    ¡°Sure.¡± I muttered as I walked away.

    I understood the purpose of the portraits the moment I got close enough to recognize the hero in the first one. The woman shown was wearing a helmet that covered her eyes while leaving her mouth exposed, showing a neutral expression. The helmet itself was avian like in design, coming forward from her face and ending in an angled point. There were no holes for the eyes, similar to Lucidity¡¯s helmet, but lacked the motes embedded where the eyes would be.

    The full costume was cut off by the borders of the portrait, but I could see the white chest piece and shoulder pauldrons of her armour, as well as the long and overdesigned spear she used with her power. This portrait stood out because it seemed to shine while the rest was simply there. The colours of the costume stood out in comparison to the background, like the world was shining a spotlight on the woman. There was a plaque underneath that read ¡°Archangel. Founding member of Aegis.¡±.

    Aegis. Otherwise known as the big leagues. They were the first responders for the bad stuff. ¡°Bad Stuff¡± with two capitals between them. My understanding was they were a part of the Sentinel that was a step in power above the strongest of heroes claiming the name. Orcus¡¯ wiki page had described super strength and durability, as well as a degree of enhanced agility. And that was the easy to observe stuff. There were definitely things at play beyond what the wiki claimed. The way he carried himself, and specifically the way he spoke was telling of that. Still, Orcus was no match for Aegis.

    Archangel herself was a big deal. She was one of the first heroes to come out of the Vatican, and not by the Vatican¡¯s choice, which had lead to global headlines. Her power had earned her the title ¡°Harbinger of Light¡±, and her actions had the media calling her ¡°Saviour¡±. It was like something out of a bible. I moved on.

    The next portrait showed a man that might have been mistaken for a well off salaryman if it wasn¡¯t for the mask. It was a simple brown coloured face mask with a hood covering his hair with a slanted calligraphed golden ¡°K¡± worked into the design, which extended to the borders of the face. The mask had the expression of a permanent and confident smirk, and had a goatee that extended just below the chin and ended in a point. He wore an expensive brown suit with a golden vest over the top, staying true to his colour scheme.

    I was familiar with this hero. His name was Kinetic, and he had a plaque crediting him as a founding member of Aegis as well. He was also credited with being the first public hero and one of the first to receive powers. Given that I had telekinetic powers like he did, I¡¯d looked up interviews where he described his powers. All I had gleaned from that was while our powers were somewhat similar, they were very different. I lingered for a few moments on Kinetic before moving on to the third portrait.

    The third one was in black and white. While the other two portraits had been taken in studios, this picture was taken outside in a city. A city in ruins if the plumes of smoke in the background and the destroyed roof was any indication. The hero shown was a woman wearing a skin tight suit complete with a cape. Her¡¯s was a simple eye mask that covered her eyebrows to her cheekbones. Her hair was left to fall freely.

    The roof must have been destroyed from the heroine being thrown through it, as in the moment of the photo she was rising from within with rubble falling off of her. She wasn¡¯t climbing, but literally rising, with one leg bent slightly more than the other as an unseen force suspended her. Her expression was one of determination, and showed through her mask. She was looking at something up high somewhere off of frame. There were two plaques underneath this portrait.

    The first read ¡°Hope. Founding member of Aegis.¡±.

    The second read ¡°1986-2013¡±.

    It was a reminder that the best among us could die. I remembered the black and white portraits in the hallway outside. Then I shook myself and moved on to the final portrait. I was surprised when I found myself looking at someone whose face was a black void with two grey ovals for eyes staring back at me. Then I realised it was a mirror.

    Underneath it was a plaque. It read ¡°A Hero¡±.

    I took a moment to look at myself. It felt weird to be looking at myself like this in a mirror outside of the bathroom. I realised that my hair wasn¡¯t under the same effect as my face, and while it was black, it was obviously not altered. I noticed how skinny I was. I regretted the jacket I¡¯d chosen to wear today, it was blue and white. It didn¡¯t really go with the plain green shirt and brown chinos.

    ¡°I¡¯m ready for you.¡± Orcus told me, shaking me from judging my own fashion. I sat, suddenly feeling underdressed wearing casual clothes while the man across from me was wearing a literal suit of armour.

    Orcus pressed a button and a red dot appeared on the holographic display. I could see the screen from behind but couldn¡¯t read anything on it because everything was backwards. ¡°This is Orcus interviewing a potential candidate for a position with the Sentry in Graceland.¡±

    He was giving me his full attention now. As Orcus spoke his mask barely shifted, his voice kept that same measured pace as before and I figured out why it was so unnerving. There was no distortion from him speaking through solid metal. Now that I thought about it, how did he even breath?

    ¡°Do you consent to being recorded for this interview to be reviewed during your application process and beyond?¡±

    ¡°I- sure.¡± I said.

    ¡°Please say ¡®I consent.¡¯ when approving your consent.¡± The volume was lower, like Orcus was trying to show that he was deviating from a script. This was the first time I noticed Orcus¡¯ tone shift. Then it was right back to where it started. ¡°Do you have a preferred name to use during this interview process?¡±

    ¡°Like a hero name?¡±

    ¡°That would be ideal.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t come up with one.¡±

    ¡°Understood. You will be exposed to certain classified information during your application process and will be expected to not to repeat such information to any inappropriate person. You will be required to expose personal information during your application process. Do you consent to this?¡±

    ¡°I-¡± It made sense. The Regulation and Sentinels protected themselves. Of course they knew each other¡¯s identity. I was still figuring out exactly what it was I was about to do.

    ¡°I consent.¡± I said.

    ¡°Do you consent to releasing information regarding your power with the knowledge that it will stay within the Regulation and associated organisations?¡±

    ¡°I consent.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Orcus pondered. ¡°We¡¯ll start with your powers. Before that, can you please confirm your current age.¡±

    ¡°Sixteen.¡±

    ¡°Then you should be made aware that you will require a guardian to provide a signature before we can conclude the interviewing process and put you on a team.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± I¡¯d have to get my foster mom for that. Complications. ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°Then, your powers. You have the ability to change your appearance.¡± He was referring to the changes I made to my face.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I wasn¡¯t entirely sure how to act. Orcus was had only changed his way of speaking the once so far. It was off putting. ¡°I can change the colour of things I touch. Like this.¡± I dragged a finger across the table and changed the colour to green where I touched.

    ¡°Is this the extent of your power?¡±

    ¡°This one? Yeah.¡±

    ¡°You have more than one power?¡± Orcus checked.

    ¡°I have Telekinesis as well.¡±

    I was about to continue but Orcus paused and operated the holographic display. I felt the need to wait for him.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± Orcus said. ¡°Are you aware of the parameters of your telekinesis?¡±

    ¡°Parameters?¡±

    ¡°How far away can you affect things?¡± Orcus supplied. ¡°How much weight can you lift? What physical toll does your power exert on you?¡±

    ¡°Well, I have to touch things to affect them.¡± I said. Orcus didn¡¯t nod, but I felt he understood. ¡°I haven¡¯t tried and failed to move anything yet, and I haven¡¯t noticed a physical toll yet. But I haven¡¯t gone out of my way to test either of those things.¡±

    ¡°What is the heaviest thing you have lifted?¡±

    I blinked, remembering. ¡°Piece of rubble.¡±

    Orcus pondered. Then. ¡°Would you be willing to perform a test?¡±

    ¡°Right now?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± He stood and lifted a chair between us. ¡°Take this chair and try to keep it in place.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ Sure.¡± I stood and reach over the table to touch the chair.

    ¡°Are you prepared?¡±

    I noticed all the forces on the chair. Gravity, the small force I put on it by grabbing it, the much smaller force of wind blowing from the AC, and Orcus holding it up. All the different information was constantly changing. Orcus wasn¡¯t really holding the chair completely steady, it was drifting in a loose figure eight pattern. I took the sum of the forces as a whole and flicked a mental switch, locking it all down.

    Orcus noticed the change as I locked the chair in place.

    ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± I told him.

    ¡°I will attempt to remove this chair from your grip on three.¡±

    ¡°One.¡± Orcus counted.

    ¡°Two.¡± I felt my palm get a little sweaty.

    ¡°Three.¡±

    The force Orcus exerted pulling on the chair was explosive, and much greater than any of the forces already acting on the chair. It was easily ten times stronger than the punches I¡¯d taken a week before. I could feel it competing to move the chair out of my grasp. However, whatever faucet of my power that was locking the forces on the chair was also preventing this new force from being applied. The chair stayed where it was.

    Orcus¡¯ pull lessened after it failed to do anything and paused. Orcus adjusted his footing, made sure he was braced and tried again. I wasn¡¯t familiar with Orcus¡¯ power, but this time when he pulled, he did something that changed the atmosphere of the room and made me flinch. In the moment before the chair left my grip I could feel Orcus¡¯ strength multiply again, then without my power anchoring it, the chair flew backwards and hit the opposite wall.

    ¡°Shit!¡± It had happened in a split second and the verbage came unbidden.

    Orcus stood opposite me with a single desk chair leg in his grasp, the wheel still spinning from the sudden movement. Another two legs of the chair were embedded in the wall. The rest of the thing was in pieces that had scattered around the room and were still coming to rest. Orcus brushed the shoulder the chair had flown past, and glanced between me and the debris. My nose wrinkled as a whiff of something foul smelling invaded my nostrils. It smelled kind of sweet, but it was just an iota of good mixed in with a whole lot of bad eggs. When Orcus spoke his voice almost sounded normal.

    He said. ¡°That, I think, was very promising.¡±

 1. Heroes/Villains 3

    Home was a tedious exercise for me. It had moved around considerably for me over the years, and my most recent home had only been lived in for about six weeks. It was hard to feel grounded when you move around too much, I¡¯d found. Then there was the fact that I barely knew who I was living with.

    Kathrine was the well meaning woman who looked older than she was thanks to the stresses of life. She was the only parent in the house, and had the wrinkles and greying hair to show for it. I imagine me being hospitalised hadn¡¯t helped with that. What I wanted to ask her about tonight probably wasn¡¯t going to help much either.

    Living under her care were four foster kids, myself and three young girls. The youngest was Alice, who was five, the next oldest was Sofiya at nine, and the eldest of the three was Marie, who was twelve. Not the most ideal living situation more me considering I was more than three times Alice¡¯s age, but there hadn¡¯t been anywhere else for a refugee like me to go. Needless to say, it wasn¡¯t a very quiet house most of the time.

    When I got home I let the door drift shut behind me and just stood for a moment, eyes shut and chin tilted up. There was a spontaneous urge to flare my arms to my sides and do something to make the moment more dramatic, but I quelled it. I enjoyed being dramatic, but I also believed in moderation.

    The rest of the interview with Orcus had been very efficient. He had resumed speaking the way he normally did and spent the next twenty minutes pumping me for information. By the time we said goodbye he had my name, phone number, current address and the contact details of Kathrine. He had ended the meeting by telling me that if Kathrine didn¡¯t contact him by the end of tomorrow, he would contact her. So I had until then if I wanted to be the one to break the news.

    From the screeches, the music, and the sound of a knife on a chopping board coming from the living room, Kathrine was cooking at the moment.

    ¡°Michael, is that you?!¡± Kathrine called when the door finally shut, raising her voice to project from the next room.

    ¡°That¡¯s me.¡± I replied as I pulled my shoes off and went towards the noise. I didn¡¯t try and compete with it though. Someone was playing pop music too loudly, and there were occasional overly positive ¡°Great Job!¡± and ¡°You did it!¡± mixed in.

    Kathrine stepped away from her cooking to greet me. ¡°How was the movie? Marie, turn that down!¡±

    There was complaining, but the volume dropped a little. Enough that I could talk across the room. The living room in this house was conjoined with the kitchen. There was no dining table to speak of, but there was an island between the cooking space and the living space. Most meals were eaten on the couch, and there was a screen that had a very familiar adult baby on it, but it was muted.

    Alice and Marie were each on their own couch. Marie was on her phone, and had the speaker right next to her. She was scowling at Kathrine, but soon engrossed herself with whatever it was twelve year olds did online. Alice had commandeered the tablet and was probably playing some app to completion. She didn¡¯t even glance up when I entered.

    Kathrine was cooking as she did every night, which meant enough food with enough variety to please four different kids. She was able to change it up as well, I¡¯d heard complaints from Marie about being made to eat meals she didn¡¯t like, but so far there had been nothing about having one meal too often.

    Sofiya was standing half behind Kathrine and was holding a messy knife loosely by her side in the one hand I could see. Likely, it was her turn to help Kathrine cooking, and was waiting to be told what to do after finishing one task. She had her red hair tied up but a stray hair was still loose. Sofiya tucked it behind her ear before she waved at me with the knife. No smile. No words. I waved back.

    Of all the women in the house I lived in, Sofiya was the one I felt closest to. If only because we had similar stories leading us to this place. A muted, wordless greeting fit right in for us.

    ¡°How was the movie?¡± Kathrine asked again.

    I went to sit at the island. ¡°Um... I didn¡¯t actually see a movie. Could we talk about something later?¡±

    ¡°Oh! Don¡¯t put your laptop there.¡± Kathrine said. I paused with my bag half unzipped. ¡°Sofya¡¯s freed me up to do dessert earlier than I thought I would. This space is about to become quite full. Sofiya dear, cut the potatoes. They¡¯re right next to the chopping board.¡±

    ¡°Fair.¡± The zip on my bag went back up and I looked around the room for another place to put myself.

    Sofiya nodded slightly and turned to her next task.

    ¡°Are you making cake!?¡± Marie shouted from the other side of the room.

    ¡°For dessert, honey! And you can kiss it goodbye if you don¡¯t eat your dinner.¡± Kathrine told her, earning some grumbling. ¡°What is it you want to talk about?¡±

    ¡°Something private.¡± I replied, simultaneously realising I didn¡¯t want to be saying this out loud with three other nosey girls in the room. ¡°I¡¯m going upstairs. Let me know when dinner¡¯s ready.¡±

    Sofiya watched me leave.

    ¡°I¡¯ll call you down!¡± Kathrine called after me.

    ¡°When dinner is ready, please! Not five minutes before!¡± I yelled back.

    The room I¡¯d been given was still pretty bare despite the fact that I was here to stay. There was enough space for a desk and bed while still leaving a fair amount of floor space clear. There was a closet built into a wall, and I had a decent sized window which gave a view of Lake Shane. I dumped my bag and went to the bathroom. I didn¡¯t use it. Rather, I stood in front of the mirror.

    Orcus had asked me to drop my mask at the end of the interview. He already knew my address and the identity of my guardian, and from there it wouldn¡¯t be hard to identify me, so I had no reason to keep it up. When I dropped the mask, I inadvertently dropped all instances of my power I had active as well. Each and every one of my bruises had become visible, though I¡¯d quickly touched up the spots I knew were visible. Orcus probably noticed, but he didn¡¯t say anything if he did.

    My control over that part of my power had always been¡­ shaky wasn¡¯t the right word. Blunt fit more, but wasn¡¯t absolutely right. In comparison, my telekinesis had quickly become an afterthought. Locking the chair had forced Orcus to pull out a lot of his strength to overcome it, and I could easily recall how much force he¡¯d put out before I¡¯d let it go. Going back to the tagging ability, I¡¯d quickly realised that each different colour required that I think differently when applying the power.

    To put it simply, what I¡¯d put on to disguise my face and bruises didn¡¯t come naturally. Now, looking at myself, I let it drop once again.

    I still had a yellow splotch on my right cheek. My skin wasn¡¯t pale like it had been on the day of the beating, but I was still paler than I probably should be. My black hair and naturally stuck up at the front and curved to one side, accentuating a widows peak. It was neat, but the natural messiness of the rest of my head ruined the look. I wore one piece of jewelry, a green glass bead set in a silver stud on my right earlobe.

    There were bags under my eyes that had grown both larger and darker after my stay in hospital despite the extended period of rest. My eyes were a mix between blue and green. Normally two bright colours, but when put together like they were on my face became a dull mix that was neither deep nor striking. What I lingered on the most was my nose. It was upturned, and unless I had my face angled down an uncomfortable amount my nostrils were always on display. It often felt like the nose made it harder for me to get taken seriously.

    I closed my eyes and leaned forwards until my forehead met the mirror. The cold surface touching my skin brought back the memory of me against the wall as my aggressor walked away. My fists clenched, and I stayed like that, letting the memory run its course. When I finally left, I went back into my room and started setting up the charger for my laptop. I was aware of a twenty dollar note sitting on my desk. It was somewhat crumpled, and had a speck of my blood on it covering Jackson¡¯s eye. It was the one I¡¯d been given after he had beat me up.

    I don¡¯t know why exactly I still had it. The paramedics must have thought it was mine and put it with the rest of my possessions. I¡¯d found it in my bag and had placed it where it was now when I got home after the discharge. Honestly, I wanted to get back at that guy. The twenty dollars served as a reminder. Though I¡¯d spend the shit out of it if money got tight.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    Serious thoughts out of the way, I surfed the internet until dinner was ready.

    Dinner went as it normally did. Kathrine called me down five minutes before dinner was ready to serve. So I went back upstairs until it was actually ready. Kathrine went around the table asking everyone about their days. When it came to my turn I gave the standard noncommittal answers and didn¡¯t actually explain anything. I could tell it was making Kathrine curious. After dinner was done Kathrine told everyone it would be twenty minutes until desert would be served and we went into her office.

    Kathrine actually had quite an impressive house. It was two stories, and had a decent amount of land, within which was a pool, it was in a nice neighborhood, and her office was larger than my room. I wasn¡¯t sure exactly how Kathrine afforded it, but that wasn¡¯t what we were here to talk about. The office itself had full bookcases along two opposite walls. There was the expected desk which had a glass top along with a chair, as well as two couches that faced each other and a coffee table between them. Behind the desk was a set of glass doors that went to a balcony.

    Now that I thought about it, this was the first time I¡¯d been let in here. Kathrine closed the door behind me and leaned against one of the couches. I stood in the opposite side of the room and fidgeted with my hands.

    ¡±So.¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Kathrine prompted with a nod.

    ¡°Sorry, this isn¡¯t the easiest thing for me. Um..¡±

    ¡°Take your time.¡± She said.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s been, like, two months so I thought¡­ I don¡¯t know. There¡¯s something I want to do.¡± I stumbled through the half baked thoughts. This felt like a tactical error.

    Kathrine nodded, patient.

    I continued. ¡°But before I can- You know what? No. Uhh¡­¡±

    ¡°Is this to do with Salt La-¡± Kathrine started asking.

    ¡°No!¡± I cut her off. ¡°Well, not quite. Should I just say it? It¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve done this. Kind of.¡±

    ¡°I think you should, for your own sanity.¡±

    Damnit, she was right. And I needed her permission to be an active Sentry. If I didn¡¯t tell her, here and now, about my powers she sure as hell wasn¡¯t going to trust me going forward. This was my one chance to ask her permission.

    But. Then again. Hell wasn¡¯t really all that sure.

    I¡¯m a transhuman and I want to join the Sentry.

    I thought of the word Orcus used in the hall. It seemed to fit. Could I just say that? Kathrine was patient, but like any parent, I could see was a limit to that patience. I was beginning to get close to that limit.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really have the words.¡± I confessed. ¡°I- Fuck.¡±

    ¡°Micheal.¡± Kathrine had a warning tone.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been given until tomorrow to ask for your permission for something.¡±

    ¡°Is it school related?¡±

    ¡°No. More like work.¡±

    ¡°Like work?¡± Kathrine repeated. Incredulous didn¡¯t even begin to describe it.

    ¡°No. Yes. I don¡¯t know what to say.¡±

    Kathrine gave a small sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose briefly. She looked me in the eye with a sorrowful expression.

    ¡°Michael. I know the circumstances you came here under. You¡¯re not the only one to have came here after a Calamity. I know what that kind of loss does to people. I¡¯ve seen it, nurtured it, and helped people get back on their feet so they can live a good life-¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Except I¡¯ve already been there, done that, and ended up right back where I started. I¡¯m familiar with the world changing, Kathrine. That wasn¡¯t my first time.¡± I snapped. I wish. I kept my fucking spineless mouth shut and let Kathrine finish.

    ¡°There¡¯s anger inside you. That¡¯s fine, it¡¯s in the rest of us as well. While we may not have experienced the same disaster as you have, that doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s right for you to throw your life away.¡± Kathrine finished.

    My eyes narrowed. That last part sounded like she was insinuating she knew what this was all about. When she met my gaze, it told me all I needed to know.

    ¡°Orcus?¡± I chanced.

    Kathrine breathed, tension washing from her shoulders. ¡°Yes, dummy. Of course. This is a matter of your safety. You. A minor. I was informed the first time you contacted the Regulation¡±

    ¡°So much for secret.¡± That had compromised my identity on a scale I was not happy with.

    ¡°You can¡¯t have it both ways, Michael.¡±

    ¡°What have they told you?¡±

    ¡°Not much, but Orcus did call when you were on your way home. He said he was impressed with your powers, but was worried about your mental state. And to be frank, so am I.¡±

    I had to distract myself from that one. Clenching my fist only did so much. One hand shot up to fidget with my piercing.

    ¡°How many friends have you made since coming here?¡± Kathrine asked.

    It took me a moment to get my head around the curveball. ¡°One, I guess. But aren¡¯t enemies more healthy as drives? Because I¡¯ve also got one of those.¡±

    Kathrine jabbed a finger into my shoulder. ¡°That. That¡¯s exactly what has us worried. You have a total disregard for social connection. Therefore I have no idea how well you¡¯re actually coping, at least no more than I did two weeks ago. Before you were put into hospital. I can¡¯t consent to putting your in danger like that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m actually coping pretty well now that I have something to strive for.¡± I sighed. ¡°But if you¡¯re going to get in the way of that, then I¡¯ll just have to find something else to put this newfound energy into.¡±

    Kathrine met my eyes. I didn¡¯t back down.

    I ended up adding. ¡°Was I supposed to count people in this house, by the way? Because then it¡¯s two.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± That had caught her off guard. She had been gearing up to say something. Probably a hard no. Good thing I opened my mouth. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°Because I¡¯m really bad at this stuff. Horrendously so. I¡¯m utterly, tragically, and disastrously bad at talking about private stuff. Let alone feelings.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re trying. You¡¯re showing that much.¡± Kathrine hummed, looking at me with a purely happy expression. It was off putting in a way I wasn¡¯t used to. ¡°I¡¯ll let you have a trial run, then. Michael. On two conditions.¡±

    ¡°Being?¡±

    ¡°I reserve the right to pull you from the Sentry at any time.¡± She said with one finger extended.

    I rolled my eyes. That much was a given.

    Kathrine extended another finger, then spread her arms. ¡°And you need to give me a hug right now.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not-¡± I faltered. Kathrine wasn¡¯t going to be cordial if I said no, and it didn¡¯t matter how much I wanted to avoid physical contact. At least for her. I ceded the point, and awkwardly stepped into the embrace.

    My sixth sense wasn¡¯t necessary for me to stay aware of Kathrine¡¯s arms moving across my back, but that was fine because of my long sleeves. Unfortunately, that didn¡¯t stop Kathrine from pressing her head against mine, and through that I could feel it all.

    One of the drawbacks of having a sixth sense was that I couldn¡¯t stop the information coming through. Normally when I touched something I got the basic information about how that thing was moving. Most of the time things weren¡¯t moving, but I could still feel gravity and such. It was the same with people, and at the same time it couldn¡¯t be more different.

    A brick is a brick. There isn¡¯t much happening with it. There¡¯s gravity constantly pulling it down and it generates friction when it¡¯s slid across the ground. ¡°Fun¡± stuff from a boring physics class, and that¡¯s both the start and end of it. On the other hand there is a lot more going on with a person¡¯s body that my power tells me about.

    Each muscle adds a force to the body. Each bone reacts to it. There¡¯s surface tension on the skin, blood constantly flowing through the body, and whatever was eaten over the past day going through the process of being digested. Each adding uncountable forces that, while small, I was still informed of. It forced a degree of invasive intimacy on me whenever I had skin to skin contact. I stiffened and did my best to ignore the mental images.

    The work involved in simply trying to do that made the minute or two that the hug lasted drag on at a horribly slow pace. When Kathrine finally released me I couldn¡¯t stop myself from breathing a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Was that really so bad?¡± Kathrine asked with genuine concern.

    Yes! ¡°Uhh. My power¡­ changes the way I interpret things.¡± I pointed my probably red face away from Kathrine.

    ¡°Well. You gave me the hug, so I can¡¯t complain now can I?

    ¡°I¡¯ll take it. Thanks.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been six weeks, you could call me mom.¡± She chided with a smile.

    Something tightened within me. ¡°It¡¯s been ten weeks.¡±

    Kathrine¡¯s smile faltered. ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡±

    That had been too much. I purposefully turned and opened the door. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± I left the room before Kathrine could follow up and went down to desert.

    One thing I noticed that night was how Sofiya was watching me. Normally we gave each other space, and held back from adding to the noise while we ate. But she stared at me for most of the time unrelentingly, even when I challenged her stare. Sofiya¡¯s expression was far from telling, unchanging even when I met her gaze

    Afterwards I tried to talk to her, but she disappeared upstairs before I could get anything out. An idle thought came unbidden, and laid claim to my attention: that the nine year old had listened in to the conversation between Kathrine and me. If that was true then that was something that needed to be addressed.

    When it came to heroes, Sofiya didn¡¯t have much to say. Though, when she did deign to say something on the matter, it was never in a positive light. Me joining the Sentry probably wasn¡¯t going to be well received by her, but that wasn¡¯t about to stop me. I¡¯d have to talk to her about that, before she told anyone else.

    That would be the best case scenario. But the best case scenario barely ever came to pass, didn¡¯t it?

 1. Heroes/Villains 4

    Friday is one of the best days of the week. A lot of people think it is the best day, period. It¡¯s not hard to see why, with it being the last weekday, heralding two glorious days of the weekend. All you had to do was endure through the hard part at the start, then you were free. Hell, most people started their weekend on Friday. But for me, this friday was my first day back at school.

    Kathrine had allowed me to spend some additional time off school, considering my bruises were still clearing up. That coupled with the fact that I wasn¡¯t totally comfortable outside by myself had kept me indoors. My bruises appeared to be gone, but that¡¯s because I was covering them with my power. Even though it had been more than a week since I was attacked, I still felt constant aches in various places. However, I couldn¡¯t feel sorry for myself forever. I was missing classes, and that was what had made Kathrine finally force me to go to school.

    Something that was making me nervous was my story, or more specifically how much the story had spread and how popular the story was. I wasn¡¯t really close to anyone at school, so I hadn¡¯t told anyone about the fact that I got mugged. Another thing I didn¡¯t know was exactly how popular my story might be.

    Fortunately for me I was largely ignored when I got dropped off at the school gate. I was able to go to my first class by falling in step with the crowd and no one even gave me the time of day until the roll was called. The teacher welcomed me back when I responded to my name being called, which was when people finally noticed I was back. I hadn¡¯t realised my own lack of presence until then. Though that was probably for the better if this whole hero thing went through.

    Being a hero was a full time job for the most part. There was the Sentinel, which had several such heroes. Orcus being one of them. Then there were the other groups. Advent, The Grey Apostles, and the Heroes of Yesterday to name a few. All of those groups consisted of heroes over the age of 18. The Sentry was the only team that had members under 18.

    It was somewhat common knowledge that most of the current Sentry team went to Bitopia Grammar School. There they supposedly had systems in place to let the Sentrys go to school like normal kids, while at the same time letting them leave in the event of emergencies and letting them keep their identities secret. If I was largely ignored here, I could just excuse myself and go.

    Anyway, I got asked a few times why I¡¯d been away. Answering that question wasn¡¯t something I¡¯d thought about in advance, so I fell back on ¡°recovering¡±, which seemed to satisfy their curiosity. The end result was me being left alone. It made me feel like I needed to work on my people skills, but I felt relief from not being the centre of attention.

    Second period got me sitting next to Nathan, which was the best reason, if not the only reason I had to look forward to going back to school. He had curly brown hair and had an impish mouth that always seemed to twist a little too far for comfort. Regardless, he oozed charisma of a sort, and greeted me with a handshake and a ¡°What took you so long?¡± as the roll was being called. I gave him the same answer I gave everyone else.

    ¡°Recovering from what?¡± Nathan followed up.

    This was the furthest I¡¯d been down this line of questioning. ¡°Stuff.¡±

    ¡°You better be infectious. I¡¯d love a week off.¡± His expression was completely serious. It got a chuckle out of me.

    ¡°No. Not infectious.¡± I pulled my collar down, subtly using my power to return a bruise to its normal colour. ¡°I uh¡­ got mugged.¡±

    ¡°Shit.¡± Nathan looked surprised. ¡°Did you give as good as you got?¡±

    Thinking about it made a feeling drop in my stomach. ¡°No¡­ not exactly.¡±

    ¡°That was a week ago, right?¡±

    ¡°More than a week.¡± I corrected.

    ¡°Well shit. You got hit hard. My condolences.¡± Nathan said. ¡°There¡¯s been some top quality drama happening in the time you were gone. If you¡¯d been here two days ago you¡¯d have caught the end of it. You want a catch up?¡±

    ¡°Do it.¡± I waved a hand gesturing to go on.

    The teacher finished calling the roll. ¡°We will be writing an essay in response to one of these questions today, in relation to the book I hope you were all reading as your homework.¡±

    That got mixed reactions. I for one didn¡¯t know which book she was talking about.

    They continued. ¡°Michael, you weren¡¯t here when we got the novel from the library. Take this note and get a copy.¡±

    I stood up to comply and stage whispered to Nathan. ¡°Tell me later.¡±

    ¡°Break.¡± He confirmed before turning to the guy on the other side of him and rejoining their conversation I hadn¡¯t realised he¡¯d been a part of. He would definitely be missed if he didn¡¯t show up for a week. I wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about that. Maybe I needed to work on my people skills. One boring looking book retrieved and a period later it was break and Nathan invited me to hang out with him.

    ¡°Right. So do you know Jess?¡± Nathan asked as we walked through the corridor. ¡°She was so-so popular, always wore glasses, had brown hair.¡±

    ¡°Brunette.¡± A girl corrected. I hadn¡¯t realised we were hanging out as three. The other person was walking on the opposite side of Nathan, and was someone who seemed familiar, but I couldn¡¯t place the name. She had her brown, no, brunette hair done up in a ponytail, and I could see blond in the roots. Her face was mouseish but round, she had a dimple on her left cheek, and had three moles on the opposite side of her nose.

    ¡°I don¡¯t recognise the name, but I vaguely remember seeing someone like that.¡± I said.

    ¡°Good enough for me.¡± Nathan said. ¡°She was the reason behind a shitstorm that involved all of the prefects. Basically, she hacked the system and got all their login details.¡±

    The school I was going to, Merryfair High, was highly digitised. Everything from taking attendance to taking notes was all done on some form of computer. The school supplied every student with a working laptop, to be used for all purposes school related. All textbooks were still hard copies though. Which meant that everyone¡¯s bags were still heavy. Regardless, getting someone¡¯s login details meant you had access to their school email, their projects, and pretty much everything else as well.

    I let out a whistle.

    Nathan continued. ¡°Yeah, but the crazy thing is: Jess didn¡¯t use them, she distributed them. They all got sent to the prefects and was real particular with how she did it. Head girl got the head boy¡¯s log in and vice versa. Both did some digging, and the head boy found out the head girl was cheating on her boyfriend. There was a whole lot of shit surfacing like that.¡±

    ¡°Were they a thing?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Nah. Head girl had a non-prefect boyfriend. But it turns out he was a beard and the head girl was kissing some other girl on the weekends. That relationship ended loudly and publicly. Great lunchtime entertainment.¡±

    ¡°Was that the worst thing that happened?¡±

    ¡°Not by a long shot.¡± The girl answered with a mirthful chuckle.

    ¡°But what a way to come out.¡± Nathan grinned at his own joke. ¡°Then a video went viral of Jason kicking kittens over his fence and laughing about it. He was stripped of his role as a prefect and suspended.¡±

    ¡°And there was Geoffrey.¡± The girl prompted.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I was forgetting the name. Geoffrey stole some shit and bragged about it to his friends. It was all private until Jess emailed his log in details to another prefect and he got snitched to senior management. Then someone emailed the juice to everyone in the school from Geoffrey¡¯s address. Turns out Geoffrey wasn¡¯t the only one stealing and a whole ring of black market dealers got busted. There were arrests during class.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°And that was Wednesday, I¡¯m guessing.¡± I said.

    ¡°Nope, that last one was on monday.¡± Nathan corrected. ¡°Jason happened over the weekend, and the matter between Mr Head Boy and Ms Head girl happened days after you vanished.¡±

    ¡°Jeez, I really missed out. What happened on Wednesday?¡± I asked.

    ¡°More mass emails.¡± Nathan said with a glint in his eye. ¡°Every teacher¡¯s login details got sent to all the students. Suddenly everyone has perfect attendance and straight A¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°I should¡¯ve checked my emails.¡± I realised.

    ¡°Eh, don¡¯t bother. The School shut the servers down and scrubbed that particular email from everyone¡¯s inbox. Jess got caught ¡®cause she was using a school terminal. But not before we found out how the headmaster treated his secretary. Oh, and he¡¯s not allowed near kids anymore.¡±

    ¡°Fuck.¡±

    ¡°So the school is currently being investigated because of that and Jess was expelled on the spot. A PE teacher suddenly stopped showing up because of course he has. And now you have the cliffnotes version.¡± Nathan finished.

    ¡°I think Jess wanted to be expelled.¡± The girl pondered. ¡°She was practically skipping out.¡±

    ¡°We all got sent home early as well, so that was pretty cool.¡± Nathan added.

    ¡°I should check my email.¡± I realised. I hadn¡¯t opened my inbox since I got mugged. If I was lucky, I only had one or two hundred emails to sort through. ¡°Fuuck.¡±

    The break passed with more of the same. Witty banter, the first I¡¯d had in a while, which was something I hadn¡¯t realised I missed. The only people I¡¯d had over the past two weeks were hospitalised kids, then my three younger foster sisters. I was justifiably starved for conversation.

    The next class I had didn¡¯t have anyone I knew in it, then there was another break. Lunch went the same as the first break, except for the fact that lunch was eaten. After that was physics with Mr Asher, the one teacher who had the ability to make the subject interesting. Though, that might have been bias on my part because of my power.

    Best class or not, that period panned out much the same as the others had done. I had to pay extra attention just to keep up, then was given a load of homework to do if I wanted to catch up. Making things easier was the presence of the girl that had joined in on Nathan¡¯s and my conversation at break, who I ended up sitting next to. Using the roll I was able to learn that her name was Sonya without having to ask her, which saved me the awkwardness. We talked a bit, but the conversation didn¡¯t flow. Most of it was study related.

    Guess Nathan was the X factor there.

    There was just one period left when I saw something that threw my brain into chaos and made my body stop. It was a familiar face. They were wearing different clothes and had healed since I last saw them, but that wasn¡¯t a face I was likely to forget.

    ¡°Michael, what do you have next?¡± Sonya asked again. We were just outside the door from our last class. Wait, again?

    He was walking among the crowd, with his face well above the crowd. Not because he was walking with his head held high, but because he was just that tall. The bruise I¡¯d remembered on his cheek had healed up, and his attention was directed at someone walking alongside him. He gestured, and I noticed bandages on his hand and wrist. My blood was running colder as he walked closer.

    ¡°Do you need to check the timetable?¡± Sonya pressed.

    He passed me, somehow not noticing me even though I was stopped in the middle of the hallway and staring right at him. My blood was pounding in my ears. I could barely hear Sonya talking. He laughed at a joke and shoved someone¡¯s shoulder, then paused. He glanced my way. I glanced away before we made eye contact.

    I waited. Waited for him to call me out. Nothing. Then he wasn¡¯t going to say anything, just walk up to me and finish the job.

    ¡­ Nothing.

    I looked back up. He was gone.

    Was I lucky? Yes. Obviously. It had taken some time for me to realise that while I¡¯d been brutally battered, he hadn¡¯t broken any bones. Otherwise I¡¯d be walking around with a cast on my arm and two moonboots. But this didn¡¯t feel like luck. It felt like he¡¯d noticed me. Then ignored me.

    Did he even remember me?

    ¡°You¡¯ve gone pale.¡± Sonya said, her voice gentle. She was right in front of me but I somehow didn¡¯t notice her until she said that. ¡°Do you need to go to the nurse?¡±

    I stared back. I didn¡¯t know what to do. ¡°No.¡± But I said that anyway and left. I don¡¯t know if Sonya tried to follow me, a torrent of panicked thoughts were giving me tunnel vision. I went to the school¡¯s back gate, it was locked so I used my power to open it forcefully, and practically ran off of the school grounds. Kathrine was out, likely picking up the others from their various schools. That meant I would have the house to myself, so I went straight up to my room and curled up until I calmed down.

    This wasn¡¯t good. I wasn¡¯t expecting to see him again. He looked young, but I hadn¡¯t thought he¡¯d be that young. I had no idea if the encounter we had had made him remember me and it wasn¡¯t something I really wanted to think about. If I wanted to stand up to him, I should know how to fight.

    I didn¡¯t though. I was five seven and sixty kilos which was a twig in the wind compared to most. Neither of my powers worked in a fist fight. Sure, I could use telekinesis on things I touched, but that didn¡¯t work on people. And being able to change the colour of someone¡¯s skin wouldn¡¯t exactly help in a fist fight either. Though now that I thought about it, I¡¯d probably get some training if I ended up with the Sentry.

    No. When I ended up with the Sentry. I¡¯d chosen to do that, I needed to follow through.

    That night I did two things. The first was checking in with Kathrine about the matter. She told me that they wanted to meet with me at the SRT tomorrow and talk me through all the ins and outs. Apparently there were a lot. Good. That was something to look forward to.

    The second was checking my emails. The sight of three hundred unread emails made me internally wince. Scrolling through them, I found that most were clerical emails sent to inform me of scheduling changes and the like. The majority of the remainder were newsletters from various subscriptions that had somehow gotten hold of my email and teachers sending me the notes from each class. It was nice, it meant only one in every ten emails were worth looking at.

    Three pages in there was an email that stuck out as odd. It had ¡°No Subject¡± and was from J. McMaster. I hovered my mouse over it and saw the email was from ¡°[email protected]</a>¡±. This was probably part of the whole email fiasco Nathan had told me about earlier. Therefore I elected not to click it. Plus, there was always the chance of a virus.

    Further back I found a whole bunch more emails from people I didn¡¯t know. No doubt more of the drama I missed out on. The thing was, there was a full day between me getting the email from J. McMaster and the email from the headmaster, which happened to be the last of the login details sent out. It was curious. But it smelled more like trouble so I turned my computer off and went to sleep.

    ~~~

    ¡°Hello Michael. I am Zephyr.¡± The person speaking was fairly notorious amongst the hero crowd in Graceland. I recognised her immediately. Though that was because I¡¯d brushed up on the local hero/villain climate since my interview with Orcus.

    Zephyr was an incredibly tall woman, standing at at least 6 feet. She wore a loose dark blue robes which had the edges trimmed with silver. She didn¡¯t have any sleeves, leaving her fairly tanned arms bare, and she had light grey singlet underneath the robe. She was barefoot, and wore a pair of harem pants a similar colour to the singlet that stopped above her knees.

    She had a darker grey balaclava covering her neck and the lower half of her face. A lightweight wight helmet with a reflective visor covered the rest. The helmet had wings worked into the design on either side. I noticed that unlike the horns on Orcus¡¯ helmet, those wings could probably be held onto because they flared away from the helmet.

    It was the next day. Kathrine had dropped the kids off with a babysitter and we had come to the SRT. We entered from the same entrance I had before, where were promptly given a courtesy search and lead to the upper levels. Our escort had left us upon arrival.

    ¡°We¡¯re here to give you the essential details you need to know before signing the documents and entering into a Transhuman organisation.¡± Zephyr gestured at the fourth person in the room, an older man of colour in a suit who had a receding hairline and growing waistline. At least he had the sense to shave his hair short. He nodded at us and sat down.

    ¡°My name is Carter, I¡¯ll be representing the Regulation.¡± Then he opened a notebook and waited.

    ¡°Hello Carter. My name is Kathrine.¡± Kathrine looked at me.

    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m Michael.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m sure you already knew that.¡±

    As much as I wish what happened next was interesting, it wasn¡¯t. Most of it was Zephyr and Kathrine going back and forth over detail after excruciating detail. From my point of view things could be put quite simply.

    I would be given a public title and a costume as a Sentry, which I would be allowed a degree of input on the design. I would be required to show up at the SRT tower four days a week minimum to be on standby and to go on patrol if need be. I was under no legal obligation to keep my identity a secret, but it was recommended that I do.

    Other people¡¯s identities were theirs to keep. I could get hit with a lawsuit if I revealed someone else¡¯s secret identity inadvertently. For every hour I logged on patrol or standby, I would be paid a certain amount, but it would be sent to an account I wouldn¡¯t be able to access until I was eighteen. This amount would be multiplied if I participated in a dangerous event.

    There was optional therapy available, should I choose to take advantage of it. One of the things that stuck out to me was the option to drop out of taking part in events after a certain amount of threat was recognised. Though, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. It would be better to keep people paralyzed by fear away from the source of that fear that it would be to keep them in harm¡¯s way.

    Eventually, Zephyr handed a small stack of paper to Carter, who spent ten minutes reading through it while the rest of us waiting. After finishing Carter handed it back with a nod and began packing up. Zephyr slid the stack over to me.

    ¡°Sign there.¡± She told me. ¡°Then you¡¯ll be a Sentry.¡±

    I took the pen and immediately hesitated. Before I could even click the pen I had to remind myself that this was the path I had chosen to take. I signed the contract using the signature I came up with in the moment.

    That¡¯s how I became a hero.

 1. Heroes/Villains 5

    Becoming a hero had been considerably less exciting than I had thought it would be. I guess that¡¯s what twenty odd years of open bureaucracy did to something. After sitting in a room struggling to pay attention for what felt like three hours but turned out to really just be one and a half, I¡¯d signed the paper and was subsequently told ¡°See you tomorrow. I¡¯m busy.¡± by Zephyr.

    To her credit she really was. On the way out of the tower we passed flyers and posters warning about certain supervillains and groups of supervillains. There were, predictably, three big fishes in Graceland. In no particular order there was the Rising Sun, the Courtesans, and the Entrepreneurs.

    The Rising Sun was a yakuza like gang that had swelled over the past five years. They started out as a small gang that only included asians. As time went on they just kept growing. Now they¡¯ve relaxed the asian only rule to accommodate their growth, so it was harder to figure out who had an affiliation with them. Their specialty is trafficking illegal contraband and they were a heavy supplier of weaponry in the underbelly of Graceland.

    The Courtesans were smaller than the Rising Sun in number, but were consolidated enough to make big moves and often made the news. They had the drug trade locked down as their gig. If you were anywhere near courtesan territory and decided to sell anything that might step on their toes, you¡¯d end up with at least two of the supervillains kicking you far, far away, and maybe in multiple pieces. They also double dipped in trafficking, and it was suspected that the Mistress of the Courtesans was a heavy investor in the sex trade in Graceland.

    Then there were the Entrepreneurs. The name was pretty on the nose. From my understanding there were only three of them: Boss, Queue, and Yearn. However, despite their numbers they were in command of three smaller groups that were exclusively Transhumans. The Racketeers, the Handiemen, and the Collectors, in addition to a private army. They had a well run protection racket set up everywhere in their territory that wasn¡¯t King street downtown. Whatever the Entrepreneurs had offered the people there, it wasn¡¯t common knowledge.

    Other than the three gangs there were several solo villains such as Sleepwalker who went active and did something explosive most nights. Or there was the villain that Zephyr was busy chasing right now.

    His name was Jagmikh. His schtick was flying and being incredibly fast. And all this was ignoring the ever present Alpha class threats that ate literal concrete.

    It had taken a bit of asking, but I¡¯d gotten Kathrine to explain Jagmikh¡¯s story after a few days of me arriving in Graceland. The man was an Altered. An Altered being a transhuman who had become physically transformed by their power manifesting. Pictures of Jagmikh showed a blurry black shape that was vaguely humanoid and had horns, wings, and a tail. Blurry because his power let him travel that goddamn fast.

    About five minutes after Kathrine and I left the SRT, a sonic boom echoed throughout the city and most people ignored it. Some people looked. A few took out their phones to try and record it. It was routine. Every day at around four in the afternoon, Jagmikh flew around the city. Left unchecked, he would make increasingly dangerous moves and eventually start breaking windows simply by flying nearby. To stop this heroes had to fulfil his one request: Chase him.

    That¡¯s exactly what Zephyr did. I spent the ride home idly watching the two shapes in the sky move around the city¡¯s skyline. It was something that happened every day. Zephyr sometimes substituted herself out, but Jagmikh had been flying around every day for the past three years.

    That was yesterday. Today I was doing something I should¡¯ve done the moment it crossed my mind.

    ¡°Sofiya? How would you like to see a movie?¡±

    The people in Kathrine¡¯s house had their meals at the same time. It was a rule of the house. Often I would be the last to leave the table, other times Sofiya would be the last one to push her chair in. That was how things usually went as Marie didn¡¯t want to be near us and Alice was very easily distracted. Kathrine always had washing up to do. Just now was breakfast and this was the best time for me to get Sofiya alone.

    She paused midway through pushing her chair in and gave me an even look. ¡°Sure.¡± She said, and continued cleaning up her meal.

    I sat back in my chair. It had taken me a while to build up the courage for that. The reason I wanted to go to the movies with her was actually to have a talk about me being a Sentry. Mostly due to the way she had been acting strange since I brought it up with Kathrine. If I knew she wouldn¡¯t have made a deal about going to the movies, then I wouldn¡¯t have stressed myself out so much. Anyway, ninety minutes later we had tickets to a movie about a group of cartoon teenage heroes living in a literal ¡°T¡± going to the movies.

    Because cinema food is trash and expensive, we walked to the nearby shops to find cheaper stuff that we actually wanted to eat. That was when I decided to test the waters.

    ¡°What¡¯s your opinion on the Sentry?¡± I asked amidst what was, up until then, silence between us.

    ¡°What?¡± Sofiya responded.

    ¡°Did I stutter?¡± I genuinely couldn¡¯t tell. Breaking the silence was always nerve wracking, even if we were amidst the hustle and bustle of the food court.

    ¡°No.¡± She shook her head and stayed silent for a while. ¡°I think they¡¯re all going to die.¡±

    Well, that was a bombshell from a ten year old. ¡°That makes this a little awkward then.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± She turned and looked without dropping her pace.

    ¡°Because half of the reason we¡¯re here is because I wanted you to know that I¡¯m joining the Sentry.¡± I stated.

    A beat.

    ¡°I know.¡± Sofiya turned away. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to.¡±

    ¡°...¡± That made this difficult. ¡°Full disclosure. I was going to see this movie anyway, and realised it was a good chance for us to have a talk, just the two of us. I knew you had reservations about public heroes, but I didn¡¯t realise it was so black and white.¡±

    ¡°Why me?¡±

    ¡°Because you¡¯re the one I like the most, and because I know you already knew everything I just told you.¡± I said pointedly.

    ¡°...¡± Sofiya wasn¡¯t saying anything. I pressed with silence. ¡°Yeah.¡± She murmured.

    ¡°Have you told the others?¡± I asked. Sofiya shook her head. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s good. The fewer people who know, the better. As much as I hate to admit it, you¡¯re right. Being a Sentry, or a part of any hero team for that matter, is dangerous.¡± I recalled the hallway of portraits. ¡°And I¡¯m going to do it.¡±

    ¡°Even though you know you¡¯re going to die?¡± Sofiya murmured.

    ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s not why I¡¯m doing it.¡± I stopped and guided Sofiya to a corner with less traffic, where I knelt down to look her in the eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve had things rough most of my life. This last thing that put me in hospital is probably the least bad thing to have happened to me. You came here after a Calamity, just like I did. You know what that¡¯s like. What I need is to have the ability to do something about it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not fair on me.¡± Sofiya¡¯s voice broke. She wouldn¡¯t meet my gaze.

    ¡°Hey.¡± I resisted the urge to make her meet my eyes. ¡°I might have a lame power, but I also have a real badass power. With a little training, I¡¯ll be able to get myself out of situations like that one that put me in hospital.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯ll go out looking for them, too.¡±

    ¡°Not right away. Look, I don¡¯t like making promises, but I¡¯ll compromise for you.¡±

    Sofiya met my gaze, her eyes hard. ¡°No fighting.¡±Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°No looking for fighting.¡± I amended. ¡°I can¡¯t have a fight find me and not be able to do anything. The hospital thing will just repeat itself.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s... fine.¡±

    ¡°How about this. Until I have been trained in how to fight and how to use my power, I won¡¯t go looking for any kind of fight, and will actively try to get myself out of any fights I find myself in.¡± I proposed.

    ¡°Promise.¡± Sofiya insisted.

    ¡°Cross my heart and hope to die. Happy?¡± Sofiya nodded. ¡°Great.¡± I checked the time. ¡°We¡¯re running out of time, let¡¯s just go to the supermarket. What do you want?¡±

    ¡°I want liquorice.¡± She decided.

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Weird snack but okay.¡±

    ~~~

    Coming out of the movie I felt satisfied. The series the movie was based on was very whimsical and cartoony, textbook children''s programming. The movie however, established a coherent storyline based off of strong characters that I was actually able to get invested in. It wasn¡¯t something I particularly related to, but it was much better than I was expecting. Then there was the end credits scene that promised a return to the original style of the show, which itself had gone through various iterations.

    That made me happy. I really liked the stuff Metal Age had done at the beginning of the series¡¯ run. Metal Age being an adept that specialised in entertainment. He had jumped from project to project starting in the early 2000s, with each project he worked on becoming critical successes based on their innovative visuals and storytelling.

    Adepts were enigmas among transhumans. They had powers, that wasn¡¯t something that was ever questioned. But if you got one alone in an empty room they may as well have been powerless. The blanket term ¡°adept¡± or ¡°techo¡± meant that person¡¯s power involved inventing new technology, often making things that couldn¡¯t be replicated.

    After the movie Kathrine picked up Sofiya and I turned towards the SRT. Zephyr had told me to come in around midday. I was anticipating some kind of training. What I got was another goddamn interview and a tour, which wasn¡¯t so bad.

    ¡°Sit down Michael.¡± Zephyr gestured to a chair that had some spare paperwork lying on it. Her office wasn¡¯t the tidiest, and saying that was probably a compliment. Files, some of which looked classified, were strewn all over her desk and the rest of the room. They were stacked higher the closer it was to where Zephyr sat.

    There was another table in the room. Smaller than the desk, but likewise cluttered. Zephyr didn¡¯t seem to mind the mess and didn¡¯t seem like she was about to make any apologies, so I didn¡¯t mention it and sat down after moving the paperwork on the indicated chair to the floor.

    Zephyr meanwhile had pushed herself away from the desk and leaned back. She pushed her hand under her mask to rub her eyes and gave a heavy sigh. ¡°I could use a break. But I have to give you an introductory speech before we can get you acclimatised.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± I said, waiting.

    Zephyr put her mask back in place, being careful not to let me see the face beneath, and gave me a measured look. Rather, it felt like she was measuring me.

    ¡°How much do you weigh, Michael?¡± She queried.

    ¡°Sixty.¡± I pulled from memory.

    ¡°What unit?¡±

    ¡°Uh, kilograms.¡± It had been a while since I weighed myself. The scale had used that metric.

    Zephyr was silent as she did the mental calculation. ¡°That¡¯s light. I suppose it would have something to do with your power wouldn¡¯t it?¡± Zephyr mused. It was strange, seeing a costumed superhero sitting at a desk, musing over you. ¡°Anyway, some ground rules. First, you are a Sentry. That means you are directly below the Sentinels and Regulation officers in the chain of command. You may have a power, and you may be able to break walls with it, but you¡¯re still a child. I don¡¯t care if you think you¡¯re mature because of some intense trauma you went through five years ago, you follow orders. Is that clear?¡±

    ¡°Crystal clear.¡± This wasn¡¯t the first thing I had expected to come from a career superhero¡¯s mouth, but I could see the reason behind it. Every Sentry was under eighteen.

    ¡°Good.¡± Zephyr quickly moved on. ¡°Second. You are contractually expected to sign in at the common room every weekday and one day on each weekend. You can make the decision about when exactly that is, but you will have to dedicate the time to maintain a rigorous schedule. You¡¯ll need this.¡±

    Zephyr found a blank card lying somewhere on her desk and handed it to me. I looked over it. It was light grey and had no other identifying features.

    ¡°This-¡± I started.

    ¡°That¡¯s your blank card.¡± Zephyr explained. ¡°There will be a machine in the common room. Just swipe your card and it does the rest.¡±

    ¡°Why is it blank?¡±

    ¡°Because if it was identifying, then your identity could become compromised.¡± Zephyr stated simply, then moved on as if that was a reasonable explanation.

    ¡°Third. You are not obligated to keep your identity a secret, and any reasons you may have to keep it secret or open is respected. That being said, some Sentrys like to keep their mask off around the others while here in the tower. It goes without saying that you are expected to respect their privacy and to not reveal anyone¡¯s identity.¡±

    I nodded.

    Zephyr wasn¡¯t finished. ¡°As you¡¯re signing on with us, you should know in advance. We currently have a tenuous relationship with Control. Because of this, dealing with Alpha and Theta class threats are optional for Sentrys. If you were asked to assist, would you?¡±

    Control were a different kind of group than the Sentinel. They were heroes by title, but they didn¡¯t perform the same duties as the typical caped crusaders. Rather, they were solely focused on dealing with any outbreak of an Alpha class threat and any appearance from a Theta class threat. Alpha and Theta class being two different classifications for what were essentially animals with powers. Only all of them were altered, bloodthirsty. Dangerous. Monsters.

    Control were also under management from the Regulation, just like the Sentinels. So that was odd.

    ¡°That depends...¡± I started. ¡°I¡¯m not confident in my ability to fight.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± There was venom dripping from that sound.

    I met her gaze as best I could with the mask she was wearing and refused to look away.

    At length Zephyr broke the silence with a sigh, back to normal. ¡°At least you¡¯re honest. We¡¯ll get you in the ring with Blinker as soon as we can. He¡¯ll teach you the basics.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± I commented.

    ¡°What about an Omega class threat?¡± Zephyr brought the conversation back around. I was familiar with the term. ¡°Calamities warrant omega level responses, obviously. But they aren¡¯t the only things that do. Some transhumans like Tharaneal are considered to be dangerous enough to warrant similar mobilization. Anything that threatens the livelihoods of people in the surrounding five miles classifies.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d do what I can, but don¡¯t expect me to fight Tharaneal. I need to get close to use either of my powers.¡±

    ¡°Of course. No sense in getting you purposefully enslaved.¡± Zephyr nodded, then stood. ¡°Come, I¡¯ll give you a tour of the facilities you will have access to. I saw a recording of your interview with Orcus. You should activate your mask if you want to keep your identity under wraps.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± It made sense given what she had already told me. Plus, I was going into this with the intention of keeping my real name and face secret. So I followed the advice.

    ¡°While we¡¯re on the topic, do you have a preferred title?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°I uh¡­ Hadn¡¯t thought about it.¡±

    ¡°Noted. Use a placeholder.¡± There was little warmth in the way Zephyr spoke to me, it was all very business like. She didn¡¯t speak anything like Orcus did, but there was a disconnect that was putting me off.

    Zephyr showed me the locker room first, then the training room, the gym, the bunks, then showed me the Sentry¡¯s meeting room which apparently doubled as a classroom, and then took me to the recreation room. She didn¡¯t give any anecdotes or tell any stories that happened anywhere, she just told me what each room was and asked if I had any questions. I had a few small ones but elected not to ask because she had always moved on by the time I opened my mouth.

    We passed a few people in suits as we went around. Those I did ask about. Zephyr explained they were regulation agents that shared the use of the SRT with the Sentinel and Sentry. There was one character I saw but didn¡¯t cross paths with that didn¡¯t match the people in suits. They wore a black cloak that came down to just below the knee, and had lightweight black armour on. While Orcus¡¯ armour had been rounded and strangely elegant. This person¡¯s armour had edges and covered significantly less of the body. I could actually see some skin.

    They looked in our direction when they appeared and gave a wave. Their neck was wrapped in a black cloth and a close fitting helmet covered their face and hair. I waved back half heartedly and they turned and left the other way.

    ¡°Who was-¡± I started asking.

    ¡°Voidling.¡± Zephyr stated, nonplussed, then gestured at a nearby door. It was identical to the rest. ¡°This leads to the common room, recreation room, call it whatever you want.¡± She walked inside. I followed.

    The room was quite large. The ceiling stepped up significantly, and this was the first room with windows that I had seen in the tower. There was a makeshift kitchen in one corner and a series of desks lined up on the other. There were several monitors set up on them. On the far side of the room was a long table and several mobile whiteboards. They were too far away for me to see what was on them, but it wasn¡¯t much of a leap of logic to assume it had something to do with the job of heroing. Right in the centre of the room was a set of beanbags, and there was a circle of duct tape on the floor surrounding them.

    Three others were in the room with Zephyr and myself. A teenage girl that looked a few years younger than myself was making something in the kitchen. There was a giant of a man sitting in the centre beanbag, watching something on a tablet, and there was an older teenage guy sitting at a computer.

    ¡°Sentrys.¡± Zephyr caught everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°I would like to introduce you to the newest applicant for the Sentry. He is a powerful telekinetic that can rival the strength of Orcus.¡±

    The reactions that got were very minor. The guy on the computer glanced over and went back to what he was doing. The giant on the beanbag didn¡¯t react. The girl glanced over and sized me up.

    ¡°New meat huh?¡±

 1. Heroes/Villains 6

    I wasn¡¯t sure how to react. Lucidity had given me such a good impression of the Sentry, I thought everyone on the team would be at least a little like her. Instead, a latino girl that looked about two years my junior was calling me meat, and the other two guys were straight up ignoring me.

    The two guys were in costume, while the girl was in casual clothes. That was how I could guess at where she was from. That and how she spoke, what little I heard of it was really telling. She had long brown hair that I was having trouble matching to the profile of the Sentrys that I¡¯d seen online. This girl likely had a costume that concealed their head entirely.

    The giant sitting on the beanbag wore a leather jacket that seemed bigger than he was. There were spikes coming off his shoulder and the elbow of his other arm, giving him an asymmetrical look. There was a patch on his back that showed an artistic ¡°F¡± covered by a red denial symbol. He wore a modified biker helmet and had the visor up, but he was still facing away so I couldn¡¯t see his eyes.

    That one I did recognize. He was Muffle, and had powers that affected sound in his vicinity, as in it completely erased all sound passing within a certain radius. Now that I thought about it, that would be what the circle of duct tape was for.

    The other guy in the room was also someone I was able to recognize from the Sentry¡¯s online profiles. Collage. A bombastic personality that stood out from the crowd with his iridescently coloured fatigues and rainbow coloured SWAT gear that instead read SENTRY. The colours matched his powers, as he had the ability to shoot concussive beams of coloured light from his hands. He was the next in line to be captain of the Sentry, being the second eldest in the group at the moment.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± The girl on my left asked.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I really should have thought about that.

    ¡°He is undecided at the moment.¡± Zephyr stated.

    ¡°Got a placeholder?¡± The girl followed up.

    ¡°Placeholder?¡± I echoed. ¡°Wait. Shit, that works.¡± Given how the test between Orcus and my powers had gone, it was perfect. I didn¡¯t like it.

    ¡°Cool.¡± The girl said, entirely unenthused. She turned back to making her meal, which she seemed much more invested in. ¡°Well, Zeph said you¡¯re a telekinetic. That makes you the second to join in the past month. This kind of good luck can¡¯t last.¡±

    ¡°Good luck?¡± I echoed once more.

    ¡°We¡¯re growing instead of going through turnover.¡± Collage interjected. He pressed a button and the screen he was using winked off. ¡°We¡¯ve taken on three new Sentrys in the past six months. It¡¯s been that long since we¡¯ve taken a casualty.¡±

    ¡°Of the mortal kind.¡± The girl muttered.

    ¡°While true, let¡¯s not be pessimistic.¡± Collage stepped up to me and offered his hand. ¡°Collage. Colourful soldier with the finger guns to match. Soon to be captain of the Sentry.¡±

    I took the hand and shook it. ¡°Placeholder¡­ I guess. I might come up with something better.¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t. I love Placeholder.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s meh.¡± The girl stated.

    ¡°Muffle?¡±

    The giant extended his arm and gave a thumbs down.

    ¡°We seem pretty divided. Only you can decide, Placeholder.¡± Collage said seriously, then laughed. ¡°Ah, it doesn¡¯t matter. Anyway, think fast. Hazing.¡± I noticed too late he had a finger gun pointed at me point blank and that it was glowing a suspicious pink colour. A beam of the same colour shot out from the extended digit and hit me before I could even think about moving.

    The force of the beam pushed me back a few meters into the door behind me and winded me. When I came to my senses, I was looking down at the floor and all I could think about was how grateful I was to the floor for being there to support me. Really it was the only reason I was able to stand at such great heights. That¡¯s right we were in a high rise, and near the top of it too. I realised my hand was resting on the carpet. Through it I could feel the footsteps of everyone on the floor. There weren¡¯t that many, but I realised how awesome that really was.

    I stayed like that for¡­ time. There was a warmth in my body that swelled up from the depths of my stomach. My heart was pounding, I could feel it both in my chest and in my ears. When I looked up I saw three immensely attractive people looking back at me. Something was wrong.

    ¡°What have you done to me?¡± My voice was strained. I wanted to be saying something else. I wasn¡¯t about to let myself do that.

    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s better than the last one.¡± Collage commented.

    ¡°You traumatised her, Collage.¡± Zephyr responded stoically.

    ¡°Her? We¡¯re talking about a guy here.¡±

    ¡°You know what I¡¯m talking about.¡±

    Collage laughed and knelt down in front of me. He extended a finger again and let it glow pink. I stared, utterly mesmerised.

    ¡°This here is my love beam.¡± He said conversationally. ¡°It induces feeling of, you may have figured it out, love. Quite useful in stopping fights with Villains. I even managed to get three of them to reveal their identity to me without asking.¡±

    ¡°And each of them now have a vendetta against you.¡± The girl added. She¡¯d moved from the kitchen to a desk and was eating a sandwich.

    ¡°I¡¯m not concerned, they¡¯re all in the megahold. The only way out of that will result in them burning up on re-entry.¡± Collage gestured dismissively towards the girl, then offered me a hand. This time to help me up. ¡°Anyway, good job taking the beam. The last few times I used that the fresh blood we got all kinds of creepy confessions. That¡¯s good. It means you have an effective deposition against whispers.¡±

    ¡°What¡­? I don¡¯t.¡± Collage was distractingly handsome. I needed a distraction. ¡°Whispers?¡±

    Collage gave a slight sigh. ¡°You gotta get educated, man. That kind of stuff is essential when figuring out how to defeat Transhumans.¡±

    ¡°You have me at a...¡± I tore my gaze away from Collage and looked straight down at the floor before finishing. My thoughts simply refused to order themselves. ¡°Disadvantage.¡±

    Collage laughed and patted me on the shoulder. ¡°Whispers are powers that influence you, simple as that. Should wear off in a minute or two.¡±

    I wanted him to do that again.

    ¡°As refreshing as these shenanigans are,¡± Zephyr interrupted, deadpan. ¡°Maybe you should all introduce yourselves.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha. I¡¯m Collage, brother.¡± Collage introduced himself.

    ¡°I¡¯m Snowflake.¡± The girl said around bites. ¡°Don¡¯t call me a special snowflake or I¡¯ll freeze your balls off.¡± She took another bite.

    ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t use that name out of costume.¡± Collage interjected with a grin.

    ¡°I wash getting to that!¡± Snowflake snapped, still chewing. An awkward silence permeated the air as she finished the mouthful. ¡°Call me Elicia when I¡¯m out of costume. You don¡¯t need to take a dig at me every single time, Collage. I¡¯m eating.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s Muffle.¡± Collage pointed a thumb over his shoulder. ¡°Here¡¯s a tip. He can hear you, you can¡¯t hear him or anything within the circle. We call the circle the Quiet Space.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense.¡± I commented. Muffle waved at the mention of his name. I waved back before realising he still wasn¡¯t facing us. ¡°Hey.¡± I followed up.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind him, he¡¯s just watching something.¡± Collage assured me. ¡°That¡¯s pretty common. Though, are you familiar with the Sentrys that aren¡¯t here?¡±

    ¡°Somewhat. Just what I could find online.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha. That¡¯s more than the last one, so I can¡¯t complain. But to be safe, aside from the beautiful costumes and faces in this room, you¡¯ve also got Orcus, Voidling, and Sting as the Sentinels in charge. There¡¯s also Meretha, but she¡¯s not a fighter. In the Sentry you¡¯ve got Blinker as our Captain.

    ¡°Heirarchy goes something like this: Sentinels on top, then Blinker, then me, then Unshaken, Muffle last. After that it¡¯s a democracy for everyone leftover. That¡¯s Snowflake, as you already know. Satellite, our little Lucidity, the new kid Slingshot, and now you.¡±

    Collage¡¯s pink ray still hadn¡¯t worn off. It was lesser, but I was becoming more and more able to focus. ¡°Slingshot wasn¡¯t on the site. How new are they?¡±

    The door opened behind me and Collage gave a short laugh. ¡°Speak of the devil and she shall appear.¡±

    ¡°Zephyr.¡± A new person said. I turned and skipped a breath. The new one was a girl around my age, maybe a year older. She wore a long denim jacket over a grey skintight bodysuit. It was form fitting and looked thin, I could see the bumps marking the outlines of her undergarments in the cloth. The same piece of fabric came up and over her head, leaving her piercing eyes, spectacular nose, and entrancing mouth exposed while still concealing the rest of her probably flawless features.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    ¡°Unshaken.¡± Zephyr responded with a nod. And the girl strode past like nothing could stop her. Unshaken spared me one glance and gave me no heed as she made her way to another side of the room and disappeared into another room. Being ignored didn¡¯t usually bother me, but that hurt.

    Collage brought me back into things. ¡°How was it you two?¡± He was addressing someone else. I turned around and what I saw made me lose my breath again.

    She wore a striped red and yellow bandanna over the lower half of her face, and had brown tinted aviators covering her eyes. Her blonde hair was tied back into a braided ponytail. Her costume consisted of maroon leggings and a long sleeved top that looped around the thumb and middle fingers. Over that was a matching orange vest and skirt, and the look was completed with dark red leather boots with several straps going up the side and ended above the knees.

    It was much more modest than the costume Unshaken was wearing, and the girl was definitely younger than Unshaken, but not by much. I¡¯m not sure why I couldn¡¯t take my eyes off her. Just below where my tunnel vision ended was another, shorter but more familiar heroine who responded to Collage before the red and orange one could.

    ¡°Booring! Sting was just doing reconna- reconnasense on some hideout the Courtesans are maybe using. He just wanted me for some thermal goggles. Unshaken almost beat him up for that.¡± Lucidity¡¯s energetic babble pulled my mind out of the gutter and I was able to focus on the conversation. Collage¡¯s pink beam had seemed to have had a resurgence, I couldn¡¯t put my thoughts in order enough to say anything.

    Collage had no such hangups. ¡°Quiet day then. Well, girls, I¡¯d like to introduce you to our new rookie. Call him Placeholder. Replacement name pending. Placeholder, meet Lucidity and Slingshot.¡± He leaned closer and continued in a stage whisper. ¡°Lucidity is the kid.¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± Lucidity pouted indignantly. ¡°I¡¯m Twelve and two months!¡±

    ¡°Hi there.¡± Slingshot raised one hand for an awkward wave. My thoughts were washed away by the sound of her voice. I wasn¡¯t able to respond right away.

    ¡°Say hi.¡± Collage gripped me on the shoulder -yes- just as things were dragging on.

    ¡°Hi.¡± I repeated reflexively. Unable to shift where I was looking. Dimly. Very dimly, in the back of my head I was grateful for my power to change colours hiding my present expression, or lack thereof.

    Zephyr breathed a heavy sigh. ¡°Collage was messing with the new recruit.¡±

    ¡°Collage!¡± Lucidity walked up to the man and poked him in the waist. ¡°Blinker said. No. Hazing.¡± She punctuated the sentences with more pokes.

    Collage couldn¡¯t stop laughing. ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry! I really can¡¯t help myself.¡±

    ¡°So he hit you with¡­ you know.¡± Slingshot gestured with a finger gun.

    ¡°Uhh¡­ yeah.¡± I replied dumbly.

    Collage abruptly stood up with a serious expression. ¡°Zephyr. Outside.¡± He spoke with such a dramatic change in tone that even I looked towards him. He was looking out the window where a thin white mist was cascading down the outside of the tower.

    ¡°Cloud.¡± Elicia muttered.

    Not for the first time, Zephyr breathed a heavy sigh. ¡°And it¡¯s almost time for Jagmikh as well. Sentrys! Battlestations!¡± She ordered. ¡°Slingshot, you¡¯re with me. Lucidity, your job is to get Placeholder to safety. They haven¡¯t tripped any alarms, so it¡¯s unlikely they came from below. Take him to the basement. The rest of you pair off and cover each other. Your first priority is to restrain and arrest any villains you find, then to find out their intentions. Go!¡±

    That all said Zephyr left, leaving the door swinging as Slingshot followed, fiddling with something on her boot as she walked. As the door swung a slight breeze picked up and both Zephyr and Slingshot lifted into the air and disappeared beyond the door left. Zephyr¡¯s legs lost their colour and shape before she was out of sight, and there was a loud bang shortly after she was around the corner. Elicia took one more bite of her sandwich, showing no urgency as she stood and wandered over to the door Unshaken had went through, plate in hand.

    The trance I¡¯d been put under was brought to an abrupt end with a flash of yellow light and I was suddenly tazed. Collage gripped my chin and made me look at him, then sighed when he saw my blank face. ¡°Placeholder, you¡¯re with Lucidity. Get to the basement and stay there, run from any villains you run into.¡± The second part was directed at Lucidity. ¡°Muffle. With me.¡± And he was out the door.

    ¡°Okay¡­¡± Lucidity took a breath. ¡°Placeho-¡±

    All sound was cut off as Muffle walked past us. The silence was eerie. The man passed in silence. He was a giant, easily twice the height of Lucidity, had more than a foot on me, and was broad enough that he had to angle his body as he stepped out the door. Then the sound came back.

    ¡°-at way we won¡¯t be caught out by any villains wandering the floor. Let¡¯s go.¡± Lucidity finished, unperturbed by the interruption Muffle had given. She eagerly turned and ran into the door. Literally into the door, it was closed, and she vanished as if she was walking through air.

    I was left to blink in confusion. Clearly most of the message had been cut out by Muffle, but this didn¡¯t feel like we were going to safety like Zephyr ordered. Before I moved out through the door, Lucidity came walking back out with several gadgets hanging from her bandoliers and what looked like a ray gun one hand that was pushed towards me.

    ¡°That¡¯s not stun. That¡¯s not stun. Aand, that¡¯s stun! That¡¯s what I was looking for. I should really update this stuff.¡± She pushed the ray gun into my stomach when I didn¡¯t grab it. ¡°Anti-grab membrane, villain detector, um¡­ flash, flash, flash, and smoke, and love. Check.¡± She was pointing at things on her bandolier as she said names. Of course, I didn¡¯t recognise anything she was talking about, apart from the flash grenades. The villain detector was a handheld screen that was lit up with eight clustered red dots.

    ¡°Ah! too much range.¡± Lucidity checked the villain detector again and fiddled with it. When she let it hang again, there were no longer any blips on the screen. She looked up at me. ¡°Ready?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m quite lost.¡± I admitted.

    Lucidity shrugged. ¡°Everyone feels that way at first.¡± The twelve year old gave a confident grin.

    ¡°What Collage hit me with isn¡¯t helping.¡±

    ¡°The pink beam? Oh, he¡¯s going to regret that.¡± She stomped over to a wall and pushed her hand into it. Exactly like she had with the door. Lucidity fished around for a little bit the pulled out a megaphone. She pushed a button, took a breath, then yelled into it.

    ¡°Collage, what did Blinker say about hazing the new people!? He¡¯s still getting over it!¡± Then she tossed the megaphone aside with a giggle. ¡°Only Collage heard that. Blinker has been on his case about the whole beam thing ever since I showed up.¡±

    After using something like that on a twelve year old? I couldn¡¯t imagine why. I decided to change the subject. ¡°Weren¡¯t we supposed to go somewhere?¡±

    Right on cue, Lucidity¡¯s villain detector started beeping. She checked it, suddenly business. ¡°They¡¯re right outside. We¡¯re going that way.¡± She pointed at a third door in the room and we both started booking it.

    ¡°How do you have a villain detector?¡± I asked as we went.

    ¡°Because it¡¯s useful.¡± Lucidity said as if that explained everything. She pulled the door open and the same white mist as outside started to spill out into the room. ¡°So we aren¡¯t going to be able to¡­ we can¡¯t see far in the mist, so we¡¯ll need to stay close as well.¡±

    ¡°It dampens sound as well.¡± I observed.

    ¡°How¡¯d you figure that out?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re quieter. Seemed obvious.¡± Actually, I figured it out using my sixth sense. The moment it touched skin I felt fewer vibrations coming from the air, and the ones I did feel had less volume. Normally my ability to sense the forces on the air was useless, given that it could only tell me about the air that was touching me. I was surprised to find it revealing something, but that was a bit much to say given the situation.

    Lucidity nodded. ¡°Of course.¡± She scratched the back of her helmet. ¡°Really obvious Luci. Really obvious. Uh...¡± She looked at her villain detector. No blips.

    ¡°Just like Muffle, huh.¡± I looked around as far as I could, which wasn¡¯t far. Visibility was cut so short I couldn¡¯t even see the opposite wall of the hallway. ¡°I still don¡¯t get how the villain detector works.¡±

    ¡°It works because it works.¡± Lucidity explained exasperatedly.

    ¡°And this?¡± I pointed at the phaser I was holding. ¡°Phaser set to stun?¡±

    Lucidity gave an honest grin. ¡°Obviously. Oh, that¡¯s right. I need one too.¡± She knelt down and reached beyond the floor. After a moment, she stood back up holding a similar phaser. ¡°Well, with my villain detector keeping an eye out, we should be able to see them before they see us. Let¡¯s get to the elevator.¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°I thought you were the techo in Graceland. I¡¯m getting the feeling I was wrong.¡±

    ¡°Techo? Pfft, nah. I¡¯m not one of those boring boffins. I¡¯m much better. Espec- Darnit. Especially when we¡¯re in the field.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t imagine there are too many inventor types your age for you to socialise with.¡±

    ¡°The only techos in Graceland are villains. Other than that, I¡¯m the powerhouse of invention. But I¡¯ve got a question, what¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Mmm...¡± I stopped myself and tried to make it seem like I was just pondering. It didn¡¯t seem like Lucidity noticed. ¡°The Sentry is calling me Placeholder for the time being.¡±

    ¡°What!? Boo. That¡¯s lame. Your name should like, be inspired by your face.¡±

    ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    Lucidity stopped and headbutted a wall, then turned around revealing that her mask was now completely black, and had two grey motes for eyes. ¡°Spoooky and mysterious.¡± She lowered her voice to stress the point.

    ¡°Huh.¡± I¡¯d forgotten I looked like that. ¡°Any suggestions?¡±

    ¡°Oh! I love this. Mystic Man! Colour Master! Hold on, Collage might not like that. Eh. How about something dark¡­ The Abyss! Wait- what are your powers?¡±

    ¡°Telekinesis and y¡¯know.¡± I smiled as I gestured at myself. ¡°The colour thing.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re like Slingshot. She just joined up too. Can you fly like she does?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve tried.¡± I admitted. ¡°It ended with me face down in the dirt. That dashed my aspirations of becoming a hero at the time.¡±

    ¡°How strong are you?¡±

    ¡°Strong enough to make Orcus struggle.¡±

    Lucidity gave an impressed whistle that was muffled by the mist. At the same time I noticed nearly imperceptible vibrations run up my leg. The only thing stopping them from being imperceptible being my ability to perceive forces.

    ¡°How¡¯d you do it?¡± Lucidity questioned me eagerly. ¡°Make Orcus struggle, I mean. He can literally break through concrete walls. I¡¯ve seen it.¡±

    ¡°I uh, kept a chair in one spot. It¡¯s why I¡¯ve let them call me Placeholder.¡±

    ¡°Placeholder¡¯s lame, use Lockdown instead. Or Master of Touch.¡± I winced. ¡°OR. Use Divine Wall because you stopped a demon!¡±

    I let out a chuckle and shook my head once. ¡°I¡¯m not religious.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Lucidity lost her momentum, and the bubbly conversation slowed. ¡°I¡¯ll keep thinking.¡±

    We walked in the white cloud for a while.

    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± Lucidity eventually broke the silence. We had arrived at the lobby of the floor. There were two closed elevator doors in front of us. ¡°Wait a moment won¡¯t you?¡± She touched the wall next to an elevator and passed her hand through.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to...?¡± I trailed off as I pressed the elevator button. It didn¡¯t light up, and the display above the door remained blank.

    ¡°Cloud¡¯s mist disables all electronics in the area.¡± Lucidity explained with one hand through the wall. ¡°All electronics are kaputz at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so you¡¯re telling me that Cloud is a guy who makes clouds.¡± I checked.

    Lucidity laughed. ¡°Yup.¡±

    ¡°And that his cloud scrambles electronics. Haven¡¯t we been relying on your villain detector?¡±

    She waved her one free hand dismissively. ¡°I stopped using electricity ages ago. This villainous sensor is powered by friendship.¡±

    ¡°Really!? That sounds like something out of a kids show.¡±

    ¡°I saw the ponies do it, and I can do it too!¡± Lucidity retorted defensively. ¡°But just to check.¡± She withdrew her had from the wall and unhooked her villain detector. Lucidity took one look at it and gasped.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I forgot to make the friendship version. I¡¯ll be back with something to open the door. First-¡± Lucidity pushed the villain detector in and out of the wall, and it immediately started beeping. ¡°Eep! Hide Lockdown! They¡¯re around the corner.¡± and she dove through the wall. Leaving me alone in a corridor I could barely see in.

    ¡°Well, that would mean the jig is up.¡± A male voice rang through the cloud.

 1. Heroes/Villains 7

    This was bad. No, worse. This was worse than the situation that lead me into this mess in the first place. I had been beaten up by a guy with no superpowers to speak of so badly, I¡¯d been hospitalised for a week. The only reason I hadn¡¯t been given any casts was dumb luck in the worst way. Now, I was up against a supervillain and I couldn¡¯t even see him.

    ¡°Lucidity!¡± I hissed.

    She didn¡¯t respond. I was alone.

    ¡°Clear the hallway Cloud.¡± A commanding female voice penetrated the mist.

    ¡°Why would I do that?¡± A male voice - Cloud - responded indignantly. ¡°We have the advantage while they can¡¯t see us.¡±

    ¡°How am I supposed to tie anyone up without being able to see them?¡±

    ¡°Ah. Aha. Sometimes I forget that others don¡¯t have the same sight that I do. And anyway, I would have thought you could sense them through the metal.¡±

    A beat. Followed by a heavy sigh. ¡°Cloud, how could I do that before attaching my metal to them? Clear the fucking hall.¡±

    The whole time they were talking I was frozen in a flashback, staring stupidly into the white abyss while trying to think of what I should have done. When the mist started blowing past me I was shaken out of my head and raised my arms to protect my face, not that the mist was particularly damaging. After a few moments the blowing wind ceased, and I cautiously looked ahead.

    Two figures were approaching at a leisurely pace, a guy and a girl, both in their villain costumes. The guy was wearing all white. A white balaclava, white unbuttoned trench coat, white shirt and pants, and squeaky white sneakers, with a reflective snow goggle visor covering the part of his face the balaclava missed. He had a metal pole he was using as a walking stick that gave an audible clang when it hit the floor now that the mist had cleared. The whole ensemble was billowing dramatically, with white mist pouring out of every gap in the clothing and flowing to the edges of the room where it joined with the mist permeating the area. His hands were wreathed in the same effect

    The girl was harder to identify, mostly because Lucidity, or anyone really, hadn¡¯t told me anything about the villains we might be facing. She seemed to be wearing a kind of homemade armour. It looked like chainmail, but was much tighter and neater, and clung close enough to her form that it was curvy and obviously feminine. Her mask was a metal plate that had holes cut over the eyes, nostrils and mouth, and had two impish horns that jutted forward. I could see her eyes through the mask and inadvertently made eye contact. Her focus was on solly on me.

    So much for hiding.

    ¡°Oh? Another new one?¡± The girl seemed surprised. ¡°That makes what? Two in two weeks?¡±

    ¡°Two in one and a half is what that would be.¡± Cloud casually corrected.

    Something in my brain clicked. I¡¯d brushed up on the need to knows of the Sentry and Sentinel in advance of me coming here, but that was definitely not where I stopped researching. There were a lot of Transhumans in Graceland, and villains outnumbered heroes somewhere around two to one. One of those villains that had recently emerged was a girl called Zipline.

    Zipline was recent, so the news article I¡¯d read on her was less than six months old. She had the power of metallurgy as far as I understood it. Any piece of metal she touched Zipline could morph and reshape as she saw fit. Mostly, she used it to create wires and tie up anyone that got in her way. Looking at her, she had no shortage of metal to play with.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Zipline retorted. ¡°You know what the client said: Extreme prejudice.¡±

    That set off alarm bells in my brain. I needed a weapon, but there weren¡¯t any around. No, wait, I had a phaser. I couldn¡¯t feel it the way I could with anything else I touched. There were forces on it, but they were alien, disjointed, and nigh incomprehensible without looking at it. It was like feeling in a different language. The realisation sent chills up my spine. This wasn¡¯t the time for figuring out my own power.

    ¡°Now hold on.¡± Cloud interrupted. Zipline paused and turned her head to glare at him. Three wires were extending from her wrist and wriggled as if alive. The wires turned with Zipline. ¡°What say we ask him what his power is? We don¡¯t want another Waterlad incident.¡±

    ¡°Fine. You there. Blackface. What do you do?¡± Zipline demanded.

    Shit. She was talking to me. ¡°Blackface is a terrible name.¡± My voice responded independently. Why did I say that?

    ¡°Then do tell.¡± Cloud prompted.

    ¡°¡­¡± This wasn¡¯t good. ¡°You have me at a disadvantage.¡± My voice continued. ¡°How about we trade names? And what was the Waterlad incident?¡±

    The two of them exchanged glances. There was a beat. Cloud tapped his staff and the white mist around us rushed in to surround us. As the mists rushed in from the sides I saw Cloud rushing towards me. I panicked and started running but didn¡¯t get far, something wrapped around my leg and stopped me in my tracks.

    My hands shot down and grabbed whatever got me: a wire wrapped around my leg. As I touched it my extra sense revealed a huge matrix of forces. Flustered, I pushed it down, homed in on that force and exaggerated it. In a moment, the wire slid down my leg and slammed onto the floor, allowing me untangle myself from it.

    Unfortunately the wire had been digging into my leg, so it pressed into me the whole way down. Fortunately, the loop wasn¡¯t a perfect circle, giving me some wiggle room and making the action less damaging that it could have been. The victory was short lived, however, as Cloud appeared in the mist and tackled me to the ground.

    There was a flash. I was slumped against a wall. No, that wasn¡¯t it. The mist had pulsed in blue light. Cloud had his staff pressing down on my chest, the fight wasn¡¯t over yet. He was right on top of me and even that was far enough for the mist to diffuse his form.

    ¡°Wonder if the mask is solid.¡± Cloud muttered, then hit me in the face. Since my power only changed the colour of my skin, the blow went through unchecked and my head snapped backwards into the ground.

    There was a muffled chuckle. ¡°It isn¡¯t. Now that would be good for me. Wouldn¡¯t it.¡±

    Damnit, this wasn¡¯t what I wanted. This wasn¡¯t any different from before.

    As I turned my reeling head back towards Cloud, I focused on his coat. My hand shot up and grabbed the collar. The forces acting on the trench coat lighting up in my mind, I focused on a force going upwards and threw him as hard as I could. He gave a sound of surprise a moment before he vanished into the swirling mist. I scrambled to my feet and aimed the phaser in the direction I¡¯d thrown him.

    It occured to me I didn¡¯t even know if this thing had a safety, so I aimed the phaser to the side and experimentally pulled the trigger. Blue light spilled from the device and shot out in a straight line. I didn¡¯t get to see how far it went because of the mist getting in the way, but it was probably safe to assume the entire hallway was within its effective range.

    I corrected my aim as best I could and let out another shot. When there was no response, I started cautiously stepping forward. The whole situation was crazy. I had come for a tour of the tower and a meet and greet with the Sentry, yet here I was fighting two villains. That meant I was breaking the promise I had just made to Sofiya.

    I paused.

    There was nothing I could do about that right now. My thoughts distracted me as two wires snaked through the mist and wrapped themselves around me. One on my arm, one on my leg again.

    There was a quality of force that was difficult to describe in the wires that vanished moments after they ensared me. She had apparently learned from our previous exchange and tightened the loops as soon as they were on me, leaving me no time to react the way I had before. I pulled on one of the wires with my free hand, the one without the phaser and figured it out.

    When Zipline had been channeling her power before, I had noticed a huge matrix of force present in the metal. That same matrix had been present in the wires when they attached to me, but now were curiously absent. No, they were still there, just lesser.

    And before the strange forces had lessened, there had been another matrix on the other end of the wire. It had cut itself off before I could do anything, but I recognised the two points coming off of the head. This wire had been a part of Zipline¡¯s armour. How had she found me anyway? The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    The alien forces of the phaser continued to exist in my hand. Right.

    As I mused on that, a man with a metal pole roared and came charging out of the mist to tackle me. While I was able to brace myself somewhat, the unfortunate experience of being tackled was twofold. One, I was a skinny kid being tackled by a larger guy. Two, I was anchored by wires on my arm and leg. I went down like a bitch, only my arm was still in the air thanks to the wire.

    Cloud grabbed my torso and started to lift. The fact that my arm and leg were anchored interfered a little, but didn¡¯t stop him. He was planning on doing the same move over and over again. The phaser was still in my hands, so I turned the device towards him and saw as he realised what I was doing. I pulled the trigger, a blue beam flashed towards his body and Cloud¡¯s skeleton was briefly visible as his body shuddered and he fell to the ground.

    That had been more firepower than I was expecting. Nevertheless, Cloud wasn¡¯t moving. For all I knew he was down for the count, which freed me up to focus on the tethers that were impeding my movement. The wires were done up tight, now that I had a spare moment to think on it. So much so, that I was beginning to get tingles in the tips of my fingers and running up my leg. Looking at the loops revealed that the wires weren¡¯t tied off, but melded together, forming a perfect circle around my limb.

    I briefly considered using Lucidity¡¯s phaser on the wire to melt it or something, and dismissed the idea as quickly as it came up. Metal was conductive, and Cloud had clearly been taken out with an electrical attack. The fact that I¡¯d seen his skeleton couldn¡¯t have been healthy. What I needed to do was break these wires, if not to release my arm and leg, then to return to them the ability to move.

    Cloud was lying right next to me, and the pole he had been using as a walking stick had rolled conveniently into my reach so I picked it up. It weighed a fair amount, but it wasn¡¯t giving my sixth sense any alien forces, which was refreshing. There was a black mark where he had been holding the staff which I pointedly ignored. I finangled the pole to above the wire and gave the piece of metal an incredible downward force. In an instant the pole vanished from my grip, hit the wire which refused to move, swung downwards and embedded one end in the floor. Vibrations from the impact of the pole hitting the floor ran up my legs, but there was barely any effect from wire and I was no closer to being free.

    Out of curiosity I tugged on the pole. It was in deep and didn¡¯t budge. The power sustaining this wire must be out of this world if that kind of force didn¡¯t do anything. Which gave me an idea. I gripped the wire with my free hand. The matrix of forces on the metal was a swirling torrent in contrast to the simpler systems I was used to working with. For one, every force was tiny, which didn¡¯t make sense because of the insane toughness of the metal, and while most forces were normally unified into easy to comprehend sizes, this was like looking at a colony of ants all moving in synchronisation.

    Though, maybe that was the key. Maybe the wire was only staying still because of an immense amount of individual forces keeping the net force at zero. If that was the case, then all I needed to do was destabilize it. I picked one of the ants at random and turned it away from me. Instantly, there was a crack. A smile spread across my face, and I started turning as many of the tiny forces away from me as possible. Crack after crack appeared in the wire, and eventually the loop was riddled with flaws. The main problem I faced was that by the nature of my power, I could only interact with one force at a time. Another problem, which was arguably more immediately pressing, was that the wire wasn¡¯t crumbling or letting me move any more than I was previously limited to.

    So I opted for a more direct approach, and began using my power to pull the pieces away from my arm individually. Simply touching the pieces with a fingertip and using my telekinesis to move them. Soon I was getting relief in the form of pins and needles as my blood flow returned to my hand.

    My arm was soon freed and I got to work on my leg. Another blue flash of light pulsed through the mist on my right, and was shortly followed by a pink one. That must have been Lucidity. Hopefully, she was holding her own better than I was. The thought occurred to me that I should finish up and go help her out. She would be screwed if Zipline managed to catch her like she had me.

    ¡°My staff.¡± Cloud¡¯s voice was hoarse as he roused. The phaser hadn¡¯t put him down for good. ¡°Give it back.¡±

    The zipwire on my leg still wasn¡¯t off, and I was not looking forward to the prospect of being tackled again. So I pointed the weapon at him and pulled the trigger. Cloud¡¯s skeleton flashed into view for a moment, and he hit the deck. This time he stayed still and the fog flowing off of him ceased, leaving me to finish freeing myself.

    My full range of movement returned to me, I gingerly took a few steps, wincing at the tingling sensation that came with every second step. Once my leg had returned to normality enough that I could easily walk, I returned to the staff and put a hand on it. A tug revealed the magnitude the forces pulling it down. I simply matched it with an upwards force and lifted the staff like it was weightless. The pieces of metal that had restrained me were all still levitating in the air, I noted.

    ¡°Lockdown!¡± A soft voice barely pierced the mist.

    ¡°Is that Lucidity?¡± I called back.

    ¡°You managed to win?!¡± Her voice was surprised as Lucidity¡¯s form came into view through the mist. A few of the devices she had made were missing from her bandolier, and she had exchanged her phaser for a large cylindrical device that honestly looked like a rocket launcher. I noticed I could see her from a little further away. Cloud was down, so it made sense that the mist would be dissipating.

    ¡°Your phaser managed to win.¡± I admitted. ¡°I didn¡¯t really do anything except pull the trigger.¡± And the fact that I let myself use my power. Last time my identity would have been put at risk if I suddenly started throwing things around. It was freeing to not have to worry about that. ¡°And maybe shorten it to Lock.¡±

    ¡°Neat! Cloud must have underestimated you because you¡¯re new. Is that his staff?¡± I nodded. ¡°Keep it, Lock. That¡¯ll make him soo mad.¡±

    The youthful energy brought a smirk to my face. I gripped the staff and pulled, but it was stuck so I enhanced the force I was exerting until it was freed in an explosion of concrete.

    ¡°What about Zipline?¡± I asked. ¡±I saw a few flashes.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s down, probably out. I took a whatsit from Collage and put some pink in a flashbang.¡± Lucidity explained jubilantly. ¡°And then I trapped her with this.¡± She held up the device in her hands. ¡°Net gun.¡±

    I processed that. ¡°A flashbang of... love?¡± I carefully poised.

    ¡°Yup!¡±

    I decided it would be best to file that away to address later. ¡°What now? You¡¯re in charge.¡±

    ¡°Yup! Oh, right.¡± Lucidity¡¯s demeanour changed with the realisation. ¡°We still need to go down. To the basement. I was doing a thing to open the¡­ Right.¡±

    Lucidity jumped into a wall and a moment later jumped back out with a phaser in hand, and a small disk with a flashing red light in the other. The net gun apparently discarded. She moved to an elevator door and put the device on it. The disk beeped, a red light danced around the rim, and the elevator door opened. She turned to me proudly.

    ¡°Door opener. Even works on locked oned.¡± She explained. ¡°Right, I just realised you can¡¯t get down there. Hold on.¡± And Lucidity vanished into a wall.

    I took the moment of alone time to step towards the elevator shaft and look down. Cloud¡¯s mist had cleared that I could see three or four metres ahead, so it was like looking into a white abyss. We were on a high floor, so chances were that the elevator was somewhere between here and the ground floor. That was what, twenty floors? Thirty?

    ¡°I¡¯ve got hoverboards!¡± Lucidity announced her return. ¡°They¡¯re super intuitive or something because I made them that way. Orcus told me to say that.¡± She explained when I gave her a look.

    Looking at hoverboards didn¡¯t fill me with hope. They were shaped like a typical skateboard, but had no wheels and the board was flat, save for two oval indents where the feet were supposed to go. Lucidity dropped one on the floor in front of me and jumped onto another she had brought from beyond the wall. A ring of green light illuminated around the side of the board and it slowed to a stop before it went too far.

    ¡°I just step on it?¡± I checked.

    ¡°Duh.¡± Lucidity responded.

    Expecting things to go wrong despite her assurances, I trepidatiously stepped onto the board. The green light lit up when both feet were on, but I didn¡¯t go anywhere as a wire snaked out of the fog and wrapped itself around my leg. I immediately grabbed it and used my power to fling it upwards. I didn¡¯t bother holding back, given that I¡¯d only have a short time to act. My end barely moved. The other end of the wire wasn¡¯t so lucky. I felt the horns penetrate the ceiling, no, the bottom of the floor above and stay there.

    I winced. Maybe that was too much. Zipline wasn¡¯t moving anymore, she was stuck up there.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Lucidity asked, breaking the silence.

    I replied distractedly, focusing on removing the wire from around my leg. ¡°Zipline tried to jump me. So I put her in the ceiling.¡±

    The young hero pouted. ¡°I thought the lovebang would have lasted longer.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s been¡­ Dealt with.¡± I awkwardly finished as I stepped back on the hoverboard. ¡°How does this work again?¡±

    ¡°Just focus on moving in a direction.¡± Lucidity said.

    I focused on moving forward and the board started scraping along the carpet. I tilted my head up and started gaining some air. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s just like snowboarding.¡± I realised. As an experiment I crouched a little and subsequently sped up. If you took away the snow, the cold, leg bindings, and safety equipment, it was just like snowboarding.

    ¡°We should go.¡± Lucidity reminded me. ¡°You first. I¡¯ll close this behind us.¡±

    Impressed with how fast I was getting the hang of hoverboarding, I sailed through the opening and began descending. Lucidity pulled the disk off of the door above me and replaced it on the other side. Seconds later the door was closed. Seconds after that, my board came into contact with something and began listing dangerously.

    It wasn¡¯t the elevator, which was curious. I reacted and tried to move back up, but the board was anchored. It pivoted upwards and I lost my footing. Subsequently, I fell before I could get a word out.

    All that happened so fast I didn¡¯t have time to think up a way to finangle myself out of this mess. Fortunately, it turned out I didn¡¯t have to, something broke my fall. It was difficult to see in the mist, but I was able to perceive the threads that caught me as soon as one touched my neck and stuck there. Cloud¡¯s staff was caught at a weird angle and was wrenched from my grasp.

    My fall had apparently been broken by a humongous spider¡¯s web that spanned the elevator shaft. The only reason I knew being that I could sense the entire web through my sixth sense. It told me the web went down several floors, and also informed me of the myriad of creatures all skittering around on said web.

    ¡°Fuck this.¡± The words escaped my mouth as my thoughts turned towards fire.

 1. Heroes/Villains 8

    ¡°Stay up there, Lucidity!¡± I shouted, hoping the mist had cleared enough for the sound to carry. No luck, I watched as the green light of the hoverboard grow brighter overhead.

    ¡°Stop!¡± I tried again.

    ¡°What!?¡± A muffled voice made it through the mist.

    ¡°Spiders down here! I got caught by the web!¡±

    There was an immediate high pitched tone that made it through the mist. ¡°No! Not spiders. I hate Spiders! Wait- did you fall!?¡±

    Not for the first time, I cursed my power, fully aware of each moving leg attached to web. ¡°Yeah, but not far. They must have predicted someone would use the elevator shaft.¡± Why anyone would use this measure, I couldn¡¯t guess. ¡°I¡¯m like, three metres below you! I don¡¯t see myself going anywhere!¡±

    ¡°Metres! I don¡¯t know metres! Hold on. I¡¯ll be right back with something to help!¡± Lucidity assured me with a shudder in her voice

    I rapidly did the math in my head. ¡°Six feet!¡± I guessed. ¡°Go up first!¡±

    Unfortunately my warning came too late. Lucidity¡¯s hoverboard got caught on something and stopped, propelling her forward instead and into the air where her body suddenly snapped backwards, pivoting in midair and leaving her hanging upside down. I winced, having felt it through the web. A strand of the material had caught her on the waist and stopped her instantly.

    The activity from the spiders below suddenly went into overdrive now there were two of us stuck in the web. I felt dozens of tiny impacts as several spiders began ascending from the group of them a few floors down. Even more impacts made themselves known as the mass of spiders begin writhing within itself.

    ¡°So uh, do you have any plans?¡± I shouted.

    ¡°Close your eyes!¡± Lucidity warned as something fell past me.

    Remembering what Lucidity had on her bandolier, I shut my eyes and began counting. When I got to three there was a muffled bang that left my ears ringing despite the fog and caused several spiders to fall from the webbing. I was treated to a mental image of the bodies hitting the web as they fell down the floors. The attack had affected six of the spiders climbing towards us, and had barely touched the mass further below.

    ¡°Bad news. That only got half of them!¡± I announced, generously rounding up. ¡°Do you have any more of those?!¡±

    ¡°Just this!¡± Lucidity called back as another flashbang fell past me. This time I shut my eyes just moments before the explosion went off. It got seven this time, but more spiders were still coming. It was difficult to tell, the conglomerate mass of spiders was distracting me. They were spinning more web, slowly expanding my range of ¡°sight¡±.

    ¡°Did I get them?¡± Lucidity called quietly, barely breaking through the damping mist.

    The first spider walked into my field of view. ¡°No.¡± I muttered. Given the mist, the word probably didn¡¯t reach the twelve year old hero, but the absence of an answer would tell her the same thing.

    A second, then a third spider appeared in my vision. They were each the size of a tarantula. My sixth sense told me they were walking on the web, but the white mist left over from Cloud obscured the strands against a white backdrop. The spiders had yellow fur that stood on end and bristled with each movement. They darted a short distance, stopped and surveyed me, then darted closer, and stopped. Repeating the process and getting closer and closer..

    ¡°No! No! Go away!¡± Lucidity shrieked as four more spiders darted up to her. ¡°Get off me-ee!¡± The web heated up against my skin. Her voice raised an octave. Then she slumped, unmoving.

    I was aware of this through the spider¡¯s web as I kept my eyes on the closest spider. It skittered from place to place, not getting any closer. As did the other two which had moved to surround me. Below the entirety of the swarm of spiders stopped moving. All except a small number of them, which began tapping the web repeatedly in a pattern. If I arranged it in my head, it almost appeared like a pulsing constellation.

    ¡°Hold on.¡± The dots were beginning to connect in my head. ¡°How could you-¡±

    Then there were four furry spider legs on my hand. My head snapped around to see the yellow spider on my entrapped limb, its fur bristling unnaturally. Energy arced between the legs and the hair on my arm stood on end. It discharged. I had the pleasure of perceiving an acute electric shock right before my body jumped and the world went black.

    ~~~

    I woke up quietly. With my eyes still closed I sorted through the events I could remember just before going to sleep. Scratch that, before I blacked out, as well as the place I was waking up in. There was a sheet covering me, as well as a mattress and pillow underneath me. My clothes were unchanged, and that was all I could tell with my eyes closed.

    There was someone moving around in the room with me. Considering the circumstances of my unconsciousness, I waited for the footsteps to move away from me before opening my eyes. The room was clinical, there were several machines around the bed I was lying in, though none of them were in use, and there was a curtain between me and most of the room.

    Sitting up brought attention to bandages on my arm and neck. I absentmindedly pressed on one as I pushed the sheets off me with the other, wincing as pain flared from underneath the white bandage. Looking at it, I realised the bandage covered a long and thin portion of my skin, and wrapped loosely around the length of my arm.

    As I was about to get off the bed, the curtain opened, revealing an older man with salt and pepper hair and a five o¡¯clock shadow. He was wearing shorts and a shirt with a cartoon bunny on it, with a white coat over it.

    ¡°Hello M-¡± He cut himself off and checked over his shoulder, then closed the curtain behind him. ¡°I¡¯m Dr. Louis Grath. You were found knocked out and were taken here for treatment.¡±

    His explanation made sense. ¡°I figured.¡± I acknowledged, then stood. A sudden pain in my leg took me off guard as I put weight on it, and had to catch myself before I fell.

    ¡°Steady there. You should sit down.¡± He gestured to the bed. ¡°We¡¯ll do a check up, see what you need, if anything, then send you on your way. Turn your mask off while you¡¯re at it.¡±

    I shrugged and obliged. The doctor picked up a clipboard hanging from the foot of the bed.

    ¡°So: you have first degree burns on your arm and neck. Nothing too serious. We¡¯ve applied some ointment and wrapped up the affected area. You¡¯ll need to keep them on until tomorrow morning. After that, you can take them off and there shouldn¡¯t be anything too visible left.¡±

    ¡°You make it seem like it¡¯s going to scar.¡± I observed.

    ¡°It will.¡± Dr Louis confirmed without missing a beat. ¡±You were knocked unconscious by the shock of pain from electricity passing through your body and out into a spider¡¯s web. I don¡¯t entirely understand the phenomenon, it¡¯s not my field of expertise. But I do understand how to treat it because it¡¯s just a burn. Some ointment, bandages, and time. The first two have already been taken care of. Make sure you take painkillers if and when the pain flares up, and come see me again if it does. As for the burns, there will be visible scar tissue, but only under scrutiny. After six months, you might not even be able to pick it out in bad lighting.¡±

    Louis paused, giving me some time to comprehend what he¡¯d just told me.

    ¡°You¡¯ve encountered this before.¡± I said. It made sense. The Sentry and Sentinel were constantly engaged in matters relating to supervillains. The likelihood that I was the first person to get done in this way was low by my take. I even had a reasonable guess as to which supervillain had been the one to set up the trap.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Dr Louis confirmed my suspicion. ¡°The one responsible for the web, Spinnerette, has been active for just under two years. While this particular breed of spider was only first sighted six months ago, it¡¯s quite an effective one. Most of the Sentrys have come through this infirmary because of it.¡±

    ¡°Hence the six months.¡± I commented with dark mirth.

    ¡°Indeed.¡± The corner of Dr Louis¡¯ mouth curled a fraction.

    Spinnerette had a unique status among the villains of Graceland. While each had their own claim to fame, or infamy as it were, none of them quite matched the creepiness of the Spinnerette. She appeared to have the ability to command a swarm of spiders that followed her around and obeyed her silent commands. If that weren¡¯t enough, her personal swarm consisted of rare species that weren¡¯t found anywhere else.

    Consequently, Spinnerette was an internet sensation. When I was researching the superheroes and villains of the area, most of what I found were forums relating to her. Each with its own theory as to what her powers were. Each as preposterous and radical as the last, and ironically meant that despite there being a lot of coverage on the villain, there wasn¡¯t much information I could consider reliable.

    ¡°What is Spinnerette¡¯s power anyway?¡± This was the time to ask.

    Dr Louis took a moment to think. ¡°I think she¡¯s down as a Smart Monarch in the database. Meaning she¡¯s a psychic that can control other creatures.¡± He elaborated when I looked confused. ¡°It explains how she can control the swarm. Though, that doesn¡¯t explain the variety in spiders. I¡¯m not the first to admit that we don¡¯t know much.¡±

    ¡°Smart Monarch?¡± I echoed. It was a phrase I¡¯d encountered several times in my research. But I hadn¡¯t been able to pin down exactly what it meant.

    ¡°Part of the Metafore standard the Regulation uses to classify transhumans.¡± Dr Louis quickly rattled off. ¡°You¡¯ll become familiar with all that if you stick around. Anyway, we¡¯re not done yet. You have multiple bruises covering your torso and arms, and I found blood above your ear. Putting that plaster there was a hassle when you still had your mask on.¡±

    My ear was bleeding? I touched a hand to my ear to find nothing amiss. Then I moved above that to find yet another plaster.

    ¡°That makes me a concussion risk, right?¡± I checked.

    ¡°It puts you at risk of concussion.¡± Dr Louis technically corrected. ¡°Look here.¡± He put the clipboard down and swiftly produced a light. He shined in my eye, then switched to the other. The checks done, he stowed everything away and returned to the clipboard.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°You seem fine right now, but I¡¯m going to advise you not to fall asleep before midnight tonight.¡± He noted, writing on the clipboard. ¡°Get someone to watch you and don¡¯t fall asleep if you feel queasy. Now for the symptom I haven¡¯t seen before. Roll up your pants, right hand side only.¡±

    Knowing what this was about, I pulled my pants up above my knee. What I saw made me suck in a breath through clenched teeth. The back half of my leg was a myriad of unhealthy colours that were beginning to spread around towards the front of limb.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen bruises before, but to be bruised to this extent is this way...¡± Dr Louis shook his head. ¡°Can you explain how this happened?¡±

    ¡°Uh, sure.¡± I searched my memories of what happened. ¡°It was Zipline. She got me twice. The first time she got me around the leg, so I pushed it down. It hit the floor and I walked away.¡±

    ¡°How hard did you push Zipline¡¯s wire?¡±

    ¡°Very. She tried it again and I put her in the ceiling.¡±

    ¡°Hm. Normally strength of that calibre is coupled with durability.¡± Louis commented, completely brushing over my radical statement.

    ¡°No super strength here, just telekinesis.¡± I corrected.

    ¡°I see.¡± He pondered for a moment. ¡°I¡¯ve already done an examination, and didn¡¯t find anything wrong with the bone. The rest seems fine as well. Tell me how bad this hurts.¡± He pressed down on my bruised skin.

    ¡°Ah!¡± I winced. ¡°It hurts, but I¡¯m not going to scream. You said you examined me. With an X-ray?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Louis didn¡¯t miss a beat. ¡°This particular injury is not of lasting concern. Don¡¯t go running for, let¡¯s say three days and see how it feels. Try and avoid injuring it further, and you may find it in your best interest to wear long pants until this clears up.¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡± That last point was fine. Long pants were all I wore anyway.

    ¡°Though, that leads us to two bruises in the forms of rings around your arm and other leg.¡±

    ¡°Zipline got me again, and Cloud tackled me before I could get out.¡± I supplied, guessing where he was going.

    ¡°I suspected as much. You¡¯ll likely find yourself wanting painkillers over the next few days, in which case you¡¯ll want a prescription. Try walking around a little while I get one printed out for you. If it turns out to be something bad, we¡¯ll do something about it. If not, booyah...¡± He gave a small fist pump and left the bedside, leaving me bemused by the dry humour of his closing statement.

    Walking was fine after I got into it. There was a twinge of pain each time my injured leg lifted off the ground, but I¡¯d walked places in more painful situations. I walked out into the infirmary proper to find three other beds, one of which was occupied. There were two exits from the room. One presumably lead to the rest of the tower, while Dr Louis¡¯ office was through the other one. The man himself was just waiting for the printer to finish.

    ¡°Here.¡± He handed me the still warm prescription. ¡°There¡¯s an in house pharmacy on floor one. Take two when the pain becomes disruptive, but no more than four every eight hours. Oh, and make sure to take those bandages off before you head to school.¡±

    ¡°Got that. Thanks.¡± I stood there awkwardly. ¡°So¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, you¡¯re new.¡± A comforting expression crossed Dr Louis¡¯ face. ¡°Things here have to move quickly. So don¡¯t expect too much bedside banter from me until you become bedridden. I can have up to four heroes in here at a time, and then more asking for all kinds of things, so it can be quite hectic in here. Today it was just you, Lucidity, and a request for painkillers from Satellite. Normally it¡¯s worse than that. Now, I believe the rest of the Sentry are debriefing right now in the recreation room. Do you know where that is?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been there.¡± I answered, stressing the operative word.

    Given that I didn¡¯t know exactly where I was, Dr Louis gave me directions and sent me on my way. I wanted to say hi to Lucidity, but she was still knocked out. While I walked down the halls, I caught my reflection in one of the glass doors and realised my mask was off, which I quickly fixed. The mask I¡¯d put on earlier in the day had still been active, which was a pleasant surprise. I had honestly thought that the mask would fail when I got knocked out, but it was good to know it didn¡¯t. That meant it wouldn¡¯t fail in the future.

    There was an urge to drop the mask and inspect myself, which I resisted given I was in a public space. It wasn¡¯t crowded, but I had spied a few men and women in smart clothes or combat gear as I made my way through the tower. That no one had seen my face so far was dumb luck. Soon enough I walked into the recreation room as the many superheroes there were standing up to leave.

    The ones I recognised were Orcus and Zephyr, who were packing up reports at the head of the table. Collage, Slingshot, and Unshaken, who I found my eyes lingering on, were in an involved discussion. Mostly it was between Collage and Unshaken, with Slingshot only taking part when addressed. There was also Snowflake, now in costume, sitting near Muffle in the quiet space.

    Her¡¯s was a costume that was sleek and pale to the point where I couldn¡¯t tell if it was white or very light blue. It was a one piece costume with plates of armour worked into the fabric, giving her a tougher air than she had out of costume, while still clearly showing a female shape. She also had a fur mantle over her shoulders, completing the look. There were a number of holes arranged in three vertical lines over her mouth and nose, and she had a visor that wasn¡¯t that much different from Cloud¡¯s. Above Snowflake was a small white cloud, swirling silently. Muffle nervously glanced at every now and then. I also recognised Voidling as they left through another door.

    There was another hero I only caught a glimpse of that left ahead of Voidling. In addition to that there were four others still in the room. A young kid was sitting in the quiet space with Snowflake and Muffle. He was wearing an unzipped blue hoodie over a white shirt and had cargo pants that were a darker shade of blue than the hoodie. On top of that was a close fitting exoskeleton of intersecting metal that seemed to be part of each article of clothing he was wearing, and was attached to his metal helmet. The metal came to a point in two antennae that resembled pointed ears extending up and backwards from the head. Dr Louis had just mentioned him, he was Satellite.

    At the table was another man in a close fitting yellow bodysuit. It covered everything except for the jaw and hands, which were wearing white fingerless gloves. The costume was very similar to Unshaken¡¯s, although he didn¡¯t have a jacket on and had a belt where Unshaked didn¡¯t. There were two pale blue strips on each arm that started at the wrist, the turn backwards at the elbows, and his eyes were covered by similarly blue reflective lenses. There was another blue strip that started at each eye and made their way horizontally around his head, leaving the bridge between the eyes the yellow of the rest of the costume. He was Blinker, the Sentry I needed to establish good relations with the most. He was the captain of the Sentry.

    Blinker was conversing with Orcus and Zephyr, as well as two other characters that were out of place, being the only ones not dressed up in a costume. There was a woman who looked around middle age. She had curly brown hair and was wearing a blue pencil dress, and had a white leather jacket hanging from her shoulders.

    The last character was a man dressed in what must have been an expensive suit. The clothes were well fitted, yet the man carried himself with such confidence that even from across the room I got the impression he was dressing down today. Of the two, the man was considerably more engaged in the conversation with the heroes. The woman was leisurely glancing around the room, so she saw me as I entered and gave a pleasant smile. I responded in kind, realised my mask stopped anyone from seeing me do that, and then gave an awkward wave.

    ¡°Hey Placeholder!¡± Collage called from across the room.

    ¡°What happened to you?¡± I asked. The Sentry had left the conversation with Slingshot and Unshaken and cross the quiet space to reach me. Now that I¡¯d taken a moment to really look at him, I could see there were a lot of torn pieces of what looked like¡­ Paper? Hanging from parts of his body.

    ¡°Ran into a delivery for the printer.¡± Collage dismissively explained. The dots connected in my head.

    ¡°Oh, of course. Junk Mail.¡±

    ¡°You got it.¡±

    Junk Mail had the ability to create matter from nothing in whatever shape he chose, with the stipulation that it had to be flat paper. Collage flicked his hand. ¡°Though that¡¯s nothing compared to what you went through I hear. Spiders in the elevator and ziplines gift wrapped in the ceiling. Who would¡¯ve thought?¡±

    ¡°Who told you about that?¡± This question being my subtle way of finding out who had found me in the elevator.

    ¡°Whole buncha people.¡± Collage flippantly answered with a grin, then turned towards where the sentinels had gathered. ¡°Oi Blinker! Rookie¡¯s here when you¡¯re ready.¡±

    The hero in the yellow bodysuit looked towards us and nodded, then turned back.

    ¡°He¡¯ll be a while I bet, Zephyr loves her pep talks.¡± Collage muttered, then slapped me on the shoulder. ¡°Hey, I owe you an apology about the beam thing.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah.¡± I answered sarcastically. ¡°What¡¯s with this change of heart? You seemed pretty unapologetic about it before.¡±

    ¡°Look, when you¡¯re running headfirst into danger while blind, you catch up to a man who can wrap you up like a present with a thought, and then a twelve year old girl blows up your ears to chastise you for breaking a promise, you take a look at yourself.¡± Collage sighed wistfully. ¡°Shame I went up against Junk Mail. He¡¯s my perfect counter. I wanted to hit both friends and foes with that beam today, but I guess I¡¯ll settle for just friends.¡±

    ¡°You have issues.¡± I said.

    Collage shrugged. ¡°You think you¡¯re better?¡±

    ¡°...¡± I didn¡¯t answer. It was telling.

    ¡°First rule of being a transhuman: Almost everyone is broken, and the ones who aren¡¯t are huge cunts. Example: Meretha over there is the only one of us not in costume. The guy doesn¡¯t count because he¡¯s Theo Chastain, the regulation boss of this place. But Meretha had a positive manifestation, and so she runs the books and also each of us.¡±

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t she in costume?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t get a power suited for fighting. She¡¯s worse. She a whisper.¡±

    This was getting annoying. ¡°Are you going to explain the classification thing? I have no idea what a whisper is.¡±

    Collage laughed. ¡°All in good time. Head¡¯s up. Here comes the best of us.¡±

    Blinker was making his way towards us. He stepped over the threshold of the quiet space and gave me an up and down before speaking. Mostly it was down and less down, he had several inches over me.

    ¡°Hello rookie, welcome to the Sentry.¡± His speech was measured and he spoke with intent. It reminded me of Orcus. ¡°Today has been as good an initiation I could hope for anyone. What do I call you?¡±

    ¡°Lockdown.¡± I recalled what Lucidity had been calling me while we were fighting Zipline and Cloud. ¡°Actually, just Lock.¡± I amended. ¡°I think it rolls off the tongue better.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem to match your¡­ demeanour.¡± Blinker commented.

    ¡°I was hoping you¡¯d stick with Placeholder.¡± Collage stated.

    ¡°Ask Orcus about his experience with my power.¡± I told Blinker. ¡°He¡¯ll agree with me. Lock fits.¡±

    ¡°Well, Lock, I¡¯m going to ask for your version of events today.¡±

    ¡°Easy enough.¡± And I began to recount a succinct version of events starting from my arrival in the tower.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± Blinker stopped me when I started describing the spider charging up and clicked a device I hadn¡¯t realised he¡¯d been holding. He¡¯d recorded the whole thing. ¡°Thank you Lock. Given that you aren¡¯t educated about our protocol for events such as this, I¡¯ll be in charge of handling your report. I¡¯m impressed that you were able to fend off Cloud while also under assault from Zipline. Even with Lucidity running interference, you performed well.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, normally rookies freeze up in their first fight. Ruins everything for everyone.¡± Collage gave his two cents. Blinker barely moved, but I could feel his attention shifting to the colourful guy next to me. The atmosphere around us was suddenly icy.

    ¡°Right. I¡¯ve overstayed my welcome.¡± Collage followed up, and took the opportunity to leave.

    What he had said was clearly a jibe directed at Blinker, but it struck true for me. The first time I¡¯d been in a fight, I¡¯d frozen up and been walked all over. There was no way I was letting that happen again.

    Blinker watched Collage go. ¡°You took some damage today.¡± He said distractedly. ¡°Don¡¯t come in tomorrow. I want you in here for basic training after school the day after.¡±

    ¡°Right, uh, gotcha.¡± I awkwardly got out.

    Blinker abruptly vanished, leaving a person shaped burn in my vision and was suddenly across the room initiating a conversation with the two people not in costume. I blinked rapidly to clear my retinas. It wasn¡¯t like I was blinded or anything, the light that had shone when Blinker flexed his power wasn¡¯t that powerful it seemed. The impressive part was the distance he moved, while not actually moving at all. He wore the costume of someone with superspeed, but was actually a teleporter it seemed.

    In any case I had effectively been dismissed, and promptly left the building. I stopped once by the pharmacy to pick up Louis¡¯ prescription. Today had been absolutely filled with all kinds of crises, and now I had questions. Two questions resounded in my head above all others.

    One being how I was going to explain this to Sofiya. The promise she had me make this morning had effectively been shattered. The second being what the hell the spiders meant while tapping out ¡°JMcM¡± on a spiderweb that I wasn¡¯t even technically able to see.

 1. Heroes/Villains 9

    Alice and Marie were playing a dangerous game when I reached home. The two girls were on the trampoline, bouncing around and having a great time also playing football with a ball that I knew for sure was very hard. I knew because I¡¯d been the one to inflate it as well as the first to take it in the gut. Alice wanted it as full as possible. They were outside because it was still daytime, a fact that had taken me off guard when I left the SRT.

    Today I had already watched a movie, had a heart to heart with a younger foster sister, been shot with a love beam and subsequently introduced to two new people that I could not get out of my mind. Then I¡¯d been caught in the middle of an assault on the SRT, and been wounded fighting off two villains before getting caught in a web. A web where I¡¯d been electrocuted to unconsciousness by a taser spider, and then woken in a hospital bed an indeterminate amount of time later.

    After all that I¡¯d stumbled outside to find it was still only half past three in the afternoon. Jagmikh fulfilled his self appointed duty of breaking the sound barrier while I was walking home. The amount of stuff that had happened today was staggering. The girls barely registered my return as I walked past them into the house. The sounds of music pumped up to drown out other noise was soothing.

    All was well, there was no alarm like I¡¯d been expecting. I wandered into the living room/kitchen to find Sofiya on the couch facing away from me, her attention fully on a game I didn¡¯t recognize. Kathrine was there as well, sitting at the dining table with an assortment of paperwork in front of her. She looked pale, and had her phone was lying nearly out of reach. Her fingers tapped out an inscrutable pattern next to it and it didn¡¯t look like she was getting anything done. That told me she was worried.

    She looked up before I could open my mouth. ¡°Michael, you¡¯re back!¡± Kathrine was up and out of her chair in an instant and wrapped me in a hug the moment she reached me.

    ¡°Ghe-¡± Whatever I was going to say was lost in the hug. I blushed furiously, and awkwardly returned the gesture. I gave Kathrine a single pat on the back, being careful to avoid more skin to skin contact. The hug dragged on longer than I was comfortable with, and I started studying the corners of the room.

    Kathrine eventually released me and I immediately started erasing the mental images from my mind.

    ¡°I got a message from a- a Rosie, I think.¡± Kathrine started explaining. ¡°She claimed to be a part of the Regulation. All she said was the Sentinel Tower was compromised and that you were involved, but didn¡¯t explain anything!¡±

    ¡°I can fill in the gaps.¡± I sat down at the table and pulled a sleeve up a fraction. ¡°I wasn¡¯t unscathed.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you need to see-¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been treated already.¡± I continued. ¡°Medically, I mean. The body¡¯s all fine. And I handled myself better than, you know...¡±

    ¡°Are you willing to talk about what happened?¡± Kathrine pressed.

    ¡°I-¡± Excuses died in my throat. ¡°Well¡­¡± I ended up giving her a more succinct version of events than what I gave to Blinker, leaving out the stuff that felt like a conspiracy. Kathrine had a few questions which I answered to the best of my civilian ability. Then a matter heavy in my mind took the stage.

    ¡°Tasing spiders...¡± Kathrine mulled the thought of it, then shivered. ¡°I¡¯d be bringing out more than just bug spray if any of those ever showed up here. Who even thought that up?¡±

    ¡°Kathrine, there¡¯s something else I¡¯m not sure how to deal with.¡± I started. Kathrine gave me her full attention and waited. ¡°Earlier, before the movie, I mean, I had a talk with Sofiya. She overheard us talking about the sentry or something. I don¡¯t know. The point is: she knew about me joining the Sentry and I wanted to talk to her about it before things went too far and she blew my cover or something.¡±

    ¡°And how did that go?¡±

    ¡°Fine. I think.¡± I answered honestly, glancing at the nine year old oblivious to my presence. ¡°Thing is, I made a promise to not look for fights until I got some training.¡± I gave Kathrine a deadpan stare. ¡°It didn¡¯t take me three hours to break that promise.¡±

    Kathrine gave the problem some thought. ¡°Were you given an option?¡±

    ¡°No, I was trapped in the spider¡¯s web. But do you think Sofiya¡¯s going to see it that way? She¡¯s nine.¡± I leaned back in my chair with a sigh. I took subtle relief in feeling it as it scraped across the floor. ¡°I don¡¯t like promises.¡±

    ¡°You should apologise.¡± Kathrine decided.

    I didn¡¯t respond. Sofiya had turned around and met my eyes. She gave a wave, so I gave one in return. It was from across the room, but I still felt Sofiya¡¯s eyes sharpen on the barely visible bandage that creeped out onto the back of my hand.

    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I muttered as Sofiya threw her game controller to the side and moved around the couch towards me. She stalked up and pulled my hand towards her. I could have resisted the strength of a nine year old, but decided against it.

    Sofiya looked at the bandage. She pushed my long sleeve up my arm, revealing how far the bandage traveled. Kathrine gasped when she saw the full extent of it. Sofiya met my eyes, her expression hard and telling me nothing.

    I told her. ¡°You¡¯re sharp.¡±

    She told me. ¡°You promised.¡± And dropped my hand and left.

    ¡°I could explain¡­¡± I trailed off, already resigned to Sofiya¡¯s ire.

    The music dipped in volume. ¡°Sofiya, Michael has something to tell you.¡± Kathrine spoke commandingly, using her mother voice. It made Sofiya stop, but that was all it did. Kathrine gave me a nudge.

    I spoke honestly. ¡°Oh. Right. Sofiya, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    I then kicked myself as hard as Icould without actually moving. That didn¡¯t even convince me.

    Sofiya didn¡¯t respond to that. I wasn¡¯t looking at Kathrine. The tension rose as music that was popular thirty years ago played in the background. When no one said anything Sofiya left, the sound of her footsteps drowned out by the speakers.

    ¡°Well that could have gone better Michael.¡± Kathrine commented.

    ¡°I¡¯m getting a drink.¡± I replied. I didn¡¯t want to think about this.

    ¡°That better not mean what I think it means.¡± Kathrine mirthfully chided me.

    ¡°...¡± I busied myself getting a glass of juice. ¡°How are you like that already?¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    I struggled to find the right word. ¡°Normal.¡±

    Kathrine gave a sharp laugh. ¡°Just because I¡¯m fostering three little ones doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t know how to deal with teenagers. I¡¯ve been doing this a while.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh.¡± I wasn¡¯t impressed by the non-answer she gave me.

    ¡°I¡¯ll put it another way. I¡¯m the mother hen of three girls who constantly need something, are always fighting and growing and changing. This is normal. If anything you¡¯re the weird one.¡±

    ¡°Huh.¡± I mused the thought as I took a sip. ¡°I know why.¡±

    Kathrine waited but I didn¡¯t elaborate.

    ¡°Should I try again?¡± I eventually asked.

    ¡°Again?¡± Kathrine questioned.

    ¡°With Sofiya. Apologising.¡± I said like it was a new concept for me.

    ¡°Yes, but don¡¯t lead with ¡®I¡¯m sorry¡¯. It¡¯ll make you look like a poser.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t help me.¡±

    ¡°You have common ground, start with that. Or dazzle her with your power or something. She¡¯s still a nine year old¡± Kathrine was so blase about it that I couldn¡¯t help but frown. Was I putting too much thought into this?

    ¡°I¡¯ll be upstairs.¡± I told her and took my drink with me.

    ~~~

    The matter with Sofiya wasn¡¯t something I was about to forget about, so I was comfortable benching that for later. Once I was in my room I improvised a lock on my door by putting something very heavy in front of it, like a desk. My power made doing that a cinch, and quickly left me with a degree of privacy as I opened my laptop and navigated to my emails.

    The Regulation had set up an email for me: [email protected]</a>, which I checked first. There were two emails. One was from Orcus detailing a training regiment I was expected to follow, and the other was from Blinker, who introduced himself as my trainer for said regiment.

    The training had blocks called tactics, communication, power training, surveillance, first aid, and more like that. I was relieved to see that there weren¡¯t any blocks dedicated to patrol. It seemed they weren¡¯t about to send me into the field in my current state, though the thought crossed my mind that they were still going ahead with this despite me being able to hold my own against a villain and part of me felt ready.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    I filed the new information away and moved over to my personal emails. After a moment¡¯s hesitation I slid the cursor over the search bar and typed in four letters: ¡°jmcm¡±.

    There was one result.

    It had no subject, no attachments, and had been sent by a J McMaster. I leaned back and looked at the email heading. This was proof that there was something happening behind the scenes. Something linked this ¡°J. McMaster¡± to Spinnerette, who somehow knew enough about my power to deliver a message in such a way that it could only be for me in the middle of an assault on the SRT. But that begged the question, why was this email so important?

    When I hovered the mouse over the email, the preview showed the beginning of a link that lead back to Maine Ladder high, but stopped before reaching the end of the link. So the email was in line with the email fiasco that had happened while I was away from school. This would theoretically log me onto someone else¡¯s account. Nathan had said that the emails had been sent from the account that the links let them log on to, so this would get me onto this J¡¯s account.

    I opened the email and found it contained the link and underneath it was a series of letters and numbers. A password. I clicked the link and waited for the web page to load. It took me to a login screen and filled in J¡¯s email. I copied the password over and hit enter, and was taken to J¡¯s inbox. Most of the stuff on the first page was weekly emails from teachers and subscriptions.

    Scrolling down I found a whole lot more of the same. There was a lot of correspondence with a person called Nick. The subjects of emails from him were all along the lines of lunches and hangouts, so I assumed they were friends. I opened a few, and learned that the owner of this inbox was called Jess, making her the one that had hacked into everyone¡¯s emails and sent the login details around. The thing was contents weren¡¯t interesting, just lunch and hangout coordination, so I started skipping over them.

    It was weird. If this was the Jess, the one responsible for the whole thing, why had she given away her details? It didn¡¯t make sense.

    There were more emails from various names that I recognised from hearing about them at school. I opened a few like I had with Nick, and found it was mostly conversation about homework and gossip about people I didn¡¯t know. A few recent emails asked where Jess had gone, but they hadn¡¯t been responded to, and there was some hate mail threatening retribution for the mass hacking that I skimmed over.

    It was strange, reading hate mail meant for someone else. But it wasn¡¯t informative and didn¡¯t tell me anything new. There was one that I recognised was from the head boy asking Jess to find some way to undo what had happened to him. The emails from teachers were exactly the same as what I got, but were intended for a different student and weren¡¯t really tell me anything new. Finally, I found the email that informed Jess she was expelled.

    Jess was the one that sent the school into chaos, so why was her inbox so entirely normal. There wasn¡¯t any scandal beyond what had already transpired and that didn¡¯t make sense. Why would I be directed here in such a contrived way if there was nothing for me to know about?

    I clicked over to the sent box and found the email that had been sent to me amongst a sea of emails that was Jess¡¯ side of things. After clicking around a few of the emails I found nothing new. Then I noticed Jess had exactly 101 saved drafts, and clicked over to that page.

    Each draft had no subject and clicking on one lead me to a blank email. I clicked down a few times and found that the next five emails were the same. Scrolling down showed me a hundred similar emails until I reached the bottom, where there was a draft email with the subject ¡°Hurtling Through Space¡±. Against my better judgement I clicked.

    It read.

    I was blissfully unaware of how insignificant I was until you showed up. I didn¡¯t want to know exactly how fast we¡¯re moving, how heavy I am, and how fast the parts of me are moving around through this cosmic void. But hey, you¡¯re here now and I¡¯m getting myself expelled. One school just isn¡¯t big enough for two transhumans.

    I¡¯m joining a club instead. We meet weekly on Wednesday at 7.00pm in room 1205 of 26 Airedale Ave. It¡¯s the apartment building shaped like a hexagon. We get in through the backdoor and use the code 14836# to enter.

    It¡¯s an exclusive club. Only people like you and me allowed in. We come in, talk a bunch, discuss how best to improve our lives and stuff. Kind of like group therapy without the therapist. There¡¯s this one guy who helped me out. Out of school, I mean. And other things too. Mostly the other things. You should know that he¡¯s interested in helping you too.

    I only put that here because he said doing so ¡°would bring weal.¡± or something. I don¡¯t know, he¡¯s not exactly my type. But when this guy says things will bring weal, you trust him on that and take his advice. That being said he has no advice for you.

    Hope to see you there. I¡¯ll know when you¡¯re coming.

    JMcM

    P.S. I actually genuinely hope we never meet again, not that we¡¯ve actually met yet. I just don¡¯t want to experience clinging to a gargantuan ball and hurtling through the cosmic void again, thanks. Don¡¯t come.

    P.P.S. Turns out the weal guy does have something for you, he made me put this here: Dg4s09kl&#teEdK

    I read the draft three times to make sure I hadn¡¯t misread anything. Then I copied the email onto a word app and closed the email along with the laptop. A hollow feeling was settling in my stomach, Jess had known about my power. How?

    At school I¡¯d been careful to not use my power for anything. I could recall that each time I¡¯d had the urge to, I had quelled it. I knew that for sure because I didn¡¯t have the guilt that came from breaking a rule I set for myself.

    Hold on. Calm. I needed to be calm. For the next minute I focused on my breathing and tried to ignore the intrusive thoughts and the suddenly painful beating of my heart. When I stopped panicking, I looked at it from another perspective.

    Jess clearly had a power. What it was, I couldn¡¯t say, but it gave her access to information she shouldn¡¯t conceivably be able to know. With that assumption, her sudden hacking skills that lead to her expulsion were no longer surprising. What scared me was the fact that her power had apparently hijacked mine, or something along those lines.

    My power, or the information part of my power showed me the systems of all forces of objects that I touched. All forces as in every. Single. Force. That included the one that came from the earth, along with everything on it as it hurtled through space at a speed that can only be described as astronomical. When I manifested, it had taken me a few days to be able to walk straight again. It was also something I hadn¡¯t told anyone about, further supporting my theory of Jess hijacking my power.

    Did that also mean that she could hijack my telekinesis as well? That was a terrifying thought.

    Then there was ¡°The Weal Guy¡±. Jess had described him as helpful and interested in me, which immediately set off my mental alarm. He was part of the ¡°Club¡±, which was suspicious as all hell. This was all suspicious. Why in the world were these people I hadn¡¯t met before reaching out to me? I hadn¡¯t accomplished anything yet. The only thing I¡¯d done was fight Cloud, zap him twice, and put Zipline in the ceiling after receiving severe physical trauma.

    My thoughts were becoming cyclic, so I went to the shower and set the temperature way down. Cooling off helped, but there was a sense of unease building. I¡¯d taken one step into the world of heroes and villains, and they¡¯d taken a mile from me. It wasn¡¯t something I could solve right now.

    Also, the hexagon shaped building sounded familiar. There was a chance that it wasn¡¯t the hexagon shaped skyscraper that I couldn¡¯t help looking at everytime I tried to get to sleep with the blinds open. There was also a chance that nothing here was a coincidence, it was all planned and whoever they were chose the location specifically because of its proximity to me.

    That realisation gave a chill that was different from the prospect of Jess stealing my power. This time it was as if someone had stood on my grave, and the cold water flowing over me did nothing to shift the feeling. Just how deep in was I? I needed a distraction, and I needed to actually accomplish something.

    I found myself standing outside Sofiya¡¯s door.

    When I knocked on Sofiya¡¯s door, I was properly dressed, and there wasn¡¯t much of a response. I felt movement from the room through my feet, and then what felt like a door sliding. Open or closed, I couldn¡¯t tell, but I could guess. Regardless, I was here to fix what I could. I grimly kept that resolve in focus as I turned the handle.

    I called out, ¡°Sofiya, I¡¯m coming in.¡± and opened the door.

    Sofiya¡¯s room was a little more decorated than mine. She had blue sheets where I had grey, and a bookcase with a few novels stacked on it next to dozens of picture books. There wasn¡¯t anyone inside when I walked in. I recalled the movements I felt and looked to the wardrobe. Sofiya had a walk in wardrobe built into the wall, not too dissimilar to mine. The door was closed, but a corner of fabric stuck through the gap. It shifted.

    I moved over and sat next to the wardrobe door, leaning my head back against the wall until it thumped lightly. For a while I just sat there unsure of what to do. Apologise? Absolutely. How? That was a better question. Make an excuse?

    ¡°I didn¡¯t break the promise.¡± I immediately regretted going with the rule of three. There was no response from the other side of the door.

    ¡°There¡¯s a twelve year old hero in the Sentry.¡± I kept talking. If I stopped now then I¡¯d never start again. ¡°She¡¯s called Lucidity. I¡¯m sure you already know, but she surprised me today. Got one heck of a cool power as well. Basically has access to every macguffin you could think of.¡±

    I paused and waited. Nothing.

    ¡°She made us hoverboards and gave me a phaser set to stun. That was all she had time to prepare before we had to make a break for it. ¡®Course, she was preparing herself a hell of a lot more than me. We got ambushed though. Two villains crept up on us: Cloud and Zipline. We fought, and I did better than the time I got put in hospital. I actually knocked out Cloud while Lucidity soloed the other one. Then when Zipline tried pulling a fast one on me I put her in the ceiling. She¡¯s remarkable, well adjusted, and strong as heck, and twelve.

    ¡°I¡¯m a little surprised to find that I want to be more like her.¡± I admitted. ¡°It¡¯s one hell of an example to follow.¡±

    A lull got interrupted by the door sliding partially open. Sofiya looked at me with one eye through the small crack. It was noticeably puffy.

    Her voice cracked when she spoke. ¡°How did you get the bandages?¡±

    ¡°Remember the hoverboards? We were going down an elevator shaft to safety, but Spinnerette put a huge web in there and we got caught in it.¡± I explained, embellishing like one might a bedtime story. ¡°Then one of her spiders gave me a shock of a lifetime. Knocked me out for a bit and burned me where I was in contact with the web.¡±

    ¡°You were trying to run?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± I confirmed, but Sofiya still looked troubled. The conversation had halted. What was I supposed to do now? Apologise? Flex my power? Bedazzle her?

    I tapped the door and used my power to make it slide open. Now there was nothing between Sofiya and myself, I noticed her ruffled hair was sticking to the clothes hanging around her. Though, that didn¡¯t give me any indication as to what to do next.

    ¡°Can I¡­¡± Sofiya mumbled. ¡°-g, -ou?¡±

    I had no idea what she just asked. ¡°Sure.¡±

    Without standing, Sofiya emerged from her wardrobe and wrapped her arms around my waist. I carefully maneuvered an arm to rest around her and avoided touching her skin. We stayed like that for a while.

    Sofiya wasn¡¯t crying anymore, but she wasn¡¯t done. ¡°Make the promise again.¡± her words were muffled because she was speaking them directly into my side. ¡°Please.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± I responded, maybe too quickly. I felt Sofiya tense. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but the way things are, I just can¡¯t do that.¡±

    ¡°But-¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t die.¡± I assured her. ¡°Besides, most of the villainy in Graceland is practically PG-13. Worst thing that can happen to me is I get knocked out and kidnapped. When that happens, I¡¯ll use my power to lift my cell out of the ground and fly back here.¡±

    Sofiya¡¯s arms tightened around me. There was probably something better to say there, but it was too late now.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want you to vanish.¡± She barely spoke.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to vanish.¡± I stated, and for now that seemed to be enough.

    With Sofiya hanging on and tethering me to one place, my mind began to wander. It went back over the crazy email I¡¯d received, and the fights I¡¯d taken part. It went back further. To when the sun descended and the destruction that came with it.

    A dark thought crossed my mind. Not for another four months, anyway.

 1. Heroes/Villains C.1 (Interlude)

    ¡°It was an initiative to put all the supervillains that normal prisons couldn¡¯t contain far away from where they could hurt people. Is it really so surprised that a jail built for such people on the ocean floor failed so spectacularly?¡±

    - ¡°The Many Failings of the Regulation¡± Article 53.

    _____________________________________________________________

    ¡°-rks the thirty third anniversary of the Hundred-Hour Day coming to a close. This event is widely recognized as the first supernatural event to occur, with some calling it the ¡°Harbinger of the Supernatural¡±. At the closing of this event the total death toll has been estimated to be over 1,200,000 in total. We have an expert on the subject on air today, Dr. Gasper Felwyr.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for having me on, Don.¡±

    ¡°Could you introduce yourself, so the folks at home know who I¡¯m talking to?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I¡¯m Gasper Felwyr. I have a doctorate. I studied at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. It has a norwegian name, but it¡¯s fairly difficult for english speakers to pronounce.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take your word for it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve also managed to have a law named after me.¡±

    ¡°And won the nobel prize.¡±

    ¡°Now you¡¯re just flattering me.¡±

    ¡°Haha. I wouldn¡¯t dream of it. So, Gasper, what is the take on the Hundred-Hour day from the scientific community?¡±

    ¡°Well, Don, it¡¯s simply baffling. The resources we had back then pale in comparison to what we have today. Especially with Adepts appearing and revolutionising parts of the industry every few years.¡±

    ¡°With Vphones being a good example.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. We have technology now that is capable of recording particles and energies we could have only dreamed of thirty four years ago. But at the same time, most supernatural phenomena can be recorded by the devices we had back then. Several power measurements back in the day involved hooking up powered individuals to machines that were nothing more than voltmeters when you broke them down. A barbaric practice now, but it told us essentially the same things as current technologies.¡±

    ¡°So Gasper, how does this relate back to the Hundred-Hour Day?¡±

    ¡°There was no indication that any event of any kind was going to occur. When an A-13 begins to manifest, there¡¯s electromagnetic disturbances up to thirty hours in advance. It gives us an early warning whenever one is about to appear.¡±

    ¡°A-13?¡±

    ¡°Sorry. A Theta class creature. Or a monster. It¡¯s a general term I¡¯ve become used to using.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. So the Hundred-Hour Day didn¡¯t have any warning at all?¡±

    ¡°None at all. It¡¯s part of why the death toll of the event became so high. At 1am Pacific Standard Time, everything was fine. Five minutes later the sun had vanished, but the entire surface of the world was somehow illuminated and the nighttime drivers in Spain were blinded by the sudden light. Most were able to adjust, but some lost control and crashed. That¡¯s nothing to speak of any drunk drivers at the time.¡±

    ¡°An utterly tragic waste of life.¡±

    ¡°But that doesn¡¯t even account for one third of the deaths.¡±

    ¡°How can that be?¡±

    ¡°Most casualties occurred at the tail end of the Hundred-Hour Day. The entire planet experienced day for one hundred and hour hours, which has significant ramifications in everyday life. If you didn¡¯t live in a country far to the north or south where the days naturally become three hundred hours long, it was difficult to adjust to daily life under such circumstances.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t see how that would greatly influence the death toll.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, it didn¡¯t greatly affect the overall sum. But it did affect some people. Some people locked themselves indoors, some went looting, some commited suicide, and some-.¡±

    ¡°Sorry for the interruption. I¡¯d like to take this opportunity to mention that if any of our listeners are feeling isolated, or are having thoughts of self harm, please call 1-800-273-8255. That¡¯s 1-800-273-8255. You¡¯re not alone out there. Thank you Gasper, please continue.¡±

    ¡°Right. As I was about to mention, things were stressful. There were people wearing signs saying ¡°The end times are upon us!¡± in the street. We know now that the end times were not then, but they didn¡¯t have any indication otherwise. Overall, people went a little stir crazy.¡±

    ¡°It is true that there was mass unrest in a non-traditional sense during the Hundred-Hour Day, and there were places where things escalated. But that wouldn¡¯t contribute much to the astronomical number of over one million dead.¡±

    ¡°Again, you¡¯re correct. Did you miss your calling as a statistics analyst?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m just keeping an amiable interview. What made up the numbers?¡±

    ¡°Hour one hundred and five. After the Hundred-Hour day finished, the world was then plunged into roughly thirty hours of darkness. No sun. No stars. Nothing. And all of the environmental calamities that come with that.¡±

    ¡°I can see how that would be deadly. Was there no warning for this change as well?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s correct. This time there were obviously fewer cars on the roads. People were understandably afraid, but the total number of deceased was ironically higher when the lights went out.¡±

    ¡°Can you say why?¡±

    ¡°I have theories. But you have to understand this was a worldwide event. This impacted everyone, and is still influencing things today. Though much less than some other, more recent events.¡±

    ¡°Could you share one of those theories?¡±

    ¡°Of course. With the day lasting as long as it did, few people still had their lights on. Street lights had been turned off around the world to save power, and only interior lights saw real use. So when the supernatural light turned off drivers were left unable to see for the most part. There were a lot of incidents where cars or trucks crashed into buildings.¡±

    ¡°And what about the cold?¡±

    ¡°Without the sun, or supernatural light to warm the planet, its surface temperature plummeted. Going outside with exposed skin was extremely dangerous, and many simply died from exposure. The only safe places were inside, and only if there was more than a modicum on insulation. Otherwise people were seeing temperatures that dropped far below zero degrees fahrenheit by the end of it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s nothing to say of the resources people would have needed to survive.¡±

    ¡°Well, yes, but this one really affected the animals. Most species live far outside the shelter of civilisation. Those with a natural inclination to hibernate or rest for extended periods of time were by and large fine. But the lions of Africa had an extremely difficult time coming back from the population hit of the Hundred-Hour Day.¡±

    ¡°We have time for one more question, Gasper, but don¡¯t feel rushed to answer. Do you have any worries about another event happening on a similar scale to the Hundred-Hour Day?¡±

    ¡°Ha! Forgive me for laughing. Of course I do, but my worries aren¡¯t focused on the events that are only maybe going to occur. I¡¯m focused on the disasters that have already happened, and the ones we know are coming.¡±

    ¡°Could you elaborate on that? It¡¯s fine to speak generally, but I¡¯d like to avoid a non-answer.¡±

    ¡°Sure. But there isn¡¯t much I could say that hasn¡¯t been said already. Salt Lake City was what, three months ago already? It¡¯s been talked to death, forgive the wording, and I¡¯d go into the subject if it hadn¡¯t already received so much coverage.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine then. Thank you for coming on Doctor Gas-¡±

    Charlie paused the podcast and took the time to play music through the speaker instead. Stacks of paper were piled too high on his desk and it wore at Charlie¡¯s soul. He didn¡¯t need more honest discussion on the world¡¯s many problems on top of that.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    Most of the stacks didn¡¯t need to be written on, but everything needed to be read through and checked. Then when he was done and the paperwork was filed away, someone would come and place another pile where the old one was. Such was the ceaseless grind. The ¡°boring¡± part of the job.

    Lucidity¡¯s mission reports left much to be desired, which was to be expected from a twelve year old. Collage¡¯s reports were too blase, and would become a liability if they were ever published. Muffle was surprisingly eloquent, which made Charlie feel a pang of sorrow for the muted man every time he read something the big man had authored. Snowflake was all business, and Satellite¡¯s reports were incredibly pointed, if misguided and presumptuous at times. Charlie would need to keep an eye on him.

    As for Ashley, she purposefully left parts out that Charlie already knew. Although the attempts at cutting down on the amount she had to write and he had to read was endearing, it always bit them in the back when the mission reports were quality checked. And then there were the two newcomers: Slingshot and Lock, both with a single report to their name. Charlie had taken the opportunity in the wake of the Racketeer¡¯s attack on the tower to drum this part of the job into the two rookies, to varying degrees of success.

    Slingshot had been very detailed in her report, but had admitted to doing little more than following Zephyr around most of the time. The two flying women had been the ones to find Lucidity and Lock unconscious once things had died down, and Zephyr had left Slingshot the task of freeing them. Lock¡¯s report, on the other hand, was succinct. Charlie wasn¡¯t sure how else to describe it, but he commented on a lack of self reflection.

    Charlie decided to take another break and unlocked his Vphone. There were seven notifications from various apps and social media that Charlie dismissed before sending a text to Ashley.

    ¡°You have gaps in your report on the Racketeers. Fill them before the weekend.¡±

    The reply came back in less than a minute. ¡°You¡¯re on the verge of me slapping you. You need to unwind. We¡¯re going for lunch date tomorrow, then we¡¯re getting drunk and watching something old. Tell them it¡¯s a family thing.¡±

    Charlie read the text and waited for an emotional response. Instead he thought about how they were going to get alcohol. The two of them weren¡¯t of drinking age. Ashley would find a way though, she always did. Especially when she was going out of her way for him like she was now. People were supposed to feel happy when someone cared for them.

    Charlie missed the feeling.

    He sent back a ¡°Looking forward to it.¡± and returned to sorting through the piles on his desk. This time Charlie directed his attention to a different pile. Rather than a neatly stacked tower of reports, this was an unaligned pile of letters from the public. Fanmail, in a sense, though it was a mixed bag.

    As an underage hero, the Regulation pushed the publicity angle harder with Charlie than they would if he was a qualified Sentinel. Figurines of him in costume were sold commercially, and in return he occasionally received pictures of fans posing with his merchandise attached to a message. Charlie took note of the fact that he was a role model but didn¡¯t react to them with pride like a part of him wanted to.

    Other letters were just written messages that were addressed to Charlie¡¯s moniker. Most of them were hand written, and spoke of how his brief presence in their lives had inspired or changed them for the better. He endeavored to read them all, but it ate into his available time, and occasionally the letters were negative and critical rather than wholesome. Those ones gave Charlie a sickening feeling in his stomach. Each was ripped in half and binned when he realised what they were.

    The music cut out. ¡°Blinker. You have a high priority message.¡± Rosie¡¯s robotic but smooth voice told him.

    ¡°Play it.¡± Charlie responded curtly.

    Zephyr¡¯s commanding voice played through the speaker. ¡°Come to the meeting room, now. This is important.¡±

    The music resumed.

    Charlie looked at the almost empty pile of fanmail in front of him and sighed to himself. He didn¡¯t like leaving things half finished, but orders were orders.

    ¡°Rosie. Tell Zephyr I¡¯m on my way.¡± Charlie spoke to the room.

    The music ceased again. ¡°Done. Would you like to pause your playlist until you return?¡± Rosie inquired.

    Charlie paused, he was always taken off guard by the helpfulness of the Regulation AI. ¡°Please.¡± There was a soft ding to signify the received instruction and Charlie left to meet with his superior.

    Zephyr was not the only Sentinel waiting for Charlie when he arrived. In the room Orcus was also waiting, still wearing his full set of armour. He was seated at the table, and was using its holographic projection to move some files. Zephyr was likewise costumed, as was Charlie. It was a necessary precaution. The fewer people who knew someone¡¯s identity, the fewer the things that could go wrong.

    ¡°Take a seat, Blinker.¡± Zephyr told him, still standing herself.

    ¡°Blinker.¡± Orcus may have met his gaze. It was difficult to tell with both of them having their eyes covered.

    ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡± Charlie asked as he sat facing Zephyr, three chairs down from Orcus. He noted the lack of formality. Zephyr wasn¡¯t in a good mood.

    ¡°The newest rookie. What is your impression of him?¡± Zephyr commanded.

    Charlie took a moment to gather the information in his head. ¡°Lock? He¡¯s doing okay by Sentry standards. Got thrown into the thick of things before most do, but kept his head. Strong point. Physically, he¡¯s weak, but he makes up for that with his power. It¡¯s one of his biggest flaws, but I¡¯m putting him through muscle gaining exercises to make up for that.¡±

    ¡°Anything else?¡±

    ¡°He passed first aid and basic tactics in a week and still has more to go. So... average. Succinct.¡± Charlie added recalled the report. ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡±

    ¡°We have found evidence that there is more to Michael than meets the eye.¡± Zephyr said.

    ¡°Inconclusive evidence.¡± Orcus quickly and pointedly followed up, leveling his mask towards Zephyr.

    Zephyr hissed air through her teeth. ¡°Whether it''s conclusive or not is irrelevant. Michael is a person of interest.¡±

    ¡°If I may, why are you using his civilian name?¡± Charlie asked.

    ¡°Orcus.¡± Zephyr commanded. The grey man worked the holographic console, and a screen popped up in front of Charlie showing a black haired teenage boy wearing a blue and white jacket over a plain green shirt, and had brown chinos standing in the same room they were in now. He seemed familiar, but Charlie hadn¡¯t seen his face before.

    Orcus explained. ¡°This is a civilian is Graceland.¡±

    Another image appeared beside the first. This showed a similar teenage boy wearing jeans held up with a studded leather belt, a grey and blue striped polo shirt, and a long sleeved leather jacket that had been left open. He was leaning against a balcony railing with a city in the background and had a drink in hand. The faces of the two boys were identical, but the hair colour was different. This one¡¯s hair was longer and was a light brown colour.

    ¡°And this is a civilian in Vancouver, Canada.¡± Said Orcus. ¡°Do you agree there is a striking similarity?¡±

    Charlie nodded. ¡°All except the hair. Anything else?¡±

    ¡°Both pictures were captured on the same day, within three hours of each other. Both of the characters pictured are named Michael Barker.¡±

    Charlie¡¯s fingers drummed. ¡°I see. Any other similarities?¡±

    ¡°Indeed. They share a birthday.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s it?¡±

    ¡°It is.¡±

    ¡°So what¡¯s this about?¡± Charlie asked again.

    Zephyr hit the table. A blast of wind swept past Charlie¡¯s face. ¡°Michael Barker, the one in Graceland, has left a trail across America that only goes back to 2009. Also, this trail goes cold in Salt Lake City. Several data centres got trashed and archives were lost there. So all we have is evidence that Michael was fostered there before he came here. Evidence, mind you, that could easily have been fabricated and planted in the chaos.¡±

    ¡°What you¡¯re insinuating is that every refugee applicant for the Sentry in the wake of a Calamity is a plant.¡± Orcus analysed.

    ¡°No.¡± Zephyr venomously shot that down. ¡°I¡¯m saying the ones that are cloned are. You lied to Blinker, Orcus. Both Michaels are from Canada originally. Both from Vancouver.¡±

    ¡°From different addresses.¡± Orcus countered. ¡°I cross referenced the profiles myself after this case was originally made to me. They come from different regions of the city. The point is moot.¡±

    Charlie commented. ¡°That¡¯s still important information.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s proof that something is happening.¡± Zephyr pressed. ¡°I don¡¯t know what exactly, but I know that Michael can¡¯t be trusted.¡±

    ¡°If what you¡¯re saying is true then why do they have different addresses?¡± Orcus spoke. ¡°Placing the two of them so close together is a painfully obvious mistake in such a scenario. A mistake that no sane person would make. Also running counter to your point, there are no active adepts with the ability to clone a person, even imperfectly as would be the case with our two Michaels. The closest I can think of is Two, who does the opposite of cloning.¡±

    Charlie recalled Two was a techo that specialised in combining two or more things. She was also insane and these things were often living.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s not possible.¡± Zephyr countered. ¡°Techos can stay isolated for years before revealing themselves. Look at Mega. No one has ever even seen them!¡±

    ¡°So a careful adept would clumsily construct a single plant to infiltrate the Sentry in Graceland of all places?¡± Orcus posed, stressing the location. It was the only word he had stressed so far. Zephyr didn¡¯t have an immediate response.

    Orcus continued. ¡°I propose we introduce this information to Lock, the Sentry under your command, Blinker. See how he responds, then take it from there. He may not be aware he has a doppelganger with the same name as him.¡±

    Charlie nodded. ¡°If we do it here, and there is something going on, we¡¯ll be able to contain him if revealing the information causes him to go nuclear. Orcus, you tested the upper limit of his power right?¡±

    ¡°I did, and have confirmed that I would be able to overpower Lock in such an event.¡± Orcus agreed.

    ¡°And if not, then this is curious.¡± Charlie paused. ¡°And that¡¯s all it¡¯ll be.¡±

    ¡°Or he¡¯s hiding something.¡± Zephyr snapped. ¡°I think we should investigate further. We should hold off on revealing to ¡®Lock¡¯ that we know this information and see if he starts acting strangely. He¡¯s an average hero, you said so yourself. My impression wasn¡¯t stellar either. If he has ties to any villainous organization or entity, known or otherwise, then having him on our team will give us a unique opportunity to monitor him and gather intel. Or respond to a related event, should one occur. If he turns on us, then fine. I was right all along.¡±

    Charlie weighed up the options. ¡°Not to sound like a broken record, but what¡¯s this about? Both of you have figured out reasonable courses of action. Shouldn¡¯t one of the other Sentinels be the one weighing in on this?¡±

    ¡°A valid viewpoint, but consider ours.¡± Orcus said. ¡°You have been a Sentry for four years, and are nearly eighteen years old. When the semester shifts in three months, you will have graduated into functioning as a Sentinel. You have already performed some Sentinel duties admirably, we value your input on this matter as well as your interactions with the person involved.¡±

    Zephyr just shrugged.

    ¡°Alright¡­¡± Charlie weighed up what he had just learned. ¡°Here¡¯s my take on it.¡±

    The three discussed a plan of action. Each went their separate ways. Charlie¡¯s playlist started playing where it left off when he stepped back into his office.

 2. Fate/Prophecy 1

    ¡°I¡¯ve never felt quite so alive!¡±

    - Dead. Shortly after setting the world record for most clinical deaths in a day at 49. Previously held by City at 17.

    _____________________________________________________________

    ¡°Try not to trip yourself this time.¡± Blinker told me. ¡°Start the timer.¡±

    A pleasant ding sounded as Rosie started a ninety second countdown on one of the walls. At the same time Blinker flashed across the room towards me, using his power to cross the distance without moving. His leg was already raised to strike.

    We were in one of the training rooms in the SRT. It was about twice the size of a boxing ring, had a glass wall for observation, and a padded floor that I¡¯d become incredibly grateful for over the past week.

    I was wearing the helmet and padded training gloves on top of my civilian clothes. The gloves were fingerless, so I could still touch things to use my power like I was with a metal staff that had been recovered from an elevator shaft filled with spider webs. There was a stark contrast between me in my thrown together ensemble and Blinker, who was in his Sentry costume.

    I tried to guard against Blinker¡¯s kick, but was too late to stop the attack and took the blow to my waist instead. Since the staff was already in motion, I stuck it out a little and put more force into it. The staff swung around to find nothing, and I had to struggle to maintain my balance. Blinker¡¯s warning repeated in my mind.

    He had blinked away back to where he started and was quickly moving towards me. As he traveled the short distance I gripped the staff like a baseball bat and prepared. Blinker reach swinging range, but instead of swinging I tensed and leapt to the side, dodging his first strike. But that wasn¡¯t what I was worried about. He had flashed away to somewhere I couldn¡¯t see. I immediately twisted, sweeping the staff close to my body.

    Unfortunately I was too late to stop Blinker¡¯s attack, but as I weathered the blow I was able to retaliate with a sweep that caught Blinker in arm. He unclenched and clenched his fist and flashed away before I could follow up.

    This wasn¡¯t the first time Blinker had sparred with me, and every time I managed to land a blow, he would flash away like that. When the session was done, he¡¯d walk away as if he hadn¡¯t been injured at all. I also noticed he also had a penchant for returning to the same spot after each assault.

    Blinker¡¯s power was short range teleportation. Or that¡¯s what the public was told and what was online. It didn¡¯t mention how Blinker made a flash of light wherever he disappeared or reappeared, and certainly didn¡¯t talk about whatever it was that was letting him shrug off injuries. Another thing that I noticed was how Blinker always teleported in pairs. One to get close, another to retreat.

    Right now he was a few paces away from me, not winded at all and with his fists raised. I was feeling the exhaustion of an hour of sparring and even more time otherwise training, along with the blows Blinker had hit me with today and yesterday, and the day before that as well. Cloud¡¯s staff - now mine - was currently weightless thanks to my power, so at least that wasn¡¯t slowing me down as I prepared for the next exchange.

    Blinker watched me for a few moments and I realised he was waiting for me to go on the assault. I gave a grunt of frustration and advanced, swinging when I was close enough. Of course, the blow didn¡¯t hit as Blinker flashed closer. I was expecting him to teleport behind me to land another blow, so I was keeping the staff weightless to continue the swing all the way around. Instead, he reappeared with one hand on my staff, stopping the swing easily and pushed it into my chest.

    The blow wasn¡¯t that strong because the staff didn¡¯t weigh anything, but it still had Blinker¡¯s strength behind it. Using my power I reduced the forces Blinker was exerting to zero, then swung it towards him with three times more force than I could physically put out. Blinker was surprised and teleported away, reappearing in front of me but outside where my current swing was going.

    I zeroed the staff, stopping it, and swung back in the time it took for Blinker to hit me in the face twice. In my daze I put more force into the swing than I probably should have and felt it connect with a crunch sound.

    There was a beat as I recognized Blinker was looking at his arm, which didn¡¯t look right.

    Then Blinker teleported in place, then teleported again and decked me from behind.

    When I recovered I saw the big timer on the wall had frozen at 46. I¡¯d almost made it halfway. That was a personal best. I panicked when I remembered how weird Blinker¡¯s arm was looking and turned to find him perfectly fine.

    ¡°Well?¡± Blinker asked. There was a dangerous edge to his voice that hadn¡¯t been here before.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t trip myself this time.¡± I frowned. ¡°Or did I do something else wrong?¡±

    ¡°You need to regulate the strength you use to strike at people.¡± He said briskly. ¡°You managed to stop yourself from falling over this time, but you were off balance for long enough I could have taken advantage of it if I chose to.¡±

    I recalled the precarious feeling. ¡°Yeah, I see.¡±

    ¡°How is your head? I want to do another three rounds today.¡±

    I used the staff to lean on as I shakily got to my feet and pressed a hand to my temple. There was an ache there, but nothing I couldn¡¯t work through.

    ¡°Could you give me a minute?¡± My head was somewhat okay, but my knees were shaking.

    ¡°Fine.¡± Blinker crossed his arms and leaned against a wall.

    While I was resting as best I could leaning on Cloud¡¯s staff, the final exchange of the last fight replayed in my mind. ¡°You¡¯re power isn¡¯t teleportation.¡± I realised.

    Blinker didn¡¯t respond, but I felt him direct his attention to me.

    I kept talking. ¡°If it was teleportation you wouldn¡¯t be able to attack so quickly after teleporting, you wouldn¡¯t be in the right stance. When you do teleport to attack, you always trade blows, then teleport right back to where you were. I thought it was some kind of mind game at first, but you always walked off the hits I gave you. Then I broke your arm just now.¡±

    Blinker still didn¡¯t say anything, but he clearly simmered.

    ¡°I feel like you¡¯re actually walking forwards and backwards on your own timeline. That¡¯s how you always appear with attacks ready to go, and erase wounds as they happen. Am I far off?¡±

    ¡°You sound like you¡¯re ready for another round.¡± Blinker uncrossed his arms. ¡°Rosie?¡±

    The ninety second time started on the wall again with a pleasant ding and Blinker flashed across the room before I could react. Since he was actually travelling forwards on his timeline, if I was right, he could be attacking from any direction. Countering would be next to impossible. That meant my best option would be to protect my head and body, but Blinker was far too quick for me to react.

    I took an array of hits to my left side before I could get into a protective stance. The thing about Blinker¡¯s power was that I didn¡¯t know how far along his timeline he could hop at one time. My head was spinning as I tried to count to five, maybe getting caught on four once or twice. Then I jabbed with my left hand, using my power to enhance the force on my glove. I felt it connect and there was an immediate flash as Blinker reappeared right next to where he was, an attack already travelling towards my now unprotected head.

    There was a soft jingle and then, ¡°Blinker.¡± A deep male voice resounded through the room and Blinker flashed away to the other side of the room.

    ¡°Yes, Theo?¡± Blinker replied as if he hadn¡¯t been beating the shit out of me two seconds ago. The timer was currently paused.

    ¡°Metafore had a premonition that concerns Graceland.¡± Theo said, his voice barely distorted by the speakers. ¡°Your presence is required in the meeting room. When can you get there for a briefing?¡±

    ¡°Less than ten minutes.¡±

    ¡°Good, I¡¯ll meet you there.¡± There was a rustling sound and the call was ended.

    ¡°Should I stop the timer?¡± Rosie¡¯s pleasant voice asked in the wake of Theo hanging up.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Blinker curtly responded. ¡°Lock, we¡¯re ending here today. Wash up. If anything still hurts, see the doctor, then I want you to use the gym and go through the usual warm down routine. Is that understood?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I said breathlessly.

    Without saying goodbye, Blinker walked out.

    ¡°The second and third shower rooms are currently available.¡± Rosie told me after a moment.

    ¡°Thanks, Rosie.¡± I replied to the room.

    So far today I¡¯d been to school, come to the Sentinel-Regulation Tower for additional first aid and tactics classes, then spent nearly an hour having my ass handed to my by Blinker. The tactics classes were something of a joke, more common sense than anything else. My one good take away was to prioritise simple plans over complex ones, and in the week or so I¡¯d been taking the class that one principle was enforced time and again.

    In all, it wasn¡¯t that much, but my body was aching and I wanted to lie down. So I did.

    ¡°Rosie, can you set the timer for five minutes?¡± I asked the room.

    A three hundred second timer replaced the paused one from the discontinued spar.

    ¡°Can you start it?¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    There was a pleasant ding as the numbers started counting down. I closed my eyes and let my various aches slowly relax.

    ~~~

    It had been a week and three days since the attack on the SRT. The villains that had infiltrated the heroic headquarters were part of a group called the Racketeers, which was under the purview of the Entrepreneurs. I¡¯d studied up harder after that event, and learned about the rest of the villain team. There were a few members that my sparring sessions with Blinker wouldn¡¯t help me with. I was glad I didn¡¯t run into them.

    School was tense ever since I¡¯d learned my aggressor that had sent me down this road went there as well, but there wasn¡¯t much I was willing to do about it. I couldn¡¯t exactly skip out on school since having a passing grade was a requirement for being an active Sentry. On the other hand, getting justice for what had happened would involve kicking a sleeping dog awake. That was one I¡¯d rather let lie.

    Fortunately we hadn¡¯t crossed paths again since then and I spent as little time at school as possible. My breaks were spent at a sequestered spot without much traffic. I wasn¡¯t taking any chances.

    As for my Sentry life, apart from the classes and first aid a lot of it had been spent in the SRT in house gym. I thought hitting the gym was pointless for me, courtesy of my power to adjust weight. Blinker disagreed and gave me an exhausting routine that consumed most of my afternoons. There was one day where I¡¯d been allowed to break the schedule in favour of meeting a Regulation fashion designer.

    That¡¯s what they called themselves, anyway. Their name was Charlotte. It started normal enough, then she got excited once I told her about my power to change the weight of things I touched. She got some design notes off of me and was gone like the wind. Or like Zephyr, now that I thought about it.

    Charlotte had told me I¡¯d have a concept sketch in a few days. That was nearly a week ago.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about it. Costume isn¡¯t all that.¡± Sting waved his hand dismissively. The Sentinel was the last of the team that I¡¯d been introduced to.

    His costume was a rough and nearly ruined protective orange vest with dark long sleeved fabric underneath. Spreading out from the vest and curling around his limbs were long and thin chains of the same colour and connecting to other plates of light armour or bracelets on his wrists and shins. Sting¡¯s mask was the carved likeness of a serious expression, but right now it was off as he we talked. Sting¡¯s face was rugged in a handsome way, I supposed. I wasn¡¯t one to judge that kind of thing.

    ¡°You walk around with your mask off.¡± I riposted. ¡°I have an identity to protect.¡±

    ¡°You have it easier than most, considering your face.¡± Sting shrugged, referring to my power that was currently obscuring my features. ¡°I¡¯ve been around the ringer a few times, and I haven¡¯t yet seen any abilities that are able to stop light in the way yours does. You missed the point, anyway. Where are we?¡±

    ¡°The gym.¡± The SRT had a floor dedicated to Sentinel Facilities. The reasoning behind it was that there was always going to be a Sentry or Sentinel on standby in the tower, and there were those that essentially lived in the tower. Elicia was one of them, and Muffle as well, though he hadn¡¯t told me himself but he was always here.

    ¡°You missed the point again. Think wider.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to keep playing this like a game? Or are you going to tell me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you. This is the Sentinel-Regulation Tower. Most people will tell you to be paranoid because one villain group or another has infiltrated the Regulation. So keep your mask on and be suspicious of literally everyone. I tried that and found it pointless. All the moves I made to keep my civilian self under wraps ended up pointless and my identity was revealed.¡±

    ¡°How?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I just told you.¡± A flicker of annoyance flashed across Sting¡¯s face as I interrupted his story. ¡°But it wasn¡¯t as big as you think. I¡¯m no Archangel and my power isn¡¯t all that flashy. It¡¯s great for what I do, but I¡¯m not winning any popularity contests. Point is that no one cared, except for my family.

    ¡°Outside these walls, I have the mask on. Otherwise, the only people who get to see the face underneath are the ones that aren¡¯t going to do anything about it. If a Smart Psychic wants to know what your identity is, there¡¯s next to nothing you can do.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s pessimistic.¡± I commented.

    Sting¡¯s eyes shifted, looking somewhere that wasn¡¯t here. ¡°It¡¯s what happened. Revealing another hero or villain¡¯s identity without defeating them first is considered bad karma.¡± His eyes refocused and met mine. ¡°Callback was the one that got me. He ignored the rules. I was the one that got him.¡±

    ¡°So you walk around without a mask because of a guy called Callback?¡± I checked.

    Sting chuckled. ¡°You could say that.¡±

    ¡°Lock.¡± Blinker said, getting my attention. I flinched. He¡¯d approached without me realising.

    Blinker¡¯s oversight of my training was bare bones at best. I¡¯d already been given a tour by Zephyr, so a lot of my interactions with Blinker went along the lines of ¡°Go here and do this. You know where that is, right?¡±.

    He hadn¡¯t responded that well when I hadn¡¯t known where the adept labs in the basement were, which was uncalled for. I wasn¡¯t a techo, and the closest thing to an adept in the SRT was Lucidity. The techo labs weren¡¯t exactly on the list of places that were important for me to know about. Apart from beating me up for an hour every other day, we barely interacted.

    Sting gave me a nod and left to use a machine a fair distance away. I gave Blinker my full attention. ¡°Blinker.¡±

    ¡°Matters have dictated that the majority of the Sentinel and Sentry be mobilized early tomorrow morning.¡± He went straight to business. ¡°You are not fit for active duty, so you¡¯re going to be on standby in the recreation room until dismissed from 0700 hours tomorrow morning.¡±

    I digested that before asking. ¡°What about school?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s being taken care of.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t known Blinker to ever crack a smile at a joke, or take anything lightly. This was no exception. ¡°Is there anything I need to know about the situation?¡± I checked.

    ¡°No.¡± He stated definitively.

    ¡°Then if it¡¯s all the same, I¡¯m getting back to it.¡± I gestured vaguely to the room filled with muscle machines.

    ¡°I¡¯m here to let you know two things.¡± Blinker said as I passed him, getting me to pause. ¡°The first is that you are dismissed so you may have a full night¡¯s rest.¡±

    ¡°Then why didn¡¯t you say so?¡± I asked brightly, this being the first nice thing Blinker had said to me since¡­ It might have been the first.

    ¡°The second is a warning.¡± Blinker paused, making sure he had my attention.His mood was unchanged. ¡°When I said you weren¡¯t fit for active duty, that meant you were not cleared for it. I can normally clear Sentrys for active duty, but for you, the decision lies in Zephyr¡¯s hands.¡±

    I frowned, any positivity vanishing with my smile. I had my mask active however, so it didn¡¯t show. ¡°Respectfully, that¡¯s bullshit. Why?¡±

    ¡°Because Zephyr has not been impressed by you.¡± Blinker responded without pausing. ¡°If that is because of a poor first impression, or a subpar performance when the Racketeers infiltrated the tower, I haven¡¯t been informed. I was simply instructed to pass this on to you.¡±

    ¡°I took down Cloud and knocked out Zipline with Lucidity¡¯s help. That was a two on two where we had the disadvantage, but we came out on top. Can you call that subpar?¡± I pointedly demanded. ¡°Where are they anyway? The Racketeers. I haven¡¯t heard anything about the number of Racketeers that got arrested or anything. Lucidity and me can¡¯t have been the only Sentrys to win against the Racketeers.¡±

    ¡°Boss.¡± Blinker stated. ¡°The number of successfully arrested Racketeers, Handiemen, and Collectors will always be zero. That is all.¡± Then, having accomplished what he came here for, started to leave. He paused.

    ¡°Your skill has been improving.¡± He said. ¡±Shortly you will be allowed out on sidekick duty.¡± Then he kept walking.

    I had long since stopped being stunned by the amazing prospects Blinker said was within my grasp, or the passive aggressive tone with which he delivered them. Since we¡¯d started working loosely together, I had become used to his demeanor that could only be described as the antithesis of jovial. His one word explanation for the current status of the Racketeers did help connect some dots in my head though.

    Boss was the lynchpin of the Entrepreneurs, and by extension the smaller, subservient gangs at their beck and call. He had the ability to mark people. Once marked, Boss could teleport them at will. That meant at some point after the whole incident went down, the Entrepreneur had recalled them to some indeterminate location. I got a little dizzy when I started thinking about the implications of that power.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m going to keep playing it safe for the time being.¡± I said to the room.

    Sting, who was in said room, shrugged as he focused on his Vphone. ¡°Suit yourself.¡±

    ¡°Bye.¡± I said, trying to make communication flow.

    Sting responded distractedly. ¡°Don¡¯t wait up.¡±

    The thoughts stuck in my head as I washed up for a second time and made my way home. I noticed the rumble of a motorcycle fading off into the distance as I went. That would be Sting¡¯s. Idly, I wondered if it was related to whatever Blinker had pulled me out of school for.

    ¡°Michael! You¡¯re home early.¡± Kathrine commented when I walked in the door.

    She was right. It was still light outside. ¡°Early finish for an early start.¡± I explained as I stepped into the chaos of the living room. ¡°Did Rosie tell you anything about it?¡±

    ¡°I was sent a message, but not by Rosie.¡± Kathrine checked that the girls weren¡¯t paying attention. Given the loud pop music, they would have a hard time eavesdropping anyway. ¡°Zephyr sent a message.¡±

    I recalled the message Blinker had passed on. ¡°Zephyr, huh.¡±

    ¡°Can you get up by yourself? Or do you need me to wake you up?¡± Kathrine asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± I glanced across the room and made brief eye contact with Sofiya. She had the tablet on her lap, and she was letting it rest as she stared at me. It was easy to tell she knew we were talking about hero business. At least her eyes weren¡¯t judging me like they had after Sofiya had listened in to the initial conversation I had with Kathrine about the Sentry.

    ¡°What¡¯s for dinner?¡± I asked.

    ~~~

    Blinker had told me I was required by seven am, and I was nearly late. Traffic was less dense than normal before seven am, but not as much as I expected. Given that I was a hero without a car, bike, or anything really, I was bound to public transport. The bus routes were shit, as they were everywhere. If everything went to plan I¡¯d be spending the day doing nothing, but it was still mildly stressful sitting on a metal whale while the deadline steadily approached and I wondered what my mentor might do if I failed to show up in time.

    Of course, no one was waiting for me and I was greeted by an empty room. It was strange seeing it without Muffle sitting in the middle of the quiet space. I decided to sit in his spot.

    There was a pleasant ding, indicating Rosie had something to say.

    ¡°Rosie.¡± I said.

    ¡°You have an incoming call from Orcus.¡± Rosie¡¯s warm voice explained.

    I considered answering using the system Rosie was using. ¡°Put it to my phone please.¡± I requested as I fished said Vphone out of my pocket.

    ¡°Enjoy your discourse.¡± Rosie chimed and my Vphone lit up, the call already accepted.

    ¡°Lock.¡± I said.

    ¡°Hello.¡± Said Orcus from the other end. ¡°Since Rosie put me through, I take it you¡¯re at the Regulation Tower?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± I replied, pushing down the urge to say I was actually at the Sentinel Tower.

    Orcus gave the information concisely. ¡°Go to the adept labs and find some gear. There are various pieces of generic equipment for Sentinels without access to their costumes there. Find what you need and then come to the back of the address I¡¯ll send to you after this call.¡±

    That was surprising. ¡°The tower will be empty of heroes after I leave. Why are you calling for me?¡±

    ¡°It will be empty for a short while only.¡± Said Orcus. ¡°Merethe is the one who normally takes your role, she will be arriving after eight. You are mobilizing as reinforcement to replace Sting.¡±

    I recalled listening to Sting drive off yesterday. ¡°What happened to Sting?¡±

    ¡°Sting is missing in action. It will be addressed once the present crisis has passed.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ worrying.¡± I nearly said fine. ¡°But Blinker told me I wasn¡¯t cleared for action yet.¡±

    ¡°I have seen recordings of how you handle yourself sparring with Blinker. What I saw makes me comfortable in clearing you for duty, which I¡¯m authorising now.¡±

    I blinked. ¡°Can you do that? I thought Zephyr reserved the right to make that decision.¡±

    Orcus said. ¡°I outrank Zephyr in matters relating to the Sentry. The matter has been taken out of her hands.¡±

    That meant he had just taken all liability, which was fine by me. ¡°I¡¯ll get moving then.¡±

    ¡°Contact me when you arrive. Don¡¯t forget to bring something to use your power with.¡± Orcus ended the call.

    ¡°See you¡­¡± I realised the call was over. ¡°Alright then.¡±

 2. Fate/Prophecy 2

    The adept labs were a mess. It was so typical I just sighed and tried to move on, giving it the least amount of recognition possible. There was a row of computer screens along one wall that were almost hidden by the sheer amount of disassembled stuff covering every single surface. Though, when I turned the lights on I saw that none of it had spilled onto the floor, which was a pleasant surprise.

    There were areas where the stuff was large and areas where the stuff was small, and that was about all I could figure with my lack of techo knowledge. Fortunately, I already had an idea what Orcus had been referring to when he told me about the generic gear.

    There was one door that had remained closed each of the three times I¡¯d been sent here to familiarise myself. The door had no handle, but there was a scanner next to the door that looked perfect for the blank card Zephyr had given me. I swiped it and the edges of the door flashed red. A screen on the scanner blinked, showing the numbers 76743.

    I recognised the number and called 76743 - Rosie - who picked up after one ring. There was the sound of a phone being picked up, which I spent a moment thinking on. She was the Regulation AI, Rosie shouldn¡¯t need to pick up anything.

    ¡°Hello Lock, how may I help you?¡± Rosie asked in her voice pleasant, bringing me back into focus.

    ¡°I need to get to the generic gear in the techo labs.¡± I explained. ¡°I think I know where that is, but I can¡¯t get there.¡±

    ¡°Your blank card will not grant you access to where the generic gear is contained.¡± Rosie replied.

    I sighed. ¡°Orcus authorised and ordered it.¡±

    ¡°Your claim is unsubstantiated and therefore ignored.¡± Rosie informed me, her voice still pleasant. ¡°Is there anything else I can help you with?¡±

    It took me a moment to trust myself to speak. ¡°I have been ordered to gear up and meet up with Orcus. How can I do that without the gear from here?¡±

    ¡°I was not aware that was where you were calling from.¡± Rosie said, the red light behind the door shutting off a moment later. ¡°There is gear in your locker near the changing rooms. After collecting that gear, you should meet with Orcus.¡±

    I breathed another sigh, this time of relief. ¡°Thanks Rosie.¡± I listened to her say she was welcome and almost, almost hung up. ¡°Just to check, can you list the gear in my locker?¡±

    ¡°Of course, one momen-¡± Rosie¡¯s pleasant voice cut itself off. ¡°One metal staff.¡±

    I waited. Nothing else came. Of course.

    My fist clenched and I focused on the various forces, how they interacted, how some passed through my muscles while others didn¡¯t. I managed to calm down.

    ¡°Rosie, please check my previous call from this device. Orcus orders me to collect generic gear. Please verify, and update my blank card.¡±

    ¡°Of course, one m- Authorised. Is there anything else you need assistance with?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± I said curtly. I took another breath of relief and hoped it would stick this time. That had been a long shot. ¡°Thank you Rosie.¡±

    ¡°It was a pleasure.¡± Rosie responded, again in that pleasant voice and I could swear there was something hinting at amusement in its voice. I terminated the call.

    Swiping the blank card this time resulted in the door quietly sliding open, revealing a sanitary and well organised array of various protective pieces of gear. It took me a while to give up finding any in my size and settling for the smallest things they had. Being a small person in the United States of America meant I was used to most things being too big for me. I ended up grabbing a vest, as well as protection for my arms and legs, and then a helmet as well after some consideration.

    Cloud had snapped my head into the ground when we fought. Recovering from that had been a bitch, and I didn¡¯t want a concussion. Dr Louis had scared me far away from letting that kind of injury happen. Each piece of gear was a clean white colour. It seemed that none of it had ever been used before, which struck me as a callosal waste. But if it meant I could have some protection moving forward I wasn¡¯t going to complain.

    I considered using my all-powerful ability to tag to add a design to the gear, but decided not to given that Orcus hadn¡¯t told me to kick my feet. My face was still completely blacked out underneath the helmet, of course.

    I gave the room a once over anything else that might be useful, weapons, mostly. Even pepper spray would have been nice, but I was disappointed. After that I went and picked up the staff in my locker and checked my phone for the address Orcus had said he was going to give me. The Lictor building. It wasn¡¯t too far, but running there would take twenty minutes and leave me out of breath. That was fine, I had an idea I wanted to test.

    ~~~

    Anyone looking at me would have thought I was trying to get heelys back in fashion. They¡¯d be wrong, heelys are always in fashion, but I wasn¡¯t using heelys as I slid across the pavement at a pretty impressive speed.

    One of the first things I¡¯d talked with my teammates about was the specifics of my telekinesis and how it worked. Naturally, that lead to the topic of flight, as theoretically I could use my power to push my clothes up and forwards to simulate flying. This remained theoretical because doing it hurt like hell and ruined whatever I was wearing. Fabric just isn¡¯t meant to withstand that kind of force.

    Then Collage suggested cutting a hole in each of my socks to make sure I was always touching my shoes, and hence be able to use my power on them. That was something I was kicking myself for overnight as I took to each sock I owned with a pair of scissors. I was sad to do it, as I really liked some pairs of socks that I had, but it didn¡¯t make sense not to.

    After that, I¡¯d become constantly distracted by forces acting on my shoes and thinking about ways I could use it. Flight was still out of the question, obviously. But I couldn¡¯t stop thinking about what would happen if I just got rid of the thing that kept everyone¡¯s feet in the same place. Namely: friction.

    The answer to that was slip and fall the first time I tried doing it. The next few times as well. When I added some forward momentum, however, things started speeding along nicely. All I needed to do was maintain balance, stay focused for when the pavement changed where I¡¯d have to reapply my power, and I¡¯d slide across the ground like a very graceless ice skater.

    It wasn¡¯t even ruining my shoes. Can¡¯t scrape off on the ground if there¡¯s no friction.

    More people were out and about now so I wasn¡¯t able to test the upper limits of how fast I could go. There were a few people that tried to get my attention, asking ¡°Are you a new hero!?¡±. All of whom I ignored. There were even more who got their phones out and just snapped pictures as I passed. A fair number of kids were in uniform, going to school like I usually did around this time. I wasn¡¯t sure how I felt knowing I¡¯d be a popular topic, but the fact my name wasn¡¯t attached lifted the anxiety a bit.

    So this was my official debut. I could think of worse ways to debut. Like emerging from a pile of rubble to find- Stop. Move on.

    Soon enough I slid to a stop behind the Lictor building. Minutes after that I was walking into the room the Sentinel had commandeered.

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s the slowcoach.¡± Snowflake announced when I entered. She was in costume so the name Elicia was off of the table.

    ¡°Hi to you too.¡± I said. It had been just over a week since I¡¯d met her, and this was maybe the third time she and I had spoken. Elicia spent most of her time as Snowflake and on patrol.

    Muffle was ducking down by a far window to look out. The upper frame of the window was level with his head even while he was hunkering down. Orcus was situated by a nearer window. He¡¯d dragged a desk over and had some files spread across its surface. Snowflake was lounging against a pillar near the Sentinel, so I made my way towards them.

    I passed a doorway and saw Lucidity dragging something out of a wall. It seemed heavy, and I was about to offer to help when whatever she was pulling suddenly broke and she went sprawling. Lucidity stood and exchanged some words with another costumed figure in the room, then went back through the wall. The item she¡¯d been dragging vanished into thin air, leaving piles of similar gear behind.

    The other person Satellite. We nodded our greetings to each other and turned back to what we were doing.

    ¡°Lock, good of you to arrive so punctually.¡± Orcus said. I noticed his gauntlets were off, though he still had a layer of black fabric over his hands.

    ¡°Given how long you probably spent picking through the adept labs, you must have raced over here as fast as Clothesline would¡¯ve. How are you not out of breath, skinny?¡± Snowflake jibed.

    ¡°Slid across the ground.¡± I explained, being intentionally unhelpful.

    ¡°So?¡±

    I gave her a look, then remembered she couldn¡¯t read my expression.

    ¡°Snowflake.¡± Orcus evenly warned, then turned back to the files on the table. ¡°There¡¯s not much for us to go on, and a lot to consider. Know this, Lock, this is a serious situation.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m getting that.¡± I said, glancing back as Lucidity dumped something that looked like an RPG launcher onto a pile, sans payload. She¡¯d used that net launcher on Zipline.

    ¡°The precognitive we received warning from was Metafore. Are you familiar with how his power works?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Metafore was a smart psychic who foresaw large events roughly one day before they happened. But never saw what actually happened, only metaphors of the events. He was pretty high up in the Regulation.

    ¡°The account given is as follows.¡± Orcus¡¯ finger drifted to a specific piece of paper and traced a paragraph.

    ¡°A deep shadow approaches a waterlogged city of Atlas. Three carpets unfurl. The first is orange and very short, more a square than a rectangle. The second is black and white. It is missing pieces and has multiple beginnings and ends. The third appears on the horizon, which bends and shimmers as the carpet is revealed. It is green. In between the three carpets a one sided coin is spun. Liquid is flung from the coin and stains the carpets. The stains are red. Something circular is placed on top. (Could be a plate, could be a crown. It blurs together.) Vision ends.¡±

    ¡°The waterlogged city is us, because of the dam.¡± Snowflake picked up. ¡°The Atlas thing refers to the greek titan Atlas, who held up the sky. The real world being us with Mt Duncan with that ski field on it. But then again, it might not be us. The Regulation has every city with a similar description on high alert to be safe.¡±

    ¡°What about the carpets?¡± I asked. ¡°I mean, I get that it¡¯s Metafore¡¯s schtick, but if that¡¯s word for word, he spent half the vision talking about carpets.¡±

    Orcus said. ¡°Character representation is what I believe he was referring to. We have strong guesses regarding two of these carpets. The orange and the black and white.¡±

    ¡°The Rising Sun and the Entrepreneurs respectively.¡± Snowflake supplied.

    ¡°The premonition is that of a meeting between three characters.¡±

    ¡°And the Courtesans like the colour red.¡± I remembered. My house was near their territory. It was difficult to distinguish between Courtesan Red and Rising Sun Orange when it was dark. ¡°Beastmasters?¡±

    ¡°Nope. If it was, we¡¯d have two very similar carpets. Seeing as Jackal is the one in charge at the moment, it would be brown. Plus, that carpet comes from the horizon so we¡¯ve taken the liberty of ruling out anyone from Graceland from our list.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s on the list?¡± I asked.

    Orcus said. ¡°We consulted the database for known transhumans with thematically green abilities.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s definitely one person I know of who has a power like that.¡± I said.

    ¡°Borealis.¡± Snowflake put in before I could finish, saying a name I didn¡¯t recognise.

    Orcus said. ¡°Perhaps. However Borealis was last sighted in central Australia three weeks ago and has been active there for some time. There is no reason to expect her to travel this far.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I was going to say Greenflame.¡± I gave Snowflake a look for cutting me off, for all the good it did.

    ¡°Ah, yes. That may be it.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s Greenflame?¡± Snowflake hadn¡¯t noticed my chagrin. I mentally sighed and pulled back the irritation. ¡°I don¡¯t recognise the name.¡±

    ¡°Think of a gypsy giving tarot readings.¡± I said, unable to think of a way to supplement the explanation.

    Snowflake cocked her head, not getting it.

    Orcus commented. ¡°That is not incorrect. It isn¡¯t wholly correct either. Greenflame can, after brief interactions, accurately describe two stages of a person¡¯s life: the past and present. She can also describe a future for that person, and potentially makes that future come true.¡±

    ¡°She just does that?¡± Snowflake checked.

    ¡°No. She needs your consent.¡± I said. ¡°She was kicking around in Quebec last I heard of her. That was last week.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°Her relative proximity means she is a likely candidate. Given how three particular villains in this city like to dream, her appearance could put a metaphorical shadow over the city.¡± Orcus leaned back from a tablet he¡¯d produced. ¡°On the other hand, Keaton, Mega, Thareneal, and even Borealis are all likely candidates.¡±

    ¡°Keaton?¡± I repeated, recognising the name. ¡°There¡¯s a guy running around called Keaton?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Snowflake said through a heavy sigh. ¡°Keatons power is: he¡¯s an actor. His power gives supplementation to his roles, and he has used green powers in some personas.¡±

    ¡°How many times has he asked for one million dollars?¡± I asked lightly, making a mental note to read up further on the man later. The reaction I got was subpar. Nothing from Orcus. One sad sigh from Snowflake. Muffle might have laughed, but I couldn¡¯t tell.

    ¡°Why is Mega on that list?¡± I asked, moving the conversation along. ¡°Doesn¡¯t he only show up every six months or so?¡±

    ¡°If Mega¡¯s creation has clean energy,¡± Orcus said. ¡°like the reactor he built in Africa or the shuttle he gave to Australia, then it¡¯s possible for it to fit the green theme. The launch of the Megahold was foretold as a form of darkness rising, it isn¡¯t much of a leap of logic from there.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s also been five or so months since Mega¡¯s last drop.¡± Snowflake added. ¡°He¡¯s due a payload if he¡¯s sticking to his schedule.¡±

    ¡°So that what we¡¯re hoping for?¡± I checked.

    Orcus said. ¡°Yes.¡±

    Mega was an adept with an unclear specialty. While most had specific areas where their power applied, Mega didn¡¯t seem to have any particular specialty. Or he did and that speciality was just making things that were massive in scale, impressive in design, and ingenious in its implementation.

    The man, if he was one, was well established, even if he was still shrouded in secrecy, and whenever he made something new it got worldwide coverage. The most recent of Mega¡¯s creations was a shuttle that had been gifted to Australia. It was large enough to house one hundred and fifty people comfortably, as well as their luggage. The engine was powered by a clean reactor with no runoff or fuel requirements, and allowed the shuttle to travel to and from space from the surface if needed.

    Previously to that Mega had built an observation facility on an island in Japan that put every other deep space observation programme to shame. Before that was a dinosaur enclosure in South America. Before that was the fusion reactor in central Africa. The list went on.

    ¡°And Thareneal is what we¡¯re not hoping for.¡± I said.

    Orcus said. ¡°It¡¯s what we¡¯re preparing for.¡±

    I looked over my shoulder at the pile Lucidity was building. If Thareneal showed up I wasn¡¯t sure we would even be able to use anything in there.

    ¡°What about the coin thing and the red stains?¡± I asked. ¡°Or should I say blood?¡±

    Orcus responded. ¡°It is best to remain open minded with premonitions. The aspects of the vision that we are most unclear of are: The one sided coin, the circular object mentioned at the end of the vision, and the bending of the horizon associated with the green carpet. The red stains tell us to treat this vision seriously. Which we are.¡±

    ¡°So where¡¯s the rest of the Sentry?¡± Snowflake asked Orcus. ¡°It¡¯s getting close to go time, and I don¡¯t trust Collage as far as I can throw him. And there¡¯s the other rookie too. Are the other hero teams coming out?¡±

    ¡°The other half of the Sentry are with Blinker by Mt Duncan.¡± Orcus explained. ¡°Zephyr realised the event might progress into the time where Jagmikh enjoys being chased, so she¡¯s trying to draw him out for an early session.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± I didn¡¯t actually see, nor did I understand that reasoning. Surely her flying around with a literal demon looking guy who could make sonic booms on a whim would be noticable. Anyone would realise they were doing their dance far ahead of schedule.

    Orcus continued. ¡°The Grey apostles, as mandated by law, are not allowed so close to me and have not been mobilized. The Heroes of Yesterday are divided into two teams staking out other potential sites of activity. Finally, Scar¡¯s Advent are working a separate case today, and will not be able to participate.¡±

    ¡°Busybodies.¡± Snowflake muttered disdainfully.

    Orcus continued. ¡°Which reminds me, I¡¯ve neglected to mention when the event is going to occur.¡± He checked the time on his watch. I hadn¡¯t realised he wore one. ¡°It is in twenty four minutes.¡±

    ¡°If we¡¯re unlucky, the villains will meet over there.¡± I pointed at the building opposite.

    ¡°Huh.¡± Snowflake reacted. That was the biggest response I got. I pushed down the urge to pout.

    Orcus continued to pour over the notes. He idly strapped on his gauntlets, reminding me of something.

    ¡°Do we have any fingerless gloves?¡± I suddenly asked.

    ¡°What? You¡¯re going biking?¡± Snowflake laughed harder at her own joke than she had at any of mine.

    Orcus calmed Snowflake with a glance. ¡°Was there nothing in the adept labs?¡±

    ¡°Nothing I wouldn¡¯t have had to take a pair of scissors to.¡± I replied. ¡°You made it seem like time was important.¡±

    Orcus did... something. ¡°So-so.¡±

    I continued. ¡°Everything was too large for me anyway. Even this stuff is extra small and it¡¯s too big for me. I didn¡¯t get gloves because I need skin contact to use my power.¡± I tapped the staff, which until that point had been weightless.

    ¡°I see a solution.¡±

    Lucidity hefted a stack of what I recognised as hoverboards onto a nearby desk. ¡°I¡¯ve gone through the list, Orcus. I¡¯m going to go get a snack now.¡±

    ¡°Before you do that, can you outfit Lock with a costume?¡± Orcus gestured at me.

    I waved hello.

    ¡°That¡¯s hard.¡± Lucidity complained. ¡°You know I can¡¯t bring things that big through. Wait. Lock! Hi! Orcus, he¡¯s already in costume.¡±

    ¡°Lock has requisitioned fingerless gloves.¡± Orcus said. ¡°It isn¡¯t much. See what you can do.¡±

    Lucidity¡¯s hand hovered over her stomach. ¡°I¡¯m so hungry I feel like I¡¯m empty, but fine, I¡¯ll do it. Then I¡¯m going to eat.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Orcus turned his back to us as he looked down at the street.

    ¡°Lock.¡± Satellite said, having arrived with Lucidity.

    ¡°Satellite.¡± I replied then turned to Lucidity. ¡°Do you need me to do anything?¡±

    ¡°Um, get by a wall.¡± Lucidity was still holding her stomach dramatically. ¡°It¡¯d make things easier for me. Not that wall, it¡¯s too thin.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a pillar.¡± I corrected her as I stepped towards a wall.

    ¡°That¡¯s an I Don¡¯t Care.¡± She stuck her tongue out and walked through the pillar.

    ¡°Smartass, eh?¡± Satellite let a grin play at his face. His helmet didn¡¯t cover his jaw. I noticed he drew out the end of his sentence.

    ¡°And you¡¯re Canadian, eh?¡± I said.

    ¡°Can you blame me? Your American capitalism makes this place so much better because you¡¯re buying out all the adepts. Makes it warmer too.¡±

    ¡°Just commenting, I¡¯m from Vancouver myself.¡±

    ¡°Toronto. Came down two years ago, manifested the better part of a year ago.¡±

    I stepped back as Lucidity walked out of the wall right next to me. ¡°I was last there a decade ago. Funky stuff happened.¡±

    ¡°Last where?¡± Lucidity asked. She had a pair of fingerless gloves that matched the green colour and abstract pattern of her costume. They looked very small.

    I took the gloves when they were offered. ¡°Home.¡±

    ¡°Oh... Um.¡±

    ¡°Lock¡¯s Canadian, like me.¡± Satellite explained as I pulled my new gloves on. They were too small for me, but considering my experience with Lucidity I was expecting them to do something strange. I was proven right when they started expanding to suit my hands, resulting in a snug fit.

    I nearly fell over that had felt so goddamn weird.

    ¡°Do you need anything else?¡± Lucidity asked.

    ¡°Just needed the gloves.¡± I got out.

    ¡°You¡¯ve stolen his heart.¡± Satellite jokingly told Lucidity, who scowled at him and vanished through the wall. He turned to me somewhat more seriously. ¡°But really, what was that?¡±

    ¡°Something fucky.¡± I held my head. ¡°Got a sixth sense. Tells me about the forces on everything I touch. Feeling something grow¡­ fuck. I never want to experience that again.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t imagine.¡± He said simply.

    ¡°Neither could I until a moment ago.¡± There was still something bugging me about the gloves. It¡¯s net force wasn¡¯t anything special, but beneath that, when it moved, the glove seemed to move twice as much force, only to be cancelled out. It was a strange bastardisation of Newton¡¯s third law. I sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t get Lucidity¡¯s power.¡±

    ¡°You and all the villains.¡± Satellite chuckled. ¡°But seriously, she¡¯s a damn godsend. Smart mix of Displacer and Disrupter I think.¡±

    ¡°Explain that. Blinker still hasn¡¯t given me a cheat sheet.¡± I explained.

    Satellite scratched the back of his head, finangling his fingers through the mesh of his costume. ¡°Displacer is pretty easy to remember. That¡¯s a power that involves movement, so in Lucidity¡¯s case that¡¯s her going through the walls into her dreamspace and coming out somewhere else.¡±

    ¡°Dreamspace?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, a reflection of the world. From what I hear Lucidity is a golden god there. Anything a lucid dreamer could do, she can do. I¡¯m talking flying, teleporting, massive amounts of destruction, literally creating matter. That¡¯s the Psychic part of the power because it¡¯s all a dream. The Disrupter part is where she brings the stuff back.¡± He gestured to the hoverboards near the window.

    ¡°Okay.¡± I mentally started unpacking that. ¡°Where did the Psychic part come from? From my point of view you just said it for no reason.¡±

    ¡°Smart Psychic.¡± Satellite stated. ¡°Psychics are always one of two things. Smarts or Adepts. Depends of if the power works with information or inventions. Does it make a thing? That¡¯s the golden rule.¡±

    ¡°Disrupter?¡±

    ¡°Breaks the rules.¡± He waved towards me. ¡°You¡¯re a disrupter as well, being a Telekinetic. Same as me. Just a different flavour of disrupter from Lucidity. It¡¯s also the word for us transies that make big fucking explosions.¡±

    ¡°Disrupting.¡± I commented. Satellite shrugged. ¡°Any numbers attached to that?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes. But it¡¯s difficult with Lucidity because¡­ Well, it¡¯s a lucid dreaming ability. How the fuck do you measure that?¡±

    ¡°What about you?¡±

    ¡°Disrupter 4. I¡¯m in the Alpha class. How about you?¡±

    I blinked, not expecting him to turn that question back at me. I was still learning this. From memory neither Blinker or Orcus had said anything on the matter. Nor had Zephyr.

    ¡°Don¡¯t know.¡± I shrugged a shoulder. ¡°No one¡¯s told me.¡±

    The silence dragged on for a bit.

    I broke the quiet with a question. ¡°Did Lucidity come up with all the names?¡±

    Satellite thought briefly. ¡°Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°Dreamspace?¡± I said incredulously. ¡°Lucidity? She¡¯s twelve.¡± The girl in question had reappeared with a metal lunch box that she was producing snack bars from.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. The folks in Regulation call it that. Lucidity wasn¡¯t given a choice in the matter.¡±

    ¡°That seems to happen a bunch, doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Regulation naming things?¡± Satellite checked. ¡°Yeah, it does. There¡¯s the dreamspace, Lucidity, Zephyr, Muffle, and me, Satellite. They get off on it.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± I decided to end that conversation there and went over to the window by Orcus.

    We didn¡¯t exchange any words and just surveyed the road below. I knew what I was looking for, and there were more recent pictures on the desk of each of the high profile villains.

    There was the Entrepreneurs, which was headed by Boss, and supplemented by his two partners, Queue and Yearn. Queue would be a Smart Psychic, and not much more was known about them than that. They never showed their face, but they had a massive impact on the effectiveness of the Entrepreneurs. Consequently, there were only theories as to what his power exactly was. Most assumed his power just made him really smart.

    As for Yearn, there was a lot more known about her. Her power allowed her to change the point of gravity for certain objects. She liked to use it to make arrows never miss, always walked around with a quiver of arrows, and only sometimes with the bow.

    The Rising Sun, on the other hand, was headed by a character called Samurai. He was a man who liked to throw his weight around in an Oni mask. His power let him summon weapons to his hands and use them to extents that shouldn¡¯t be possible. He¡¯d used a dagger to cut through solid steel on multiple occasions.

    Samurai like to change out his underlings, so there was no way of knowing which ones he might bring with him. If he showed up.

    Time passed on by. Every so often a hero would cough or idly comment on something, but for the most part, time ticked by in silence. I noticed Orcus repeatedly check the time.

    ¡°How much longer until the event?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Two more minutes.¡± He said.

    Two minutes passed. Nothing.

    ¡°When do we decide it¡¯s not happening?¡±

    ¡°When the event is confirmed to have passed in another place.¡±

    I nodded and resumed waiting.

    Suddenly my phone buzzed in sync with every other cell in the room. The others checked the message and relaxed, so I took my phone out and looked at the message.

    Hello Sentry,

    The event foreseen by Metafore has passed in [Whistler].

    Theta Level protocols have been rescinded. You may return to your duties.

    ~Rosie~

    That made sense. Whistler had a ski field nearby and had more bodies of water nearby than Graceland did. So why did I feel uneasy? I glanced over at Orcus who was focused intently on the message.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Whistler?¡± Snowflake asked.

    ¡°Seriously, you?¡± My voice dripped with incredulity, but I explained regardless. ¡°It¡¯s a city north of Vancouver. Lakes and ski fields right next door. They had the 2010 Olympics there and everything.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t care about snow when I was eight.¡± Snowflake snapped back.

    ¡°Sweet, I got out of bed early for nothing.¡± Satellite lugged a bag onto his back and moved to leave.

    ¡°Hold on.¡± Orcus said.

    ¡°Come on old man, I had things I wanted to do today. Metafore saw something that happened somewhere else, so what?¡±

    ¡°Something¡¯s off.¡± Orcus turned back towards the window. ¡°Has anyone noticed anything?¡±

    A chorus of ¡°no¡± filled the room, sans Muffle, who was here.

    Orcus let his posture slowly fall, then turned to us. ¡°Very well, this was a false alarm. Everyone will still need to fill out a crisis report when they get back to the tower.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m getting rid of this stuff now.¡± Lucidity quietly announced as she wandered closer to a pile of weapons. It dissolved into nothing and she started moving to another one.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you let us off once?¡± Snowflake groaned.

    ¡°No.¡± Orcus said. ¡°Being a Sentinel requires vigilance, and you should all be aiming for that.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but not today.¡± Satellite made it out the door. ¡°Seeya.¡±

    Orcus¡¯ phone started ringing. He looked at it then turned to Muffle, who was still standing by the window. Muffle was pointing down at the street. I followed his finger and saw three masked figures exiting an expensive looking limousine and walking towards a nearby high rise. I recognised two of the figures, Boss and Yearn. The third had to be Queue.

    They walked into the building I pointed at before. Why the fuck had I opened my mouth?

    ¡°Oh you fucking idiot¡­¡± Snowflake muttered through her sigh.

    ¡°Muffle, send Satellite a message telling him to mobilize.¡± Orcus ordered, his voice was growing deeper as he spoke, and I could swear there was another, even deeper voice echoing him. It was subtle and unnerving. ¡°Alert Blinker and Zephyr. Tell Rosie that Metafore¡¯s prediction is happening in Graceland as well, then come and join us. Lucidity, stay behind and tell us where the Entrepreneurs are going. The rest of you, with me.¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t be able to enter from below. They¡¯ve already set up a cordon. We¡¯ll have to go in from above.¡± He picked up a hoverboard that Lucidity hadn¡¯t dismissed yet, moved to a tall window, opened it and jumped out. Snowflake followed suit. Muffle was busy with his phone. I realised I was just standing there.

    Shit.

    I grabbed a hoverboard, which glowed softly in response to my touch.

    ¡°Lucidity, what do you have for me?¡± Orcus¡¯ strange voice came through the comms I didn¡¯t have. Another oversight.

    ¡°Go!¡± Lucidity shooed me towards the window when she saw me standing around. ¡°I¡¯m getting on it, Orcus.¡± Then she was gone, vanished through the wall next to me.

    I stepped over the windowsill and stepped onto the board, not letting go of it until I had my foot in each of the indents and the green light glowed. I looked down to find that there was in fact a cordon being established. Several official looking men and women in uniform were closing off the road and moving barricades. They were expecting something big. Snow started falling.

    Up at the top of the building the Associate had entered was a swirling cloud of tiny specks, Snowflake and Orcus had gone to the top. Now I had to follow them.

    The cloud billowed briefly and a portion of it flew out over the street, where it started lazily floating down. That meant there were villains on the roof, they were fighting with Snowflake, and also Orcus, and I was lagging behind. I could only hope that I¡¯d be able to keep up.

 2. Fate/Prophecy 3

    Super intuitive Lucidity¡¯s hoverboards may have been, OSHA compliant they were not. Last time I used one had been in an elevator shaft filled with white mist that obscured a terrifyingly large spider¡¯s web. This time I was floating out from the fifth floor of a building with a lot more visibility, though the trade off was really just one problem for another.

    Looking down, I could see that the cordon had already been fully established. Most of the people down there weren¡¯t moving, though a fair number were pointing up at either me, or the snow cloud on top of the building. Looking down also made my knees start shaking, so I crouched to feel a little bit safer. Gripping the hoverboard with my hands helped. I could use my power to cheat at flying if needed.

    Given that the people in uniform below were beginning to point things at me, things that looked like weapons, I started getting nervous. So I started booking it up to where Graceland¡¯s resident demon lord was. The lack of gunfire from below was a relief I didn¡¯t think I would get.

    The people below looked like policemen at first glance, but wouldn¡¯t hold up under close inspection. There were three groups of Supervillains under the employ of the Entrepreneurs, the Racketeers, who assaulted the SRT, the Handiemen, and the Collectors. Aside from them, there was also a group of non-powered people who enacted the will of the Boss more quietly than their superpowered counterparts. A literal private army that were mostly referred to as the PA.

    It didn¡¯t take much to figure out what that stood for.

    The snowcloud billowed again before I could crest the roof, blowing snow in my face and throwing me off balance. For a dangerous moment the hoverboard wobbled, threatening to slide out from under me as I feel to certain death. But it passed, and I made it onto the roof.

    This was the first time I¡¯d seen Orcus or Snowflake in action. I didn¡¯t really see Snowflake so much as caught glimpses of the heroine in the swirling snow, which was constantly fed by white flakes that inexplicably appeared a few metres above the top of the swirling mass. She had a barrier made of packed snow that floated in front of one outstretched hand and followed it around, and in her other hand an icicle was forming, growing longer each time I caught a glimpse.

    Orcus on the other hand was an imposing grey threat that darted from place to place, striking down cement barriers as they rose, and chasing villains through the resulting rubble. He managed to catch one of them and slammed them through the floor, leaving a human sized hole behind. It didn¡¯t put that particular villain down for good, however, and they were soon back in the fight.

    I identified the three villains I could see as I touched down, trying to figure out a good place to enter the melee. The first villain to catch my eye was one Orcus was fighting. He repeatedly ran into Snowflake¡¯s personal biome with Orcus in pursuit, then a little disk would be thrown out of the snowcloud. A man with two bandoliers of utility equipment as well as two criss-crossing utility belts appeared where they landed, leaving Orcus behind. That was Gizumo, a member of the Rising Sun. The only thing the guy did to conceal his identity was put on thick eyeshadow and a hood.

    Gizumo was an adept with broad specialisations, but never achieved anything all that impressive by most adept standards. He had tripwires, remote control cars, remote control darts, stun grenades, breaching equipment, zipwires, the list went on. His most impressive trick was the teleportation. Sure, sometimes he was able to come up with something game changing. The problem was that they were one trick things.

    The villain that kept throwing Snowflake¡¯s snow everywhere was called Headache. Her costume was made of leathers coloured black and white, with rough gradients between the two patches of colours. She had a white face mask that had a red skull spray painted onto it. Headache¡¯s power let her shoot beams from her eyes that left small orbs where they hit. After five seconds the orbs would explode in a concussive blast.

    Finally, the villain that kept erecting concrete walls in front of Orcus as well as the one that had been slammed through the floor was a woman that went by the name of Hully. She was by far the least armoured person present. While Headache had biker leathers, Gizumo had a self made suit reinforced with countless gadgets and other smaller inventions, and Orcus was wearing metal armour. Hully¡¯s clothes meant she could¡¯ve been mistaken for a woman prepared for a night of fun and several clubs.

    She wore a light, form fitting, long sleeved red dress that had frills around her neck and wrists, and stopped well above the knees, leaving her with a full range of movement. Black stockings covered what the dress failed to, and lead down to shoes that almost looked like stilettos with the heel snapped off. The only indicator she wasn¡¯t going clubbing was the old fashioned flight helmet with goggles.

    Being the least armoured and most fashionably dressed did not mean she was the least protected in Hully¡¯s case. Her power allowed her to reshape and reinforce the things she touched. Hully could reinforce things to the extent where she¡¯d taken bullets to the stylish dress she was wearing now. There were burnt patches but no holes, speaking volumes about her power.

    It probably said more about Orcus¡¯ super strength that he was demolishing Hully¡¯s barriers with ease. I mean, he had moved a supposedly immovable object, but this amount of wall destruction was ridiculous.

    Gizumo teleported outside of Snowflake¡¯s snow cloud, appearing in a crouch and threw the teleportation device even further away. When he appeared on the disk again, Gizumo pulled a rod from one of his bandoliers and impaled it in the floor. Three walls of orange light appeared in a triangle, making a perimeter of the action as Orcus dashed after him. There was a flash as Orcus came into contact with the wall, and he crumpled against it.

    At the same time two orange beams pierced through the edge of the snowstorm. Headache¡¯s beams deposited two orbs of writhing green energy, which started giving off a whine as they formed. Those things didn¡¯t explode with the power of a grenade, but they close enough to cause serious damage and right now there were two of them within arm¡¯s reach of Orcus.

    ¡°Shit.¡± I started running towards the downed grey man. I only had five seconds and counting, which wasn¡¯t enough to save him. I was going to try anyway, because if I could use my power to get him out of the way, he¡¯d be far more useful than I¡¯d ever be in a fight. So far in this clash between heroes and villains, I¡¯d stood around and analysed. If I wanted to be a player, I¡¯d need to start by doing something. Unfortunately the floor I was running on vanished before I got three steps.

    My head dipped below the ground before I realised something was happening. The sudden sight of a fire sprinkler shooting up past me helped. One foot pushed uselessly on air while the other reached forward to find my next foothold. I glanced down in time to see a computer desk beneath me.

    My first foot found good purchase on the desk, but momentum kept me going forwards and down. I kicked a screen with my back foot when I tried to bring it forward and tumbled to the ground. I rolled into a nearby cabinet and came to a harsh stop.

    What had just happened replayed in my head before the pain started registering and I forced myself to my feet. The ceiling above me was undamaged, which didn¡¯t make sense because I¡¯d clearly just fallen through it. There was literally nothing wrong with the ceiling above me, except for the fact that there was no way I could have fallen through it. The building shook and I remembered the situation Orcus was in.

    I couldn¡¯t see Headache or Hully demolishing the floor beneath me, then reconstructing it after I¡¯d fallen through, all in the space of five seconds. Maybe Gizumo had hit me with a gadget that had made me phase downwards for a second. No, he was busy dealing with Orcus when I¡¯d fallen. It was more likely that there was a fourth villain.

    As if on cue, a circle in the ceiling five or so metres away from me vanished, and a figure dropped down. He had a long black coat, a green and white mask covering the lower half of his face, as well as sunglasses over his eyes. He was asian, though I couldn¡¯t tell exactly from where. His slick black hair was worn tied up in a ponytail, and an identifying scar ran diagonally across his forehead. He was sporting a straight sword that was longer than he was, and was currently impaled a good way into the floor. That was definitely Killer Kage.

    ¡°Judging from your appearance. You are the new hero, yes.¡± The ceiling reappeared above Killer Kage. A few snowflakes had drifted through before it closed, and slowly drifted to the ground around him.

    I didn¡¯t respond, save for stepping away from the cabinet and facing him at an angle. The sword wasn¡¯t for show. Killer Kage was a villain from overseas that had come to join the Rising Sun after the group he¡¯d been in before had collapsed. That had been in China. Before that Killer Kage had been operating in Japan, where he had been part of a violent gang that had no qualms about killing. He¡¯d just been called Kage then.

    When I was researching villains in the area, this guy had been an entire rabbit hole in and of himself. What I¡¯d read had chilled me. My staff probably wouldn¡¯t match up against his sword.

    ¡°One of two, if information is correct.¡± Killer Kage continued. ¡°Little to no information on you. Less on other. You have power of strength, yes?¡±

    I stopped myself from correcting him.

    He started walking towards me, leaving his sword behind. I moved to maintain the distance. ¡°I find mask of yours interesting. It looks dynamic, close to skin. Who made it?¡±

    ¡°I did.¡± I replied, not comfortable with the one ended dialogue.

    ¡°How did you get the black with that texture? I can not tell depth. It interests me.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s-¡± I bumped against another cabinet, and moved so that it was between Killer Kage and myself.

    ¡°For hero with strength, you have little confidence.¡± Killer Kage commented.

    I wanted to give a quippy one liner like ¡°I was leading you into a trap¡±, or ¡°Ah, but I don¡¯t have super strength¡± before throwing the cabinet at him. Instead of doing that and telegraphing my attack, I just pushed the cabinet and made the force a lot stronger. I wasn¡¯t sure exactly how much stronger until I did it, but it was enough to send the thing flying.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    The corner of the cabinet caught on the carpet, causing it to spin wildly. Though, the general direction of movement remained the same. I wouldn¡¯t have wanted to be the one the receiving end of a fast moving, spinning filing cabinet.

    The cabinet vanished, leaving behind the paperwork inside which spread out in a menagerie of white paper. I assume the filing cabinet reappeared a second later on the other side of Killer Kage, where it crashed into something, given the crashing sound. The paper took its time drifting down to the floor, revealing Killer Kage in a similar position to what he was in before.

    He stared at me. ¡°Poor move.¡±

    Killer Kage¡¯s power let him make holes in things, which was how he¡¯d pulled me down here and followed me down. I hadn¡¯t been aware that he was able to make things into holes entirely, like he had with the cabinet. It was a simple if abstract power. There was a story, related to the former part of the villain¡¯s name that played at the back of my mind, where he had thrown another villain in a hole made by his power, then let it fill back up.

    The next thing I knew gravity had taken hold of me and was pulling me earthward. I locked my staff and held on for dear life as I fell half a meter and swung under the metal pole. Fortunately, I was able to bring my feet up before I hit the side of the new hole underneath me and managed to find solid ground once again. Then I ran at Killer Kage before he could say anything like I knew he wanted to.

    The guy wanted to monologue, or at least talk, and who could blame him? He was clearly more experience and was facing off against me, a kid. If he wanted to stand around and talk, who was I to stop myself from taking advantage of that? I crossed the distance like I had with Blinker the day before and punched him.

    I only decided to punch because the staff was locked. Unlocking something took a moment, so it was easier to just let go of it because my power only lasted as long as I touched something. I accomplished the same thing either way, and when I threw the punch I used my power to push Lucidity¡¯s gloves forward a bit more.

    Killer Kage wasn¡¯t expecting such a sudden assault, but his experienced showed as he rolled with the punch. I didn¡¯t even hit him in the chest like I¡¯d been trying to. He dodged enough that my fist only caught his shoulder, and even that was a near thing.

    His elbow came back around and struck me across the cheek, sending me down in a well executed counter. He had turned so I was struck towards the hole in the floor, and that meant I found myself falling. Instead of just eating dirt, I fell through empty space and impacted heavily on the floor below.

    Groaning, I slowly picked myself up as the hole above me expanded to let a few chairs and desks down. Killer Kage looked down on me from above, standing on an island of concrete as he¡¯d made the rest of the floor into a hole.

    Strange, I would¡¯ve thought the floor would fall if it didn¡¯t have anything supporting it. I guess I shouldn¡¯t be surprised. I¡¯d been around a number of powers that futzed with physics now, on top of having one myself. My staff had fallen down as well, so I grabbed that while I could. I¡¯d make him regret giving me my weapon back.

    The staff vanished.

    I looked up at Killer Kage. He wasn¡¯t saying anything, but his body language told me he was feeling smug as all hell. He was clearly responsible for my weapon disappearing. I hadn¡¯t even realised he could do that to something I was holding.

    Fuck.

    Killer Kage had me outmatched. My power could only be used at short range and he would just get rid of anything I was trying to use my power on. On top of that KK clearly had martial arts training, so close quarter combat would be suicide. Any straight engagement was not going to end in a good way for me. I wasn¡¯t going to get anywhere punching him, I needed a weapon. There weren¡¯t any obvious weapons around me. I¡¯d have to improvise.

    ¡°Samurai is downstairs.¡± Killer Kage crouched on his island. ¡°In a very important meeting. I understand your employment makes you against that, but my job is to stop you.¡±

    My power would theoretically throw around tables and other heavy objects like they were paper. The problem with that was that the bigger objects, like a table, would get caught on almost everything when I swung it. I needed something smaller that I could swing easily. I didn¡¯t need it to weigh much.

    ¡°Want you to understand there is no hard feelings in this fight, young hero.¡± Killer Kage continued. ¡°No stakes. No killing.¡±

    I remembered how he had dodged the cabinet I¡¯d thrown at him earlier. Except he hadn¡¯t dodged it entirely. When the cabinet vanished, or just became a complete hole, the things inside had stayed. I could use that. That meant all I really needed was something with more things inside. I started looking around.

    ¡°You are inexperienced, to turn your back on an enemy.¡±

    I had the frame of mind to think. ¡°Oh shi-¡± before Killer Kage struck me from behind. It propelled me forward, but I didn¡¯t fall. I turned to face the villain, swiping something, anything, from the nearby desk.

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± I told him, realising I¡¯d grabbed a keyboard. It would have to do.

    ¡°You¡¯re unprepared. Untrained. Who is mad enough to send someone like you here?¡±

    I paused. He raised a valid point. On the other hand this whole thing was foreseen by Metafore, who only saw things when they were on a truly grand scale, so the Sentinels had gathered every available resource. I just happened to be one of them.

    ¡°That¡¯d be everyone.¡± I said, realising I wasn¡¯t that good at the whole witty banter thing. Maybe it was his imperfect english, it was throwing me for a loop.

    ¡°The Regulation is vast and foolish.¡± Killer Kage agreed. He started striding towards me. He did not look friendly.

    I brandished the keyboard only to find it was still connected to an outlet. I used my power to yank it out but put too much force into it, and the entire desk slid towards me. Unexpected side effects aside, I had broken the keyboard¡¯s wire and could now swing it around freely. I refocused on Killer Kage and paused when a phone started ringing.

    We both paused and cautiously looked for the source. I stepped away before glancing anywhere, and checked my phone by patting the pocket where it was. It wasn¡¯t mine. I couldn¡¯t see any other Vphones around.

    ¡°Is that yours?¡± I asked.

    Killer Kage reached into one of his pockets to find nothing, then he checked another pocket and found his phone. He unlocked it and checked his messages. I decided to attack when he was reading it. Dirty, I know, but I wasn¡¯t about to win any other way.

    ¡°Ah. You have rei-.¡±

    I sprinted forwards and swung the keyboard sideways. I don¡¯t know why I decided to, but I put the force I¡¯d used on the filing cabinet into the keyboard. The next moment I was reminded of a basic physics lesson: Force equals mass times acceleration.

    Simply put, the keyboard was a hell of a lot smaller and lighter than the big metal cabinet I¡¯d pushed earlier. Therefore when I put the same force into it, it accelerated faster to compensate for the lower mass. My fingers were painfully and suddenly forced out of the way as the plastic board ripped itself out of my grip, and shattered against the arm Killer Kage had raised to defend himself.

    Killer Kage¡¯s arm snapped. I could hear the sound of bone breaking amongst that of the snapping plastic. The supervillain staggered away, yelling in agony while his arm bent at a weird angle. I hissed in pain and pulled my fingers towards my chest. The skin had been torn deep enough to bleed in several places. I needed to figure out a way to stop doing that, it fucking hurt.

    The floor I stood on once again vanished, and this time I was too distracted to do anything about it. I crashed onto the carpet and groaned. I was still in the fight though, so I forced myself to my feet as the staff Killer Kage had vanished fell to the ground next to me.

    The ceiling I¡¯d fallen through was back, Killer Kage had done that to put distance between us. Floor intact or no, I heard a yell of pain from above. That might have been him resetting his bone, considering the circumstances. He was probably a little pissed off. I clutched at the staff and instantly felt better as the metal rod blossomed back into my awareness.

    I looked around, this floor was different from the two above. In contrast to those, which had cubicles and order, this one was mostly empty space with beanbags and couches. The walls were painted green and red, and were covered in whiteboards. One wall had large bubble letters on it spelling out ¡°Goaty¡±.

    The problem with all this was that I wouldn¡¯t be able to find much cover in this room. There were a few offices, but they had glass walls so hiding there wasn¡¯t an option. I needed to leave. Killer Kage would likely want to get me back for the arm. Given that he had a sword, I didn¡¯t want to wait around for that.

    I cautiously moved to the exit. I made it without anything really happening. Where was Killer Kage? Had he retreated? Or was he waiting to ambush me? I was keeping my eyes on the ceiling, of course, as well as the floor, but I didn¡¯t see any holes opening.

    Blood was covering my fingers, and was making it difficult to focus on keeping an eye out. It was also getting in the way whenever I gripped the staff, which made tragic sense. My power didn¡¯t work on living things, and I needed to touch something to use my power. If I was covered in blood, I¡¯d be touching the blood and not the object, which really messed with my power. I really needed to figure out how to deal with the keyboard issue.

    I ducked out of the office and into the fire escape. The door opposite me conveniently lead to the toilet, so I went in and leaned the staff against the sink. Washing my fingers stung, and I only remembered to look for a first aid kit after washing the blood off, so I ended up washing them twice.

    Four bandaids later I¡¯d stopped the blood flow and was ready to step back into action. I picked up the staff and stopped in horror before I opened the door. Black mass covering the door window. A closer inspection revealed the mass to be made up of small spiders, that were moving quite rapidly across the pane. Thankfully, they were on the other side of the glass, but that was still too close for comfort.

    The spiders responded to my presence and they cleared away from the door with a synchronized haste. There was a beat where I could see the fire escape densely populated with tiny spiders. They must have been small, smaller than the fingernail on my thumb. Others were the size of a tarantula or larger, and there were multiple species of exotic and bombastically coloured spiders only found in Graceland. Specifically, in the presence of the most unnerving supervillain imaginable.

    My vision of the infested stairwell was blocked when a black-grey helmet appeared in the window. It was a full head helmet, so I couldn¡¯t see any of the features of the person beneath. Two purple lenses marked the eyes examining me. There were strands of silk attached to the helmet that drifted off and caught the light, telling of just how intimate this person was with their spiders. Spinnerette, the one with all the spiders. The one who had told me about JMcM.

    Questions died in my throat as she stepped a short distance away from the door and reached towards it. I panicked and gripped the door, locking it. Spinnerette didn¡¯t try to open the door, however. Instead, a gloved finger pressed against the window and moved across it in a pattern I couldn¡¯t figure out. Then a swarm of smaller spiders walked across the glass and started glowing, not unlike how a firefly would.

    I realised what she¡¯d done. The glowing spiders were spelling out the word ¡®Stay¡¯, which was good because I had every intention to do so until Spinnerette left. That was a fight I¡¯d like to avoid if at all possible. The villain lingered, studying me for a few more moments. She turned and left towards the lower floors, the majority of her spiders moving with her. The bioluminescent ones telling me to stay, as well as a few of the larger, more colourful spiders remained where they were.

    Moments later a familiar cloaked figure staggered past, one arm wrapped in a splint and a silk sling. His other arm was holding the hilt of a sword. Killer Kage turned my way as he passed, paused, and leveled the hilt in my direction. I backed against the wall farthest from him. Something about him was putting my body into fight or flight mode, with an extreme emphasis on the latter.

    A second after I hit the wall the point of a sword appeared in front of my face, close enough that I had to go cross eyed to look at it. The point went back for a dozen or so centimetres before vanishing into thin air, moving like smoke where the sword should¡¯ve been.

    ¡°Next time.¡± The sword rotated so it was flat. ¡°We will settle our score.¡± It vanished. I looked back to Killer Kage only to find him gone.

    I breathed. Killer Kage and Spinnerette had both walked past in quick succession, and they hadn¡¯t attacked each other. That meant the Associates and Rising Sun were working together. That, in turn, meant they would have majority control of territory and Metafore¡¯s prediction was one step closer to coming true.

 2. Fate/Prophecy 4

    The first problem I had to deal with were the spiders in the staircase. By looking through the window in the door I counted four spiders that had yellow fur, and were each larger than a tarantula. They were completely still, and each had at least one leg resting on strands of thread that seemed to span to the door.

    I recalled what I could of Spinnerette¡¯s various wiki pages and the talk I had after waking up in the SRT. She was a smart monarch, and had access to a number of unique spiders, such as the one that had tazed me to unconsciousness. Looking outside I could see more of that same spider keeping guard. One of them was actively pacing in a far corner. It was unsettling.

    The spiders Spinnerette had on record were capable of some crazy stuff, such as glowing like a firefly, or jumping like a flea. Some used general anesthetic as their venom, and some were poisonous, rather than venomous. And, of course, the furry yellow spiders currently waiting outside the door.

    The memory of what they did was all too fresh in my mind, even if the burn scars had faded almost entirely since the encounter. I didn¡¯t want to go through that again, but I needed to get out of here. Before I could second guess myself, I used my power on the door and pushed it against the opposite wall. Then I planned to go whack-a-mole on the spiders with my staff.

    I used the force I¡¯d broken Killer Kage¡¯s arm with because why not? The door snapped off its hinges and flew to the other side of the room, where it smacked the door opposite neatly, then fell backwards towards me. I winced at the sound of the second impact, and looked for any spiders moving in. As I suspected, there was one in the blind spot I couldn¡¯t see while the door was there. It was the first one in, as it was the first one to be struck by my staff.

    Rather, first to be struck at. I missed.

    Panicking, I imposed a new sideways force on the staff, which carried it and the spider now climbing on it out of my grasp and into the wall. The spider was flattened against the wall while the staff rebounded and took out another spider. That still left three of the yellow horrors crawling at me across the wall.

    The staff had spun into the stairwell, I wouldn¡¯t be able to reach it without getting close to the spiders. I backed up, finding myself in the toilet. Looking around didn¡¯t help me to find anything to use as a weapon. The only things in the stall were the toilet, and the toilet paper.

    Wait.

    Toilet paper.

    I pulled out a long length of toilet paper and tore off a few squares. Then I aimed it at the nearest spider and gave it enough force to break an arm. Toilet paper wasn¡¯t meant to withstand that kind of force, and it disintegrated pretty much instantaneously. However the paper, while disintegrated and in hundreds of pieces, still had that force behind it. It acted like a shotgun blast. The spider was blown away and into multiple pieces.

    The two remaining spiders sped up. I tore off another piece of toilet paper and shot the nearer one, following up by finishing off the last one. Only that one was still a fair way across the room, so the paper had lost most of its force by the time it got there, and it tumbled into the far wall, ultimately surviving. I got closer and stomped on the spider before it could flip itself the right way up.

    There was a beat where nothing moved. I caught my breath, trying to calm myself. Fighting spiders was bad for my health, I decided. I could feel my heart beating in my chest and the adrenaline was fading, so I decided to move out before it went too low.

    I picked up the staff and stepped into the stairwell. After some consideration, I went up, the opposite direction of where the villains went. After one step I felt a weight get added to my left leg. Looking down, I saw another yellow tarantula sized spider climbing up my shin guard. Then its fur was standing on end, and electricity was arcing between the spider¡¯s legs.

    My eyes widened. ¡°No-¡±

    Then it discharged.

    My whole body flinched, and I lost track of what my eyes were seeing. I may have hit the wall, I may have hit the stairs, or the rail. I didn¡¯t remember. When my body stopped shuddering I found myself on the floor. The first thing I noticed was the numerous spider bodies curled up on the floor around me, still glowing from some biological reaction happening inside their bodies. They were being devoured one by one by the surviving yellow spider.

    The sight shocked me to my feet and in doing so I kicked the staff that was on the top of the stairwell. I picked it up, took the time to aim, then used an overhead strike to kill the arcing arachnid while it was busy with its meal. This time I didn¡¯t miss.

    I breathed out and started staggering up and away from the scene of the fight. After a quick detour to find some hand towels to wipe the spider guts off of my staff. If I wanted to meet up with any heroes I¡¯d need to move quickly. Maybe half of the Sentry would have access to the rooftop, given that the only form of flight I was aware they had access to was Lucidity¡¯s hoverboards. The only heroes that had the power of flight in Graceland were Slingshot and Zephyr, but they were elsewhere.

    That meant Muffle, Lucidity, Zephyr, and maybe Satellite could have arrived through the top floor. I¡¯d feel a lot safer with one or two of them. Thankfully I made it all the way to the top of the stairwell without any incidents. Once I was on the roof a quick look around revealed no approaching shapes in the sky, I was on my own.

    The roof itself was empty, the fight having since moved down into the building. There was another concrete staircase inexplicably built into the middle of the building. Snow was piled half a centimetre high almost everywhere, now melting and slushy. Rubble strewn throughout the scene interrupted the cover of snow. Here and there were more holes that looked person sized. There were a number of miscellaneous discarded gadgets dotted around the scene as well. I noticed two of the poles Gizumo had set up were still standing. The wall of energy they had made flickered in and out of existence intermittently.

    I pulled my Vphone out. While I didn¡¯t have comms, that didn¡¯t mean I was cut off from the rest of my team. Chances were Rosie would be able to connect me to one of them via the phone. I wondered who I¡¯d get. Probably Zephyr given my luck.

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± A harsh voice interrupted me as I was drafting a message to send to Rosie. It was a strange voice, female, and it seemed to roar and whistle at the same time. It was one I recognized.

    I turned to see Zephyr at the edge of the building. Her arms and legs were transformed into swirling torrents of wind, and were quieter than I remembered them being. That was just because she was winding them down and turning them back into their solid forms. The process seemed to be taking a while.

    Another figure crested the edge of the building behind Zephyr. An orange and yellow costume, Slingshot.

    ¡°Helping out.¡± I said. ¡°Didn¡¯t you know?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± She growled. Her body was back to normal, but her head was still transparent and her voice still roared. ¡°I was clear that you were not to be allowed into the field before my approval.¡±

    ¡°Orcus cleared me for duty, that¡¯s the only reason I¡¯m here.¡±

    Zephyr¡¯s fists clenched, and a sudden gust of wind made my eyes water.

    I wiped it away. ¡°He said we needed every asset we could get. I¡¯m one of them.¡±

    ¡°That is not the issue I¡¯m taking with this.¡± Zephyr chided. ¡°The problem is that you are untrained, unfit, and not ready for the responsibilities required from a hero of the Sentinel.¡±

    I took a breath and glanced at Slingshot. She was standing back awkwardly, which was understandable.

    ¡°Zephyr, I¡¯m actually a Sentry and I¡¯m here right now.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve been inside, things are fucked, I got shocked by a spider, and the Racketeers and Rising Sun are cooperating.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Zephyr stepped back, taken off guard.

    ¡°You were inside?¡± Slingshot piped up, glancing at the destruction around us.

    I wrung my hands, suddenly feeling bashful. ¡°Uh, yes.¡±

    ¡°Tell me what happened.¡± Zephyr demanded.

    ¡°Orcus lead a charge from the roof, but his only backup was Snowflake and me.¡± I gestured towards one of the holes. ¡°Muffle was contacting you and Satellite while Lucidity was doing something along the same lines. They were supposed to follow. I lagged behind because I wasn¡¯t comfortable using a hoverboard and potentially falling to my death, so I arrived after the fight had started.

    ¡°Orcus and Snowflake were fighting three villains. Headache, Hully, and Gizumo. I was about to join the fight, but got ambushed by Killer Kage. He used his power and separated me from the others. I got the feeling he was just trying to delay me.¡±

    ¡°How did you get away from him?¡± Zephyr asked.

    ¡°I broke his arm.¡±

    ¡°You broke someone¡¯s arm!?¡± Slingshot exclaimed.

    I was a little startled by the outburst. ¡°That¡¯s what I said.¡±

    ¡°Hold on.¡± Zephyr said. ¡°Killer Kage is a well established villain with years of experience. How did you manage to break his arm and escape without injury?¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°Killer Kage picked up on the fact that I was a newbie and spent the fight talking while he pushed me around. When I picked up the keyboard he got a message on his phone. I attacked when he was distracted, and accidently broke his arm.¡±

    ¡°How do you accidentally break someone¡¯s arm?¡± Slingshot asked incredulously.

    I raised my fingers to reveal the bandages. ¡°Easily, with my power. But this happens if I¡¯m not careful.¡±

    ¡°What happened after that?¡± Zephyr brought the conversation back around.

    ¡°After that, Killer Kage used his power to drop me to the floor below. I ran into a bathroom before he could follow me.¡±

    Slingshot cocked her head. ¡°Why the bathroom?¡±

    ¡°Because the first aid kit was there, it¡¯s where I got the band aids and I was lucky to get even that. Anyway, when I went to leave the stairwell was covered in fucking spiders. Spinnerette found out where I was, and locked me in. Then Killer Kage walked past. He was wearing a splint and sling which looked like it was made of spider silk.¡±

    ¡°Racketeers working with the Rising Sun...¡± Zephyr muttered. She considered that for a moment, then stepped away, putting a finger to the combead in her ear. Slingshot and I were left to stand around, somewhat awkwardly.

    ¡°Orcus, the Racketeers are working with the Rising Sun. Lock and Slingshot are with me on the roof. Lock tells me he injured Killer Kage, and Spinnerette is in the building. What¡¯s your status?¡±

    We couldn¡¯t hear the response.

    I turned to Slingshot. She seemed on edge, like a wind up toy that had been wound up, but not released. Her posture was off. Not because her shoulders were forward or that she was slouching. Her posture was literally off. Slingshot was leaning backwards far enough that she should have fallen on her bum, but unseen forces kept her upright.

    She a flier, it made sense she could do that, but why?

    ¡°So Slingshot,¡± I started, wincing at my spectacularly awkward attempt at starting a conversation. ¡°We haven¡¯t talked much yet. What do you do?¡±

    Slingshot looked at me, startled. She tipped forward a fraction without moving her legs. ¡°Me? Oh, not much. At least not compared to the other guys, and apparently not you either.¡±

    ¡°I have the power of telekinesis over things I¡¯m touching.¡± I explained, thinking she might open up if I established some rapport. ¡°Strong, I guess. But very short range.¡±

    ¡°Strong enough to break someone¡¯s arm.¡± Slingshot murmured. She sounded scared. Had I scared her?

    ¡°Yeah, but it hit me as well.¡± I showed her my bandaged fingers again. ¡°I was holding a keyboard, and gave it enough force to send a filing cabinet flying. It worked fine as an attack, but giving something that much force gives it a proportional amount of speed. The thing ripped its way out of my fingers, much to my bloody chagrin.¡±

    ¡°Wait, so you threw the keyboard hard enough to break his arm, but not your fingers. Shouldn¡¯t all of your fingers be broken?¡±

    I rubbed my index finger and thumb together. Looking down to contain the joy of having someone worry about me. ¡°No, I was probably just not holding it that hard. I got off lucky. Anyway, we were talking about you.¡±

    Slingshot briefly lifted off the ground and stood straight. ¡°Right, uh, so I¡¯m a telekinetic, just like you. Except I don¡¯t have to touch things to use my power.¡±

    A nearby piece of concrete debris floated upwards, slowly rotating, shedding the snow still on it.. ¡°Then there¡¯s what happens when I release it. It¡¯s based off of how far I move it, and how much force I¡¯m putting into it before I let it go. But yeah, it¡¯s something.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re beating around the bush.¡± I said, not that it was useless information.

    ¡°Right.¡± The debris shot downwards and shattered against the floor with a loud crash. Zephyr shot a warning glance our way. ¡°Yip, so whenever I move something it moves back to where it started.¡±

    It took me a moment to figure out something to say. ¡°That¡¯s strange. But it¡¯s a power.¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t wrong. It¡¯s just that I keep forgetting about the slingshot effect, though, so things keep jumping out of my hands when I use my power to pick things up. You know the feeling, you just had a keyboard rip itself out of your hands.¡±

    ¡°No. I mean, yes. I really do.¡± I took a breath as I filed away where Slingshot¡¯s name got its origin. One of my band aids was damp and almost completely red. It was distracting, but gave me some clarity. ¡°I was going to suggest using your power the other way around. Y¡¯know, use your power to slingshot things into your hand.¡±

    Slingshot sighed. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve tried that. The problem is that I can¡¯t aim well when shooting things towards me. It¡¯s much easier when I¡¯m using my power to propel things away¡±

    I was a little sad that my suggestion has so quickly waived. ¡°Do you keep track of the origin point?¡±

    ¡°Yes. But vaguely. Veery vaguely.¡±

    ¡°You two focus now.¡± Zephyr interrupted us. ¡°Boss and Queue are on the third floor, and Yearn is moving up in the building towards where Orcus, Satellite, Muffle, and Snowflake are. Our teammates are currently engaging some members of the Racketeers and Rising Sun. We¡¯re to be on the lookout for the remaining Racketeers and Handiemen. Our objective is to reinforce our teammates before they get away. Is that understood?¡±

    ¡°Yip.¡± Slingshot stood too straight. Her heels weren¡¯t on the ground.

    I glanced at them, distracted. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Are you aware of the potential dangers the Handiemen represent?¡± Zephyr checked.

    ¡°Yip.¡±

    ¡°I am.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Zephyr¡¯s limbs transformed into her tornadoes. ¡°Keep up.¡±

    Zephyr darted into the inexplicable staircase, flying low to the ground and kicking the slush to either side as she did so.

    Slingshot gave me a glance as she rose into the air and followed after Zephyr, moving much more carefully than the living hurricane. I sighed, I was the only earthbound one of these three. Keeping up was going to be a hassle.

    ~~~

    ¡°What happened here?¡± Zephyr curtly asked as I reached the landing where she and Slingshot were standing.

    A door had been blown off its hinges and there were dozens of spider corpses scattered across the floor. The little corpses were still glowing, giving the scene a somewhat serene feeling. Then there were the splattered taser spiders.

    ¡°That it where Spinnerette locked me in.¡± I pointed at the empty door frame.

    Slingshot literally drifted over to said frame. ¡°Wait, if you were locked in here and broke the door off its hinges, wouldn¡¯t you have broken the door frame where the hinge bit was?¡± She was pointing at where the damage should be.

    ¡°Look, it wasn¡¯t a literal lock. She covered the door in spiders, like, a swarm of them.¡± I wondered if that was what a group of spiders was called. ¡°See the larger yellow ones? Spinnerette left them behind to attack me if I tried to leave.¡±

    Zephyr nodded. ¡°Given the shock that particular breed can give, I understand the apprehension that situation could make.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I found out the hard way.¡±

    ¡°You were hit?¡± Zephyr checked. I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re still walking. Those were designed expressly for the purpose of incapacitating Orcus, as I understand it. The shock they deliver is twice as powerful as a standard taser.¡±

    Slingshot stared at me. I could tell even with the aviators. Wait, wouldn¡¯t she be practically blind in this light? I lingered on the thought and eventually realised she was still staring at me. I blushed hard, thankful that no one could see it, and remembered that Zephyr was talking to me.

    ¡°It was on my shin, on top of the armour I picked up from the adept labs.¡± I pointed, realising there were burn marks. ¡°It¡¯s clearly an insulator. This isn¡¯t the first time I¡¯ve been hit by them either. These things are the ones that got Lucidity and me when they were in the SRT.¡±

    ¡°I remember.¡± Slingshot murmured. That was strange, I didn¡¯t remember interacting with Slingshot much that day. Arrgh, I was getting distracted again.

    An explosion went off somewhere nearby, shaking the staircase. Zephyr looked down the staircase.

    Her hand went to her ear. ¡°Lucidity, can you give me an update?¡±

    Slingshot and I glanced around the scene while Zephyr waited for the reply. I crouched down next to the door. Some of the spiders were still in the position Spinnerette had put them in A closer inspection revealed they were still alive and¡­ eating? Slingshot drifted up towards the ceiling and looked down from there. It made her seem weirdly detached. I had a feeling that was going to get on my nerves if she kept doing it.

    ¡°Thank you Lucidity.¡± Zephyr turned to us, rolling her eyes when she saw where Slingshot was. ¡°Boss and Queue haven¡¯t moved. If they¡¯re meeting anyone, they¡¯ll be meeting them there. Yearn and some of our teammates are on the fifth floor, and there¡¯s another fight happening on the seventh. Let¡¯s move.¡±

    Zephyr repeated the motions of transforming her limbs, then flew down the staircase. Slingshot followed. I sighed and hastily descended the stairs. On the next landing was a number telling me it was the ninth floor. I registered it and kept going, mentally sighing when I heard a door slam two floors below. The two of them were flyers and I wasn''t. How the hell was I supposed to keep up?

    When I was on the last flight of stairs, Zephyr¡¯s modified voice yelled from the next room. ¡°You!¡±

    I pushed the slightly ajar door open the rest of the way and beheld the scene before me. What had probably been a typical open office plan had been entirely altered. Thin walls of concrete had been erected in places, as well as walls of wood where desks might¡¯ve been before. A fair number of them were in ruins. In addition to these were much thinner walls made of white paper. Every one of those, however, had been torn or broken in some way. Since they¡¯d been attached to the ceiling, at least two dozen banners of tattered paper blew in the wind.

    The windows weren¡¯t open, though some had been cracked. The wind came from Zephyr, who was staring at a teenage man who didn¡¯t seem much older than me leaning nonchalantly against a nearby wall. He just wore his clothes, which consisted of a pair of jeans, a shirt, and a jacket, not unlike what I was wearing sans the armour. He was wearing swimming goggles and a cap to hide his identity while still remaining casual. In his hand he was nonchalantly wielding a black glass trident, but because he was holding it at one end the balance of it was totally off. The fact that he was holding it with the prongs towards him was disconcerting.

    The teenager was to my right, and Zephyr was a few metres in front of me, while Slingshot had lifted a ceiling tile and flown into the space above. I saw her boots vanish.

    The teenager with the trident was talking when I entered. ¡°-ey, I¡¯m not that scary. Flying into the ceiling is uncalled for.¡± He flipped the trident, catching the other end as he pouted. Given his attitude and that fact that his mask was comprised goggles. He clearly wasn¡¯t taking this too seriously.

    He continued. ¡°And Zephyr, I have to say, congratulations on getting another flier. Now you can leave the task of chasing Jagmikh to someone else. You must be feeling a hurricane of positivity right now.¡± He slapped his leg, cracking up.

    Zephyr was suddenly no longer there as the sound of compressed air being released blasted into the room. She had crossed the space between her and the teenager in the blink of an eye and I caught her delivering a blow to his face before rushing wind forced me to blink.

    When I was able to actually focus on what I saw, I registered how completely unfazed the villain was. He adjusted where he was holding his trident so Zephyr wasn¡¯t in the way, then flipped it again. The guy had weathered Zephyr¡¯s blow and hadn¡¯t been hit back at all, nor had he cared. It was disconcerting how little his reaction had been, and Zephyr¡¯s fist was still against his face.

    No. It was in his face.

    I reflexively stepped back. The teenager turned to me when I moved and gave a predator¡¯s grin, Zephyr¡¯s hand now going into one of his eyes. I knew who this was. The scandal he had been at the centre of meant few people in Graceland didn¡¯t.

    This was Waterlad, a Racketeer, and a former member of the St Shane Sentry. His eyes- no. His one goggle that wasn¡¯t obscured by Zephyr met my eyes.

    ¡°New meat huh?¡±

 2. Fate/Prophecy 5

    Apart from the tense situation between Waterlad and Zephyr, there was a fight still going on in the room. It wasn¡¯t immediately apparent because two Sentrys specialising in obscurement were participating. Snowflake was still making snow fall, forming an opaque wall, and walling off what I realised was half of the office space, while Muffle¡¯s power muted the action going on. I only noticed when an explosion from within the snowcloud threw flakes of snow in my direction and shivered from the sudden cold.

    Headache was still active, if moving slower than she had been before. There was more time between each of the beams she was shooting. Fighting with her were two members of the Racketeers: A guy whose mask seemed to be made of paper mache, Junk Mail, as well as a taller woman wearing nothing but a grey bodysuit with similarly grey denim accessories. She also wore a sculpted porcelain mask over her upper face which left her jaw revealed and her black ponytail to hang free. I recognized her as Clothesline.

    Her power was superspeed, and when she ran her body density changed. Most of it became less dense, while the rest of her body became inversely as dense, and the extent of this effect was dependant on how fast she was going. She¡¯d taken her name by making her arm the hardest part of her body and running people down, specifically clotheslining them.

    There was another guy who looked like he headbutted a disco ball and used the rest as a helmet. He had a blue jacket that was zipped up all the way to his chin, and he was wearing baggy pants that had a black and gold pattern on them. A Racketeer. Prism. The guy was pulling at his legs, but failing to make them move. I couldn¡¯t see what was holding him, but he¡¯d effectively been removed from the fight by the looks of it.

    Despite having removed one of the supervillains from the fight, Snowflake and Muffle were still outnumbered. I could only catch glimpses, meaning most of the battle went unobserved. Junk Mail¡¯s ability let him summon paper, which wasn¡¯t that great a match up against Snowflake, but Clothesline¡¯s superspeed seemed to make up the difference. Headache was constantly harassing Muffle and Snowflake both. All that put the Sentrys in a slowly losing battle from the looks of it.

    I turned my attention back to Waterlad, who had started striding towards me. Zephyr was interposing herself between the villain and myself, striking at him again and again, but whenever she struck him, Waterlad¡¯s body just caved unnaturally then rushed back to its former form, not unlike the surface of water, and he kept going. Completely unfazed.

    Sudden wind forced me to cover my eyes when they got close as Zephyr delivered a particularly strong blow. I briefly saw a hole open in Waterlad¡¯s chest. It was large enough that Zephyr¡¯s twister arm could fit inside and still leaving enough empty space for me to see out the window behind him. Waterlad still strode towards me, uninjured and wearing an annoyed expression.

    Waterlad¡¯s power made him nigh impossible to pin down. It essentially caused him to be liquid, but didn¡¯t interfere with his solid form. Therefore he could do anything like a normal human would, but without most of the side effects of literally being water. Physical attacks, like the ones Zephyr was delivering, as well as the ones I would use, wouldn¡¯t be able to actually do anything to him.

    His trident, on the other hand, had been proven to be quite an effective weapon in the past. I kept my eyes on it as he extended his free hand towards me.

    ¡°Hey rookie.¡± He waved, ignoring Zephyr¡¯s hand in his head. ¡°Welcome to the world of heroes and villains.¡±

    ¡°Do not engage with him.¡± Zephyr told me. She abandoned the futile effort and flew into me, pushing me several metres across the room before setting me down. ¡°You can¡¯t do anything to set him back, I¡¯ll hold him here. You reinforce Snowflake and Muffle. That goes for Slingshot as well. Get her out of the ceiling.¡± Then she flew back towards Waterlad, dodging as he raised his trident and delivered a blow that nearly parted the teenage villain in two.

    ¡°I just want to give him the down low!¡± Waterlad exclaimed once he had reformed.

    ¡°You mean to invite him to your side!¡± Zephyr retorted.

    ¡°Would I be so unjustified!?¡± Waterlad shot back, adopting a pretentious tone. ¡°With the way you treat your subordinates, I¡¯m surprised that there even is a Sentry!¡±

    I shook my head and glanced at the ceiling in time to see one of the tiles buckle downwards. Ignoring the banter between Waterlad and Zephyr, I ran up to the tile and jumped on a desk. I pushed it up, startling the blond heroine.

    ¡°Slingshot, we have to reinforce her.¡± I realised that wasn¡¯t right. ¡°No, not Zephyr. We have to back up Muffle and Snowflake. Get down, out of the ceiling, and help. Zephyr¡¯s words, not mine.¡±

    Slingshot nodded, gulping and emitting a ¡°meep¡± like sound. I stopped my power and fell to the floor, sticking the landing for once. When Slingshot had extracted herself from the space between the ceiling and the floor above, I looked at the fights going on around us.

    The cloud of snow Snowflake was responsible for had shifted further away from us, telling of the movements of the engagement. Every so often the snow would clear, and I¡¯d see a villain running for cover or winding up for an attack. Headache¡¯s beams lit the area again, striking at the ceiling. I had an idea.

    ¡°What¡¯s the range on your telekinesis?¡± I asked Slingshot.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± She confessed. ¡°Um, I mean, it¡¯s a good range. I can probably pick up anything in this room. I¡¯ll struggle with the heavy stuff, though.¡±

    ¡°Good enough, here¡¯s the plan.¡± I checked where Waterlad was. Zephyr was slowing him down, but he seemed adamant on getting closer to me, so I started pulling Slingshot further away. ¡°You stay as far out of reach as you can. When you see a villain, use your power and drop a ceiling tile on them. Easy enough?¡±

    Slingshot nodded as she drifted upwards, but she didn¡¯t fly away to safety. I ignored it, I needed to figure out a good moment to join the fray and Snowflake¡¯s power was making that harder than it should have been. Due to the powers being thrown around in the room, I was hesitant to step close to the blizzard. I didn¡¯t know if Headache¡¯s beams stuck to clothes, and from what I had seen, they probably did. There was only one way to be sure and that was a chance I wasn¡¯t willing to take.

    It didn¡¯t matter in the end. The next time the snow cleared a dark shape barreled towards me from within. It was moving at such a fast speed that I wasn¡¯t able to dodge out of the way. The blur caught me in the shoulder and I was sent spinning onto a shelving cabinet.

    I was able to recover quicker than I had when I was fighting Killer Kage, and I used my power to swing at where the villain had been. Of course, being so fast, my assailant was nowhere near my swing when it occurred. I took a moment to figure out where they had gone and saw a denim clad villain picking herself out of a ruined desk. She dusted snow and dust off of her shoulder and I readied myself as Slingshot was awkwardly drifting away off to my left.

    Clothesline looked up and saw us. Her head turned to Slingshot. ¡°I remember you.¡± Her voice was raspy, and cracked a little on ¡®you¡¯. I liked how it sounded, but I didn¡¯t let myself dwell on that. ¡°You were with Zephyr in the tower. I¡¯ll bet this is the first time you¡¯ve been outside. Same goes for you.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± I said settling into a batting position. ¡°I¡¯ve been outside before. Several times a day, actually.¡±

    ¡°Lock?¡± Slingshot called quietly.

    ¡°Rookie, that wasn¡¯t meant literally.¡± Clothesline tilted her head back and to the side. Rolling her eyes. It didn¡¯t have as much of an effect since she was wearing a mask. ¡°I was talking about- Know what? It doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    Clothesline¡¯s body blurred, and suddenly she was no longer there. I swung reflexively, amplifying the force in the swing by three. The swipe met nothing. Clothesline¡¯s target wasn¡¯t me. I looked in time to see a grey blur with a surprisingly solid left arm take Slingshot down to the ground.

    A ceiling tile hit the floor where Clothesline had been standing and I heard a girl¡¯s scream. I recovered from overbalancing on the swing. The staff had slid itself upwards in my grip and I was no longer holding it where there was a good centre of balance. So I turned its gravity to zero and ran towards Slingshot and Clothesline.

    Before I was able to get close things started flying. The pieces of stationary that hadn¡¯t been knocked off the desks yet started lifting up, drifting for a moment, then darting towards the hero and villain. Clothesline was standing, or rather, flickering over Slingshot, and was delivering vicious kicks and punches from all angles. Slingshot was curled up on the floor, weathering the assault as best she could. I heard her cry out each time she was hit.

    The pens, erasers, and sometimes keyboards Slingshot was using to attack Clothesline were easily dodged by the villian. She simply moved fast enough that she had enough time to dodge every single projectile sent her way. They weren¡¯t well aimed projectiles either. Slingshot hadn¡¯t been lying when she said it was difficult to shoot things towards her.

    I finally got close enough to swing and pulled the staff back in preparation for the attack. Then I was hit in the back as Clothesline was suddenly behind me. My mind blanked between the time I got hit and when I hit the ground, and my staff dropped from my grasp, clattering across the floor.

    We never stood a chance. Clothesline power let her move more than five times as fast as Slingshot or myself, and that was a conservative estimate. She had the speed to navigate our attacks as if we were moving at a snail¡¯s pace, and had the necessary weight behind her punches to do real damage. We were in way too deep.

    My eyes opened and I gasped for air. After a second I flinched and tried to roll over. The porcelain mask wearing villain standing over me rolled me back before I got anywhere. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°Just welcoming you to the ring, rookie.¡± Clothesline slapped me, thankfully without hardening her hand. ¡°Y¡¯know, I¡¯m partnered with psychopaths, guys really fucked in the head. When we were briefed on this we were told to delay you guys. Not to maim, and not to kill or anything, they didn¡¯t say that. Just to delay. The others all got this look in their eyes, like they were looking forward to this when Yearn said that. See, my working theory is that most of the rest of the Racketeers don¡¯t care for words like ¡°Delay¡± so much as they¡¯re looking forward to the fight, and they¡¯re looking to make it last for as long as possible.¡±

    I stared at her, remembering what Killer Kage said during our encounter. It kind of in tune with what Clothesline was telling me now, if with extra psychopathy mixed in. My fingers brushed against a keyboard Slingshot had probably thrown using her power. This would make two.

    ¡°And I can see where they¡¯re coming from, but it just seems so pointless.¡± Clothesline was monologuing now. ¡°I¡¯m supposed to slow you down, but fighting a long, drawn out fight is a lot of effort. I feel like it¡¯s better to just deal with you straight away. Case in point.¡±

    Clothesline flickered in place, coming to a stop a fraction of a step from where she left. Slingshot¡¯s cry was cut short.

    I fumbled with the keyboard and started swinging it towards Clothesline. Suddenly, she was right in front of my face. Her porcelain mask filled my vision and I flinched back before I could get a good swing going. She was too close for that swing, anyway. Clothesline dashed back and maintained some distance between us.

    A ¡°Tsk¡± sound came from behind the mask. ¡°Rookie, I know you have super strength. I¡¯m not letting you swing at me, grab at me, or do anything at all, really. That would be very, very stupid.¡±

    I stared at her eyes through the holes in the mask. Clothesline hadn¡¯t put anything on to conceal her eyes, so I could see the intense hazel colours staring at me. That didn¡¯t do much to help her keep her identity secret, but then again, she was wearing denim on a battlefield. She probably hadn¡¯t even considered putting on armour.

    My thoughts raced. She said I had super strength, which was wrong. I had telekinesis, which couldn¡¯t be more different. No. Other things had fewer similarities. Wait, could I use that to my advantage? Clothesline thought had super strength, and therefore needed a wind up to hit her, but that wasn¡¯t necessarily true. I tended to swing at people physically and use my power to enhance the force behind the swing, but that was more for me to keep hold of my weapon when I did that. It also let me use known forces as a benchmark.

    When I¡¯d used the toilet paper to shoot the spiders earlier, there hadn¡¯t been any wind up. Now there was and I wasn¡¯t sure exactly how aerodynamic a keyboard was. Maybe I could use I to hit Clothesline. She was insanely fast, but when I imposed a force on something the reaction was instant. I doubted Clothesline would see that coming.

    Making sure to stay relatively still, I angled the keyboard so it was between my hand and Clothesline. I didn¡¯t want my fingers to get in the way again.

    Clothesline noticed the movement and glanced at my hand. ¡°Right, while it¡¯s been fun, I really do need to help out Junk Mail. Fighting Snowflake is like trying to pick out white glitter in the snowfall.¡±

    I gave the keyboard the force I¡¯d given to the one that had broken Killer Kage¡¯s arm while she was finishing that monologue. I felt air rush around my hand, heard another sickening crack, followed by a horrible scream and Clothesline dashing around randomly. I tried to scramble to my feet and get away, but the speedster collided with me, bringing me back to the ground as I tried.

    The fact that this was the closest I¡¯d ever been to a girl was not lost on me as I scrambled to get her off of me. When I was out from under her, I took a moment to make sure Clothesline wasn¡¯t an issue anymore. She was moaning at a supernatural speed and thrashed around a bit before eventually settling at a normal speed. I bolted to check on Slingshot and found her in a strange way.

    Clothesline had hit Slingshot in the face, and her aviators were now lying, utterly bent, on her chest. One of the limbs caught in her costume. The blow had left a frighteningly clear mark on Slingshot¡¯s face where the rims of the glasses had been pressed into her face. Her eyes were closed and she wasn¡¯t moving, just drifting, telling me she was unconscious as she floated above the snow that had gathered on the floor.

    The most unsettling thing about the sight was that Slingshot wasn¡¯t lying flat on the air. Instead she was lying on a dutch angle and was rotated to a three quarter angle away from the floor.

    I grabbed Slingshots shoulders and started shaking her, but she didn¡¯t rouse. My mind moved back to the few lessons in first aid I¡¯d had over the past week. They were brief, barely an hour long, and my tutor kept changing, so I had to sit through different explanations for the same thing. But one thing I remembered was that if someone was unresponsive, the best way to get a reaction is through a pain response. I grabbed a pen and pressed the flat of it into Slingshot¡¯s fingernail. There was no response, so I used my power to press harder.

    Slingshot gasped and jackknifed forward, barely missing me with a headbutt as she did.

    I grabbed her shoulders and tried to hold her still. ¡°Slingshot, it¡¯s me, Lock.¡±

    Slingshot was hyperventilating. I didn¡¯t know what to do. Clothesline groaned behind me so I glanced back at her and felt my stomach flip. Her shin wasn¡¯t straight, she was holding it at that weird angle with both hands. If I was right, she was about to try and set it, so I looked away. The grinding sound and scream of pain behind me told me I was right.

    While I was looking away, Slingshot was facing towards Clothesline. When Clothesline corrected her leg, Slingshot stopped hyperventilating. She made a whining noise, which finally keyed me into what was happening. I turned her head towards mine, but she was still looking at Clothesline.

    ¡°Slingshot.¡± I said, trying to get her attention. ¡°Slingshot!¡±

    Her eyes met mine. They were green.

    ¡°You¡¯re not breathing.¡± I told her.

    Slingshot¡¯s eyes were wide, and she was quivering. I realised this girl wasn¡¯t meant to be here. She was scared- no, she was terrified. It was something I really sympathised with, but something needed to change, otherwise Slingshot would get in an even worse way.

    Her eyes darted to something behind me. I turned to see the guy with a disco ball for a mask approach, his hand outstretched and glowing. If he was about to shoot a beam at us, he was interrupted by his sudden lifting into the air. His hands clawed at the mask and his legs swung wildly, the glow of his hand faded quickly.

    Then he shot downwards head first. There was a thud and he stopped moving. Slingshot breathed out and leaned against me. At the same time Clothesline was standing up, sending alarm bells off in my head. Didn¡¯t she have a broken leg? Was she going to take revenge for me breaking her leg?

    If she wanted revenge, she wasn¡¯t going for it now. Clothesline turned into a blur and sped off towards Snowflake¡¯s snow cloud. I noticed her good leg was solid. It kind of looked like she was hopping at an extreme speed.

    There was a break in the cloud and three things happened. First, Muffle stumbled out of the snow, one arm and half his torso covered in paper that was blowing off of him. Then Headache¡¯s beam lanced out from within the cloud and deposited two orbs of volatile energy near Muffle¡¯s feet. And finally Clothesline tackled Muffle to the ground, making her chest solid instead of her leg at the last second.

    Muffle and Clothesline went down a near Headache¡¯s explosive orbs. After a moment I realised the orbs were about the same distance away from Slingshot and myself.

    ¡°Take cover!¡± I yelled as I scrambled to get behind something. Slingshot was quicker on the draw than me, and darted several metres further than me in the space of a single second.

    Fliers.

    I didn¡¯t manage to get behind cover before the orbs went off, and was picked up by the shockwave. It carried me a short way before I impacted against the shelf Clothesline had hit me into before.

    Painfully, I pulled myself to my feet and looked at where Muffle and Clothesline had been. No, where they still were. They looked like it hadn¡¯t even gone off. My gaze drifted downwards. My body was heavy and the aches weren¡¯t helping. I noticed the carpet where the orbs had detonated was ripped up to a point. That point being about where Muffle¡¯s black hole of sound would¡¯ve started.

    That meant Headache¡¯s power was also consumed by- Another set of explosions courtesy of Headache went off somewhere I wasn¡¯t looking see.

    The world went sideways, then black.

    ~~~

    ¡°Sentrys!¡± Zephyr¡¯s shout brought me back to the present. ¡°Retreat!¡±

    I jerked up. Snowflake¡¯s cloud had moved into the centre of the room and was considerably less dense than it had been when last I looked at him. Snowflake was sliding across the carpet towards a staircase inexplicably in the centre of the room, previously hidden by the snowstorm. Muffle was barreling after her at a slower pace. Slingshot darted past me up the staircase, and Zephyr was still engaged with Waterlad.

    She gave me an urgent ¡°Lock!¡± and Waterlad swung at her with his trident. Zephyr blocked with her hurricane arm, using one of her handheld twisters to redirect the attack while the other struck back at his head. Waterlad¡¯s grin rippled away and returned in less than a second.

    That was more than enough to get me moving. I scrambled in the direction Snowflake had run. My head was still aching, and the blurs at the edge of my vision reminded me that Clothesline was probably still around. The ache worsened, and I held my hand to my head as I finally made it to my feet.

    I made it to the stairs and made to start ascending, only I passed some kind of barrier and the stairs were suddenly a step further than I thought they were. The sudden mislocation took me off guard and I couldn¡¯t correct my step in time, so I tripped on nothing and barely caught myself before I cracked my teeth on the stairs.

    A noise from behind me made me turn. The guy who wore the disco mask was standing with his hand outstretched and glowing. He lowered it, clicking his tongue. As he did, the barrier I passed faded, and he was suddenly five paces away from me.

    That was Prism¡¯s ability. He had the power to shoot blinding rays of light, as well as set up fields of refraction according to the wiki. I had seen him use, or try to use both in the past however long it had been. I wasn¡¯t sure how long I¡¯d been out.

    Jumping at the reveal, I turned to scramble up the stairs and stopped. The air around me was trembling, only it wasn¡¯t really. Everything was normal except for the fact that huge forces were present, but acting in opposition with themselves and therefore were cancelling themselves out. It was a vibration only I could sense, and it was destabilising, growing larger by the moment. The effect was greater in the direction that I came from, I touched the staircase and the building snapped into focus. I was able to identify where the source was. It was close.

    Instead of running up the stairs I took cover behind them. Then the space in the room tore apart and thunder rocked what remained. The guy with the disco ball helmet was thrown past where I¡¯d taken cover, and the sensory part of my power went haywire. I could see, but I felt blind. Then everything returned to normal.

    I recovered from the sudden shift in space, then peeked out from behind the stairs. A new man was standing in the room, glowing a soft white-green colour. The glow softened, and turned to a blue colour, then transitioned to white, then red, then finally to the colours of Victorious¡¯ costume.

    He wore a dark blue hooded flowing cape, which was just settling around his feet. He wore light armour a shade darker than his cape, but a closer inspection would reveal dark reds adding texture to the costume. A light mask covered his eyes and cheekbones, but left the rest of his face relatively visible. Victorious didn¡¯t care for heavy armour like his associate Archangel did, he thrived off of superior mobility.

    The man turned slowly, surveying the room as villains regained their footing and saw who had just arrived. His figure ascended, still turning. The snow around him evaporated and I felt the temperature rise. It was an imposing scene, and everyone stopped to watch despite themselves. It was a fitting entrance for one of the Aegis, and one who numbered among the three undisputed strongest Transhumans in the world.

 2. Fate/Prophecy 6

    Victorious turned his head in my direction. I followed his gaze, seeing Prism staggering to his feet. The disco-mask villain slid sideways, then slid back and vanished. The wall behind him moved similarly, but didn¡¯t vanish, instead coming to rest at weird angles. It was like looking at a kaleidoscope.

    The cape flowing from Victorious¡¯s shoulders kicked up as he swiftly flew to where Prism had disappeared, where he also vanished. The effect Prism had made suddenly lifted with a bang, revealing Victorious having slammed Prism¡¯s head into the floor. I winced. That was the second time Prism had had his face slammed onto the thing he normally stood on.

    Prism was jostled as Victorious roughly turned him over. When he didn¡¯t respond, Victorious looked up and saw Clothesline starting to pick up speed. The superspeed villain must have been feeling the hurt after I¡¯d broken her leg. She didn¡¯t seem able to move at high speeds as suddenly as she had while Slingshot and I had been fighting her.

    This time when Victorious took flight it was faster, and he caught up with Clothesline in the space of a few seconds. Clothesline had made it out the door, but Victorious threw her back into the room and I saw her clutching her leg when she landed. Victorious reentered and surveyed her. When Clothesline didn¡¯t get back up, he looked around for his next target.

    Waterlad had already left, having run out the door he¡¯d been hanging out by when I¡¯d first entered. Headache, however, was making a break for the nearest exit, which happened to be the staircase I was taking cover by. I saw her run past two orbs she¡¯d already placed that were nearing the end of their life span and waiting to explode.

    Victorious started flying after her, and the orbs exploded right as he entered the blast radius. The same explosions had knocked me out briefly, but they barely seemed to faze the superhero. He continued to sail through the air towards Headache a little higher than he had before, only now he was glowing red. Victorious was harder to put down than that.

    One blow later Headache was out of commission and Victorious was looking for his next target. His gaze fell upon me. The presence from the man was imposing, almost as intimidating as Orcus could be.

    ¡°Victorious, no!¡± Zephyr shouted as his gloved hand lifted me by the collar. ¡°Lock is on our side!¡±

    I flinched as Victorious lifted me up to look me in the eye. A tingling feeling spread from where he was lifting me up, and I smelt burning. Victorious was still glowing red, so he looked like a drunk, angry uncle. But since I had just witnessed how quickly he¡¯d just put down three villains that had been giving us a whole lot of trouble, and since the tingling in my chest was intensifying to painful levels, I couldn¡¯t see the humour in it.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Victorious checked.

    Zephyr paused wrestling with an internal decision. ¡°We¡¯re sure.¡±

    The red glow faded and I was dropped to the floor. The impact made me yell in pain and I clutched my chest as the tingling faded. As I was recovering a crash like something had just fallen onto the floor below sounded. Each of us glanced in the direction of the sound and saw that a triangle of paper marking an area of the floor that had fallen away. That had to be Junk Mail.

    ¡°One more.¡± Victorious said, then flew after him.

    Zephyr reached over, gripped my jaw and forced me to look at her avian-like mask. ¡°Don¡¯t antagonize him.¡±

    She released me and in the seconds it took me to come up with a response, Victorious flew back up through the hole in the floor. Junk Mail was under his arm, unresponsive, and with his mask partially destroyed.

    Victorious dumped Junk Mail as his feet touched the floor. ¡°Tell me what the situation is.¡±

    Zephyr stood up and straightened her clothes. ¡°Two prolific gangs are present in the building. The Entrepreneurs and Rising Sun. The Entrepreneurs also have three other superpowered gangs under their control: The Racketeers, the Handiemen, and the Collectors, as well as a Private Army. Members of all of these gangs have been confirmed to be in the building.

    ¡°Their forces are concentrated in the lower floors. I decided to approach from above in an attempt to pincer, but found a fight already in progress. It should be noted that their force up here is less than half the strength of that on the lower floors. Yearn and some of her villains are engaged with Orcus and some of our other Sentrys two floors below. The rest of the Sentrys are engaged with hostile forces on the ground floor. Boss and Queue are on the third floor, that is theorised to be the site of a meeting we¡¯re aiming to interrupt.¡±

    ¡°Tell me about the Sentrys here.¡± Victorious said, glancing up the stairs where I saw Muffle and Snowflake looking down at us.

    ¡°The one wearing white is Snowflake.¡± Zephyr explained. ¡°She can summon snowfall anywhere, and has hydrokinesis where she does. The big one next to her is Muffle, his power completely nullifies sound in an area around him.¡±

    ¡°So they can¡¯t hear us.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Victorious peered past the two heroes at something I couldn¡¯t make out. ¡°There¡¯s another one.¡± He told us.

    Zephyr followed his eyeline. ¡°That¡¯s Slingshot. Her powers consist of flight and telekinesis, but when she releases something from her telekinetic grasp, it attempts to return to the point of origin. She is a very recent addition to the team.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°You should also know this is the first field mission she is taking part in.¡± Zephyr continued, to which Victorious just nodded.

    I recalled the state I¡¯d last seen Slingshot in. It was relieving to know she was up there with the other Sentrys.

    Victorious took a few moments of consideration. ¡°Zephyr, you¡¯ll lead the way to the engagement between Orcus and Yearn. Snowflake will be joining us. Muffle, Slingshot, and Lock will rest and recuperate, and standby in case we need backup.¡±

    He hadn¡¯t asked about me. In fact, he¡¯d assumed I was a villain until Zephyr told him otherwise. What the hell?

    Zephyr¡¯s lips thinned, but she nodded and beckoned at Snowflake. Muffle nudged her forward when she continued to stare at us for a few seconds. I found the sight amusing. Snowflake couldn¡¯t hear what was being said because of Muffle¡¯s power, but Muffle could listen just fine.

    When Snowflake exited the area of Muffle¡¯s power, she was quickly briefed by Zephyr. After Zephyr was done she turned her limbs into tornadoes and left with Victorious close behind. Before Snowflake left, she turned to me.

    She told me. ¡°Go upstairs. Hug her or something.¡± Then I was left to frown over what she said.

    The stairs only Hully could have made were narrow and barely wide enough for me to walk up. It was remarkable Muffle had been able to run up here when he did. I added my footprints to the snow covered steps and joined the other Sentrys, entering Muffle¡¯s area of silence on the way.

    Slingshot was up and about, but she was in a bad way. She was holding her aviators before her and was turning them over, inspecting the shattered lens and skewed arms. There were red gashes around her eyes where the sunglass rims had broken the skin, and blood smeared underneath them. Both her eyes were open, fortunately, but it still unnerved me how close the gashes were to her eyes.

    I tried to say. ¡°How bad is it?¡± but nothing came out I looked at Muffle. He signed something at me and strode a short distance away, having blindsided me again with his power. Since I didn¡¯t know sign language I didn¡¯t know what to make of the gesture.

    ¡°How are you holding up?¡± I changed the question.

    Slingshot¡¯s eyes met mine without turning her head. The blood under her eyes was vibrant, but was solid at the same time. It was frozen. Which made sense considering Snowflake was just here.

    ¡°I¡­¡± Her voice wavered. I didn¡¯t know what to do. Her eyes darted to something behind me and narrowed.

    I glanced at Muffle, he was off to my side. Slingshot was looking at something else. Something touched the floor behind me, making a sharp sound. I whirled around, arms raised but holding nothing. The staff was still lying where I¡¯d dropped it fighting Clothesline.

    The person behind me was Waterlad. He had made the sound by tapping the butt his trident on the floor, and he was now leaning on it heavily. His cap had been turned around and was now on backwards. A strange smile adorned Waterlad¡¯s face, and he was looking me right in the eyes.

    ¡°You guys got Victorious all up in here?¡± He spun his trident offhandedly, inadvertently slashing through his thigh. ¡°Talk about big guns.¡±

    I looked around and found another keyboard by a destroyed desk next to me. Waterlad started striding towards me. I took the keyboard and brandished it.

    ¡°Stay there.¡± I told him.

    ¡°Or what?¡± Waterlad laughed. ¡°You¡¯ll hit me?¡±

    I returned his look, trying to stay level. ¡°I¡¯ve broken two people¡¯s bones today by accident today. I can¡¯t control my power that well and I can¡¯t promise I won¡¯t do the same to you.¡±

    Waterlad kept walking. ¡°Then do it. I don¡¯t care, it¡¯s not what I¡¯m here for.¡±

    ¡°Stop right there.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I¡¯m here for.¡±

    ¡°Stay away from us!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not Victorious, you can¡¯t stop me.¡±

    Waterlad wasn¡¯t slowing down so I shoved the keyboard towards him, adding half of the force I¡¯d used to break Clothesline¡¯s leg. It hit him in the chest and pushed him back a fraction of a centimetre. Then Waterlad¡¯s chest swallowed the plastic projectile and it spat out through his back. The keyboard skittered across the floor. Waterlad was unfazed.

    ¡°Very few things get to hurt me.¡± Waterlad said. ¡°My power makes me water. And so it goes.¡±

    ¡°Shit.¡± There was nothing I could do against that, not with my power. Even if my power worked on people it¡¯d be useless against Waterlad. My power worked differently on liquids, and if he really was water, then anything I hit him with would just pass through him. He was clearly fine with that after the keyboard.

    ¡°Look, Lock, is it?¡± He checked. ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to say that¡¯s not what I¡¯m here for.¡±

    ¡°Get away from me.¡± I said.

    Waterlad sighed and gave me a look. ¡°I just want to ask you something.¡± He swung his trident and stopped it just short of Slingshot, who went cross eyed and started animatedly hyperventilating. Waterlad continued, but the sound of his voice didn¡¯t reach my ears.

    Muffle put his hand on my shoulder and pulled me back. He started gesturing at Waterlad, who was sighing exasperatedly. Playing up the physical actions since he was now silenced. Waterlad moved his trident from in front of Slingshot and I immediately started pulling her away.

    She was shaking. Slingshot grabbed my arm when I took hold of her, and gripped me like a vice. Pain was ignored as a small part of me jumped for joy. I stopped moving when we left Muffle¡¯s area of influence. Slingshot was light, no, she was pulling upwards. I had to pull down with my power to keep us on the ground.

    Muffle was animatedly communicating to Waterlad, who had leaned his trident against a desk. He didn¡¯t sign like Muffle did, but Muffle could hear where everyone else couldn¡¯t, so they were definitely having a conversation. Waterlad had been part of the Graceland Sentry until recently, so it made sense that he was used enough to Muffle¡¯s power to hold a conversation like that. And that was on top of knowing sign language.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    I kept Slingshot close while they spoke. Eventually Muffle violently gestured at Waterlad and stepped far to the side, leaving a space of sound between us. Waterlad turned his head to us and grinned. Slingshot flinched.

    ¡°Full disclosure,¡± Waterlad started. ¡°My name is Andrew. Every Sentry knew my name until you two signed up, and I feel like that should be a tradition that continues.¡±

    I was taken off guard. ¡°Wha- Why would you tell us that?¡±

    ¡°To establish trust.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Waterlad tapped his trident and pointed it at me. I tensed.

    ¡°That¡¯s the question of the hour.¡± Waterlad nodded, lowering the weapon. ¡°Tell me, do you know what¡¯s going on here?¡±

    Was that a trick question? ¡°We¡¯re... Fighting?¡±

    Waterlad tilted his head.

    I continued, stumbling over my words. ¡°With ¡®We¡¯ being you, the villains and us, the heroes.¡±

    ¡°Shit, you believe that.¡± Waterlad scoffed. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you this now: The Sentinels aren¡¯t heroes, and we aren¡¯t the villains.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s hard to see from where I¡¯m standing.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s what I see, and I¡¯ve stood on both sides of the line.¡± Waterlad turned around and gestured at the room we were in. It was trashed by the fights that had happened here similarly to the floor below, though not to the same extent. There wasn¡¯t any snow left here. It had melted and left the carpet wet.

    ¡°All this?¡± Waterlad said. ¡°Most of it was done by your teammates.¡± He pointed at a wall that had been punched through. ¡°From what I hear, Hully could reset that in a moment, but Orcus decided to punch through it and hit rubble into desks, computers, cabinets, and that guys favourite mug.¡± I saw a smashed mug that had ¡°Wo-¡±, ¡°B-¡±, ¡°Mo-¡± on the side that was still intact.

    Waterlad pointed at a hole in the floor not far from the staircase. ¡°That would be where he smashed Hully through the floor, he does that multiple times each time they meet. And see the carpet? Snowflake ruined it. The owners of this place will need to get the carpet guys in over the course of a week most likely. They¡¯ll also have to move all the furniture around while they work, or even straight up remove the stuff from the building. Talk about a logistical nightmare.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re ignoring all the paper.¡± I told him.

    ¡°No, I know all about Junk Mail¡¯s power.¡± Waterlad turned back to me. ¡°You just pull on it and it¡¯s out. Much easier to fix that than a fucking hole in the floor.¡±

    ¡°I just saw Junk Mail make a hole in concrete by summoning paper.¡±

    Waterlad shrugged. ¡°Then I¡¯ll concede that particular point. My argument as a whole still stands.¡±

    This was going nowhere. I needed to change the subject. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    Waterlad tapped his trident and pointed it at me again. ¡°Good question, but I asked you first. Why am I here?¡±

    I frowned and glanced at Slingshot. She was keeping her eyes locked on Waterlad and was still floating while she gripped my arm like a handcuff. Slingshot wasn¡¯t crouched in the air anymore and had her legs outstretched, so it looked like she was standing. In any case, she wasn¡¯t offering a response. A pit opened in my stomach seeing her like that.

    I turned back to Waterlad and tried to cover the concern with confusion. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Do you know?¡± Waterlad pressed, returning his trident to a neutral position.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t know. Because your boss is meeting with the Rising Sun?¡±

    Waterlad tapped his trident again, but didn¡¯t point it at me this time. ¡°Exactly.¡±

    ¡°Why is that so important?¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re the ones that came here first.¡±

    ¡°Actually you guys got here first. Queue pinpointed where you would be and compensated to ensure his meeting wouldn¡¯t be interrupted.¡±

    That was quite the claim. ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°So what the hell is this meeting about?¡± Waterlad threw his free hand out. ¡°I said full disclosure and I meant it. Truly, I have no idea what the meeting is about.¡±

    ¡°Why does it matter?¡±

    ¡°Of course it matters! Everyone, and I mean everyone is here in force. The Entrepreneurs have every superpower toting idiot they have under their employ in the building, plus the Private Army. The Rising Sun brought along more than half their members. The Sentinels and every Sentry showed up, and then the motherfucking Victorious from motherfucking Aegis appeared in the Thunder. It¡¯s just two guys sitting down to talk, what the hell is going on!?¡±

    I didn¡¯t have an answer.

    ¡°So here¡¯s my pitch.¡± Waterlad said, suddenly calming down. ¡°I want you guys to come with me to spy on Boss and his stupid important meeting. Before you say you¡¯ll do it on your own, you can¡¯t. Queue¡¯s calculations have been proven to be thorough. If you guys are going to make it there, you¡¯ll need the help of an unaccounted variable. Namely: me.¡±

    It sounded exactly like a trap. Still, I was curious, be that from inexperience on my part or a genuine performance on his part.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you just go by yourself?¡± I asked.

    ¡°At first it was because I needed to hang with my group, but they¡¯re all asleep right now. Now it¡¯s because I want backup in case we come across one of your groups. I don¡¯t want to be attacked unnecessarily. I may be water but you¡¯re still mixing my insides when you hit me.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh.¡± Good to know.

    ¡°So are you in or out?¡±

    I looked at Slingshot, who had moved so I was between her and Waterlad. She glanced at me, wide eyed. I wouldn¡¯t get anything useful from her, so I looked to see Muffle¡¯s response. The large man was in the corner with his arms folded. His helmet on so I couldn¡¯t read his expression. He gave no me indication as to what the right thing to do was.

    ¡°What will you do if I say no?¡± I checked.

    Waterlad jabbed at the air with his trident. ¡°I¡¯ll stab you.¡±

    A beat.

    ¡°Nah, I¡¯m just playing.¡± Waterlad laughed. ¡°But I will knock you guys around to alleviate suspicion.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want that.¡± Slingshot whispered.

    I winced at the sound and resisted the urge to comfort Slingshot. ¡°Then what if I say yes? You said that going with you is the only chance of us making it, but it doesn¡¯t you haven¡¯t even hinted at a plan. Doing something like you¡¯re suggesting without a plan sounds like a great way to die.¡±

    ¡°I have a plan.¡± Waterlad assured us. ¡°Kind of.¡±

    ¡°No. Not assuring.¡±

    ¡°Before we were split up and told to patrol, we were where Boss is going to be meeting Samurai. It¡¯s going down in a meeting room on the third floor. I can get down there without an issue. It looks like your girlfriend can too. I¡¯m worried about whether you¡¯ll be able to though.¡±

    ¡°And why¡¯s that?¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re talking about it like you¡¯re planning on taking us through some mystical pathway.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not mystical.¡± Waterlad told me. ¡°And it¡¯s not a pathway. I¡¯m planning on jumping down the elevator shaft.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s stupid. Even with your power that¡¯s a huge risk to take.¡±

    Waterlad shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve jumped off buildings before.¡±

    ¡°So you go back when you go splat. Cool.¡± I rubbed my forehead with the hand Slingshot wasn¡¯t holding. ¡°What if the elevator moved? I¡¯ll bet it has.¡±

    Waterlad shook his head. ¡°Spinnerette was summoned to this place first and took out the electronics in this place. The lights are running on backup power, and the elevators are stopped. The last time they were used was when the big gang was heading to level three, they have to still be there.¡±

    ¡°Then what about other fliers?¡± I asked. ¡°There are three options I can think of for going between floors: Going outside, the fire escape, or the elevator shaft. The guys who want to go up or down floors are going to go for the most direct route. Literally as the crow flies.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a chance we¡¯re going to take.¡±

    ¡°No. I haven¡¯t said yes yet.¡± I said. ¡°How about you give me a moment to think it over?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not leaving until I get an answer.¡± Waterlad stated.

    ¡°Then go stand where the sound doesn¡¯t reach.¡±

    Waterlad glanced at Muffle, who was still unmoving. ¡°I¡¯m still watching, and with the way this has been going you¡¯ll want to be a part of it. It¡¯s huge. I¡¯m giving you three minutes.¡± Then he stepped into Muffle¡¯s power and silently clapped his hands to prove he was in.

    I turned to Slingshot. Her eyes were darting between Waterlad and me.

    ¡°What¡¯s your take on this?¡± I asked quietly. Muffle¡¯s power meant I didn¡¯t have to be quiet, but I couldn¡¯t help myself.

    Slingshot lingered on Waterlad. ¡°I don¡¯t want to do what he¡¯s suggesting.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s been clear on what will happen if we say no.¡± I said.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Slingshot¡¯s voice wavered, tugging on my heartstrings. ¡°But if we go with what he wants, then we¡¯ll probably end up so much worse.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not wrong.¡± I glanced back at Waterlad, who was leaning on his trident. ¡°The thing is he raised a good point. We¡¯d do well to figure out what exactly is going on here and I¡¯m honestly curious. You know what Metafore¡¯s prediction was?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± That wasn¡¯t a good sign.

    ¡°Who is Metafore?¡± Slingshot asked. She was all over the place. Her feet weren¡¯t touching the ground, her eyes were darting in every direction, and she¡¯d been brutally beaten by Clothesline not long ago. There was little to no chance that she wasn¡¯t being honest.

    I stopped myself from telling Slingshot just how out of the loop she was. That¡¯d be a waste of time. ¡°He¡¯s a precognitive, he sees the future. Whenever something big is about to go down he sees it play out to an extent, but only sees things in metaphors. Are you following?¡±

    Slingshot focused on me. ¡°So far.¡±

    ¡°All this,¡± I gestured with my hand. ¡°This was seen by Metafore last night. The prediction was that everything would happen in a waterlogged city of atlas.¡±

    ¡°But Graceland isn¡¯t flooded.¡± Slingshot commented, focusing on the discussion.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that matters, there¡¯s a dam and it¡¯s a metaphor. Then a shadow approaches the city, three carpets of different colours meet, and a one sided coin spins, flinging what might be blood everywhere. Then there¡¯s a plate or something.¡±

    ¡°Coins have two sides though.¡±

    ¡°Focus, Slingshot.¡± I pleaded. ¡°I don¡¯t know what the shadow approaching the city was, but the three carpets unfurling probably refers to The Entrepreneurs and Rising Sun meeting with a third party. It¡¯s the most detailed event in the vision, it has to mean something big.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t Zephyr and Orcus, and now Victorious supposed to be the ones that deal with this stuff?¡± Slingshot asked.

    ¡°Yes, but they¡¯re bogged down getting there. There¡¯s dozens of supervillains in the way and there¡¯s only three of them.¡±

    ¡°Then why us? Why do we have to be the ones to do it instead?¡±

    ¡°Mostly because if we don¡¯t, we¡¯ll get beaten up by the guy with the trident.¡± I sighed. ¡°He turns into water, is water. Anything we try doing to hurt him will just make him ripple a bit.¡±

    Slingshot¡¯s eyes darted back to Waterlad. ¡°He scares me and I don¡¯t want to do it.¡±

    ¡°I agree, and it sounds like a trap.¡± I glanced over my shoulder. Waterlad hadn¡¯t moved. ¡°But I feel like we should anyway. It¡¯s too big.¡±

    Slingshot didn¡¯t have anything to say to that. She glanced down, realised she was still holding my arm and flinched back. I rubbed my arm as blood started flowing properly again, but I already missed the sensation.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± Slingshot said, drifting so her head was well above mine. My heart plummeted, overreacting.

    ¡°I¡¯m Canadian, that¡¯s my word.¡± I rebutted, then shook my head. ¡°We need to make a decision. I won¡¯t make you do anything you don¡¯t want to.¡±

    Slingshot looked away for a few moment. ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡± I checked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to, but you¡¯re going to anyway. You shouldn¡¯t go alone.¡±

    That made so happy it was hard to keep a level head. ¡°I¡¯m not going to be alone.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll be with a villain!¡±

    I didn¡¯t have a response for that.

    ¡°I¡¯m with the sentry to help people.¡± Slingshot continued. ¡°I can¡¯t do that if I just ignore you as you walk off with Waterlad. Do you know what he did?¡±

    ¡°I know about him switching sides.¡±

    Slingshot shook her head. ¡°He hurt the others when he left. He literally stabbed Blinker, Orcus, and Satellite on the way out, and hurt dozens of non-heroes in the process. Look at Muffle, he¡¯s probably glaring a hole into Waterlad¡¯s head he¡¯s seething so much. Waterlad, or Andrew, is guilty of a lot of crimes.¡±

    ¡°Then why are they not fighting?¡± I wondered, glancing at Muffle. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. His helmet obscured his face and he was entirely still. I couldn¡¯t read anything from him.

    ¡°Well, Waterlad was right when he said we couldn¡¯t hurt him.¡± Slingshot dropped a few centimetres. Neither of us spoke for a few moments. I wanted to break the tension, but that wouldn¡¯t help us make any progress. Slingshot was right.

    And Waterlad gave a seductive offer. Damn it.

    I sighed, rubbing my head. ¡°Then let¡¯s do it.¡± I glanced up and noticed Slingshot¡¯s eyes still darting around. ¡°Just one thing, your sunglasses broke.¡±

    ¡°Yip.¡± Slingshot glanced at where the broken shades had fallen. She had dropped them at some point. ¡°They did.¡±

    ¡°I can conceal your face.¡± I drew a line of black on my gloves, immediately regretting touching Lucidity¡¯s gloves. ¡°Like that.¡±

    ¡°Right...¡± Slingshot breathed out and lowered herself to my level. ¡°Definitely do that, then we¡¯ll go and potentially die.¡±

    No need to be so nihilistic. I wanted to say, wanted to comfort her. ¡°Close your eyes.¡± I said and pressed my palm over her eyes before dragged it sideways.

    When I pulled my hand away a black patch had been applied across Slingshot¡¯s face, covering everything above her bandana. I¡¯d missed a few patches so I quickly touched them up to make the mask consistent. There were a few strands of hair that I accidently hit as well, but I didn¡¯t think it was worth fixing those right now.

    ¡°Done.¡± I said.

    Slingshot opened her eyes. They were still green.

    ¡°I can¡¯t cover your eyes, but the rest is concealed.¡± I told her.

    ¡°Um. How do I look?¡±

    I pointed at myself. ¡°Like this with green eyes and a bandana.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± Slingshot slowly drifted backwards. ¡°Let¡¯s let Waterlad know we¡¯ve decided.¡±

    I turned around and looked at the villain. He stopped leaning on his staff when I turned and raised his arms in a ¡°Well?¡± gesture. Waterlad grinned when I gave him the thumbs up.

 2. Fate/Prophecy 7

    Using my power I was easily able to open the elevator doors. Something I hadn¡¯t really considered about my power before was just how easily I was able to exert those huge forces. The elevator door took more force to move than it had to break Killer Kage¡¯s arm or Clothesline¡¯s leg, but in both cases I was barely exerting myself to do it.

    It was impressive, and it scared the shit out of me. I had the power to break bones with the bat of an eye, at little to no cost for myself. All it would take is for me to overdo something at the wrong moment and wanton destruction would reign. Though, the risk hurting myself was probably going to keep me awake at night as well.

    Today I had been lucky and had only damaged my fingers when swinging at Killer Kage. But what about the inevitable eventuality of me using an even greater force? If any part of my body got in the way, I¡¯d be feeling it for a while. My fingertips had started aching in the lull since the last fight, and it was starting to be distracting.

    I needed to stop throwing things.

    We decided to leave Muffle behind. Waterlad had been talking to Muffle while Slingshot and I were arguing over whether or not we should go along with his idea. Muffle for his part wrote down ¡°I¡¯m a terrible stealth operative here.¡± when Waterlad told us he wasn¡¯t coming, and the giant parted with the hoverboard he was still holding on to so I might get down the elevator shaft.

    Before we left I hurried down to pick up my staff, seeing as I was feeling horrendously naked without it. I wasn¡¯t happy being unarmed while Waterlad had his black glass trident.

    Waterlad stepped past me onto the threshold of the shaft. ¡°You¡¯re really quite the muscle. I¡¯m glad I¡¯m the water.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± I said. ¡°Is this the right shaft, or should we go one over?¡±

    ¡°Phrasing.¡± Waterlad chuckled. I rolled my eyes and remembered that my eye motions couldn¡¯t be seen. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s the one. Are you sure you¡¯re comfortable using hoverboards in here? They have terrible control.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± I leaned forward and glanced down the shaft. It went down further than I¡¯d expected. ¡°They¡¯re super intuitive, or so I¡¯m told.¡±

    ¡°But you can¡¯t fly.¡± Slingshot said.

    I glanced back at her and saw she was still floating. The only time I¡¯d seen her touch the floor was when she was hit into it by Clothesline and that first time in the SRT. Why was she flying so persistently? It was like she couldn¡¯t touch the ground.

    ¡°Lock.¡± Slingshot brought me out of my thoughts.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± I repeated. ¡°Hoverboard, remember? Waterlad, you first.¡±

    Waterlad stepped forward, then paused. ¡°No. You should go first.¡±

    He grabbed my arm and pulled me into the elevator shaft. I was caught off guard and found myself over a void that would likely kill me if I fell down it. Lucidity¡¯s hoverboard was tucked under one arm, and as intuitive as it may have been, I wasn¡¯t confident I could get my feet in the right spots before I hit a wall or something. That same hand was holding onto the staff, so I locked it and held on for dear life as the door slammed shut behind me.

    The thing that surprised me was that the staff didn¡¯t stop when I locked it. It wasn¡¯t falling by any means, and I nearly lost my grip on it when my body fell and it didn¡¯t. Instead of falling it was sliding across the empty space, heedless of gravity. It carried me to the other side of the elevator shaft and didn¡¯t stop when it reached the wall. The staff started embedding itself in the concrete.

    Suddenly panicking even more, I unlocked the staff and felt it immediately stop and bend down. My weight suddenly registering. It didn¡¯t bend by much, so I was still safe. But my weapon was now stuck in the wall. I was really glad I had taken the time to pick it up.

    After taking some moments to breath and calm my erratic heart, I slipped the hoverboard under my shoes and tentatively took flight. The last time I had flown in an elevator shaft, things had gone very wrong. This time there wasn¡¯t any white mist or spider webs that I could see, but I was still on edge. I ripped the staff out of the wall, nearly falling off the board doing so, and opened the elevator door again.

    ¡°-obably killed him! You-¡± Slingshot was yelling.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine!¡± I cut her off. ¡°What the hell, Waterlad? You could¡¯ve killed me. Slingshot, put it down.¡±

    A whiteboard levitating near a wall shot at Waterlad. It passed through him with a splash and crashed onto the floor. Slingshot halted her protests and glared at the villain. I felt my cheeks heating up.

    Waterlad shrugged, unfazed. ¡°I had a horoscope: push a man down an elevator shaft for good luck.¡±

    My jaw tightened. ¡°I¡¯m the one holding the door open, how were you going to get through without me? And you nearly fucking killed me! If we¡¯re going to do this you need to work with us. You can read that as: Don¡¯t throw me down the fucking elevator shaft.¡±

    The teenage villain raised his hands in surrender. ¡°I sincerely apologise.¡±

    I eyed the trident he hadn¡¯t bothered to put down. ¡°Go on, we¡¯ll meet you down there.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t make me wait.¡± Waterlad made a kissing sound and casually walked into the void, falling like a brick. There was a long pause, then a wet slapping sound echoed up the elevator shaft.

    ¡°I¡¯m having second thoughts about this.¡± Slingshot blurted as soon as Waterlad was gone.

    ¡°You think?¡± I shook my head. ¡°He¡¯s a villain. He¡¯s asking us to do villainous things, and he¡¯s asking us to do them to other villains. As a hero, I¡¯d be worried if you weren¡¯t having any doubts.¡±

    ¡°Right¡­ Yip.¡± Her ¡®yip¡¯ fell flat, breaking my heart. ¡°Don¡¯t make me- Don¡¯t take too long.¡± Slingshot flew into the elevator shaft.

    I breathed and let go of the door, bracing for it slamming shut. Then I turned my attention to the task beneath me. Though Lucidity¡¯s intuitive hoverboard actually pulled through this time. It still took me a minute to get down.

    ¡°Took you long enough.¡± Waterlad commented.

    I touched down on the roof of the elevator. Waterlad was leaning against a wall inside the car and Slingshot had been waiting with her feet hovering above the elevator.

    ¡°Sorry, but I don¡¯t have the ability to be able to jump five plus floors without worrying about the consequences.¡± I retorted, stepping down through the hatch.

    ¡°You were literally standing on air the entire way down.¡±

    ¡°That was a hoverboard.¡± I moved to the door and pushed them open with my power.

    We were immediately blinded by light. I flinched back, but didn¡¯t let go of the elevator door this time. Slingshot squealed in surprise somewhere behind me, while Waterlad uttered a curse under his breath.

    ¡°Close it.¡± Waterlad hissed. ¡°Slowly.¡±

    I reduced the force on the door and let it push itself closed. When the door was half closed I realised I could see again. The room outside the elevator was extremely well lit. So much so that the colours were somehow overexposed, even though that shouldn¡¯t have been possible. It was painful to look at.

    The effect was one I recognized. Somewhere nearby was Ardent, a villain with the power to make orbs of blinding light. The manifestations of her power made so much light that even when I had my eyes closed, all I could see was white.

    ¡°That was Ardent.¡± I said once the door was shut. ¡°Who else is going to be out there?¡±

    ¡°Agent Orange, maybe.¡± Waterlad replied. ¡°Beefcake, Idea, or maybe Cease and Desist. Definitely not Nurture, though. He¡¯s useless inside without prep that we haven¡¯t had the time for.¡±

    ¡°The Handiemen.¡± Slingshot quietly murmured.

    ¡°Yeah, but I can¡¯t imagine there¡¯s more than three of them out there. I¡¯d be surprised if there were three at all.¡±

    ¡°What about the Collectors?¡± I asked. ¡°These are the Entrepreneurs we¡¯re talking about, there could be one of the Racketeers out there as well.¡±

    Waterlad shook his head. ¡°Boss doesn¡¯t mix the employee gangs. It¡¯s a Handieman.¡±

    The elevator doors were ripped open, revealing a mass of ripped muscle on the other side. A huge hand reached in, tore me out and sent me skidding across the floor. Slingshot soon joined me, followed by Waterlad. The villain among us was at his feet before I¡¯d regained my bearings.

    ¡°There are three of them.¡± A massively deep voice observed.

    ¡°I can see that.¡± A female voice sharply retorted.

    I looked up and realised that Ardent¡¯s power was blinding me again. Because of it I couldn¡¯t see where the voice was coming from, but I still turned my head towards where the sound had originated.

    The glimpse of muscle had told me who the other villain was, it was Beefcake. He had an explosive power that had made him notorious among the gangs and people who followed the heroes and villains. Normally he was an average sized person with no special capabilities, save for the ability to bulk up at will.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    When he bulked up, Beefcake¡¯s mass more than doubled with nothing but pure muscle. At the same time he gained super strength and toughness, but it only lasted a short while before he returned to normal.

    ¡°We have good old Waterlad, still throwing himself places he shouldn¡¯t go.¡± A far more normal man said. It might¡¯ve been Beecake, maybe someone else. Being blinded, I couldn¡¯t tell. ¡°And then we have the two new ones. Whatsit, Lock?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s me.¡± I stood, looking in the direction of the voice. My eyes still closed.

    ¡°And the other, weirder one is¡­ Shit. I forgot.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Slingshot.¡± The voice likely belonging to Ardent said. ¡°And, I have to say, it¡¯s wonderful to see new and¡­ bright faces around. But what are two fresh heroes doing with a defected Sentry?¡±

    Neither Slingshot or I responded. Waterlad had a different inclination.

    ¡°I had the bright idea to spy on Boss.¡± He told them.

    ¡°Waterlad, what the fuck are you-¡± I was cut off as something big knocked me off my feet and into a wall behind me. I fell to the ground in a heap and worked to suppress a moan.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like interruptions.¡± Beefcake explained in his deep voice.

    ¡°Lock?¡± Slingshot asked, scared.

    ¡°As I was saying,¡± Waterlad continued, unperturbed. ¡°Boss is having a super secret meeting with a guy who swore himself Boss¡¯s enemy. The brains decided it was important enough for him to show his face. No one¡¯s been told anything and I want to know what the hell is going on.¡±

    There were a few moments of silence.

    ¡°What do we do?¡± The normal male voice asked.

    ¡°We should kick their asses and tie them up, but with Waterlad here that¡¯d be an issue.¡± Ardent said. ¡°The rookies we won¡¯t have any problems with, but Waterlad would just use his power to escape any bonds we put on him.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we put him in a bathtub?¡±

    ¡°Do you see a bathtub anywhere around here?¡± Ardent chastised him. ¡°He¡¯s blinded right now, but there¡¯s nothing we can do to him and he knows it. Besides. He makes a good point.¡±

    ¡°A good what now?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you curious about why we¡¯re here?¡± Ardent asked.

    ¡°Nah, not really.¡±

    There was a beat where I could only assume Ardent facepalmed.

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a huge deal.¡± Waterlad chimed in. ¡°Did you hear the thunderclap before?¡±

    ¡°Everyone did.¡± Ardent replied.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t any thunderclap, that was The Thunder. I¡¯ll give you three guesses before I tell you what exactly that means.¡±

    ¡°Or you could tell us right now.¡± The man said.

    ¡°Fine, spoilsport.¡± Waterlad took a breath. ¡°Victorious is upstairs. It took him like, fifteen seconds to superman slam Prism, Clothesline, Headache, Junk Mail and almost me as well.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Ardent and the man asked in unison. There wasn¡¯t a third person so I felt safe in assuming the man was Beefcake.

    ¡°Yeah, I was scared too.¡± Waterlad continued. ¡°It¡¯s the only time I¡¯ve ever run away, but boy am I glad I did. He could¡¯ve killed me!¡±

    ¡°Shut up now.¡± Beefcake¡¯s deep voice told Waterlad. A sharp slap followed, which was in turn followed by the sound of spraying water and many droplets hitting the floor. That was likely Beefcake hitting Waterlad while bulked up. The wisecracking villain probably wasn¡¯t affected by the strike, but he thankfully didn¡¯t respond to it.

    ¡°When was the last time a member of the Aegis came to Graceland?¡± Ardent asked in a lowered voice.

    ¡°I dunno.¡± Beefcake responded.

    ¡°You¡¯re not helping.¡± She shot back at him.

    ¡°To be fair, I have no idea either.¡± Waterlad said.

    ¡°And I wasn¡¯t asking you.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but I responded anyways and you¡¯re welcome. Can we move this along? I want to spy on Boss. He¡¯s put all of us way in over our heads and deserves anything that¡¯s coming to him.¡±

    Ardent was silent and soon I found I could see again. The orbs had drifted behind various walls and obstructions, blocking the blinding light. We were in a lobby. I was standing by the secretary desk I¡¯d been hit into, Slingshot was floating at a strange angle and was looking around. She relaxed when she saw me. Waterlad was standing nonchalantly next to her.

    Standing next to each other were two villains: Ardent and Beefcake. The latter of the two wasn¡¯t wearing much, which made sense considering how most clothes would be destroyed when he bulked up. The clothes he was wearing included uncomfortably short shorts, a white and red luchador mask, and shoes.

    Ardent was dressed much more modestly, she was wearing a monochrome costume with a white, close fitting helmet that hid her face with three ridges on the top. The helmet had tinted lenses that showed her eyes but discoloured them to the point I wasn¡¯t able to make out any details. They were looking intently at Waterlad.

    ¡°We¡¯re in over our heads,¡± Ardent echoed Waterlad¡¯s words. ¡°But you¡¯re the one who¡¯s decided to dig your hole deeper. We didn¡¯t see you, you snuck through the vents.¡±

    A thought crossed my mind as I picked myself up. ¡°Where are Boss and the rest? We don¡¯t want to accidentally walk in on them.¡±

    ¡°A good question.¡± Waterlad nodded as Ardent glanced at me.

    She half turned and pointed at a glass door. ¡°They went through there. I¡¯ve got an orb set up just around the corner, so no one can see that way. You can hide in one of the cubicles or something.¡±

    There was another pause. Beefcake nonchalantly cracked his knuckles as I eyed him warily.

    ¡°Should we go?¡± Slingshot asked.

    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s.¡± Waterlad agreed and strode away. Beefcake glared at him as he walked past.

    I considered exactly how deep I was in now. Orcus had gone behind Zephyr¡¯s back bringing me here, she¡¯d told me to stay put not ten minutes before I¡¯d left Muffle behind to team up with a villain. Not just any villain either, the one the Sentrys had the most history with. Waterlad, the traitor.

    ¡°Lock!¡± Slingshot hissed, shaking me from my thoughts. That had been happening a lot recently. Had I been taking too many hits?

    Like Ardent said, there was a blinding orb around the corner, but it was a T intersection, so we went the way the orb wasn¡¯t. Waterlad lead the way as we navigated to an office with a chest high wall separating it from an open work space. Three figures stood in that space.

    One leaned against a desk, standing far away from the other two. A curved sword was sheathed next to him where he could easily pick it up - a katana. The man wore a dark green leather jacket over a solid looking vest, not too dissimilar to the one Gizumo had been using. An orange and green oni mask, the staple of Samurai, the head of the Rising Sun, covered his face.

    The other two men stood far away from Samurai, and were engaged in a quiet discussion. Occasionally one of them would glance over at Samurai. One was dressed in an expensive looking suit, and had an asymmetrical angular mask covering the upper half of his face. That was Boss, and by process of elimination the other man was Queue. That villain, for his part had decided to go with a budget approach for his costume. Queue was wearing nothing but black, everything was long sleeved, and he had a balaclava over his face. It reminded me of a stereotypical robber from a commercial.

    Those two were two of the three heads of the Entrepreneurs. There was a lot of power in the room, and not just of the supernatural kind.

    Waterlad pulled me away from the corner. ¡°We¡¯d all love to speculate, but we¡¯re not here to get found. Nobody say anything.¡±

    ¡°Yip.¡± Slingshot whispered, matching Waterlad¡¯s volume but earning herself a warning look nonetheless. I just nodded and returned to where I could see the three villains.

    It was confusing. This whole mess had been orchestrated by these people, yet they weren¡¯t doing anything now that they were here. All this effort to be in the same room and they were standing almost as far away from each other as possible, without talking.

    Nothing happened in the next fifteen seconds. Nor in the next two minutes. I could feel Slingshot wanting to ask a question. I made sure to make eye contact while putting my finger to my lips and she got the message.

    After an uncomfortably long time there was a visible distortion in the space between The Entrepreneurs and Samurai. Each villain turned their attention to the distortion, which had grown to an inexplicable swirling blue mist. It grew slowly but consistently, eventually reaching between the floor and ceiling where it ceased. The mist ceased, leaving a rectangle of space that looked entirely different to how it had before. Slingshot, Waterlad, and I weren¡¯t positioned at a good angle to see it, but we weren¡¯t about to move.

    The villains were moving towards the anomaly when a black blur hurtled from the rectangle and landed on the floor. Everyone paused and took in the sight. It was a black kitten like creature that looked at Samurai, and then at Boss and Queue with intelligent eyes.

    Waterlad swore under his breath despite himself. I couldn¡¯t blame him, I wasn¡¯t expecting that cat to show up either. The kitten had double pointed ears. It¡¯s tail was a fraction longer than what looked natural and moved with a prehensile flexibility that wasn¡¯t present in the tails of most cats. Those were the telltale details that defined Dreadnaught.

    Dreadnaught was something of a meme. It wasn¡¯t really all that intimidating. In fact it was kind of cute, even I admitted that. That being said, no one was laughing when that same cute kitten looking creature started punching through skyscrapers and going claw to toe with some of the strongest heroes around. It¡¯s history wasn¡¯t that well known, beyond it just showing up one day. That being said, I had encountered numerous theories on the internet about Dreadnaught.

    That it was an Altered, that it was a monster that was just a little less murderous than the others, that it was a shapeshifter, that it was an Adept creation gone rogue, and many more. It was a widely debated theoretical possibility that Dreadnaught was the strongest creature on the planet.

    And it had just landed between the heads of two supergangs.

    It didn¡¯t make sense. Dreadnaught had black fur, not green.

    ¡°I¡¯d say I¡¯m sorry to keep you waiting.¡± A smooth female voice spoke from somewhere I couldn¡¯t see. Then a woman wearing a green and very gypsy looking outfit stepped through the space into view next to Dreadnaught. The space behind her returned to normal. ¡°But that would be pandering to stereotypes, and, frankly, I¡¯m not.¡±

    She was wearing a circlet that a green veil hang from to conceal her face. An excessive amount of beads were strung from it and her hair. The beads jingled each time she moved. She was wearing a repurposed tank top that had more strings of beads dangling off, some of them following the curves of her body. That was Greenflame, the green carpet unfurling to meet with the Entrepreneurs and Rising Sun. It clicked. I was observing the event that Metafore had foreseen.

    ¡°Welcome to Graceland.¡± Queue stepped forward.

    Greenflame gestured dismissively and the portal behind her dissipated. ¡°I¡¯m not here to talk to you, psychic. I don¡¯t like you and I don¡¯t care for you being here. Don¡¯t talk, or I¡¯ll sic you-know-who on you.¡±

    Queue gulped and stepped back to where he had been flanking Boss. Dreadnaught took a step towards him and Queue flinched. The black cat purred loud enough for me to hear and turned back, rubbing itself on Greenflame¡¯s leg.

    ¡°Shall we get to business?¡± Boss enquired.

    ¡°Skipping the pleasantries, are we now?¡± Greenflame looked at Boss, ¡°How rude. I¡¯ll have to up the price.¡±

    ¡°I mean no disrespect.¡± Boss spoke calmly, but offered no calming gestures. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware that the Regulation was somehow tipped off about this meeting. They are engaged with my employees in floors both above and below us. You understand I don¡¯t wish for this meeting to be interrupted before it¡¯s due course.¡±

    ¡°Greenflame.¡± Samurai stepped forward and bowed. ¡°It is good to finally meet you in person.¡±

    ¡°Ah, a foreigner.¡± Greenflame watched the man bow and practically smiled through her words. ¡°You simply must take my offer. A man like you in your position has a story that¡¯s too interesting not to.¡±

    ¡°That depends on the offer.¡± Samurai responded.

    ¡°To whom will the offer of fate go to first?¡± Boss enquired. ¡°The reputation of the Vardotrio precedes you, but setting up this meeting has taken up far more resources than I initially expected. Cease and Desist, one of my employees has successfully pacified Victorious and several Sentinels for the time being.¡± What? ¡°But I would like to conclude business before Victorious can interrupt us.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely to this gentleman here.¡± Greenflame reached out and earnestly shook Samurai¡¯s hand. ¡°I can feel it. Oh, this is fresh. I can¡¯t wait to hold your fate in my hands.¡±

 2. Fate/Prophecy 8

    I shared a look with Slingshot. There was a mutual understanding of just how bad things could get. But with nothing to say, I returned my attention to Greenflame and the other villains.

    Dreadnaught was now sitting on a desk and was curling its tail around its feet. Feline eyes staring unblinkingly at the Entrepreneurs. Greenflame had stepped towards Samurai and was concentrating on something past Samurai¡®s mask. Green fire ignited under Greenflame¡¯s veil, sending it flapping away from her face and revealing the green fires that had replaced her eyes. Samurai gave her some space.

    ¡°You, Samurai, my friend.¡± Greenflame¡¯s voice had an effect to it, something underlying it that set me on edge. ¡°You¡¯ve travelled far. Across seas, across borders, and across identities too.¡±

    Boss and Queue shared a glance. No doubt they were eagerly filing that one away for later.

    ¡°You were the youngest, and despite insurmountable odds you took on the role of Guardian.¡± Greenflame and her voice flared, and when the flames died down a tarot card for the guardian was floating in the air between Greenflame and Samurai. It had a depiction of Samurai holding a shield to protect a crowd behind him. The borders of the card were difficult to make out through the green fire that surrounded it, but it was large enough that I could see it fine from where I was.

    Greenflame took a breath and continued. ¡°In fulfilling your role, you were not successful. But you became able. You gathered who you could and fled the situation wrought behind. In a new place you carved out a new life, and a new hope, with new security. A Pilgrim by another name.¡±

    The pilgrim card flared into existence next to the guardian. This one showed Samurai and a number of other figures at the bow of a boat, pointing to a landmass outside the border of the image.

    ¡°You shall return to the one waiting. You will accomplish the greatest goal you have, finish up your business in Graceland. Those around you will look up and be inspired by you. All you have to do is to tell me something right now.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± Samurai was guarded and suspicious, but there was something in what Greenflame said that had pulled his attention.

    Greenflame¡¯s voice was layered, and crackling fire roared underneath the words.

    ¡°Do you desire a Hero¡¯s end?¡±

    A hero card flared into existence next to the pilgrim. This one showed Samurai holding a sword to the sun. I noticed it was the only card where Samurai was alone.

    Greenflame reached her hand towards Samurai. Green fire darted from her eyes, down her arm, and wreathed Greenflame¡¯s hand in flame. ¡°If that is what you desire, you may set yourself down that path by grasping my hand.¡±

    Samurai looked at each of the cards, lingering on each one. Queue started shifting impatiently. I curiously glanced at Dreadnaught to see their response, only to make eye contact with the alien kitten. Dreadnaught blinked, then turned his attention to Samurai.

    I shivered. Slingshot, Waterlad, and I would be screwed if the fact that we were here was given away. Slingshot was staring intently at Greenflame and the situation unfolding before us. Waterlad was muttering to himself ever so quietly despite himself, and glancing between the Entrepreneurs and Greenflame. Neither of them had noticed Dreadnaught spotting us.

    Yet Dreadnaught didn¡¯t do anything beyond looking. They merely watched as Samurai considered the deal before him.

    ¡°I accept.¡± Samurai gripped Greenflame¡¯s burning hand. If the fire was hot, Samurai didn¡¯t seem to care. The flame paused, then swiftly ran up Samurai¡¯s arm and across the rest of his body, briefly covering him before abruptly going out.

    The fire persisted in Greenflame¡¯s hand, still basking her face and Samurai¡¯s mask in a green light. Greenflame extended her other hand out and the fire jumped to both hands, making a bridge of green. She brought her hands together and the fires finally died down.

    ¡°This is for you.¡± Greenflame offered her clasped hands to Samurai, who accepted whatever she was offering.

    ¡°What are these?¡± Samurai asked incredulously.

    He held up a knife and fork.

    ¡°Artifacts of my power.¡± Greenflame said. ¡°They will help you accomplish the task you have agreed to.¡±

    ¡°You have given me the tools I use to...¡± Samurai trailed off, holding the cutlery closer for inspection.

    ¡°You see now?¡± Greenflame smiled. Her veil had fell back over her face when the green fires had died down, but I could still see her mouth express the smug pride she was feeling. ¡°Nothing my power gives is ever simple. I guess I should tell you now, it¡¯s all connected. I¡¯ll be watching how it unfolds with great interest.¡±

    ¡°I see now.¡± Samurai nodded, inspecting the culinary equipment.

    Greenflame nodded and turned to Boss, glancing briefly at Queue with disdain. ¡°Now you.¡±

    Queue stepped forward. ¡°If I may¡­¡±

    ¡°Say it.¡± She snapped.

    ¡°What compelled you to move away from Canada?¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve tried to figure out why you might make such a move, but haven¡¯t been able to determine anything concrete.¡± Queue stepped further forward. ¡°If you would humour me.¡±

    Greenflame took her time observing Queue before she responded.

    ¡°The futures of the people I¡¯ve done business with recently have been overshadowed by something I want nothing to do with.¡± Greenflame explained. ¡°I¡¯m hopeful it¡¯s a local issue, because otherwise, I¡¯ll be gone with the wind.¡±

    Queue nodded earnestly. ¡°I¡¯m glad you decided to come through our city. There isn¡¯t much happening here in Graceland, and I¡¯m hopeful that your presence will attract some prosperity for us.¡±

    Greenflame folded her arms. ¡°What the hell are you trying to say?¡±

    Queue hesitated, his hand moving as if he was metally calculating something. ¡°I was merely trying to communicate that-¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care, Psychic.¡± Greenflame cut him off. ¡°Boss was the one who asked for my services. You-know who, sit on him please.¡±

    The black kitten leaped from the desk and landed lightly on Queue¡¯s shoulder. As they jumped, the floor buckled underneath them. Dreadnaught¡¯s tail wrapped itself around Queue¡¯s neck, who had frozen when Greenflame had given the direction. He started shaking.

    Just like that, Greenflame had solidified her position as the most powerful person in the room. Boss was unfazed. After all, his power allowed him to summon literally anyone he wanted, or evacuate in the blink of an eye. His lack of reaction made me wonder how much he valued Queue, though.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been looking forward to this with great anticipation.¡± Boss confessed. ¡°It¡¯s intriguing to think of which future you¡¯ll see.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Greenflame agreed. ¡°Disagreeing would be lying.¡±

    ¡°Is there anything to do before you start?¡± Boss checked.

    Greenflame thought for a moment. ¡°We skipped the pleasantries. I¡¯ll give you a chance to make up for starting on the wrong foot.¡± She daintily reached her hand forward, palm down.

    ¡°Of course.¡± Boss clasped her hand and kissed it. ¡°Your personality is much more colourful than was conveyed in our correspondence.¡±

    ¡°How should I take that?¡± Greenflame asked, bemused.

    ¡°As a compliment, what else?¡± Boss straightened up and pressed his jacket down. ¡°Shall we?¡±

    Greenflame took a step back, green light flickered from behind her veil. ¡°Allons-y.¡±

    The green fire of her power ignited. ¡°You came from an average place, originally. Then tragedy struck and you were placed among two others where you lived the life of an Urchin.¡±

    Like before, a card wreathed in the green flames of Greenflame¡¯s power appeared. It was titled the urchin, and depicted Boss in a place of squalor with two others, each in poses like that of a beggar''s.

    Greenflame¡¯s mouth tugged itself into a half smile. ¡°Then you found something, a skeleton in the wardrobe. Then you found more. The power, the ability, the means to make something. You followed through. You were rewarded. You were the tip of the spear. You are the Seeker.¡±

    A card flared into existence, depicting the three figures from the urchin card with Boss opening what looked like a closet. The seeker was its title.

    ¡°What you want is clear, and coincides with what I can offer.¡± Greenflame continued, her voice becoming more layered. ¡°We could have your coronation here and now. You can be King.¡±

    The king card erupted next to the seeker. This one depicted Boss on a throne, a crown on his head and a sceptre in his hand. The sun framed Boss¡¯ head, and various figures were depicted in worship of Boss.

    If Greenflame¡¯s power could honestly do that... I shivered at the implications.

    ¡°Like I said. Intriguing.¡± Boss commented.

    Green flame spread from Greenflames hands and rushed to the top of her head where it burned in a circle. No. A crown. She reached up and slowly pulled the flaming crown off. It¡¯s form persisted. Greenflame held the flickering green crown before her and bent her knees, her head tilted forwards in respect.

    Boss paused.

    Greenflame spoke in her fiery voice. ¡°All you need do is claim your crown.¡±

    Something clicked in Boss¡¯ body language. ¡°I decline.¡±

    ¡°What!?¡± Queue exclaimed. Dreadnaught lazily flicked its tails in front of the man¡¯s face and Queue froze once more.

    Greenflame was thrown for a loop, and took a moment to respond.

    She said. ¡°Are you sure? You¡¯ve already paid for my services. I¡¯m not in the business of refunds.¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°We¡¯re well aware of that.¡± Boss nodded. ¡°But unfortunately, I do not want to be king. The offer is much appreciated, mind.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡± Greenflame let the fires die out. The three cards vanished into the air. ¡°I do believe that¡¯s all I¡¯m here for. Gentlemen, it¡¯s been wonderful dealing with two of you. And Boss, I¡¯m staying in Graceland for the next few weeks. I will be making deals with your underlings, though they must find me by their own means. You can contact me like you did before if you change your mind.¡±

    Dreadnaught purred and jumped off of Queue. The villain visibly relaxed and took a huge breath.

    ¡°Your offer is most appreciated.¡± Boss stepped forward. ¡°Allow me to send you off with courtesy.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d love to stick around, but you¡¯ve managed to make quite the mess around here. I can feel it.¡± Greenflame cocked her head and snapped her fingers. ¡°Victorious is back and but two floors away, and I¡¯m not a stickler for mess.¡±

    The blue mist from before erupted next to Greenflame. Filling the space much more quickly this time, and stabilising after only a few seconds.

    ¡°I have no issues with you conducting business in Graceland, seeing as we were the ones to invite you here.¡± Boss inclined his head. ¡°You will have a grace period of three weeks, then we will have to negotiate territory. Until then, you have free reign in territory occupied by the Entrepreneurs and their shell companies.¡±

    Greenflame briefly curtsied, holding beads in the place of an actual dress. ¡°So formal.¡±

    Greenflame waved goodbye and blew a kiss at Samurai and stepped through the portal first. Dreadnaught followed after it gave each party present another drawn out stare, looking at us first. That sent a shiver down my spine. The portal collapsed moments later, though the supervillains seemed to have somehow not noticed us.

    ¡°Good day.¡± Boss said to Samurai. ¡°I¡¯ll leave my employees in the tower for another fifteen minutes. After that, you¡¯re on your own.¡±

    With that, Boss and Queue vanished in a dark flash. After a moment Samurai walked out, thankfully not walking where he could see us hiding in the meeting room. I stood after he left, making sure he was legitimately leaving.

    ¡°He¡¯s gone.¡± I announced.

    Slingshot sighed, letting out a breath she¡¯d been holding for who knows how long. Waterlad collapsed against the wall, dropping his trident for the first time.

    ¡°I¡¯ll need a moment.¡± Waterlad¡¯s head fell back, banging wetly against the wall. ¡°I¡¯ve got a void where my stomach is supposed to be. Bad feeling.¡±

    ¡°Who was that?¡± Slingshot asked.

    ¡°That was Greenflame.¡± I explained. ¡°She is, or was based in Canada. Has a power that lets her see the lives of people, even going into the future. I think she sees many possibilities, and what we saw Samurai just do was lock a particular future in. She¡¯s like a businessman that deals in fate.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve know of her.¡± Waterlad said. ¡°Every so often you¡¯ll find someone that took a deal with her. Normally, they seem fine. But there¡¯s something about them that¡¯s¡­ off putting. They normally don¡¯t talk too much about it.¡±

    ¡°But they do talk about it.¡± Slingshot checked nervously.

    ¡°Only the basics. They¡¯ll normally tell you they got what they were promised, but won¡¯t tell you how. From what I¡¯ve seen they got disturbed by the whole situation. Seems Greenflame gives them more than they bargain for.¡±

    ¡°Well, we just saw her give Samurai a knife and fork.¡± I commented. ¡°She was talking about how he wanted to meet someone that was waiting again, and that he would accomplish his greatest objective.¡±

    Slingshot nodded. ¡°So who is the person and what is the objective?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°No. I¡¯m more curious about how exactly a set of silverware enables him to do that. Actually, that explains the plate. Anyway, should we be expecting the Rising Sun to turn vigilante? Because I don¡¯t see it happening.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s anything like the other ones.¡± Waterlad picked up his trident and turned it over in his hands. ¡°It¡¯ll be contrived, and it won¡¯t be good. It¡¯s a good thing Boss didn¡¯t take the offer. A king? That wouldn¡¯t end well.¡±

    ¡°But America might adopt the metric system.¡± I realised. ¡°Could¡¯ve been a silver lining. But you¡¯re right. Better that he didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Something about that bugs me.¡± Slingshot said. ¡°Greenflame was really vague when she was describing that future, but specifically said two things to Samurai to get him to take the deal.¡±

    I followed the line of thought. ¡°She could¡¯ve been promising anything with that deal.¡±

    ¡°If she has any interest in Graceland, she could use those deals to her advantage.¡±

    ¡°No, not really.¡± I frowned. ¡°Actually, it depends on how much information she gets from her power. How much does she really do?¡±

    ¡°Who knows?¡± Waterlad exclaimed. ¡°Why the hell was the cat here!?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I didn¡¯t get the cat.¡± Slingshot agreed, more from ignorance than anything. ¡°Why is it so important?¡±

    ¡°Dreadnaught is one of the strongest things in the world.¡± I recalled. ¡°Up there with Kinetic and Victorious, and even Hope. Greenflame is clearly keeping it around for protection, and then there¡¯s the portals that they used to get in and out. How did those work?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing there were three of them.¡± Waterlad nodded. ¡°What¡¯d Boss call them, the Vardotrio? It¡¯s in the name. So that¡¯s Greenflame, Dreadnaught, and whoever is opening those portals.¡± He paused. ¡°Fuck, she¡¯s a chaos factor.¡±

    ¡°No, Greenflame is a person who wants something and she¡¯s going to screw everyone else over to get it. Be that money, control, or whatever it ends up being.¡±

    Slingshot had drifted over to the corner Samurai had walked past.

    ¡°Ardent¡¯s orb is gone.¡± she announced. ¡°I think we should move.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s right.¡± I turned to Waterlad. ¡°We need to split up. I can¡¯t be seen with you again.¡±

    He waved dismissively. ¡°Just leave, then. It doesn¡¯t matter where I go. Boss is summoning me in what, ten minutes anyway.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t disagree. ¡°Well, we worked together.¡± I trailed off and things started getting awkward, so I walked away.

    Slingshot and I stopped in the lobby. We hadn¡¯t stuck around after dealing with Ardent and Beefcake, so I hadn¡¯t seen what Beefcake had done with the elevator door. The door he¡¯d pulled open had indents I could probably fit my hand in with room to spare. That was true for each depression his fingers had made. Aside from the massive warping, the door was stuck half closed.

    As an afterthought, I looked at the distance between the elevator and the desk Beefcake had thrown me into. He must have slapped me halfway across the room by my guess. I¡¯d be dealing with bruises again once this was all over.

    ¡°So what do we do now?¡± Slingshot¡¯s question made me refocus.

    ¡°Good question.¡± I thought for a few seconds. ¡°I don¡¯t think we should stay here. Orcus, Zephyr, and Victorious will be on their way and they¡¯ll have questions about how we got here first.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°Then there are the villains that¡¯ll be running from them. They¡¯ll make it here first, if at all.¡±

    ¡°So should we head back to Muffle then?¡± Slingshot asked. ¡°He¡¯ll be worried.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right.¡± I admitted, rubbing my head. ¡°There¡¯s still the fight going on downstairs, but Boss said he¡¯s pulling his men out in about ten minutes now. We can let the others clean that up.¡±

    ¡°Clean it up.¡± She repeated, then shook her head. ¡°Up the elevator?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± I opened the door Beefcake hadn¡¯t ruined, making enough space that Slingshot could get through first, and we made the journey back up to the eighth floor. Lucidity¡¯s hoverboard was where I left it in the elevator, and I used that to make the ascent. I was much slower that Slingshot, who seemed to be able to fly as naturally as I walked. Though she slowed to my pace for the journey. Whether to keep me safe in case I fell, or because she didn¡¯t want to be alone, I was grateful for the company.

    One elevator door later and we were done. Soon I was saying hello to Muffle, who hadn¡¯t moved much since we had left. He gave us a long, drawn out look before turning to face us fully and signing some things I didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t know sign language.¡± I told him.

    ¡°Me too.¡± Slingshot piggybacked the statement, then felt the need to elaborate. ¡°I mean, I don¡¯t know sign language either.¡±

    Muffle visibly and silently sighed, then pulled out his phone and started tapping out a text. After half a minute Slingshot was reading a message on her phone aloud.

    ¡°What happened? Did anything go wrong? What happened to Waterlad? why did you do it?¡± She said.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s a lot of things to answer.¡± I commented. ¡°First: we went down to where Boss and Samurai were and saw the exchange that went down. The green flash and carpet were for Greenflame, who made a deal with Samurai for a hero¡¯s end.¡±

    ¡°Yip.¡± Slingshot nodded. ¡°And on the way we were found by two villains. One was Beefcake, and what was the other one?¡±

    ¡°Ardent.¡± I supplied.

    Muffle had stiffened.

    ¡°No, we didn¡¯t get into a fight.¡± I made a calm down gesture. ¡°Waterlad talked them down and we were allowed to pass.¡±

    ¡°They were helpful, if anything.¡± Slingshot agreed.

    ¡°That¡¯s almost everything. I feel like I¡¯m missing something.¡±

    ¡°The cat.¡± Slingshot supplied.

    ¡°Right, Dreadnaught.¡± I said.

    Muffle took a step forward. I still wasn¡¯t able to hear anything he said, but his body language said ¡°What!?¡± in a very alarming tone. The step also brought Muffle¡¯s area of influence to where I was standing.

    ¡°It¡¯s not here anymore.¡± I continued, heeding the absence of my voice. It made speaking feel weird. ¡°He left with Greenflame through a portal. Boss, Queue, Ardent, Beefcake and Waterlad are also gone for that matter, they teleported away.¡±

    Muffle¡¯s head turned to beside me, so I followed his gaze to see Slingshot talking without sound. I stepped away to listen.

    ¡°-ss is supposed to be teleporting the other villains out any minute now.¡± Slingshot finished.

    I nodded. ¡°What was the last question?¡±

    Slingshot fumbled to check her phone. ¡°The last one was why.¡±

    I looked back at Muffle, who had crossed his arms expectantly.

    ¡°Whole number of reasons really.¡± I said. ¡°But mostly because Waterlad¡¯s actions deconstructed the stigma surrounding him and because his offer lead us to something even the Sentinels- even Aegis weren¡¯t able to get. I want to prove myself, but Zephyr has been making that real hard for me. No one¡¯s even taught me the power classification thing. But despite all that, even with unscrupulous help, I was able to spy on a meeting between Boss and Samurai.

    ¡°I¡¯m good enough in a fight. Good enough to give Blinker pause when fighting me. And good enough to incapacitate two villains: Clotheline and Killer Kage. Killer fucking Kage! He came at me with a sword and I broke his arm with a keyboard. Spinnerette tried to lock me in a room, but I got out anyway. And I killed what, seven of her spiders. Some of them with goddamn toilet paper. There¡¯s only one person that¡¯s been halfway decent to me, and that¡¯s Orcus. You know, the creepy guy who everyone thinks has anger issues. He gave me the chance to do something, and that¡¯s the whole reason I joined up. So I could do something. I. Did. Something.¡±

    Slingshot paused before speaking. I glanced to see her looking at me, her green eyes the only colourful thing on her face. They communicated concern, which was fair, given my outburst.

    Muffle¡¯s arms uncrossed at some point during my rant.

    Eventually Slingshot said ¡°To protect Lock from getting hurt.¡±

    I let out a laugh. Then smoothed my demeanour after getting a look from Slingshot. Muffle was looking evenly at us, his arms now folded again. Eventually he visibly sighed and sat on a desk leaning against the wall, his fingers started earnestly tapping a message out on his phone. Slingshot and I waited for him to finish, and he beckoned us over once he was done.

    The message was deceptively long, considering the small screen. It read:

    Don¡¯t tell anyone you worked with Waterlad. Their wounds are still fresh and if it got out that you were working with a villain you could get put away. At the same time you should come up with a story about how you managed to watch what happened without getting caught. The Sentinels are going to want to know what you saw.

    I frowned and stepped away from Muffle to hear myself speak. ¡°No.¡±

    Muffle shifted his weight, suddenly becoming threatening.

    I raised my hands passively and took a moment to pick my words. ¡°It would take a while to go over it all, but there¡¯s a lot the Sentinel needs to know. Greenflame made a deal with Samurai, which has huge implications. And Boss is giving her free reign in his territory, which also has huge implications. It isn¡¯t something I can have both ways.¡± Kathrine¡¯s words repeated in my head. ¡°If I get put away, I tried.¡±

    Muffle signed something, then went back to his phone. Soon Slingshot was reading out another message.

    ¡°Fine. But leave me out of your explanation. I was downstairs when Waterlad approached you?¡± I suspected it wasn¡¯t a question, just a quirk of Slingshot reading it out loud.

    Muffle nodded.

    I frowned. He was just covering his ass. That was hardly upstanding heroic behaviour. But then again, I¡¯d knowingly cooperated with a villain. Who was I to judge?

    Muffle and Slingshot suddenly cocked their heads, listening to something I couldn¡¯t hear. Eventually Slingshot turned to me and informed me of what I missed.

    ¡°Boss just evacuated all of his people.¡± She told me. ¡°Zephyr wants us to go to the ground floor to meet with her and the rest of the team. She wants to allocate teams for cleanup.¡±

    ¡°What about the Rising Sun?¡± I asked. ¡°Boss can¡¯t teleport them out. Maybe some of them got caught. Actually, wasn¡¯t Headache knocked out one floor down?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Slingshot realised.

    Muffle nodded, and started making his way down the staircase Hully had made. He gestured at us to stay close.

    Headache was leaned against the bottom of the stairs, hands cuffed. Muffle hoisted her over his shoulder and pointed at the door leading to the fire escape, having detained her while Slingshot and I were downstairs. Victorious must have hit Headache hard because she was still unconscious.

    I glanced at Slingshot, who was looking around the ruined room with an impassive look in her eyes. She was looking at the spot where Clothesline had punched her sunglasses in. I really wanted to say something, but didn¡¯t. We followed Muffle downstairs in voluntary silence.

 2. Fate/Prophecy 9

    I wasn¡¯t sure what to expect when we arrived at the ground floor, because Zephyr had called the force at the bottom of the tower as much greater than that at the top. If anything, I was expecting ruins far greater than anything the fights upstairs had made. Instead I stepped out of the fire escape to see a mostly untouched lobby and a number of police and Regulation vehicles outside.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Zephyr say that the villains were at least twice as strong down here?¡± I asked once I¡¯d separated enough from Muffle to hear myself talk.

    ¡°Yip, it was a stalemate.¡± Slingshot said. ¡°So Zephyr took me upstairs to reinforce Orcus.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense.¡± I noticed the glass door leading outside had been smashed. ¡°Seems it didn¡¯t stay that way.¡±

    Slingshot nodded and didn¡¯t say anything.

    There were a lot more people on the ground floor than I thought there would be. A dozen or so were policemen that had re-cordoned off the street and were keeping the crowd out while around twice that number of Regulation troopers were taking pictures of the scene and cleaning up. As many policemen and Regulation troopers were wounded. A lot of agents were moving around the wreck, alternating between supervising and helping out. It was hard to keep track of things.

    The mess outside reminded me of the one on the roof, though it was chaos in a different strain. Smoke from a number of canisters was still clearing away, there were spent shells scattered by benches and corners, two vans had crashed and were blocking the road entirely. There were three ambulances on the scene. The number of injured needing help vastly outnumbered the paramedics on scene, though. I could see blood spatters in various locations.

    We noticed the Sentinels and single Aegis right away. Blinker, Orcus, Voidling, Victorious, and Zephyr were grouped in the centre of everything where some of the mess had already been cleared away.

    Also standing with them were two heroes I hadn¡¯t seen personally before. One had a white and blue themed costume with a short cape extending down to below his elbow swept over one shoulder. He was leaning on a wooden pole that I knew was tipped on both ends with tazers. The other had a lot of tassels on his yellow themed costume, and no weapons in sight. He did have a utility belt though, if an underutilised one. I could see from where I stood that there were three sets of handcuffs on there and that was it.

    The blue and white one was Toil, and the yellow one was Wall Walker. They were from the Heroes of Yesterday.

    Curiously, I glanced up the building to see if Wall Walker had done his thing on this building. Sure enough, there was a set of footprints going up to near the top of the building.

    Off to the side and out of the way were two figures in costume, Collage and Unshaken. The former waved when he saw us and beckoned us over. Muffle wandered off at some point so he didn¡¯t accidentally mute the conversation.

    ¡°So I know it looks bad, rookies.¡± Collage said, referring to the pile up and people being tended to by paramedics. ¡°But it could be worse, y¡¯know. Someone could be dead.¡±

    I gave him a curious look. ¡°Seriously? How did no one die?¡±

    He gave a wide, toothy smile and pointed at himself with both thumbs.

    ¡°No one got hurt like this upstairs.¡± Slingshot murmured.

    ¡°That¡¯s not true.¡± Unshaken said. ¡°We saw Killer Kage with his arm in a sling, and Zephyr told us that Clothesline had her leg broken. It seems to me that someone can¡¯t properly control their power.¡±

    The words stung. I was beginning to wonder if that was residual pink Collage shenanigans. Slingshot reared back too far.

    ¡°Excuse me!?¡± She exclaimed.

    ¡°I told you so.¡± Unshaken said, deadpan. ¡°The only thing I¡¯m surprised by is the fact that you managed to actually hit anything.¡±

    ¡°Wait.¡± The two girls looked at me. ¡°Do you think that Slingshot was the one who broke those two¡¯s bones?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Unshaken replied. ¡°Slingshot uses me for target practice. I noticed how hard she likes to throw things so I told her she was going to get someone killed, or broken at best. Turns out I was right. The only other one with that kind of power up there was Orcus, and he wasn¡¯t fighting them. You¡¯re one step away from killing someone.¡±

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t Slingshot.¡± I said. ¡°That was me.¡±

    The girl took a moment to register my claim. Unshaken¡¯s mask shifted to look at me. ¡°Then everything I just said applies to you. You need to learn control.¡±

    Ouch. Right at my soul.

    Collage piped up. ¡°Ahem. Let¡¯s not devolve into hypocrisy now. I had to reset plenty of arms today thanks to you.¡±

    ¡°Those were the uncooperative ones.¡± Unshaken refuted. ¡°Barely even a third.¡±

    ¡°Lock and Slingshot?¡± A soft spoken voice interrupted the two Sentrys. Voidling had come over from the other group. Muffle was standing far behind him, Headache still over his shoulder. ¡°Muffle said- signed that you two had a report to give.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I responded.

    ¡°What new thing could you have to report?¡± Unshaken demanded accusingly at the same time.

    I took a breath as Collage started comically pushing Unshaken to no avail. ¡°We¡¯ve had our recess, Shake-Shake. We need to get back to it.¡±

    Unshaken looked like she wanted to press the issue.

    ¡°If you would give us some space.¡± Voidling requested when things started dragging on, which got her moving. The Sentinel turned to us. ¡°I would apologise in her place, but it¡¯s not really my duty to.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s okay.¡± Slingshot muttered, somehow more softly than Voidling.

    ¡°As I understand it, there¡¯s been some questions going around in regards to my competence.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is going to help with that.¡±

    Slingshot tilted forwards and looked at the ground beneath her feet.

    ¡°So I¡¯m still learning sign language.¡± Voidling explained. ¡°So I don¡¯t think I got the full message from Muffle. From what Zephyr has mentioned, what both of you have done throughout this event has all been accounted for. Why seek me out?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡± Slingshot started, then trailed off. I was having a similar issue, trying to find the right way to say it.

    Then I decided to be blunt. ¡°When Zephyr and Victorious ran off, Waterlad approached us with a proposal to spy on boss.¡±

    There was a beat.

    Voidling carefully asked. ¡°Did you do it?¡±

    ¡°Would I be telling you about it if I didn¡¯t?¡± I responded. ¡°I also want it on record that Andrew threatened to beat the both of us around if we said no. Given that Slingshot and I are both telekinetics, I think he could have.¡±

    ¡°Andrew...¡± Voidling repeated. When he spoke again his voice was harder, businesslike. ¡°Were you successful in infiltrating the meeting?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Slingshot answered.

    I added. ¡°Successful enough that no one knew until Muffle brought it up.¡±

    Voidling pondered for a moment. ¡°And what about Muffle? Where was he in all of this?¡±

    I looked at the big man. If I went through with what Muffle asked, he¡¯d be seen as incredibly incompetent. If I didn¡¯t, negligent. And then guilty of trying to cover it all up. Muffle definitely had his attention in my direction, but with the mask it was impossible to really tell. It was too late to talk about all that now, anyway.

    ¡°Muffle? He was downstairs dealing with Headache at the time.¡± I lied.

    Slingshot grimaced, tilting away from me a fraction.

    ¡°I see.¡± If Voidling was sceptical, he didn¡¯t show it. ¡°So what about the meeting? What did you overhear?¡±

    Slingshot and I spent the next fifteen or so minutes retelling what we saw. There were a few things I missed that Slingshot picked up on, but it wasn¡¯t because I was trying to hold anything back. By the end of it, Voidling was holding a hand to his head and massaging his temple.

    He said. ¡°Yes. This matches what Lucidity said. Though, we didn¡¯t know about Dreadnaught. We were wondering who you-know-who was.¡±

    ¡°How did Lucidity listen in?¡± I asked, genuinely confounded.

    ¡°Her power.¡± Voidling answered dismissively. ¡°She made a number of contrived inventions that let her use what I interpreted as quantum entanglement to plant a bug on Boss once it was discovered what floor they were on, but she didn¡¯t record it. Anyway, this is good information. Off the record, I think you did good.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s see how long it lasts.¡± I cynically responded, looking at Zephyr. ¡°Thanks, though.¡±

    ¡°Pleasure.¡± Voidling stepped away. ¡°Lock. Slingshot.¡± He moved back to the Sentinels. Victorious and the Heroes of Yesterday had since departed, and Blinker had moved away to assist the Regulation troopers tending to the wounded, leaving only Orcus and Zephyr.

    ¡°Did we?¡± Slingshot asked.

    ¡°Do good?¡± I asked back.

    Slingshot didn¡¯t say anything. She just altered her floating position until she was properly upright.

    ¡°I think we did well.¡± I said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± Slingshot trailed off.

    Zephyr was storming towards us. I took a moment to appreciate that she not literally storming at us, but it was a short lived moment.

    ¡°Lock.¡± Her voice wasn¡¯t raised. But it was harsh and filled with venom. ¡°I have been informed that you disobeyed a direct order.¡±

    My mouth responded before I could stop it. ¡°Have you listened to all the information?¡±

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± Somehow, there was even more venom in those two words.

    ¡°It took us fifteen minutes to tell Voidling all that. He was just talking to you for ten seconds.¡± Speaking of, the Sentinel in question had remained behind and was now conversing with Orcus. Neither seemed to be paying attention to us.

    Zephyr didn¡¯t speak for a moment. ¡°Lock. You were informed that you were not to appear at this event today without my permission. I did not give any such grants.Yet here you are. I specifically told the three of you to stay put until the crisis was over. Not only did you ignore my order, you actively disobeyed it minutes after it was given. I would delay your debut even further if it was possible, but you seem to have taken that into your own hands as well.

    ¡°There are videos of you moving across streets using your ability, which you did not tell us could function in such a way. If I were a more suspicious person, I would suspect you were a plant. They way that you have handled this situation with Waterlad, however, makes me think that you are an idiot. Am I wrong?¡±

    Slingshot had slowly drifted further and further away while Zephyr was speaking.

    I really wanted to respond. It was so tempting to raise my voice and start shouting. There was so much I wanted to say, so many flaws in what Zephyr had just said. But she had kept her voice so under control that anyone catching only a sentence or two might think it was a cordial conversation. If I talked, I would shout. If I shouted, I lost.

    So I clenched my hand around the staff. It wasn¡¯t distracting enough so I directed my attention to my piercing and focused hard on it. It helped, if only a little.

    ¡°I asked you if I was wrong.¡± Zephyr repeated.

    The urge to shout became louder. I could hit her hard enough to break bones. It only took a thought.

    ¡°Um¡­¡± Slingshot opened her mouth.

    Zephyr whirled so fast she may have generated a small twister. ¡°Do not get me started on you, Slingshot. I expected better of you than simply following along the nearest person. Especially when that person is even more of a junior than you are. When Waterlad approached you, did you even consider fighting back? No? I¡¯m disappointed.¡±

    She spun back to me. ¡°And you are not going anywhere until you answer a simple question. Am. I. Wrong?¡±

    Orcus interrupted before I could say anything I¡¯d regret. ¡°That is enough Zephyr. You are very familiar with the intricacies of Waterlad¡¯s abilities. You cannot deny that a fight between him and two telekinetics would have been one sided. In this case, a massacre.¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°That is not the point, Orcus!¡± Zephyr jabbed a finger at the grey man.

    ¡°Then what is the point of this interaction?¡± Orcus evenly rebutted. ¡°What I have inferred tells me that you are attempting to have Lock question his intelligence.¡±

    ¡°...¡± Zephyr glared at Orcus.

    I chimed in. ¡°That is literally what you were asking me.¡±

    ¡°Hush!¡± Zephyr roared. ¡°Regardless of the intelligence of any Sentry in question, the actions performed today were negligent, reckless, and flies in the face of the Sentinel¡¯s code.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know there was a code.

    Zephyr continued, regaining some of her calm. ¡°I expect Blinker to possess detailed reports of your actions today, and both of you will need to appear in front of the press by the end of tomorrow. We can have the two of you officially debut at the same time. When you do, you will be restricted to sidekick duty for non-threatening situations only. Is-¡±

    Orcus said. ¡°Zephyr.¡±

    Zephyr sighed, fully returning to a controlled voice. ¡°The information will be reviewed and the consequences of your actions will be determined accordingly, and without bias.¡± She turned to Orcus. ¡°Was that neutral enough?¡±

    Orcus did not react to the attention. ¡°I would not have such interactions in front of the Sentrys.¡±

    ¡°When, then?¡±

    ¡°Later. In private while we go over their reports.¡±

    ¡°Insubordination begets punishment, or it happens again.¡± Zephyr spat.

    ¡°Undue punishment begets rebellion.¡± Orcus said. ¡°It should be avoided in all occasions. I believe this may be one of them.¡±

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± Zephyr¡¯s voice was rising again. ¡°You dismissed Satellite and Snowflake for insubordination the moment the villains evacuated. Who the hell are you to say that?¡±

    Orcus explained. ¡°Satellite¡¯s costume was bloodstained and he needed to change as soon as possible, both for his image, and his mental state. The fact that he was responsible for the blood is what motivated my decision.

    ¡°On the other hand, Snowflake was in a distraught state for reasons you are familiar with. If she were to stay, her condition would have worsened, which could have jeopardized the conditions of several wounded here. Those are the grounds for my decisions. What are the grounds for you continuing this debacle?¡±

    Zephyr faltered.

    I took vindictive pleasure in watching her gears turn.

    She turned to Slingshot and me. ¡°Detailed reports.¡± She reminded us, then left.

    Voidling wandered closer. ¡°Oh no¡­¡± His voice failed to inflect any worry at all. ¡°Why are mommy and daddy fighting?¡±

    Orcus reacted. It might have been a chuckle but I couldn¡¯t tell. He said. ¡°Later, Voidling.¡± He turned to me. ¡°I am apologetic that you had to experience that. As Zephyr mentioned, the two of you will need to appear in front of the press. I recommend you focus on preparing for that before writing your reports for today.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Slingshot murmured.

    I was still distracted by Zephyr. ¡°Is she always like that?¡±

    Orcus said. ¡°Zephyr does have an established reputation for explosive reactions.¡±

    ¡°But is she always like that?¡±

    Orcus paused. ¡°She responds like that when antagonised.¡±

    ¡°How lovely.¡± I muttered.

    Voidling tapped Orcus on the shoulder and pointed over his shoulder.

    Orcus looked. ¡°Muffle, how long have you had Headache over your shoulder?¡±

    Muffle was still standing with the aforementioned supervillain draped over his shoulder. He¡¯d been walking around with her in a fireman carry the entire time. Now he was one handedly signing at Orcus.

    ¡°The successful arrest of one supervillain and the infiltration of the meeting today will be our victories.¡± Orcus decided. ¡°You will stay near Headache until she is properly processed. I will explain the situation to some Regulation agents and organise transport.¡±

    Muffle responded with a single gesture.

    ¡°Good.¡± Orcus turned to Slingshot and me. ¡°Blinker has some words for the two of you, go speak with him then return to the Regulation headquarters.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± I responded.

    The conversation stalled. Voidling wisely stepped away, and I shortly followed suit. Slingshot just flew.

    Blinker had a few scrapes on his costume when we found him. He was talking with Unshaken, referring to something on a tablet as they spoke while we approached. Fortunately for us, he noticed Slingshot and me approaching and excused himself from the other Sentry before we were close enough to talk. That was good. I¡¯d had enough of stand offish heroes for the time being.

    ¡°Captain.¡± I greeted Blinker.

    ¡°Hello.¡± Slingshot said much more quietly at the same time.

    Blinker sized the both of us up. ¡°Your name has been making the rounds, Lock.¡±

    ¡°Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Blinker seemed undecided. ¡°Both of you seem relatively unharmed. That¡¯s good. What happened to your hands?¡±

    ¡°I threw a keyboard at Killer Kage¡¯s arm and broke it. My fingers got in the way.¡±

    ¡°The keyboard broke, or did the arm?¡±

    ¡°Both.¡±

    Blinker hummed again. ¡°That should serve as a reminder to regulate your ability. I think we should prioritise beating that into you moving forward.¡±

    Okay? I nodded absently.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you also get tased?¡± Slingshot asked.

    The event popped back into my mind. ¡°That¡¯s right, I did. It left a mark.¡± I lifted the leg and looked at the black marking on the white shin pad. ¡°Oh, and I got hit by beefcake as well.¡±

    ¡°When did you encounter Beefcake?¡± Blinker asked, more urgently than before.

    ¡°And I fell several floor fighting Killer Kage. And I got caught by a Headache blast. And then Victorious picked me up with his shocking touch. Silver lining is he didn¡¯t superman slam me like he did the villains. Otherwise I¡¯d still be out of it.¡±

    Slingshot unconsciously drifted away from me and looked worried.

    ¡°I¡¯ll need you to give me all the details about your actions today.¡± Blinker stated.

    ¡°Ask Voidling, I¡¯ve explained everything to him already. Zephyr¡¯s told me to write you a detailed report anyway. Didn¡¯t you get hit as well, Slingshot?¡±

    One of Slingshot¡¯s hands idly traced around her eyes. ¡°Yip.¡±

    Blinker glanced at the heroine. ¡°What happened to your glasses?¡±

    ¡°Um, Clothesline hit them.¡± Slingshot said softly.

    Blinker reevaluated the both of us, then sighed. ¡°Okay. Interrogating the two of you right now would be pointless. Return to the SRT and rest up. Both of you. Slingshot, this is your official debut. The skies of Graceland are open to you.¡±

    Slingshot stared at Blinker as she rose ever so slowly. ¡°Are you serious?¡± There was evident excitement in her voice.

    Blinker nodded, still all business. ¡°Make sure to maintain a safe distance from all buildings and obstructions. Keep your eyes forward. I will see you back at the SRT. You¡¯re going to have some interviews later today.¡±

    ¡°I- I don¡¯t.¡± Slingshot stammered. She turned to me.

    I waved. ¡°See you.¡±

    Slingshot probably grinned, it was hard to tell with the bandanna, then shot up into the sky far faster than she had been moving inside. There were cries and shouts as people all around pointed at the new Transhuman in the sky. She did a large loop and flew off into the city. Everyone watched the figure get smaller and smaller.

    Flying seemed pretty cool.

    ¡°Before you head off, Lock.¡± Blinker said, pulling my attention back to him. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been over this with Zephyr.¡± I responded tiredly. ¡°Orcus cleared me for duty.¡±

    Blinker nodded. ¡°I know, and I have some advice for you. Be very, very careful around Orcus. He appears calm until you see him in action, then he¡¯s one of the scariest things you¡¯ll ever see.¡±

    ¡°I saw him throw Hully through the floor.¡± I stated. ¡°That¡¯s plenty scary.¡±

    Blinker shook his head. ¡°No, it¡¯s different when Orcus is focusing on you. It¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s difficult to describe. But there is a reason the Gray Apostles aren¡¯t allowed near him anymore. Regardless, you listening to Orcus resulted in a lot of trouble and work for the rest of us. Consider that moving forward.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I knew there was a connection between Orcus and the Gray Apostles, but that didn¡¯t seem relevant to Blinker asking me to be insubordinate.

    ¡°Consider your actions, his actions, and their repercussions.¡± Blinker told me commandingly. ¡°Go to the SRT, see Dr. Grath, rest up, and we¡¯ll meet later for a debriefing. I¡¯ve sent a message to Charlotte, who is in charge of your costume. It¡¯ll be ready later today.¡± Then he used his power to blink once in space, then again appearing further away. He did it quickly, but since I¡¯d figured out his power somewhat it was easier to see what he was doing. Even if it all happened in the time it took me to blink twice.

    Unceremoniously dismissed, I turned to the cordon. It wasn¡¯t a huge crowd, but there were cameras and microphones. Enough that getting out unmolested was going to be difficult. But it was just the press. I wasn¡¯t too worried, but I may as well put on a show. Using the ability I¡¯d just tested earlier today, I slid towards the barrier.

    When I was nearly there I glanced off to the side and saw the building Orcus had originally called me to. It had a back entrance. It was perfect for dodging the news. Looking back at the cordon, I saw several cameras pointed at me. There were a handful of reporters shouting questions at me, though they were still too far away for me to make out any one question. I stopped and waved at them, then went out the back way.

    ~~~

    Getting back to the SRT was a different experience than the one I¡¯d had sliding away from it in the morning. People were awake now, and I quickly learned to keep away from busy streets after having to find my way through three of them. I had found that changing direction when I was sliding around was possible, but it had to be a gradual thing. Basically, I was fine if the road was empty, I could slide along that. But on the other hand I was totally incapable of weaving through heavy pedestrian traffic.

    Still, I had only just figured out this use of my power. It was entirely possible I could become fast enough to do that. My power wasn¡¯t superspeed though, so I had my doubts.

    What made the sliding experience different was the casual abuse hurled my way as I went along. It was mixed in with the ¡°Who are you?¡±s and the ¡°Welcome to Graceland¡±s, but it was there. I wondered if the other Sentrys experienced things like this. I heard multiple accusations of ¡°Villain!¡± which I pointedly slid past.

    Soon enough I was back in the SRT, absently twisting my piercing as I metally followed the forces of the elevator ascending. The elevator arrived with a ding and I stepped into the somewhat eerily quiet Sentry headquarters. Normally there wasn¡¯t much going on by way of sound, but the knowledge that most of the Sentrys were out gave it an isolated feeling. The floor was air conditioned, causing my hairs to stand on end and adding to the sensation.

    I went to the changing room to take all my gear off. It wasn¡¯t clear if the generic costume I¡¯d taken from the adepts labs was supposed to go back there. Chances were that was exactly the case, but I hesitated to surrender the only protective things I had. When I entered I stowed the staff away first and glanced over to find a floating teenage girl in uniform holding a makeup mirror up and stressing out.

    ¡°Hi Slingshot.¡± I announced my arrival.

    ¡°Lock!¡± She dropped the makeup, which stopped in mid air before it hit the ground. ¡°You did this to me!¡±

    Slingshot was pointing at her face. The bandana she had been wearing before was gone, but the top half of her face was still covered in a black that made it impossible to see any depth. I frowned and tried to turn it off, but nothing happened.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± I said. I needed to touch something to change the colour

    ¡°How can you just say sorry?¡± Slingshot pulled at the skin under her eye, but it looked like she was just miming the action. ¡°It¡¯s not coming off!¡±

    ¡°That needs to come off the way it was put on.¡±

    Slingshot hesitated. ¡°So you need to rub your hands all over my...¡± She trailed off

    ¡°Ouch.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± Slingshot darted over to me. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to be mean. It¡¯s just that it reminded me of something I didn¡¯t want to think about.¡±

    I registered the weight of my piercing. ¡°I understand. Shall I just do it?¡±

    ¡°Please.¡± Slingshot screwed her eyes shut.

    I dragged my hand over her face, actively removing my power as I did so. When I was done I saw there were a number of black patches still on her skin and touched them away, then got the bits in her hair. My gut wrenched when I saw the red markings and bruised skin around Slingshot¡¯s eyes where Clothesline had punched her aviators into them. Then the fact that I was looking at her unmasked face dawned on me.

    I glanced away. ¡°I¡¯m done.¡±

    Slingshot spun away and presumably looked at herself in the mirror. ¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡± She sighed. ¡°I was beginning to think I¡¯d have to just live with it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s weird like that.¡± I breathed heavily, remembering Sting¡¯s advice from the day before. I knew what Slingshot looked like now. What should I do with that? Should I even do anything with it?

    ¡°Since the cat¡¯s out of the bag I think I should say¡­¡±

    Slingshot turned when I trailed off, her feet level with the bench, but she was still standing on air. ¡°Say what?¡±

    A thought crossed my mind. A distraction I quickly grabbed hold of. ¡°Actually, first can I ask something?¡±

    ¡°What about?¡±

    I pulled my helmet off. My power would remain active until I told it to stop, so I wasn¡¯t worried about showing my face. Slingshot still hadn¡¯t realised her face was naked.

    ¡°Why are you still flying?¡± I asked. ¡°You¡¯ve been flying the entire time we were out in the field, but I don¡¯t think you were flying the first time we saw each other. And the endless floating is kind of uh¡­ distracting.¡±

    Slingshot¡¯s mouth thinned. ¡°Well. Sorry about that.¡± She levitated down so her eyes were level with mine. ¡°It¡¯s, um¡­ part of my power. Ever since I manifested I¡¯ve always been flying. I can¡¯t turn it off.¡±

    I pushed the movement of the earth to the back of my mind. ¡°That¡¯s rough. And that¡¯s not me just saying that. I have a similar aspect to my power.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Slingshot frowned. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Nothing so visible.¡± I rubbed my temple, willing the awareness away. ¡°It¡¯s a sixth sense. Touch based. Anyway, I should apologise.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t. You were being honest.¡± Slingshot moved over to an open locker and pointed at a pair of thigh high boots. ¡°These let me walk during school, but they only last for seven hours. I get, um, self conscious. Inside. I guess.¡±

    I noticed Slingshot¡¯s tone constantly lower throughout her speech. ¡°How do the boots work?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, actually.¡± Slingshot confessed, back to her normal volume. ¡°It was designed by an adept in Africa and a pair got sent to me as soon as I revealed myself to the Regulation. Apparently I¡¯m not the only one with the problem of perpetual flight. They only take an hour to charge, which is neat...¡±

    The silence started dragging on, so I cleared my throat. ¡°Right. Anyway, I was going to say something because the cat¡¯s out of the bag and it doesn¡¯t matter anymore.¡± I extended my hand forward and willed away my mask. ¡°Michael Barker.¡±

    I have no idea why I decided to reveal myself. There was a chance Collage¡¯s pink beam was still playing shenanigans in my brain, making me pine for attention from the two people I met for the first time after getting zapped. That would be why Unshaken¡¯s criticisms hurt so much, and why I trying to endear myself to Slingshot.

    The more logical side of me said that this was a strategic move. Villains would do anything to get at a hero. Having a secret identity was akin to giving the rest of the world a weapon to use against you, especially if you screwed up in keeping it a secret. It was better to disarm that weapon if at all possible. Doing this now would reduce backlash if my real identity was revealed, even if I didn¡¯t really have much to hide.

    I was listening to one side more than the other

    Slingshot stared at my hand, then her hands went to her cheeks. ¡°I wasn¡¯t supposed to reveal myself!¡± Her eyes were wide.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡± That was different from what my experiences had been.

    ¡°My dad said he¡¯d have to kill anyone who figured out it was me.¡± Slingshot was totally serious. Yet somehow, I found it funny.

    ¡°Why are you laughing!? He¡¯ll kill you!¡± Slingshot exclaimed.

    ¡°No. He¡¯s just being a dad.¡± I managed to say. The laughs faded after I took a breath to recentre myself. ¡°No sane dad actually follows through on that kind of threat.¡±

    Slingshot paused for a moment, then realisation passed over her face. ¡°Right.¡± She let out a laugh.

    ¡°Come on, that trope is used so much.¡± I said. ¡°He just cares.¡±

    Another chuckle escaped Slingshot. I pushed my hand forward again.

    ¡°Michael Barker.¡±

    Slingshot took my hand in a soft and limp handshake with a hesitant smile.

    ¡°I¡¯m Madeleine Soyer.¡±

    ¡°You know, you¡¯re going to need to get back into costume Madeleine.¡± I told her. ¡°We¡¯re debuting later.¡±

    ¡°Oh...¡± Madeleine drifted down ever so slightly. ¡°I need new sunglasses¡­¡±

 2. Fate/Prophecy 10

    ¡°Now remember, it¡¯s heavy. Very heavy.¡±

    Standing before me was a suit of armour, if it could even be called that. There were no plates, but there were lines around the shoulders, elbows and legs. Basically anywhere there would be movement. It was mostly one piece, with exception to the boots, which were neatly arranged next to the suit. The dull grey thing was on a mannequin that was apparently my exact proportions, which worried me because I¡¯d never given them. The designer had run off excitedly before they had the chance.

    Over the head of the mannequin was a hood, and a mask that was also part of the costume covered its face. There were lines on the mask, separating the eyes from the forehead and cheeks, and leaving a vertical segment between the two sides of the face. The effect made a T shape with glass rectangles marking the top line. It was the mask that had been made for me.

    The person responsible, Charlotte, had just delivered my costume and was telling me all about it.

    ¡°It took a while to get it done because I had to move it three times. Each time involved clearing the workspace and getting a forklift into the workshop. Put me way behind schedule ¡®cause the strops kept snapping on me.¡± Charlotte rapid fired as I took in the design of the costume.

    ¡°Then they asked me to move it here in time for your debut. I said ¡®not possible. It¡¯s too damn heavy¡¯, and they said ¡®We¡¯re sending Orcus¡¯ so you can thank him for letting me get this to you on time, if slightly behind schedule. We¡¯d have never gotten this thing in the building without that strapping lad¡¯s super strength. It was still a very stressful drive over in the truck.

    I noticed the costume had two pockets around where my jacket did. The openings were positioned where two aesthetic lines went down the sides of the front, so they had eluded my initial look.

    ¡°The whole thing is made of valuar.¡± Charlotte continued, grabbing my attention again. ¡°It¡¯s a techo material made by Mega originally, used in the Sunken Cage. Every techo under the sun was trying it out after that. Only thing is, while the damn stuff is durable like nothing you¡¯ve ever seen, it¡¯s also the heaviest thing you¡¯ve ever seen. Most adepts made some only to find it wouldn¡¯t mesh with anything they were trying to do.¡±

    ¡°This stuff was used in the Cage?¡± I curiously asked. ¡°It looks like textured latex.¡±

    ¡°It was used as an insulator for the facility, if memory serves. Did a hell of a good job of it too, until it didn¡¯t. If you don¡¯t like how it looks,¡± Charlotte leaned closer and continued in a whispered tone. ¡°Use your power on it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not selling me on the valuar.¡± I deadpanned. ¡°Is this costume going to just break on me?¡±

    ¡°Not unless you find someone with a power to get around it.¡± Charlotte shrugged. ¡°I think one or two of the villains in Graceland could do it. But those ones could theoretically get around anything.¡±

    I thought back to my fight with Killer Kage and how the staff had vanished from my grasp. ¡°Still.¡±

    ¡°Back to the pros.¡± Charlotte slapped the shoulder of the mannequin, hard. It barely moved. ¡°Valuar absorbs impacts with the same effectiveness as kevlar. Don¡¯t use that as an excuse to let yourself get shot.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning on it.¡±

    ¡°Similarly, I wouldn¡¯t go out of my way to take blows from anything sharp. An ice pick would go straight through valuar. The sunken cage worked because it was five inches thick and didn¡¯t need to worry about that stuff. You do. Stay away from stabby things that are long and thin as a general rule, and try not to get slashed either. The costume will stay intact for the most part, but two or three cuts in the same spot could result in an opening. And who''s to say how well it would hold up if it was an enforcer doing the slashing?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like you''re telling me not to use my armour.¡± I commented.

    ¡°The best way to use armour is have it and stay away from danger anyway.¡± Charlotte shot back. ¡°This stuff is thin, not even an eighth of an inch thick when it¡¯s at its thickest, which is your chest, legs, and head. I couldn¡¯t make it any thicker or your flexibility would be reduced to nothing. Point is, it¡¯s bulletproof, which is more than most villains get from their costumes.¡±

    ¡°What about it¡¯s thinnest?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Point eight of a millimeter.¡± Charlotte immediately answered. I blinked, trying to imagine how small that was. ¡°I took the liberty to put a steel plate in the mask of the costume. It kept flopping around otherwise. Helps you against stabs there too.¡±

    ¡°Are there any other pros?¡±

    ¡°One more.¡± Charlotte tapped the eye holes. ¡°I cut two holes in the mask so you could see.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh.¡±

    Charlotte gave a cheeky smile before going back to business. ¡°That¡¯s not glass as you know it filling that space. The lenses are shatter resistant, but in the event that they do shatter, they will go in the same way windscreens do.¡±

    ¡°Oh, safety glass.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Indeed, but finer. Much finer.¡±

    I frowned. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that get in the eyes?¡±

    ¡°Would you rather some dust in your eyes that you can cry out, or a glass shard in your eyeball?¡± Charlotte pointedly posed.

    ¡°The first one.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Can I try it on?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m here to show and tell, and take your costume away.¡± Charlotte told me sarcastically, then pointed to the next room. ¡°Change in there. You move the costume.¡±

    I stepped over to the costume and touched it, feeling the physics of it flowing into my awareness. My eyebrows went up in surprise. ¡°Four of these would weigh as much as a car.¡± I hadn¡¯t expected it to be that heavy

    ¡°-T¡®s why no one ever uses it.¡± Charlotte replied distractedly, having opened her briefcase and rustling around inside. ¡°Costume weighs a half-tonne when you add a number and do some generous rounding. It got me some strange looks when I was asking for the raw material.¡±

    Heeding that knowledge, I reduce gravity¡¯s effect on the costume to the other side of zero and handily picked it up. I lifted the mannequin over my shoulder and easily walked to the next room, picking up the shoes as I went. They were similarly heavy, so I had to take a moment to give them the same treatment as the rest of the costume.

    The costume had a zipper that went from the collar down the front of the torso, and ended at the waist. Covering the zipper was a small flap that concealed the entire thing, leaving another line that ran down the front of the costume, making it asymmetrical. I had to unclasp a number of buttons that held the flap in place to get to the zipper. The valuar itself was rough, and when I ran a hand across it, there was about as much pull on my skin as there would be running a hand across a concrete wall.

    The neighboring room was used for storage, so there weren¡¯t any windows. I had privacy, but I was curious to see if I could, so I tried to get into the costume with my clothes on, sans shoes. It was a tight fit, but that was likely intentional. The only problem I had was that my clothes were wrinkled and pressing into my skin. Though, that wasn¡¯t anything that was I was about to die over.

    Of course, the sleeves ended when it reached my fingers, like fingerless gloves that also wrapped the rest of my body. The collar of the costume came all the way up to my jaw. It was suffocating at first, having my neck hugged like that, but I forced myself to get over it. The mask was attached to the inside of the hood, and there was a wide hook that had a pair underneath my chin. I pulled it over my face, the hooks caught on each other, and the image was complete.

    My vision was limited when I was seeing through the mask. The borders of the mask pulled a tighter limit on my periphery than what I normally had. Even so, I still had most of my sight unimpaired. It was just like looking through snowgoggles that were a touch too small.

    Movement was stiffer than what I was used to, as the valuar was less malleable than anything I¡¯d ever worn. I experimentally tried to reduce the costume¡¯s friction to half and found that solved the problem. Maybe I hadn¡¯t actually reduced the costume¡¯s friction. When I ran a finger across it my finger still felt like it was moving across concrete. Then I put the boots on and gave them a similar treatment. I was a little surprised to find that the boots had laces.

    I don¡¯t know, maybe I was expecting something a little more high tech. The laces were made of Valuar as well, though.

    ¡°How do I look?¡± I asked the room as I stepped out.

    Charlotte gave an impressed whistle. ¡°I saw you lugging that thing out of the room, but this?¡± She shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s ridiculous.¡±

    ¡°There a mirror in here?¡± I looked around the space.

    ¡°No. Strike a pose.¡± Charlotte told me.

    I looked at her in confusion until I saw the Vphone. Figuring I may as well humour her, I placed my fists on my hips, looked past Charlotte to my right. Doing my best to take a heroic pose that didn¡¯t feel stupid. I felt like I partially succeeded and waited for the snap.

    ¡°That¡¯s lovely.¡± She smiled as the phone snapped a picture. ¡°Hold that pose.¡±

    In my periphery I saw Charlotte put the Vphone away, then pull something out from under her jacket and hold it out towards me. Curious, I broke the pose and looked to see a silenced pistol in Charlotte¡¯s hands.

    She pulled the trigger before I could react.

    I¡¯d experienced pain like that before. I hadn¡¯t been shot until just now, but there¡¯s more than one way to feel pain. What I didn¡¯t expect was the push from the impact that sent me sprawling to the floor. One hand went to the middle of my chest, where a bullet was lodged inside my costume. My touch disturbed it, sending it clattering to the floor. A circular dent remained where the bullet had impacted.

    I shook my hand and gripped the finger that had touched the bullet. It had been really hot. Which made sense, given what just happened.

    Charlotte pointed the gun upwards and looked at me on the floor. She shook her head. ¡°God damn valuar.¡±

    I pressed where the bullet had impacted and winced. That was definitely bruised. ¡°What the hell?¡±

    ¡°Most young heroes run headfirst into gunfire when I tell them they¡¯re bulletproof.¡± Charlotte told me. ¡°After this, are you going to run headfirst into gunfire?¡±

    ¡°Fuck no.¡±

    Charlotte smiled. ¡°Then my job is done. All that¡¯s left for you to do before your public appearance is paint. Oh, and here¡¯s how you look.¡± She showed me the picture on her phone.

    ¡°Right.¡± I was still getting over being shot. It had wiped all thoughts of the fact that I had a televised debut after this from my mind.

    I looked almost exactly like how the mannequin had with the costume on. The mannequin was stuck in a pose, sure, so that was different. But other than that the only difference was what could be seen through the glass of the mask. The mannequin was white plastic, while my face had my mask activated. My silver eyes were less impressive because they were obviously behind a mask, but that was kind of the point.

    The dull grey latex colour would have to go.

    Charlotte picked up the bullet and started disassembling the gun. ¡°Remember how much the valuar weighed, Lock.¡± She reminded me. ¡°That¡¯s how much it will weigh again when you put it down. I¡¯ll leave the mannequin with the Regulation.¡±Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    That was a very good point. This wasn¡¯t something that a typical coat hanger could handle.

    ¡°I made some concepts you could reference.¡± Charlotte continued, placing some papers next to her briefcase. ¡°Other than that, it¡¯s been a pleasure.¡±

    I stood and looked at Charlotte¡¯s outstretched hand. I sighed as I took the hand. ¡°Wish I could say the same. The costume is awesome though.¡±

    ¡°Until next time.¡± Charlotte said with a mischievous smile and a wave, and then she was gone.

    I got out of the costume and put it back on the mannequin. When I released the costume there was the sound of bending metal as the mannequin took the load. For a scary moment, it looked like the mannequin might fall over, but it passed.

    Charlotte had left a stack of paper behind, which I checked before getting to work. They were sketched designs, suggestions for how I should colour the costume. I like some of them, but nothing clicked. In the end I just did what I was going to do anyway.

    ~~~

    ¡°How are you feeling?¡± Madeleine- no, Slingshot asked. We were in costume.

    ¡°Distracted.¡± I replied. The fact that if I jumped then reset the weight of my costume, I¡¯d probably crash through the floor kept repeating in my head. Then there were the implications of Greenflame being in Graceland. ¡°You?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­¡± Slingshot was floating next to me. Her costume had been spruced up since the events earlier in the day. A replacement pair of sunglasses had been acquired to replace the pair Clothesline had broken, and served the double purpose of concealing the wounds on her face. ¡°I¡¯m feeling¡­ vertigo?¡±

    ¡°A deep pit in your stomach?¡± I asked. ¡°Feels like it could turn over at any moment?¡±

    ¡°Yip.¡±

    ¡°Do you feel like that when you¡¯re flying normally?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± I hummed, trying to think up something that might help.

    ¡°As you are all aware, there was an altercation between the Sentinels and multiple groups of villains earlier today.¡± Theo was standing behind a podium on stage, addressing a room full of reporters. He went into a speech detailing the official version of what happened, which wasn¡¯t that different from what I experienced.

    Once he was done, Slingshot and I would go onstage and be introduced. Then there would be some time for questions, then we¡¯d go home. In all, it wasn¡¯t that complicated, but it was the first time either of us had been in front of a camera like this.

    ¡°Have you had any dairy?¡± I asked Slingshot.

    Slingshot tilted sideways. ¡°Dairy?¡±

    ¡°Milk, chocolate, anything like that.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Slingshot righted herself, then looked at me quizzically. ¡°Why?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s good then, dairy is bad for the voice. It coats the voice box and stops it from vibrating properly. A glass of warm water would be the best thing to have before doing something like this, if you absolutely have to drink something.¡±

    ¡°Do you think there¡¯s enough time for me to go get one?¡±

    ¡°No. Too late. Sorry.¡±

    Slingshot drifted downwards in a slump. The way she floated around made her really easy to read.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you using your boots?¡± I blurted.

    ¡°They¡¯re low.¡± She said.

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    I congratulated myself on that spectacular display of conversationalism.

    ¡°There is potentially a new Transhuman working with the Rising Sun.¡± Theo was saying. ¡°They have been designated ''Mantis'' until more information comes to light.¡±

    It hadn¡¯t been more than twelve hours since then, so the scene was still fresh in my mind. The name was fitting, I felt, given the sheer amount of spattered blood I¡¯d seen. Except for the fact that they¡¯d given the name of an insect to someone outside the Beastmasters. Although it could be that they were trying to play them against each other. Regardless, it was way outside of my ballpark.

    Slingshot quivered at the memory. As Theo moved on I debated with myself as to whether or not I should give her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. Honestly, I was going to slap Collage the next time I saw him. These pink beam shenanigans were not funny.

    ¡°Now.¡± Theo said as he tapped his papers on the podium. The projected display behind him changed from a purely informational one to something a lot softer. The entire wall was split into two halves. The far side was a light orange while the closer side was silver. They were colour coded to fit Slingshot and my themes.

    ¡°You go out to Theo¡¯s right.¡± I whispered. ¡°I¡¯ll stay on the left.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Slingshot said as Theo turned towards us with one arm extended.

    ¡°That¡¯s when we¡¯re facing the audience.¡± I added as he started announcing us.

    Theo made sure to lean closer to the microphones in front of him. ¡°I give you Slingshot, and Lock!¡±

    I stepped out in front of the crowd on cue and Slingshot flew past me a moment later. Immediately there was a barrage of flashes that nearly blinded me entirely. I let myself squint since they couldn¡¯t see my eyes clearly behind the mask and waved at the crowd as I moved closer to Theo.

    My costume, which previously looked like textured grey latex, was now a soft but strong green colour I¡¯d spent a long while trying to get right. It wasn¡¯t bright, but it wasn¡¯t too dark either. Initially I¡¯d wanted to have the whole thing black, like I had been doing with my face, but there were two problems with that.

    The first was that I was a hero, so sinister costume designs were off the table. Orcus was an exception to that rule for reasons I didn¡¯t know, but he had a reputation to match. He was the brutal Sentinel in Graceland, no one disputed that. The second was that Voidling was also a Sentinel that existed, and black was kind of his thing already. I¡¯d still considered going black regardless, but decided against it when it occurred to me that I¡¯d be seen as a little Voidling-ling.

    That all being said, I¡¯d seen pictures of me sliding around Graceland circulating on the internet. People had commented on my face being a black void with silver eyes, so I decided to black out the mask. The interesting thing about my mastery over colours was that not every colour had the effect that the black I used did. Namely in the way it took away depth perception.

    When I was trying to find the right green, I¡¯d discovered two such greens that took away depth perception. I tried them out, but both looked way too weird to be acceptable. If I had gone with either, I would have looked like a strange green silhouette. The green that I ended up using granted depth, so all the little details where the costume thinned and thickened were still visible. Even the dent the bullet had left. There wasn¡¯t anything I could do about that though.

    The costume also wasn¡¯t entirely green. For some portions of the costume, I elected to colour them the void-like black I used on my face. Those portions I decided to keep more space than the green. Just using it on elbows, knees, and the like. Mostly the parts that moved. I used the lines already separating portions of the costume to decide where to put the black. The effect was too good not to.

    ¡°I thought you were going with black and silver.¡± Theo whispered to me once I¡¯d come to a stop near him.

    I paused, but only for a moment. ¡°I never said anything.¡± I said back, not bothering to whisper because it was lost in the noise of the crowd. Then I turned to Theo and offered to shake his hand. ¡°No one asked.¡±

    The Director of the Regulation quickly and enthusiastically shook my hand, showing no hint that he was perturbed by what I said, and we looked to the crowd as we held the pose. He had responded to that quicker than I thought he would have. Perhaps he was competent.

    Slingshot, who had entered at a higher angle, was drifting down next to Theo. I released Theo¡¯s hand and stepped away to let her repeat the gesture I had made. I tapped Cloud¡¯s staff and surveyed the crowd. Since most of the focus was on Slingshot and the Director of the Regulation, I could focus on getting an impression of the crowd.

    It was small, but still large enough for the faces to mix together. I hazarded a guess at around forty people in all, most of them reporters. There were some Regulation troopers guarding the entrances, and behind and around the crowd several cameramen were operating cameras. I watched two of them switch to focus on me while three others left to focus on Slingshot and the Director.

    Forty people was all well and good. But I was all too aware of the fact that thousands, or maybe millions of people were behind those cameras. After all, how many people watched the news?

    ¡°Both of these young heroes were present at the situation earlier today.¡± Theo informed the audience. ¡°I¡¯ve had numerous accounts that they were competent and mindful of the duties they are responsible for.¡±

    I resisted the urge to side eye Theo. Had he heard about Killer Kage and Clothesline? What about Waterlad?

    Theo kept going. ¡°They will be taking questions, for a short while, but they will be retiring for the day shortly. Both have been active since seven this morning, and they need their sleep.¡±

    That time I turned my head and looked at the Director of the Regulation. I didn¡¯t like how he was talking about us.

    ¡°Lock. Slingshot.¡± He gestured towards the crowd, then stepped away.

    My first impression was that he expected us to go down from the stage and answer the reporters face to face. But I was feeling rebellious, so I stepped over to the podium and looked at the crowd. The forty people weren¡¯t silent like the movies showed, each of them had a hand or two raised and was saying- no, asking something. I could feel Theo looking at the back of my head. He hadn¡¯t liked that.

    Slingshot seemed paralyzed for the moment. We had been given a run down of how this was supposed to go, but hadn¡¯t actually rehearsed it. This was exactly why we should have.

    I pointed at the crowd and just kept pointing. First, the half of the crowd that I wasn¡¯t pointing at mostly shut the hell up. Then the ones closer to where I was pointing, but weren¡¯t exactly there started quieting down. Eventually it was down to just one guy who pointed at himself.

    The finger came down and I nodded for him to begin. The room had become quiet in anticipation. I didn¡¯t want to be the first one to speak.

    ¡°L-lock? Was it?¡± The man stammered, breaking the silence.

    ¡°Lock.¡± I confirmed. My voice took me off guard as it echoed through the speakers, adding to the atmosphere.

    ¡°That staff you¡¯re carrying. Did you take that from the villain Cloud?¡±

    I raised an eyebrow that no one saw. That was the first question? Alright then.

    ¡°I picked this staff up off the ground.¡± I answered, tapping the staff in question. ¡°Cloud may or may not have been nearby, I couldn¡¯t see that far.¡±

    Uneasy laughter rippled through the crowd.

    I made sure to laugh into the mic with them. ¡°But yeah, that¡¯s right. I confiscated it from Cloud. He likely isn¡¯t too happy about it, but he¡¯s a villain. You.¡± I pointed at a random person in the other half of the crowd.

    The person was a woman who seemed much more comfortable as a reporter. ¡°I have questions about when exactly you fought with Cloud, since today was your debut.¡± She started saying, but paused to check her notes.

    That was a better start. Even though I didn¡¯t know how much of the Racketeer¡¯s attack on the SRT was public knowledge, I fully intended to talk about that.

    ¡°But first, are you and Slingshot friends out of costume? Is that why the two of you are debuting at the same time?¡±

    The momentum I had going crashed and burned as I stared at the reporter dumbfoundedly. Since my mask masked my expression, it probably looked like I was glaring at her. I had no idea how that was more important than me being active before my debut. This was going to be incredibly tedious.

    ~~~

    ¡°You missed dinner.¡± Sofiya stated.

    ¡°Yeah, I figured.¡± I shrugged off my shoes as the door drifted shut behind me. Regulation Director Theo had kept me back after the debut to lecture me on the specifics of how to address a crowd as a budding hero. When I asked him why he wasn¡¯t giving Slingshot the same lecture, he told me she had already heard it.

    Pretty typical, really. And it kept me at the SRT until it was dark outside.

    ¡°Had a big day. Did you catch the news?¡±

    Sofiya crossed her arms. ¡°What was the news?¡±

    I looked at her with her arms crossed, holding a forcefully blanked expression. Then I glanced at the TV that was still on. It wasn¡¯t showing the news, but it was on the right channel for it. Sofiya was holding the pose, but whatever tension she had built by acting so standoffish was fading fast.

    ¡°New heros in Graceland.¡± I said once she was faltering in her steadfastness. ¡°Did Kathrine leave any leftovers for me?¡±

    ¡°In the fridge.¡± Sofiya answered, dropping her arms. ¡°She was complaining about how you eat so much nowadays.¡±

    Well, I was working out daily now, courtesy of Blinker. It gave me an appetite. I wondered if I had been on screen at the time.

    ¡°What happened today?¡± Sofiya weakly asked.

    I paused as I was setting the timer on the microwave. ¡°Where are the others?¡±

    ¡°They all went to sleep.¡±

    ¡°And Kathrine?¡±

    ¡°Went to sleep.¡± Sofiya repeated.

    I pushed start on the microwave. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you all about it.¡±

    We sat in the lounge and I ate as I followed through doing just that. Sofiya asked questions other people had asked earlier in the day. Like if I¡¯d really broken the bones of two villains, was Dreadnaught really in Graceland, and one question I hadn¡¯t been asked before.

    ¡°What would Greenflame would offer you?¡± Sofiya asked. She was hugging a pillow.

    I had to think about that. The green villain had used a formula to sell her power to Samurai and Boss, if unsuccessfully to the latter. How would she describe my past and present? More importantly, how would she describe my future. ¡°I-...¡± I stopped, going down the metaphorical rabbit hole.

    What did I want?

    I became a hero because I wanted agency, the ability to do something. I¡¯d done something today. Great. What now? To continue being a Sentry was the obvious path to take. That would put me in situations where I had to do things to survive, and then more to do some good. Should I just keep doing that forever? Now that I had agency, should I stop?

    Moreover, why hadn¡¯t I become a villain? Villains had plenty of agency. So much so that heroes banded together to oppose them and their agency. By taking agency for myself, was I taking agency away from others. Maybe- No. I¡¯d lost the point of it.

    ¡°Greenflame,¡± I started again. ¡°I think she works by offering you something you know you want, but you don¡¯t know that you know.¡± Decade old memories started rising. I pushed them down. ¡°She might offer me my family, from before. Would you take that offer?¡±

    Sofiya nodded, then paused and frowned. ¡°Wait, didn¡¯t you say she gave Samurai a knife and fork when she offered him a hero¡¯s end?¡±

    I nodded. ¡°I did.¡±

    ¡°So if she offered me family, she might just give me a set of russian dolls?¡±

    ¡°Or she might reveal my identity or do something to remove me from this house.¡± I followed up. ¡°Boom, family from before. Specifically from before I showed up.¡±

    ¡°What would you say if she offered you a family from before?¡± Sofiya turned the question around.

    ¡°I would ask her ¡®which one?¡¯¡±

 2. Fate/Prophecy C.1 (Interlude)

    ¡°You were about to upset the balance of life. Please do not hold it against me. I could not allow it, I took action, and now your life is forfeit.¡±

    - Speech delivered by Deus Ex Machina to each person slain by her sword.

    _____________________________________________________________

    Hayley was the last of the group to get spidersilk bones. The first had been Conrad, and it hadn¡¯t even been anything serious. The doofus had fallen down the stairs. That had been an interesting day off. After that was Kent, another one of the guys racing ahead to prove¡­ Something, Hayley was sure. At least Kent¡¯s had been on the job, that meant it hadn¡¯t come out of their savings.

    Lucy and Natalie had been caught together a few weeks later and neither had got out of that one looking pretty. They had gone into the territory of the Courtesans for some reason, Hayley couldn¡¯t remember. Both of them had needed care for more than broken bones after that huge disaster. There had been so much blood everywhere, they¡¯d needed to torch that safe house just to make sure they were safe.

    Although, Hayley supposed, since Natalie was the one that did the procedure, it was possible that she had attempted it on herself first. She just needed to be present, after all. It wasn¡¯t technically her doing the work. Either way, the girls had been put on equal footing with the boys in terms of recklessness, and Hayley had missed the bragging rights.

    Hayley and Hayley alone had slowly eked back those rights as the rest of the boys fell prey to accidents one by one. First had been Jackie when he got hit by a blindfired blast from Headache. Normally Jackie didn¡¯t need to worry about that kind of thing, seeing as he was usually the only one that could see in a given situation. That time was a special occasion though, and even Hayley had been hard pressed to avoid all those rapid fire explosions.

    Gifted always acted weird after Halcion.

    Philip was the next and last boy to get any limbs broken. He tripped up during a bank heist and got snatched by Orcus. He was supposedly interrogated and sent away to prison before he¡¯d been extracted. Then he was sent to Natalie for treatment, as the Regulation only saw fit to give Philip a sling and a crutch. He babbled the entire time from him showing up, to him disappearing. It was scary, the effect of the gray demon. Boss sent him away for good after that, and Hayley was finally the only one who hadn¡¯t broken anything.

    But the bragging was glorious. Even if the team was hurting without Philip¡¯s ability to predict ¡®the good shit¡¯ as he called it. None of them were ever trained or anything. They¡¯d only been pulling through by the skin of their teeth thanks to Junkie and improvising the rest.

    That changed when Andrew joined, which was great for the job. His Regulation training meant the team could talk tactics again, sometimes doing a better job than Philip had. But Hayley realised straight away she had lost. Andrew wouldn¡¯t break a bone, period. Hayley ceded the point and took pleasure in bragging about other things, like how fast she was. Then the impossible happened and Channel wrecked Andrew in her debut appearance.

    Andrew got the spidersilk and a bath, while Hayley got the bragging rights back. It was cathartic. But only for three weeks. Then another transhuman debuted, Hayley didn¡¯t even know their name. One keyboard hitting impossibly hard later, Hayley was getting the spidersilk. Hayley thought she was quite justified in being bitter about the whole thing.

    ¡°Hold still.¡± Natalie scolded.

    Hayley did not want to stay still. There were spiders in her leg.

    ¡°Why do we have to do this here?¡± Hayley whined.

    ¡°I¡¯d have moved you,¡± Natalie flicked Hayley¡¯s forehead. ¡°If you didn¡¯t currently have a broken leg.¡±

    ¡°This is the lounge.¡± Hayley moaned. ¡°You have opened up my leg, and Kent¡¯s trying to watch T.V.¡±

    ¡°From my point of view, this is an absolute win.¡± Kent commented. ¡°I can take my pick between the exploits of Bagman Slam Jam, spectacular as they are, and watching you finally get your comeuppance.¡±

    Kent grinned right at Hayley. ¡°And I don¡¯t even need to change the channel.¡±

    One side of Kent¡¯s face was covered in bandages. Underneath the bandages was the result of someone¡¯s face being cooled to freezing, then superheated when Victorious had knocked him out. His foot was resting on a stool, wrapped in a compression stocking and iced. That one was because Kent had thought it was a great idea to fall down a level in an attempt to escape Victorious. It had ended the same way most stupid ideas did.

    Hayley flipped him the finger. ¡°Are you sure this is safe? I can see my bones when I shouldn¡¯t really be seeing them at all.¡±

    Natalie scowled. ¡°Of course it¡¯s safe. I¡¯ve patched up everyone this way. Andrew got done on the table, remember? The only difference is that your leg got shattered while his ribs were a clean break.¡±

    The boy in question grunted. He was sitting next to Kent and his black glass trident had been left at the door, which he¡¯d done today without arguing. He¡¯d escaped without wounds, predictably, but he wasn¡¯t saying much of anything today. Victorious probably put the fear of death in him.

    ¡°You haven¡¯t patched up everyone yet.¡± Kent pointed out.

    ¡°Kent, can you stop? I need to focus.¡±

    Natalie was holding her hands above two spiders, each about half the size of a tarantula. They had black fur that turned white at the tip, and Hayley knew from experience that they could produce very strong silk. They were the source of the spidersilk bones, and they made Hayley¡¯s skin crawl.

    When the spiders were done and her leg was sewn up, they¡¯d nip her in the leg, injecting venom that made the silk harden on contact. The end result was supposedly stronger than normal bone. Stronger in one direction and weaker in the other, Natalie had explained it. That explanation had flown straight over Hayley¡¯s head thanks to the spiders crawling in Natalie¡¯s hair when she was describing the process.

    The spiders were a gift from Boss, as Hayley understood it, made by some genetic techo somewhere with a special place reserved for them in hell. She had no idea what the spiders were called. Hayley blanked out those portions of her interactions with Natalie. The two girls worked together in an unscrupulous profession, and they felt closer than just coworkers. But Natalie¡¯s intimacy with her spiders was too off-putting.

    Natalie¡¯s power let her control arachnids. Normally, it was general orders. Go here. Build webs. Bite people. Etcetera. Most of the time that control was en mass, but right now she was focusing to gain fine control over two specific spiders to perform surgery on Hayley¡¯s leg. Each twitch of Natalie¡¯s fingers indicated a new instruction to the spiders, and they continued to act on it until told otherwise.

    Natalie was the designated medic. Her power had apparently come with a degree of Smart powers. She just understood medical stuff. It was an extremely useful thing to have on your side.

    The blow to Hayley¡¯s leg had shattered the bone in several places. Natalie had told her to get comfortable, but Hayley was worried she hadn¡¯t put enough effort into getting comfortable before going into this.

    ¡°You¡¯re sure you¡¯re not feeling anything?¡± Natalie checked, worry in her voice.

    Hayley dug a fingernail into her thumb, feeling nothing. ¡°No. Why?¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t have enough of the anaesthetic I normally use for this kind of thing on hand.¡± Natalie explained. ¡°So I had to improvise a little. Hayley, just let me know if you start feeling any side effects.¡±

    Hayley snapped her fingers a few times, marvelling at the lack of sensation. ¡°Is this what getting high is like?¡±

    Jackie had just walked in. ¡°Would you want to know?¡±

    ¡°Not with you.¡± Hayley shot back with a snap of her fingers.

    Jackie shrugged and went to the kitchen, unphased. Hayley pouted. The boy had become boringly mellow after he lost his staff. Normally he would have kept the banter going a bit longer.

    Considering how badly beaten the rest of them had gotten, Jackie and Natalie were the ones who got the good end of the stick. Jackie had been up against Orcus, but his ability had successfully isolated the grey man until reinforcements showed up. He spoke strange, but he did good work when it counted.

    On the other hand, Natalie had spent most of the day in the basement where the electrical stuff was. Her spiders had made short work of the building systems, and then she left spiders guarding it to make sure it stayed that way while she went around on medic duty. No one showed up before she extracted.

    Natalie lowered her hands. The spiders had finished clearing away bone shards, placing them in a small box, and were now filling in the gaps with silk. They would stop automatically once the missing bone parts had been filled in. ¡°Now I¡¯m worried. What are you feeling right now?¡±

    Hayley considered drawling her words, but decided the joke would have been a step too far given that there were spiders in her leg. ¡°Fine. Moving doesn¡¯t make me feel anything. Scratching doesn¡¯t either. That.¡± She pointed at the spiders moving up and down her leg. ¡°May as well not be happening when I¡¯m not looking.¡±

    Natalie frowned. ¡°Why? What happens when you look?¡±

    ¡°My skin fucking crawls.¡±

    Natalie laughed. ¡°Okay, you¡¯re in a good mental state. Still, drink lots of water and keep pressure off the leg for twenty minutes starting from the bite. You¡¯ll be right as rain.¡±

    Hayley smiled. It was genuine. ¡°Thanks Nat.¡±

    ¡°Ew.¡± Conrad said grossly as he walked in. ¡°What the fuck is that on your face?¡±

    Hayley¡¯s smile vanished. ¡°It¡¯s called a smile, dickwad. What the fuck is that on your face?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Conrad squinted. His face lit up in multicoloured light as he used his power to see himself. The blows Conrad had taken were mostly superficial, except for the one the flying girl had given him. That one had knocked him out for a bit, and that was beforeVictorious wiped the floor with them. He wasn¡¯t allowed to sleep for another six hours. Hayley was a little disappointed in herself that she hadn¡¯t knocked that one around harder.

    But right now Conrad looked fucking stupid with his power lighting him up. Hayley started cracking up.

    The lights faded from Conrad¡¯s face and he frowned. ¡°There isn¡¯t anything on my face.¡±

    ¡°Wrong!¡± Hayley cackled.

    Natalie gave a bemused sigh. ¡°It was your face.¡±

    ¡°Well that was hecking rude.¡± Conrad scowled as he retreated to the kitchen.

    Hayley enthusiastically pumped her fist. ¡°Still got it.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Natalie pushed Hayley¡¯s fist down. ¡°Move. Or I¡¯ll make it impossible for you to.¡±

    Hayley knew the threat was genuine so she calmed down and let herself be nursed. It wasn¡¯t normally her thing, but Hayley found herself enjoying the over the top escapades of Bagman, the wrestler turned manifested hero. The fact that he had a camera following him around as he busted villains was a bit off putting, but now was as good a time as any for some crap television. Wasn¡¯t this reruns anyway?

    ¡°Right.¡± Kent flicked the T.V. off once the credits rolled. ¡°I¡¯m conking out. See you in the morning.¡±

    ¡°Night.¡± The rest of them murmured. Jackie and Conrad had long since returned to their cave, likely playing some fighting game Hayley couldn¡¯t be bothered remembering the name of. Natalie was still working on Hayley so she didn¡¯t follow him out. Andrew didn¡¯t move either, staring at the television even after it had been turned off.

    ¡°Is something wrong, Andrew?¡± Natalie asked, ever the empathetic one.

    Andrew started when his name was said, which Hayley found amusing.

    ¡°Ah. No.¡± Andrew blinked, relaxing and seemingly just realising what the time was. ¡°Just, you know, thinking.¡±

    ¡°About how you nearly died?¡± Hayley guessed.

    Andrew met her eyes with a frown, like he hadn¡¯t realised she was there. ¡°Not really, no. Well. I suppose so. Toeing that line was also something that happened today.¡±

    ¡°Do you want something to help sleep?¡± Natalie asked.

    ¡°No, I¡¯ll wet the bed again.¡± Andrew shook his head, completely serious. ¡°Where¡¯s Lucy? I haven¡¯t seen her since we extracted.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s doing some shopping and spending the night somewhere else.¡± Natalie explained. ¡°She still has people that she likes.¡±

    ¡°Hm.¡± Andrew had burned a lot of bridges when he joined the team, but he took it in stride. ¡°I¡¯m going to go for a soak.¡±

    ¡°Be careful!¡± Natalie called after him. Andrew picked up his trident on the way out and didn¡¯t wave goodbye.

    ¡°Thinking is bad for people like him.¡± Hayley commented once the closing door told her they were alone.

    ¡°He has a lot to think about.¡± Natalie said. ¡°Andrew took on a lot of responsibility when he joined up. It might be finally taking its toll.¡±

    Hayley looked Natalie in the eye, and was surprised when Natalie was already making eye contact. ¡°Have you ever considered he¡¯s actually a mole for the Regulation.¡±

    ¡°Queue would have accounted for it.¡± Natalie answered easily. ¡°That¡¯s, um. I was thinking as well.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a dangerous game.¡± Hayley jibed.

    Natalie smiled and kept going. ¡°I was wondering if you¡¯d be open to talking about why we¡¯re here, if that isn¡¯t too much.¡±

    Hayley raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°N-not about manifesting or anything. Just why we¡¯re on the team.¡± Natalie stammered.

    Hayley blinked away from a memory of tail lights fading and bursting lungs. ¡°If it isn¡¯t that, then fine. What do you want to know?¡±

    ¡°What did they offer you?¡±

    Hayley tried to recall the exact amount. ¡°Something above one thousand for the first job. That was just a trial run though, I¡¯ve been getting more since then.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Just money.¡± Natalie looked like she hadn¡¯t been expecting something so simple. She was, in a word, disappointed.

    Hayley shrugged. ¡°I never had any problems grappling with morality or anything. I¡¯m not a monster any more than you are. The Entrepreneurs get a bad rep because they¡¯re the biggest fish in town, but they do the work and put the effort in. I¡¯m totally okay working for them.¡±

    ¡°Even with the¡­¡± One of Natalie¡¯s hands disappeared behind her, drifting towards her mark.

    Hayley felt an unconscious tingle on her left shoulder blade, where her mark was. ¡°Means to an end. It does wonders for loyalty as well. What did they offer you?¡±

    ¡°Um. A chance to use my powers in ways I wouldn¡¯t be able to on the side of the law.¡± Natalie flusteredly looked away.

    It made sense to Hayley. Flexing a power was fun. Finding out where its limits lay was something every transhuman felt the need to do, and it was even better when it was done in a crisis.

    ¡°My powers don¡¯t really work if it¡¯s just pen to paper.¡± Natalie started talking faster. ¡°I don¡¯t think I could get into medical school with it.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you weren¡¯t talking about the spiders?¡± Hayley asked.

    ¡°The spiders are cool, but they aren¡¯t the point.¡± Natalie said and tapped her head. ¡°I wanted to use what was in here. It looks like I can start on the next step now.¡±

    The two white tipped spiders had crawled out of Hayley¡¯s leg and disappeared off to some corner of the house. Natalie started moving the muscles and flesh back into place. All the while Hayley watched and felt nothing.

    ¡°It¡¯s surreal.¡± Her voice croaked. More because that was how she talked than a feeling of wonder. Natalie was expertly nudging all the bits and pieces that made up Hayley¡¯s leg back into their rightful place.

    Natalie¡¯s cheeks coloured in as she kept working.

    One of the white tipped spiders returned holding a needle. Arriving with it was another spider that had a thread of silk attached to said needle. Natalie took the needle and started stitching up the long cut she had made to access the inside of Hayley¡¯s leg.

    ¡°Why ask about that now?¡± Hayley suddenly asked.

    Natalie paused, needle less than an inch from piercing Hayley¡¯s skin. ¡°Um...¡±

    ¡°Not suspicious or anything.¡± Hayley followed up. ¡°Just curious.¡±

    ¡°I was... Um...¡± Natalie closed her eyes. ¡°I was troubleshooting.¡±

    Hayley cocked her head. ¡°Okay?¡±

    ¡°Let me finish this.¡± Natalie quickly said. ¡°Then let¡¯s talk about it.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Natalie was soon done with Hayley¡¯s leg. With a snap of Natalie¡¯s fingers, the white tipped spider bit Hayley¡¯s shin.

    ¡°Ah!¡± The bite was the first thing Hayley had felt in a while.

    ¡°Okay, you need to take this.¡± Natalie pushed some pills into Hayley¡¯s hands. ¡°Here¡¯s something to drink with it. Remember not to walk for the next twenty minutes so the venom can circulate and finish hardening the silk. After that, keep it light while it hardens further. And no superspeed. I don¡¯t know if your power considers the silk as part of your body yet. If you loosen your leg, you could end up worse than you were.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    Hayley nodded. ¡°Thanks doc. Can we talk about the thing now?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Someone knocked on the door seven times. Someone had forgotten their key.

    ¡°In a moment.¡± Natalie said exasperatedly and went to open the door. Hayley took a moment to appreciate the patterns on the ceiling.

    Two snaps. Three snaps.

    Hayley urgently looked over her shoulder. The snaps didn¡¯t mean anything, it wasn¡¯t like they had a system for things like that. They were still figuring those things out. Hayley couldn¡¯t see who was on the other side of the door, but Natalie was faking a polite smile at whoever was on the other side. Natalie didn¡¯t smile at any of the team like that. That meant she didn¡¯t know whoever was on the other side.

    Staying quiet but urgent, Hayley pulled her Vphone out and started blowing up their group chat.

    intruder - Sent 23.22

    intruder - Sent 23.22

    fucking intruder - Sent 23.22

    Conrad was the first to see the messages.

    Hayley kept typing. Conrad i know you see this fucking wake everyone up theres an intruder - Sent 23.23

    She heard movement from further into the house. That was good. Meanwhile, Natalie was trying to refuse the intruder entry.

    ¡°We¡¯re not buying, miss. It¡¯s a little late for door to door soliciting, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    The other voice replied, voice as smooth as velvet. ¡°But you don¡¯t know what I¡¯m trying to sell. I¡¯m offering a heavy discount due to the poor timing of my arrival.¡±

    ¡°Miss, I don¡¯t think you realise.¡± Natalie was stressing. ¡°We¡¯re strapped for cash right now. There¡¯s no way we will be able to afford anything. Even if we wanted it, but we don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Ah, but you haven¡¯t even asked what I¡¯m selling.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯d rather you didn¡¯t tell. It¡¯s better not to think about the unobtainable, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°You keep saying we. Is there someone else in there?¡±

    Even though Hayley¡¯s procedure was finished, she knew Natalie would to something horrible to her if she moved now. So Hayley was stuck on the couch as a tan female face poked around the doorframe, barely visible behind a green veil.

    They immediately homed in on Hayley. ¡°You there! Would you be interested in the dealings of a wandering Genie?¡±

    ¡°You what now?¡± Hayley frowned.

    The woman barged inside, passing by Natalie who stepped back in alarm. Her clothes weren¡¯t anything someone in their right mind would wear on a night like tonight. She had a vibrant green tank top that had dozens of string of beads attached, and the veil was hanging from a circlet that was similarly adorned. Hayley realised this woman was either insane or a Transhuman. If their luck held as low as it usually did, she was both.

    ¡°I¡¯m released of my former prison!¡± The woman declared, dramatically raising one hand above her. ¡°The shadows that once bound me are no more. And you know what the great thing about that is?¡± She leaned towards Hayley with one hand cupped around her ear.

    Hayley didn¡¯t respond. She made eye contact with Natalie. The brief moment they were looking at each other they came to the agreement that this was very bad. They weren¡¯t telepaths or impressionists, though, so that was all they managed.

    ¡°You see, I hold within me the power of the universe!¡± The woman continued, gesturing great size. ¡°But until recently. I was trapped.¡± She made a small box with her hands. ¡°In a tiny space!¡±

    ¡°The fuck does that have to do with anything?¡± Hayley demanded.

    ¡°I have been freed, and I am feeling generous!¡± The woman shouted, striking a powerful pose.

    Hayley was grumbling at the onset of a headache when the door slammed open as Kent and Conrad stormed in.

    ¡°Who the fuck are you!?¡± They shouted, nearly in unison.

    Kent gave Conrad a side eye and continued by himself. ¡°And what the fuck are you doing in our house? Actually, no. Get out.¡±

    ¡°Two more boys!?¡± The woman shrieked in joy. ¡°This is good. I may have to grant more than one wish tonight to sate my generosity.¡±

    Conrad looked at Natalie. ¡°What¡¯s her deal?¡±

    ¡°She thinks she¡¯s a genie?¡± Natalie answered. ¡°She knew to knock seven times.¡±

    Kent frowned.

    ¡°I know all!¡± The woman declared, dramatically jumping up onto the table. ¡°I held the code of seven even before I left my prison!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s crazy.¡± Kent realised. ¡°Shit. What did you have tonight?¡±

    ¡°Glorious freedom!¡±

    ¡°Miss¡­ I don¡¯t know what to call you- can you please come down from there?¡± Kent held his hand towards the woman.

    ¡°Kent, I think she¡¯s got a power.¡± Natalie warned. ¡°Be careful.¡±

    Kent frowned, causing two sheets of paper to appear in the table making parallel lines around where the woman was standing. When the paper appeared it overrode what was already there, meaning the table was ruined. They¡¯d have to get another one, which was a shame. Hayley had been the one to pick out that table. Kent was probably planning to cut a square in the table if things went badly.

    The woman shifted gears, suddenly becoming bashful when she noticed the outstretched hand. She daintily took it and the lights in the room dimmed.

    ¡°Natalie speaks the wisely, Kent Worthington. You should listen to her advice in the future.¡± The woman¡¯s voice had layers now, like there was a fire mimicking everything she said.

    There was a moment of quiet.

    ¡°I- I didn¡¯t say my name.¡± Natalie cautiously announced.

    Or Kent¡¯s last name. Hayley thought to herself.

    Kent seemed wrapped up in his own world. He was caught in whatever the power of the woman was.

    ¡°Shit.¡± Hayley muttered. ¡°Close the door.¡±

    Natalie absently pushed the door closed. Hayley noticed Natalie¡¯s fingers were twitching, calling her spiders. That was something, at least. Conrad wasn¡¯t good in a straight up fight, and who knew what Jackie was doing. Lucy and Andrew were still out. Hayley wished they were here. At least Andrew would have tried to do something, which would have been great because Hayley¡¯s leg was still out of commission. If it wasn¡¯t, she¡¯d have been clotheslining that bitch so hard.

    ¡°Kent.¡± The woman repeated, her voice crackling. ¡°I am a genie. You know this to be true. I will grant you a wish. One of your many great desires: sated. But my power must not be squandered. You must utter a single word. It can be anything, but it must be one word. Describe a desire of yours and I will grant it.¡±

    Hayley¡¯s leg was itching. She wanted to move, move and save Kent from this thing. She adjusted herself in her seat, and just as she was about to move she felt a prick in her leg. Hayley whirled to find a purple spider jumping off of her leg. While Hayley could still move she whirled to face Natalie, who met her accusing stare with a sorrowful gaze.

    Natalie¡¯s face said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    The spider had paralyzing venom. Hayley knew that. If that¡¯s how things were, Hayley would be hitting Natalie at the first opportunity. She hated being locked down. Hated not being able to move. The chills were already setting in.

    Hayley¡¯s lungs started to burn.

    Not now.

    ¡°Money.¡± Kent said one word. It was strained, like he hadn¡¯t spoken in a week.

    The woman immediately erupted in green flames. The fire didn¡¯t roar like Hayley expected it to. It was a silent eruption that cast the entire room in an eerie green light. The fire spread to Kent, but only to his hands. The fires weren¡¯t spreading beyond that at all.

    After a few tense seconds the green fire started to recede. First, it revealed Kent¡¯s hands, which were unharmed. Then the fires on the woman quickly died out, all except for her eyes. The woman¡¯s eyes burned in a raging green inferno, causing the veil to flap upwards. She withdrew her hand.

    ¡°Five.¡± The woman said, her voice even more surreal than before. ¡°Five.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Kent said, now back to normal. He was holding a credit card in his hand. It hadn¡¯t been there before.

    ¡°Four.¡± The woman continued.

    ¡°Is this a credit card?¡±

    ¡°Two.¡±

    ¡°Was that the pin?¡± Kent asked.

    The woman with green eyes, was that the right term when they were on fire? She just smiled.

    ¡°I have granted your wish.¡± She spoke. ¡°Is there another among you that would like a wish granted?¡±

    There was a general discomfort in the room. Hayley watched as Conrad seemed to be grappling with something, while Natalie was glancing between her and the woman with green fire eyes. Would they take a wish? Hayley knew what she wanted, what she would say if the woman forced her to answer.

    ¡°I think we should calm down and not rush anything.¡± Natalie said to the room. ¡°We should see what the deal with that credit card is, and ask this woman questions before taking another wish.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± Conrad murmured distractedly.

    ¡°We don¡¯t know what she¡¯s doing. Kent has a credit card now, but who knows what strings are attached.¡±

    ¡°Be careful.¡± The woman cheerfully warned. ¡°My generosity wanes with the passing minutes.¡±

    ¡°Of course it does.¡± Natalie muttered.

    ¡°Does it have to be one word?¡± Conrad asked.

    ¡°It does.¡± The woman answered.

    ¡°Shit.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel weird or anything.¡± Kent suddenly mentioned, flexing a fist open and closed. ¡°A bit more awake, but that was probably shock from the fire.¡±

    Natalie nodded.

    ¡°I-...¡± Hayley uttered. It was a quiet sound. Strained and breathy, but cutting through the tense atmosphere that permeated the room. The venom had paralyzed most of her body, restricting movement to the point that speaking was near impossible. The experience was nothing like the anesthetic she¡¯d taken earlier that night, which had erased all feelings of movement. Being paralyzed sent chills running up and down Hayley¡¯s body, and movement never came no matter how hard she tried.

    The taillights kept vanishing and it was colder than it should have been. Hayley knew what she wanted to wish for.

    The woman hopped off of the table and bent close to Hayley. She didn¡¯t speak, eagerly waiting for Hayley to continue.

    ¡°-ant-...¡± Hayley¡¯s throat caught and she reflexively coughed, her entire body shuddering from the sensation.

    ¡°Hayley, please don¡¯t do anything brash.¡± Natalie begged, but it was a futile request and she knew it. And Natalie¡¯s voice was far away.

    The woman¡¯s green eyes burned expectantly.

    ¡°Love.¡± Hayley barely finished, her voice dropping half of the word.

    But the woman smiled, the message had been received. She placed her hand on Hayley¡¯s forehead and the flames darted down from the woman¡¯s eyes to Hayley and her entire world became green. With the touch, Hayley heard the fire for the first time. It crackled and roared. She felt like she was at the centre of a raging inferno.

    Hayley closed her eyes, but she still saw green. Scenes replayed in her head. Of comfort, of cuddling on the couch, and of lazy days. All of the good on display, and the bad pushed far away. The taillights didn¡¯t matter here, she felt like she could stay here forever. The experience ended the moment she felt the urge to remain, and Hayley opened her eyes.

    She had moved. Before, Hayley had been sitting on a couch in the group¡¯s house for the time being. Now, she was sitting on the floor by the front door. Natalie was right next to her. The green eyed woman was standing where she had been before, they hadn¡¯t moved when Hayley did.

    ¡°You¡¯re wish.¡± The woman turned and gave a formal bow to Hayley. The flames had receded back to her eyes. ¡°Granted.¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡± Natalie shrieked when she noticed Hayley had moved.

    I don¡¯t get it. Hayley thought. She didn¡¯t feel any different, the good feeling from the revisited memories notwithstanding. Actually, her lungs had stopped burning.

    ¡°I feel like I have another in me.¡± The woman announced.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Condrad muttered.

    ¡°Come on, Conrad.¡± Kent shoved him. ¡°Say something. Just anything.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too limiting.¡± Conrad replied bitterly. His eyebrows were furrowed, indicating a level of thought he usually didn¡¯t attempt.

    Natalie was urgently checking Hayley¡¯s body, no doubt trying to find something that was different about her. She stayed away from the leg though, which was good, Hayley noticed.

    You wish for something. Hayley wanted to tell Natalie, but she was still paralyzed. The fact that her lungs had stopped burning seemed to be a temporary thing. There was a cold tingle in her stomach, and once she noticed that, the feeling spread just as fast as it usually did. Once it overtook her entire body, the unpleasant warmth started welling up in her chest.

    ¡°My generosity has run out.¡± The green eyed woman suddenly declared, snatching everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°I wish away!¡±

    The green flames in her eyes vanished, and a rectangle of blue mist spread behind her. Once it was wide enough, the woman stepped through and the mist vanished. The four of them were left to blink at each other and wonder what just happened. All except Hayley, of course.

    ¡°What the hell was all that for?¡± Conrad muttered disdainfully. ¡°Fucking. Carrot. Bitch.¡±

    The door slammed open, and Andrew stormed in. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Where¡¯s the intruder?¡±

    Kent tucked the credit card into his pocket. ¡°You just missed her.¡±

    Andrew¡¯s face took on a perturbed expression. ¡°What? Did you rent a call girl and not tell anyone? Make a purchase of any kind? Did they ask why a kid was paying for sex below eighteen?¡±

    ¡°No, actually.¡± Kent waved the wallet. ¡°She actually gave me a credit card.¡±

    ¡°A credit card?¡± Andrew turned to Hayley. ¡°What junk is he on about?¡±

    Hayley met his eyes, but wasn¡¯t able to reply.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with her?¡± Andrew demanded.

    ¡°She was going to move and ruin the spidersilk bone, so I stopped her.¡± Natalie explained and started pulling Hayley into a more respectable sitting position. ¡°It¡¯ll wear off in a few minutes. The woman barged in calling herself a genie, recently freed and willing to grant wishes.¡±

    Andrew stared at Natalie, gears clearly turning in his brain. His expression did not bode for optimistic thoughts.

    ¡°What?¡± Andrew repeated, a dangerous edge to his voice. ¡°Tell me what happened.¡±

    ¡°Kent wished for money and got a credit card.¡± Conrad said loudly. ¡°Then Hayley wished for love and got teleported across the room.¡±

    ¡°Shit.¡± Andrew pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering to himself. ¡°Why? Always idiots. Why?¡± Then more loudly he asked. ¡°What colour were the flames?¡±

    ¡°Green.¡± Natalie answered without hesitating. Hayley noticed he knew about the flames without being told.

    ¡°What the fuck were you thinking!?¡± Andrew exploded. ¡°That gypsy woman is the reason Hayley has a broken leg to begin with. She¡¯s bad fucking news. You¡¯re telling me she barged in, called herself a genie, offered you a wish, and you accepted it!?¡±

    ¡°Basically, yeah.¡± Kent shrugged. ¡°What are you all worked up about?¡±

    Andrew shoved his trident in Kent¡¯s direction. ¡°She tempers with the goddamn future, Kent! You have a credit card now. Did she give you the pin? What account is it attached to? Can it be traced? What happens if it gets stolen? Greenflame gave you a piece of plastic, and you gave her your entire life for all you know!¡±

    ¡°She did give me the pin, thank you very much.¡± Kent made a copy of his mask appear and put it on. ¡°And it¡¯s not like I was really doing anything with my life, anyway. I¡¯m a villain. I knew life was going to be short and bright anyway.¡±

    ¡°And you asked for love?¡± Andrew reared on Hayley.

    Hayley continued to be paralyzed.

    Andrew shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll talk to you later. Anyway, we need to pack up. This safe house is compromi-.¡± Andrew¡¯s face was suddenly dragged down several inches, then it righted itself. Kent¡¯s mask hit the floor.

    Everyone just looked at each other, except Hayley of course.

    ¡°She lead Satellite here.¡± Andrew stated. ¡°Everyone run!¡±

    ¡°But our shit!¡± Conrad protested.

    ¡°I¡¯ll burn it all.¡± Andrew declared. ¡°If any of you gets trapped, they¡¯ll have you until Boss can get around to extracting you. I don¡¯t want to worry about that. Fucking move!¡±

    Conrad and Kent took a long look at Andrew¡¯s trident before they eventually decided to follow his orders. Soon both of the boys were swiftly out the door.

    ¡°What about Hayley?¡± Natalie asked, panicking. ¡°She still can¡¯t move.¡±

    ¡°Just fix her.¡± Andrew replied as he started opening cabinets, finding a stash of kerosene that Hayley hadn¡¯t known about.

    ¡°But-¡±

    Andrew cut her off. ¡°Of all the people to catch any of us, I¡¯m least comfortable with Satellite taking us in. Treat this as life or death. The illusion is flimsy at best and doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    Natalie sighed. ¡°But-¡±

    Hayley would have frowned if she was able. What were they talking about?

    ¡°Just do it, Spinnerette.¡± Andrew switched to their other names as he splashed kerosene on the couch Hayley had just been sitting on. ¡°Is there anyone else in the house?¡±

    Natalie¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Jackie! He didn¡¯t meet with the gypsy woman.¡±

    ¡°Silver lining.¡± Andrew finished splashing kerosene around the living space. ¡°I¡¯ll get the airhead and get out with him. Stop delaying and fix Clothesline already.¡± And he disappeared further into the house.

    Natalie closed her eyes. The spell of alcohol was worming its way into Hayley¡¯s nose. She wanted to do something. The unrelenting desire to move screamed within her. But the energy had nowhere to go, no avenue to travel down. It just circulated within, growing.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Natalie snapped her fingers and from around the corners and under the floorboards spiders started gathering. It seemed Natalie had called the entire clutter. There were white-tipped spiders, yellow spiders, bioluminescent spiders, and many more. Some were carrying various tools Like the spider with the thread earlier, these spiders were carrying various tools Hayley would associate with surgery.

    One spider delivered a vial. Natalie picked it up in one hand while the other picked up a scalpel before using it to kill the spider that delivered the vial. Still using one hand, Spinnerette opened the spider and expertly extracted something from within, then added it to the vial. She rapidly repeated this process with four other spiders, then grabbed a handful of glowing spiders, which she crushed in a fist and let the glowing juice drip into the vial. When she swirled the vial it¡¯s colour shifted from green to red, then to a pale orange.

    Spinnerette tapped the vial, then tilted Hayley¡¯s head back. ¡°This should return your agency.¡± The contents of the vial went into Hayley¡¯s mouth. She had no say in any of it. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry.¡± Spinnerette repeated like a mantra as the liquid reached Hayley¡¯s stomach. For a long and terrifying while, nothing happened.

    A finger twitched. Finally.

    Hayley punched her friend in the gut. The movement was swift and smooth, like how she normally moved. Natalie took the blow and collapsed into a hug with Hayley. That surprised Hayley, she hadn¡¯t been expecting a hug.

    ¡°It worked.¡± Natalie coughed in relief.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fucking paralyze me.¡± Hayley told her, bringing Natalie into a bear hug and squeezing until she squealed. ¡°Ever again.¡±

    ¡°I got it! I got it! No paralisis!¡± Natalie slumped as Hayley released her.

    The building suddenly creaked, then kept creaking. The spiders that were holding heavier objects were crushed under their weight and things started falling off shelves.

    ¡°Time to leave!¡± Andrew announced, running from within the house with Jackie close behind. His body was consistently dragging itself downwards. The hallway behind him was glowing orange. ¡°Go! Go! Go!¡±

    Hayley wrapped an arm around Natalie. ¡°You¡¯re my second leg until we get far enough away.¡±

    Natalie nodded and rose, pulling Hayley with her. It took a moment seeing as Natalie wasn¡¯t the strongest member of the group. Andrew and Jackie were already out the door. Hayley and Natalie moved to follow.

    The house creaked and visibly squashed. They didn¡¯t have far to go, but they still weren¡¯t out when Hayley noticed one of the walls start bending. Against Natalie¡¯s warnings, Hayley channeled her power into one of her arms, feeling it solidify as the rest of her, including her leg, loosened. She went as dense as she could for a single movement, and shoved Natalie forward with all her strength.

    Natalie went sprawling on the veranda as Hayley hopped back to avoid a portion of the wall falling down. She landed as lightly as she could, and a moment later the house shook as several walls failed at once. The house shook as dust was flung everywhere.

    For the moment, the creaking stopped. Hayley stood rock still, fearful of her leg snapping. Outside she could see Andrew picking Natalie off the ground and waving at her to follow. Inside there was debris strewn everywhere, hopping would be a bad idea. Hayley tentatively took a step. She was okay.

    She took another. That was okay too.

    Then another step. Everything seemed fine. Her leg was holding up to the stress and it hadn¡¯t been twenty minutes yet.

    Two steps later the leg broke.

    Hayley screamed in pain as she fell, then bit her tongue to make herself stop. Ignoring the pain, Hayley forced herself to her one good foot and started hopping towards where Natalie was desperately trying to approach, but Andrew was pulling her away.

    Then the house started creaking again, and this time things came down much quicker. Hayley got to the veranda, but the ceiling for the veranda came down while she was under it.

    When Hayley came to she could see Natalie fighting with Andrew to get closer to her. It was a fruitless effort. When Natalie chopped at his arm, the attack just went through, finding no purchase or traction on the watery limb. Spiders were trying to bite him, but they didn¡¯t have any effect and Andrew was stabbing the yellow ones that were capable of harming him before they could even try. From where she was pinned, Hayley could see Natalie had tears streaming down her face.

    Why was she crying? They were barely friends.

    Well... That¡¯s how Hayley viewed their relationships. They met because each of them had been given offers not worth refusing and had been placed on the same team. They lived together, sure, but that was just extended time spent with a coworker. Their interests barely aligned and they didn¡¯t talk to each other much. At least, that was true from Hayley¡¯s perspective.

    Natalie spent a lot of time to herself. It was possible that the group of seven were the only people Natalie really talked to. Of them, Natalie seemed to spend the most time talking to her. She¡¯d been acting weird earlier as well. What had she called it? Troubleshooting?

    Oh...

    That¡¯s why she¡¯d been moved across the room, Hayley had asked for something she already had. What a fucking bummer. Though, the idea was actually quite appealing, and it wasn¡¯t like this was the end. The Regulation would take her in, then Boss would get her out. Her identity would be shot, but that was hardly a blow against her. Then she could sit down and have a chat with Natalie about how to properly ¡°troubleshoot¡±.

    Natalie was still there, so Hayley blew her a kiss and waved. She mouthed the words ¡°See you soon¡± before Andrew finally got her around the corner. Then Hayley was left alone and pinned by debris.

    The fire was spreading, which made Hayley nervous. The only thing that stopped her from panicking was the fact that Andrew had started the fire at the other end of the building. Someone should show up before it spread to where it could damage her.

    Surely enough, one of the Graceland heroes walked into view and approached. Hayley got a good look at him as he walked up. It wasn¡¯t one she¡¯d had a fight with, which was good. Hopefully they wouldn¡¯t be too rough. That¡¯s if they even recognised her as a villain.

    ¡°Can you help me?¡± She rasped.

    The Sentry was still quite a distance away, they didn¡¯t respond until they had walked right up to Hayley. Even then they took their sweet time observing the burning and collapsed house. Eventually though, the Sentry looked down at Hayley.

    ¡°Hello villain.¡±

 3. I/Me 1

    ¡°He Who Is? I can take him.¡±

    - Wreckless. Disrupter/Enforcer 8, 5. Theta Class villain. Last words.

    _____________________________________________________________

    School was a fucking drag. Merryfair looked great from the outside, no one disputed that. Yet somehow, despite the glamorous facade, the surplus laptops, and the fact that they no doubt benefited from having a Sentry among their attendance, the AC failed. Better, it failed throughout the entire school. The best part was the school had decent insulation because of how cold it could get in winter. But that did the opposite of help in summer when the windows only opened so far.

    The Regulation had high standards for their heroes, I had come to find. Multiple times already I¡¯d received reminders from Rosie to do my homework, and the reminders always came shortly before my larger assignments were due. Not only was I expected to do the work, I was expected to do it on top of the vigorous regime Blinker had set out for me.

    That¡¯s why I was feeling a little ticked off when the room had become so hot that I dozed off for the fourth time today. Now I¡¯d missed something, and given how pedantic Blinker and the rest were about my work, it¡¯d find its way back to bite me somehow. The fact that the class I just fell asleep in was physics with Mr Asher, one of the only classes I was actually interested in, was bittersweet icing on the cake.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t wake-¡± Sonya broke off with a yawn. ¡°Didn¡¯t wake you up before...¡± Another yawn. Was she doing that on purpose?

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± I fumed. Mr Asher, for all his good points, had caught me dozing off and retaliated by asking me to answer a complex question. I¡¯d failed, unsurprisingly, and in front of the class to boot. They had laughed, sneered, and reminded me even as I was exiting class. I was still red faced from the experience. Fucking kids.

    It had been a coin flip anyway. Sonya had been just as sleepy as me.

    Now it was lunch, and I was all too keen to put all that behind me. I went to the usual spot and this time Sonya decided to come with me. Normally she didn¡¯t, but I was going somewhere shaded, which might have had something to do with it. There was the other thing too, which may have influenced that decision as well.

    ¡°Hey Michael.¡± The other thing dropped his bag next to me. ¡°Sup, Sonya.¡±

    ¡°Hey.¡± I responded.

    ¡°Hi Nathan.¡± Sonya replied properly.

    Nathan¡¯s mouth twisted the way it usually did. ¡°What¡¯s the happenings?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡± I said. ¡°How about you?¡±

    ¡°Just had a snooze. I¡¯m feeling energized.¡±

    I rolled my eyes as Sonya failed to stop a giggle. We spent the forty minute break talking a whole bunch about nothing like we usually did, even if Sonya wasn¡¯t a permanent fixture. Since she was here, it was more that Nathan and Sonya were the ones talking about nothing, with me occasionally answering questions and dumb hypotheticals. Though, Sonya did have something interesting to say before the bell rang.

    ¡°Did you know the Regulation issued a statement today?¡± She asked, half looking at her phone.

    ¡°Did they now?¡± I asked absently, thinking back to the stupid questions I was answering the day before. I mentally shook myself. Of course they¡¯d leave the big boy questions for the legitimate Sentinels.

    ¡°I heard about that.¡± Nathan snapped his fingers. ¡°Mantis, right?¡±

    ¡°That was last night.¡± Sonya informed him. ¡°This was just this morning.

    I perked up. Mantis had been revealed shortly before I was, so I grouped that press conference together. Anything beyond that was stuff that I hadn¡¯t heard about yet.

    Sonya continued. ¡°They¡¯re warning everyone to be careful when going out alone, because the Racketeers have apparently been lynching people.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I suddenly gained interest in the conversation. That was a quick turnaround. It was only a day before that half of them had been subdued by Aegis¡¯ Victorious. Nathan and Sonya both looked at me in surprise, so I started to backpedal. ¡°That¡¯s the group that goes around hitting businesses right?¡±

    ¡°Hitting businesses is a bit difficult.¡± Nathan said. ¡°They¡¯re metaphysical, technically.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re supervillains.¡± I countered.

    ¡°Touche.¡±

    ¡°Wall Walker was on patrol by himself at around 7 am today when he was suddenly set upon by spiders controlled by Spinnerette.¡± Sonya was reading out. ¡°In addition to Spinnerette, Prism and Waterlad were involved in the ambush, and Prism¡¯s ability interfered with Wall Walker¡¯s escape.

    ¡°The superhero from the Heroes of Yesterday crashed into a second floor apartment when he misjudged the direction he was travelling, surprising the occupant living there, but also allowing Wall Walker to get away and call for backup. By the time backup arrived, the Racketeers were already gone. There have been multiple reports of Racketeers moving around the city since then.¡±

    She scrolled down. ¡°Then there¡¯s some stuff about the occupant, which I don¡¯t really care about.¡± Sonya found where the story picked up. ¡°Wall Walker says that the three Racketeers were accusing him of murder, shouting ¡°this is your fault¡±, and ¡°you killed her¡±, but did not say who the ¡®her¡¯ in question was.¡±

    ¡°Two guesses as to who ¡®she¡¯ is.¡± I commented as Sonya put her phone down.

    ¡°Well?¡± Nathan prompted.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I suddenly realised how much knowledge I was displaying of supervillains. I had a perfectly legitimate reason for having the knowledge, but it was a guarded reason. ¡°Well there¡¯s only three girls on the team. So¡­ Ardent?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a Handieman.¡± Sonya corrected me. I raised my eyebrows like that was new information. ¡°But you¡¯re right about the numbers. There¡¯re four guys and three girls on the supervillain team. Spinnerette is one of them, and Clothesline and Zipline are the others.¡±

    Both villains I beat. I thought. Okay, maybe it hadn¡¯t been so clear cut, but I definitely hadn¡¯t killed either of them. Zipline had been in the lower floors of the Greenflame incident, so I hadn¡¯t even seen her, and Plasma or Muffle had been the last one to touch Clothesline.

    ¡°Who do you think it is?¡± I asked.

    Nathan almost responded before Sonya did.

    Sonya said. ¡°Personally I think Zipline is the more likely candidate because she¡¯s newer. She¡¯s only got a few months working with the Racketeers under her belt while Clothesline has been around for an entire year. And in that year, she¡¯s barely been injured.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow, but I wasn¡¯t listening. Whoever had been killed was someone I had interacted with recently, and the reality of that was slowly dawning on me. I¡¯d played it off when Sonya first mentioned it, but I didn¡¯t think I could spend much more time on the topic before saying or doing something weird.

    ¡°Michael, you all good?¡± Nathan asked.

    ¡°Hm?¡± I looked at them and it dawned on me I didn¡¯t know how much time I¡¯d just spent inside my own head. I needed to deflect, best to go with a half truth. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s just, someone died. Got killed, even.¡±

    ¡°I understand how you feel.¡± Sonya told me with excitement in her eye. Excitement which made me doubt if she really did. She was a Graceland girl, anyway. There was no way she understood.¡°We don¡¯t know much, but we know the Racketeers think someone killed one of their teammates. That might mean there¡¯s another Deus Ex Machina on the loose. A vigilante that kills villains, even!¡±

    ¡°That feels off.¡± Nathan commented. ¡°None of the Racketeers have killed anyone, as far as I¡¯m aware. Machina doesn¡¯t kill without a reason.¡±

    ¡°No one¡¯s claimed responsibility?¡± I checked.

    Sonya was the one who answered. ¡°As far as super vigilantes go in Graceland, there¡¯s Sleepwalker and Duke of Intent. Neither of them have said anything, and the Regulation hasn¡¯t released any information on who might be dead. No updates from anywhere else, either.¡±

    I recognised the names, having been a part of multiple debriefings since starting as a Sentry. Both vigilantes cropped up frequently. Sleepwalker was called as such because he only ever came out at night. He didn¡¯t seem to have any abilities, but he worked alone and was way too active to not have something supernatural mixed up in his work. Duke of Intent, on the other hand, he only ever came out to combat his nemesis and one of the few independent villains in Graceland: Lake Lady.

    The name fit, if it was a bit dumb.

    The others kept talking about the topic for a bit then moved on to something else. I listened, but only partially. Chances were there¡¯d be something about this brought up at the SRT today.

    ~~~

    Jagmikh¡¯s sonic boom told Graceland it was four pm.

    Of the five people in the room, I was the only one who really reacted, being the only one that wasn¡¯t entirely used to it yet. The dark shape of Jagmikh tore across the skyline, heading towards the mountains and getting smaller at a rapid speed. The muffled sound of jet engines spinning up could be heard briefly before they faded as Zephyr took to the skies after the speed demon.

    I was the only one that looked at the two specks in the sky. The others all kept doing what they were doing.

    Muffle was in the quiet space. He had been teaching me sign language since yesterday, as I¡¯d asked him to after he got back from that whole fiasco. We were still on very rudimentary stuff since it had only been a day, but I¡¯d learned that names weren¡¯t really a thing in sign. Sure, you could spell it out, but going through six motions when trying to refer to Muffle was kind of pointless when most people just signed a ¡®shh¡¯ gesture.

    Muffle¡¯s way of saying my superhero name was reaching out with one hand and turning an imaginary key with the other.

    Because I touched things and locked them. Get it?

    Slingshot and Lucidity were sitting at the table with something in front of them. Homework, maybe, but it was ignored because they were talking earnestly with each other. Also in the room was Collage sitting by himself at a screen.

    The door opened and Unshaken entered. She ignored everyone like she always did and exited through another door, leaving me feeling hurt at being ignored. Not that everyone in the room had been ignored, just me. I homed in on the bizarre reaction and stood, remembering what I had resolved to do about these strange impulses.

    ¡°Hey Collage.¡± I waited for him to turn.

    ¡°Hey, Lo-¡± He was cut off when I backhanded him. I indulged myself and upped the force of the slap with my power, the use of my power lifting my costume a bit and moving me in the direction of the slap. I landed and played it off. Collage¡¯s head had snapped to the side and a hand slowly came up to gingerly touch the impact point.

    ¡°Ow.¡± Collage looked at his hand like that would tell him something, then asked in a hushed voice. ¡°What did I do to deserve that?¡±

    I made a finger gun at him and waited for him to get it.

    ¡°Right.¡± Realisation dawned on him. ¡°Sorry about that.¡± He leaned forward. ¡°But since it¡¯s already happened do you wanna tell me all about it?¡± Any repentance Collage may have injected into his apology was absent from that last request.

    ¡°I would tell you...¡± I carefully began. ¡°If I wasn¡¯t so certain you were an impulsive gossip.¡±

    ¡°First of all, I take offense to that.¡± Collage told me, apparently unphased. ¡°Second¡­ No, I¡¯ve already said sorry. Three, I¡¯m trying to keep a tally.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s the tally? I want to destroy it.¡±

    ¡°Aand I¡¯m never going to show you the tally.¡± Collage hastily backed down.

    I put a hand to my mask and sighed. Before I left there was one more thing I wanted to ask my senior Sentry. ¡°How long do the effects of the beams usually last?¡±

    Collage paused, considering something. ¡°It depends. Different beams have different effects.¡± He tapped on a yellow patch of his costume and his other hand lit up. ¡°Yellow delivers an electric payload, so that lasts as long as it takes for the energy to disperse.¡± Which would only be an instant, I realised.

    He tapped a silver patch. ¡°Silver cuts instantaneously.¡± He tapped red. ¡°Starts a fire. Could go indefinitely if the fire was tended to. Is there a particular effect you want to know about.¡± With each tap his hand glowed with the mentioned colour.

    ¡°Try and guess.¡± I told him, unamused.

    Collage grinned, sensing an opportunity. ¡°I¡¯m going to guess blue. Now this is a fun one because while all my beams have some force behind them, this one slows them down as well.¡±

    I imagined Waterlad slowly falling with a crater spreading in his chest. ¡°How much slower does it make them?¡±

    ¡°About a fifth.¡± Collage answered. ¡°But if I hit them again they lose another fifth.¡±

    ¡°Is that from the total speed, or the remainder?¡±

    Collage frowned and thought about it. ¡°I don¡¯t actually know.¡±

    I sighed exasperatedly. ¡°Just, just tell me about the pink beam.¡±

    Collage¡¯s exorbidant demeanour reappeared in an instant and he tapped his nose with a knowing smile. ¡°Who is it?¡±

    ¡°How long, Collage?¡± I reiterated.

    ¡°I¡¯m willing to trade information.¡± He told me. ¡°Tit for tat, or something along those lines.¡±

    ¡°If I could have a moment of your time.¡± Voidling¡¯s soft voice said before I could respond and I glanced in his direction. I jumped a little when I realised he was right beside me and tried to play it down. It¡¯s not like I wasn¡¯t paying attention to the doors, how did he get so close without me noticing?

    ¡°What is it? Sure.¡± I said, getting the order wrong.

    ¡°Orcus and I finished a meeting with Zephyr earlier today.¡± He held out a USB stick. ¡°This is a care package I collated with all the information you¡¯ll need as a Sentry. As well as a schedule for your duties as a sidekick for the coming weeks.¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    I took the USB stick. ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯ll sate my curiosity,¡± Voidling continued, still speaking softly. ¡°Why did you do it?¡±

    ¡°Please be specific.¡±

    ¡°Initiate an op without oversight.¡± He specified.

    A flash of memory took me back to the rant I¡¯d gone on when Muffle had asked me the same thing. ¡°To do something.¡± I gave him the incredibly abridged version, then followed up. ¡°On pain of a thrashing.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Voidling gave a half nod, leaving his head tilted down. ¡°Remain here for the next fifteen minutes.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t going anywhere.¡± I said as Voidling had already left.

    ¡°You been naughty, Lock?¡± Collage was on my case the moment the dark hero was gone. I looked at him, and weighed how much he wanted to know.

    I sat near Collage. ¡°Do you remember how Zephyr was blowing up at me yesterday? Then how Orcus and her had an argument?¡±

    He nodded to both questions.

    ¡°It¡¯s about that.¡± I told him.

    Collage waited. ¡°Is that it?¡±

    ¡°You sound like you want to know.¡± I commented, then shifted, leaning in a bit. ¡°Lucky for you, I¡¯m willing to trade information. Tit for tat, or something along those lines.¡±

    Collage immediately caught on and his curious expression was replaced by an excited grin. ¡°Pink beam information in exchange for details on the op?¡±

    ¡°If you tell first.¡± I said before shaking his hand.

    ¡°Minutes, at most.¡± Collage easily responded. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen it last for more than an hour.¡±

    Which explains why I didn¡¯t feel anything towards Cloud or Zipline. I thought. ¡°What happens after it fades? Are there any lasting effects?¡±

    Collage shrugged. ¡°Not really. I¡¯ve hit most of the people in this room with the beam, and they don¡¯t seem to mind too much.¡± A statement I had my doubts about. ¡°Mostly it¡¯s villains declaring me their nemesis after getting a dose of love, and usually out of embarrassment.¡±

    None of that explained why I was still reacting so strongly to Slingshot and Unshaken. ¡°Are there any other quirks?¡± I asked.

    He shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s love, but it¡¯s hollow. Purely a chemical response from my power inserting the love chemicals into whoever gets hit. If you¡¯re still feeling its effects, it¡¯s all you.¡±

    I crossed my arms. ¡°Forgive me if I don¡¯t buy that.¡±

    ¡°A first impression might do it-¡± He cut himself off, then leaned even closer and spoke in a hushed voice. ¡°Lock. If you¡¯re thinking pink things about Lucidity, I have to tell you that I see her as family and I¡¯ll destroy you if anything happens to her. But if you¡¯re willing to work through it, I¡¯ll help you out until the impulses fade.¡±

    ¡°What!?¡± I reacted loudly and shoved him away, enhancing the force on his costume with my power and sending him tumbling to the floor.

    Everyone in the room stopped and looked, even Muffle.

    I felt myself going red under my mask. ¡°You got it wrong, Collage.¡±

    ¡°Hard to see that from down here.¡± He commented seriously as he started picking himself up.

    ¡°You boys okay?¡± Slingshot called across the room.

    At the same time Muffle was signing something I didn¡¯t recognise.

    ¡°Fine.¡± I replied as Collage signed something back, which seemed to satisfy the big man.

    Lucidity didn¡¯t seem convinced, but didn¡¯t press the issue. Slingshot kept looking at us.

    ¡°See, here¡¯s the thing.¡± Collage started once he was sitting again. ¡°I hit you with the pink, then Lucidity walked into the room as well as Slingshot and Unshaken. While I commend you on holding out on the impulses until now, that shit needs to be addressed.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not Lucidity.¡± I repeated. ¡°Just the other two.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Collage¡¯s trademark grin was back. ¡°Veery interesting.¡±

    ¡°I regret this conversation.¡± I said, mostly to myself.

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be like that. Papa Collage can keep a secret.¡±

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t call yourself ¡®Papa¡¯ when you can mindfuck people like that.¡± I deadpanned.

    Collage waved his hand dismissively. ¡°I meant that I¡¯ll keep the secret that you met Lucidity before walking into the SRT.¡±

    I forced myself to cooly stare at him and do nothing more. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the three other people in the room moving in their places. It might have been nothing but it put me on edge.

    ¡°Keep quiet about the other thing.¡± I eventually said.

    ¡°Gotcha. I won¡¯t tell anyone about it, loudly.¡± Collage laughed when I gave a defeated sigh. ¡°Now pay up. What¡¯s this about an op without oversight?¡±

    I decided to stay true to my word and started telling him about it, but was interrupted before I could get anywhere in the story by Voidling and Orcus stepping into the room. They were flanked by two other heroes I hadn¡¯t seen up close yet.

    One I had seen yesterday, just from far away. It was Wall Walker, and this time I got a closer look at his costume. He had a yellow crash helmet that covered everything above the neck, and his costume had elbow pads, knee pads, and shoulder pads worked into the costume. There were tassels everywhere. So much so that I had underestimated exactly how many tassels there were. The arms and shoulders were lined, not unlike a denim jacket a cowboy might wear at a rodeo, only much more. As were the elbow and shoulder pads, as were every part where the costume ended, as was the utility belt even. All in varying shades of yellow.

    The man liked his tassels. There wasn¡¯t much more to say.

    The other hero was one I hadn¡¯t seen before, barring pictures online. His costume looked like someone had taken a police uniform and a spy outfit, and put them in a blender. It was tight fitted, blue and black, and while it didn¡¯t have a utility belt, all the essentials seemed to exist on his person in holsters. A cursory glance revealed a taser, handcuffs, zip ties, which was a really good idea I found myself wishing I had earlier, and pepper spray.

    His mask had eyes and a hole for the nostrils, but didn¡¯t have a mouth. Mostly, the mask was blue, but there was a large red exclamation point over his left eye. The man went by Risk, and he was from the same group as Wall Walker, the Heroes of Yesterday.

    ¡°Sentrys.¡± Orcus addressed the room. Satellite had drifted in at some point, and Unshaken had returned with wet hair. ¡°Wall Walker and Risk will be joining us for an impromptu debrief. Make your way to the meeting room.¡±

    I looked at the large table as Lucidity spoke up. ¡°Can¡¯t we do it here?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Orcus told her over his shoulder as he left.

    I looked at Collage, who shrugged, and we stood to follow. Minutes later we had all moved down to the meeting room where Orcus had first interviewed me. The hole the chair had made in the wall was still there.

    Orcus spoke in his ever even diction once everyone was seated except for him. ¡°In attendance are seven of the Sentry. Collage, Lock, Lucidity, Muffle, Satellite, Slingshot, and Unshaken. Apologies from Blinker and Snowflake, who are both on patrol at this time.¡±

    I had been the last to sit, so I sat on the far side of the table with a decent amount of space between me and anyone else. Lucidity and Slingshot sat together near the front, while Collage and Unshaken had sat near but not next to each other on the side of the room that I wasn¡¯t on. The two Heroes of Yesterday stayed near the front and Muffle was standing right at the back of the room. Voidling hovered as far back as Muffle¡¯s power allowed.

    Orcus continued. ¡°Of the Sentinels, two are in attendance. Myself, Orcus, and Voidling. Apologies from Zephyr, who is engaging Jagmikh at this time. Sting is unaccounted for.¡±

    That got some of the heroes looking at each other. I remained focused on Orcus.

    He kept going. ¡°Also in attendance are two guests from the Heroes of Yesterday. Risk and Wall Walker.¡±

    ¡°Hello.¡± The former waved at the room, then frowned. It was hard to tell because of the mask, but that was the impression I got.

    Orcus pressed some buttons on the table, bringing up a holographic screen, then sending it away after a few moments. ¡°The weekly debrief has been pushed forward in light of recent events. The most notable of which you were all present for yesterday.¡±

    Murmurs of agreement sprung from throughout the room.

    Orcus pressed another button, bringing up a picture of the building where it happened. ¡°To summarise, Metafore gave the Sentinels advanced warning a meeting was going to occur in this building, if indirectly. The meeting was between the heads of the Entrepreneurs, and the Rising Sun, as well as a third party that was eventually revealed to be Greenflame, who has moved from her previous location of Quebec.

    ¡°We intended to interrupt this meeting, as Metafore warned of what might be blood being spread in the wake of this event. We encountered significant resistance from what seemed to be an alliance between the two groups. We requested aid from the Regulation and received it in the form of Victorious, but we were ultimately unable to interrupt the meeting. ¡°

    The image of the building shrunk and a picture of the building after everything happened appeared next to it.

    ¡°This was in part due to the fact that Regulation forces were unable to advance from below thanks to the efforts of Makyer, whose forcefields were able to prevent entry to all but Unshaken. Several temporary arrests were made thanks to her efforts.¡±

    Temporary arrests. I echoed to myself. Boss had teleported them out. Unshaken didn¡¯t seem too happy about that. Collage whispered something to her and one hand pushed his face away.

    I liked seeing that.

    Orcus kept going. ¡°After the meeting, the villains worked together to escape. They used Makyer and Cloud in tandem to advance safely and commandeered a vehicle, which was chased until it was crashed by Wall Walker. But the driver was a member of the PA, and the situation resulted in a temporary arrest. This combined with Mantis making a debut caused a significant enough distraction that the remaining members of the Rising Sun were able to escape.¡±

    A picture of the aftermath of Mantis¡¯ work appeared. I hadn¡¯t seen this before, and neither had Slingshot or Muffle. The former gasped in shock. I felt like doing the same. There were several men and women still bleeding out at the time the picture was taken. I could see Collage in the background with a glowing green hand, a beam of the same colour between him and one of the wounded.

    ¡°In total,¡± Orcus continued. ¡°One arrest was made in thanks to Plasma. Headache from the Rising Sun; Shino Akueda.¡±

    A mugshot of Shino¡¯s busted up face appeared alongside one of her in costume. She was asian, surprising no one, and had a dead expression in her picture.

    Orcus looked at the room. ¡°Questions.¡±

    There was silence in the room as everyone unpacked everything Orcus had just dumped on everyone.

    Eventually someone spoke up.

    ¡°You said that the meeting wasn¡¯t interrupted.¡± Risk was the one to break the silence. I noted he had a southern twang. It was subtle, but definitely there. ¡°How did you know about Greenflame?¡±

    Voidling was the one to respond. For once, using a normal voice instead of speaking softly. ¡°Lucidity and Lock were each independently able to infiltrate the floor where the meeting occurred.¡±

    Lucidity shrunk when her name was said. She sheepishly waved when Risk looked at her. Then Risk looked at me.

    I looked back, unblinking. In my periphery I could see Collage realising that this was the op he had asked about.

    ¡°What was the purpose of the meeting?¡± Risk asked without looking away. I wasn¡¯t sure if he was asking that to me or not.

    Voidling responded before I could reach a decision. ¡°To welcome Greenflame to Graceland. They had apparently worked together to get her to come here, in exchange for her services.¡±

    ¡°Remind me, what was Greenflame¡¯s power?¡± Wall Walker interrupted. Somehow I doubted whoever answered Wall Walker would be reminding him.

    ¡°She sells the future.¡± Risk told him quietly.

    That was a surprisingly good way of putting it.

    ¡°Right.¡± Wall Walker took a moment. ¡°So she sold a future to Boss and Samurai.¡±

    ¡°She sold the future of, and I quote ¡®A Hero¡¯s end¡¯, end quote, to Samurai.¡± Orcus answered. ¡°Boss was offered the future of a king, but backed out of the deal at the last moment.¡±

    ¡°And Queue was there.¡± Slingshot added, earning the attention of the Heroes of Yesterday, which made her falter. ¡°He didn¡¯t¡­¡± Then, very quietly. ¡°He didn¡¯t get an offer.¡±

    I felt sympathy for her. Then I felt irritation for Collage.

    ¡°Did you see what Queue looks like?¡± Risk asked with a soft tone. It was still business, but softer because he was dealing with a new Sentry.

    ¡°I did.¡± Slingshot nodded. ¡°But he was wearing all black and had a balaclava on.¡±

    ¡°Like a robber from a crap commercial.¡± I added, earning the attention of the HoY.

    HoY. I repeated in my head. The thought was amusing.

    ¡°Nothing we can use.¡± Wall Walker muttered. Risk nodded in response.

    Orcus continued. ¡°Samurai was gifted a knife and fork, essentially silverware, when he accepted the deal with Greenflame. We are uncertain of its significance at this point. After that Greenflame departed.¡±

    ¡°Just like that?¡± Risk asked, confusion in his voice. ¡°Boss didn¡¯t teleport her out or anything?¡±

    ¡°Uhh¡­ There¡¯s more than that.¡± I said, getting everyone¡¯s attention again. Well, everyone except for Unshaken and Satellite. They seemed bored, honestly. Lucidity was doing her best to follow along, though.

    ¡°When I arrived, Boss, Queue, and Samurai were standing across the room from each other.¡± I continued when no one stopped me. ¡°They just stood there for five minutes before a portal of blue mist opened and Greenflame stepped through. When the meeting was done, another portal appeared for her to leave through.¡±

    ¡°We placed a request for information with the Regulation.¡± Orcus added in his even tone. ¡°The maker of the portals was active in Quebec until recently, and was referred to by the heroes there as Patrol Officer. No one knows what they look like.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a strange name for someone working with villains.¡± Risk commented.

    ¡°Originally they worked with normal police officers and firemen,¡± Orcus explained. ¡°They would make portals leading to their objectives that let them avoid danger, like allowing access to a portion of a burning building that was blocked off. That behaviour stopped suddenly around seven months ago, and they haven¡¯t been seen until yesterday.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of unaccounted time.¡± Wall Walker said.

    I agreed mentally as I filed the information away. ¡°I¡¯m not done. When Boss was speaking to Greenflame he mentioned she was part of a group called the Vardotrio. Since trio is in the name, it makes sense that there¡¯s three of them. The third member was Dreadnaught.¡±

    That got reactions from most people in the room. Slingshot, Orcus, and Voidling already knew, so they barely responded. But there were a few chairs pushed back as everyone turned to face me.

    ¡°You¡¯re kidding.¡± Wall Walker said at the same time Satellite went. ¡°What the shit?

    Voidling gave Satellite a disapproving clout on the back of his helmet as I shrugged.

    ¡°It¡¯s true.¡± Slingshot said.

    ¡°You were there?¡± Risk checked. Slingshot nodded. Risk scratched the back of his head. ¡°Well, that¡¯s an enforcer and a half. Toil¡¯s gonna freak.¡±

    ¡°Greenflame made Dreadnaught sit on Queue¡¯s shoulders.¡± I added, then gave another shrug. ¡°Which could be seen as funny from some perspectives.¡±

    Risk shook his head. ¡°No, I think that was a calculated move. Dreadnaught has a field that negates powers. It¡®s very short ranged, so it isn¡¯t all that noticeable. But that¡¯s the reason any enforcer that goes toe to toe with Dreadnaught loses. If he was sitting on Queue¡¯s shoulder, then Queue¡¯s Smart power would have been suspended.¡±

    My eyebrows raised under my mask and the other Sentrys in the room each reacted in their own little ways. Collage¡¯s smile faltered, Satellite hummed to himself, and Slingshot drifted back without moving. Unshaken didn¡¯t react.

    ¡°So, yeah.¡± Risk continued. ¡°Don¡¯t engage Dreadnaught if you see him. Not without tremendous backup.¡±

    ¡°Noted.¡± Collage answered, seriously for once. ¡°I¡¯ll pass it on.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have anything else to add regarding what I saw, so I looked to Orcus. I didn¡¯t want to mention Waterlad¡¯s involvement.

    The grey man waited several moments. No one said anything.

    ¡°Moving on, then.¡± He pressed a button and the images were replaced by a map of Graceland. ¡°So far this week, the Entrepreneurs and their shell gangs have been quiet if you ignore the incident we just covered. I have little doubt this was in preparation for welcoming Greenflame to Graceland.¡±

    A red dot indicated where the incident occurred.

    ¡°Also this week so far, the Courtesans have been quite active. Two altercations with the Gray Apostles and one with the Heroes of Yesterday.¡± He pressed a button and three Cs appeared on the map, all near the lake. Two were grey and one was white. ¡°None of these incidents involved any supervillains. They were either drug deals that were interrupted, or a bust in the case of this one.¡± One of the grey Cs was circled.

    ¡°These are just the incidents that have been reported on.¡± Collage told the room. ¡°The police have more, but we couldn¡¯t secure their information in time for the meeting.¡±

    Orcus said. ¡°Thank you Collage.¡± Then pressed a button causing a circled blue B to appear. ¡°A hideout of the beastmasters.¡± He explained.

    Voidling picked up the explanation. ¡°That was a civilian tip. Somehow, they got wind that we were approaching and vacated before the Regulation agents were able to mobilize. But they left behind some evidence that ended up being useful.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Risk asked.

    ¡°They have acquired a new member. From the evidence gathered, we have deduced that he has decided on the name ¡®Bad Valentine¡¯.¡±

    A decent name, I supposed. Risk and Wall Walker were whispering to each other.

    ¡°Powers?¡± Wall Walker asked, breaking away from the whispers.

    Orcus explained. ¡°Glass related. Disrupter, most likely. From Voidling¡¯s account there was a lot of broken glass in strange shapes scattered about, but none of the windows were broken. Given the reputation of the Beastmasters, we¡¯re assuming Altered.¡±

    ¡°We sent a dossier to Toil and Instinct the day before Greenflame showed up.¡± Voidling tacked on.

    ¡°Gotcha, it must have been buried somewhere in his desk.¡± Risk said. ¡°I¡¯ll find it when we get back.¡±

    Orcus continued. ¡°Finally, Duke of Intent and Lake Lady have not been sighted at all this week, while Sleepwalker has been active, they have not launched any assaults on the Courtesans.¡±

    ¡°Matter of time.¡± Unshaken muttered.

    ¡°Now. The reason you came here.¡± Orcus said to Wall Walker and Risk.

    Wall Walker stood and Orcus found a seat. He turned and faced the room.

    ¡°So, I was attacked earlier today.¡± He started. ¡°I was on patrol when I was attacked by three villains. Spinnerette, Prism, and¡­¡± He paused. ¡°Waterlad.¡±

    The room tensed. Lucidity shrank in her chair while Collage and Unshaken stilled. Slingshot looked back at me, but I kept looking at Wall Walker. I was waiting to hear what he said next.

    Wall Walker continued. ¡°They launched a surprise attack and I nearly didn¡¯t get away. They were yelling that I had killed a ¡®her¡¯ the entire time, but didn¡¯t specify who. They were emotional, which is the only reason I got away without injury.¡± He sighed heavily. ¡°Which also made me think they were being genuine, so I called Risk and we started investigating. We found Clothesline¡¯s body and delivered it here thirty minutes ago.¡±

 3. I/Me 2

    Wall Walker didn¡¯t slow down, launching directly into a description of the body.

    ¡°She was found with a broken leg and arm, opposite sides. The arm was broken in two different places, and the hand of the same arm was also broken. It¡¯s possible to escape from handcuffs and zipties by dislocating one¡¯s hand, and the injury seemed similar to that. The leg was¡­¡±

    He searched for the right word. ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡±

    Risk had plugged something in under the table and was now manning the display on the wall. He opened a file explorer and navigated to a folder called ¡®Clothesline¡¯ and then to a sub folder within that. It was full of pictures. Risk opened the first one. It showed an alleyway with one side being a construction site rather than a building.

    The photo was wide, establishing. Immortalizing the scene before the photographer got close and started tampering with things. Half concealed by shadows was the form of someone lying down. Their head was visible, but facing away. Even so, I recognised Clothesline¡¯s costume from what little could be seen.

    Collage and Unshaken were paying rapt attention, had been since Wall Walker dropped Waterlad¡¯s name. Lucidity blindly reached over and found Slingshot¡¯s hand on the third grab. The recent heroine seemed to be rising from her chair despite herself. Muffle and Satellite were behind me so I couldn¡¯t see how they were reacting, while Orcus was as composed as ever. I was paying close attention myself.

    ¡°Risk took these images roughly two hours ago.¡± Wall Walker explained as Risk started cycling through the images. A picture was taken every few steps, so it took a moment before the body of Clothesline was the sole focus of a picture.

    Her leg, the one I had broken, was mangled, for lack of a better term. Bones were visible where the leg had twisted a full 180. The end of the bones were sharp, and blood had pooled where they broke the skin. Clothesline didn¡¯t have her mask, and the one visible eye was open and staring at nothing. Blood had pooled all around her.

    I stared at the eye. The disturbing feeling from earlier was rising again.

    Risk stopped there and turned to the room. ¡°This raises several questions. But first, let¡¯s go over the facts. There are no burn marks of any kind that we could find. Nor are there any lacerations or stab wounds. That means the murder weapon was bludgeoning in nature. A sledgehammer might do it, or a baseball bat.¡±

    Murder weapon. He said murder weapon.

    Wall Walker continued. ¡°She was found without her mask and we haven¡¯t found it nearby, which means the killer likely knew who she was under the costume. We don¡¯t know what Clothesline¡¯s civilian identity is yet, but we the Regulation should let us know before the autopsy is done downstairs.¡±

    Risk continued without missing a beat. ¡°Considering Clothesline¡¯s power, it doesn¡¯t make sense for her to lose a chase. That¡¯s why we think her leg was taken out first. This supports the theory that Clothesline was familiar with the killer.¡±

    They kept saying that word.

    I nearly missed Slingshot glancing at me. She had her bandanna and glasses on, so I couldn¡¯t make anything of the action.

    ¡°Also, her body was found near a construction site.¡± Wall Walker picked up again. ¡°This is problematic for the investigation because the site had been active for several hours before the body was found. Work is suspended for the time being, but it¡¯s more than likely any evidence has already been disturbed.¡±

    Risk nodded. ¡°At present, Toil is working at gathering evidence. He is quite proficient at it already, but we¡¯re not expecting anything groundbreaking.¡±

    ¡°Any questions?¡± Wall Walker asked the room.

    ¡°When did this happen?¡± Collage asked immediately.

    ¡°Overnight.¡± Risk answered. ¡°We know she extracted from the situation yesterday, which was the last time she was seen. We¡¯re waiting on the autopsy to give us an exact time of death.¡±

    Time of death. I repeated to myself. I was looking at Clotheslines body again.

    ¡°Cause of death?¡± Unshaken asked, unshaken.

    ¡°Trauma to the head, falling from a great height, or blood loss afterwards.¡± Wall Walker answered. ¡°She lost a lot of blood through that leg.¡±

    ¡°Suspects?¡± Satellite spoke up.

    ¡°Everyone.¡± Risk stated.

    ¡°Reasonable.¡± Satellite nodded and leaned back. I, on the other hand, was suddenly dreading what Wall Walker was gearing up to say.

    ¡°That kind of brings us around to what we¡¯re really here for.¡± He said. ¡°The Heroes of Yesterday are taking this case, with Risk as the leading investigator. People gifted with abilities are the primary suspects, we¡¯re going to need alibis from all of you.¡±

    Everyone was keeping their reactions quiet now.

    Orcus said. ¡°Understandable. Will this room work for you? Or would you prefer the room we normally reserve for questioning supervillains?¡±

    ¡°I know the one.¡± Risk answered. ¡°We¡¯ll take each of you one by one, starting with the Sentinels. We intend to stay around until everyone has been interviewed.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not a good look for Sting.¡± Voidling murmured.

    ¡°No.¡± Risk agreed with a shake of the head. ¡°It¡¯s not.¡±

    Wall Walker cleared his throat. ¡°In any case, we should make this expedient, so we don¡¯t interfere with your schedules too much. Orcus, you¡¯ll go with Risk to be questioned. I¡¯m going to stay here and make sure no one leaves the room.¡±

    Orcus nodded. ¡°Rosie, grant exclusive control over the locks of this room to Wall Walker until it is vacated.¡±

    ¡°Please confirm.¡± Rosie requested.

    ¡°Confirm.¡±

    There was a pleasant ding coupled with the sounds of doors locking shut. Wall Walker shook his head. ¡°I always forget about Rosie.¡±

    Orcus walked to the door, then stopped and turned to Wall Walker. ¡°I need your permission to leave.¡±

    ¡°Before that, there¡¯s one more thing I want everyone here to know.¡± Risk stood before Wall Walker could open the door. ¡°My power lets me know the two most likely outcomes of a given situation.¡±

    That got my attention. It got everyone else¡¯s too. Revealing how a power worked had that kind of effect.

    Risk continued. ¡°It can be vague, like it¡¯s being right now in regards to this case. Lock. Satellite. Unshaken.¡± He looked at each of us in turn. ¡°The two most likely outcomes for this case result with each of you dead.¡±

    ¡°Excuse me!?¡± Unshaken demanded indignantly.

    ¡°Prove it.¡± Satellite similarly demanded.

    I didn¡¯t say anything. Not at first.

    ¡°How likely are those outcomes?¡± I asked, somehow sounding calm despite feeling numb inside.

    ¡°Not good.¡± Risk answered with a bow to his head. ¡°Right now the most certain outcome has a 31.2 percent chance of coming to pass, and the second has a 29.5 percent chance of occurring. That leaves a 39.5 percent chance of anything else happening, but my power doesn¡¯t let me access that information.¡±

    ¡°Why tell us?¡± Unshaken coldly asked.

    ¡°Because telling you makes the numbers change. Already, they¡¯re shifting.¡± He paused, then fidgeted uncomfortably.

    ¡°Risk.¡± Wall Walker said.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to say another thing.¡± Risk said again. Then, like a badly written character revealing a crappy twist, ¡°In that second outcome Lucidity dies as well. I¡¯m going now.¡±

    Wall Walker looked like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it.

    ¡°Rosie, let Risk and Orcus leave.¡± He told the air. There was a pleasant ding in response, and the two heroes left.

    Wall Walker pulled the device Risk had used to access the images, and they disappeared from the screen. Collage turned to the room at large with his trademark grin on his face.

    ¡°Talk about a bombshell, huh?¡± He joked.

    It fell flat. Slingshot pulled Lucidity into a hug.

    ~~~

    I was the second to last Sentry that Risk questioned, with only Slingshot remaining after me. Wall Walker had wanted out of that room as soon as possible, so he was walking the two of us down to one of the lower floors with the intention of seating Slingshot somewhere nearby while I was being questioned. It was three hours after Risk had informed me there was upwards of a sixty percent chance I was going to die.

    The room Risk and I were in was a typical interrogation room, almost exactly like the movies. There was a metal table that Risk and I were sitting at in an otherwise empty room. To my right was a mirror that no doubt had others behind it. The only difference I really noticed was that the room was expansive, with a lot of empty space between our backs and the walls behind them.

    When I walked in, the first thing Risk told me was to drop my uniform. I consulted with Rosie to see if that was even allowed before lowering my mask and dropping my power.

    ¡°Double layered, huh?¡± Risk commented. ¡°That¡¯s smart.¡±

    He didn¡¯t sound aggressive or patronising, which ruled out him playing good cop, bad cop. It was a one man interrogation, anyway. Maybe he was just vocalising an inner thought.

    I noticed he was looking at my face, making me self conscious about my nose. The urge to fidget with my earring was rising, but I batted it down before it could take hold.

    ¡°For all the good it does.¡± I replied in as similar a tone as I could manage. ¡°All of upper management knows who I am, so it¡¯s basically pointless.¡±

    Risk nodded. ¡°Part of why I work a step separated from the Regulation myself. Still, it¡¯s an impressive power. Shall we?¡± He opened a file in front of him and clicked a pen. All business, it seemed.

    I ignored the inaccurate comment about my power. ¡°I have a question.¡±

    Risk waited, giving me permission to ask.

    ¡°What are the two most likely outcomes of this interview?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Hm.¡± He looked at me, trying to figure out what I was thinking. ¡°In both outcomes you give an alibi and tell me what you did to Clothesline¡¯s leg.¡±

    I kept my expression even, but it was hard. I passed it off as a curious tilt of the head.

    ¡°There¡¯s a variation in the alibis, but they¡¯re remarkably similar.¡±

    I tapped one of my fingers on the table. ¡°So what¡¯s the point of the interview then?¡±

    ¡°For one, so there¡¯s a recording.¡± Risk gestured towards the mirror. ¡°Two, because the outcomes have a 6.23 and 5.98 percent chance of occurring, respectively. That leaves a 87.79 percent chance of anything else coming to pass. It¡¯s a blind spot I¡¯m working to reduce.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Secondary question, if you¡¯ll humour me. What happens to me immediately after this interrogation?¡±

    Risk gave a heavy breath. ¡°What¡¯s with the Sentrys and assuming interrogation?¡± He muttered, mostly to himself. ¡°We¡¯re not accusing anyone yet. These are interviews.¡±

    ¡°After this interview, then.¡± I amended without pause.

    Risk looked past me for a few moments, then glanced at the mirror with concern. ¡°53.2 percent chance Zephyr insinuates you are responsible for the deed, with Orcus interrupting the matter. 31.2 percent chance Orcus does not intervene and you receive severe punishment.¡±

    ¡°I thought so.¡± I said, glancing to my side like Risk just did. I hadn¡¯t actually thought that exactly, but with how things had been going¡­

    ¡°How about now?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It changed, you say hello to Slingshot or Slingshot and Lucidity.¡± He said, then shook his head in realisation. ¡°You used me.¡±

    I shrugged. Zephyr hadn¡¯t shown up in the holding room with the rest of us, but I knew that Jagmikh only wanted to be chased for roughly forty minutes each day. The Sentinel had returned hours ago, and I had correctly guessed exactly where she¡¯d be. After Zephyr¡¯s display at the end of yesterday, I was walking on my god damn tippy toes around her. That being said I hadn¡¯t expected such a dramatic change in the course of events.

    ¡°My name¡¯s Michael Barker.¡± I told Risk, changing the topic to the reason we were here. ¡°I¡¯m sixteen, I¡¯m a Sentry, and I am the one who broke Clothesline¡¯s leg.¡±

    Risk matched the change quickly and started jotting things down on a pad of refill. ¡°What can you tell me about that?¡±

    ¡°We were fighting yesterday. She had Slingshot and me on the floor and was using her speed to dominate the fight. I picked up a keyboard and was able to hit her with a surprise attack that ended up doing more than I thought it would.¡±

    Risk wrote that down. ¡°How did you hit her so hard?¡±

    ¡°My power.¡± I said simply. ¡°Did you know that my costume is made of valuar?¡±

    Risk shook his head. ¡°What¡¯s valuar?¡±

    Valuar evidently wasn¡¯t common knowledge outside of adept circles, then. The explanation Charlotte had given me drained from my mind as I tried to grasp at it. ¡°Uh. It¡¯s heavy, and that¡¯s it. Doesn¡¯t matter much. I¡¯ll just show you what I can do.¡±

    I gripped the table and reduced gravity to near zero. Then I easily cheated at lifting the heavy metal thing. Risk pulled his arms back from the table in surprise.

    ¡°You¡¯re an enforcer?¡± Risk checked. ¡°I thought you were a ghost.¡±

    I really needed to have a look at the power classification system. Too many people were using information I didn¡¯t have. Soon, I was going to miss something obvious. As I rapidly cycled through those thoughts I let the table drop with a heavy clang. Risk¡¯s notes bounced out of order and he started fixing them.

    ¡°Not an enforcer.¡± I told Risk as I recalled my conversation with Satellite. ¡°Disrupter. Touch range telekinetic.¡±

    ¡°Dagger, then.¡± Risk gave a nod. He was using information I didn¡¯t have again.

    What the what? ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°Powerful enough to break bone on accident?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I said.¡± I banished the image of Killer Kage with a spider silk sling.

    Risk made a note. ¡°So you have the means. What was your relationship with Clothesline?¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    I didn¡¯t miss how he had just moved me higher in the list of suspects. ¡°I met her once when she beat up Slingshot and myself, then I broke her leg.¡± I answered honestly. Risk had said that awareness of his ability changed the outcome probabilities. Was that happening now? ¡°Then I saw her get knocked around by Victorious. That was the last time I saw her.¡±

    More notes. ¡°Is there any unresolved animosity from that encounter?¡±

    ¡°She kicked me a few times and clotheslined my friend, so I broke her leg.¡± I stated. ¡°I¡¯m not the one who lost out there, and it was unintentional. I¡­ I don¡¯t know how I feel about that now. I got my revenge, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re asking.¡±

    Risk nodded, writing more. He let the silence hang. ¡°Do you know a Hayley Vermont?¡±

    ¡°Is that her real name?¡± I asked.

    Risk nodded.

    ¡°No, I barely know anyone in Graceland.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Risk asked.

    ¡°I just moved here from Salt Lake City.¡± I told him.

    The note taking stopped, then started again. ¡°You have my condolences.¡±

    ¡°Keep them.¡± I¡¯d received so many condolences on my journey to Graceland. Enough to have long gotten tired of them.

    Risk didn¡¯t ask anything else until he finished writing down whatever he was writing down. ¡°What did you do after the situation yesterday had resolved?¡±

    ¡°Came back here and dressed down.¡± I answered. ¡°Then I wrote a very detailed report. Then I was given a costume and dressed up. I had a debut with Slingshot. Then I went home and had dinner with my adopted sister.¡±

    ¡°When did you get home?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t look at the clock, but probably after nine. Everyone else was asleep.¡± Risk wrote the time down as I said it.

    He tapped his pen against the table. ¡°You have an adopted sister?¡±

    ¡°Refugee, like me.¡± I explained. ¡°Her name is Sofiya, it has a y.¡± I spelled it out. ¡±I was put in a foster house given my situation when I arrived.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you left the city.¡± Risk commented. ¡°With what you can do, rescue efforts would have benefited greatly. You would have been greatly appreciated, even made a pretty penny if you happened to be a villain. At least until the ceasefire ended. And the few groups that remain there would have likely lapped you up.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t considered that. But none of it mattered.

    ¡°There¡¯s a reason I didn¡¯t.¡± I told him.

    Risk glanced at the mirror and back to me. ¡°You may want to tell the reason.¡±

    He was reminding me this interview had an audience. I conceded the point, but took the time to pick my words.

    ¡°Cognitive dissonance.¡± I said truthfully, if vaguely. ¡°I was manifesting.¡±

    Risk paused, urging me to go on, but eventually accepted that as enough. ¡°Your family, the adopted one. Can you give more details on that?¡±

    I frowned. ¡°Is that relevant information?¡±

    ¡°We may need to contact them to see if your alibi holds up.¡± His pen moved up the page to a previous note he made. ¡°You have the means.¡±

    A reminder I was a legitimate suspect. If I argued, I¡¯d be seen as suspicously combative, in other words.

    ¡°The mother, Kathrine, don¡¯t know the last name off the top of my head, but I¡¯m sure it¡¯s on the file,¡± I started explaining. ¡°Her husband died a few years back. I don¡¯t know the circumstances, but there were already three kids in her care and she was taking good care of them, so child services let it be. The three kids from eldest to youngest are Marie, Sofiya, and Alice. Twelve, nine, and five respectively. They each have their own stories. I haven¡¯t asked what they are, beyond the obvious.¡±

    ¡°I find it hard to believe you don¡¯t know your foster parent¡¯s surname.¡± Risk commented as he made quick notes.

    ¡°It¡¯s not mine, and the last time it was said in front of me was months ago.¡± I gave a shrug. ¡°Mine is Barker, I know my address, and I pick up on enough details that I could get in contact if I wanted to.¡±

    ¡°That quite a blase attitude.¡±

    He was prodding me, keeping me talking, revealing things about myself. I was happy to.

    ¡°I focus on what matters.¡± I said. ¡°For this job, that¡¯s details on villains, other heroes, people¡¯s tics, and power dynamics in more ways than one. In this case that¡¯s any amount of distrust I¡¯m getting from my allies,¡± I paused for effect, punctuating it with a glance towards the mirror. ¡°And how you¡¯ve been trying to play me since I sat down.¡±

    I decided to flip the dynamic. ¡°Are you using your power before every question?¡±

    Risk cooly answered, ¡°I¡¯m using it enough.¡± Saying everything but the word yes.

    ¡°And now we¡¯ve been over whether or not I would be able to do the murder.¡± I was trying to establish pressure and keep it up, but I almost tripped on that last word. ¡°Which I theoretically could have. I broke the leg at an unrelated incident, which may have contributed, but isn¡¯t grounds for my involvement. We¡¯ve been over my potential motives, which are shaky. And we¡¯ve established an alibi for me. I can give you Sofiya¡¯s number so you can confirm. She knows about what I do. And with that we¡¯re pretty much done here.¡±

    ¡°I have the number.¡± Risk tapped his pen and stood, too quickly. He had been expecting me to say that. I wondered what the exact chance of it was. Either way it was confirmation that he was still playing me. No doubt he got Sofiya¡¯s number through precognition, then cancelled that future.

    I stood with him and reactivated my mask. He opened the door for me and offered a hand.

    ¡°We¡¯ll contact your mother if we need to. That head on your shoulders, it¡¯s¡­¡±

    I took the hand and waited for him to finish. I didn¡¯t bother to point out the fact that Kathrine wasn¡¯t really my mother.

    Risk shook my hand and released me. ¡°Good day, Lock.¡± He gestured for me to go.

    That puzzling interaction complete, Risk closed the door behind me. Leaving me to wonder what I should be doing now. So long ago today, Voidling had given me a USB with a schedule on it. I needed to check that out. But first I looked one door down and waited for it to open. I didn¡¯t wait long before it opened and two sentinels stepped through. Orcus and Zephyr.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t tell us you came from Salt Lake City.¡± Zephyr stated. She hadn¡¯t even finished walking up to me.

    ¡°Hello to you too.¡± I responded. ¡°I understand I¡¯m your main sidekick for the foreseeable future.¡±

    I didn¡¯t actually. But, given the hostility she treated me with, Zephyr would probably use the logic of keeping enemies closer than friends to demand it be so. From the way she reacted, it looked like I was right.

    Orcus said. ¡°Lock.¡±

    He killed my flow with one word. They wanted me to talk about Salt Lake City.

    ¡°It was warm.¡± I told them. Boy, was that an understatement if ever I heard one.

    ¡°We were there.¡± Zephyr said flatly.

    ¡°Then I¡¯m sure I saw you.¡± I turned my head to Zephyr. ¡°Actually, I do think I saw you. Didn¡¯t know who you were at the time. I didn¡¯t catch Orcus.¡±

    ¡°When were we going to hear about this?¡± Orcus questioned.

    ¡°When it became relevant.¡± I responded, then gestured at the room. ¡°Which was just then. I¡¯m just surprised it didn¡¯t come up sooner, like when you guys background checked me.¡±

    They shared a look. It was so weird seeing them on the same page for once. The weirdness increased when they started whispering to each other.

    ¡°You should remember that the Regulation offers pro bono therapy for employed heroes.¡± Zephyr told me, taking me completely off guard.

    ¡°I know.¡± I blinked away the surprise. ¡°You told me before I signed.¡±

    I didn¡¯t want it. It would break me before it made me better.

    Orcus said. ¡°Good.¡± Then he turned and went back into the room they came from.

    ¡°We start tomorrow.¡± Zephyr told me as she followed the grey man. Then the door closed.

    That was about as good a dismissal as I was going to get from her, so I turned and started moving with the intention of leaving for home. On the way I passed Wall Walker and Slingshot.

    ¡°Au revoir.¡± I said as I passed. I had been planning what else to do today during the hours I had been unironically locked in a room. The USB Voidling had given me weighed in my pocket.

    ~~~

    005.0 Regulation Power Classifications, Ratings, and Responses

    The Regulation uses a descriptor and definition based system to classify the abilities of Gifted or Transhumans. These systems were first established in 1998, and were made in tandem with Metafore, who had a significant amount of input on the systems. As Metafore was the most prominent clairvoyant to work with the Transhuman branch of the government of the time, the terms and phrases he used became the standard, with one deviation from the rule.

    Refer to the tables below for more details. 005.1 describes Power Classifications. 005.2 describes Power Descriptors. 005.3 describes Power Rating Systems.

    005.1 Power Classification

    Displacer - Powers with this classification involve enhanced movement. This can be hastening or translocating in nature, or simply be an ability that gives an alternate form of movement such as being able to run along a wall, or ceasing movement entirely. Powers with the Displacer classification do not place undue stress on the body in most cases.

    Disruptor - Powers with this classification alter the physical state of the world. All powers that break the laws of physics have this classification. There is a wide breadth of powers that have this classification, ranging from simple telekinesis to producing fireballs, making ice from nothing, directing electrical strikes, shaping certain elements, telekinesis, etcetera.

    Enforcer - Powers with this classification enhance properties such as strength and durability. This can be observed by enhancement of the body, or an overhaul of what constitutes the body. Powers that enhance speed can be given an Enforcer classification. However, for this to be the case, the ability must cause stress on the body of the user, as powers with the Displacer classification bypass this requirement.

    Ghost - Powers with this classification alter perception. Powers with this classification can disguise the user, or targets of the user. Powers with this classification can also be used for the purposes of invisibility in some scenarios, and are often capable of obscuring large objects and sounds. Potent powers with the Ghost classification are capable of fooling technology as well as the naked eye.

    Monarch - Powers with this classification blatantly influence or dominate creatures. Powers with this classification can be based on line of sight, touch, or simply proximity. In all cases, there is little that can be done against powers with the Monarch classification once they have taken effect. Not all Monarch powers affect humans, and most that do are limited in the capacity of control they gain when active.

    Psychic - Powers with the Psychic classification are subjected to one of two sub-classifications. Both these sub-classifications are detailed in 005.1.1, & 005.1.2.

    Shifter - Powers with this classification alter the form of the self. This can range from willful mutations of limbs or skin, to complete restructuring of the body, to changing the form¡¯s state of mass. e.g. solid to gas. Shifter powers often ignore the law of conservation regarding mass, and are considered to be one of the more volatile classifications of powers as the user may not be able to properly revert to their original forms.

    Traitor - Powers with this classification interact with other powers. Often powers with the Traitor classification simply negate or reduce the effectiveness of other powers, but there are some that interact with powers in other ways. A power with the Traitor classification may have an aspect that specifically counters one power, while being ineffective against another. In both cases the power is still considered to have the Traitor classification

    Whisper - Powers with this classification subtly influence creatures or remove perceptions of other creatures. Powers with this classification can also play off human perception to alter the state of the world, or compel actions to be taken that would not occur under standard conditions. Actions induced by powers with the Whisper classification are mostly human in nature, but are not required to be.

    005.1.1 Psychic Sub-Classifications

    Each power classification used by Metafore has been adopted by the Regulation for ease of translation while interpreting Metafore¡¯s visions. The exception to this rule are psychic abilities, which Metafore refers to using the classification ¡®Scientist¡¯. In lieu of Metafore¡¯s classification two other classifications coined by the Psychic Goldbough, who was active between the years 2011-2013. These classifications are described in 5.1.2.

    005.1.2 Sub-Classifications Classification

    Adept - Powers with the Adept Psychic classification are characterised in that they do not have the ability to generate immediately useable information. Instead, powers with the Adept classification generate ideas for invention. If the user is able, they will be inspired to construct devices with supernatural qualities. Each Adept has a specialisation and their inventions are normally limited to that spectrum, though the breadth of this specialisation varies in each case.

    Smart - Powers with the Smart Psychic classification are characterised in that their power generates information. This can vary from visualisations of information, precognition, and to the observation of additional senses. NOTE: While many Smart Psychics have powers that can be passed off as telepathy, these cases often fall apart under close scrutiny. It is unknown if telepathy is a power that can exist, and it is therefore recommended to assume that all Smart Psychics claiming to be telepathic are lying in an attempt to achieve more effective manipulation.

    005.1.3 Classification Recollection

    A useful method of recalling these classifications is recalling the following rhyme:

    Displacer, Disruptor, Enforcer, and Shifter.

    Ghost, Whisper, Monarch, and Traitor.

    Psychics are the odd ones out.

    NOTE: The thoughts behind this rhyme are as follows: The first four power classifications all constitute powers that physically interact with the world and the self, and the second set of four powers interact with people, perception, and other powers.

    Psychic powers have been singled out because they do not fit into the Classifications originally given by Metafore. Having them addressed as the exception to the rule makes them easier to recall.

    005.2 Power Descriptors

    Altered - Powers with the altered descriptor have changed the physical appearance and form of the user. In most cases this occurs as a side effect while the user is manifesting, but there are cases of powers altering the body with use.

    Aura - Powers with the Aura descriptor maintain active functionality without concentration. Most Auras have visible or easily observed effects on the world. Powers with the Monarch classification are the ones that most frequently have the Aura drescriptor.

    Dagger - Powers with the Dagger descriptor have minimal range or are touch based.

    Lance - Powers with the Lance descriptor are ranged or extend great distances.

    Splatter - Powers with the Splatter descriptor have large areas of effect. The user of a power with the Splatter descriptor often has trouble

    Trick - Powers with the Trick descriptor have multiple states or forms that are exclusive from each other. One form of a power with the Trick descriptor cannot be used at the same time as another under standard conditions.

    005.2.1 Descriptor Recollection

    A useful method for recalling these descriptors is recalling the rhyme below:

    Altered & Dagger, Trick & Aura, Lance & Splatter.

    005.3 Power Rating Systems

    There are two systems by which powers are rated: The Number Rating System and the Class Rating System, described in 005.3.1. & 005.3.2. These systems work in tandem, as the class system exists as a shorthand to quickly communicate the threat level of villains and other creatures.

    005.3.1 Class Rating System

    This system is used to quickly communicate general threat level, and indicates the necessary level of resources needed to contain or eliminate the threat. There are three threat levels attached to a Transhuman, A-5, or A-13. Each is a result of an evaluation of their abilities, intelligence, and aptitude in using bother. The Class Rating System levels are Alpha Class, Theta Class, and Omega Class.

    Alpha Class - Threats of this level are not typically lethal, but can be in extraneous circumstances. A Transhuman in the low end of the Alpha Class can be contained by a single well trained person without powers. A Transhuman in the middle of the Alpha Class can be contained by a well trained Transhuman, or a group of well trained personnel without powers. A Transhuman in the high end of the Alpha class may require multiple Transhumans working together, or a Transhuman working with a group of well trained personnel without powers.

    Theta Class - Threats of this level are cause for evacuation of the immediate vicinity. A Transhuman with a Disrupter power at the lower end of this class can likely cause maiming, or even mortal injury without intervention. While a Disrupter power at the higher end of the Theta Class is more than likely capable of leveling a small building with a thought. A Psychic or Whisper in the Theta Class is less straightforward than a disrupter, as the nature of their abilities means the effects of their power may not be readily apparent, but will have similar impact on an area when they are done.

    These threats often elicit cooperation between groups of villains, and the Regulation offers villains a degree of amnesty when these threats appear, provided they cooperate in containing the threat. A group of well trained trained Transhumans is the lowest standard response to the appearance of a Theta class threat.

    Omega Class - Threats of this level are few and far between. At the time of this document¡¯s publication, there are five Omega class threats. These existences are impervious to standard methods of containment or subjugation. The standard response to actions of Omega Class threats is to evacuate while Aegis works to limit the threat.

    The five active Omega Class threats are listed below:

    - He Who Is

    - The Dead Men Walking [Amended - The Dead Men Walking were disbanded as of August 13, 2018, as the majority of their members were killed or captured by Regulation forces.]

    - The Three Calamities (Listed Below)

    Quetzalcoatl. The first to appear. More commonly known as ¡®The Eclipse¡¯.

    Ai Laau. The second to appear. More commonly known as ¡®The Earthshaker¡¯.

    Scathach. The third to appear. More commonly known as ¡®The Inevitable¡¯.

    005.3.2 The Number Rating System

    This system is more comprehensive to communicate the exact response level necessary when faced with a supernatural threat. The system starts at 0, which describes a standard human being without powers, who are deemed ¡®unclassified¡¯ by the Class Rating System. Transhumans and A-5 with powers that are rated 1-4 are considered to be a part of the Alpha Class. Transhumans, A-5, and A-13 with at least one power that is rated 5-8 are considered to be a part of the Theta Class. Anything with a power rated 9 or higher is considered to be a part of the Omega class.

    A more comprehensive breakdown of the Number Rating System is detailed in 005.3.3.

    I stopped there and fell backwards on my bed, letting my head rest as I digested all that information. I would go through the rest of the document when my head had calmed down. It wasn¡¯t that the information was hard to digest, even if it had taken something that was, frankly, cool and framed in a way that was kind of boring. The Omega class stuff was cool, but the rest was eh. What had me going was that I hadn¡¯t had access to the information for so long.

    It wasn¡¯t online, I looked. The document I had open on my laptop kind of had the answer as to why. The documents were only available to Regulation personnel. I was surprised there hadn¡¯t been a leak, given how many people the Regulation employed. But then again, they had a think tank somewhere filled with Adepts and Psychics, so it wasn¡¯t like it was impossible for them to contain information like that.

    In the meantime I started applying what I had read to what I knew. My ability to perceive and alter the forces in objects was a Smart Disrupter power, rather than just a Disrupter power. It broke the laws of physics, like Satellite had told me days before, but the fact that it gave me an additional sense made it necessary to tack on the Smart classification.

    My wonderful ability to doodle without pen or paint was a ghost power, but since I didn¡¯t sense colour, that one was just Ghost. Cut and dry. Probably rated 1 as well. Both my ghost and my Smart Disrupter powers had the Dagger description, and possibly the Aura one as well, since both only needed my concentration to activate, but didn¡¯t require it to be maintained. That was where it got muddied, since the Disrupter power needed me to keep touching the thing, while the Ghost power did not.

    I idly reached out to the wall and wrote the word ¡®test¡¯ in a grey similar to the colour of the wall. Without touching it, I willed it away. Nothing happened. That was expected since I hadn¡¯t been able to do that with Madeleine. I made a mental note to check the test every now and then to see how long it lasted.

    I made another mental note to thank Voidling for the care package, then dimly noted that I should check my sidekick schedule before going to school tomorrow. Some reading had been all it took, now I had at least some of the essential knowledge that every other hero seemed to have.

    That hadn¡¯t been so hard now, had it?

 3. I/Me 3

    ¡°Can I get a picture with you?¡± Someone asked me.

    I glanced across the way to see Zephyr standing with intent, glaring at the crowd moving past. No one had approached her, given the aura of hostility the hero was giving off. I, on the other hand had been accosted three times since I started standing here. Not because my costume looked any less menacing than Zephyrs, but because I wasn¡¯t actively giving people the evil eye.

    ¡°Of course.¡± I told the man, shifting so I was standing more presentably and holding my staff upright, rather than leaning it against me like I had been doing.

    He was older than me, his age landing somewhere in his mid twenties. His clothes were fashionable, but the care he took in picking his clothes hadn¡¯t reached how he looked after himself. There was scruff growing on his cheeks and chin, and even extending down his neck. It was all captured in high definition as he stood next to me and took a selfie.

    My costume was captured as well, in all it¡¯s black and green glory- No. Glory was too strong a word for it. Presence was better, but it didn¡¯t quite work in that sentence. He took a picture of him and me and I was in my costume. I didn¡¯t doubt this was another picture of me that would end up on someone¡¯s social media within minutes.

    Scratch that. He did it right away with the caption ¡®met the baby hero¡¯, then turned around as if I couldn¡¯t read, and gave a friendly pat on my shoulder.

    ¡°Thanks for that¡­¡± He trailed off. He wasn¡¯t the first to forget my name.

    ¡°Lock.¡± I reminded him, brushing the arm off as politely as I could. ¡°Have a safe day.¡±

    He nodded with a grin. ¡°Lock, got it. See you.¡± He walked off and I tried not to let it get to me.

    The man vanished into the constant stream of people that were walking in and out of the mall. I glanced up as Slingshot did another pass overhead. She was keeping an eye for anyone running around making a mess, or anyone matching the description of any of the local villains. Zephyr had wanted to be the one in the air, but Slingshot still wasn¡¯t totally comfortable in front of the public and her version of flight didn¡¯t give off a sound like that of a jet engine.

    All sorts of people walked by, and I attempted to keep my eye on each of them. Maybe keep didn¡¯t fit. I was looking for people who looked out of sorts, be that overly tired, obviously hiding wounds, or staring back at me with a cold glare. Once I evaluated someone, I let my eyes slide past to the next person. There were a lot of that third type, I¡¯d found. People who looked at me like I¡¯d kicked a puppy. All of whom I had never even seen before.

    They came in groups of two, mostly. Sometimes three or more, and occasionally there was someone who walked past obviously by themselves. Those by themselves pointedly ignored me and Zephyr, they knew they shouldn¡¯t have been out by themselves. The Regulation had put out word through every outlet regarding the matter with Clothesline and the increase of activity from the Racketeers.

    That was the news, social media sites, and other sites that were less social and more media, followed by constant reminders. The message was a warning not to go out alone, and in the SRT that notion was doubled down to the point that if you went out in costume, you had to be part of a group of three. At least, that¡¯s how it was for the Sentrys.

    The Racketeers, on their part, had kept the pressure up in the wake of Clothesline. They were on a witch hunt for whoever killed their teammate, and no one was safe. Over the past three days they¡¯d hit Impulse from the Courtesans, Gizumo from the Rising Sun, Fear and Method from the Gray Apostles, and double dipped in the Heroes of Yesterday when they attacked Forsaken. That was just the stuff that was loud enough to be noticed.

    They were hitting their targets almost on a schedule by this point. They were due to make another move if they kept to the pattern, and the heroes were getting antsy. At least, Zephyr was. It was why she was glaring at the general populace. She knew what was coming, and they knew what was coming, but they didn¡¯t care.

    Because it was the weekend and these prices won¡¯t stay low forever, or something along those lines.

    A contributing factor was that we didn¡¯t have any way of predicting where the Racketeers were going to appear next. I had thrown around the idea of asking Risk where the two most likely locations were and was told that one, that¡¯s not how his power works, and two, don¡¯t you think he¡¯d have thought of that already?

    Zephyr had been the one to vocalise point two.

    Another group of people accosted me for photos, a group of girls this time. There were three of them and they were about my age. I did my best to treat them the same way as I had the man from before. At least one of them remembered my name.

    ¡°Lock, could you ask Slingshot down here?¡± One of them asked, she was brunette.

    There was another brunette with a darker brown, and the other had her hair dyed red.

    ¡°May I ask why?¡± May was a good word to use, I¡¯d found over three days of sidekick duty. If I had asked ¡®what for?¡¯ or simply ¡®why?¡¯, it would have made me come off as cold. Alternatively, I could have said ¡®could you tell me why?¡¯, which was better, but made me out to be more of a machine following the law than a man. ¡®May I...¡¯ extended a request to the other person, and rolled off the tongue in a way that gave the fuzzies. It made them feel good and they got to take a larger part in the conversation.

    People liked interacting with heroes. At least, they liked the idea of it.

    ¡°We want to get a picture with you and her together.¡± The light brunette told me.

    ¡°One moment.¡± I put a finger to my ear, or I was wearing a hood so I pressed where my ear was, and pushed a button that opened the local channel.

    After my debut I had finally been given the standard issue equipment that Slingshot seemed to have received well before hers. That included a set of handcuffs which I¡¯d placed in my costume¡¯s pockets, some first aid material, mostly band aids, also in the pockets, and a radio.

    The radio came in two pieces. One was large, roughly the size of my palm, and did the actual transmitting and receiving. The other piece went in my ear and was equipped with a speaker and a microphone that picked up sound as far away as my mouth. Being wireless, the thing ran out of charge relatively quickly, so there were three replacements attached to the transceiver part of the device. It was, again, in a pocket.

    ¡°Slingshot, this is Lock. I have some fans asking for a picture. Can you make it?¡± I said into the channel.

    Slingshot may have been the name I said, but the words were really for Zephyr, who I turned to see the reaction of. She was already looking in my direction and sizing up my situation. Her hand went up to her ear.

    ¡°Slingshot, this is Zephyr. What does the situation look like from above?¡± Zephyr¡¯s voice came through the radio. She wasn¡¯t referring to me and the prospective photographers, she was talking about the bigger picture.

    ¡°Uh. I see a whole lot of people milling about.¡± Slingshot¡¯s voice came through. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen anyone running or anything through the glass roof or in the surrounding streets. ¡±

    Zephyr paused for a moment. I turned my head to look at the three girls, but kept my hand in place to let them know I was still waiting for a reply.

    ¡°Take a picture, Slingshot.¡± Zephyr told her. I perked my head up to imply the good news.

    ¡°I¡¯m on my way.¡± Slingshot¡¯s voice was muffled a bit by rushing wind.

    ¡°That¡¯s great to hear.¡± I said without pressing the transmitter. I lowered my hand and addressed the girls. ¡°She¡¯ll be right down.¡±

    The three of them started arguing about who was going to take the photo. Half a minute later Slingshot descended next to me, earning looks as she dove down until the very last moment, then stopping on a dime and ending the maneuver gracefully upright.

    She wasn¡¯t comfortable, I knew that. After three days of being in the public eye, Slingshot still hadn¡¯t found it within herself to brush off the opinions of random passerbys. To be fair, I hadn¡¯t either, but it was much more visible in the perpetually flying heroine. The diving maneuver was how she stopped people looking up her skirt on the way down.

    I over acted surprised when she came to a stop, earning a laugh from the girls. Slingshot gave me a nod hello before addressing the ones who had asked for her.

    ¡°Are you girls the ones who wanted a photo?¡± She asked. Her voice was different from how it had been during Greenflame¡¯s welcoming party. Then, she had been scared and it showed in how she spoke. Now her voice was putting on a quality I¡¯d heard Kathrine use when she was trying to entice the girls into doing something.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The brunette answered as she practically shoved her phone into the darker brunette¡¯s hands. ¡°So, just, like, here?¡±

    I closed my eyes and gave a soft laugh before stepping so that I was next to Slingshot and the brunette was between me and the darker brunette. On her part, Slingshot was still quite a ways off the ground, so she drifted downwards until our heads were level. Her arm brushed against the staff that seemed to be mine now, and I swapped the hand I was using to hold it. The redhead found a spot next to Slingshot, and the brunette relocated to match. I appreciated the awareness.

    The dark haired brunette stepped back, looked at the phone, then stepped back again, before including all of us ¡°Say cheese!¡±

    ¡°Cheese.¡± We obliged. There was a snap of the camera.

    ¡°Scatter!¡± The dark brunette followed up and the two girls darted off to the side, away from Slingshot and me. There was a snap as I was moving my free hand to the staff and I started evaluating how much of a threat the dark brunette was.

    Not much of a threat, it seemed. She was openly laughing and showing the brunette her phone. The fake redhead was rushing to look and was gushing about how cute we looked together.

    ¡°W-what?¡± Slingshot seemed lost.

    I put a hand on her shoulder. ¡°Thank you Slingshot.¡± Then I pulled back my hand, flicking my fingers upwards on the way back. Fly away.

    She got the message and blasted off.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± The brunette called after Slingshot as she started getting smaller.

    ¡°Aw, I wanted a picture with her as well.¡± The dark brunette pouted.

    ¡°Then you should have been honest from the start.¡± I told them. ¡°No one likes being used.¡±

    You¡¯re right. Her body language told me. ¡°Still...¡± Her mouth said.

    ¡°Zephyr is still right there.¡± I pointed over her shoulder. ¡°There¡¯s a strong character if ever I saw one.¡± I neglected to mention her inherent animosity towards me.

    ¡°I¡¯ll try and get a picture with¡­ her¡­ then.¡± The dark haired brunette faltered when her friends weren¡¯t paying attention.

    I could have left her like that. It was tempting, given the trick she had just pulled. But I was a hero and I had PR to build. I swapped the staff again and tapped it.

    ¡°Or a selfie with me. Or both. Your choice.¡±

    She brightened and pulled her phone out. When she asked me to do the peace sign, I acquiesced despite having being warned against doing such things back at the SRT. Then the gaggle of girls left me alone to continue standing.

    The next time a gaggle of girls asked for Slingshot I put my hand to my ear.

    ¡°Slingshot, this is Lock. Are you free to take a picture?¡± But I wasn¡¯t pressing the transmitter.

    I waited a few moments for ¡®Slingshot¡¯ to respond.

    ¡°Sorry, she¡¯s got to keep an eye out.¡± I told the disappointed civilians.

    ~~~

    The times when we were on the move were better than the times we had to stand around. It took me away from the crowds where the constant hustle quickly became grating, and let me exercise my power as I made my way through the streets as quickly as I could.

    It wasn¡¯t all good. My fastest speed was slower than Zephyr and Slingshot¡¯s cruising speeds, and they had to stop and wait for me several times every patrol. It didn¡¯t help that they had the freedom to fly as the crow did, while I was left to navigate the streets. Zephyr had a habit of getting impatient and flying ahead, leaving Slingshot in charge of keeping both me and her in sight. Given the recent activity of the Racketeers that scared the shit out of me, but Zephyr wasn¡¯t stopping.

    ¡°Intersection of King street and T road.¡± Zephyr¡¯s voice came through the radio. The next stop on our patrol, which didn¡¯t make me happy. King street was the commercial base of Downtown Graceland, meaning it would be crowded. I couldn¡¯t move as quickly through crowds, meaning I was going to get further behind, meaning Zephyr would have an excuse to get mad at me.

    ¡°Lock, this is Slingshot.¡± The flying superheroine spoke through the same channel. ¡°Take the second right.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t moving as fast as a car, but I was far faster than anyone walking. So much so that I kept off the sidewalk when possible. I made use of bike lanes, whose primary occupants I also tended to outpace, but those were few and far between. When we were further from the bustling areas of Graceland, I could step onto the road and slide along provided there weren¡¯t any cars. Where I was right now was not one of those places. It became slow going.

    Slingshot was acting as my map app, giving me directions to where I needed to go. I couldn¡¯t use my actual app because sliding on my phone would end up the same way as anyone who drove while on their phone.

    I didn¡¯t reply, I just took the indicated turn and waited for the next instruction.

    ¡°Straight until it forks.¡± Slingshot told me. ¡°Then go left.¡±

    There was a gap in oncoming traffic that I used to get halfway across the road and started sliding along the median strip. I prefered sliding on the road to sliding along the pavement. When on the road, my power perceived the entire road as one thing, so I could get some speed and not have to worry until I needed to turn. The footpath, however was divided into chunks that were only so long. Each time a new slab of concrete started, I needed to reapply my power. So I ended up going slower and putting more effort into maintaining a reduced speed.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    The mental gymnastics were nice to focus on. The problem was that it started wearing on me somewhere between the first time I really slid and now.

    ¡°That right.¡± Slingshot¡¯s direction came a little late and I had to backtrack. More lost time.

    ¡°This is Zephyr. Where¡¯s Lock?¡± The Sentinel demanded.

    ¡°I¡¯m nearly at the intersection.¡± I responded.

    She didn¡¯t transmit it, but I could hear Zephyr clicking her tongue in annoyance.

    ¡°The next checkpoint is the corner of sundance and-¡± A sudden lightning strike interrupted Zephyr¡¯s instruction. She followed up without missing a beat, even more urgency in her voice. ¡°Redirect to lightning strike. Confirmed beastmaster presence. Assume Racketeer involvement. Move.¡±

    If Zephyr was enjoying the sudden development, it didn¡¯t show in her voice. The sudden increase in speed, however, was telling. I heard the sound of her ability intensify despite still being two blocks away.

    ¡°Lock, you want to go, um, three streets before taking a right.¡± Slingshot informed me, still acting as my eye in the sky. ¡°Then go left and basically you want to zig zag until you get to the monument. I¡¯ll direct you from there.¡±

    I waited patiently for her to finish her directions. Interrupting her wouldn¡¯t have worked because two lines couldn¡¯t speak at the same time on radio.

    ¡°Slingshot, I saw the lightning strike.¡± I told her. ¡°Go and assist Zephyr.¡±

    She remained hanging in the sky, indecisiveness visible to all.

    ¡°Let the Regulation know, and go!¡± That got her moving, fiddling with her transceiver to communicate on a different channel.

    I quickly made it to the monument Slingshot had mentioned. In the time it took me to get there, there were three more lightning strikes that told me where I needed to be. I was lucky, the strikes were getting closer. That meant I wouldn¡¯t be horribly late to the show.

    The lightning strikes were because of the power of a Beastmaster called Channel. The Beastmasters were a group that all seemed to have become Altered during their manifestations. It showed in Channel, who had ridges of metal growing out of her body, poking out of her head, and presumably making it real hard for the girl to get a wardrobe. She had the ability to make lightning strike at any time. Even now, as she had just demonstrated four times in a row, despite the fact that it was a sunny day with barely any clouds.

    Catch was, the lightning only struck her.

    Not that it was a problem, of course. Thanks to the metal in her skin and general power fuckery, Channel was a living lightning rod. She took the lightning, stored it, then discharged it at will. I had no intention of touching her to see if I could manipulate the metal.

    As I maneuvered closer to the action I cycled through what I knew of the Beastmasters. They were lead by Jackal, who could transform into a large beast that could diffuse itself at will. When Jackal was diffused he affected things less, but it worked the other way too. I also remembered something about him lulling people to sleep at the worst times.

    Then there was Wayvern, who had the name because they had wings and a stinging tail, not unlike a wyvern. But Wyvern was taken, so they went with something wyvern adjacent for the villain. I didn¡¯t recall much about them, so I assumed enforcer abilities.

    After that was Retch, who was a very subpar displacer. They had super speed, but probably wouldn¡¯t be able to match the speed I was sliding. That is, at first. Retch had a ¡®slow start¡¯ power, so they got faster over time.

    Also in there was Bad Valentine, who Voidling had told us about in the meeting with the Heroes of Yesterday. I didn¡¯t know anything more about him, but I was keeping my eye out for glass. And I was sure I was forgetting someone, but I didn¡¯t have any time to scrape my memory to remember. I had crossed the paths of the Beastmasters and Racketeers.

    I was given advanced warning by seeing a fifth lightning strike somewhere around the next corner. The blast lit the pavement strongly enough that I could see a shadows that weren¡¯t normally there. Not wanting to run into anyone coming the other way, I reactivated friction in my shoes and came to a running stop before checking the corner.

    Boy, was I glad I did that.

    Far down the street Zephyr was on a fighting approach with Junk Mail, but it was a bad matchup for the heroine. She was trying to get close enough to grab him, but Junk Mail kept summoning wide sheets of paper in midair that got sucked into the turbines that were Zephyr¡¯s legs. It wouldn¡¯t have been a concern if the wide sheets of paper didn¡¯t also get caught on Zephyr¡¯s solid bits. Since Zephyr delivered blunt blows exclusively, she was having trouble getting the paper off. When she finally did, Junk mail had three more sheets waiting for her.

    Slingshot was further up, and was running interference for Zephyr, so only one of the sheets could impede her. The two heroes working together were gaining, but it was slow progress.

    Halfway between the Sentinel and me were three more of the Racketeers. Waterlad, Zipline, and Prism, the one with a disco ball for a helmet. Zipline was trying to lead the charge but was weighed down by her metal, which she was multitasking with. There were several wires extending from her ringmail costume forwards in an attempt to capture the fleeing Beastmasters.

    Those wires looked alive. They bent from some unseen force and seemed to be attempting to pull Zipline along. As the villain in question took some unreasonably long strides, she reached out with one hand and touched the door of a car. It immediately warped and melted into her costume, leaving behind a fine blue dust that used to be the car¡¯s paint job.

    Waterlad didn¡¯t have a power that let him do much in the situation. He was hanging around the middle of the group and keeping an eye out. He noticed me when I peeked around the corner. We were acting like we didn¡¯t know each other, so he didn¡¯t wave, and I noted his presence before letting my eyes slide past him.

    Prism¡¯s focus was divided. He was alternating between looking behind and pointing, with his hand glowing in a multicoloured light and causing Zephyr to slide sideways into the building, the looking forward and shooting a beam at the running Beastmasters. He wasn¡¯t the best shot, it seemed. The beam went very wide.

    Speaking of fleeing Beastmasters, there were two of them. Channel and the one I hadn¡¯t remembered the name of. They were right around the corner.

    Channel raced past before I could react, the jagged metal ridges on her arms were crackling with electricity and I didn¡¯t want to touch her anyway. However, the other guy was running just a little slower and was well within my reach. I reached out and grabbed his arm, redirecting him using myself as a pivot while Channel kept running in another direction.

    ¡°Get back here!¡± Prism bellowed, somehow sounding closer than I thought. Then I remembered that¡¯s exactly what his power did.

    ¡°No bad intentions.¡± I told the guy I grabbed. The guy was clearly Altered. His hair and skin reminded me of a rainbow because that¡¯s exactly what it looked like. Patches of each were scattered around his visible skin, all shining prismatically in the light. He also had gills on his neck. Who knew if they were functional.

    Zipline sent some more wire after Channel, who was crossing the road. Enough commotion had happened that some people had stopped their cars and left them behind that Channel was able to dodge the one still moving car on her way across. I couldn¡¯t blame the drivers when there was a villain with the very loud ability to call lightning strikes on the loose. A few broke off and snaked around the corner, driving themselves into the pavement around us.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± The Beastmaster was trying to pull his arm free. ¡°Let me go.¡±

    ¡°Hey.¡± I used my power to increase the force I was putting into my grip. It was fortunate this guy was wearing long sleeves. ¡°I can run faster than you. Hold on, and I¡¯ll get you away from the other supervillains that are trying to gut you.¡±

    He was breathing hard and clearly wasn¡¯t buying what I was selling. Then another one of Zipline¡¯s wires hit the pavement and made his decision for him.

    ¡°Get me the fuck out of here.¡± He told me.

    I obliged, releasing his arm and picking him up by with an arm wrapped around his waist. One the way up I made the job easier for myself by countering the effect of his weight on my costume. The guy made a surprised sound as I easily lifted him. Because of how I was using my power, picking him up wasn¡¯t impeding any of my movement. Which was good, because Zipline had just made it around the corner and was glaring at me through her solid metal mask.

    ¡°You.¡± She pointed at me. Several errant wires also pointed at me. Said wires started moving towards me.

    Well shit.

    I started running, using my power to reduce friction, then put it back to take another step and attempt to increase my speed further. Once I had decent sliding speed, I intended to use my power to push my velocity beyond that, but a wire snaked around my leg before I could get around to it. Zipline hadn¡¯t fixed me in place yet for some reason. It gave me time to react.

    ¡°Hold.¡± I told the Beastmaster, thrusting the staff into his hands. When he was holding the piece of metal I reached down and gripped the wire, startling when the complex matrix of tiny forces entered my senses. I had forgotten about that quirk of her power.

    Originally I was intending to reduce friction on the wire and just push it off. It would have been a fine improvement over what happened in the SRT, which left my leg bruised for a week. But ¡®seeing¡¯ the matrix again gave me an idea, and it wasn¡¯t all I ¡®saw¡¯. Last time Zipline had affixed her wires to the floor before I¡¯d gotten my hands on them for the most part. She hadn¡¯t gotten around to that yet so I could sense her entire costume, as well as all the other wires that were attached to it.

    That gave me another idea, but I decided to just go with the former idea this time. I cancelled a force in the wire just next to where I was holding it, causing the wire to break and shutting off my connection to the rest of Zipline. Then I got rid of its friction and slid it off anyway.  Then I got back to speeding up.

    When I looked back in front of me, the sidewalk turned in a sharp 90 degree angle, with a barrier right in front of me and a car parked just beyond that. I swore and started slowing to turn, but when I turned the corner I found myself running into a wall. The change was so sudden that I didn¡¯t have time to stop and pancaked into it.

    ¡°The hell did you do that for?¡± The beastmaster demanded. He was on the side that hadn¡¯t been driven into a wall, and I had twisted at the last moment to try and hit the wall with my back. I had been partially successful.

    I didn¡¯t answer him and looked back. The building I was now leaning against turned a sudden ninety degrees right next to me and walled off where we had just come from. There was another me with the same Beastmaster on his other shoulder against that wall. When I looked at him, it was like looking in a mirror. This was Prism¡¯s doing, it was exactly looking in a mirror.

    ¡°Ghost.¡± I said to myself, fitting him into the power classification I had recently learned, then got back to running. There was no way of seeing how close the villains were.

    ¡°You¡¯re next, Lock!¡± Prism¡¯s voice shouted from the other side of the illusion. ¡°We¡¯re keeping this up until we get the one that offed her! And we¡¯re getting that staff back!¡±

    To punctuate his point, several wires pierced the illusion and stabbed into the pavement. Some of them nearly reached me.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t me!¡± I yelled back at them. ¡°I met her once!¡±

    ¡°And you broke her leg!¡± This time it was Zipline shouting. She said more, but I turned a corner and couldn¡¯t hear the follow up.

    Yeah, given a chance to choose between sticking around for banter and getting away, I was going to get away every time. I didn¡¯t just stop there. I went several blocks before putting down the Beastmaster I was handily carrying. My free hand was searching the gear in my pocket, and quickly found what it was looking for.

    ¡°Thanks for the assist, Lock.¡± He said thankfully and held up my staff. ¡°Do you want this back?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± I snapped a handcuff on the arm holding the staff with one hand before taking the metal pole with the other. ¡°Other hand, please.¡±

    ¡°Drat.¡± He pouted and held his other arm out, which I also cuffed. I considered handcuffing him with his hands behind his back, but he seemed cooperative, and honestly, not all that capable. He looked up with a confident grin. ¡°So what now, Mr Sentry?¡±

    ¡°To the SRT with you.¡± I told him. ¡°You¡¯re one of the Beastmasters, what did you think would happen?¡±

    ¡°That we would stop for cookies and ice cream first? I know a great place, it¡¯s-¡±

    ¡°Too bad.¡± I cut him off and pushed on his shoulder to get him to start walking.

    He clicked his tongue and visibly pouted. ¡°You know, despite that, I think you¡¯re a nice hero. Most of the ones in Graceland would have just arrested me on the spot, to hell with the consequences. Do me a favour and don¡¯t do what Orcus did to Junkie.¡± The Beastmaster said conversationally.

    I nodded, taking the complement stiffly because he was a villain and I was a hero.

    He sighed. ¡°We were having such a nice day as well, Channel and me. We were just having fun at the arcade, you know, shooting the shit. Channel had her hoodie on and no one knew the better.¡±

    I started ignoring him and tried to recall what I knew about this Beastmaster. The prismatic hair and skin had given a kick start to my memory at some point, and when I reached for the information his name was readily available: Rainbowfish.

    Ah. Because of the rainbow hair and the gills.

    Rainbowfish was still talking. ¡°So we finished up, went outside onto King street, and there they were. The Racketeers! Zipline, Prism, and Junk Mail. We only managed to get away from them because Channel was such a badass. She¡¯s one of the only people that counters Zipline in Graceland. Only reason we were able to run.¡±

    His power was harder to grasp at, because it wasn¡¯t as clear cut as powers like mine were. As far as powers went, Rainbowfish¡¯s was abstract. It involved belief, and could impact the world in ways that were hard to track. First, he had to tell a lie. Then, in layman¡¯s terms, when the lie was revealed it would become true.

    I didn¡¯t know the limits, but it was scary now that I was recalling it.

    Rainbowfish hadn¡¯t stopped talking, despite the fact that I clearly wasn¡¯t taking part in the conversation. ¡°We took a few twists and turns. Then you caught me, and now here we are.¡± He let out a big breath. ¡°Good thing I didn¡¯t get caught by anything metal.¡±

    I was scrambling with my transceiver to change the channel to one that hooked me into the SRT. ¡°This is Lock. What are the containment protocols for Rainbowfish?¡±

    It took a few moments for me to get a response. ¡°Lock? This is Francis. Can you repeat?¡±

    ¡°What are the containment protocols for Rainbowfish?¡± I repeated through clenched teeth.

    ¡°Please hold.¡± Francis told me.

    Another lightning strike happened several blocks away.

    ¡®You know, Lock.¡± Rainbowfish turned and faced me. ¡°I haven¡¯t been very honest with you and I want to make amends.¡± I dropped my attempt at getting the protocols and lunged at him, trying to stop him from talking. ¡°I was never at the arcade. Why would two supervillains go to the arcade?¡±

    It was a dumb question, but it shone a new light on all the things Rainbowfish had told me. He was never at the arcade, sure. That was fine. But the incident hadn¡¯t happened on King street, we were three streets over from there. He¡¯d only listed three Racketeers, missing Waterlad, and they hadn¡¯t gotten away at all. The chase was still ongoing, at least for Channel. He¡¯d given me the information, and I¡¯d just taken it in. I fell for his power harder than when I got caught in Spinnerette¡¯s web back in the SRT.

    Rainbowfish pulsed in iridescent light and vanished from my grasp. The handcuffs fell to the ground with nothing to hold them up.

    Good thing I didn¡¯t get caught by anything metal.

    Francis¡¯ voice crackled in my ear. ¡°Lock? Rainbowfish protocols involve stopping him from speaking by any means necessary. Try to avoid knocking him out, in the interest of not killing him or doing permanent damage. Covering his mouth while finding something to gag him with is advisable. Don¡¯t let him write anything down either, it counts.¡±

    I gripped my staff hard enough to whiten the fingers. ¡°Thanks Francis.¡± Then I breathed, trying to calm myself before pressing the transmitter again. ¡°Unfortunately that was a bit late. Tell me. Can I requisition duct tape through you?¡±

    There was a moment of quiet. ¡°I see. You¡¯ll want to talk to Rosie about that.¡± Francis told me. I didn¡¯t call back and switched the channel back to the one Zephyr, Slingshot, and I were using.

    ¡°-s just vanished.¡± Zephyr was saying. ¡°What. Happened?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Slingshot immediately confessed.

    I waited until there had been a full second of radio silence. ¡°Rainbowfish.¡± I said simply.

    Zephyr was quick to respond. ¡°Lock. I didn¡¯t see you show up. Report.¡±

    ¡°I ambushed Rainbowfish and got him away from the conflict. He was cooperative and I cuffed him, but he used his power to get away before I could get the containment protocols.¡±

    There it was. Even with several buildings between me and the superheroine I could feel it. The judging.

    ¡°Whatever he did took Channel away from the conflict.¡± When Zephyr¡¯s hurricane voice came through the radio it was remarkably controlled. ¡°The Racketeers also vanished at the same time. I don¡¯t have any indication of where they went. Slingshot, go up and see if you can find anything.¡±

    ¡°Yip. I mean, copy.¡± Slingshot hesitantly replied. I imagined her complaining about the cold as she obeyed.

    ¡°Lock. Start heading back to the SRT. You have a detailed report to write.¡± and for me to tear apart. She didn¡¯t say that last part, but it was implied.

    ¡°Copy.¡± I responded shortly and started picked up the handcuffs when something across the street caught my eye.

    He had lost the black glass trident at some point, but no one else walked around with swimming goggles on. Waterlad was leaning against a wall across the street and he was very obviously staring at me. I thought back to when the Racketeers were chasing the Beastmasters. Waterlad seemed to be one of the calmer members of the group, he was probably along to make sure the others weren¡¯t getting too crazy.

    Sure, he was reckless, and he threw me down that elevator shaft which I still wasn¡¯t over. I wasn¡¯t sure I ever would be. But he also focused on the things that mattered. It was why he approached us during Greenflame¡¯s welcoming party in the first place. Plus, we had established a shaky rapport. From how he was just watching me, he probably didn¡¯t think I killed Clothesline.

    Or he did, and he was waiting for the perfect chance to get me, like Prism had said they would.

    Still. I was interested in what he had to say. I lifted a hand to my ear in the universal symbol for a phone.

    ¡°Talk?¡±

    Waterlad shook his head. He pointed at himself, repeated my gesture, and then pointed at me before turning to leave.

    ¡°No. I¡¯ll call you.¡±

 3. I/Me 4

    ¡°Five hundred words.¡± Zephyr said. ¡°With that in mind, can you tell me what is wrong with this report in front of me?¡±

    I stood stiffly with my costume¡¯s hood down, but with my power still active. Zephyr was baiting me, but I wasn¡¯t falling for it. I let her decide when to answer the question. Anything I said would have been wrong.

    ¡°At a glance, I can see two paragraphs covering this page.¡± Zephyr decided there had been enough silence. ¡°Which is good. Reports should be detailed, and that takes a lot of words. The problem here, is that your handwriting is atrocious, large, and messy.¡±

    Two of those things were essentially the same thing, but given the topic I decided against arguing english. So what if I had large and messy handwriting? I got the details down. My involvement in the incident had been minimal. Go to the place. Catch Rainbowfish. Flee the Racketeers. Fuck up on arresting Rainbowfish before getting the containment protocols.

    I decided against including the little piece of communication Waterlad and I had done at the end of it.

    Zephyr was still going. ¡°So tell me, Lock, how a public incident involving a grand total of six villains from two seperate groups resulting in thousands of dollars of property damage can be summed up in two paragraphs?¡±

    I didn¡¯t think I could get away with not responding to that one. Zephyr¡¯s long and pointed glare proved that suspicion correct, so I coughed to delay for time.

    ¡°I just wrote down what happened.¡± I said. ¡°Not what I thought.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go back to what I just said.¡± Zephyr told me. ¡°How can that be summed up in two paragraphs?¡±

    I winced. ¡°Not very well.¡±

    ¡°Not well!?¡± Zephyr basically shrieked. That had been a misstep. Now she had ammunition. ¡°Are you trying to submit subpar work?¡±

    I grimaced, deigning to fall back into silence.

    ¡°The Sentinels are an American organisation, Lock.¡± Zephyr was taking an angle I hadn¡¯t expected. ¡°But they can¡¯t operate with the freedom they need without consent from the Regulation. Do you know what the Regulation is?¡±

    I let myself nod my head once. It was a careful and slow nod. It was also ignored.

    ¡°They are a government entity operating across borders.¡± Zephyr held up a finger. ¡°I¡¯m going to stress that they are not American. They aren¡¯t anything other than a system obeying a consensus of laws that several dozen lawyers from each country involved spent months hammering out on neutral grounds. Lawyers that are ten times smarter than you¡¯ll ever be.¡±

    The personal attack was a low blow that the explanation could have done without. I filed it away under reasons I didn¡¯t like Zephyr. That folder was getting larger by the hour.

    ¡°That means that we, the Sentinels, and you, the Sentry, need to abide by the rules of the country we¡¯re operating in. Namely, the forty nine United States of America. We have to obey and enforce the law of our country, specific to the state that we are in. That couldn¡¯t be made any clearer, right?¡±

    Once again I forced stillness on myself. I focused on the forces in my earring. Unfortunately my power picked up sound vibrations as well. Not well enough that I could listen through it, but the tempo matched what I could hear with my ears anyway, making Zephyr¡¯s rant easier to follow.

    ¡°So that is one shackle us heroes wear when we go out to fulfil our duty. What is the other shackle, Lock?¡± She didn¡¯t give me time to respond. ¡°It¡¯s the Regulation. To get their consent to operate, we also need to abide by their rules as well as our own. That further impedes our ability to act at all. And if any of us act out, the Regulation functions as a guillotine hanging over our heads as well. When that guillotine falls, Lock, it doesn¡¯t just take one head. It takes them all.¡±

    Zephyr slammed my report down on the table, releasing a blast of wind that sent many of the other pieces of discarded paper in her office into the air. ¡°So tell me now, Lock.¡± Her voice was full of venom that dripped from my name. ¡°How can an event involving six supervillains and thousands of dollars of property damage be accurately described in two paragraphs?¡±

    The last of the paper found a new resting place before she accepted I wasn¡¯t going to say anything.

    ¡°Insubordinate.¡± Zephyr said, testing me for a reaction.

    I didn¡¯t give her any dice. I was owning that one so long as Zephyr was the Sentinel in charge of me.

    ¡°Arrogant.¡±

    I didn¡¯t agree, but that way lay a philosophical discussion that was best done with our inside voices. And Zephyr¡¯s voice was a hurricane.

    ¡°Forgetful.¡±

    For what exactly? I thought, my face twitching. There wasn¡¯t anything I had really forgotten. If she was talking about how I handled Rainbowfish, there was no way I could have forgotten the containment protocols because I hadn¡¯t been informed of them in the first place.

    ¡°Incompetent.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not incompetent.¡± I couldn¡¯t let that one by. The whole reason for me being a Sentry was to have agency. Being incompetent and having agency were diametrically opposing ideals.

    ¡°Then why,¡± Zephyr demanded, smelling blood. ¡°Are you incapable of writing a minimum of five hundred words?¡±

    I stared at her with my grey eyes.

    Zephyr stared back at me through her mask.

    ¡°I¡¯ll rewrite the report.¡± I said.

    ¡°No.¡± Zephyr said simply.

    ¡°No?¡± I was surprised, I couldn¡¯t hide it.

    ¡°This is evidence of your incompetence, which I will be submitting for review by the Regulation.¡± Zephyr told me.

    I felt anger rising inside. She had found another tender spot to bite, and her fangs were dripping with blood.

    ¡°If that is all-¡± I started turning to leave.

    ¡°Stay!¡± Zephyr interrupted me. ¡°We still haven¡¯t gone over your mission performance. This report doesn¡¯t go into nearly enough detail on the incident, so I¡¯ll have you dictate an account to me, and we¡¯ll go over your missteps as they come up.¡±

    I clenched my jaw and didn¡¯t move. Focusing on the earring wasn¡¯t helping.

    ¡°Lock.¡± Zephyr warned. I pulled my Vphone from my pocket and held it behind me as I turned to face the Sentinel, moving so Zephyr never saw it. I tapped some numbers into it, using my power to approximate where the right spots were on the screen. I hoped I got it right.

    ¡°Rosie, can you please record this?¡± I asked the room.

    There was a pleasant ding.

    ¡°Rosie.¡± Zephyr said before I could move on. ¡°Cut the recording and delete it. Disregard any requests from the Sentry Lock for the next week.¡±

    There was a pleasant ding.

    Zephyr sat down at her desk with a smug air about her. The sight was infuriating.

    ¡°You were about to dictate something to me.¡± She told me, her voice still hard.

    I coughed into the hand that wasn¡¯t holding the Vphone, then returned it to behind my back. ¡°When I arrived-¡±

    ¡°When did you arrive?¡± Zephyr cut me off.

    I simmered but continued. ¡°After the fifth lightning strike.¡±

    ¡°What made you take so long to arrive?¡± Zephyr demanded. ¡°Slingshot and I were engaged with the Racketeers by the time the second lightning strike occurred. You weren¡¯t far behind us, were you?¡±

    ¡°I was behind because-¡±

    ¡°You were lagging behind?¡± Zephyr asked, stabbing at the soft spot.

    I didn¡¯t take it lying down. ¡°You were pushing ahead. Not waiting for-¡±

    ¡°This is a report for your actions, not mine.¡± Zephyr cut me off again.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t wait for me to even arrive at a checkpoint before moving on.¡±

    ¡°Why were you the last one to arrive at any checkpoint, Lock?¡±

    ¡°Because you fly, and I¡¯m stuck on the ground.¡±

    ¡°And what does that make you?¡±

    ¡°Stuck on the ground, forced to navigate the streets while you go as the crow flies.¡±

    ¡°Why were you the last one to arrive at the checkpoints?¡±

    ¡°Because I can¡¯t keep up with two fliers.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re avoiding the point, Lock.¡± Zephyr said flatly. ¡°If you are lagging behind your teammates, what does that make you?¡±

    I knew what she was trying to make me say. The way she danced around the word made it so very obvious. But it didn¡¯t seem like she was letting me get around this one. ¡°Slower.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Zephyr nodded. ¡°But I think it goes a step further. Since, because you are slower than your teammates, who you should be watching out for, you can¡¯t watch their backs. That makes you¡­¡±

    ¡°A liability.¡± I finished.

    ¡°That¡¯s not the word I would have used, but it¡¯s acceptable.¡± Zephyr said. ¡°Next.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re asking for.¡± I snapped. ¡°Are you asking for the next thing that happened, or the next opportunity to stab at my so called incompetence? Because it¡¯s very hard to tell right now.¡±

    ¡°I said.¡± Zephyr paused for effect. ¡°Next.¡±

    I closed my eyes and focused on something. My costume this time. It was heavy enough that its weight alone would make Zephyr¡¯s desk break, but my power arrested so much of it that I could wear it like clothes. A mental image of the costume blossomed in my mind¡¯s eye and zoomed in on the dent the bullet left.

    No. That wasn¡¯t helping.

    ¡°When I arrived.¡± I repeated. It had taken so long to just finish saying three words without getting interrupted. ¡°I quickly saw the situation was bad, and saw all six of the villains you have been repeatedly mentioning.¡±

    ¡°This report does not require personal attacks.¡± Zephyr said unironically. ¡°Who were the villains you saw?¡±

    ¡°Channel first, who ran past me.¡±

    ¡°Stop there. Channel ran past you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And you did nothing?¡±

    ¡°There was nothing to do.¡± I responded.

    ¡°You let a known supervillain run past you without doing anything?¡± Zephyr was biting the soft spot again.

    I grit my teeth. ¡°Touching her would have electrified me. I would have been incapacitated and at the mercy of the Racketeers.¡±

    ¡°Did you even consider trying?¡± She asked.

    ¡°No, because I was more focused on getting Rainbowfish, who I was much more capable of arresting.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± Zephyr said, leaning back. All she had taken away from that was that I had not even considered trying. I knew it, and she knew I knew it.

    ¡°That¡¯s each of the Beastmasters who were present. The Racketeers present were Zipline, Prism, Waterlad, and Junk Mail, who you were locked in a fight with.¡±

    ¡°Careful.¡± Zephyr warned.

    I breathed through clenched teeth. ¡°I got a hold on Rainbowfish and ran away with him in my grasp. Zipline saw me and recognised me from our previous encounter. So she shifted focus to chase me instead of Channel. Even with Prism running interference for Zipline, I was able to get away.¡±

    ¡°Lock, this is meant to be a detailed report.¡± Zephyr reminded me.

    I pushed down the urge to snap at her and went backwards through the events in my head. ¡°First I picked up Rainbowfish. Then Zipline saw me. Then I ran. Zipline managed to catch me with a wire, but I removed it before she could stop me. Then Prism made me-¡±

    ¡°How?¡± Zephyr interrupted.

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± I asked.

    Zephyr specified. ¡°How did you escape Zipline¡¯s wire?¡± If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°I pushed it off using my power. Is that acceptable?¡±

    ¡°It is. Continue.¡±

    ¡°Then Prism made me run into a wall. Then-¡±

    ¡°Stop. The wall. How?¡±

    ¡°He used his ability to make me think a turn was much closer than it actually was. I fell for the illusion.¡±

    ¡°So you are incapable of perceiving when Prism is attempting to fool you. That is good to know for the future.¡±

    My grip tightened on the phone. ¡°Then I kept running and got away. I handcuffed Rainbowfish and started asking about the containment protocols. While I was waiting for the protocols to come through, Rainbowfish talked.¡±

    ¡°You just let Rainbowfish talk?¡±

    ¡°He revealed the lie moments before I got the protocols.¡± I answered.

    ¡°You¡¯re the only hero in Graceland who would make such an elementary error.¡± Zephyr commented.

    ¡°As I said, I didn¡¯t know how to handle Rainbowfish until after he used his power.¡±

    ¡°So you have a good grasp on your own level of competence.¡± Zephyr nodded. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±

    Oh, I fucking seethed at that. The fact that I was holding the Vphone behind my back was the only reason I didn¡¯t do something incredibly stupid right then. Instead I closed my eyes and focused on the phone for a moment. I didn¡¯t tend to focus on electronics very much because they had so many interconnected bits and forces within them. This time I relished in the opportunity to lose myself in the matrix of the device before coming back calmer.

    ¡°So Rainbowfish escaped.¡± I said, voice strained. ¡°And that¡¯s it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Zephyr challenged. I didn¡¯t rise to the occasion.

    Eventually Zephyr decided the silence had gone on long enough.

    ¡°This unpleasant event could have been avoided, had you simply said all that on your report.¡± She said.

    ¡°I did.¡± I replied against my better judgement, but that statement told me she hadn¡¯t even bothered to read the damn thing. ¡°One paragraph to go over everything we just did more succinctly. The other to explain Rainbowfish¡¯s lie.¡±

    Zephyr took a deep breath. When she spoke her voice was accompanied by a manifestation of her power. ¡°I expect a minimum of 500 words to a report in the future, Lock.¡± She said. ¡°Get. Out.¡±

    I was out the door before she even finished telling me to go. Once outside I raised my Vphone to my ear and briskly walked away from Zephyr¡¯s office.

    ¡°Can you make a recording of that?¡± I asked.

    Orcus asked. ¡°Why do you need a recording?¡±

    He must have picked up after a few rings. ¡°Zephyr told Rosie to disregard my requests for a week. I can¡¯t get one off of her.¡±

    There was a long silence, then a very long and heavy sigh came through the line. It was strange. I hadn¡¯t heard Orcus sigh before. When he spoke, he almost sounded normal.

    Orcus said. ¡°I¡¯ll send it to your Sentry email and some members high in the Regulation. I don¡¯t approve of what I just heard. Not of Zephyr¡¯s handling of the situation and certainly not how you recorded the meeting without permission. I¡¯ll try and step in to see if I can adjust who you sidekick with.¡±

    ¡°But you can¡¯t deny the way she treats me is irrational.¡± I said. ¡°She orders Slingshot around like she¡¯s a robot, but never gets on her case about anything. Then I trip on a step and I¡¯m suddenly responsible for Hawaii.¡±

    ¡°She is good in the field. Otherwise the Regulation would not keep her around.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± I said.

    Orcus said, ¡°Lock.¡± He sounded tired.

    ¡°No.¡± I repeated. ¡°She was the only flier in Graceland that wasn¡¯t twelve before Slingshot signed up. Jagmikh has been around for what, four years? She was moved here after Salt Lake City, wasn¡¯t she?¡±

    ¡°Let it lie, Lock.¡± Orcus told me.

    ¡°Who was before her?¡± I asked, suddenly interested. A long silence followed my question.

    Orcus ended the call. I would have to research that myself.

    ~~~

    ¡°Oh great, it¡¯s you.¡± Unshaken¡¯s disdain pierced any part of me that cared. Which was more of me than it would have been with anyone else because of fucking Collage.

    ¡°Yup.¡± I tried to hide the way I felt. ¡°Me.¡±

    Orcus had pulled through on meddling with my sidekick schedule. I had woken up the next morning with a message from Rosie informing me of the changes. Instead of another round of Zephyr, Slingshot, and my wonderfully grounded self, I was being added to Voidling¡¯s patrol for the day. As far as Mondays went, this was a good one.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look so down, Lock.¡± Lucidity told me. ¡°You¡¯re with the cool kids club now.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll need to change the name if you include him.¡± Unshaken told Lucidity.

    Ouch.

    ¡°Sentrys.¡± Voidling said without raising his voice. ¡°We¡¯ll be moving to complete our patrol quickly today, then set up guarding locations around commercial hotspots.¡± He had tactfully interrupted as Lucidity was gearing up to rebuke Unshaken, distracting her from escalating. The man sounded tired, not unlike Orcus had yesterday. ¡°The Racketeers seem to have slowed down since the incident with the Beastmasters yesterday, there wasn¡¯t any reports of an attack overnight. Be ready for another incident to break out today regardless.¡±

    ¡°Are we going as a group of four?¡± Unshaken asked. ¡°It would be better to split into two groups of two.¡±

    ¡°That goes against what Theo told us.¡± Lucidity pointed out. ¡°Three heroes at a minimum.¡±

    Unshaken shrugged. ¡°So we stay near each other. A block apart at most.¡±

    ¡°I was thinking something along those lines.¡± Voidling agreed. ¡°I¡¯ll take the tighter route with team A while Lucidity can make hoverboards for team B.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re on team A with¡­?¡±

    ¡°Lock at first.¡± Voidling told her. ¡°After a few checkpoints we can rotate members.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± Unshaken gave a half shrug. ¡°Can we get some hoverboards, pipsqueak?¡±

    ¡°Coming right up.¡± Lucidity saluted, ignoring the demeaning title, then fell face flat on the ground. Vanished through the surface instead of hitting the floor like most people would. Moments later Lucidity fell through the ceiling with a hoverboard in hand and another under her feet.

    ¡°Woah.¡± She almost fumbled, but righted herself. Lucidity had come through the ceiling face first.

    Unshaken took the hoverboard when it was dropped to her then turned to the group impatiently. ¡°Can we go?¡±

    Voidling didn¡¯t answer, he just started moving. When we made it out of the SRT the two girls quickly flew away on their hoverboards, leaving Voidling and I to make our own way out of downtown. I was expecting Voidling to produce some kind of segue or something so he could move faster, but he just kept walking. I matched his pace, not sure if I should say anything about it.

    After half an hour we met up with Lucidity and Unshaken, who were bickering relentlessly. It was a far cry from Voidling and myself, who had barely spoken to each other. But it was a somewhat comfortable silence and I appreciated that. Occasionally there was radio contact from Unshaken, which broke up the quiet every now and then. It was refreshing, taking it easy. Not having to jam my staff up my spine because Zephyr was picking at my every flaw.

    ¡°Lock.¡± Lucidity demanded, still perched atop a hoverboard. ¡°Zanter. Is he a real hero? Yes or no?¡±

    Zanter was an on screen character in the movie ¡®Gift for the Holiday¡¯ wherein a guy manifested superpowers around christmas. It was about the spirit of christmas, and took a light-hearted approach to a real person developing superpowers that let him deposit gifts under people¡¯s trees. I recalled what trivia I knew about the film.

    ¡°Zanter isn¡¯t a hero.¡± I decided. Unshaken folded her arms in satisfaction before I could continue. ¡°On the other hand his actor, Christain Farlo, is.¡±

    Christain Farlo was a well known face in Hollywood. He had the ability to make sub-solid illusions, so all the production houses loved him. Plus, he was actually a decent actor and I enjoyed his work. Gift for the Holiday was just one of the movies he had done.

    ¡°That¡¯s dumb.¡± Lucidity pouted.

    ¡°See? Zanter isn¡¯t real.¡± Unshaken said triumphantly. ¡°Told you so.¡±

    Lucidity crossed her arms with indignation. ¡°Stop it.¡±

    I rolled my eyes, not that anyone could see. I hadn¡¯t realised I was taking part in such a petty argument.

    ¡°Shall we restructure the teams?¡± Voidling interrupted before things escalated. ¡°Myself and Unshaken in team A, and Lock and Lucidity in team B.¡±

    ¡°Fine by me.¡± Unshaken descended and hopped off the hoverboard, leaving it behind.

    ¡°Fine.¡± Lucidity said much more pointedly.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Unshaken shot back.

    ¡°Follow Lucidity, she knows the way.¡± Voidling told me with a light grip on my shoulder. There was a flicker of force in my costume. I looked at his hand as he released me.

    ¡°What-¡± I started.

    ¡°Take your time, Lock.¡± Voidling said, already walking away.

    ¡°Come on, it¡¯s much better up here.¡± Lucidity called as she was also moving, just up instead of across. ¡°Cool kids club is in the sky!¡±

    I watched Voidling striding away. That had been intentional. He had used his power on me, of that I was certain. But besides the initial impact, I couldn¡¯t tell if anything was different. I shook my head and stepped onto the hoverboard Unshaken had left behind.

    At first there wasn¡¯t much room for conversation. We were flying above houses and there was enough wind that our words were snatched away every time we opened our mouths. We could still use radio, but that would have included Unshaken and Voidling in the conversation. So the only form of communication we had between us was our movement. I tried to follow Lucidity as close as I could, but the young heroine had apparently made her hoverboard faster than mine. It turned into something of a game of tag that I was never going to win.

    It was a refreshing fifteen minutes. Then we made it to the checkpoint and hung out in the sky while we waited for the walkers to arrive.

    ¡°How¡¯s Slingshot?¡± I asked. While I might have been on sidekick duty with the same sentinel as her, I hadn¡¯t exactly had much time to say ¡®Hey Madeleine, how are you holding up after hearing about the death of the girl that punched your sunglasses in?¡¯ Lucidity tended to spend more social time with her, so she probably had a better idea than me. There was more common ground there.

    ¡°Slingshot?¡± Lucidity thought for a bit. ¡°Seemed fine when I passed her today.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± I said. More to myself than Lucidity.

    ¡°Ew.¡± The twelve year old gagged. ¡°You like her don¡¯t you?¡±

    I blinked. There were a hundred different ways to take that one. ¡°That¡¯s a very good question.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t like her?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°That¡¯s not what I said.¡±

    ¡°So you do? Gross.¡±

    I gave Lucidity a long look. She didn¡¯t have a shit eating grin like Collage would have in this situation. On the contrary, everything about her expression and body language told me she was being genuine, both interested and disturbed. Oh, to be young and blunt.

    ¡°I¡¯ll put it another way.¡± I decided. ¡°The disrupters on the team all have the means and are therefore suspects.¡±

    ¡°For what?¡± Lucidity realised the answer before I could say it. ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°So I was wondering how Slingshot was holding up in the wake of that.¡± I explained.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you like, ask her?¡± Lucidity asked bluntly.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t had the chance.¡± I answered simply.

    ¡°But you¡­¡± She twisted her mouth, trying to think of what to say.

    I chuckled to myself. Lucidity was quite the open book.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you get drinks with us?¡± She slowly asked, speeding up halfway through the question.

    I saw a mental image of Slingshot and Lucidity in a bar. ¡°When you say drinks, what do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Drinks, duh.¡± Lucidity responded, not clarifying anything. ¡°We do it sometimes after day patrols. We go somewhere and buy a drink or two, still in costume. My Regulation handler really likes the idea because it¡¯s like advertiseming or something.¡± She blended the words advertisement and advertising together.

    ¡°And where exactly do you go for a drink?¡± I questioned. This story was getting more ridickulous by the second. I wasn¡¯t even allowed in bars at sixteen, there was no way Lucidity could enter one by herself or with Madeleine.

    Lucidity pointed past me. ¡°Greasy Pete¡¯s.¡± I followed the direction of the finger and saw that the fast food chain had popped up here as well. ¡°There¡¯s another near the SRT. Slingshot buys me a burger as well sometimes.¡± A sheepish grin. ¡°Most times.¡±

    ¡°You know, I never liked that name.¡± I commented. ¡°Greasy Pete. I have no idea how it became so widespread. I just imagine the most typical moustache twirling villain you could think of whenever I see the name.¡±

    ¡°Uh, okay. But Slingshot and I go to Pete¡¯s every now and then. You could come!¡±

    ¡°I appreciate the offer.¡±

    I really did. This was the first time any of the Sentry had deigned to ask if I wanted to do something outside of patrol or training hours. To be honest, I hadn¡¯t felt any kind of desire to get closer to the other guys on the team. Blinker was a cold and calculating machine with no capacity for humour or fun. Collage was all about fun and humour, but went too far along the opposite end of the scale. Finally, Satellite was a lone wolf. We¡¯d spoken, sure, but he was off putting. I didn¡¯t want him as a friend.

    Snowflake was cold, but not as cold as Unshaken. What Collage had done ruined any chance of me approaching the latter relationship with a level head. That left a twelve year old and a girl somewhere around my age that I had artificial feelings for.

    Of the Sentinels, Zephyr had pretty much declared herself my enemy. Orcus and Voidling were chronically neutral. And Sting, who had briefly been a mentor, was still missing and a primary suspect in a murder.

    It was depressing to think about, so I stopped thinking about it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll definitely consider it.¡± I told Lucidity.

    ¡°That puppy is so cute!¡± Lucidity gushed, already distracted.

    I followed Lucidity¡¯s eyeline and saw a dog that was most definitely not a puppy. It was a fully grown german shepard, straining at the reins to move faster, rather than get to any specific destination. The guy holding the leash was big and clearly had strength to match. The leash was taught, but the man was not giving any ground whatsoever.

    ¡°Go pet it, then.¡± I told her and she darted past me, nearly knocking me off the board as she brushed by. I let out a breath mixed with contentment and worry, then moved to follow and make sure things stayed amicable.

    ~~~

    ¡°I don¡¯t quite understand it.¡± Voidling suddenly said.

    I glanced over. Voidling and I were standing at the mall Zephyr and I had been guarding the day before. Difference was we were standing further inside and Voidling had decided to stay near me instead of sending me away just far enough that they could keep an eye on me.

    I waited for him to keep going. This was the first time Voidling had initiated one on one conversation with me since the care package.

    ¡°Why are you with us today?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Um, a scheduling shuffle?¡± I answered with a question. I wasn¡¯t sure what answer he was looking for.

    Voidling gave a shake of his head. ¡°No, I spoke with Orcus. I knew it was happening. What I¡¯m wondering about now is why.¡±

    I looked away to the crowd and let myself be briefly distracted by a boy a year or two older than I was giving me an impressively vile glare. I nodded at him and got the most disgusted reaction as he stalked off. Some people. Then I considered how much I should say of Zephyr¡¯s inconceivable problem with me.

    ¡°I fucked up, I guess.¡± I said when there weren¡¯t any shoppers close by. ¡°I didn¡¯t know how to handle Rainbowfish and he pulled a fast one on me while I was talking to the Regulation trying to figure that one out.¡±

    ¡°Rainbowfish is a tricky one.¡± Voidling agreed softly.

    I gave a one shoulder shrug. ¡°Might have been that, might have been how I¡¯m slower than her even though she flies. When I was patrolling with Zephyr, she had a habit of flying past checkpoints I hadn¡¯t reached yet and leaving Slingshot behind to give me directions.¡±

    Voidling nodded once and let the matter lie.

    ¡°Thanks for the care package, by the way.¡± I told him. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I said that already or not.¡±

    ¡°You did.¡± He said, leaving me frowning underneath my mask. Did he mean when I received the USB, or sometime between then and now? I couldn¡¯t remember.

    A few minutes later someone ran up to us.

    ¡°You guys are heroes, right?¡± The man asked through panted breath.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Voidling stepped towards him.

    ¡°There¡¯s a-¡± He took a breath. ¡°Cloud-¡± Another breath. ¡°in the food court.¡±

    ¡°Cloud.¡± Voidling repeated with his hand going to his transmitter, which was apparently under his collar. ¡°Sentrys, converge on the food court. I have a witness saying Cloud has appeared there.¡± He glanced back at me and gestured for me to follow.

    ¡°On my way.¡± Unshaken responded through the channel.

    I made to follow, but stopped when I noticed eight new forces on my boot. I looked down to see a yellow furred spider clinging to me. I swore and stepped away, swiping near the spider with my staff. The swing was too wide, and the spider clung to my costume, staring at me. That¡¯s when I realised it was heavier than it should have been. There was a Vphone strapped to it. I glanced over to see the civilian that warned us of the cloud staring at me and the spider on my leg.

    ¡°You should leave.¡± I told him as I otherwise stood completely still.

    He swallowed, nodded, and started moving away at a brisk pace. Slower than how he approached us, but a more manageable speed. He was joined by several other shoppers that were getting away from the situation in the food court.

    All too aware of the spiders capabilities, I slowly crouched down and used the back of my forearm to push the spider off. The yellow thing climbed onto my arm as I tried to push it and it stayed there.

    I wasn¡¯t going to get anywhere with this thing on me. The fact that it wasn¡¯t doing anything only put me more on edge. Slowly, and very carefully, I reached out and touched the Vphone. The fur on the spider bristled on contact. Then, using my power, I slowly pulled the phone out and caught it once it no longer had any support.

    A switch seemed to flip in the spider once the phone was in my hands, thankfully not the electric kind. It climbed up my arm and down my side, and jumped off when it reached my knees. It darted underneath a trash can and out of sight.

    With that nightmare fuel apparently done, I checked the Vphone. It had no lock, and one notification. A message saying ¡¯call this number¡¯. Maybe Waterlad had meant ¡®I¡¯ll give you the phone¡¯.

    I fully intended to call, but first I needed to deal with the cloud in the food court. I slipped the Vphone into my pocket and started following Voidling.

 3. I/Me 5

    There were a lot of people running around with shopping bags. Not so much that there was a stampede, but enough that anyone with a brain could pick up on the sense of alarm. It made it difficult for me to make my way after Voidling, as having to wade through the tide of people made it slow going. After half a minute of pushing my way upstream, the flow of people ceased, and I tried to get some speed by sliding. The power faded after half a step and I nearly tripped as friction reasserted itself.

    I looked down. The floor was tiled, I¡¯d have to reactivate the power on each one. Not worth it. I just ran like a normal person to catch up to Voidling. The fact that I was only moving as fast as my physical limits allowed really ticked me off. That meant I was losing my sense of normalcy.

    Then again, I had control over physics. What the hell even classified as normal? Anyway, Cloud.

    Voidling was standing partially in the mist, but not so far in that visibility was limited. He looked over his shoulder as I approached. If he had any comments, he didn¡¯t voice them. He just gestured with his hand that he was moving forward, then followed through with the gesture and I stuck close behind.

    The experience of carefully making my way through a mall obscured by mists so thick that I couldn¡¯t see either of the walls was reminiscent of a movie I¡¯d seen a few years back. In that one, creatures had been in the mists. Deadly ones. I was hoping nothing Theta class had teamed up with the Racketeers in the short time since I¡¯d last seen them.

    Occasionally we¡¯d pass a sign or a stall. Eventually the stall became tables and chairs, telling us we were in the food court.

    A dark figure appeared in the mist. I tapped Voidling and pointed, he rounded and stood side on to the figure, taking a stance reminiscent of a fencer. One of his hands was raised and wreathed in black energy that wound around his arm, travelling all the way from his shoulder and back.

    ¡°Identify yourself!¡± Voidling commanded with a volume I didn¡¯t know he possessed.

    The figure slouched, then raised its arms in a surrendering gesture.

    ¡°It¡¯s Unshaken!¡± They called back, the sound of them shouting was muffled. ¡°I¡¯ve got Lucidity here too!¡±

    ¡°This is Voidling and Lock!¡± Voidling called back. ¡°Have you encountered any villains!?¡±

    ¡°Negative!¡± Unshaken¡¯s muffled shout responded. ¡°You!?¡±

    ¡°The same!¡± Voidling tapped me on the shoulder and moved towards Unshaken with me in tow. His power had dissipated when Unshaken first spoke.

    We walked for like, two seconds before Unshaken and Lucidity were right in front of us. They¡¯d been having that shouting conversation and they were that far apart.

    ¡°Lucidity,¡± Voidling addressed the Sentry as soon as she was clear enough to see. ¡°Can you try making a cloud dispersal device?¡±

    ¡°Um.¡± Lucidity scratched the back of her head. ¡°I can try.¡± Then she fell backwards and was gone, leaving swirling mist behind.

    ¡°This doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± Unshaken said. ¡°This is the second time they¡¯ve hit the downtown area in as many days. That wasn¡¯t the pattern they were going by before. Did you guys see any evidence of a fight?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± I responded. This was probably cover to deliver the Vphone to me, but I wasn¡¯t about to mention that.

    ¡°So why?¡± Unshaken asked.

    ¡°When we have visibility, we¡¯ll know more.¡± Voidling said.

    On cue, Lucidity climbed through the floor and hefted a hand held fan to this side of reality. She crouched next to it and pushed a button, but nothing happened. Lucidity humphed, and hit it. The fan spun once, then drifted to a stop.

    ¡°Is that powered by electricity?¡± I asked, recalling the conversation about the villain detector. I was about to ask her to make a villain detector, but she¡¯d already had an ¡®aha!¡¯ moment and vanished back into the floor.

    ¡°Good thinking.¡± Voidling commented.

    ¡°It¡¯s come up before.¡± I explained, earning a questioning look from Unshaken. I looked away, not knowing how to respond to the attention.

    Please stop looking at me. Please stop looking at me.

    Thankfully Lucidity returned with another fan, now powered by friendship, I assumed. That rescued me from the spotlight that was Unshaken¡¯s attention. This time when Lucidity pressed the button, the fan immediately whirred to life. The effect was immediate, pushing the cloud away from where we stood and pulling clean air from somewhere, increasing the visibility around us with each passing second.

    ¡°Do you think you can make a villain detector?¡± I asked Lucidity once the fan had started working.

    Lucidity¡¯s fist landed in an open palm. ¡°That¡¯s a really good idea. Why didn¡¯t I think of that?¡±

    It was your idea¡­ I thought weakly as she vanished into the floor once again.

    ¡°A villain detector?¡± Unshaken asked incredulously.

    Damnit. Not again. ¡°When the Racketeers assaulted the SRT, Lucidity was teamed with me to get me to safety.¡± I started explaining, pointedly looking anywhere but Unshaken. ¡°She made it to try and avoid the villains, but we got trapped anyway.¡±

    ¡°Because there weren¡¯t any villains in the elevator.¡± Unshaken realised. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to correct her.

    Voidling went to Lucidity the moment she popped back up and looked at the villain detector. There was a quick discourse between the two before the Sentinel turned to us.

    ¡°No villains in the area.¡± He told us shortly.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡± Unshaken repeated.

    ¡°Mm.¡± I agreed.

    Voidling¡¯s hand went to his transmitter. ¡°This is Voidling. What¡¯s the ETA on police assistance?¡±

    I was worried there was still too much cloud for the signal to penetrate, but a response was forthcoming, if crackly. ¡°-Ten minutes.¡± was all I made out when I switched to the channel they were using.

    ¡°Thanks. Out.¡± Voidling turned to us and I switched back. ¡°Pick an exit and guard it. No civilians are to enter the area where Cloud¡¯s power permeated. I¡¯m going to evacuate anyone that decided to hide instead of run. Wait until other authorities appear and relieve you. Is that understood?¡±

    There was a chorus of noncommittal positives. I was the only one that just said yes. A hand went to my mask as I attempted to facepalm.

    ¡°Then go.¡± Voidling told us, stronger than before. An extra push to get us moving. I walked back the way I came while Unshaken and Lucidity had a quick argument over which way they were going to guard.

    ~~~

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t make any goddamn sense.¡± Unshaken repeated. That was what, the seventeenth time she said that?

    Wait a second, why was I counting?

    ¡°But the officer said that was all.¡± Lucidity pointed out. It was late now, we were walking back to the SRT to get out of costume and go home. Voidling had stayed behind to coordinate with the police.

    ¡°But the officer said that was all.¡± Unshaken mimicked in a falsetto voice. ¡°There¡¯s no fucking way that was all.¡±

    We had stood guard until some police officers came and cordoned off the parts of the mall Cloud had obscured. After that we stuck around, maintaining a strong presence while the detectives carried out their work. Store owners were identified and questioned. There were overturned chairs, but that had just been people trying to get out when the cloud started forming. Witness accounts said that the cloud started spreading from the floor above the food court, but no one saw exactly where from.

    Unsurprisingly, the security cameras was useless. The hard drives were undamaged, but they weren¡¯t recording. The guards that were responsible for that were clueless as to why that was. It wasn¡¯t something they were qualified to meddle with, they just watched and reported. I had no idea how any of the Racketeers had pulled that one off. It was something that had Voidling scratching his head about as well, they just didn¡¯t have anything like that in their powerset.

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± I agreed without looking at Unshaken. ¡°There¡¯s an unknown in play. It won¡¯t make sense unless we figure it out.¡±

    For the sake of authenticity I was talking about the thing with the cameras. Unshaken was grasping at the whole reason why the incident happened, which rested underneath the transceiver box in my pocket.

    ¡°But really, clothes?¡± Unshaken uttered the word with more disdain than I thought possible.

    The police had let the store employees back in after being questioned so they could tend to their shops. Shortly after that they came back to the detectives claiming that items were missing. In total, several racks of clothes were gone from multiple clothing stores, a screen and a console from the tech shop, some swimming gear, some kitchenware, and a lot of sushi was missing.

    Their cover was shoplifting. I didn¡¯t miss Waterlad¡¯s ¡®hello¡¯ and I don¡¯t think Unshaken did, either.

    ¡°Maybe they were cold.¡± Lucidity seriously suggested. Unshaken spluttered at that.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± I said before Unshaken could say something worse. ¡°It¡¯s summer. But they are villains, maybe they needed to stock up on supplies.¡±

    ¡°I thought you were competent until you said that.¡± Unshaken told me straight. I blinked as my heart went numb. ¡°The Entrepreneurs have a shit tonne of money that they throw around. It¡¯s how they afford the PA. The Racketeers make bank.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s why Andrew left.¡± Lucidity added brightly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± Unshaken grabbed Lucidity¡¯s arm and pulled it up as the smaller girl yelped, ¡°say that name.¡± She snarled.

    Lucidity¡¯s feet were kicking, only brushing against the ground. ¡°Ow ow ow I¡¯m sorry ow ow.¡±

    Unshaken dropped Lucidity, who fell through the floor. On purpose or by accident, I couldn¡¯t tell. Then I looked up and saw Unshaken glaring at me.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to say anything.¡± I non-aggressively raised my hands. ¡°I wasn¡¯t exactly raised here, so I didn¡¯t know the Racketeers were paid so much.¡±

    Unshaken grunted and stalked ahead. I stuck around until Lucidity came back up, seemingly okay. I hadn¡¯t seen her arm after Unshaken released it, but Lucidity was in her dreamspace for almost a minute. Usually she came back straight away. I remembered how Collage had poked fun at Unshaken for dislocating several people¡¯s arms, and I made sure Lucidity was fine before we moved to catch up with the staunch heroine.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± Unshaken muttered when we caught up to her.

    Eighteen. I thought to myself. For some reason I got the impression that she wasn¡¯t talking about the mall anymore.

    ~~~

    I elected to walk home once I was out of costume. The incident at the Mall had kept us out late, and Slingshot had already retired for the day, so Lucidity¡¯s excursion to Greasy Pete¡¯s was cancelled. She followed me to the secret exit in the carpark, but stayed behind. Apparently she had the night shift.

    That was fine by me. I got out my Vphone and unlocked it. Then I paused, and put it away. Normally when I was done with being a Sentry, I would call Kathrine and tell her when I was due home. Tonight, however, I had things I needed to do.

    I pulled out the other phone, navigated to the one message on it, and pressed the phone icon in the top right. It rung.

    ...

    It kept ringing.

    ...

    It kept ringing.

    ...

    ¡°Hello, this is Sundown Laundry Services. How may I help you?¡± A male voice came through the line. It sounded familiar, but it wasn¡¯t what I was expecting. I couldn¡¯t place it.

    The bright method of answering the phone caught me off guard. I didn¡¯t respond right away.

    ¡°Can we cut the shit?¡± I asked testily. ¡°No contractor takes a call that brightly at this hour.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s still bright outside,¡± The voice on the other end said playfully. They were putting on an effect that all good phone operators used. ¡°So we should be bright as well. You should know that we won¡¯t take any meetings during daylight hours.¡±

    I pinched the bridge of my nose. ¡°I need a meeting as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Who with?¡±

    I said, ¡°Andrew.¡±

    ¡°Well it seems you¡¯re in luck.¡± The voice responded chipperly, confirming I was talking to a Racketeer. ¡°I have Andrew¡¯s schedule right in front of me and it seem, he¡¯s,¡± There was the sound of shifting paper. ¡°available. How lucky! Is there a region you would prefer to have this meeting in?¡±

    ¡°Downtown.¡± I immediately said.

    ¡°We¡¯ll send you a specific address.¡± He informed me. ¡°Is there anything else I can help you with?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, Waterlad?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± Then immediately in his normal voice. ¡°Shit.¡±

    ¡°None of this laundry services bullshit next time. It feels like you¡¯re making a bad joke at Clothesline¡¯s expense.¡±

    ¡°I thought it was on brand, but okay.¡± He unrepentantly rattled off. ¡°If there¡¯s a next time, I¡¯ll do something else.¡±

    If. I¡¯d gone and talked like I assumed this was going to be a recurring thing. I shook myself and refocused.

    ¡°Give me the location and I¡¯ll start heading over.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Me too.¡± Waterlad paused. ¡°This is some serious shit, Lock. Shit¡¯s on fire, yo.¡±

    I let silence hang for a bit. I didn¡¯t miss that he specifically said fire.

    ¡°It¡¯s why I¡¯m even considering talking to you again.¡± I said at length. ¡°But let¡¯s hash it out in person.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s.¡± Waterlad agreed. ¡°Talk to you soon.¡± He ended the call.

    A dozen seconds later the phone buzzed with its second message ever, an address that wasn¡¯t too far away and instructions that the meeting was going to happen in the alley and not around it.

    I made it there after ten minutes of walking and cased the joint. It was far enough away from downtown that not every building was a skyscraper, but one of the buildings bordering the alley Waterlad had specified was an attempt at one. It was an apartment building, went up six floors, and had an external fire escape that came down to the alley. On the other side was a shop that was closed given the hour.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    I wasn¡¯t about to approach the alley on the street, that would have been insanely stupid. Ideally, I would get to a vantage point and wait for Waterlad to show himself, then only meeting with him after confirming there weren¡¯t any obvious threats. It was an incredibly cautious notion, a kind I hadn¡¯t really entertained before. I wasn¡¯t sure if I should put that down to nerves, or the fact that I was operating for the first time without oversight or companions.

    The first step was to gain access to the apartment building and then get to the fire escape. The shop wasn¡¯t appealing, I couldn¡¯t enter it without either breaking something or seeming really suspicious in ten thousand other ways. The apartment building had people coming and going from it frequently enough that I wouldn¡¯t be looked at twice if I went in through there.

    The apartment building had glass doors, so I waited for someone to step out of the elevators from inside and started moving towards it. When they left, I entered. I went straight to an elevator and pressed the button for the top floor. From there I looked for a fire exit, and quickly found one. Before I stepped out onto the fire escape I activated my mask, then instead of going down, I went up and onto the roof of the building. Thankfully, the fire escape let me do that.

    It was loud on top of the building. It was in part thanks to the wind, but more so the massive air vents that were constantly blowing. There was a portion of grime where the air that was vented from the building had built up over time. As soon as I was out of the fire escape I turned around and started looking for anyone with a black trident on the street.

    ¡°Oi,¡± A voice pierced the constant rumbling of the machines. ¡°I said in the alley, not next to it.¡±

    Alarm ran through me as I whirled to see Waterlad sitting against a wall of the roof. He gave a half wave. His hat and goggles were off, revealing his face to me. I was surprised by how different it was to how I thought he looked, those two accessories did more than I realised. His trident was leaned against the wall next to him, which I eyed warily.

    ¡°Seems you had the same idea as me.¡± I commented as he followed my eyeline.

    Waterlad unceremoniously kicked the trident away and started standing up. ¡°Can¡¯t be too careful. Even with us extending hesitant ceasefires to each other, it was stupid of you to come here without a weapon.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± I agreed sarcastically. ¡°My physical weapon that is very useful in every situation.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t know what you were walking into.¡± Waterlad shrugged.

    ¡°Can we skip the criticisms?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯ve had just about enough of that after agreeing to help you pull the shit you did.¡±

    ¡°Zephyr?¡± He chuckled. ¡°Yeah, I can see that. You¡¯re basically a second me if you came clean about that.¡±

    That was a good point. Zephyr¡¯s treatment of me had taken a turn for the worse after hearing about my involvement with Waterlad. But that wasn¡¯t why we were here.

    ¡°Be on your guard.¡± Waterlad continued before I could get a word in. ¡°If Queue turns his attention to you now, he¡¯ll have some fine leverage to lift you from the Sentry.¡±

    ¡°Is that what he did to you?¡± I asked, more out of reflex than anything.

    ¡°Yeah. But that¡¯s not why we¡¯re here.¡± He followed my line of thought almost exactly. ¡°Clothesline.¡±

    I asked, ¡°Did you see the body?¡± An uneasy feeling was rising in me with the turn in topic.

    ¡°I did.¡± Waterlad said with a nod. He didn¡¯t raise his head after it went down. ¡°I wasn¡¯t the closest with Hayley, but that level of brutality doesn¡¯t have a place in this game we play.¡±

    There were several things I wanted to ask. Several points I wanted to address. Things that, if asked, would help us narrow down who did it, how they did it, and why they did it. And there was the fact that that Waterlad just called this a game. That was a gross misrepresentation of the situation in Graceland, even before the murder.

    Instead I asked, ¡°Did she die because of the leg?¡± My voice almost caught several times.

    Waterlad¡¯s response wasn¡¯t immediate. He lifted his head and looked me in the eye. ¡°I think so, yes.¡±

    It was like I got punched sideways again as I registered his words. The world tilted and even though my power told me everything was normal, that I was standing upright, and that my skin was keeping just as good a hold on me as it always did, my perception dimmed. The feeling that was rising suddenly dropped. Vertigo. More strong than when I felt Lucidity¡¯s gloves grow. I nearly fell over.

    ¡°Oh.¡± I said.

    I needed something to focus on. My piercing. I focused on the glass stud and analysed it for all it was worth. I noted the force of wind on it, and how it was keeping the thing a fraction of a millimeter away from where it normally rested. When I returned my attention to Waterlad- No. Andrew, he was out of costume. Andrew was eyeing me with a calculating expression.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough to convince me.¡± He said, taking me off guard. ¡°You know, you¡¯re one of the most human transhumans I¡¯ve seen.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°That reaction, the realisation, the fact that you¡¯re still off kilter.¡± Andrew ticked off each point on his hand. ¡°You were holding out hope that it wasn¡¯t you, but it was. You¡¯re not sure how to react. It¡¯s a very human reaction.¡±

    I swallowed. ¡°To be fair, I had already admitted to breaking her leg.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    I took a moment and refocused using my piercing again. ¡°So what¡¯s the purpose of this meeting? How much are we sharing?¡±

    ¡°All of it, ideally.¡± Andrew said. ¡°I¡¯ll share my part first, because that¡¯s the order things happened in. I was one of the last to see her.¡±

    ¡°Sounds-¡± My voice caught so I just gave him a thumbs up.

    Andrew started explaining, ¡°It started with Greenflame visiting us. She knew where we were staying, and the system we used to identify friends or foes. She offered them one word wishes, and two people accepted.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± I furrowed my eyebrows as I comprehended that Greenflame was still an active element. I already knew she was in Graceland, but this was making me start to respect that fact.

    ¡°Junk Mail and Clothesline.¡± He paused. ¡°Hayley, I mean.¡±

    ¡°What did they wish for?¡±

    ¡°Money for Junk Mail. Hayley wished for love.¡±

    ¡°Love?¡±

    ¡°I was as confused as you.¡± Andrew told me. ¡°Apparently Greenflame¡¯s ability moved Hayley across the room, next to Spinnerette. That¡¯s all it did.¡±

    ¡°That one seems cut and dry.¡± I commented. Andrew raised his eyebrows, so I continued. ¡°Ask for love, put them next to someone that loves them. Maybe her power has the ability to make someone love artificially, it¡¯s not like that¡¯s an exclusive power.¡±

    Andrew thought for a moment. ¡°Right. Collage.¡±

    ¡°Collage.¡± I repeated grimly. ¡°And what of the money wish?¡±

    Andrew shrugged. ¡°A credit card. It hasn¡¯t been declined yet.¡±

    ¡°Worrying.¡± I murmured. That was a whole different playing field to the one we were normally on as supervillains and superheroes. One that muddled in the lives of civilians and businesses. Way outside of my ballpark.

    Andrew continued, ¡°After granting those wishes she vanished the same way she did from the meeting we spied on. That¡¯s when I got back. I found Hayley paralyzed by one of N- Spinnerette¡¯s spiders. She would have attacked Greenflame otherwise, or something.¡± Andrew shook his head. ¡°Anyway, then we got advanced warning a hero had found the safe house and torched the joint. That¡¯s where I fucked up.¡±

    ¡°Hold on,¡± I held a hand up before he could get into the specifics of how he fucked up, which I was very interested in. ¡°A hero found your safe house?¡±

    I had heard of a house getting burned down recently. The date matched with Andrew¡¯s story, but there hadn¡¯t been any hero involvement. I would have known if there was. That was something to look into if I got the chance and was able.

    ¡°Yeah, Satellite.¡± Andrew told me, then frowned. ¡°Didn¡¯t he tell you?¡±

    ¡°No. And we¡¯ve had an early debrief because of the crap you¡¯ve been pulling.¡± I rebuked. ¡°It should have come up, that¡¯s suspicious as hell.¡±

    Andrew sighed, ¡°Honestly, I wanted to go after Satellite first, but there hasn¡¯t been a good opportunity.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s refocus.¡± I decided. ¡°You torched the safe house.¡± In the interest of keeping the conversation going smoothly, I deigned not to rub salt in the wound and specifically mention him fucking up.

    ¡°Right.¡± He nodded. ¡°I told Spinnerette to fix Hayley while I got Cloud out of the house and started the fire. I should have picked Hayley up because she was still sluggish and her leg was healing, but I didn¡¯t because Spinnerette seemed to have it under control. Then the house came down with Hayley still inside. She pushed Spinnerette out, but dodged back inside. Her leg broke again when she was leaving and got trapped.¡±

    I tried to recall where the house that burned down was. ¡°That doesn¡¯t match up.¡± I felt confident saying that because the house had been residential, while Clothesline had been found in an alley. And what was that about her leg breaking again?

    ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t.¡± Andrew agreed. ¡°It¡¯s why I¡¯m not entirely certain Satellite was the one that did it. I didn¡¯t even see Satellite, by the way. I left before he showed up.¡±

    ¡°You just left Clothesline in a burning building?¡± I asked incredulously.

    Andrew hand waved the notion. ¡°A hero was coming. If things went by the book, Hayley would have been rescued and arrested, then teleported out when we told Boss that she needed extraction. Standard procedure.¡±

    He breathed a heavy sigh.

    ¡°Instead we were the ones that got a call from Boss, asking us why one of his marks had disappeared.¡±

    ¡°Marks?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Boss marks people.¡± Andrew explained. ¡°He needs to have a mark on someone to teleport them. Didn¡¯t you know?¡±

    ¡°No one tells me shit.¡± I said bitterly. ¡°This mark, what does it look like?¡±

    Andrew pulled his shirt up, revealing his abs which he gestured to like a salesperson to a good sale, then he pointed to a mark on the left side of his chest. There was a stylised f there, exactly like the patch that Muffle wore on his back, but without the negation sign.

    ¡°It¡¯s the mark of any Employee.¡± Andrew stated. ¡°There¡¯s one on each of us. Comes with signing the contract.¡±

    ¡°Can I touch it?¡± I asked, more out of curiosity than anything.

    Andrew gasped and raised a hand to his cheek. ¡°Lock! With a villain? What if someone saw?¡±

    ¡°I just want to test something.¡± I deadpanned.

    ¡°Chill.¡± Andrew laughed. ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    I touched the mark and immediately withdrew.

    ¡°My bod too hot for you?¡± Andrew asked amusedly, reminding me of Collage.

    ¡°No.¡± I replied shortly. ¡°It just felt weird.¡±

    ¡°Really? It feels like skin when I touch it.¡±

    I shook my head. That wasn¡¯t what I meant, what really felt weird was Andrew. Normally when I touched someone I felt all of them, but when I touched Andrew I barely felt anything at all. In fact, I could only sense the part of him that I touched. Instead of having my senses expand as per usual, I only sensed as far as the molecules on my fingertips.

    My power worked strangely on water and gas. I still sensed those things, but my power didn¡¯t travel through them. It¡¯s why I couldn¡¯t tell much from the way the wind moved, but was able to predict the Thunder back in Greenflame¡¯s welcoming party. Andrew felt exactly like water. Which was fitting, given his moniker was Waterlad.

    I didn¡¯t learn anything about Boss¡¯ mark though, which I lamented.

    ¡°Anyway,¡± I shifted my thoughts back to the matter at hand. ¡°After you got the call you went and took your anger out on the nearest hero?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Andrew dropped his shirt back down. ¡°Mostly it was Spinnerette who needed to vent, Prism and I only came along to keep an eye out. Make sure she didn¡¯t get in a losing battle. That was the only emotional hit though, Spinnerette got her head back on after that. The rest have been mediated since.¡±

    That was interesting. ¡°How so?¡±

    Andrew gave a one shoulder shrug. ¡°Queue apparently had a number of jobs he wanted to pull and this motivation came at an opportune time.¡±

    I recalled the hits the Racketeers had pulled since Clotheslines¡­ demise. ¡°Hold on. What was the purpose of chasing Channel down the street then?¡±

    ¡°Interference.¡± Andrew answered. ¡°They were running some business on Entrepreneur turf. That¡¯s a nono. The prospective buyers are Entrepreneur clients now.¡±

    ¡°What about the attacks on the heroes?¡±

    Andrew explained, ¡°For Fear and Method that was a distraction while the Handiemen stole their archives. The attack on Forsaken was needed to steal a weapon from his collection. We pulled a flail. Very scary.¡±

    I recalled what I could of Forsaken. He was a techo of sorts. He couldn¡¯t match the know how of someone like Impulse, who made incredibly complicated machines and traps. His proficiency lay in making weapons, each of which seemed to have an individual power. Off the top of my head, he had a spear that could alter the ground and a sword that produced moving force fields when swung. I didn¡¯t know anything about a flail.

    Though, speaking of Impulse. ¡°What about Impulse?¡±

    ¡°Trash the adept¡¯s workshop and steal their stuff, same as Gizumo.¡± Andrew answered shortly. ¡°Rising Sun haven¡¯t been too happy since then, given how shortly we did it after welcoming Greenflame.¡± He paused. ¡°Personally, I think Greenflame is setting up to unseat Boss as the kingpin of Graceland.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a claim.¡± I commented, but I didn¡¯t disagree. The pieces were there and they kind of fit.

    ¡°How are things on your end?¡± Andrew asked.

    I considered the facts. ¡°Risk is leading the investigation, and has interviewed everyone on the Sentry and Sentinel roster. I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s questioned heroes of the other teams, but I think he¡¯s put everyone with disrupter powers on the suspect list.¡±

    Andrew shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s dumb. An enforcer could have killed her just as easily. A monarch or a whisper could have done it with a little more effort.¡±

    I nodded, suddenly feeling vertigo again.

    ¡°What else?¡±

    ¡°Uh, the Sentry is scrambled. We¡¯re trying to react to what you guys are doing, but it¡¯s reactionary. Not effective at all. Given that you can extract at will I¡¯m not expecting that to change.¡± Andrew nodded in agreement. ¡°Oh, and Risk shared two predictions for the outcome of this whole thing. They¡¯re grim.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting anything different. Do tell.¡±

    ¡°The most certain outcome has at least three more people dead when everything is said and done.¡± I stumbled through the words. ¡°The second outcome has four.¡±

    Andrew blinked. ¡°Who?¡±

    I took a breath to steady myself. ¡°For the first one, Satellite, Unshaken, and myself. For the second, include Lucidity in that crowd.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll kill anyone that hurts Lucidity.¡± Andrew said coldly.

    That took me off guard. ¡°Risk is working on changing the numbers.¡± I supplemented. ¡°At the time there was a thirty percent chance of anything else happening.¡±

    Andrew relaxed, if only a little.

    I was still tense. ¡°I wish I had more for you.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s plenty.¡± He said with a shake of his head. ¡°You aren¡¯t heading the investigation since you¡¯re a suspect, that¡¯s not going to change.¡±

    ¡°Still, I want to do something.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do when you find the killer?¡± Andrew asked pointedly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll-¡± My stomach dropped. ¡°I¡¯ll arrest them.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Andrew shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s that human side of yours coming through again. Whenever the fact that Clothesline died comes up, you blanch. You feel that? It¡¯s not showing in your face, but I can clearly see it anyway. What¡¯s the matter Lock? Can¡¯t handle a little death?¡±

    Something about the question snapped my baseline back to normal.

    ¡°I can handle death. I¡¯ve been around more of it that you think.¡± The sunlit city briefly intruded in my thoughts. I banished it before it could get a foothold. ¡°Horrible, senseless, inevitable death. But this is different.¡±

    My baseline shifted again, upsetting my momentum.

    ¡°This was mediated.¡± I continued. ¡°Motivated. Someone wanted to do this. That¡¯s what I can¡¯t comprehend. It¡¯s what¡¯s throwing me.¡±

    Andrew gave me a long and calculating look. ¡°I suppose everyone got a little fucked up manifesting. I¡¯m curious, but I won¡¯t pry. Kind of against the rules, and that¡¯s not why we¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± I said. ¡°But what¡¯s left to do? I didn¡¯t contribute as much as I would have liked, and from what you¡¯ve told me the Sentinels haven¡¯t even scratched the surface of what¡¯s really going on. What¡¯s more, it doesn¡¯t feel like we really have a plan of action. Clothesline- Hayley¡¯s murderer is still at large.¡±

    Andrew tapped his chin thoughtfully. ¡°Maybe you can help run damage control. We¡¯re going to be hitting the Courtesans tomorrow in their home turf. There¡¯s a warehouse close to the lake that Queue thinks holds a large portion of their supply and we¡¯re going to take it from them.¡±

    ¡°When you say take¡­¡± I invited him to explain.

    ¡°I mean we¡¯re going to brutally take down any Courtesan that doesn¡¯t run. The contents of that Warehouse is going to be property of the Entrepreneurs within the next twenty four hours. It¡¯s not just us Racketeers as well, Queue¡¯s bringing out the Private Army for this one. The Courtesans are bringing in a shipment tomorrow because they think we¡¯re winding down. That¡¯s what today was really about.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± That meant I¡¯d been wrong about the mall. ¡°Where¡¯s the warehouse and how will I know?¡±

    ¡°About halfway between King street and the dam, near Beastmaster territory.¡± Andrew answered. ¡°Can¡¯t remember the exact address off the top of my head. The Private Army is involved, so there¡¯s going to be gunfire. Follow the sound of expensive pops.¡±

    I hummed. My costume would provide protection, but Charlotte¡¯s warning echoed in my mind. ¡°Second question: how do you know so many details?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s a big operation. Queue had us all briefed days ago, or he briefed me and I passed it on. With pictures.¡±

    I tucked that information away. Waterlad, when in costume, was the de facto leader of the Racketeers.

    I told Andrew, ¡°I¡¯ll do what I can. But Zephyr will get more suspicious if I push to go to the warehouse before anything happens. I might not be able to do anything at all.¡±

    ¡°Say you have a bad feeling.¡± Andrew gestured dismissively. ¡°Heroes can say that all the time and no one will think twice.¡±

    ¡°Am I really a hero, though?¡± I wondered aloud. It was more me thinking out loud than a question. ¡°Ignore that. Pointless thought. Third and final question: why?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re gonna need to be specific about exactly what.¡±

    ¡°Why extend this olive branch?¡± I specified. ¡°Catching a killer is all well and good, but this thing with the Courtesans is a separate issue. Giving me a tip that you guys are going to hit a warehouse strikes me as counterproductive.¡±

    Andrew was quiet for a bit, thinking.

    I glanced away and saw the sky had gone red and orange. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m just going to take the gift horse. I need to go now, got dinner to catch.¡±

    Andrew nodded. ¡°Bring a weapon next time.¡±

    ¡°I did.¡± I replied, tossing the Vphone the spider delivered into the air then catching it.

    ¡°Hey now, I put effort into getting that to you.¡± Andrew pointed at me indignantly.

    ¡°It cost you all of five dollars.¡± I rebuked. ¡°And I could get two or three good throws out of this thing before it breaks. Also, leave in five minutes. I¡¯m going first.¡±

    Andrew picked up his trident and leaned against it, one of the pointy bits went into his head. ¡°Bye.¡±

    I didn¡¯t respond and started leaving the way I came. When I put my hand on the side of the building, my power pulled the entirety of the building into focus and I noticed something weird. On the other side of the AC units were several tiny points of pressure, each grouped in sets of four- No, eight. They were in circles. Now that I realised what they were, I was noticing more and more such circles. On the sides of the building and generally anywhere that was just out of sight.

    Then it clicked. Spiders. Lots of them. Spinnerette had delivered the phone to me and there was a human sized weight behind the door that was supposed to lend access to the roof. I finished getting onto the fire escape and turned back to Andrew. My sense of the building vanished as I pulled my fingers away.

    ¡°Waterlad.¡± I said, pointing at the door. ¡°Is Spinnerette cool with us meeting?¡± I wasn¡¯t entirely comfortable with the idea, since she and Hayley had apparently been in love. That meant she was liable to make dumb decisions.

    Then again, most people were. But this was a special case.

    Andrew¡¯s demeanor shifted when he realised what I was telling him. ¡°Shit. She¡¯s cool, just...¡± He searched for the right words. ¡°She¡¯s on our side. I¡¯ll convince her that you¡¯re here to help.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t sold on that idea, but there wasn¡¯t much I could do about it. Andrew knew Spinnerette better than me, and if this shaky alliance was going to bear any fruit, I needed to let him deal with his own team. That was his area.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you know if anything comes up.¡± I told him and descended the fire escape.

    Before I left, I put a hand on the wall and felt that the weight had shifted from the door to be next to Andrew. I could feel sound vibrations up there, but I couldn¡¯t comprehend them. As I dropped the rest of the way off the fire escape and turned the mask off, I mused on how useful it would be to be able to listen through my power.

    Then I called Kathrine, who chastised me for staying out so late with the Racketeers being so active, then told me dinner was lasagna. I then went home and ate lasagna a little later than everyone else. When the others went to sleep I told Sofiya about my escapades as a hero, but left everything about Waterlad out. I went to bed early.

    As exhausted as I was, I didn¡¯t get much sleep.

 3. I/Me 6

    Whims always had a habit of taking me off guard. Even before I manifested, and maybe more so ever since, I¡¯d found my focus tended to drift and when I found the frame of mind to bring myself back to looking through my eyes, I¡¯d done something I didn¡¯t remember. Normally it was routine stuff, the things parents spend years drumming into their kids, that my parents had spent years drumming into me.

    Sometimes I¡¯d have a shower and suddenly come back to myself dressed and brushing my teeth, or I¡¯d sit down for dinner and only realise I missed something when I was rinsing the dish and putting it away. Of those things, I normally wouldn¡¯t realise until hours after the fact because it didn¡¯t interrupt my train of thought and they weren¡¯t of any consequence. It wasn¡¯t like I was losing time, I was just focusing on other things. I¡¯d found similar sentiments online about people driving, then suddenly realising they had no recollection of the past hour and no idea how they hadn¡¯t crashed.

    It was autopilot. If I had to liken it to anything I knew, because I certainly hadn¡¯t driven before, I would say it was like going into a seven eleven, noticing a drink you liked was on sale, and buying it without ever making the decision to. You just reached out, bought the thing and moved on. The fact that you had to spend the money to buy the drink never becoming more than a footnote in your mind.

    The whim that took me off guard this morning was me suddenly realising I was staring at a bloodstained twenty dollar note.

    It was, in a way, what had started me down the road of joining the Sentry. My bloody payment for taking a beating I hadn¡¯t asked for. I could still recall the guy¡¯s face. Every time his fist had hit my face, my power had given me an intimate knowledge of his entire being.

    He went to my school, I had seen him there. Still, I was going regardless, keeping to the corners without much traffic to reduce the chances of an encounter. When I came to looking at the speck of blood covering Franklin¡¯s eye I couldn¡¯t help but wonder why. Why had he beat me up? Did he remember me? If he did and we ever encountered each other again, what would I do about it?

    If what happened were to repeat with me as I was now, would things go the same way?

    Maybe. I had only really exercised my powers in costume. There was trepidation surrounding the notion of using my power out of it. Even though I had disarmed that weapon against me, it was still there. Maybe I hadn¡¯t disarmed it, just reduced its effectiveness. Swapped out the .45 calibre rounds for 9mm ones instead.

    Regardless, all this introspection was making me late for school. I left the note where it was. Money wasn¡¯t that tight.

    ~~~

    ¡°Sorry, what was that?¡± Voidling startled. We were on patrol again and he and I were on the ground team.

    I gave him a questioning look as best I could with a literal blank face through a mask. ¡°I asked if I could do a double patrol today.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see a reason why not.¡± Voidling said, speaking softly now that he was more composed. ¡°May I ask why you are asking?¡±

    ¡°You may or may not have heard Unshaken saying ¡®It doesn¡¯t make sense¡¯.¡± I quoted. ¡°I agree with her. Given that the Racketeers pattern just changed so suddenly yesterday.¡±

    ¡°You do give Unshaken a remarkable amount of consideration.¡± He hummed.

    I felt the embarrassment rising, but was able to push it aside because the girl in question wasn¡¯t present. ¡°That¡¯s not my fault. But the point of the matter is, the Racketeers go from a witch hunt to avenge their teammate, to shoplifting?¡± I made sure to stress the contrast between the two notions. ¡°It¡¯s just weird. Maybe something¡¯s coming, maybe not. I have a bad feeling about it.¡±

    ¡°An interesting point you aren¡¯t the only one to mention.¡± Voidling commented, more to himself than me. ¡°You¡¯ll need to fit in a meal in at some point.¡±

    ¡°I can do that.¡±

    ¡°Is there any region you¡¯re particularly interested in?¡±

    I glanced at Voidling, who was giving me his full attention. Was this a test? ¡°Anywhere that isn¡¯t downtown.¡± I answered at length. ¡°It¡¯s very close to where they were most recently active. It might be a bit too hot for them there.¡±

    Voidling nodded and returned his attention forwards, and that was kind of that. When we met up with Unshaken and Lucidity, the latter was quite pleased to know that I was available for a PR flavoured dinner if nothing showed up.

    ~~~

    The rest of the patrol came and went without anything villainous coming up. There were several people asking for pictures and autographs from Voidling. The fact that only a few seemed to even care about me ticked me off a little, but not as much as having to run across tiled floors did. It made sense, with Voidling being an established hero while I had only just debuted.

    There was one time where I had to help an old lady cross the street. It was fine, and I got a thank you for my trouble.

    By the time the patrol came to an end, my nerves were wound tighter than they¡¯d ever really been. The sun was about to start going down, and the Racketeers still hadn¡¯t made their move. If worst came to worst, it would happen during the meal. An idea I was willing myself not to think about, but failing miserably.

    It was stopping me from being able to properly read the menu of Greasy Pete¡¯s. I just couldn¡¯t focus on one line of text long enough to register what it meant.

    ¡°Give me the double cheeseburger, but take away the tomatoes, I don¡¯t like them. Extra fries. And a strawberry milkshake.¡± Lucidity was ordering. Then she remembered who was paying and checked over her shoulder. ¡°Is that okay?¡± She asked Slingshot.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Slingshot jovially responded. It felt weird, hearing her talk like that. It was like how she was with the girls who¡¯d sneaked a picture of us. I knew it wasn¡¯t really Slingshot, just the persona she put on for the public.

    ¡°Oh, and a berry pie.¡± Lucidity added, then suddenly remembered her manners. ¡°Please.¡±

    ¡°Coming right up.¡± If the cashier was psyched to be serving three superheroes, he wasn¡¯t showing it.

    Slingshot stepped next to Lucidity. She was using her boots to walk rather than fly. ¡°A lime milkshake for me, please.¡±

    ¡°Coming right up.¡± The cashier repeated.

    The two heroines paid before I could place my order. It took awhile for me to order, but eventually the menu behaved and came into focus. I ended up going for a burger with bacon on it and a lime milkshake. I hadn¡¯t had one before, I was curious. The bacon burger was to see if the place lived up to its greasy title.

    Plus, y¡¯know, bacon.

    ¡°Coming right up.¡± The cashier repeated again, sticking to the script. Another person on autopilot.

    I paid and we sat in a corner booth, which I appreciated. It gave us some privacy, being in a corner, but still put us on display because of the windows. That would make Lucidity¡¯s PR supervisor happy. Not mine, though, I didn¡¯t have one.

    The conversation was mostly between Lucidity and Slingshot while we waited for our food to come. I was right in thinking that the two had become close since Slingshot and my debut. Lucidity almost finished saying M- several times talking to Slingshot, but managed to catch herself. I was glad she wasn¡¯t aware of my secret identity, even if she had met me without the mask.

    While the two talked, I kept an eye on the people in the chain, and waved whenever I saw someone pointing. A few people got their phones out and tried to discreetly take pictures. I tried to give them ¡®are you serious¡¯ expressions, but likely failed given the mask. The fact that I wasn¡¯t being included in the conversation didn¡¯t bother me, I was distracted by the anticipation of events to come.

    ¡°Are you interested in astronomy?¡± Slingshot asked me once food had been delivered.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked rather dumbly. Given that eating through a metal plate inserted into valuar was a difficult task, I had taken my hood and mask off but kept my power active to gain access to my mouth.

    Slingshot hadn¡¯t taken anything off, and was drinking through the straw under the bandanna. Lucidity had no issues because her mask didn¡¯t cover her mouth in the first place.

    ¡°Astronomy.¡± Slingshot repeated.

    I nodded slowly in response. I knew what astronomy was, I was trying to contain my artificial excitement from being included by Slingshot.

    ¡°There¡¯s an event that is going to happen soon, on the cosmic scale at least.¡± Slingshot explained. This was the first time I had heard her talking about something that she was actually interested in. She was far more animated, which was saying something.

    Also, she wasn¡¯t able to stay seated properly. Her boots only kept the feet on the ground, it seemed.

    Slingshot continued, ¡°What do you know about 4-Vesta?¡±

    ¡°That it¡¯s the fourth?¡± I tried. Slingshot had taken the opportunity to take a slurp from her drink and shook her head knowingly. ¡°Then nothing.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of it.¡± Lucidity interjected, pointing with a fry. ¡°That¡¯s a real big asteroid, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Yip, that¡¯s right.¡± Slingshot said with a nod. ¡°And it is actually the fourth of something. It just isn¡¯t that relevant to what¡¯s happening in six months.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s happening in six months?¡± I asked. My first thought was a Calamity, but that didn¡¯t fit the schedule. Well, schedule wasn¡¯t really the right word. More of a countdown. I pushed aside the tangential thoughts with a sip of lime milkshake, which I was still undecided on.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you some backstory information first.¡± Slingshot decided, causing Lucidity to roll her eyes and get back to her burger. ¡°So 4-Vesta is named so because it was the fourth asteroid to be discovered, way back in 1802 by a mister Olbers.¡±

    ¡°Hm.¡± I hummed to acknowledge I was following around a mouthful of burger.

    The burger was greasy, sure. Enough that the wax paper it had been delivered with was see through. My issue was with the bacon, it was too soft, not cooked as much as I would have liked. I was still going to eat it, though.

    Slingshot was still going strong with her explanation, ¡°It¡¯s the second largest body in the asteroid belt, or it was until 1986. Something happened that caused it to change course from simply orbiting the sun.¡±

    ¡°The Hundred Hour Day.¡± I said.

    ¡°Well.¡± Slingshot gestured with her hand. Her palm facing down and tilting it from side to side. ¡°That¡¯s not really certain. Astronomers weren¡¯t really a priority after they had confirmed that the earth hadn¡¯t moved, just gone dark for a bit. It took five months for 4-Vesta¡¯s new course to be noticed.¡±

    ¡°Where is it headed now?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s slowly spiraling inwards in the solar system and it¡¯s going to hit Mars in six months!¡± Slingshot finished with a flourish, accidently hitting table and jostling Lucidity¡¯s meal, earning the elder heroine a grumbling look from the rapidly eating girl.

    ¡°Hm.¡± I hummed through another mouthful.

    ¡°I see you are unimpressed.¡± Slingshot continued, it sounded a little rehearsed. ¡°Here¡¯s another fact that will blow your mind, then. You know of the meteor that killed the dinosaurs?¡±

    ¡°That statement isn¡¯t entirely true.¡± I said through a mouthful, pointing to emphasise the point. That meteor had only killed some of the dinosaurs.

    Slingshot gestured dismissively. ¡°That meteor was ninety three miles in diameter. Nine three. Guess how big 4-Vesta is.¡±

    I shrugged, still eating.

    ¡°Two hundred.¡± Lucidity jumped in before taking another bite.

    Slingshot shook her head knowingly, enjoying the knowledge that only she held. Then she shared.

    ¡°Three hundred,¡± She said dramatically. ¡°And twenty six. Three two six. Miles.¡±

    I tried to imagine the scale but found myself unsure of how accurate my imagination was. The force was easy to imagine, everything I touched was hurtling through space after all as Jess¡¯ message to me had aptly highlighted. But I failed to comprehend the size.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    ¡°How wide is the earth?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Uh.¡± Slingshot thought for a moment. ¡°Somewhere around eight thousand, I think?¡±

    ¡°Eight thousand miles?¡± I checked. She nodded. ¡°I can imagine it.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t lying.

    ¡°So what do you think of it?¡± Slingshot asked. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s only the biggest astrological event that¡¯s happened in our solar system in millions of years.¡±

    ¡°I think Mars is fucked.¡± As soon as the words left my mouth Slingshot¡¯s eyes glared at me and then flicked to Lucidity to remind me of the company we were keeping. I couldn¡¯t tell because of the eyes, they were obscured. I could tell because of everything else. Being chastised hurt, and I resolved to watch my mouth in the future.

    Then I realised what just happened and squashed that resolve using hatred directed at Collage. I would watch my mouth out of courtesy, not because some guy had zapped me.

    Lucidity, for her part, was undisturbed and kept eating happily. Which was unsurprising given how Unshaken spoke on patrols.

    ¡°It¡¯s good seeing you talk about something you like.¡± I said, changing the subject. ¡°I¡¯m guessing that heroing wasn¡¯t your first choice.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s¡­¡± Slingshot sighed. ¡°I have to for the boots.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± That made sense. ¡°Do you have any other reasons for joining the Sentry?¡± Anything to keep the conversation going.

    ¡°Uh, yip. Hope, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Hope?¡± I asked, not quite getting it. Then I got it. ¡°Oh, Hope.¡±

    At the same time Slingshot said. ¡°Aegis.¡±

    Lucidity¡¯s mouth had cleared enough that she could join the conversation. ¡°I don¡¯t really know her.¡± Then she was eating again, stuffing her mouth with fries.

    Thanks for the input. ¡°That¡¯s one hell of a role model. What do you think happened to her?¡±

    ¡°What conspiracy theory do you like the most?¡± Slingshot asked in response. ¡°There have been seven years of internet detectives trying to get to the bottom of it. Do you subscribe to the shoplifting theory, or the one where she dove to the bottom of the mariana trench and started turning into Scathach?¡±

    I didn¡¯t have a response to that. The world renowned heroine had simply disappeared in 2012. That was kind of it. No body had ever been found despite the efforts of the worlds best psychics. Hope was a modern legend if there ever was one.

    ¡°What about you Lucidity?¡± I asked as the heroine was clearing her mouth for still more fries.

    ¡°Uh.¡± She thought. ¡°Queen Freeze.¡± Then stuffed herself with urgency. There was less youthful fervor in there than there was before. I didn¡¯t recognise the name.

    Slingshot laid a supportive hand on Lucidity¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Queen went to Salt Lake City.¡± She told me.

    Meaning she was dead.

    Lucidity pointed at me. I supposed that was fair, I had been the one asking the questions. The problem was, I couldn¡¯t exactly say that Lucidity was the reason I¡¯d joined the Sentry. Well, I could, but that would be revealing a connection that I would prefer kept under wraps. To cover that, I reached further back to the rosy memories I usually kept locked in a box.

    I smirked when I remembered my childhood hero. The man in the red mask that could clear away the clouds with but a punch. ¡°Daymaker.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever heard of them.¡± Slingshot said.

    ¡°He would throw a haymaker and make the day.¡± I explained, earning a snort from Lucidity. ¡°Daymaker had flight and superstrength, as far as I¡¯m aware, and whenever he hit something the weather would change. The bigger the change in weather, the stronger the blow. He¡¯s not from around here, so I¡¯m not surprised you don¡¯t know of him. Though, speaking of, I haven¡¯t heard anything about him in years. He probably retired, or¡­¡±

    ¡®Died¡® went unsaid.

    I leaned back in my seat. My burger was still partially uneaten, but my appetite had evaporated. I hadn¡¯t thought about Daymaker in so long, the realisation that he was probably dead hit home for me. The tension that I had walking into the Greasy Pete¡¯s had been replaced with something numb. Something I¡¯d felt before.

    Slingshot snapped into focus in my minds eye as she took my hand and squeezed it, probably intending it to be reassuring. I just gave a light squeeze in return and withdrew so I wouldn¡¯t dwell on anything I wasn¡¯t supposed to. I needed to change the subject again.

    ¡°You should put that kind of effort into your handshakes.¡± I told Slingshot. ¡°I just compared that to the handshake you gave me after Greenflame. That was two and a half times stronger, and therefore two and a half times better than the aforementioned handshake.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°First impressions are important.¡± I said, imagining Collage getting shot or something to distract from the inexplicable joy of being touched. ¡°A good handshake is part of that.¡±

    The conversation flowed kind of okay after that. I managed to not bring it back to any touchy subjects until we were all done with the food. Slingshot flew off after the meal, and Lucidity and I were headed back to the SRT when the call finally came through.

    ~~~

    ¡°This is Lock. I see you, Voidling.¡± I released the transmitter and crouched to enhance the speed of the hoverboard, bombing it from high above. Using the muscle memory from a hobby of a previous life, I skidded to a stop on nothing next to the Sentinel.

    ¡°Is it just you?¡± Voidling checked.

    ¡°Lucidity got a call from Blinker,¡± I explained. ¡°She¡¯s making the rounds to get everyone transport.¡±

    Voidling nodded and started walking.

    ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡± I asked.

    Voidling was glancing around, but when I followed his gaze I couldn¡¯t figure out exactly what he was looking at. ¡°Your fears were confirmed, more Racketeer activity. Attacking the Courtesans again, this time deeper in their home territory. Instead of a targeted assault against a particular member they are hitting a stronghold, probably to get several suspects in one fell swoop.¡±

    I took in the information I already had and put a frown in my voice. ¡°Who is involved?¡±

    ¡°Witness reports say that most, if not all of the Racketeers are involved.¡± Voidling said quickly, but still softly. ¡°Of the Courtesans, the blue and orange Mistress, Amatoria, and Dubloon have been confirmed, and we¡¯re keeping an eye out for Halcion.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go up and keep an eye out.¡± I lifted a foot on the hoverboard and started ascending, but Voidling stopped me by way of grabbing my arm. There was an impact when he grabbed me, not unlike what he did the day before.

    ¡°First, I need to make sure you know what we¡¯re getting into. Amatoria, what is her power and how will you deal with it?¡±

    There were popping sounds that echoed throughout the neighborhood Voidling and I had met in. The assault Waterlad had warned me about was happening while we talked. I wanted to get moving and do something, but Voidling wasn¡¯t letting go.

    ¡°Amatoria. Monarch. If she sees you do something, she adds a queue of actions you need to do before you can do it again. Prioritise knocking her out or blinding her somehow before the scripts get too long. Preferably with a blindfold.¡±

    ¡°Dubloon.¡±

    ¡°Disrupter. Sheds gold dust then telekinetically controls it. My power won¡¯t be good against it because it¡¯s several objects instead of one or just a few. Her power seems to be channeled through guiding arm movements, so restraining her arms should be a priority.¡±

    ¡°Mistress.¡±

    ¡°Enforcer?¡± I wasn¡¯t entirely sure about that classification. ¡°Each of the coloured Mistresses have enhanced strength and slow regeneration. If one is destroyed, the other surviving Mistresses gain their memories and a portion of their power until the original Mistress remakes them. There are six Mistresses. The original, then the red, blue, green, orange, and purple ones.

    ¡°If it¡¯s a coloured Mistress, I could probably disable them like I did Killer Kage or- the other one and get them out of the fight for a while. But I¡¯m not confident in doing that in a straight fight. I¡¯d need the drop on them to have a chance. I know they¡¯re all experienced.¡±

    Voidling nodded, approving of my caution. Since all the Mistresses shared their memories, they gained six days of experience every day. Mistress had been active for years.

    At least, that was the theory online.

    ¡°Halcion.¡±

    ¡°Traitor.¡± I answered. ¡°Stay away.¡±

    ¡°Good notion. What else?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, if he doesn¡¯t get close to anyone, he can¡¯t grow into anything. If he does get close to someone, there¡¯s no way of predicting what will happen.¡±

    ¡°While true, there¡¯s a permanent factor to Halcion¡¯s power you are unaware of.¡± Voidling released my arm, but didn¡¯t give me the go ahead to leave. ¡°If he gets close and drains you, your power will go haywire and the most prominent emotion you happen to be feeling at the time will be lost to you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯d be,¡± I shivered at the notion of touching the ground. ¡°That¡¯d be real bad.¡±

    ¡°Halcion will enjoy the emotion for a time, then it will be gone.¡± Voidling continued. ¡°Forever. Both for you, and for him. He prefers to disguise himself as a civilian and ambush heroes that way. Be careful.¡±

    I nodded and started drifting upwards. ¡°Constant radio contact then, until you arrive.¡±

    ¡°Channel four.¡± Voidling told me and we both switched away from the general channel.

    I hovered above the houses and looked around, but the popping sounds had stopped and I didn¡¯t know which way to go.

    ¡°Two o¡¯clock.¡± Voidling¡¯s voice came over the radio.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± I shot back as I started moving in the indicated direction.

    Voidling¡¯s warning about Halcion echoed in my head. I knew that he drained people and gained random powers for a short time afterwards, that was old news. He could even drain non-transhumans and get some modicum of power, but it was a far cry from what happened when he drained a transhuman. It was the fact that he permanently drained emotions was news to me. I was getting to wondering which heroes had been unfortunate enough to encounter Halcion before he was a known element when the warehouse came into view.

    I derailed that thought and pushed my transmitter. ¡°I¡¯ve arrived. I¡¯m going to wait for you if I can, but if someone¡¯s in danger, I¡¯m going in.¡±

    There was a crackle as Voidling opened the channel to respond. ¡°Lock, wait for me. What do you see?¡±

    I looked at the property. It was fenced off, though parts of that fence had been cut through and were no longer keeping anything out. There was a fair amount of parking space between the warehouse and the fence that wasn¡¯t being used the way it was meant to. A truck had backed onto the property and was halfway in the warehouse itself. Rather than open the garage door, the truck had simply backed through it somehow. That wasn¡¯t really the Racketeer¡¯s style.

    There were a few bodies that were strewn by the entrance, and the pavement had several dents and scratches on it that weren¡¯t normally found in typical carparks. Through the gap the truck had left in the garage door, I could see light rapidly shifting. Whatever was happening in there was casting shadows that I could perceive from across the street.

    Peering at the bodies told me they were still breathing. Some moaning and slowly crawling away. That was a relief.

    ¡°I see a truck backed into a warehouse.¡± I told Voidling. ¡°There¡¯s also evidence of a fight happening on the property.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t realised at first because of the low lighting, but several portions of the property were bending at acute angles where they had no business changing direction. Prism.

    I continued reporting, ¡°I was going to say this doesn¡¯t seem like a Racketeer job, but I can see Prism¡¯s power at work. I¡¯m going to try and get a better angle.¡±

    ¡°Keep your distance until you know the situation.¡± Voidling reminded me. ¡°I¡¯m going to get our reinforcements on this channel.¡±

    I was already moving. As my point of observation changed, there were several fragmented images that I swept by trying to find an angle that gave me a bigger part of the picture. Eventually, I was able to catch a glimpse of a black trident.

    ¡°I see Waterlad.¡± I told the channel, but no one was listening.

    I kept strafing and by the time I¡¯d rotated ninety degrees around the situation I had identified three of the four people involved in the fight that Prism was going to town on. I was pretty sure I knew who the fourth person was as well.

    There was a click. ¡°This is Voidling. Lock, our immediate reinforcements are Blinker and Unshaken. We will engage the situation when they arrive. E.T.A. three minutes.¡±

    ¡°Is that it?¡± I asked pointedly. ¡°This isn¡¯t just the Racketeers and Courtesans. One doesn¡¯t have a reputation for backing trucks into warehouses, and the other doesn¡¯t need to because they own the warehouse. I would put money on the Private Army being involved as well.¡±

    ¡°Sorry I¡¯m not enough for you.¡± Unshaken announced her presence. I immediately felt bad about what I said and wished I could take it back.

    ¡°The rest are on their way.¡± Blinker¡¯s voice came through the radio.

    My captain¡¯s flat voice helped me recentre myself. ¡°Who are the rest?¡±

    It was Voidling who responded. ¡°Collage, Lucidity, Muffle, Snowflake, and Zephyr. Some of them are still getting into costume and Zephyr wants to travel as a group.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± I said into the transmitter. If Zephyr wanted to show up later than she could, that was perfectly fine by me. ¡°Do I need to describe the situation again?¡±

    ¡°Lock, where are you?¡± Blinker demanded.

    ¡°At the scene.¡± I snapped back. ¡°Do you want to know what¡¯s happening?¡±

    There was a moment before Blinker responded. ¡°I didn¡¯t catch that.¡±

    I was about to respond when Voidling opened the line. ¡°Lock is scouting ahead for me and has eyes on the situation. Lock, can you please describe what you see?¡±

    Right, these were radios. Only one line could be open at a time, otherwise nothing went through.

    I looked back to the situation before I started talking. ¡°I¡¯m at a warehouse where there is active supervillain activity. There¡¯s a truck backed through the roller door, and I caught glimpses of a fight happening inside. There¡¯s a few bodies around the place, but I haven¡¯t approached because there¡¯s an active fight between four villains in the parking lot.¡±

    ¡°What four villains, Lock?¡± Blinker demanded.

    ¡°I¡¯ve confirmed Waterlad, Prism, and Junk Mail. They all seem to be playing keepaway with Halcion, but Waterlad keeps losing.¡± I had seen him using his trident to keep Halcion at arms length at least twice.

    It was Unshaken who asked, ¡°Good. Does Halcion have powers?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but not what you¡¯re asking about. Nothing I can see, anyway.¡± I answered, feeling confused at the question and a little sad that I couldn¡¯t help more. There was a brief period of silence.

    ¡°Stay away from Halcion.¡± The warning came from Voidling. ¡°He may have an enforcer power, but if he doesn¡¯t then he can still drain someone.¡±

    That meant he couldn¡¯t drain two people in a row. That was good to know. I took the information with a grain of salt, however, since the information came from a hero and not the villain himself.

    The scene was hard to watch simply because the refracting fields that were between me and it splintered the image so much. Getting a play by play was difficult.

    ¡°So that¡¯s three Racketeers out of six,¡± Blinker commented. ¡°and one Courtesan. They¡¯re treating Halcion seriously, and I can¡¯t blame them. That makes me worry about their resources for this one. They must have a lot if they¡¯re dedicating that much there. How many Courtesans have been confirmed on the scene?¡±

    I let Voidling answer that as I watched the fight. Suddenly the field of refraction dropped, and I could see dozens of sheets of paper lying on the ground around the four villains. Voidling¡¯s explanation halted, then continued. One of them was backing away- Waterlad- while gesturing at another to do the same. Halcion had tackled one of villains and was straddling them with one of his hands on their mask.

    He had Prism pinned, and as I watched red energy flowed around Halcion¡¯s arm in a triple helix and into his body. The colours around the two seemed to gravitate inwards, like they were a singularity in my sight.

    ¡°Uh, Halcion is doing his thing.¡± I informed the channel as soon as Voidling was done.

    ¡°On who?¡± Someone asked.

    ¡°Prism.¡± I answered.

    There was a few moments of silence.

    ¡°What emotion?¡± Unshaken tentatively asked. A first her.

    Almost on cue, Halcion snapped to his feet and roared at the sky. There was an explosion of colour that expanded from him with the motion that swept over me. I was startled and forgot to respond for a moment. When I did the answer was a gimme.

    ¡°Anger.¡±

 3. I/Me 7

    ¡°Hold position until we arrive.¡± Voidling- No, Blinker told me through the radio. I was quite content staying on my hoverboard until it was clear what exactly was happening here.

    Halcion stamped on Prism¡¯s mask, sending shards of it skittering off across the ground. He hunched forwards and glared at his two remaining adversaries with a growl that I could hear from two properties away. Waterlad tapped his trident to get the attention of Halcion and Junk Mail, and gestured to the former. A shove towards the warehouse.

    Junk Mail immediately ran, but Halcion snapped around and started chasing him. Instead of closing the gap, Halcion reached forwards with an arm and the colours on his clothes, and even the surroundings jumped into his palm. Once a fair amount had been collected, the colours jumped back to their original positions as a ray of all the colours that were collected darted towards Junk Mail.

    The villain was normally good about erecting barriers between him and projectiles, but this time he wasn¡¯t facing the right direction. The beam impacted Junk Mail and the colours wrapped him like a straightjacket. Then it all went into his eyes and Junk Mail veered to his right, then slipped. He scrambled at the ground like he was sliding down it when Halcion caught up to him.

    Junk Mail screamed and Halcion let loose with another yell as he started curb stomping the villain.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Waterlad shouted loud enough for me to hear as he hurled his trident towards Halcion, pointy bits first.

    Halcion didn¡¯t even turn, he just swayed to one side and caught the trident. Then he turned his body to face Waterlad. Credit where credit is due, Halcion knew how to be a villain. Waterlad was stunned by how Halcion had flexed his new power, and he took his sweet time rounding on the other villain because of it. I was getting chills, and I wasn¡¯t even the focal point of that move.

    ¡°I think I have a bead on Halcion¡¯s new power.¡± I told the channel. Rather than wait for a reply to ask me what I thought it was, I just kept talking. ¡°Halcion¡¯s a ghost, like Prism. He can shoot beams of colour, just like Prism does. Halcion hit Junk Mail with one, and I think the beam distorts balance and direction, going by how Junk Mail reacted to getting hit. On top of that, I don¡¯t think he¡¯s using his eyes to see. Waterlad threw a trident at Halcion¡¯s back, and Halcion just caught it without looking.¡±

    ¡°How is Prism at this moment?¡± Someone asked. Blinker.

    ¡°I think he might be knocked out. Halcion stamped on his mask after he was done draining him.¡±

    ¡°That makes things easier for us then.¡± Blinker said into the radio. Right, powers went haywire after Halcion. I remembered Voidling telling me that.

    Waterlad had adopted a fighting stance and was now circling Halcion. I could see their mouths moving. Were they having banter? Halcion, for his part, was having none of Waterlad¡¯s martial arts approach, and was making a beeline for the villain.

    ¡°You motherfucker!¡± Waterlad shouted before Halcion reached him. He punched out, but Halcion easily dodged the blow. No, the punch wasn¡¯t even properly aimed. Waterlad was briefly bisected as Halcion swiped through him with the trident, allowing the villain to get an inkling on where Halcion was. The follow up blow was properly dodged this time.

    A thought occurred to me. ¡°Also, since Waterlad is now acting like a blind person with Halcion nearby, I think Halcion blinds people close to him.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Unshaken stated. Was that spite for Waterlad? I wondered as I pushed down the part of me that was jumping for joy.

    Voidling decided to be constructive instead of spiteful, and asked. ¡°What¡¯s the range on that?¡±

    ¡°Hard to tell, I¡¯m not close.¡± I answered honestly. ¡°Definitely a dagger ability, though.¡±

    I could imagine Blinker muttering ¡®Where did he get access to that information?¡¯

    What he really said was, ¡°Get down to the road. We¡¯re here.¡± There was a gap in there. It was entirely possible that I wasn¡¯t wrong.

    I glanced at the slugfest that the fight had turned into one last time before moving down to the street, where Blinker, Unshaken, and Voidling were indeed arriving. Voidling brushed past while Blinker stopped and caught my attention.

    ¡°Anything new to report?¡± He addressed me.

    ¡°You¡¯re here now.¡± I responded as I stepped off the hoverboard. ¡°How far away are the rest?¡±

    ¡°Fifteen minutes.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fifteen minutes of a fight going on inside. I don¡¯t think they¡¯re going to make it.¡±

    ¡°Listen here-¡± Unshaken was cut off as Blinker raised an arm in front of her.

    He said, ¡°Now is not the time. We were conferring while you fed us that information. Voidling is going to launch a surprise attack and go toe to toe with Halcion. We think he¡¯s the best match up in this situation. Meanwhile, we are going to arrest the remaining Racketeers and make sure that Prism stays under. Is that clear?¡±

    ¡°Crystal.¡± I said shortly. ¡°How are you dealing with Waterlad?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t always need fists.¡± He produced a taser and let it crackle briefly. I nodded. ¡°You¡¯re going to take that hoverboard and get the drop on Junk Mail. Do you have cuffs?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡± I tapped my pocket. ¡°And spare zip ties in case the number of bodies is too much.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Blinker stated, then brushed past as well.

    ¡°Why do you have zip ties?¡± Unshaken bluntly demanded.

    ¡°I saw Risk had some in one of his attached pockets, it seemed like a good idea.¡± I shrugged as I started taking off again. Then I darted towards the warehouse, making sure I was above the street lights that had turned on sometime in the past ten minutes.

    I got back in the air fast enough that I saw Voidling launch his attack on Halcion. The fight had devolved into a straight brawl when I went to meet with my team. Now, Halcion was backing up and drawing the colours back into his arm again. He kept backing up and eventually Waterlad snapped his head in Halcion¡¯s direction, just in time to see the colours snap back to their original positions.

    He dived to the side, but Halcion didn¡¯t fire right away. He waited for Waterlad to land on the ground and come to a stop, then let loose with the colours. A line of black appeared from the darkness and impacted Halcion at almost the same time. Voidling¡¯s attack.

    I almost missed it thanks to how Waterlad reacted to getting hit by Halcion¡¯s colours. Instead of tripping he exploded. It was like watching a balloon pop, only the water inside was blue and grey with patches of skin colour instead of clear and colourless. The resulting puddle would have blended in with the carpark seamlessly if it wasn¡¯t for the smattering of pink.

    When Halcion got hit by Voidling¡¯s black line, he was hit back a short distance, but landed on his feet. He bared his teeth and looked in the direction the strike had come from. Instead of eyes, I caught a glimpse of dark shadows over Halcion¡¯s eyes before he vanished.

    Everything else was still there, but Halcion was gone.

    I pressed my transmitter. ¡°Waterlad is down and Halcion just vanished. Do we still go in?¡±

    There was a brief quiet as I finished repositioning myself above the warehouse.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Blinker said across the channel. He removed his hand from his transmitter as he and Unshaken ran onto the scene, located where the disabled villains were, and started making their way towards them.

    ¡°Prepare, Blinker.¡± Voidling warned. A moment later, a beam of colour appeared from near Prism and hit Blinker. Blinker proved no more resistant to the effect than Junk Mail and veered off to the side before running hard into the truck.

    Unshaken corrected to run towards where the beam had come from, leaving Blinker in the dust. Then Blinker did what I expected him to do, and teleported backwards before teleporting again and ending up next to Unshaken as if nothing just happened. They handed something off and split up with Unshaken started running towards Waterlad. Or what was left of him.

    ¡°Unshaken. Dodge left on my mark.¡± Voidling kept the channel open. ¡°Mark.¡±

    Another beam of colour appeared from closer to the warehouse. It would have hit Unshaken, but she was beside where she was before and the beam sailed past harmlessly. That made it click. Whatever Voidling had done let him sense where Halcion was and what he was doing. That¡¯s how he knew to warn Blinker and which way to tell Unshaken to dodge.

    They could have fucking told me that was the plan.

    I started descending and Voidling issued two more warnings to Blinker by the time I got to Junk Mail. I lifted him under the arms and got an arm under both his armpits, then used my power to lift him the same way I had Rainbowfish.

    ¡°What?¡± He muttered, sounding incredibly disoriented. ¡°Wh-?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t struggle.¡± I told him, then I was up and away with a villain in tow.

    ¡°Lock. Stop.¡± Voidling warned. I immediately crouched, but that was the wrong input for the hoverboard. Crouching made it go faster instead, which was good because one of Halcion¡¯s beams ripped by where I would have been without Voidling¡¯s warning.

    I pressed my transmitter, fumbling a bit because I was carrying a staff in one hand and Junk Mail in the other. ¡°Sorry, finicky hoverboard. Thanks for the warning. I¡¯ve extracted Junk Mail.¡±

    ¡°You wha-?¡± The named villain tried to put on an accusatory tone, but whatever Halcion had done to him was still messing with the guy.

    I went to the roof of the warehouse because that was the nearest surface away from the fight and it was conveniently outside of Halcion¡¯s line of sight, as well as flat enough to be stood on. I set Junk Mail down, who got right back to moaning and rolling onto his side.

    ¡°Hey.¡± I tried to get his attention.

    ¡°Shu-¡± He cut himself off and put a hand to his chest. Then he threw up.

    I looked away, not that there was much to look at except the rapidly darkening skyline. I supposed that was nice. It¡¯d have to do for a brief distraction, because I wasn¡¯t about to poke my head where Halcion could notice and blast me if this was what happened to people he hit with his new power.

    When I looked back Junk Mail was on his side with half of his face and mask in a pile of his own vomit. He had stopped moving for the time being, even if he hadn¡¯t stopped moaning. I honestly felt a little bad as I maneuvered around him, pulled his arms behind him and locked him into a set of handcuffs. Though, considering what Junk Mail¡¯s power was, handcuffs were probably nothing more than an inconvenience to him. This was just professional courtesy.

    Once I was sure Junk Mail wasn¡¯t going anywhere, I made to get back on the hoverboard when something Waterlad said stopped me. Being careful to touch the vomit as little as possible, I searched Junk Mail¡¯s pockets. The guy had a lot of paper mache worked into his costume, and a fair amount of it was damp because of where he had chosen to lie. By the time I was satisfied that there was nowhere else to search, I had found one hundred dollars tucked into one pocket, sticky fingers, and that was it.

    It seemed Junk Mail was smart enough to leave his wallet and endless credit card behind on jobs. I had been hoping to get the card and some identification in one fell swoop, but those would have to wait for another day. Instead of mourning my losses, I just tucked the one hundred dollars into my pocket and took off.

    The entire time I had been searching Junk Mail, rumbles had been coming from inside the warehouse. Each was a reminder that however serious things were outside, they were worse inside. I was not looking forward to having to go in there.

    Voidling had stopped giving Blinker warnings because he was either fast enough to dodge the beams in the first place, or could simply shrug off the effect using his power. Now he was only giving Unshaken advice, who in between evasive maneuvers was watching over Waterlad as he was slowly reforming from the puddle. I saw a spark fly from Unshaken¡¯s hand and I realised Blinker had given her the taser. She was waiting for Waterlad to be in a healthy enough state to taze.

    That was heartless, but understandable.

    ¡°Step back.¡± The warning came over the radio, and both Sentrys on the field obeyed. A beam of colour lanced by Blinker. Voidling still wasn¡¯t on the field, he was running tactical.

    ¡°Again.¡± He told them. They stepped back but this time no beam came through. Then there was a click and the sound of electricity running. Suddenly Halcion appeared about halfway between where Blinker was standing and the truck. His arms were at his side, and he was jittering.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    Voidling emerged from under the truck with a taser in hand, a ranged one. It was connected to Halcion and the Sentinel was holding down the trigger. He hadn¡¯t been running tactical, he¡¯d been setting up an ambush. Weren¡¯t the two of those essentially the same thing? I put those thoughts aside since all the villains had been subjugated and I dropped down into earshot.

    ¡°Arrest Halcion.¡± Voidling was telling Blinker. His voice was strong, like it had been at the mall. ¡°Maybe this time he¡¯ll actually make it to the Megahold. Make sure to tie up Prism, too. Lock.¡±

    ¡°Here.¡± I announced my presence as I reached ground level, but Voidling was already looking at me.

    ¡°Get Junk Mail off the roof and gather him with the rest of the Racketeers, we¡¯re going to make a pile by the puddle.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°And Unshaken?¡±

    The female sentry looked up from where she was surveying the puddle known as Waterlad. ¡°What?¡±

    Voidling looked at the two of them and seemed to struggle on the words, then eventually settled with, ¡°Go easy on him.¡± Then he finally stopped electrocuting Halcion.

    Unshaken looked back to the puddle, which now was more Waterlad¡¯s shape than amorphous liquid. ¡°I¡¯ve let him get this far haven¡¯t I?¡±

    Then she reached forward with the taser active and electrocuted the villainous puddle. It quivered, reminding me somewhat of jelly, and it lit up like a firework before exploding back into the puddle it had been before.

    ¡°That feels pretty fucking easy to me.¡±

    I had conflicting feelings over Unshaken¡¯s treatment of Waterlad.

    When I was part way through picking up Junk Mail, the warehouse started shaking. I had to rush and catch the subdued villain¡¯s head before it cracked against the roof. We took off quickly and I realised that it wasn¡¯t just the warehouse shaking from the fight inside when I got to where Halcion and Prism was propped up next to Waterlad.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Unshaken asked.

    Blinker turned to Voidling. ¡°Who is confirmed inside the warehouse?¡±

    ¡°The remaining Racketeers, as well as the Private Army and several Courtesans.¡± Voidling answered softly. ¡°Two of the Mistresses, Amatoria, and Dubloon. We aren¡¯t attempting entry until we get backup.¡±

    I was dimly aware of them talking as I tentatively dropped a hand to the pavement and braced for an expansion in my awareness. Thankfully, this time I was only made aware of the carpark and Warehouse area, as the slab evidently didn¡¯t join with the sidewalk. I could sense a lot of movement inside the warehouse, which I could sense the boundaries of, but it was a garbled mess that I couldn¡¯t comprehend with the equivalent of a glance. It wasn¡¯t what I was focusing on, anyway.

    The tremors seemed uniform when observed with sight and touch, but my power told me it was happening in circles. I tried to cancel the forces, but they were timed. They lived quickly, and died faster. All I accomplished was stilling the ground for a fraction of a second. None of that mattered regardless. What was important was that at the centre of those circles was Prism.

    I realised, ¡°He¡¯s waking up.¡±

    Those very words seemed to push Prism across the boundary of sleep and wakefulness. He let loose a terrible moan and the tremors intensified. I pulled my hand away from ground as the forces became too confusing to keep track of. The other heroes advanced and the ground underneath them suddenly lifted as I descended.

    At least, that¡¯s what it looked like. My power told me nothing had actually changed.

    ¡°Knock him out. Now!¡± Blinker ordered.

    I was closer. Then Unshaken was suddenly closer and I was so very far away from where Prism was. I grit my teeth and touched the ground again. When I did, the real layout of events appeared in my mind. At the same time, what I saw with my eyes became crazier as the world suddenly shifted at sharp angles.

    My power couldn¡¯t track people specifically because I wasn¡¯t touching them. However, I was able to guess who most people were due to their weight and where I had last seen them. For example, I knew Unshaken had run wildly off course and ended up going through the fence next to the pile of villains. Blinker was closer to the mark, but vanished and appeared way off target. Voidling was running directly towards Prism, but wouldn¡¯t get there anytime soon.

    Halcion, Junk Mail, and Prism were all lined up, and Prism was thankfully staying still as he continued releasing his haunted moan. I also could observe a puddle nearby. That¡¯d be Waterlad.

    I leveled the staff in Prism¡¯s direction and extended it until I came into contact with something. When I remembered to look with my eyes, I saw that the staff bent in about thirty six different directions but still ended up prodding Prism¡¯s chest. I had to look over my shoulder to see where Prism appeared to be. Not wanting to lose my bearings, I locked the staff and ran my hands along it to ensure I was walking in the right direction.

    Everything swam around me as I moved. It was like a kaleidoscope and what probably classified as a drug trip rolled into one. Feeling sick after only a few steps, I closed my eyes until I reached Prism. I reached forwards, even though it looked like sideways, and grabbed a hold of his mask before I unlocked the staff. Of the four of us, I was the only one to reach Prism and the floor was still shaking.

    Now what?

    Do I knock him out? Should I hit him in the head? If yes, how hard? What would happen if I overdid it? How much force classified as overdoing it? I didn¡¯t know, I hadn¡¯t knocked anyone out before. All the times I¡¯d been knocked out I¡¯d been gone in the moment the force had arrived, I didn¡¯t retain that information.

    Head blows aside, what else was there?

    ¡°Status report.¡± Blinker demanded over the radio, so I heard him twice since he wasn¡¯t that far away. Once by ear, once by transceiver in ear. The sound roused a memory of us sparring, and the frustration of needing to do something but not knowing what vanished.

    ¡°Standing back.¡± Voidling responded.

    ¡°In the trees.¡± Unshaken said.

    I was busy lifting Prism, so I couldn¡¯t respond.

    ¡°Lock?¡± Blinker asked.

    ¡°Trying to put Prism in a sleeper hold.¡± I grunted, not using my radio. It was tough standing up. The tremors were amplifying by the second.

    I heard Blinker and Voidling talking, but wasn¡¯t close enough to hear what they were talking about. Prism was thankfully unresponsive when I started wrestling with him. I wasn¡¯t comfortable using my power, given the scenario. One thing that I definitely wanted to avoid was damaging someone like that.

    Ironic, given what I¡¯d done to Killer Kage and, Clothesline. But I was more referring to the terminal kind of damage.

    ¡°Avoid the windpipe.¡± Blinker¡¯s advice crackled in my ear. ¡°You want to cut off the blood flow to the brain. Put pressure on either side of his neck, where the veins are. Hold until the power disables itself.¡±

    That was some of the first good advice Blinker had given me. I had an arm wrapped around Prism¡¯s neck, and adjusted it to suit what Blinker told me. I looked up to see what was happening around me. All that was visible were the two other unconscious villains, and half of Waterlad¡¯s puddle. Beyond that there was nothing. It just cut off after that. Sometimes further away, sometimes closer, but always ending in a black void.

    It was almost like looking in a mirror.

    After what may have been twenty seconds of me holding Prism, he began to kick and pull at my arm. I cancelled the force of his grasp and locked my costume. He kicked more violently. The moans stopped and were replaced with a scream that made me wish I could block my ears, or had an ability that properly affected sound. The scream continued for a few short moments, then cut off as he started talking at a rapid speed.

    ¡°Endure. Change.

    ¡°Endure. Change.

    ¡°Endure. Chan...ge¡­ L... L....rn... Com...¡±

    Prism slumped in my hold and the effects he was maintaining suddenly stopped. Decidedly disturbed, I unlocked my costume and released him immediately. I picked up my staff that had been dropped at some point and quickly backed away from him.

    Voidling was stepping forward to check on Prism. Blinker took me aside and stepped between me and Prism.

    ¡°Talk, Lock.¡± He said. It was just noise.

    I ignored him and looked past him at Prism. Blinker grabbed my mask and forced me to look at him.

    ¡°Lock.¡± He repeated. ¡°Talk.¡±

    ¡°What the fuck do you want me to talk about!?¡± I yelled. ¡°That was some horror movie shit right there! I¡¯ve broken an arm and a leg, neither of them my own, but that wasn¡¯t anything like what I just had to do. He was going nice and calmly, and then he fucking screamed and started talking like a crazy person. Which he probably is, given,¡± I gestured wildly around us. ¡°All of this!¡±

    Blinker let go of my mask. ¡°You¡¯re in shock. You need to keep talking.¡±

    ¡°Can you please tell me what to talk about!?¡±

    ¡°Anything.¡±

    ¡°Anything!?¡± I repeated incredulously and loudly. ¡°Thank you Blinker! You¡¯re almost as good a console as you are a team captain! You¡¯re being really fucking helpful right now!¡±

    He looked over his shoulder. ¡°Unshaken-¡±

    ¡°No!¡± I shouted. ¡°Not her! Not after what Collage did to me. I can not talk to Unshaken right now, or I might end up throwing a fucking truck!¡±

    Blinker turned back to me as I caught my breath. He paused for a long enough time that I calmed some and was getting interested in Prism again. ¡°What did Collage do?¡±

    ¡°He fucking hazed me!¡± I immediately returned to my desperate energy level from before. ¡°Pink beam, you know?¡± I didn¡¯t pause, but Blinker nodded. ¡°Said ¡®Hi, I¡¯m Collage. Think fast¡¯ and that was it. Boom! Mindwhammied! Are you familiar with the sensation?¡±

    Again, I didn¡¯t wait for Blinker to nod. ¡°I had just picked myself up and turned around and suddenly there were two new people making a first impression on me. I was in love with everything I could even fucking smell! The effect faded, but the impression didn¡¯t. Now, I¡¯m in a constant struggle with myself because one, what¡¯s happening to me is fucked up. Two, I¡¯m on the team with people I am incapable of acting like a normal fucking person around. And three, Collage did the same fucking thing to Lucidity and should face some fucking consequences for that. Am I talking enough for you yet!?¡±

    Blinker was off balance for the first time since I¡¯d known him. Not physically, the other way. It was satisfying. ¡°Lower the volume, please.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I just choked someone out!¡± I exploded.

    Blinker winced, more at my volume than my words. He glanced over his other shoulder at Voidling.

    ¡°You told me how.¡± I told him, putting less energy into my words. I almost spoke as softly as Voidling. Fuck. Now I was feeling tired enough to fall over and sleep at a moment¡¯s notice.

    ¡°You did what you had to do.¡± He told me. It was possibly the nicest thing he¡¯d said to me so far. A reassuring hand on the shoulder confirmed my suspicion that this was an alien who had taken Blinker¡¯s place as Captain of the Sentry.

    ¡°Prism is unconscious, but stable.¡± Voidling reported. He¡¯d stepped away from the unconscious villain. ¡°Lock, you should stay here and watch over the villains. You¡¯ll need to taze Waterlad when he¡¯s nearly reformed, that¡¯s the only way you¡¯ll keep him down for the time being. The rest of us ar-¡±

    Whatever he was going to say was cut off by a loud clang as the garage door next to the Truck dented suddenly, then split open as an honest to god APC rolled out of the warehouse. It  had what looked like white sand trailing off of it, and there were several hand and foot shaped dents in the thing, but nothing that slowed it down.

    ¡°Scatter!¡± Blinker called out and flashed away.

    Voidling quickly took cover behind a wall, grabbing the nearest villain- Junk Mail- as he went. Unshaken was running towards me while I turned and stared down the vehicle. I had seconds to act, and I wasn¡¯t on my hoverboard or capable of getting out of the way now that I¡¯d taken the time to survey the situation.

    There was irony there I didn¡¯t have the time to dwell on.

    I knew my power had limits, but in the moment I didn¡¯t have any other choice. I discarded the staff and stepped once towards the car. I blanked out the sound of Unshaken calling my name from too far away as I put my hands in my pockets and locked everything I was touching. Moments later the APC crashed into me.

    I¡¯m going to be honest, parts of my life flashed before my eyes. Faces of people I adored. Names I could no longer say, as well as one or two I was still able to. Places I could no longer go. The macabre notions were pointless though, the APC wrapped around me without successfully exerting any forces.

    It made sense. I was an immovable object after all.

    Or, my costume was.

    I found the force that the vehicle would have been putting on my costume if I hadn¡¯t been using my power and cancelled it. Then I unlocked my costume and pulled a hand out of my pocket. I placed it on the APC and felt it in its entirety. There were eleven people sized weights within. I ignored them for the time being and focused on gravity, which I made zero before lifting the APC off the ground.

    It¡¯s wheels, which were still spinning, screeched as they were lifted off the pavement. Since I had to lift the weight of eleven people, I ended up reversing gravity a little to accomplish that maneuver.

    ¡°There¡¯re eleven inside.¡± I yelled to my teammates. Then I locked my costume again and let them do their thing while I balanced the APC.

    This was the first time I¡¯d seen Unshaken in her element. It was scary, at least to those who were the focus of her ire, making me incredibly relieved that she was on my side. Put simply. If I was an immovable object, then Unshaken was an unstoppable force. Only there was no ¡®if¡¯ about it. Unshaken¡¯s power was that she was literally an unstoppable force.

    Unshaken approached the APC and chopped a hand down where the door was attached to the rest of the vehicle, then ripped it off like it was made of paper. Blinker and Voidling took cover as the people inside were revealed and opened fire. Unshaken ignored that, reached inside and threw one of the occupants out before grabbing another one and throwing them on the ground next to the first. I had to adjust gravity so the APC stayed level.

    Once she had two on the ground, Unshaken gripped their arms and yanked lightly. I heard the popping sound over the engine. The driver was still flooring it like that would change anything. Unshaken found the guns the people had been using and daintily kicked them, damaging the firearms beyond repair. Meanwhile more people piled out the other side of the APC and circled around me. As they did the driver stopped pressing the accelerator.

    ¡°Put down the vehicle.¡± One of them commanded.

    I chose not to answer. I couldn¡¯t move even if I tried right now.

    They had made a mistake, anyway. I saw Unshaken lunge at the nearest one in the corner of my eye. There were the sounds of fighting as Voidling and Blinker joined the scuffle, and more popping sounds as several strong forces tried to act on the back my costume. It wasn¡¯t until a hole appeared in the APC next to my mask that I realised they had been shooting at me.

    There was a short scream, shortly followed by the sound of someone hitting another someone, and the shooting stopped. I just blinked, registering the fact that I had just been shot at. Soon the only one that hadn¡¯t been subdued was the one in the driver¡¯s seat. He had long since taken his foot off the accelerator and from I could see he was scared shitless. The man had retrieved a Vphone and was speaking into it, then vanished in a dark flash.

    I put the APC down carefully as the rest of the men vanished in a similar fashion. Blinker and Unshaken sighed in unison. Voidling didn¡¯t react. I was just tired.

    The only people that were left included Halcion and a number of non-powered Courtesans that were already out of commission. Blinker and Unshaken went to take stock of the situation inside the warehouse while Voidling and I arrested the Courtesans. We didn¡¯t have enough cuffs, so I supplied zip ties, which Voidling appreciated.

    Somewhere inside, I noted how strange it was for a career hero to not be prepared for that kind of thing.

    Now that the Entrepreneur¡¯s Employees had been taken out of the equation, they deemed it safe enough for scouting purposes. They quickly reached the conclusion that while we had been dealing with the Private Army the Courtesans had absconded. I heard Unshaken reporting over the radio that she had found a door that was still swinging. We had just missed them.

    Then Zephyr showed up with a menagerie of younger heroes in tow. The Police and Regulation forces not far behind. The first words out of her mouth were lost, then Muffle backed away.

    Zephyr repeated her demand. ¡°What is Lock doing here?¡±

 3. I/Me 8

    My fingers tapped out a nonsensical pattern on the metal table. I was considering taking a nap, but I knew that if I did that something would interrupt me. It had been over an hour since Zephyr had hauled me back to the SRT before the situation at the Courtesan warehouse was properly resolved. My mind was still replaying the events out of sequence. It was me lingering on those memories that stopped me from slipping into the sweet embrace of sleep.

    Okay, I didn¡¯t actually know for sure that was what would happen if I dozed off. But every minute longer I spent waiting just made me more and more sure. Zephyr¡¯s tactics were really easy to read. She was making me stew, wearing me down before she even started the interrogation. The worst part was that it was working.

    It went back to my first real thoughts of the day, suddenly realising I had been on autopilot. I had to focus to, well, be focused. But there wasn¡¯t anything to focus on in this room and I was losing focus more and more frequently.

    I suddenly stopped tapping the pattern. Someone was approaching, I could feel it through the vibrations in my boots.

    There was the faintest trace of sound travelling up my costume and the person approaching stopped. I stayed entirely still, the other person did the same. Eventually there were traces of talking again, and the person who had been approaching turned and left. I let my fingers resume tapping.

    It was games like this that made me certain Zephyr was trying to break me down for an interrogation. This time I had won, but had consequently delayed whatever it was that I was being held here for. I was honestly baffled by this treatment. I had done well at the warehouse, held my own with three other, more senior heroes against one of Graceland¡¯s most reviled villains, and hadn¡¯t needed any coddling. When Prism was going haywire, it had been me that subdued him. When an APC had tried to run me over, I stopped it in its tracks.

    It sucked that I was playing these mind games with the people who were supposed to be on my team.

    The next time someone approached I just looked at the door at about the time they reached it, but before they turned the handle. If anyone was watching me for tells, the warning to turn away came too late. The door opened and a well dressed older woman stepped through.

    She was wearing a pencil skirt and blouse that had frills coming down the front. She had several buttons undone, showing off her cleavage. Over her shoulders was a dark red jacket and she held a file in her hands. She was holding it so I couldn¡¯t see the front of it, and therefore couldn¡¯t glean any information.

    I¡¯d seen this woman before, she was gifted with an ability but didn¡¯t dress up in costume. Her name was Meretha, and she was a Whisper. Which set off the worst kind of alarm bells in my mind.

    ¡°Hello, Michael.¡± She spoke first.

    Using my real name right out of the gate, huh? So that¡¯s how it was going to be.

    ¡°Meretha.¡± I responded flatly. She may have used my name, I had taken my physical mask off because I was in ¡®home¡¯ territory, but I had decided against disabling the power obscuring my features.

    ¡°You know my name.¡± Meretha placed a hand over her heart as she pulled out the chair opposite me. It was more of a comment than a question, and too soft to be an explicative. ¡°We had not spoken before, so I thought I would need to introduce myself.¡±

    Whisper abilities were difficult to identify by nature. Was she already using her¡¯s?

    Meretha continued. ¡°In any case, we have been informed by Blinker that you were in close proximity to Halcion earlier tonight. Because of this, you were placed in isolation in the interest of safety.¡±

    ¡°Safety.¡± I repeated.

    ¡°That is correct.¡±

    That was a bullshit excuse and everyone knew it. There were vibrations coming from the other side of the two way mirror from the same moment I had responded. Someone behind the looking glass felt a similar degree of incredulity and was commenting on it. I deigned not to respond further and let her keep going.

    ¡°Furthermore, now that enough time has passed to be certain that you were not subjected to Halcion¡¯s ability, Zephyr will be handling your debrief momentarily.¡± Meretha gave me a smile.

    ¡°Of course.¡± I said flatly. Of course she would be taking charge of this. Our argument from days ago was probably feuling Zephyr misguided fervor in this crusade against me.

    Seriously. Why?

    ¡°I will be remaining in this room to mediate the debriefing, and to take notes. It has been noted that the two of you do not have the most¡­ oiled working relationship.¡±

    I shifted my head to look in her direction. ¡°Is that how you would describe it?¡±

    Meretha made to push her chair back. ¡°Do you have any questions before I step aside?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I said, wondering if I should demand the specifics of her power. In the end, I decided that would tip my hand in a way that probably wouldn¡¯t benefit me, while the other side was definitely tipping theirs. Meretha was here to extract something from me, most likely. I had no idea what they were looking for. If they looked and found nothing, however, that would be a point in my favour.

    So instead I went with, ¡°When can I get my phone back? I need to let my foster mom know where I am.¡±

    Two phones had been confiscated off of me when I returned to the SRT. My civilian Vphone and my Sentry issued one. When Zephyr had immediately homed in on me upon arrival, I had had what Waterlad might describe as a ¡®bad feeling¡¯ and tossed the phone onto another property when Zephyr wasn¡¯t focusing on me. Right now it was in or under some random person¡¯s bush in their front lawn.

    It had been a risky move, but it paid off.

    Meretha gave another smile. ¡°Rosie has taken care of that, don¡¯t you worry.¡±

    That just made me worry more.

    Meretha finished standing from the table and moved to the side of the room opposite the door. Today the table was arranged so I was facing the mirror, rather than the adjacent wall. So I was left to stare at either myself of Meretha while we waited. I detected no movement through my boots.

    ¡°Did Zephyr tell you when she was going to be here?¡± I asked Meretha.

    ¡°She said she will be down shortly.¡± She responded. After a moment she started humming to herself.

    I returned my attention to the mirror. Specifically the half that was closer to the entrance door. ¡°She¡¯s going to be late if she doesn¡¯t start moving.¡±

    I felt the vibrations of discussion start in earnest and smiled. The fact that no one could perceive my smile just made me want to smile more, but I controlled that urge. After ten or fifteen seconds it petered out. Started again. Then stopped. I kept my gaze held in exactly the same spot the entire time.

    After another few minutes of me staring and Meretha humming a tuneless song, there was movement from behind the mirror. Barely there and almost imperceptible, but quite blatant when I looked with my mind¡¯s eye.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t think she¡¯s coming.¡± I said a moment before the door opened. I looked to see as Zephyr stepped through. I put on the most obviously surprised voice I could and leaned back a little. ¡°Zephyr? I didn¡¯t think you would show up.¡±

    She didn¡¯t grace that with a response and seated herself forcefully. Zephyr opened the file in front of her, the one Meretha had entered with, and started the ¡®debrief¡¯ without even looking down.

    ¡°Lock, how did you know that the Racketeers would make a move tonight?¡±

    It looked like she was cutting to the chase this time, not letting me establish a flow. Was she refraining from belittling me because this was being recorded? If it was, I could use that to my advantage.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what?¡± My confusion was partially real. I recalled conversations I had with actors from what felt like a lifetime ago. Using their advice, I used the confusion from being accused so suddenly to smother the chill that swept through my body in response the accurate accusation.

    ¡°Look at the facts.¡± Zephyr said, glancing down. ¡°Two days ago you were involved in an altercation with the Racketeers and they got away. One day ago you were at the site where they stole a large amount of contraband from several stores and got away. And today you specifically asked to be on a late patrol. On this patrol, you were involved in an altercation with the Racketeers and they got away.¡±

    She leaned forwards, ¡°Do you have an explanation?¡±

    Shit, this was bad. I needed to take stock and figure out how to deal with this. First, I needed to get a good first reaction from myself.

    ¡°That I have bad luck?¡± I improvised. Not what I hoped for, but it¡¯d do. Zephyr almost snorted hearing that. It was difficult to gauge her reaction further thanks to the mask. I decided to double down. ¡°No, seriously, I do.¡± If she responded to that, I would have time to think. My response to her question would be inconsequential, and I could possibly find a hole in her accusation.

    ¡°What makes you think that?¡± Zephyr took the bait.

    Score. ¡°The fact that I came from Salt Lake City is a big one. Or should I go into how I¡¯ve been in the foster system since I was six? Or how about the fact that I just today realised that my childhood hero is dead?¡±

    ¡°Stop.¡± Zephyr said, interrupting my momentum entirely. ¡°I didn¡¯t ask for your life story, I asked for an explanation on how you were involved in an incident involving the Racketeers three days in a row.¡±

    I mourned the loss of thinking time, but I had come up with two potential answers to this accusation. They would have to do. I went with the first one.

    ¡°They¡¯ve been really active since Clothesline showed up.¡± I said, managing to get past Clothesline¡¯s name without tripping. ¡°They go on an evangelical revenge spree, then go shoplifting? How about you tell me how that makes sense?¡±

    Getting her to say it meant I wouldn¡¯t be repeating exactly what I told Voidling. Honest people recalled information, not scripts. Liars repeated themselves.

    Zephyr didn¡¯t take the bait this time. ¡°I¡¯m asking the questions. Not you.¡±

    I shrugged. It wasn¡¯t that much of a loss and I¡¯d already come up with a different way to phrase it. ¡°It doesn¡¯t, that¡¯s how. Unshaken was repeating that eighteen ways to Sunday and I agreed. So I asked Voidling and if I could to a double patrol just in case, and he said yes. That¡¯s how that happened. The other two were random chance.¡±

    I considered the ramifications of using the second answer I came up with. Then I decided that yes, I did want to address the strawman in the room.

    ¡°And why are you putting so much emphasis on them getting away? They¡¯re Employees of Boss, that¡¯s what they do.¡±

    Zephyr just grunted, and I knew I had won that point. It was a pointless point, but if Zephyr was going to strawman me to win an argument, I was going to deconstruct that straw man and make him mine. Meretha chuckled amidst her humming. I glanced at her standing against the wall with her hands overlapping in front of her. So much for her taking notes.

    Meanwhile, Zephyr decided to change tactics. ¡°When was the last time you interacted with Sting?¡±

    I registered the question. I hadn¡¯t been expecting this direction of questions. ¡°The night before Greenflame, in the gym. Then I heard him driving away as I left.¡±

    ¡°How would you describe your relationship with him?¡±

    ¡°Amicable.¡± I deigned not to say he was the friendliest of the Sentinels.

    ¡°What were you doing after the incident involving the Entrepreneurs and the Rising Sun?¡±

    I was a little stunned. No need to act for that one. ¡°I thought this was a debrief for today.¡±

    ¡°And we¡¯ll get to that.¡± Zephyr snapped back at me, reminding me of the time I spent in her office. ¡°Answer. The. Question.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ really remember.¡± I glanced at Meretha, who was watching with an impassive expression. I would receive no help from her. I turned back to the costumed Sentinel and realised just how felt tired of this I was. ¡°Why don¡¯t you just say it?¡±

    ¡°Say what?¡± Her voice dripped with venom. She was daring me to elaborate.

    Fine by me. ¡°Tell me what you¡¯re accusing me of and I¡¯ll tell you why that¡¯s a stupid idea.¡±

    To Zephyr¡¯s credit, she took me up on that offer without hesitation. ¡°Clothesline¡¯s wounds are consistent with abilities displayed by a physical Disrupter, which you match the description of. You confessed to breaking her leg. It¡¯s not much of a stretch of the imagination to see you finding her to finish the job.¡±

    I was dumbfounded. Again, not acting.

    There was one word in my mind. ¡°How!?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very much what I would like to know.¡± Zephyr shot back. ¡°You had the means and the motive. Your alibi is shaky. I want to make sure that no details were left out, and I will be matching what you say here to what you said before. If it doesn¡¯t match then¡­¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    I blinked. ¡°It won¡¯t fucking match, because I don¡¯t fucking remember what I said!¡± Maybe I was still a little messed up after choking Prism to unconsciousness earlier. ¡°I¡¯ll try anyway. I went home and had dinner. I talked with Sofiya for a while. I went to bed. I didn¡¯t fucking look at the clock because I wasn¡¯t aware I needed an alibi.¡±

    Meretha placed a hand on the table between us. ¡°There are others watching this~ It¡¯s in your interest to keep the peace~¡±

    It took her the same amount of time to say each sentence, and both sentences had the same cadence to them. When she was done Meretha went right back to humming. But she didn¡¯t withdraw until I gave her a nod and five seconds had passed.

    So her power clearly involved singing.

    It was more evidence against Zephyr, so I didn¡¯t say anything. Evidence for what exactly, I couldn¡¯t say, but it was something.

    ¡°Now-¡± Zephyr started, but I was so done with her.

    ¡°No.¡± I said.

    ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± I repeated. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Explain yourself.¡± An order.

    ¡°No.¡±

    Zephyr shared a look with Meretha. I didn¡¯t catch the latter¡¯s expression.

    ¡°Lock.¡± Zephyr said, tone still commanding.

    I looked up, but didn¡¯t grace her with a verbal response. The tiredness that had been building since Prism was still growing. I very much wanted to sleep.

    ¡°How long have I been awake?¡± I asked, my voice cracking.

    Zephyr shook her head. ¡°The matter with Clothesline-¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t even your responsibility.¡± I finished for her. ¡°It¡¯s the Heroes of Yesterday who have that case. You working on it is overstepping your bounds.¡±

    ¡°It would go against my duty to rule anything out.¡±

    ¡°Like Slingshot?¡± I asked. ¡°Like Satellite? How about Unshaken and Blinker? How about any of the villains who could have taken advantage of Clothesline¡¯s broken leg? How about registering the fact that a Monarch or a Whisper could have done it with a little effort? A ghost could have done it even! Prism¡¯s power would have worked wonders. It probably wasn¡¯t him, since he¡¯s on the avenging crusade, but the point stands. Clothesline fell from a great height, all a ghost would need to do is make it seem like the floor was still going when really it wasn¡¯t. The rest of the wounds could have been done with a goddamn crowbar. Have you even considered that?¡±

    Zephyr faltered.

    It infuriated me.

    ¡°Zephyr.¡± Meretha said shortly. Her voice was soft, scared. ¡°I can¡¯t change it.¡± She wasn¡¯t singing anymore.

    ¡°Change what?¡± Zephyr asked, turning her attention away from me. Giving me an opening.

    I moved the way I wanted to, uncrossing my arms and touching the side of the table with the tips of my fingers. I reveled in evaluating exactly how much force I should put into a push to hurt Zephyr. I had already cancelled gravity and locked the metal object. Neither of them knew what I was doing. That made it better. I pushed with two fingers and felt the attempted force trying to take hold. I found them and exaggerated them to match the gunshots that had been put into my back not but two hours ago. Then I doubled both.

    ¡°He¡¯s going to attack you.¡± Meretha said.

    Zephyr didn¡¯t get a chance to react. I unlocked the table and the force of four bullets dented the table where I had been touching it. The rest of the force carried the thing into Zephyr¡¯s stomach, eliciting a sound of pain from the so called hero that was so, so cathartic.

    But that wasn¡¯t enough. I reached forwards and pushed. Both with my hands and with my power, using more force than I had in the initial attack. Moments later I had Zephyr pinned against the wall and locked the table. She started pushing on it, but it was useless. I kept one hand on the table and reached back for my chair.

    I found nothing. In my rush to push Zephyr against the wall I had knocked my chair over and left it behind. The chair Zephyr had been using on the other hand, was well within my reach. Wind picked up in the room as I spent time finding a weapon.

    ¡°Lock, stop!¡± Meretha was yelling.

    Just noise.

    I leapt onto the table with a weightless chair in one hand and an immobile table in the other. Since removing my hand would have cancelled my power, I made sure to keep my palm flat on the surface the entire time.

    The chair was unwieldy, so I had to pause and make sure I wasn¡¯t going to miss thanks to striking with the feet forward. Once I aimed, I struck. One of Zephyr¡¯s arms flickered from where it was trapped beneath the table and met the chair, knocking it up with with a blast of air far more powerful than what I was putting into it. I let it go and reached for her mask with the same hand.

    Zephyr tried to push me away, but her power had spent so much air that her arm couldn¡¯t sustain itself. It needed to reconstitute mass and in doing so sucked my arm along with the air around it towards her.

    I got a grip on the mask and pushed. Zephyr gurgled in pain. I pushed harder. She grit her teeth. Then I started using my power and Zephyr¡¯s head ended up being pushed so hard that it was actually cracking the mirror I had pinned her against.

    I grinned like a madman and reduced the force my hand was placing on the mask while simultaneously maintaining it with my power. I doubled the force on the mask and retreated at the same time, finally taking my hand off the table.

    Zephyr¡¯s head snapped back and the whole pane shattered. It took me a moment to recognise what I was looking at on the other side.

    Past the now motionless body of Zephyr a camera and tripod was set up, which was unsurprising. I expected one of the two figures past the mirror, Theo, the director of the Regulation in Graceland. There was no way I had been held for over an hour without his permission. The one I wasn¡¯t expecting was Blinker, who was standing like a deer in the headlights with one hand on an open door. I pointed at him.

    ¡°You¡¯re supposed to be looking out for me.¡± I said.

    Predictably, he didn¡¯t respond. He just stayed frozen in place. I sighed internally.

    I noticed someone was humming. My head snapped towards Meretha, who startled as I rounded on her.

    ¡°Never again.¡± I told her. I stepped closer. ¡°You hear me?¡±

    She nodded frantically, but she wasn¡¯t listening. She kept humming.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me? I was talking about your power. Never use it on me again!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Meretha whispered. The moment the sound of her music ceased I closed my eyes and let myself drift.

    Funny. That was all I really wanted to do.

    ~~~

    I startled awake in a cell.

    My costume was still on me, as well as the contents in my pockets. The Vphones were still missing, though. I looked around the cell and took in the bare furniture. The bed.

    Yeah, that was it. Whoever had left me here had decided not to put the covers over me, which I realised with a shiver. I glanced towards each corner of the ceiling and found a camera looking at me. It was on the other side of some bars, and was well out of my reach.

    Well shit. This was something I never wanted to wake up to. I tried to recall what happened before I fell asleep and with that nudge, the floodgates were opened. Seeing Halcion at work first hand, choking Prism to unconsciousness, Zephyr¡¯s insane accusations, Meretha¡¯s ability.

    Meretha¡¯s ability.

    It hadn¡¯t clouded my head at all when she was singing. I could still think straight when she did, it was after she stopped that things went fucky. The first time she stopped it was like all my inhibitions had been removed and I hadn¡¯t even realised anything had changed until after the fact. The second time my eyes had just rolled up in my head and I¡¯d fallen asleep.

    Why had I done that? I wanted to sleep, sure, but I also wanted a goddamn explanation. After the revelation that Blinker was in on this conspiracy that had sprung up for some reason, that should have been at the forefront of my mind. Since Meretha¡¯s ability took away inhibitions, why hadn¡¯t I just demanded answers.

    Maybe she meddled with desires. Took some agency in the order of things and forced the victim to act on whatever was on the top of the ¡®most wanted¡¯ list. Some because she hadn¡¯t been able to stop me from attacking Zephyr.

    As I mused on that I stood and waved at the camera. I touched the wall and recognised that I was in the SRT. Specifically in the second basement level where criminals were sometimes put for overnight stays before they could be transferred to more permanent holding facilities. Then I touched the cell door and felt its inner mechanisms. The thing snapped into focus and I felt a sense of satisfaction.

    Lockpicking was a skill I revered before I had manifested. After manifesting, so much had been demanding my focus, even when I felt lost, that it hadn¡¯t occurred to me to try using my power. Now, with the inner mechanisms of the lock visible in my sixth sense, I realised I could perform the art in a way that I had been incapable of before gaining powers. The best part was, I didn¡¯t even need a lockpick.

    I applied localised forces and removed friction from around the tumblers as I rotated the lock with a finger. Rotational movement wasn¡¯t something I had really wrapped my head around yet, so I still needed to apply a force physically for that. One by one, the bits fell into their open positions and the lock was no longer locked.

    I took a moment to appreciate how I, Lock, had unlocked a lock.

    Then I shook my head and pushed the door open, then sat back down on the bed. I had no idea what grounds they had cited keeping me in here overnight, and I knew it was day because I felt the temperature of the sun on the eastern side of the SRT, but I wasn¡¯t about to leave my cell and give them another reason to lock me up. Me opening the door did give them that reason, in a way. But since I wasn¡¯t actually leaving, it became more of a message.

    One that was responded to by Orcus.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have done that.¡± He announced his presence and slid the door shut. ¡°You are giving them more reasons to antagonize you.¡±

    I gestured at the camera. ¡°Does that record sound?¡±

    Orcus looked to see what I was referring to. ¡°No. However, the Vphones on my person likely give Rosie a direct line to this conversation.¡±

    So yes, I was being recorded. ¡°When is this going to stop?¡±

    Orcus said, ¡°When Zephyr decides that enough is enough.¡± His voice was flat and without cadence. But it was wrought with purpose like I expected from Orcus. ¡°That may end one of two ways.¡±

    With me leaving or with Zephyr leaving, I expected. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I am unable to say.¡±

    ¡°So there is something.¡± I said.

    Orcus denied, ¡°If there was, I would not be the one to tell you.¡±

    My eyes narrowed. ¡°Then why are you the one here?¡±

    ¡°Because there are pieces of news that I am here to deliver.¡± He produced two phones from his person and handed them through the bars. They were my phones. I took them and checked both for notifications. Nothing on either. Incredibly suspicious.

    I decided to check the old fashioned way later and tucked them both away. ¡°What?¡±

    Orcus may have been my favourite Sentinel, but that wasn¡¯t a very high bar. I was done with being polite.

    Orcus said, ¡°Officially, the events of last night, the private ones, did not occur.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit. There¡¯s video evidence.¡±

    ¡°The camera was damaged and the footage was lost. I inspected it myself.¡±

    I sighed. They were pulling wool over Orcus¡¯ eyes as well.

    Orcus continued, ¡°I was not involved with matters yesterday. The stories disturb me.¡±

    ¡°Why the fuck weren¡¯t you here, Orcus?¡± I demanded.

    He said, ¡°It was my day off.¡±

    That caught me off guard. He had been such a persistent presence that I hadn¡¯t even considered the possibility that heroes got days off. What the hell did he even do when he wasn¡¯t in costume? Plus, he was Orcus. There was no way there was someone normal under that mask.

    A confused, ¡°Really?¡± Was all I was able to muster in response.

    Orcus said, ¡°The second thing that I am here to address is your release.¡± He turned the lock closed, then back the other way. Orcus slid the door open and stepped back. ¡°You were held due to the fact that your disguise can only be removed by you. Moving you to your place of residence would have likely compromised your identity.¡±

    ¡°Why not give me a bed in the sick bay?¡±

    Orcus explained, ¡°Because the Sentinel you assaulted is there. There is also the fact that you did assault your superior even if the event didn¡¯t really happen.¡±

    I didn¡¯t respond. I knew there were beds in other parts of the building, but it wasn¡¯t a point worth pursuing. The fact that it was getting kicked under the bed was just depressing, anyway. Trying to dig that one up was going to be painful.

    Orcus said, ¡°The third piece of information I have to deliver is that you have been relieved of duty for the following ten days.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± I had been expecting something like that, anyway.

    ¡°You should find your way to your changing quarters and use them for their intended purpose, then leave. Not just for your sake.¡±

    I breathed slowly once. Taking my time to experience the breath in a way that anyone who practiced meditation would envy. If they could, that is. ¡°Thanks.¡± I told Orcus and walked past him towards the nearest elevator. He let me walk alone, which I was grateful for.

    ~~~

    One shower and one discarded costume later I was walking to the Elevator. A young girl with blond hair walked past in pyjamas.

    ¡°Mornin¡¯ Lock.¡± She mumbled as she passed.

    ¡°Lucidity?¡± I asked. There was no one else it could be, but she was in pyjamas in the SRT. It took me off guard.

    She froze, her back to me. She slowly turned and I activated my mask before she finished the turn. Lucidity looked much more awake now, with wide eyes and her head actually held up instead of looking at the floor. It put the scars carving up the side of her face and most of her forehead on display. Her left eye was milky white while the other was green with specks brown spattered in it. The left eyebrow had three gaps in it where scars interrupted the growth of hair.

    I¡­ hadn¡¯t been expecting that.

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± I asked, breaking the silence.

    ¡°Live here.¡± She answered detachedly. It raised a lot of questions.

    ¡°I was just leaving.¡± I pointed towards the elevators.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Lucidity scratched the back of her head. ¡°Um¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to the nearest cafe, getting breakfast and a hot cocoa.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s early.¡± Lucidity complained.

    I frowned. ¡°I didn¡¯t say you were coming.¡±

    ¡°I want to.¡±

    ¡°You can.¡±

    Hold the fuck up.

    What the hell were we saying? I had just compromised Lucidity¡¯s identity. Shouldn¡¯t we be talking about that? She could be wrapped up with Zephyr and Blinker. She apparently lived in the SRT. The chances of her having no stakes in the mess that was me being a Sentry were slim to none.

    Lucidity fell over before I could say anything more, then reappeared moments later properly dressed. She was wearing a faint green dress, and boots that reminded me of Madeleine¡¯s. Her hair had been made immaculate in the five seconds she was gone. Where had her pyjamas gone? I decided not to ask.

    She looked happy, expectant of the meal, and she trusted me from what I was seeing. That was the thing that was taking me off guard this time. She didn¡¯t have any reservations over her identity being compromised, either. Which was also throwing me for a loop.

    Then again, she just told me she lived here. She might not have an identity to compromise. My identity was open anyway, given the events of yesterday, yet the weapon was still armed. The words ¡®fuck it¡¯ travelled through my mind.

    ¡°We can¡¯t call each other by moniker like this.¡± I turned my mask off. ¡°Call me Michael.¡±

    Lucidity didn¡¯t respond with words. She pointed at me and went, ¡°Aah!¡±

    I was worried that she was scared of me for some reason, I didn¡¯t think I had a scary face. Worry turned to confusion when she quickly devolved into laughing. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I was right!¡± She stopped and laughed some more. ¡°You¡¯re so obvious!¡±

    I didn¡¯t appreciate how blunt she was being, so I ushered her to the elevator because we were apparently getting breakfast now. I got an explanation on the way down between the laughs. It turned out when you asked how to sign up with the heroes, then signed up a week later people tended to figure you out. Especially when people referred to a twelve year old that was more powerful than she had any right being.

    Lucidity had looked at my face using X-ray goggles somewhere near the beginning. Normally that wouldn¡¯t work, but the goggles specifically picked up shape, not colour. My power had been powerless in the face of it. Lucidity, or Elsbeth as she introduced herself, apologised unrepentantly and laughed when I expressed my dissatisfaction with the idea of that.

    I expect she had also overheard Collage mention that I met Lucidity before signing on.

    We found a cafe- not a Greasy Pete¡¯s- and ordered food. Elsbeth got pancakes and a soda. I got pancakes as well, because fuck it, and a hot cocoa- or a hot chocolate as it was on the menu. We had just sat down when Lucidity pointed past me and went ¡°Aah!¡± again.

    I looked over and saw the person she was pointing at. He had walked into the cafe and was standing by the till, looking at the menu. He heard Elsbeth and turned. When he saw me he pointed at me and went ¡°Aah!¡±

    I refused to do the same, but I felt the compulsion. If you ignored how the hair was dark brown instead of black, it was like looking in a mirror.

 3. I/Me 9

    I turned to Elsbeth. ¡°It¡¯s rude to point.¡± I told her.

    ¡°But. But he¡­¡± Elsbeth protested.

    I pinched the bridge of my nose. ¡°I¡¯ll put it this way, El. I¡¯ve had a lot on my mind recently and I¡¯m not thinking straight. I just want some food. I haven¡¯t eaten since Pete¡¯s yesterday.¡± I was still tired too, can¡¯t forget that. The phantom weight behind my eyes wouldn¡¯t let me.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to ask him his name.¡± Elsbeth decided, then turned to me. ¡°And don¡¯t call me El.¡± She hopped off her seat and walked right up to my brown haired doppelganger.

    I leaned on the table with my head down and focused on the table. It was a table, which wasn¡¯t news to me. But I was very intimate with this table now. It let me distract myself.

    ¡°Aah!¡± Elsbeth yelled. I looked up to see her rapidly looking between me and the doppelganger.

    She pointed at him. ¡°Michael.¡± Then she pointed at me. ¡°Michael.¡± Then she pointed back and forth again. There was a sense of wonderment on her scarred face, which I was still getting used to. The wonderment was matched by confusion, which I also happened to be feeling. The chances of someone looking like you and having the same name as well was pretty low.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± The other Michael turned to the cashier. ¡°I¡¯ll take pancakes.¡±

    No way. I thought. Elsbeth was similarly bewildered.

    She turned to me. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to do!¡±

    ¡°Come back here and sit down.¡± I said, if only to give direction. I was distracted, anyway, giving Michael my full attention and barely noticed Elsbeth taking my advice.

    The other Michael finished paying and approached us. ¡°So you¡¯re a Michael, eh?¡± He asked.

    Canadian. I immediately thought.

    Elsbeth spluttered. ¡°You¡¯re kidding!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s me.¡± I answered, ignoring her. ¡°I take it you¡¯re a Michael as well.¡±

    ¡°Hehe.¡± He gave an easy laugh. ¡°That¡¯s right. I wasn¡¯t expecting to run into a¡­clone of mine¡­ today.¡± He winced and I felt the same. ¡°But if you have the same name as me, then that just makes this all the more rare. May I sit here?¡±

    ¡°He has to.¡± Elsbeth told me.

    I waved a hand as I sat back in my chair. ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    Michael looked around. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back.¡± He left to pick up a chair from a nearby table.

    Elsbeth was suddenly in my face, leaning across the table. ¡°He even walks like you.¡± She whispered loudly.

    ¡°What?¡± I pushed her back by the shoulder. Her appearing in my face like that reminded me of the previous night. I decided I didn¡¯t want her to explain why she paid attention to how people walked and changed the subject. ¡°Do we sound different?¡±

    ¡°A little.¡± Elsbeth said after a moment¡¯s thought. ¡°You¡¯re more¡­ uh¡­ here.¡±

    Because I spent so much time in the states, while this Michael had likely just come from Canada. That put another point in the similarity column. Michael quickly returned with a chair and sat. The table was quiet for a few moments.

    ¡°What are your last names?¡± Elsbeth asked, breaking the silence before things could get awkward. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I just can¡¯t keep thinking of both of you as Michael.¡±

    ¡°Michael Barker.¡± I informed her.

    The other Michael snapped his attention to me. I met it curiously as a smile spread across his face. Was that what it looked like when I smiled? It was off putting. He had a very similar face to mine, and the upturned nose put a strange spin on his grin. His hair was longer, and brown to boot, but it stuck up in the same way mine did. The smile was non-threatening, but there was a delicate intent hidden in there.

    ¡°Michael Oliver Barker.¡± He said.

    I paled. Literally feeling the blood drain from my face.

    ¡°No way!¡± Lucidity exclaimed. She turned to me. ¡°Michael, Michael- not you- Michael, what¡¯s your middle name.¡±

    ¡°Oliver.¡± I replied on autopilot, not taking my eyes off of Michael Oliver Barker.

    ¡°Now that¡¯s uncanny.¡± He laughed.

    I agreed, but felt drastically different about it.

    Who was this guy? Why did we have so many similarities? The name and appearance could be chalked down to chance. But the same first, middle, and last names? Statistical improbability. I refused to believe that he had simply walked into the same cafe as me and ordered the same goddamn thing as me. There was something else at play and I needed more information.

    ¡°Do you mind if we do a speed round?¡± I asked, feigning enthusiasm. Elsbeth was going through a very long ¡®woah¡¯ moment.

    ¡°I sure don¡¯t mind.¡± He responded, sounding incredibly canadian. ¡°I was thinking the same thing.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ You first.¡± I had proposed the idea, but didn¡¯t actually have any questions raring to go. I was off balance again. Maybe the mind games from yesterday had burnt me out.

    ¡°When were you born?¡± He started.

    ¡°January twenty-second, two thousand and three.¡± I answered.

    From his expression I knew the answer before he said it. ¡°Well, wouldn¡¯t you know. Twenty-second of January in the year two thousand and three.¡±

    ¡°Place of birth?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Vancouver general hospital? You?¡±

    ¡°Vancouver, but I don¡¯t know which hospital.¡±

    ¡°What!?¡± Elsbeth exclaimed.

    Michael gave Lucidity a playful look then returned to the game. ¡°Interests?¡±

    ¡°Film.¡± I answered, causing his eyebrows to go up in surprise.

    ¡°Really?¡± He asked, then repeated. ¡°Really.¡± He sounded quite sure despite the fact that I hadn¡¯t said anything. He must have read it from my expression. His face had been an open book so far, and since we were apparently so similar, mine was as well. From his reaction I gathered that this was the first divergence.

    ¡°And yours.¡± I prompted.

    ¡°The internet.¡± He responded. ¡°I moderate sometimes.¡±

    I tucked that information away, then decided to ask another question that was going to be another point of divergence. ¡°Best friend?¡±

    ¡°Jackson.¡± He said.

    I fell backwards in my chair. If it caught attention, that attention was stolen by three servings of pancakes and my hot cocoa being delivered to the table. I focused on my jewelry while I stared at nothing and tried to build up a facade to use again.

    His best friend is Jackson. The thought came unbidden and my progress was destroyed.

    ¡°I knew a Jackson.¡± I murmured.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Elsbeth asked.

    Suddenly I had a facade again. ¡°Elsbeth.¡± I said, gesturing at her. ¡°Best friend.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Michael glanced at her. She gave a thumbs up while holding a fork and grinned messily with pancake in her mouth. ¡°You¡¯re sure about that.¡± He said. I shrugged. ¡°Parents?¡±

    ¡°Sofie, Neville, Emma, Mark, and Kathrine.¡± I recited, then paused for effect and took a moment to take a sip of the cocoa. ¡°I¡¯ve made the rounds.¡±

    ¡°Gabriel, Andrea, and Laura.¡± Elsbeth crowed. ¡°You¡¯re not the only one!¡±

    ¡°What are we, comparing dead parents?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got one hundred percent¡± Elsbeth claimed macabrely. ¡°Bet you can¡¯t match that.¡±

    ¡°Uh. Definitely not.¡± I conceded, then glanced to my side at Michael, who was looking at me with a strange expression. I¡¯d seen it in the mirror after leaving the sunlit city. ¡°Stop. I¡¯ve heard it before. Move on.¡±

    ¡°Uh... Sorry, okay.¡± He seemed to have trouble finding the words. ¡°I just wasn¡¯t expecting¡­ You¡­ Um. Neville and Sofie.¡±

    That was it.

    I grabbed his collar and yanked him towards me. My body was shorter than average, and much lighter than average. This Michael had a similar body to mine, and appeared to have the same issue with putting on mass, be it muscle or fat. But I had been spending the past two weeks going to the gym daily, and been getting my ass handed to me for the majority of that time. It wasn¡¯t showing in how I looked, but definitely in what I could do. If only a little.

    Michael wasn¡¯t expecting me to move so aggressively and was weaker than me. I pulled him into my face before he could even try to resist and when he struggled, I didn¡¯t let him move. I was stronger than him and had my power if I needed it.

    I stood, dragging Michael up with me. ¡°We¡¯re having a talk.¡± I declared for Elsbeth¡¯s benefit. ¡°Alone.¡±

    Elsbeth had been taken off guard by my sudden aggression and dropped a forkload of pancake. There was a sudden quiet in the cafe as all the other customers turned to look at us. I released Michael.

    ¡°After you.¡± I told him.

    ¡°Sorry. Guys talk.¡± He told the room to assuage them as he started walking. His confident smile was back in an attempt to diffuse the tension in the room. ¡°There¡¯s a girl involved.¡±

    I turned to Elsbeth before leaving. I leaned close and whispered, ¡°You can listen, but please do it from here.¡± Then I turned and left without looking to see how Elsbeth responded.

    This Michael was setting off alarm bells that I was getting tired of hearing. He had a certainty about the truth that was uncanny, and the fact that we had the same parents wasn¡¯t something I could ignore. The fact that they were my birth parents simply made that something I had to act on now.

    Michael found a park bench and sat on it. I didn¡¯t.

    He sized me up. ¡°You¡¯re an enigma.¡± He said. A lot of the friendliness had been stripped away from his speech. If it had been like looking in a mirror before, this was like talking to a clone of me.

    ¡°Uh huh.¡± I responded, sounding unimpressed despite the fact that I felt the same.

    ¡°Fascinating. Who are you?¡± He was acting differently now. Like a scientist in a movie that had just uncovered a new MacGuffin element. Actually, make that an AI simulating a ¡®what if?¡¯ scenario based on myself.

    ¡°Michael Barker, didn¡¯t you know?¡± I asked sarcastically. ¡°Oh wait, you¡¯re me.¡±

    He cocked his head in confusion. It wasn¡¯t just confusion though, it was like he had accepted what I said as true and was trying to figure out the ramifications.

    ¡°But that¡¯s not possible.¡± He said, then winced. ¡°That¡¯s also true. Damnit.¡±

    ¡°Are you a transhuman?¡± I asked him straight.

    He nodded. ¡°Same as you.¡± Then frowned. ¡°Now why is that¡­¡± He trailed off.

    ¡°You¡¯re Smart.¡± I said, earning a snap of his fingers and a finger gun pointed at me. I crossed my arms, unamused.

    ¡°That¡¯s me, a Smart Psychic. Tremble before me!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m usually a fan of the dramatic, but you¡¯ve caught me at the tail end of a long series of busy and bullshit days. You¡¯re a Smart Psychic, you have the same face as me, and a similar history. Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°The same reason you¡¯re asking all these questions. Now that we have privacy, or, at least, the illusion of privacy...¡± He trailed off again and glanced back to the cafe.

    ¡°Elsbeth is listening in, just in case you try strongarming me.¡± I told him.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°You can say that.¡± He shook his head. ¡°She was going to anyway? She was going to anyway. Heh. That¡¯s Lucidity for you. Hello Lucidity.¡± He waved towards the cafe.

    ¡°Keep listening, Elsbeth.¡± I spoke to the air. ¡°I need someone to tell Sofiya what happened to me if I end up not being able to go home.¡±

    ¡°Ah, whatever.¡± Michael shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve tilted my hand even showing up here. Call me Fail. I know many, many things.¡±

    ¡°Such as?¡± I tested.

    ¡°Lock.¡± Fail said simply. It was getting confusing referring to him by my name, even if it was technically correct. His use of my name made me tense briefly. ¡°My power lets me expand my knowledge pool in ways that you are free to guess at. I will concede the fact that the things I know are based on other things that I already know, and that I can quickly make connections between things. Thing is, I have to know it.¡±

    ¡°You know what you already know?¡± I asked, eliciting a nod. ¡°That seems like a dumb power.¡±

    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s quite useful. But you¡¯re wrong about one thing, I don¡¯t have internal omniscience, no matter how much I wish I did. I just recall the things I know as they become relevant.¡± He clapped his hands together. ¡°So, say I¡¯m having a gay old time with my mom when the news comes on and reports on the new Graceland heroes Madeleine Soyer and Michael Barker.¡± He leaned towards me. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that information.¡±

    That was interesting, and I had several questions. But he hadn¡¯t finished telling his side of the story. ¡°Why did you contact me then?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Curiosity.¡± He answered simply. ¡°I started testing information in Graceland and found that I seemed to have a lot of local knowledge without ever actually having been there. I could say random words and get the hero names of everyone in the city, even the villains. Even Greenflame.¡±

    ¡°But you couldn¡¯t get any answers about me, or how I have the exact same name and history as you, up to a point.¡± I guessed.

    ¡°Ding ding.¡± He snapped and pointed a finger gun at me again. ¡°You win one question. But seriously, what even the fuck? My power considers us the same person, except it doesn¡¯t, which is pinging at me that the information itself is a falsehood.¡± He threw up his arms. ¡°It¡¯s a cyclical rabbit hole, and I want answers.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not the same person.¡± I said. ¡°The fact that we¡¯re here, talking, should be proof of that.¡±

    ¡°See, now you¡¯re about to see a magician at work. That statement ¡®we¡¯re not the same person¡¯ is false. Because we are both Michael Oliver Barker. Friendly MOBs, if you will.¡± I snorted, unamused. ¡°The fact that we¡¯re here and talking is proof that we¡¯re different people, but we are not different people. That¡¯s what my power is telling me. Maybe we¡¯re different versions of the same person? Except that¡¯s a half truth as well. Something happened to make us split. I just don¡¯t know what.¡±

    I started digesting that. ¡°Do you have blind spots?¡±

    ¡°Everything I don¡¯t know.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Think of it like a dagger ability. I¡¯m sure you can make the connection.¡±

    I could. ¡°You can only access information you¡¯ve touched. Which is just a drop in the bathtub when you look at the grand scheme of things.¡±

    He nodded. ¡°Yes, but you¡¯ve seen your bathtub, haven¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call it seeing.¡±

    Realisation flashed across Fail¡¯s face. ¡°So that¡¯s why¡­ Anyway, do you want to continue the speed round?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± I said forcefully. ¡°I know where the point of divergence likely is. It¡¯s when I was six. Is that what you came here for?¡±

    Fail thought for a bit. ¡°That¡¯s not wrong. Do continue.¡±

    I started to say something but it died in my throat. ¡°Not now, and not here.¡±

    ¡°Aw, why not?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s heavy shit that I ignore and lock in a box.¡± I told him, earning a single laugh from him. ¡°And we have different powers. The chances of someone with powers knowing another person manifesting powers is astronomically low, yet here we are. So I want to know about that too.¡±

    ¡°Trade origin stories?¡± Fail offered. ¡°You¡¯ll have a tough time beating mine¡­ Motherfucker, that¡¯s rough.¡±

    I blinked. ¡°That¡¯s a tall order.¡±

    Fail sighed. ¡°Lock, I¡¯m going to find out one way or another. All I¡¯m doing here is offering to get dirty with you, so you feel a bit safer, and maybe don¡¯t come tracking me down with vengeance. This is the best option for the both of us.¡±

    I thought on that wordlessly. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. He had a power that told him things that I was having a hard time finding the pattern behind, beyond the whole sharing information part. The fact that the information flowed towards him wasn¡¯t something I liked, either. Taking his deal was the only way I would know as much as him. ¡°Fine. But not here.¡±

    ¡°Then where?¡±

    I blanked. After a moment I turned to the cafe. ¡°Elsbeth, do you want to listen to this?¡±

    There wasn¡¯t an immediate response. There were sudden vibrations coming from ground to my side. I turned to see Elsbeth standing there with a concerned expression covering her eyes, the one milky eye standing out amongst her features. She had an ear pod in and a device that looked like a Vphone, but it wasn¡¯t a model I¡¯d seen before.

    ¡°Lock, I-¡± She started. ¡°Are you going to¡­ You know.¡±

    ¡°Before I answer that, can you do me a favour and make a villain detector?¡± I asked quietly, pulling Elsbeth slightly so we were talking away from Fail.

    She crouched and reached through the ground. I crouched with her and soon she retracted her hand with a familiar device in hand.

    ¡°It¡¯s powered by friendship.¡± Elsbeth proudly whispered to me as she handed it over.

    I smiled thanks as I hit the not so surreptitiously named ¡°ON¡± button. It blinked on with one red dot nearby, but it wasn¡¯t in the direction of the other Michael.

    ¡°There¡¯s a villain!¡± Elsbeth hissed at me. ¡°I have to take get reinforcements.¡±

    ¡°Hold on.¡± I latched on to Elsbeth¡¯s arm before she could get diving. ¡°Thank¡¯s, El. I just wanted to make sure that he didn¡¯t trigger the villain detector. I think that villain is how he got here. Just a mercenary.¡±

    Elsbeth gave me a questioning look.

    ¡°Think about it, he said he hadn¡¯t visited Graceland before and he¡¯s still sixteen. If I¡¯m right, he still lives in Vancouver with his mom and dad. This is a day trip for him, it makes sense that he¡¯d bring along a Displacer to help him move around.¡±

    ¡°I suppose...¡± She didn¡¯t sound entirely sure.

    ¡°Besides, what wants me to talk about¡­¡± I shoved the sunlit city away from the forefront of my mind. ¡°I¡¯m going to need¡­ help.¡±

    ¡°I can do that.¡± Elsbeth told me without hesitation, which threw me.

    She was the reason I joined the heroes in the first place. Here she was again reminding me of qualities I wished I had. There was no way I would offer anyone that kind of assistance without at least thinking about it.

    I stood and turned to Fail. ¡°Elsbeth¡¯s a local, she should know somewhere a little more private.¡±

    He rose to his feet. ¡°While that¡¯s fair, that wasn¡¯t the deal. I¡¯m trading origin stories with you, not the foundling hero. It is bold of you to assume I¡¯m going to cooperate with her present.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s very likely I won¡¯t be able to tell my story if it¡¯s just you.¡± I stated flatly. ¡°You can consider this a package deal.¡±

    Fail looked at us, sizing me up. I had a stronger stance on the issue than he did, and I made that plain to see. He sighed. ¡°I stood because I was feeling a little sorry for you, doing all the standing and all that. Where are we going?¡±

    I looked at Elsbeth. ¡°Do you know a good spot?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡± Elsbeth told us brightly, then she grabbed my hand and led the way.

    ~~~

    We ended up near the lakeside. I could hear the lapping of water against the shore from where we were, and there was only the occasional sound of an interrupting motor. If this had been the weekend, it would have been packed by people doing shopping, if the line of shops within eyesight were any indication. But right now it was nearly deserted.

    The three of us were sitting at a table that was a permanent fixture of the lakeside. Fail was sitting by himself on one side, and was looking over our shoulders at the scenery behind where Elsbeth and I were sitting.

    ¡°Who first?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I vote Michael.¡± Fail said, raising his hand.

    ¡°Cool.¡± I said. ¡°Which one?¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°Flip on it? Dibs heads, by the way. It only makes sense.¡±

    I rolled my eyes and started fishing out my wallet only to find Elsbeth shoving a coin in my face.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± I took the coin and flipped it, and immediately regretted touching something Elsbeth gave me. It did the weird thing where it bastardised Newton¡¯s laws again. Just flipping the coin gave me vertigo, so I let it fall on the table and naturally come to a rest. It landed on ¡®dumb heads¡¯.

    ¡°I take offence to that.¡± Fail told Elsbeth, who just giggled innocently. Or unrepentantly. ¡°So, where to begin?¡±

    I picked up the coin and looked at the bottom side, seeing another ¡®dumb heads¡¯ on the other side. It evaporated from my fingers as I took that in. I looked at Elsbeth, who was still giggling.

    Then I looked back to Fail. ¡°Manifesting?¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Nah, that¡¯s jumping straight to dessert.¡± He frowned. ¡°Guess the beginning¡¯s the only place to start. Ha ha, I know that¡¯s not right. Oh, fuck you.¡±

    ¡°Michael.¡± I said to pull his attention away from his power.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± He smiled sheepishly. ¡°I¡¯m not normally around crowds of gifted. Hush. It never does. Anyway, the start. We¡¯ve kind of covered it already. Two two Jan, two zero zero three, Vancouver General Hospital. Mom is called Sofie, Dad was Neville. Was. He got killed by Floorhog in twenty-ten.¡±

    That was the second deviation.

    ¡°Other than losing Dad at the ripe old age of seven, I had a pretty good childhood, I guess. I know, actually. Mom buckled down and other than feeling sad for a few months around the funeral I came out okay. She¡¯s still buckling down, but I¡¯ve noticed the seams ever since¡­¡± He tapped his head.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a good friend called Jackson. We met in elementary school. You know, just kind of got seated next to each other, started talking and didn¡¯t stop until the teacher yelled at us. We became frenamies and would alternate between beating each other up and playing tag. Boys do that.¡± He told Elsbeth when he saw a confused look on her face. ¡°And then we eventually just became friends.¡±

    I already knew that part.

    ¡°I suppose the big turning point was middle school, near the end of it.¡± Fail arched his fingers in thought. ¡°Jackson got himself a girlfriend, see? Nothing serious, ¡®cept it was. Call her V. The big thing about V os that she drove a bit of a wedge between us. They were all over each other sometimes, which I¡¯m not entirely sure was legal. Fuck. Thanks, I didn¡¯t want to know that. Either way, I would only occasionally get to hang out with my best bud and I would relish every opportunity.

    ¡°I looked forward to hanging out because Mom got a boyfriend around that time and I hated being around him, but he loved being around me. Like, it was real unhealthy and frankly creepy. So I was torn between spending time somewhere really uncomfortable, and a place I really wanted to be at, but couldn¡¯t spend much time there. Then I noticed how tired Jackson was getting.¡±

    Fail paused, his eyes dancing as he thought about what to say next. ¡°I noticed at movie nights first. He¡¯d conk out way before anyone else and stay out. It was fine, but that usually left V and me in the same place with nothing but each other, which neither of us were happy about. Then he conked out shortly into high school and he became an overnight celebrity. Stage 2 cancer in the brain.¡±

    He dropped the twist quickly and kept going. ¡°So. My best friend was in hospital. I didn¡¯t know what to do and staying at home was harder and harder because the boyfriend was getting all geared up to move in. I snuck out a few times, and one time, one time, I bought Jackson some chocolates because fuck it. The dude had cancer and deserved something nice in the two hours he spent awake every day. I found myself hiding in Jackson¡¯s room a few nights. The problem with that was that V found them and found it soo romantic.¡±

    One of Fail¡¯s hands was gripping the other tightly. Both the hand grabbing and the hand being grabbed were strained white by his grip. Then he suddenly relaxed.

    ¡°I had a habit of sleeping under his bed outside of visiting hours. The ones they had at the time were the perfect size for me to fit under and no one glancing in would realise I was there. I listened in to a few family visits that way. Anyway, V, we started talking because I was spending so much time with Jackson and she was obligated to visit him since he was her boyfriend. We¡¯d always talk about me and my problems. I didn¡¯t realise how strange it was for her to take such a deep interest in my issues.¡±

    He moved his finger in a circle. ¡°All that culminated one night when I was sleeping under the bed, having fled my home because of the boyfriend. V kissed me in my sleep, woke me up to my first- fourteenth kiss. She kissed me awake and was snuggled under the bed with me. There was nowhere I could move, I was trapped, I couldn¡¯t push her away, nothing. That was the start of it.¡± I nodded, knowing what he was talking about.

    Manifesting.

    ¡°It was like a dream sequence, you know?¡±

    ¡°More than you think.¡± Elsbeth told him.

    I snorted, earning a harsh look from the girl.

    ¡°True.¡± He said, more to himself than Elsbeth, then resumed at his previous volume. ¡°Everything went all fruity, then suddenly went negative. I told V something was wrong and she said that she needed it. I told V we weren¡¯t talking about the same thing and she insisted that she needed this, someone to hold her since Jackson was asleep so much.

    ¡°I was so insanely calm about the whole thing that every time I tried to tell her how much I was panicking, V would just tell me how much I had grown on her. The only solace to that damnable calm was that it let me extract myself from under the bed where Jackson was sleeping. She tried to kiss me again once we were out, and that¡¯s when the hospital shook.¡±

    He grimaced. ¡°It was Lance Light, a techo knock off of Archangel gone villain. He took the hospital hostage to make some insane point.¡±

    ¡°I remember him.¡± Elsbeth said. ¡°What he did took me out of class and we all went to Vancouver.¡± She gave a wicked smile. ¡°We ended up making the day into a field trip because it ended so quickly.¡±

    I frowned and looked back to Fail. He gave a half hearted laugh.

    ¡°Yeah, well¡­¡± He took a moment to decide how to continue. ¡°I took the opportunity to run from the crazy girlfriend. Made it out the door, closed it, told her to look after Jackson, then tried to get the rest of the way out. I ran into someone on the stairs. A pale woman with white hair and golden eyes. Not at the time because of the colour negative thing, but that¡¯s what she normally looks like.¡±

    ¡°Deus Ex Machina.¡± I guessed.

    Fail snapped his fingers and pointed at me. ¡°She called me by my name even though I hadn¡¯t said anything. She told me I would be safer closer to her and led me up. I couldn¡¯t find it in myself to argue, and I was, uh¡­ starstruck. Confused, but watching. So I followed Machina up and hid where she told me to. I heard some explosions. Saw some splatters spread across walls. Then I heard her put Lance Light down, and I heard the speech she gave him as well.¡±

    He met my eyes. ¡°She tailors it for everyone she kills, you know. After the bit that gets said every time she added ¡®You have been sent to oblivion, but rejoice, for your memories remain, Pale Jeweler.¡¯ And then she left. I¡¯ve thought about those words a lot. It¡¯s my most common dream.¡±

    ¡°What happened after that?¡± I asked to get him back on track. Also because I wasn¡¯t interested in that kind of philosophical discussion right now.

    ¡°I lost time.¡± He answered. Elsbeth and I both nodded, expecting it. ¡°Next thing I know, I¡¯m standing in the apartment with Mom and she¡¯s crying. A whole day has passed. Every trace of her boyfriend is gone and I don¡¯t know what happened. Mom refused to tell me and nearly broke down when I pushed because it¡¯s my fault. I had this power letting me know things that I shouldn¡¯t, making me really good at guessing, and all the guesswork I tried didn¡¯t put the picture together. Still hasn¡¯t, and it keeps me up at night.¡±

    ¡°How did Fail start?¡± I asked.

    He laughed mirthlessly. ¡°I hacked into the hospital records because fuck it, why not, eh? I looked at the treatments Jackson was getting and they were all wrong. I corrected them, realised I could sell that kind of shit. Set up Fail M.D., advertised it online. Got a few hits. Gained popularity. Started charging the big bucks for the boys down south and made bank.¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°Took it down after a while. It was attracting too much attention.¡±

    I noticed him wincing ever so slightly. He had been doing that with every joke and lie he said. ¡°What was the real reason?¡±

    He sighed. ¡°Sorry. There wasn¡¯t anything I could use. It was just boring bullshit. I¡¯ll be honest, it¡¯s a selfish craving. I only really care about the truths around me. I took some medical tests on a whim and aced them for the same reason. It means people are trying to get me to go to their universities now, ¡®cause I¡¯m a certified genius. That selfishness is what brought me here as well.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s it?¡± I checked.

    ¡°Basically, yeah.¡± He shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s how I went from a troubled child to an oversharing Psychic. Your turn.¡±

    The two words hit hard. I gripped the table and let my focus vanish into it. When I came out I was both calmer and much more intimate with the table. That was starting to become a habit.

    ¡°Alright.¡± I swallowed. It was time to open up the box.

 3. I/Me 10

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    It was too much. I focused on my earring, touched it with one hand, felt the matrix change. I came back into focus and looked at Fail. He was waiting. His expression was impassive, betraying little of the curiosity behind his hardened eyes. But it did betray it.

    This seemed unreal, the situation with Fail being what it was. That I had agreed to talk about my manifestation. Then again, everything since I manifested felt just a little unreal.

    ¡°You said that your dad died when you were seven, right?¡±

    He nodded.

    I breathed, going further back than I liked. ¡°Did Sofie ever disappear for a bit?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Fail said. ¡°Yes. When?¡±

    ¡°Around six.¡± I said. Fail thought, then nodded.

    ¡°Right, so Dad took that bad when it happened. The whole house fell apart, though I barely remember it. I went hungry one night, hadn¡¯t eaten all day, so I went outside looking for food. But I didn¡¯t have any money, and still hadn¡¯t gotten it through my head that some places didn¡¯t serve kids. I got chased out of a few places. I ended up wandering until the morning light, but I got lost.

    ¡°Eventually someone stopped me and asked where my parents were.¡± I paused as a memory of me bawling to a stranger flashed through my mind. ¡°I answered, but they weren¡¯t able to contact my dad. I didn¡¯t have a Vphone on me and I definitely didn¡¯t remember the number. I don¡¯t even remember the address. But I know I was in Vancouver when I left the house. That person stopped me in Salt Lake City.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡± Elsbeth told me.

    ¡°You aren¡¯t.¡± Fail knew.

    ¡°I¡¯m told I was a big deal.¡± I continued, allowing a trace of dark mirth to shine through. ¡°There were calls made to all kinds of Nevilles in the area, asking if they had lost a Michael Barker. None of them had, so I was put into foster care. That¡¯s when I was accepted by Emma and Mark.¡±

    ¡°Do you think¡­¡± Fail trailed off, then smirked.

    ¡°What?¡± Elsbeth demanded.

    ¡°A call was definitely made to my house. I wonder what came of it.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°Nothing, obviously. They weren¡¯t missing a Michael Barker.¡±

    His mouth pulled into a short grimace. ¡°True.¡±

    ¡°So I suddenly became a middle child, which was a learning experience.¡± I continued. ¡°I got a younger brother, Jay, and an older sister, Tessa. Tess was three years my senior and made my life a genuine hell after I turned ten. Jay had a room and stayed in it. We all had our issues, mine being abandonment. Go figure.

    ¡°Mark was an IT guy. He worked remotely almost exclusively, so he was always around. Honestly, he was a much better dad than Daniel was.¡± I didn¡¯t pause to let Fail react. ¡°Emma, on the other hand, was always on the move. Always doing something, always getting others moving. She was a force of nature that showed up once every week or so and filled in all the cracks that happened to have formed in her absence. She kind of became my hero.¡±

    ¡°She sounds really cool.¡± Elsbeth told me. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you mention her?

    I smirked. ¡°Cool doesn¡¯t even begin to cover it. She was an awesome mom, not an actual hero. And she was only the cool mom because she showed up for the parts where she could be cool and nothing else. Tess always hated that about her.¡± My smirk faltered. ¡°Anyway, Mom was an assistant director, a fully fledged 1st AD. She was brought on for high budget ads and television series, the works. It meant gruelling hours, which is why she was always away. But sometimes she¡¯d kidnap me away from Dad and take me on set.

    ¡°It was great, but I had to jump through so many hoops to do it. Sign NDAs I didn¡¯t understand, meet the producers and fool them into believing I could behave, hand in my Vphone anyway, and so on. I would tear through set in between takes, usually far away from the camera, and play games with the actors. I got told off a few times for that. Sometimes Mom would give me an RT and have me yell at everyone on set. Do her job for her, basically, but only if they were a day ahead and the producers were okay with it. I¡¯m pretty sure she was grooming me to be an AD, she was talking about putting me to work over the holidays to get me adjusted.¡±

    I totally could have, regardless of if I wanted to. Even from a young age I understood that nepotism was the way to go places in the working world.

    ¡°How long did that last?¡± Fail asked.

    ¡°From eight to sixteen.¡± I answered easily. ¡°The last time I was on set was¡­ four, almost five months ago now.¡± I disappeared into my earring for a bit, then snapped back into attention when Elsbeth held my hand.

    ¡°Sorry, Elsbeth. Skin is weird for me.¡±

    Her eyebrows went up in surprise, then down in realisation at the same time her cheeks lit up a fraction. Her hand was quick to remove itself, then she gripped my wrist through my sleeve. That was better so I didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°Then¡­¡± It was hard to say. Saying it would make it seem more real that it did. If I backed down now, it would all feel like a dream when I went to sleep tonight. If I didn¡¯t¡­ I didn¡¯t know what would happen. Would I ever sleep again?

    Probably. But not voluntarily.

    But I¡¯d already danced around this issue several times as a hero. It wasn¡¯t something that I could keep tip toeing around. Not when the countdown only had three months left.

    Now was as good a time as any.

    ¡°Quetzalcoatl.¡± I finally said. ¡°The Calamity came down and destroyed everything.¡±

    Elsbeth squeezed, which I took minor solace in. Fail wasn¡¯t interrupting.

    I skipped to the end. Best to tell this out of chronological order. I wouldn¡¯t reach the end if I told it in sequence. ¡°They weren¡¯t able to kick it out in time, you know.¡± I was talking more to Fail than Elsbeth. ¡°The presence of the Eclipse took a permanent toll on the region. It¡¯s stuck in a drought now, even when it¡¯s night there¡¯s light shining on the ruins of Salt Lake City. It¡¯s intense enough that Great Salt Lake, which is half in and half out is on a permanent incline now. The water evaporates that quickly under that sun. It¡¯s certainly not the largest lake in the western hemisphere anymore.¡±

    Fail¡¯s eyebrows furrowed. His power must have been telling him about something crazy. The situation I was about to describe certainly was.

    ¡°There were so many heroes in the skies, it was almost like an alien invasion. I saw Queen Freeze, I think. She stopped a building from falling on some people.¡±

    Elsbeth gave a sombre smile.

    ¡°But yeah, where was I when it started? Asleep at school, actually. I missed the early shouts, but the sirens that went off woke me up. I was bleary eyed and alone in a classroom. Even the teacher had run. I could hear hundreds of footsteps charging down the stairs. I called everyone on my contacts, but only got through to Tess. We agreed to meet in the city, there was a lot of cover there, and it would be less crowded than the shelters and was halfway between where each of us were. Since the Eclipse goes for crowds, it seemed like the best course of action.¡±

    I paused, taking a breath. I needed to disrupt the story.

    ¡°One thing about Quetzalcoatl that doesn¡¯t get talked about much is just how fast it is.¡± I continued with a wavering voice. ¡°It flies and it¡¯s one of the fastest fliers normally, sure, but it can decide to turn it up to eleven at the drop of a hat. I remember seeing it as just a tiny shape on the horizon, and then a moment later it was going through a skyscraper at least three miles away. And I do mean through. Its tendrils are genuinely able to burn through everything except Archangel¡¯s light. I saw three heroes die in that maneuver, to say nothing of however many more died from the collapsing building.¡±

    ¡°Is this you manifesting?¡± Fail asked. I nodded confirmation. He tilted his head, thinking. ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense. Manifesting takes a while, and the case studies put most manifestations outside of crowds. Almost never in the wake of a Calamity.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s actually real common after Scathach.¡± Elsbeth told Fail.

    His expression told me his power had already informed him of that.

    I didn¡¯t start talking again. I didn¡¯t want to.

    ¡°Michael.¡± Elsbeth squeezed my arm.

    I looked at her, trying to communicate something with my eyes. She looked lost. She didn¡¯t know what to do. My free hand went to my piercing and took it off. Time to muddle the order of the story again.

    ¡°I was given this by my family.¡± I said, holding it up. ¡°I¡¯m not sure whose idea it was, but it was Emma that gave it to me. It¡¯s just brass and green glass, but it¡¯s all I have left, really. Of them.¡±

    I fumbled a bit putting it back in.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Fail asked, shaking the box again.

    ¡°I saw Tess.¡± I said, making eye contact but ¡®looking¡¯ at the earring rather than Fail¡¯s reaction. ¡°Saw her, at the theatre. A villain or hero slammed Quetzalcoatl into the ground somewhere nearby. When it was regaining its wings it struggled, smashed through the building we agreed to meet in. I was far enough away to be safe¡­¡±

    I couldn¡¯t say it, that Tess wasn¡¯t.

    ¡°I called my contacts again after that. I got in contact with Mark and Jay. They told me to meet them somewhere. But by the time I got there the place was destroyed. All around me heroes were yelling at me to get moving to safety. I saw Quetzalcoatl dive directly into one of the shelters. Heard the screams over everything else.¡±

    I didn¡¯t hear the screams as I said that. I had forgotten how they sounded, so that was one thing.

    ¡°Michael.¡± Elsbeth nudged my arm. I had stopped talking.

    ¡°Mom found me at some point, I don¡¯t remember exactly when but I do remember her talking about how she had fled a shelter to look for us. Then it was just us. We were running together, going from building to building, trying to dodge into shade when it intensified the sun. Our luck ran out eventually. Quetzalcoatl went straight through the building we were hiding in and it collapsed. When¡­¡±

    I didn¡¯t want to say the next part. Didn¡¯t want to relive it.

    ¡°When I came to Mom was next to me, her body partially covering mine. Protecting me from falling rubble, but I was pinned. I couldn¡¯t move, much. All I could do was close her eyes and yell.¡±

    I laughed suddenly. This had become a pity party for me. For both of me. The dark humour took my attention away from the feeling of phantom blood that had spilled onto me.

    ¡°So yeah, no shit there I was. Pinned underneath my mom¡¯s corpse and a whole lot of rubble. The worst part was that there was a hole in the rubble that let light through. Through it I heard the howls of the Calamity, the frantic yelling of heroes and villains trying to work together, and the sounds of death. That wasn¡¯t why it was the worst, though.

    ¡°The worst part was actually what came after Quetzalcoatl was fought off. The hole let me see out, but it also let light in. Quetzalcoatl¡¯s light.¡± I paused as Elsbeth face winced. I continued my explanation for Fail¡¯s sake. ¡°It hurts more than it burns, but it can kill if you fuck around in it. If your body falls outside when the Eclipse is there, it becomes a dark shadow on the concrete, if that. I was stuck in a confined space, unable to move and with a shaft of this light hitting the side of my chest. I only got away without a mark because it hit my shirt. It still hurt like hell.¡±

    ¡°Did that start you manifesting?¡± Fail asked, then grimaced, learning the answer.

    I breathed. ¡°Shockingly, no. It was after what might have been a day had passed and when the second rescue crew of the day passed by without noticing me that it started. Left and right swapped every few seconds.¡±

    ¡°For me, everything suddenly started pulling me.¡± Elsbeth said. ¡°I got pulled out of my bed.¡±

    Fail shook his head. ¡°Wow. Way to make me feel bad about seeing fruity colours. How else will you make me feel inadequate about the worst days of my life?¡±

    I offered an empty smile and waited.

    ¡°Michael.¡± Elsbeth squeezed my arm. ¡°What happened next?¡±

    I closed my eyes. ¡°Emma started talking.¡±

    I could recall the sound, but not the words. The emotion, but not the message.

    It was my most frequent dream.

    ¡°I can¡¯t remember it very well.¡± My voice caught on the lie. I could remember it in perfect clarity from a visual perspective. Fail picked up on that and swore under his breath. I wondered how much information his power had supplied him with regarding that scene. I was afraid to see Elsbeth¡¯s reaction.

    ¡°Eventually she stopped.¡± I said, barely saying anything at all. ¡°By then, any corner I looked at was painful, I was constantly aware of an impossible mixture of heat and cold in my legs, and my awareness had developed.¡±

    I opened my eyes again. ¡°I screamed until I couldn¡¯t, then I kept trying. After what felt like an eternity I suddenly knew how to use my power and started moving rubble around. Emma¡¯s¡­ uh, body¡­ It was the first thing I affected with it. I emerged from the rubble and saw the destruction. Then I blinked and I was outside the city in a refugee truck. That¡¯s where I lost time.¡±

    ¡°Jesus fucking christ.¡± Fail was slack jawed.

    Elsbeth released my arm and tackled my side with a hug. She held on more tightly than I expected.

    I continued more easily now, ¡°I didn¡¯t really know what was going on, but I wasn¡¯t in a state to talk, or even walk. I just stayed on until the last stop. Then another refugee convoy passed through and I got on that one without thinking about it. Eventually there weren¡¯t any more convoys and I was over there.¡± I pointed to a spot across Lake Shane.

    ¡°CPS found me after a week of living in the refugee camp and set me up with my current housing, Kathrine, who is trying really hard to replace my mom. She already had three other girls,- young girls, I should stress- but one of them lost her family to Scathach. The only reason I was officially allowed to stay was because we would supposedly help each other through our issues.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Which I suppose we have, in the minor scheme of things.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s her name?¡± Elsbeth asked, still hugging me. Her voice travelled through my skeleton, which was a strange feeling. But it was par for the course for the girl.

    ¡°Sofiya, it has a Y.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not far off.¡± Fail commented, not talking about the Y.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think about Sofie much.¡± I told him. ¡°I barely remember her.¡±

    Fail shrugged at the point. ¡°She doesn¡¯t measure up to Emma from your point of view, but she has her charms. Letting me live with her and cooking me food is one of them. Anyway, your life seems to have been filled with a mite more action that mine has been, which leads me to wonder¡­ Which one of us is the imposter?¡±

    A chill fell over us. Elsbeth turned her head to look at Fail, but still hadn¡¯t released me. I wasn¡¯t complaining, but I wasn¡¯t sure what to do with my arm.

    ¡°Me, obviously.¡± I declared.

    Fail frowned, but he wasn¡¯t reacting like he did when I lied. He wasn¡¯t sorting through new information, either.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    Elsbeth made a sound, like she had just been told there wasn¡¯t going to be any dessert. Come to think of it, I barely touched my pancakes from earlier.

    ¡°Why?¡± Fail asked.

    ¡°I have no idea.¡±

    ¡°There should be an explanation.¡± Fail drummed his fingers on the table, which grabbed my attention. ¡°Cloning experiment. No. Mirror dimension. No. Freaky plan put in place specifically to freak me out. No. Cloning, but not an experiment? No. Alternate or divergent dimension.¡± He shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s no goddamn explanation.¡±

    ¡°We used to be the same person.¡± I said. ¡°Does that get a reaction?¡±

    Fail shook his head ¡°No, which is what makes no damn sense. Are you a me that travelled down a different timeline, then got snapped back? No, that doesn¡¯t make sense because your hair is different. Something was different about you from the start.¡±

    ¡°Failed cloning?¡± I tested.

    ¡°No, and don¡¯t phrase it as a question.¡± Fail told me. ¡°It makes my power work funny.¡±

    ¡°Alright¡± I frowned. ¡°How about this? An accident.¡±

    ¡°Half truth.¡± Fail told me. ¡°Which it shouldn¡¯t be. Except it¡¯s intentional. Except it¡¯s intentional for a certain point of view.¡± He deflated. ¡°I¡¯m thinking this is a blind spot.¡±

    ¡°Blind spot?¡±

    ¡°The boyfriend is one, I can¡¯t even get a hit on his name.¡± Fail explained. ¡°I¡¯ve put that down to manifestation fuckery. Quantum physics gets pretty weird for me as well.¡±

    ¡°So you came here for nothing.¡±

    He gave a one shoulder shrug. ¡°Kinda. I came here for you. To meet you, specifically. Though it¡¯s nice to meet you as well, Lucidity. If I make a friend in the Sentry, then I¡¯ll consider this a day well spent.¡±

    Elsbeth nodded without releasing me. I still wasn¡¯t sure where to put my arm.

    ¡°Can you do me a favour and not mention any of this to the Regulation?¡± Fail asked. ¡°I like my facade as a normal person. I put a lot of effort into maintaining it.¡±

    I shook my head, recalling one of the documents from Voidling¡¯s care package. ¡°Not a chance in hell. You and I are an anomaly by Regulation guidelines. I think there are around sixty of them now? Point is, I¡¯m a hero and there exists rules that I have to follow.¡±

    Fail pondered for a moment. ¡°Sixty seven.¡± He said.

    ¡°Sixty seven what?¡± Elsbeth demanded.

    ¡°They¡¯re up to A-67.¡± He elaborated. ¡°Give them a month or two and we¡¯ll be A-69.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have a response for that. Elsbeth did though.

    ¡°What¡¯s so good about sixty nine?¡± She asked innocently.

    I looked down at her. How to address this? She was twelve. Had she gone to health class for that kind of thing yet? Probably, I did when I was nine. This was just a gap in knowledge, most likely.

    My train of thought was interrupted when Fail came to the rescue.

    ¡°Ask the question in sex education.¡± He told her.

    Not quite to the rescue, then. But at least it wasn¡¯t on me.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Elsbeth said, then. ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°How about I¡¯ll trade with you, then.¡± Fail said, pulling my attention away from Elsbeth.

    ¡°Eww.¡± Elsbeth physically shivered, still thinking about it. I could feel it through my clothes.

    ¡°I¡¯m not trading on this.¡± I deadpanned.

    ¡°Hear me out, I¡¯m not a villain.¡± He paused for a moment to check my reaction. I didn¡¯t react since I knew that already. ¡°You¡¯ve won a question from me already, but I¡¯ll trade another for some time. At least until we can be Anomaly 69.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve been talking plenty.¡± I said.

    ¡°That¡¯s because I wanted to get to the bottom of this. That stuff was something I was interested in. I don¡¯t talk about stuff when I¡¯m not, and if I do, I¡¯m usually alone. You can use one of your two questions,¡± He raised two fingers and wiggled one to punctuate the point. ¡°To get me to talk about something I¡¯m not interested in. I¡¯ll get to the bottom of things with you, and expand your knowledge until you¡¯re satisfied, or I decide you¡¯ve learned enough to cover a full question. I might pull out on the exposition early, but you¡¯ll always have an answer.¡±

    He lowered his fingers. ¡°Don¡¯t you have something you¡¯ve always wanted to know?¡±

    Several things, actually. Why did Quetzalcoatl destroy my life? Who was the guy that reverse mugged me and why did he do it? Why did Zephyr have it out for me? Most of those things were recent, now that I was thinking about it. Everything before the Calamity just didn¡¯t seem to matter.

    Those questions were echoes from a different life.

    ¡°Elsbeth.¡± I said, getting a reaction from the girl who was still hugging me. I brought my arms down and started extracting myself from her grip. ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°What about?¡± She asked, straightening up now that we were separated.

    ¡°It goes without saying that the deal is true for her as well.¡± Fail interjected.

    ¡°As it stands, the options are this:¡± I raised a finger as I stated each point. ¡°Go to the Regulation and report on everything we just learned, or hold off for a bit and get an accurate answer to a question each. Any question.¡± I lowered my hand.

    ¡°I can do that myself.¡± Elsbeth pointed out.

    ¡°No.¡± Fail shook his head. ¡°You can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°I can do anything I can imagine.¡± She told him bluntly.

    ¡°Not here and it won¡¯t be as accurate.¡± Fail rebuked. ¡°I know things, and I can know the reason behind them with enough time. I don¡¯t need to know the context, that¡¯s on you. But if we get things in the right context then I am effectively omniscient.¡±

    I measured his expression and body language. No winces. ¡°He didn¡¯t lie.¡± I said, still looking. Still no wince. I didn¡¯t like it, but that was the truth.

    ¡°Um.¡± Elsbeth chewed her cheek, the scarred one.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to ask the question right now.¡± Fail added. ¡°I¡¯ll give you guys my number and you can put me in your recurring contacts as Oliver. Just ask it any time. Make sure you let me know when you want me to answer your question before you ask it. You won¡¯t lose anything by waiting a bit.¡±

    My finger twitched. He said that because we didn¡¯t lose anything from waiting to tell, but put it in the context of us thinking up a question we wanted answered. He was making his offer seductive enough that I could see Elsbeth was having second thoughts.

    ¡°Michael.¡± She was addressing me. ¡°There¡¯s this thing about¡­ Queen...¡± Elsbeth trailed off, looking incredibly conflicted.

    That did it, we were waiting for the next anomaly.

    I stood. ¡°I¡¯m going to go and think by myself for a bit. I have at least one question I want answered right now, Fail.¡± He grinned when I used his moniker. ¡°El, I¡¯m just going over there. Wave when you¡¯re done.¡±

    Elsbeth murmured, ¡°Don¡¯t call me El.¡± But there wasn¡¯t any energy in it. I gave her a squeeze on the shoulder and walked down to the water. Far enough away that I couldn¡¯t hear them talking but close enough to keep an eye on them.

    I looked down the path we had taken to get here. There was someone sitting on a bench that was almost outside of line of sight. They were too far away for me to make out too many details, but I could see they were wearing a baseball cap and a face mask that sick people were supposed to wear when they were outside. I couldn¡¯t tell if they were male or female from the angle. They were clearly obscuring their face intentionally.

    As I was looking at them, they turned their gaze towards mine and our gazes met. I considered waving, but decided against it. There was something familiar about them, but I couldn¡¯t place exactly what. Had I seen them before? I cast my mind back and realised this was the second time I¡¯d seen them today. They had been near the cafe Fail had walked into after me.

    I didn¡¯t realise it straight away because they hadn¡¯t really stood out, they had been doing their job well. They were likely the villain Fail had brought along with him.

    They looked away from me and I returned the favour.

    I found myself looking in the direction I had pointed earlier. I recalled the situation I had been in, too despondent to do anything except when I was reminded that it was time to eat. Back then it hadn¡¯t been my stomach doing the reminding.

    Then I turned to the SRT. From where I was standing I couldn¡¯t see the one side that had glass windows, so the building looked like a very tall bunker. Zephyr was in there, recovering from the wounds I had given her. She thought I killed Clothesline and had used Meretha to try get a read on me, but it backfired.

    Blinker was in on it. He probably wasn¡¯t there right now. Being a Sentry, he was likely in Bitopia, the twin peaks of education. Always using the number two as a symbol. They had students there, and they also had underage heroes.

    Underage heroes who were, frankly, disappointing. It wasn¡¯t just them either, the Sentinels and even members of the Regulation had failed me.

    It didn¡¯t make any sense.

    Even if this conspiracy against me was because of Fail existing at the same time that I did- no. That wasn¡¯t enough. There were enough differences between Fail and I that the connection couldn¡¯t be construed as something sinister, or if it was, it would have been brought up with me already. The Regulation didn¡¯t know that Fail had powers, he had said so, and had a tendency to wince whenever a falsehood was dropped.

    No, it was something else. But what?

    I was shaken from my thoughts by someone yelling my name and I turned to see Elsbeth walking towards me. We met each other halfway.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to leave.¡± She told me, her voice quivering. The energy that was normally in her eyes had been drained. She seemed shellshocked, but the way she carried herself had intent. Anger.

    That set off alarm bells in my head. I was concerned, obviously. More importantly, I wasn¡¯t ready for her to leave yet.

    ¡°Are you going to do something stupid?¡± I asked, my voice deceptively even.

    ¡°No.¡± She shook her head. ¡°I need to visit a rock.¡±

    ¡°Rock?¡±

    ¡°Memorial.¡±

    It must have been related to her question, which must have involved Queen Freeze. She probably died in the air, which left little chance of Queen¡¯s body being recovered if Quetzalcoatl had intensified light afterwards. That¡¯s why there was a memorial instead of a grave.

    ¡°Hey.¡± I crouched down to match her height and spread my arms in a welcoming gesture. Elsbeth looked like she needed a hug. She realised what I was doing and stepped into the embrace with a lot less energy than she had tackled me with earlier.

    I counted to ten in my head. ¡°Do what you need to. Probably would be a good idea to clean up in the dream afterwards, eh?¡±

    Elsbeth gave a flat laugh. I didn¡¯t get what she was laughing at and started extracting myself from the hug. She stepped back looking distracted. Her hair was a little disheveled from all the hugging.

    ¡°Off with you now.¡± I said, pushing her further back.

    She made it a step before she lost her balance. Elsbeth yelled in surprise as she fell through the ground. That was good, I hadn¡¯t been sure if she would fall through or not. I was probably going to get an earful about that later.

    I went back to Fail, who spoke before I could. ¡°Hoo boy, was that a mess.¡±

    ¡°My first question.¡± I said to him as I took a seat. I didn¡¯t really want him telling me what Elsbeth asked about. Fail wasn¡¯t the one I wanted to hear that from.

    ¡°Ask away, imposter of mine.¡± He said mysteriously, drawing his fingers into an arch.

    ¡°Who killed Clothesline?¡±

    Fail gave a smug laugh. ¡°I figured that one out on the day. It was Satellite, obviously. I can tell you how he did it, why he did it, and what enabled him to do it. I¡¯ll even throw in the freebie that he¡¯s getting away with it. No consequences.¡±

    ¡°Please.¡± I said. ¡°Do all that and answer my second question. How do I make sure he gets punished properly for this?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me? I just said that you don¡¯t.¡± Fail¡¯s grin was animalistic. ¡°But you can get the same result by publicly exposing the evidence of his other two murders.¡±

    ~~~

    I touched a leaf of the bush and sighed in relief. There was a small weight caught within its branches. I tried to remove friction from the bush, but failed to do anything. It was alive, so my power didn¡¯t work on it. Of course.

    Instead of having the phone slip out and picking it up with minimal effort or mess, I reached into the bush the old fashioned way and felt around until I got a good grip on the phone. Thanks to my power it only took a few seconds to grab ahold of it, rather than the good half a minute or so it would have been otherwise. Phone in hand, I jumped the fence back onto the sidewalk, earning a look from a passerby. I kept my attention on the phone and they passed without saying anything.

    People like them were what was wrong with Graceland. The ones that just stood by and let things happen. I had thought the street was relatively deserted, given the time and hadn¡¯t expected to be caught. That person had caught me, and I should have at least been made to make a run for it.

    They probably thought I was a Courtesan picking up a package or something, since this was their territory after all. They just didn¡¯t want the trouble. Again, things were wrong with Graceland. It hadn¡¯t shown at first, but more and more I was starting to recognise the tears at the seams.

    I pushed those thoughts to the side and opened the Vphone. It was on 96% battery, which surprised me. Normally Vphones had better battery life. Regardless, and since it didn¡¯t matter, I opened the texts and checked for new messages. There were a few.

    How could you stand back like that? Prism lost his anger because of you! Now he¡¯s going to turn out the same way Blinker did. If I ever see you again, I¡¯m treating you like you were the one who killed Clothesline. Face it, you probably were. - Received 22.05

    Ignore that, Spinnerette gets protective of her teammates. I¡¯ve talked her down for the time being, but we seriously need to talk. - Received 22.13

    You there? - Received 22.16

    This can¡¯t wait. - Received 22.17

    I¡¯m calling you. - Received 22.17

    There was a missed call on the phone¡¯s notifications.

    Shit. Did you get caught? I¡¯m having Spinnerette check now. - Received 22.18

    I¡¯ll admit I¡¯m a little frazzled after tonight. If I got you caught, I¡¯m sorry. If Unshaken is reading this, have you got it out of your system yet? I¡¯d love to have a catch up. You could continue to be incapable of shaking me. Credit where credit is due, you were electrifying tonight. How¡¯s Charlie? - Received 22.20

    Don¡¯t read into that Charlie, I still don¡¯t care about you. - Received 22.20

    Go back three seconds to before you were hurt. - Received 22.21

    Would anyone care to tell me why Zephyr is in the sick bay right now? - Received 22.25

    I mean, don¡¯t get me wrong, I love that she¡¯s there. Just want to know why, since she wasn¡¯t part of the whole warehouse thing. - Received 22.26

    It¡¯s a head scratcher. - Received 22.26

    Yeah, I was really glad I¡¯d discarded this phone. Waterlad would have ruined everything for me. Regardless, I started typing out a message in reply.

    I can¡¯t meet with you for obvious reasons. You¡¯re lucky I dropped this phone away when I did, because I would have been screwed otherwise. Be more careful in the future. Two things: The first is what happened to Zephyr. She used Meretha to try and get me to confess to killing Clothesline, which backfired since all I wanted to do was throttle her. Now you¡¯re going to tell me how you knew she was there. Two: Clothesline was killed by Satellite. I have it under good authority and you are the first one I¡¯m telling. This didn¡¯t come from me. - Sent 09.35

    The response came a few minutes later. I took the time to start walking to my next destination. I was just wandering when I was typing that out, and was actually headed in the wrong direction.

    What authority. I need to know. - Received 09.38

    A Smart one. - Sent 09.38

    This time the reply took a while. I put my ear pods in and started some music.

    I¡¯m going to follow up on this and get back to you. In the meantime you should know something. - Received 09.50

    Sting was at the warehouse. The Courtesans were holding him there. - Received 09.51

    It wasn¡¯t consensual. - Received 09.51

    That brought a frown to my face.

    Do you know why? -Sent 09.51

    No. - Received 09.52

    But a teammate saw green lights inside, and found some discarded beads. - Received 09.52

    Greenflame. - Sent 09.52

    You know what that means¡­ - Received 09.52

    Damn it, let me be dramatic. - Received 09.53

    Was she with Sting at all? - Sent 09.53

    I don¡¯t know I wasn¡¯t inside, as you were undoubtedly aware. - Received 09.54

    Just letting you know things that might let you help us long term. - Received 09.54

    I need to go. Spinnerette is getting antsy. - Received 09.54

    Thanks again. - Received 09.54

    Do me a favour and don¡¯t kill him. - Sent 09.55

    ? - Received 09.55

    Right. You don¡¯t like murder. - Received 09.55

    I¡¯ll do my best. - Received 09.56

    I let Waterlad have the last word and put the Vphone away. I didn¡¯t miss how Waterlad had neglected to explain how he had information from the SRT, but I¡¯d follow up on that later. I had other things I wanted to focus on. Soon I arrived at a post office and bought four cards, as well as a pen. I wrote the same message in each of them and put them in envelopes, each with a different address.

    The first was to Scar¡¯s Advent, a hero group I hadn¡¯t had any interactions with yet. The second was to the Heroes of Yesterday. The third went to the Gray Apostles, and the last went to the SRT. Before I sent each of the letters I gripped each of them in between two knuckles and removed all friction from them. The letters slid out of my grip as easily as all the grease slid off of the letter, thankfully leaving the ink behind. I touched the letters with the back of a finger to confirm I had achieved what I wanted to, then did the same with the envelopes.

    When I mailed the letters, I removed all the friction from the envelopes again to drop them into the mailbox.

    Then I went home.

    Kathrine was beside herself when I got home. The message from Rosie hadn¡¯t done much to assuage her worries, which I had assumed would be the case. Rosie had specifically used the words ¡®contained for the purposes of safety¡¯ to describe my situation. I don¡¯t know if that was Rosie herself, or her sending a dictated message, but my suspicion was on the latter. The way the AI spoke was calming and soothing, not borderline hostile.

    I gave her my version of events. It was censored from the worst stuff, of course. I wasn¡¯t about to tell my guardian I had attacked my superior because I was influenced by a whisper without even being asked for consent. Then I asked her to call me in sick for the day, and trudged to the kitchen for food, then trudged outside to rest.

    It was my first mostly normal day in a while.

    I spent it outside in a chair, staring into the distance. Shoes off, feet touching the small deck. Feeling the entire house with me outside it. I couldn¡¯t be in anywhere right now. Claustrophobia wasn¡¯t something that I developed after Salt Lake City, which was weird, given the circumstances. I guess I broke in other ways. I didn¡¯t want any potential reminders of the worst of it.

    Today, more than other days, the box was open and its contents were spilling out. I was powerless to stop it.

    It would have been easier if it wasn¡¯t so damn sunny.

    ~~~

    When I was having dinner my phone buzzed. It was the one I wasn¡¯t supposed to have. Instead of a message, it was a link to a website I didn¡¯t recognize. Another message followed.

    Make sure you¡¯re watching in thirty minutes. - Received 18.46

 3. I/Me 11

    The page that the link took me to was the homepage of a livestream that was currently down. I searched for the website that was hosting it, but the search engines didn¡¯t come up with anything. There weren¡¯t any hits, so I returned to the livestream.

    While I waited, I found my ear pods and plugged them in. I didn¡¯t start playing music because I didn¡¯t want to be distracted. Then there was nothing to do but wait.

    I was sitting cross legged on my bed, rather than my desk. I liked feeling the forces spreading across the sheets. I wasn¡¯t about to be downstairs where one of the girls could look over my shoulders and see me working with the villains of Graceland.

    The minutes ticked down slowly. Three to go.

    The livestream updated itself, the video playing automatically. It seemed it was starting early.

    I considered making the video full screen, but decided against it because there was a chat window open. There weren¡¯t any comments, but I would want to know if that changed. Then I saw what the video was showing and it had my complete and undivided attention.

    It was the sick bay in the SRT. Zephyr had been released, which I already knew. I spotted her chasing Jagmikh at four pm as usual. Instead of Zephyr taking a bed, Satellite was lying there. He looked bad.

    Real bad.

    Stabbed repeatedly kind of bad.

    Swarmed by venomous spiders and repeatedly stabbed while being beaten up with bludgeoning weapons kind of bad. The Racketeers had gone to town on him. I spotted some wires sticking out of holes in his arm. Holy shit.

    But he was alive. A weight lifted from my stomach.

    Standing next to him was a man that took me a moment to recognise. It was the director of the Regulation, Theo. I really needed to look up his last name. It took me a moment because I hadn¡¯t seen him from this angle before.

    The two were talking, but there wasn¡¯t any sound. I didn¡¯t like that. Even though I could clearly tell that Satellite was uncomfortable as all hell, I didn¡¯t like that I was being shown this without any context. What were they talking about? I needed to know.

    Thankfully, the audio cut in after a minute of watching them talk. It made me jump, but I was quickly back to focusing on the video.

    ¡°-ieve that this was simply them ¡®going through the list?¡± It was Theo talking. His voice was as impassive as it was in front of the cameras.

    Satellite took a moment to respond. His voice was wheezing and strained when he did. ¡°Of course- it was-.¡±

    ¡°So then let me recount. The Racketeers waited until you were alone, which you eventually were because you needed to check on something. Something, I should add, that you haven¡¯t yet specified.¡±

    ¡°It was- a shop-.¡± Satellite strained painfully.

    ¡°What shop?¡± Theo asked sharply.

    ¡°Hotdog- place-.¡±

    Theo took a moment to respond. Hopefully he wasn¡¯t buying it the same as I was. ¡°And when you were coming back you ran into a Racketeer.¡±

    ¡°Water-lad- in an a-alley-.¡±

    ¡°You encountered Waterlad, and then decided not to call for backup.¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t-. Got- blind-sided-.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°Spiders-.¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°Paper-. Cut my- radio- in half-.¡±

    ¡°Who else was there?¡±

    ¡°Prism-. I tried- to run-. Hit- a wall-.¡±

    I felt a bit of dark satisfaction hearing that.

    Satellite wasn¡¯t asked to stop, so he continued. ¡°Zipline-. Obvious-ly-. All- of them- left-.¡±

    ¡°And they did this damage to you before leaving?¡±

    ¡°Bas-asically-.¡±

    ¡°And that was it?¡±

    ¡°It- was-.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t appreciate being lied to so obviously.¡± Theo said, earning a reaction from Satellite, who quickly regretted moving. ¡°I figured you would be obscuring some truths going in, but this level of blatant lying is just insulting.¡±

    ¡°Wha-t?-¡±

    ¡°We received a call, telling us where you were. It¡¯s how we found you before you bled out. You can thank Collage for repairing your internal bleeding, but we decided not to give you a blanket fix until the wires are out.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll- mention- it-.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk, let me finish. This call came at a very fortuitous time, because you would have not made it to emergency care if you were left any longer. It was very specific. It even gave me all the details on where the stab wounds were, how deep they were on average, the number of broken bones you had, and even the antivenoms we should use.¡±

    Theo paused, looking Satellite in the eye.

    ¡°I took the call personally.¡± He added.

    ¡°I- don¡¯t- get- it-.¡± Satellite wheezed.

    ¡°Normally I am removed from street level affairs until they persist, become a problem that needs addressing in the interest of public safety.¡± Theo talked, changing the subject, sort of. He was making a point. ¡°It is very rare to receive a call from anyone on such matters, but this one came directly to me. It was Andrew. He was always a chatterbox. He had a lot to say.¡±

    Satellite didn¡¯t respond. He just glared at Theo.

    The curtains separating the beds swayed suddenly.

    ¡°Just don¡¯t.¡± Theo told him. ¡°You¡¯ll hurt yourself before you hurt me. You¡¯re a splatter, there¡¯s no way you¡¯ll be accurate enough.¡±

    The swaying persisted, then ceased.

    ¡°He told me that you found one of their safe houses, which was subsequently burned down as they escaped it. They should have all made it out safely but they did not due to circumstances outside of their control. Clothesline was left behind.¡±

    Satellite wasn¡¯t looking at Theo anymore. His fists were clenched into fists, and blood was dripping down where his straining arm had a wire embedded in it.

    ¡°You made it to the safe house, found Clothesline, something happened, and she turned up dead.¡± Theo said. ¡°They know it was you, they have it on Smart authority. Queue, I suspect. Did you really think no one with a Smart power would turn their attention to this? Personally, I¡¯m inclined to agree, given your track record. This is your opportunity to tell me what happened.¡±

    ¡°Fuck- off-.¡±

    ¡°Satellite, you were on strike one from day one. This is strike two. If you get a third one, I¡¯m sending you to the Megahold.¡±

    Satellite was going to the Megahold.

    ¡°What happened? Last chance.¡± Theo reminded him.

    Satellite glared at Theo. Theo held his ground.

    ¡°You¡¯re actually one of the less scary transhumans I¡¯ve had to work with, you can¡¯t intimidate me.¡± Theo paused, considering. ¡°Orcus isn¡¯t even the scariest.¡±

    Satellite kept glaring.

    ¡°Very well. You had a chance to mitigate this mess. This will be the road we travel.¡± Theo turned and picked up his jacket, which I hadn¡¯t realised was there because of the angle.

    ¡°She- kept- getting- away-.¡± Satellite said, causing Theo to stop in his tracks. His voice was filled with anger and disdain. Rage.

    Theo turned and waited. ¡°You¡¯ve confessed now. Keep going or it gets much worse.¡± He eventually told Satellite.

    ¡°So- many- goddamn- times-.¡± Satellite hit the bed, irritating his wounds and causing more blood to flow. He didn¡¯t keep going, instead he closed his eyes. Eventually, ¡°I met- a- woman-.¡±

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t- say-. Lot- of- green-.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t surprised. I was kind of expecting it.

    ¡°Greenflame. What did she offer you and how much did it cost?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°No-thing-¡± Satellite spat. ¡°Called- her-self- a wo-wondering- genie-. Of-offered- her ser-vices- for- free-. Let me- ask- for a-any-thing-.¡±

    ¡°What did she offer you and how much did it cost?¡± Theo repeated, deadpan.

    ¡°I as-ked- for the- abil-lity to- get- them-. She- She gave- me- a s-ss-Smart- power-.¡±

    The words sent chills down my spine. She can give abilities? The notion was terrifying. With that kind of power, she could create an army of superpowered minions. It was a freaking miracle that hadn¡¯t happened yet.

    ¡°Tell me.¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Pingba-back- I guess-.¡± Satellite said. ¡°When I- u-use- my- power- now- I s-sense- the sha- the shape- of- things-. Can- tell be-tween- sol-ids a-nd- stuff-.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s how you found Waterlad?¡±

    ¡°Yes-. Put- a- sma-ll f-force on- each h-ouse-. Looked for- a hu-man- shaped- water-.¡±

    ¡°Felwyr¡¯s law of effect should have prevented you from affecting living things.¡± Theo said.

    I had to suppress a groan. That sounded important. I had a pretty good guess as to what that law was, because of the context, but I¡¯d need to look it up later. Another thing I hadn¡¯t been told about.

    Satellite¡¯s eye glinted with satisfaction. ¡°Not- Water-lad-.¡± He said. ¡°Not- now-.¡±

    Well that was terrifying.

    ¡°And what did it cost?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°No-thing-.¡± Satellite told him as smugly as he could manage in his state. ¡°I t-old- you-. It wa-s free-.¡±

    I would have found that hard to believe. Boss and Samurai had spent immeasurable resources bringing Greenflame to Graceland. If Waterlad hadn¡¯t told me that Greenflame was giving out wishes for free I wouldn¡¯t have bought it.

    ¡°I find that hard to believe.¡± Theo said. He didn¡¯t know.

    Satellite shrugged painfully. ¡°It-s- true-.¡±

    Theo took a moment to ponder on that.

    ¡°The time between you finding Clothesline and her being found. What happened.¡±

    ¡°I- f-found- her- in the- rubble-.¡± Satellite said, sounding resigned. ¡°Cuff-ed- her-. Got her- out-. Chatted- about bri-nging- her- in-. She- dislo-cated- herse-lf-. Hit me-. Ran-. I stopped her- from runni-running-.¡±

    ¡°The Racketeers have always been cooperative when being brought in.¡± Theo said. ¡°Their Boss gives them that security. What made Clothesline feel the need to run?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t- know-.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t test me, Kaiden.¡±

    He thought they had privacy. They didn¡¯t.

    Satellite fidgeted in the bed, agitated. ¡°I don¡¯t- know-. Se-rious-ly-.¡±

    ¡°You said you chatted with her when you were bringing her in. What did you talk about.¡±

    ¡°Thi-s and- that-. Pre-vious- arres-ts-.¡±

    ¡°You talked about Junkie, didn¡¯t you.¡±

    ¡°He- came- up-.¡±

    Theo slowly facepalmed. It turned into a serious massage of his forehead. ¡°You were told not to mention Junkie, especially to the Racketeers. Everyone was.¡±

    Not me.

    ¡°I- don¡¯t- get why- not-.¡± Satellite said.

    ¡°Because it was a calossal fuck up.¡± Theo told him, voice raised more than I¡¯d ever heard him before. ¡°You know it. Meretha knows it. Everyone involved knows it. Everyone who was in the damn building knows it.¡±

    But it was another thing I didn¡¯t know about. The list of things I needed to know grew longer every day.

    ¡°Can¡¯t- change- it-.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Theo agreed. ¡°But we also don¡¯t give villains reasons to escalate.¡±

    ¡°Like- I- said-.¡± Satellite said.

    ¡°So you name dropped Junkie like an imbecile, and Clothesline panicked. Is that the narrative you¡¯re going with?¡±

    ¡°I- guess-.¡±

    ¡°This motivated her to fracture her own wrist and batter you in an attempt to escape.¡±

    ¡°Yeah-.¡±

    ¡°And you tracked her down?¡±

    ¡°I- did-.¡±

    ¡°You caught up to her in a construction site.¡±

    ¡°Yeah-.¡±

    ¡°Attacked her with a timber nog.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s- what- was- there-.¡±

    ¡°Broke her arm in two places.¡±

    ¡°Yeah-.¡±

    ¡°And she attempted to jump to a neighboring building.¡±

    ¡°Her- mistake-.¡±

    ¡°She could have made it, but you used your new power to force her to the ground.¡±

    ¡°Not- her-. Her- clothes and- bone-.¡±

    Theo thought for a moment. ¡°Explain the bone.¡±

    ¡°Power- worked-.¡± Satellite said, then approximated a shrug. ¡°Couldn¡¯t- say w-why.¡±

    ¡°And then you left¡± Theo checked.

    ¡°Yeah-.¡±

    ¡°Do you have anything else to say?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°I don-¡¯t regret- it-.¡± Satellite said with conviction.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Theo evaluated Satellite. ¡°That was strike two.¡± He told him, turned, looked back. ¡°No more killing.¡± Then he left. The video kept going, watching Satellite in his bed.

    I was disgusted. There was no other way to describe the visceral feeling that had been growing constantly ever since Satellite had first opened his mouth. The fact that Theo had extracted a confession from Satellite only to give him a warning offended me to the highest degree.

    Going by the chat, I wasn¡¯t the only one feeling that.

    19.38 WoooooooorstNightmare: WHAT THE FUCK

    19.38 Plip-plop: Hope you¡¯re happy.

    19.38 WoooooooorstNightmare: TELL ME THAT DIDN¡¯T JUST HAPPEN

    19.38 Plip-plop: Shit. I could have timed that better

    19.38 WoooooooorstNightmare: SOMEONE GIVE ME AN EXCUSE

    19.38 WoooooooorstNightmare: WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK PP

    19.38 Plip-plop: Nightmare, I was talking to the guest.

    19.38 WoooooooorstNightmare: SO INAPPROPRIATE

    19.38 Plip-plop: not you

    19.39 WoooooooorstNightmare: THE GUEST? YOU MEAN THE ONE THAT ASKED US NOT TO KILL THIS MOTHERFUCKER?

    That would be me, then. I started considering what I could add to the conversation, because I really had a lot to add, but startled when I realised the default handle was my school email. I erased it and put in something after a brief thought. Then I snickered despite myself and changed the handle again.

    19.39 Bitofboth: Let¡¯s take a moment and let calmer heads prevail.

    19.39 4ctu4lT3l3p4th: I wasn¡¯t expecting that outcome.

    19.39 BeatTheWind: He¡¯s fucked

    19.39 UCantCMe: I thought I¡¯d be feeling something after watching this...

    19.39 WoooooooorstNightmare: WHICH ONE OF YOU IS THE FUCKING GUEST?

    19.40 WoooooooorstNightmare: NEXUS WHY DO YOU ALWAYS MAKE US RESET OUR NAMES

    19.40 UCantCMe: But I¡¯m still not feeling it...

    19.40 Bitofboth: None of us. Though, this could be seen as the first session for one of us.

    19.40 4ctu4lT3l3p4th: I¡¯m a little confused. I¡¯m not smart enough.

    19.41 Plop-plop: @WoooooooorstNightmare Hey. No real names here.

    19.41 WoooooooorstNightmare: UCCM it¡¯s okay. I¡¯m going to get you something really nice, it¡¯ll make you happy.

    19.41 UCantCMe: I can be happy. That¡¯s not the problem.

    19.41 WoooooooorstNightmare: IF THE GUEST WOULD LIKE TO REVEAL THEMSELVES

    19.41 Plip-plop: I can be happy too, for the record.

    19.41 WoooooooorstNightmare: I WOULD LIKE TO PICK A BONE WITH THEM!

    19.42 BeatTheWind: Sorry, I was typing something out. Pasting it below.

    19.42 BeatTheWind: He¡¯s fucked because he¡¯s already committed strike three and letters are already on their way to the heroes. Letters letting them know that where the body of Mist can be found. Satellite found Mist using his power as he just described, and there¡¯s evidence that he¡¯s been using his power in the area where the body will be found. There¡¯s also evidence that Mist had a fight on the first floor. Where he fell has unusually deep dents where he hit. There should also be stretch marks on his body from where his costume suddenly became much heavier. It¡¯s irrefutably Satellite. The Regulation will be the last to know so it will absolutely go public.

    19.42 BeatTheWind: Like I said, Satellite¡¯s fucked.

    19.43 4ctu4lT3l3p4th: Oh my.

    19.43 Bitofboth: Oh my.

    19.43 BeatTheWind: He¡¯s going to the Megahold.

    19.43 Plip-plop: Should¡¯ve known you were holding stuff back.

    19.43 WoooooooorstNightmare: I¡±M NOT ACCEPTING THIS YET

    19.43 Bitofboth: @4ctu4lT3l3p4th, are you in the building right now?

    19.44 Plip-plop: Love the name, by the way.

    19.44 WoooooooorstNightmare: WHY DID YOU ASK US TO LET HIM LIVE

    19.44 4ctu4lT3l3p4th: I swear I¡¯m not.

    19.45 WoooooooorstNightmare: TELL ME

    19.45 Plip-plop: Chill,

    19.45 BeatTheWind: Typing something out.

    19.45 4ctu4lT3l3p4th: I just figured out who you are @WoooooooorstNightmare. You really like that number.

    19.46 UCantCMe: This is making me feel weird. I¡¯m backing out.

    19.46 WoooooooorstNightmare: *Is bashful

    19.46 WoooooooorstNightmare: FUCKING TELL ME @BeatTheWind!!!

    19.46 Plip-plop: @UCantCMe Come talk sometime. I¡¯ve had ten months of learning how to deal with it.

    19.47 BeatTheWind: I had this long answer.

    19.48 BeatTheWind: But I just don¡¯t like the idea of killing. That¡¯s all.

    19.48 UCantCMe: Just start talking. I can hear you from here.

    19.48 WoooooooorstNightmare: OH YOU DON¡±T LIKE THE IDEA OF KILLING???

    19.49 WoooooooorstNightmare: WELL THIS GUY JUST LOOOOOOOOVES IT

    19.49 Plip-plop: Senses still acting up?

    19.49 WoooooooorstNightmare: AND BECAUSE YOU DON¡±T LIKE THE IDEA OF KILLING

    19.49 4ctu4lT3l3p4th: @UCantCMe, can we meet tomorrow. Before it calms down too much?

    19.49 WoooooooorstNightmare: HE¡±S GOING BACK OUT ON THE STREET

    19.50 BeatTheWind: Sorry. I can¡¯t afford to have someone¡¯s death on my conscience.

    19.50 UCantCMe: @Plip-plop Yes. @4ctu4lT3l3p4th I¡¯ll text you a place. Don¡¯t want anyone from here showing up.

    19.50 Bitofboth: @BeatTheWind I think you should refrain from interacting with nightmare any further at this time. Doing so will avoid bad fortune.

    19.50 WoooooooorstNightmare: IS IT BECAUSE I¡±M EMOTIONAL

    19.51 BeatTheWind: Sound advice if I ever heard it.

    19.51 WoooooooorstNightmare: GO ON. SAY I¡±M ON MY PERIOD

    19.51 Plip-plop: @WoooooooorstNightmare I¡¯m removing your internet privileges until you calm down.

    19.51 WoooooooorstNightmare: DO IT!

    19.51 WoooooooorstNightmare: YOU CAN¡±T DO THIS TO ME

    19.52 4ctu4lT3l3p4th: Alright. I¡¯m shutting this down.

    19.52 4ctu4lT3l3p4th: @BeatTheWind You¡¯ll want to check out the archives before you go. You may find some interesting things there. You¡¯ll need the password.

    19.53 BeatTheWind: Sure...

    19.53 N0TTH313ZZT: You guys are all crazy.

    19.53 Plip-plop: Fucking preach.

    19.53 AUTOMODERATOR: This conversation has been closed.

    The video froze and a pop up with a link directing me to the mentioned archive appeared. I clicked it after some hesitation. A popup asking for a password appeared.

    I looked at it, thinking about what 4ctu4lT3l3p4th had said. The only passwords I had were my own. Well, that and maybe the string of characters Jess sent me. I quickly navigated to the document that held a copy of Jess¡¯ email, copied the post post script, and pasted it into the password box. I hit enter, and was taken to an archive of videos.

    There were a number of videos that had thumbnails picturing various places in the SRT. I recognised the villain holding and interrogation room in several. The most recent one was the scene in the sick bay. I scrolled and found the two of me in the interrogation room. One with Risk, and the other with Zephyr and Meretha.

    They were titled by the date and time they happened. There were a lot of scenes here. One thing was for sure, this was a huge security breach. I really shouldn¡¯t have, but out of curiosity I clicked on the one where Meretha and Zephyr were interrogating me.

    The perspective of the camera was the one I¡¯d seen in the tripod. It was before anyone had entered the room, and there were the sounds of people shifting uncomfortably. It took a while before someone spoke.

    ¡°Wait.¡± A female voice said. Zephyr. She wasn¡¯t in frame. ¡°Walk away.¡±

    There was some more silence. The me in the video started tapping his fingers.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it.¡± A young male voice. Blinker. ¡°How can he tell when someone approaches the door?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s tapping into powers he hasn¡¯t told us about.¡± Zephyr responded matter of factly. ¡°More proof.¡±

    ¡°He said he had the ability to sense forces affecting things.¡± Blinker pointed out. ¡°Do you think he¡¯s listening to us through the floor? Is that possible?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a touch range dagger ability and he¡¯s still got his boots on. Either he¡¯s hiding a third power, or, there is no alternative because there¡¯s no other explanation.¡±

    ¡°He isn¡¯t responding to what we¡¯re saying, that much is for sure. Who handled the analysis of Michael¡¯s power?¡± A third voice asked. It was one I recognised from the previous video. It was Theo.

    ¡°Orcus.¡± Zephyr said.

    ¡°Did his description of that ability satisfy you?¡±

    ¡°I just regurgitated it, boss. How long should we wait this time?¡±

    ¡°Four minutes.¡± Theo said. ¡°He¡¯s getting tired.¡±

    ¡°He should be in shock, vulnerable.¡± Blinker said. ¡°Everyone is after their first encounter with Halcion.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t say he fought with Halcion.¡±

    ¡°What Lock dealt with was worse. He had to pacify Prism, the one who was drained by Halcion.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t had the pleasure.¡± Zephyr said dryly.

    ¡°It¡¯s not.¡± Blinker stated.

    ¡°I¡¯m curious as to why he¡¯s playing mind games.¡± Theo said. ¡°Not much has occurred to make him suspicious of us. Michael manifested in the wake of Salt Lake City and spent time in limbo before calling to sign as a Sentry. His reasons for signing were textbook, but just, and Orcus¡¯ impression was that they were honest. To top it off, his powers are Disrupter/Ghost. That¡¯s not a very common combination, and certainly not one that promotes subtle subterfuge. That¡¯s more the realm of Whispers, Smarts, and Traitors¡±

    ¡°He might be Enigmatic.¡± Blinker said.

    Zephyr snorted.

    ¡°But it fits. His Ghost power ignores the law of effect.¡±

    ¡°If the other Michael Barker had powers, we would have reason to warrant a more in-depth study.¡± Theo commented.

    I paused the video. They knew? Was that why being Sentry was such a hassle for me? From what they were saying, it was. Was this the reason that Fail had asked me to keep quiet about his powers. From the sound of things, it was the reason I was being treated with such ridiculous suspicion.

    Zephyr seemed to be the strongest advocate against me, if that snort was any indication. I wrote ¡®Fuck Zephyr¡¯ on my wall in gold. Then I hit play again.

    ¡°I still think he¡¯s a clone.¡± Zephyr said.

    ¡°An imperfect one.¡± Theo said.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t have a proper birth certificate.¡± Zephyr pointed out. ¡°All there is is the one child services made for him after Quetzelcoatl destroyed all the databases.¡±

    I stopped the video again.

    I skipped to the end. After I had broken the mirror with Zephyr¡¯s head, but was still on my feet. Zephyr was slumped in the bottom of the frame.

    I hit play.

    ¡°-ou hear me?¡± My voice came through my headphones, sounding almost exactly like Fail.

    Meretha nodded frantically, still humming. Terrified.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me? I was talking about your power. Never use it on me again!¡±

    Meretha¡¯s mouth moved, but the sound of her words weren¡¯t picked up by the mic. The me in the video closed their grey eyes and toppled backwards, cracking their head against the wall on the way down.

    Everything stayed as it was for a while. Meretha stared at my unconscious body in shock.

    ¡°Meretha.¡± Theo said, his voice calm in the way that promised bad things were about to happen. ¡°You better have a good explanation for this one.¡±

    ¡°I-¡± Meretha swallowed. ¡°He- She jus-.¡±

    ¡°Meretha.¡± Theo repeated.

    ¡°He was tired- that was his want.¡± Meretha said, still staring at my body. ¡°Then Zephyr walked in and he wanted an explanation. There was an active desire to deceive that slipped into desires to convince right at the start. A lot of desires for an excuse came up throughout the talk. I marked those. He wanted to win at several points in the- the talk.¡±

    ¡°What changed?¡±

    ¡°The accusation. He wanted to repay Zephyr. Get even, which seemed fine. But he wanted to sleep more. Then Zephyr said, something, and it became a desire to hurt her.¡± Meretha swallowed. ¡°The want to sleep was the greatest, then suddenly the aggressive want eclipsed it. I was taken off guard and couldn¡¯t change it back. Then I¡­ I slipped.¡±

    ¡°So you forced him to act on his greatest desire, which was to assault his superior, because you ¡®slipped¡¯. When if you had stayed your hand for a bit longer, the desire could have been to fall asleep, as we just saw. Is that the narrative you¡¯re going with?¡± Theo asked, his voice still had that dangerous edge.

    ¡°I- yes.¡± Meretha sighed.

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t need to remind you about strike one.¡± Theo said. ¡°Consider this strike two.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Meretha said, her voice squeaking. She sounded very small in that moment.

    ¡°That was terrifying.¡± Blinker broke the silence. I had forgotten he was there.

    ¡°That...¡± Theo took a moment to ponder. ¡°That is something I¡¯m not entirely sure is on our side.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s very calculating. I couldn¡¯t tell at first because the colour obscures so much of him.¡±

    ¡°Treat him carefully.¡± Theo told Blinker. ¡°I¡¯ll get someone in to check on Lock. Blinker, take Zephyr to the doctor.¡± He took another moment to ponder. No one was moving. ¡°Everyone. I want your attention.¡±

    Meretha finally faced away from me, turning to face someone beside the camera.

    ¡°This didn¡¯t happen. Dismissed.¡±

    The video ended and I was left reeling.

    ~~~

    ¡°You look terrible.¡± Nathan commented.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± I replied as I dropped into my chair too heavily and winced as I hit the metal bits through the thin plastic. ¡°Late night. Where¡¯re your friends?¡±

    ¡°What friends?¡± Nathan scoffed. ¡°You mean the budding Courtesans? Nah, man. I¡¯m staying out of that shit.¡±

    I looked at him. His mouth wasn¡¯t twisting, so he was being serious best I could tell. ¡°I didn¡¯t realise the Courtesans were recruiting from Merryfair.¡±

    ¡°Nah, it¡¯s them going to the gang.¡± Nathan handwaved. ¡°Why someone my age wants to be associated with the people that kidnap and traffic people, I¡¯ll never know. The gangs really recruit from Fairfax high and Graceland Grammar. GBG and GGG both. Better locations. Rumours are that heroes go to Bitopia and this dump are also a factor.¡±

    I nodded, paying less attention than I usually did. It wasn¡¯t that I had a late night, I hadn¡¯t slept at all. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw something different. It was the consequence of opening the box.

    I blinked and let my eyes stay closed for a moment. Quetzalcoatl descended on the shelter. I wanted to rest, but the need wasn¡¯t great enough to keep my eyes closed, so they opened again.

    Spending all night looking for more information regarding this conspiracy had also contributed. Before moving on, I had decided to impose the rule that I was only going to watch videos featuring people that were conspiring against me. That had quickly fallen apart, but I stopped watching the videos where the other Sentrys were unmasked.

    I wanted to be better than the Regulation, not on the same level as them. Even with that self imposed rule I had learned some haunting things. The worst fucking part was that I had only said yes to working with Waterlad because Zephyr wasn¡¯t letting me be a hero. In treating me like I was a key part of a conspiracy, I had willingly stepped into a separate conspiracy. This stuff needed to be handled carefully, but I had ten days to think about that. Right now I had other immediate concerns.

    ¡°What¡¯s today?¡± I asked, referring to class.

    I hadn¡¯t realised Nathan was still talking ¡°-and the Beastmasters are actually taking an interest in Merryfair. Seems they¡¯re situating themselves somewhere around here.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think you were into this stuff.¡± I commented.

    ¡°Sonya keeps talking about it and I guess I picked some of it up. I think they call that osmosis.¡±

    I shrugged and put my head down on my desk. I didn¡¯t know.

    ¡°Yeah. You usually go glassy eyed when she goes on about it. Anyway, you said something?¡±

    I lifted my head up a fraction. ¡°What¡¯s today?¡±

    ¡°Dunno. Ask the teacher.¡±

    I put my head back down on the desk and used my power to analyse the shit out of it. I came to the conclusion that it was a desk, one that I was now very familiar with. At least I wasn¡¯t thinking about-

    ¡°Michael!¡± Someone with a shrill voice said.

    I bolted to a sitting position. The whole class was looking at me. I blinked and looked around in an attempt to identify who had said my name. The teacher was glowering at me while the other kids were just curious and/or amused. It was the teacher, then.

    ¡°That¡¯s my name.¡± I said. And not just mine, either. I thought, thinking of Fail.

    ¡°Can you please repeat to me the intent of today¡¯s class.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I looked around and saw that Nathan had a piece of paper on his desk. Everyone else had one too. ¡°Something on a worksheet, Ms Grayson?¡±

    There were a few snickers that were ignored by the teacher.

    ¡°We are doing a peer review of the essays you that all wrote as homework in response to the book we are studying for your exams.¡± Ms Grayson stated, clearly unimpressed. ¡°You had a week to write this essay in your own time. You do have an essay for review, Michael?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± My mind was frayed from thinking about things beyond school. ¡°Let me check.¡±

    ~~~

    School was a fucking drag. It was break now, but I had been held back. I had forgotten to print the essay Ms Grayson was referring to, and therefore couldn¡¯t be evaluated. Now I was being held back to explain myself.

    Nathan was waiting outside, which was a small mercy.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you have your homework ready for class, Michael?¡± Ms Grayson demanded, her glasses off, held in her hand.

    She was an older teacher, and there was gray in her hair that was matched by wrinkles on her face. Her general demeanour was ¡®no fun¡¯ and ¡®all work¡¯. It was a horrifyingly accurate recreation of another time I¡¯d had to explain myself just days ago.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t print it off.¡± I said.

    The reminders that Rosie sent me hadn¡¯t stopped coming, and I had been sure to stay up to date with my homework despite my involvement with the double murder that had been happening in the background. I had an essay written, but it was a digital copy and Ms Grayson was old fashioned. She required that everything be handwritten despite it being the age of technology, and didn¡¯t have a history of letting print outs fly.

    Which was a fact I remembered too late.

    To Ms Grayson¡¯s credit, she didn¡¯t explode like Zephyr would have. She did arch an eyebrow judgmentally, though. ¡°Does the fact that you don¡¯t have homework for class have anything to do with the fact that you look like you haven¡¯t slept in days?¡±

    I blinked, my vision going a bit blurry and forcing me to squint as I answered. ¡°Not related, no.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so were you playing video games?¡±

    I was researching a conspiracy against me. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Do you have a reasonable explanation, then?¡±

    Not without compromising my identity. ¡°PTSD, Miss.¡± That took her off guard. ¡°I''m handling it. Can I go?¡±

    She put her glasses down in shock and stared at me. I wondered what was going through her brain. ¡°Y-yes, Michael. You can go.¡±

    I let myself wonder if she would report that ¡®cry for help¡¯ back to Kathrine or the Regulation as I joined up with Nathan. I was suspended from being a sentry, so in the latter case there probably wouldn¡¯t be any repercussions for ten days. Which would hopefully let me get something of a handle on myself. There was someone standing next to Nathan that I barely noticed.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, Nathan.¡± I wasn¡¯t in a very good mood.

    ¡°Just a second, Mike.¡± His voice was strained.

    I looked at the scene again and saw there were actually two people standing near Nathan, trapping him against the wall with their presence. One glanced at me.

    ¡°I expect to hear from you soon.¡± One of them said. It was the taller one, who retreated and walked away after speaking. Not even dignifying Nathan with a goodbye.

    The other one stayed for a second longer before leaving with his friend.

    Nathan let out a breath he had been holding.

    ¡°What was that?¡± I asked, feeling more focused than I had all day.

    ¡°Nothing. Just bullshit.¡± Nathan handwaved. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± He walked past me but I didn¡¯t move. I was staring at the back of the head of the guy that had spoken. ¡°Mike.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me Mike.¡± I told him, echoing Elsbeth¡¯s sentiment. Was that how she felt when I called her El? I owed her an apology.

    ¡°Michael.¡± Nathan strained. This was out of character for him. Normally, Nathan was the comedic happy one. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of the way.¡±

    I followed when Nathan finally started moving. The other guy had rounded a corner, I couldn¡¯t see him any more. I looked at my friend instead.

    ¡°What?¡± He demanded.

    ¡°Nothing.¡± I said, then closed my eyes and immediately reopened them. I was just wondering why you were being held up by the guy that mugged me.

    I longed for the days when nothing happened.

 3. I/Me F.1 (Interlude)

    ¡°*Incomprehensible Screeching*¡±

    - Scathach [?s?ka?hax]

    _____________________________________________________________

    It was raining.

    It was cold rain, coming down just as hard as the winds were blowing. He had to crouch as he ran just to avoid falling over. The rain ran through his hair and over his eyes, leaving long strands clumped together over his eyes. He couldn¡¯t afford to wipe them away.

    It would have been pointless. A waste of energy.

    He couldn¡¯t feel the rain, anyway.

    Nor could he feel the wound through which the water ran red, but he was aware of it.

    The run went on for an eternity. Always another corner, always more distance. Distance was key, in this case. The paths would have the same qualities that they always did, but the distance would always be based off of distance. Distance that was either staying the same or getting smaller, at the rate he was going.

    Hiding would be useless. The paths would lead right to him.

    Setting a trap would be useless. The paths would avoid them.

    Fighting was stupid. But there would be a chance.

    Delaying the fight would weaken him. His blood wasn¡¯t about to stop flowing in this condition. Fighting soon was the best option.

    What did he have on him? He stopped. He needed to catch his breath before they caught up. One hand went into the bag and felt three handles. It was all he had left. One was straight and made of wood. It was a bokuto. It was good for defence, but this time defence wouldn¡¯t help. The paths would go around the defences. Useless.

    Another was rubbery and molded to a hand, but sideways in the bag. A handle for a bow. He didn¡¯t have any arrows.

    The third was a metal handle for a flail. He winced as he gripped it and pulled it out. The bag bloated momentarily, yawning as the head of the flail passed through, then shrinking back to its previous size. The Flail it wasn¡¯t special like the others, it was mundane in every way. It¡¯s points had been sharpened however, and the weapon was heavy. It would leave an impression if he used it correctly.

    He didn¡¯t have much practice, though.

    It was still his best chance.

    He needed to keep moving. If he stayed still, the paths could be used to set up traps against him. Now moving at a walking pace, his one free hand pressing his wound. He was so numb he couldn¡¯t feel the pain he knew he should be feeling. He was so numb that he didn¡¯t look up until he was halfway down the hallway. He stopped. He feared.

    A figure. Female. Silhouetted by a flickering light. Red hood to go with the sanguine liquid dripping from the costume.

    Blood Royal.

    The words sent vertigo howling through his body. Petrified him.

    He shouldn¡¯t have stopped.

    ¡°May I join you?¡±

    ~~~

    Daniel woke violently.

    By the time he got his bearings his bedsheets had hit the opposite wall, and Daniel had found both the gun and the dagger he kept under his pillow and pointed the gun at the slowly opening door that creaked as it drifted.

    A figure stood in the doorway.

    Female.

    Silhouetted by light.

    The words came. ¡°May I join you?¡±

    They layered with the memory of the dream from which Daniel had just awoken. They sounded so similar. Daniel lowered the gun and returned both the weapons to their places.

    ¡°What is it, Fairy?¡± He asked once both weapons were stowed. He turned the bedside light on to separate reality from the dream.

    ¡°I can¡¯t sleep.¡± She said. There was a stuffed cat in her arms that she hugged close. The woman herself was lean, tall, and not very well endowed. There were lines of stress on her forehead that didn¡¯t see much use. She had a nose that Daniel thought was cute. No red. ¡°It¡¯s still gone.¡±

    Daniel stood and started putting the bedsheets back on his bed. ¡°Have the paths changed?¡±

    The woman focused for a moment then shook her head.

    ¡°Then the trap is still set.¡± He said.

    She asked in a small voice. ¡°Can I sleep with you?¡±

    Daniel paused for a moment and observed her. There was no sign of dishonesty. Everything was still as it was meant to be.

    At least for the body.

    ¡°Let me finish making the bed.¡± He said. She hugged the stuffed cat closer. Soon the bed was made and the woman snuggled under the covers. Daniel found the plug for the electric blanket, plugged it back in and turned it on. The woman made a comfortable sound when the heat reached her. He turned the hall light off and closed the door to the room.

    Daniel went to the wardrobe and pulled out another sheet. He lay down next to the woman on top of the covers and pulled the new sheet over him. She looked concerned as he reached over and turned the light off.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you sleep under the cover?¡± The woman asked, facing him.

    ¡°You know why, Fairy.¡± He told her, facing the ceiling. He looked into the abyss above, let it drink up his stare. ¡°Those are the rules.¡±

    ¡°Risk says that rules are made to be broken.¡±

    ¡°Not these rules.¡± He turned to face her. They were close enough together that he could make out her shape in the darkness, the stuffed cat between them. ¡°These are the rules keeping you out of the Megahold.¡±

    ¡°I want to be able to be useful.¡±

    ¡°You need to be careful. Otherwise you will be seen as your former self.¡±

    ¡°But-¡±

    ¡°Fairy.¡± He reached forward and touched her head with the back of his hand. ¡°I feel the void as well.¡±

    The woman took his hand with one of hers and gripped it hard. She used more strength than one would expect, given her thin body and mild personality. She used exactly as much as Daniel thought she would. No one knew this woman as well as he did. No one could.

    This was technically an infraction of the rules. One that Daniel decided he wouldn¡¯t report on.

    Her grip relaxed over the course of the next ten minutes. At some point the woman slipped beneath the veil of sleep. At a later point her breath started whistling softly through her nose with every exhale.

    Daniel didn¡¯t sleep again that night.

    ~~~

    There were several letters to address. Today there was even a physical one to go with the dozen or so electronic ones that had come in overnight. Daniel wasn¡¯t the figurehead of the Heroes of Yesterday and he didn¡¯t want to be. If the specifics of his abilities were ever publicized, then they would be ruined. Even in his current position, the PR hit would be deadly.

    Daniel went for the letter first. If anything, it would lift his mood. Physical letters were usually from a fan, or a thank you from a civilian that Daniel had helped. Those were few and far between, however, especially for him. He paused when he looked at the cover of the letter. It had a painted older woman holding a mug smiling sarcastically at him. There was a speech bubble pointing to the lady that said ¡°It¡¯s your birthday? Guess I¡¯ll take my aspirin¡­¡±

    It wasn¡¯t Daniel¡¯s birthday. Far from it. He felt ambivalence as he opened the letter which disappeared as he read the lengthy message inside. He didn¡¯t read the punchline.

    ¡°Toil.¡± Daniel held the letter towards the red eyed man. ¡°You need to read this.¡±

    Toil took the letter and gave a chuckle as he read the cover of the letter. Any amusement was lost as he got into the contents. When he finished he pulled out his Vphone and started a call in three presses.

    ¡°Risk, you¡¯re needed at base.¡± He told the hero. ¡°End your patrol early. It¡¯s about the Clothesline case.¡±

    There was a brief response and the call ended.

    ¡°Forsaken, get Glitter Bomb and stand by for when Risk returns.¡± Toil told Daniel. ¡°You¡¯re going to confirm the contents of this letter.¡±

    Daniel glanced to the mess room, where the mentioned hero was on her phone. ¡°I¡¯m worried about exposing her to a body.¡±

    Toil sighed and rubbed his head. His mask wasn¡¯t on, so the action was able to relieve him somewhat. ¡°Yeah, me too. Tell her to let you know before you get close. It might not do much good if it¡¯s in an open area.¡±

    ¡°We were lucky last time.¡± Daniel told him and went to Glitter Bomb.

    ¡°I know.¡± Toil said as he walked away.

    ¡°Fairy.¡± Daniel said, getting her attention. Glitter Bomb stopped kicking her feet. ¡°Risk is going to arrive shortly. Please retrieve me when he does.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Glitter Bomb said.

    Daniel went back to his desk and sat. He had a dozen emails to get through today, and more would come in throughout the day. In addition to that he would be expected to attend a meeting regarding how to deal with the current activities of the Entrepreneurs and their shell companies, as well as one regarding the rising levels of activity around the Beastmasters.

    He didn¡¯t get the chance to deal with the emails. There was a girl in costume sitting in his office. The first thing Daniel did was pull a gun on her.

    ¡°I¡¯m bulletproof.¡± She said.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a standard gun.¡± Daniel told her.

    ¡°Does it shoot bullets?¡± The girl asked. Daniel nodded. ¡°Then it won¡¯t work.¡±

    After a long, tense silence, Daniel lowered the gun and returned it to the bag. ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°Forsaken, I have questions.¡± She said. ¡°They¡¯re about Glitter Bomb.¡±

    Daniel stood and went to the door. ¡°Visitor.¡± He told the room and slid his door shut, then looked at the costumed girl. His teammates would be putting on their masks to conceal their identity. The girl hadn¡¯t moved except to track him. ¡°Who are you to ask about Fairy?¡±

    The costumed girl recoiled. ¡°Uh, hello? I¡¯m Lucidity. A hero?¡±

    Daniel moved back to his side of the desk, but he didn¡¯t sit. He recalled Lucidity, but he and the young hero hadn¡¯t interacted much. The Regulation groups tended to avoid the independent groups where they could. The Sentry had little reason to interact with the Heroes of Yesterday as a consequence. Daniel didn¡¯t turn to face her. His bag felt heavy on his belt. He suspected he knew what this was about.

    ¡°It is common courtesy to call ahead, so that the team you are visiting may put their masks on.¡± He said. ¡°You are lucky this is not a problem with me.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to talk to the Heroes of Yesterday, I wanted to talk to you.¡± Lucidity said pointedly. ¡°I recently had a, whim. I made an... a falsehood detector and realised I could figure out anything I wanted. And there¡¯s this one thing that¡¯s always been worming around at the back of my brain. One thing I didn¡¯t know.¡±

    A breath. ¡°Whatever happened to Queen Freeze¡¯s nemesis?¡±

    Daniel was stoic, staring through the blinds in his office at the outside world as Lucidity spoke. Even so, he stilled.

    ¡°I tried to be sensible. Took some time to calm down, but I¡¯m not calm.¡± She continued. ¡°I need your excuse.¡±

    He picked his words. ¡°You are Elsbeth, then.¡±

    ¡°I said she was dead.¡± Lucidity ignored him. ¡°That was false.¡±

    ¡°I am sorry this was kept from you.¡±

    ¡°I said she was in hiding. Also false.¡±

    ¡°You would have been told eventually.¡±

    ¡°I said she was being punished.¡±

    ¡°Elsbeth-¡± Daniel turned.

    Lucidity had stood at some point. She jabbed a finger at him sharply. ¡°False!¡±

    ¡°Conventional laws wouldn¡¯t apply-¡± Daniel tried to explain.

    ¡°She is on her phone, kicking her feet!¡± Lucidity howled. ¡°Do you know how many times Blood Royal sent Queen Freeze to the hospital, bleeding from everywhere? I do. Sixteen times! Sixteen times I was told that my mom and the hero I adored had been brutalised by a villain who got away! Then I had to visit her. Each time!¡±

    ¡°She is not that woman anymore.¡±

    ¡°Explain it!¡± Lucidity punched Daniel. Then she punched him again. ¡°Explain why the murderer that nearly killed my mom sixteen times didn¡¯t get sent to the Megahold, or executed like she deserved!¡± Another punch.

    Daniel took the punches. He deserved them. Even if the blows themselves were weak they rocked through his body and smashed into his very soul. He crouched and took his mask off with one hand.

    A fist sailed into his face, hitting his cheek. It stayed there.

    Tears were streaming down Lucidity¡¯s cheeks.

    ¡°Elsbeth.¡± Forsaken pulled her hand down so it was between them and held it with both hands. ¡°I will grant your request.¡±

    Lucidity just sniffed.

    Forsaken kept talking, ¡°It was a night where we were exhausted. An A-13 had appeared in Seattle and a teleporter there pulled us over. We had to make our own way back and Queen Freeze went ahead as she normally did¡­¡±

    ~~~

    ¡°HoY?¡± A female voice came over the radio. She normally sounded amused when she said that, but this time there was none of that. The mood of the truck shifted with just one word.

    Toil was the one who responded. ¡°This is the HoY, as you say. What is it, Queen?¡±

    Queen Freeze¡¯s voice replied. ¡°I was doing a flyby before I go to the daycare. There¡¯s commotion in your area.¡±

    ¡°Faster.¡± Toil told Risk, who accelerated. Then he pressed the transmitter again. ¡°Describe the commotion. I¡¯ll guess until we have something that fits.¡±

    ¡°No need.¡± Queen Freeze responded. ¡°I¡¯ve just confirmed that Blood Royal is in play. I¡¯m scouting to see if there are any other elements in play.¡±

    ¡°Since it¡¯s the courtesans, two Mistresses. Purple and blue. They¡¯re in Entrepreneur territory to do some property damage while things are quiet. No response from the villains yet.¡± Toil said into the radio. It was just a guess, but he was a proficient guesser. Then he turned to Risk.

    Risk spoke unprompted. ¡°No deaths so far.¡± A moment. ¡°No deaths now, either.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s keep it that way.¡± Wall Walker muttered.

    ¡°Mm.¡± Sacred agreed.

    Forsaken didn¡¯t respond, but he was listening.

    ¡°Confirmed.¡± Queen said. ¡°Just saw them arrive as you said, thanks for the heads up. You guys are my soonest reinforcements. You left first, so you¡¯re closest to Graceland.¡±

    ¡°They must have noticed we left and jumped at the chance.¡± Toil said into the radio again, sounding much more sure. ¡°Don¡¯t overcommit while you¡¯re outnumbered, Queen. Focus on evacuating civilians for the time being. Wait for us.¡±

    ¡°You aren¡¯t my superior, but roger that.¡± Queen Freeze said, sounding rather bemused. ¡°Get here soon.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ~~~

    Impulse and Archipelago had joined the fray at some point. Both Mistresses had been removed from play by Wall Walker, but the red one had shown up to replace them. Toil, Risk, and Sacred had started working together to take her down, but that was an uphill battle with two Mistresses down. Wall Walker was now stomping around, trying to convince Archipelago and Impulse to leave. Forsaken and Queen Freeze were fighting Blood Royal together.

    Another uphill battle.

    Blood Royal had managed to disarm him of his spear, somehow, which pained Forsaken greatly. It pained him more than the bruises he had gathered fighting the A-13, more than using the last of his arrows had drained his vitality.

    The villain stabbed with abandon. Pillars of earth followed the movements of the spear, up and around in the sky. Reaching a critical mass and failing, only for a new pillar to extend from the side of the falling one. Blood Royal was trying to fight Queen Freeze, who was high in the air without actually leaving the ground. She was succeeding. She was desecrating the spear but she was succeeding.

    Queen Freeze had decided to match her chivalrous weapon with one of her own. Ice had been formed around her costume in armour that looked like an attempt to emulate a knight, but only the helmet and chestplate were detailed while the rest was simply ice over the body. A crown was working into the design of the helmet. In one hand she held a large tower shield, also made of ice, and in the other she held a spear drifted frost constantly, visible even in the darkened sky.

    Blood dripped from it as well. It was near enough that Forsaken mistook the sound of dripping blood for the pittering of rain. The weather was taking a turn for the worse.

    Queen Freeze lunged down suddenly, dodging a pillar of earth as it tore past where she used to be. She dodged to the side again as a pillar extended from the first, but failed to dodge when a third pillar extended from the second. Queen Freeze rolled with the blow and darted downward again. She was going to challenge Blood Royal.

    That was going to end badly.

    Forsaken dashed, trying to get under Queen Freeze. He was a floor below Blood Royal, but he reached into his bag and withdrew his bokuto. He waited, tracking Queen Freeze¡¯s progress, then slashed. The air around the tip of the wooden blade shimmered as the forcefield formed and moved towards Blood Royal.

    The villain and the hero stabbed at the same time, but the villain¡¯s attack hit a surface of nothing and was diverted up, over Queen Freeze¡¯s attack. The hero¡¯s strike hit Blood Royal in the shoulder and Queen Freeze flew up, leaving the icy spear behind. Another one was already growing in her freed hand.

    Blood Royal screamed and dropped Forsaken¡¯s spear, then grabbed Queen¡¯s leg before it could get away. As one lifted off, so did the other. Blood Royal tore the ice out of herself with one hand and dropped it. There was no blood, the cold had stopped the flow of blood. Then Blood Royal started climbing up Queen Freeze¡¯s body hand over hand. Holding on through a mad strength few ever tapped into.

    Forsaken realised what was going on when Blood Royal started shedding red motes of light that trailed behind the two of them. They were travelling in the same direction, only slower. The red things were hard to make out in the rain. He stowed the bokuto and ran after them. He watched as Queen Freeze attempted to shake the villain off, but failed. Blood Royal¡¯s pathing ability was showing her the safest way of approaching Queen Freeze.

    ¡°Come here!¡± Forsaken yelled to the sky, hoping they were close enough to hear. If Queen Freeze went too far away there wasn¡¯t anything he¡¯d be able to do.

    They were, he realised with relief. Then he feared as he realised his mistake. The red motes caught up to the flying heroine as she changed direction.

    The farthest motes suddenly picked up the pace and darted forwards, bringing the motes it passed with it. In a split second the red lights had all gathered in one spot and a blood red spike grew between that point and the ground in the space of a moment. Queen Freeze between them.

    Her flight became a sharp nosedive as the red spike pivoted on the ground, not letting Queen Freeze move any farther away from it. Blood Royal and Queen Freeze both crashed into the ground, the latter¡¯s armour shattering on impact. Both of them tumbled towards Forsaken, skidding across the wet ground, the spike having also shattered. The rain was pouring now, almost torrential in it¡¯s downpour.

    Forsaken had to take a moment to figure out which body was the villain¡¯s and which one was the hero¡¯s before rushing to check on Queen Freeze. The woman was alive, but heavily grazed from the tumble and was bleeding through a small hole below her stomach. Water was diluting the blood, but it was visibly flowing.

    ¡°Ice your stomach.¡± Forsaken told Queen Freeze.

    She moaned, not coherent enough to talk.

    ¡°You¡¯re losing blood.¡± He pressed. ¡°You need to stop the bleeding. Felwyr¡¯s law should save you.¡±

    Queen freeze moaned again, but this time the ice formed inside the hole in her body. The flow of blood immediately ceased. Forsaken picked her up in a princess carry and started running. He didn¡¯t bother to check on Blood Royal.

    It turned out he didn¡¯t need to, his instincts were correct. A spike similar to the one that took down Queen Freeze hit him in the back, driving into his back underneath his left shoulder blade. It was smaller though, and poorly aimed. Blood Royal hadn¡¯t produced as many red motes this time.

    It didn¡¯t stop him. Forsaken kept running.

    ~~~

    ¡°I handed Queen Freeze off to Wall Walker, and he rushed her to emergency care.¡± Forsaken said, having barely stopped for a breath.

    Lucidity wasn¡¯t looking at him. She was curled up on the chair, listening. She started to stir as Forsaken lengthened his pause.

    ¡°He could only take her however, since she was wounded. I was left to fend for myself. I ran, but eventually I couldn¡¯t run any more. Blood Royal caught up to me...¡±

    ~~~

    ¡°May I join you?¡± Blood Royal asked. ¡°Here, in this dreary place. Blood dripping from us both. It seems a fascinating scene, no?¡±

    Forsaken had run into a pharmacy, which was part of a mall, looking for something to bind his wounds. That was why he was inside, why this scene happened in a hallway. Blood Royal had predicted he would try to use the access hallway behind the shops.

    The lights were flickering because she¡¯d used her power to stab some of them. Pure theatre.

    The blood dripping from Blood Royal¡¯s costume was her own.

    He didn¡¯t respond. He just adopted a fighting stance and readied the flail. He was at a disadvantage in this narrow place.

    Blood Royal sighed. ¡°Your unique demeanour was amusing the first fourteen times, but now I find it to have lost its charm.¡±

    ¡°You enjoy this.¡± Forsaken said.

    ¡°That I do.¡± Blood Royal nodded. ¡°It¡¯s been fun.¡±

    ¡°You have killed dozens.¡± Forsaken said.

    ¡°And you haven¡¯t?¡± Blood Royal said.

    Forsaken didn¡¯t respond.

    Blood Royal tutted. ¡°I guess that¡¯s why you took the name, then.¡±

    Forsaken didn¡¯t nod.

    ¡°I wonder when I stepped over the line.¡± Blood Royal turned to the wall and looked up. She had been using her power constantly since they started talking and red motes filled the air above the villain. If Forsaken moved, he would be pierced.

    ¡°Not a physical line, anyway. I step over dozens of those every hour.¡± Blood Royal chuckled at the senseless joke. ¡°I mean the one that separates the villains that get re-released into society from the ones that get sent to the Sunken Cage. Or the Megahold now, I suppose.¡±

    ¡°The answer is in one word.¡± Forsaken said. ¡°Life.¡±

    ¡°Two more words.¡± Blood Royal said. ¡°Life and death.¡±

    There were so many motes now, the ceiling was almost entirely red.

    ¡°Are you going to step further across the line?¡± Forsaken asked.

    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± Blood Royal said. ¡°How can I cross a line further when the line has already been crossed? This is a binary matter. One that each of us stand on the same side of. Mistress remains on the other side, it is why I listen to her.¡±

    ¡°As I, Toil.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting you to indulge me so, Forsaken.¡± Blood Royal faced him once more.

    ¡°Would you step back across the line if you could?¡± Forsaken asked.

    ¡°I would never do so willingly,¡± Blood Royal said. ¡°My place is here.¡±

    Forsaken pondered her answer, then removed his mask. It clattered to the floor.

    ¡°You are going to kill me, Blood Royal.¡±

    ¡°Mmm...¡±

    ¡°May I ask for you to indulge me?¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°This situation terrifies me. It is my worst nightmare. I despise being alone. After I manifested, I was alone. I know that I will die alone. I wish for someone to hold my hand as my soul is dragged to oblivion.¡±

    Blood Royal hummed again.

    ¡°You have a poetic soul.¡± Forsaken said. ¡°I do not understand your reasons for turning to villainy, but your hand is one I would be satisfied holding as I depart. I prefer it greatly to an innocent hand, clean of blood.¡±

    Blood Royal reached forward with one hand, palm facing up. ¡°Then come. I don¡¯t go anywhere expecting to kill, but your end is one that I will enjoy describing. You are right, I do have a poetic soul.¡±

    Forsaken took Blood Royal¡¯s hand and let himself take a breath. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have indulged yourself.¡±

    Blood Royal had been comfortable talking because her power afforded her a greater attack the longer she spent preparing it. Forsaken was the only target, and she could easily hit him in this enclosed space. Forsaken¡¯s ability required a measure of¡­ familiarity.

    Over the years, after dozens of encounters, he was very familiar with Blood Royal. This encounter allowed him to make the final preparations to an act he hadn¡¯t wanted to perform. The moment he was able, he ripped Blood Royal apart.

    She was disabled from the moment their hands touched. Forsaken had spent the entire conversation probing her power with his own. Probing her mind with his own. He found the tumours and cysts, the diseased parts that had forced Blood Royal to grow as she did. He knew where to apply the scalpel of his power. He had an artefact to move the cancer to.

    More blood was splattered on the flail and Blood Royal didn¡¯t even scream.

    ~~~

    ¡°I was thorough.¡± Forsaken continued. ¡°Every scrap of hostile intent and anger was moved to the flail. The means she had to fulfil the violent urges were moved as well. Anything relating to her villainy was something I turned my attention to and addressed. She is Fairy now.¡±

    ¡°You made her into a child.¡± Lucidity said, disdain colouring her voice. ¡°She¡¯s younger than me.¡±

    ¡°Her mind is, yes.¡±

    Lucidity looked away. ¡°Does she remember doing it?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes, in dreams.¡±

    ¡°Where is the flail now?¡±

    ¡°It was stolen by the Racketeers.¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡± Lucidity¡¯s voice shook, and she trailed off.

    ¡°I was shocked when I met Fairy for the first time.¡± Forsaken said abruptly. ¡°I have performed partial removals before, but the don¡¯t end well. Blood Royal was remarkably tenacious and is the first person to have survived. She can talk, she understands things, and she is educated. Only a few topics were removed when I did it. Her powers-¡±

    ¡°Stop.¡± Lucidity said softly.

    Forsaken did.

    Lucidity wiped her face. ¡°Can she hurt like she used to?¡±

    ¡°She can not.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°Her motivations were removed. The circumstances those motivations arose from no longer matter to her. Her powers have been altered by mine. She is harmless.¡±

    Quiet permeated the room.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been through¡­¡± Lucidity choked.

    Forsaken waited.

    ¡°So much.¡± She finished, her voice catching. ¡°And she was here the whole time? Just here? The whole time?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I see why they call you Forsaken.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Lucidity breathed, then again. Drawing the breath out longer the second time.

    ¡°Thank you for telling me.¡±

    ¡°It was sooner than I expected, but I am glad you came.¡± Forsaken said. ¡°I have no idea how I would have handled telling this story in six years time.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going now.¡± Lucidity stood suddenly.

    ¡°Elsbeth.¡± Forsaken said. The girl stopped with her hand on the door handle. ¡°The person you are growing into would have made your mother proud.¡±

    Lucidity didn¡¯t respond right away. She waited to make sure Forsaken was finished.

    ¡°She wasn¡¯t my mom.¡± She said without turning. ¡°She just adopted me after I manifested.¡±

    Forsaken waited to make sure she was done.

    ¡°She loved you.¡± He said. ¡°She bragged about you. Had endless tales to tell about your antics. You were the reason she kept being a hero after the Arrowhead incident. Queen had a picture of herself and you that she would show anyone with any excuse, sometimes without an excuse. You were- are her daughter.¡±

    Lucidity waited to make sure he was done, then opened the door and left. She passed Glitter Bomb as she went. Risk had arrived.

    ¡°You¡¯re Lucidity!¡± Glitter Bomb squealed in excitement.

    ¡°You¡¯re Glitter Bomb!¡± Lucidity matched her energy. ¡°I just had some questions for Forsaken. I need to get back to Orcus, sorry I can¡¯t stick around.¡±

    ¡°Aw.¡± Glitter Bomb visibly deflated. ¡°Come back sometime. I know a great bagel place just downstairs and it gets so sweaty in here with five guys all the time.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it but I gotta go. Bye now!¡± Lucidity saluted and dove into a wall.

    Glitter Bomb stepped into Forsakens office and closed the door cautiously.

    She tentatively asked, ¡°Forsaken? Lucidity seemed sad.¡±

    ¡°She was, Fairy.¡± Forsaken answered, putting his mask back on. ¡°It is no fault of yours.¡±

    ¡°Does she not like bagels? Should I have suggested something else?¡±

    ¡°It is fine, Fairy.¡± Forsaken stepped past Glitter Bomb. ¡°Risk has arrived?¡±

    ¡°He has.¡±

    ¡°Good. We¡¯re going to need you to path something for us, but you¡¯ll need to tell us before we get close.¡±

    Glitter Bomb cocked her head. ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡±

    Forsaken looked at her. He recalled each of the times he had found Blood Royal standing over a body. ¡°Something I hope you don¡¯t need to experience.¡±

    ~~~

    Glitter Bomb sat at Forsaken¡¯s desk and Forsaken watched. She was quiet, idly operating the mouse and keyboard. Where before she had been bright and energetic, now she was dulled and numb.

    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s as good a reaction as we can hope for.¡± Toil said. ¡°Especially compared to what she was before.¡± He wasn¡¯t referring to earlier in the day.

    ¡°It was almost guaranteed.¡± Risk added from his desk, not looking up. ¡°Sorry.¡±

    ¡°I should have been more careful.¡± Forsaken said. ¡°She was not ready to see that sight.¡±

    Toil sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t like it, but she was going to see something eventually. It¡¯s something the job requires.¡±

    ¡°Her mental age is ten.¡± Forsaken rounded on Toil. ¡°She¡¯s even younger in some respects.¡±

    ¡°You wanted to protect her.¡± Toil said.

    ¡°Her¡¯s is the hand I want to send me away.¡± Forsaken said. ¡°She¡¯s been given the chance to do that from a positive place, rather than a malicious one.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve really gone all in on her, haven¡¯t you?¡± Risk asked, looking up this time.

    Forsaken didn¡¯t respond. He had already told Risk that he didn¡¯t want to know the likelihood of him dying with or without her.

    ¡°In any case, Satellite has officially gone off the deep end.¡± Toil changed the subject. ¡°Evidence collected from around the body- ahem, Mist- is consistent with what the letter told us to look for. Fell from a height, signs of a fight on the first floor, unnaturally deep marks where Mist fell. What are we doing about that one, Risk?¡±

    ¡°Not much to do.¡± The Psychic said gruffly. ¡°The Regulation showed up and kicked us out as soon as possible, but we got lots of pictures. We weren¡¯t able to check the body for the stretch marks the letter mentioned, though. While we were there we learned the Regulation received a similar letter, and I¡¯ve sent an email to Scar¡¯s Advent and the Gray Apostles to ask them if they got one as well.

    ¡°The Regulation might be trying to protect the Sentry, given how they handled the crime scene, but the case against him is pretty strong. The author of the letter had some pretty strong opinions about him as well.¡±

    Toil hummed. ¡°What about the author? Any progress on identifying them?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Risk sighed. ¡°The graphology isn¡¯t telling me anything other than the whole damn thing is incredibly messy and that it was written by a person swinging between incredibly serious and incredibly emotional. See how the slant changes? We could look for prints, but I¡¯m not sure tracking this person down will endear us to them.¡±

    ¡°What is the most likely outcome of us pursuing the fingerprints angle?¡± Toil asked.

    Risk focused for a moment. ¡°Fifty percent chance someone tells us there are three sets of fingerprints on the letter. Mine, yours, and Forsaken¡¯s. Forty nine point eight percent chance someone else tells us the exact same thing.¡±

    ¡°Whoever sent this letter was trying to cover their tracks.¡±

    ¡°Succeeding, more like. And don¡¯t make me look at things like that, it makes my head hurt.¡±

    Toil hummed again, then changed the subject. ¡°How did your revelation pan out? You normally don¡¯t volunteer the numbers like that.¡±

    ¡°There were elements in play that I couldn¡¯t figure out.¡± Risk confessed, pushing his chair back. He wasn¡¯t able to concentrate on his work and talk at the same time. ¡°The first reveal did nothing. Revealing that Lucidity was also slated for death immediately took said hero and Lock off of the kill list and put Zephyr on it in both scenarios.¡±

    ¡°Funny how things change like that.¡±

    ¡°Butterfly effects, man.¡± Risk shook his head. ¡°So hard to keep track of.¡±

    ¡°Well it¡¯s over now. No one¡¯s dead. What was the story there?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve written a detailed report, but basically I had a chat with Zephyr and told her to be careful going forward during our interview. She slid right off. Unshaken took a bit to figure out. We had a long discussion about how things might affect her. In the end, it was the same as Zephyr. I managed to get her to agree to be careful, take things slow.¡±

    ¡°And Satellite?¡±

    ¡°He had a seventy plus percent chance of being killed from the start, and had the second highest chance of conviction at twenty. Nothing I did or said shook his chances. Then the scenario just changed early yesterday. Something I said convinced someone else to take an action that got him off the hook deathwise, but solidified the chances for conviction, or something along those lines. Other people can only influence the numbers if they¡¯re aware of them.¡±

    Risk paused, thinking on something. ¡°I have to say that I have mixed feelings about the Satellite situation after today.¡±

    ¡°How many people know?¡±

    ¡°About the numbers? The entire Regulation and their heroes know, ¡®cause them¡¯s the rules. Scar¡¯s Advent and the Gray Apostles don¡¯t. Mistress, definitely, but she¡¯s not about to tell anyone. I think Queue might have me figured out. Junkie was pretty close to the money before he disappeared.¡±

    ¡°Good work, Risk.¡±

    ¡°Boss.¡± Risk realised what he said as he pulled himself back to his work. ¡°Whoops.¡±

    ¡°Forsaken.¡± Toil said, grabbing Forsaken¡¯s attention. He had returned to watching Glitter Bomb on his computer.

    ¡°Toil.¡± Forsaken responded, still looking at Glitter Bomb.

    ¡°Take the rest of today off. Treat Fairy.¡± Toil told Forsaken, causing the hero to look at him incredulously. ¡°You are the de facto parent of our mass murdering villain turned hero. You said she was ten. Treat her to a movie, let her pick, buy some candy if she wants. Make sure she has fun. But when she starts to talk, you listen to her. Fairy just had a very traumatising experience, and she doesn¡¯t trust anyone as much as you.¡±

    Forsaken registered what he had just been told. ¡°You give sound advice.¡±

    Toil snickered. ¡°I¡¯m a very proficient parent. Decades of experience, one might say.¡±

    Daniel allowed himself to smile and removed his mask. ¡°Thank you, Toil.¡±

    When Daniel reached the door to his office, he paused.

    ¡°Toil.¡± Daniel said before the other hero could disappear into his office. ¡°Fairy needs the flail to return. Soon. The Racketeers will rest now that the case has been solved, but they kicked the hornet¡¯s nest in their quest for vengeance. I will be a hornet that leads the swarm to get the flail back.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be so fatalistic, Forsaken.¡± Toil told him.

    ¡°You misunderstand. The flail possesses both more and less of who Fairy used to be than of any of my other weapons. Blood Royal bleeds from the flail like no other. I was the one that was keeping her at bay, now¡­¡±

    ¡°I get it.¡± Toil said. ¡°I forgot about the bleed. It¡¯s been a while since I held the spear.¡±

    ¡°The spear is safe. He was a good person with good intentions, who went peacefully at his own request. He encourages and emboldens those who hold him regardless of who they are. Blood Royal was torn from her body until only Fairy remained. This isn¡¯t over. This won¡¯t be over until blood has been spilled, or the flail is back in my possession.¡±

    ¡°I get it.¡± Toil repeated. He looked past Forsaken. ¡°Daniel, let¡¯s stop here. You need to take off with Fairy.¡±

    Forsaken turned and saw that Glitter Bomb was watching them, listening. She scrambled to look like she hadn¡¯t been eavesdropping. The childish energy was a good sign.

    Daniel opened the door. ¡°Fairy, we have been given the rest of today off.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I mean, what?¡± Glitter Bomb answered without registering what Daniel had said. ¡°We have a holiday?¡±

    ¡°For the rest of today.¡± Daniel nodded. ¡°Have there been any movies you¡¯ve wanted to see?¡±

    ¡°Yes, actually.¡± Glitter Bomb pondered, then took her mask off, letting her long, light brown hair tumble down.

    ¡°Can you do my hair first?¡± Fairy asked. ¡°I don¡¯t like helmet hair.¡±

    ¡°Find somewhere to look.¡± Daniel told her, and she obediently went to the window and looked outside. He took out a comb that he now carried with him and started brushing the knots out of Fairy¡¯s hair.

    Interactions like this reminded Daniel that Fairy was taller than he was.

    ¡°Do you want fun buns?¡± He asked once the hair was neat enough. Fairy normally liked fun buns.

    ¡°No.¡± Fairy shook her head a little, stopping when she pulled her own hair against Daniel¡¯s grip. ¡°Today wasn¡¯t fun.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. A braid, then.¡±

    Fairy hummed a tune as he worked, Daniel recognised it from a cartoon she liked. After ten minutes, he stepped back and took a picture on his Vphone. Daniel checked the picture to make sure it was good before showing Fairy. He took a degree of pride in his skill as a hair sculptor.

    ¡°I like it.¡± Fairy murmured, holding onto the device. That was good.

    ¡°Come.¡± He walked out of the office, waving goodbye to those that waved to him. Fairy picked out an animated movie and while they waited they went and bought snacks. The experience was surreal to Daniel, he had never really indulged in this portion of life. But the effect on Fairy was palpable.

    After the movie Fairy started to talk. It was a sudden opening of the floodgates. Daniel gave her his full attention. He listened until she finished talking and he listened more to know when she wanted him to speak. He spoke honestly, but carefully. That night Fairy slept in Daniel''s bed in the same arrangement they had the night before. Daniel still had trouble sleeping. The flail was missing. He wouldn¡¯t rest easy until it was safely back in his possession.

    He did admit that Toil gave good advice, however. Fairy was out like a light.

 4. Men/Monsters 1

    ¡°Catch Bagman Slam Jam every Wednesday night at eight thirty pm sharp! Follow Bagman as he Slams and Jams the villains of New York City directly into prison! This week the infamous Nightmare appears in New York! Can Bagman find a way past his entrapping threads? Find out this week on BAGMAN SLAM JAM!¡±

    - Advert for the final episode of Bagman Slam Jam

    _____________________________________________________________

    I looked up to an empty room. The sound of a slamming door had roused me, but the one leading out of this room was open. The sounds of running feet convinced me to actually sit up and look around. People were running, but I couldn¡¯t see them in the hall. It kept going for a whole minute, with people shouting and screaming far away. There were shouts for calm, but they were futile. Ignored.

    Books lay open on the desk beside where I had been sleeping. Other desks had open books as well. Some didn¡¯t, those books were on the floor. The open book on the desk in front of me had a bent page sticking up.

    Sleepiness reminded me that I hadn¡¯t gotten enough rest. Plus, it was warm. My body was telling me I should put my head down and shut my eyes again. Then the sounds of the people got quieter and I heard the sound of sirens in the distance. Any sleepiness evaporated when I realised what that meant.

    A Calamity.

    I stood, leaving my book and going to the window that light streamed through. Dust had been kicked up somehow despite the fact that I was the only one in the room and was floating in the light, obscuring the view. I waved a hand through the light to try displace the dust and winced in pain, a pained sound escaping me in the same moment. The dust swirled around my hand. All I had done was make the particles move a bit, not clearing the space at all.

    The pain wasn¡¯t actually all that bad, it was just unexpected. So I stepped into it and looked out while I ignored the discomfort playing around on my skin. It was early in the day, so the sun was still kind of low in the sky, letting it shine its rays into the classroom. I covered my eyes from the sun and looked at the sky.

    Just sky. I found where the sun was and made sure my fingers were covering it. Then, with one eye closed I folded my pinky. Still just sky. My ring finger. More sky. My index finger. I had to adjust so I wasn¡¯t blinded by the sun, but I saw it.

    There was a long serpentine shape approaching, I could see it on the underside of my finger. It twisted and writhed as it moved, like a serpent swimming through the sky. Above my finger I could see the silhouette of wings flapping, and trails of light following certain parts of the moving shape like a long exposure photograph.

    It was slowly getting bigger. Soon it blotted out the sun and I lowered my arm, looking at the dark shape against the bright sky. It¡¯s movement was nebulous and difficult to follow, but the direction it was moving was clear. The Eclipse was approaching.

    The Calamity had left the Zenith, its spot between the earth and the sun. It¡¯s portion of the atmosphere that it had claimed for itself, where it maintained territory in a bright spot that no clouds dared to intrude upon. The brightest part of the earth that the Eclipse, Quetzalcouatl, called home had been vacated so it could come here.

    Eclipse¡¯s wings dipped down as the head of the thing reared up. It was hard to see with the sun silhouetting it, but I knew the moment it opened its jaw. Distance dulled the sound, but it still carried all the way across the city. It was an announcement, an eerie, almost serene sound that everyone knew to dread.

    Light curved, I was blinded, and the killing began.

    ¡°Dude.¡±

    I punched in the direction of the sound, catching a glancing blow on the speaker before I could even comprehend who had spoken.

    ¡°Michael, what the hell!?¡± Nathan demanded, tenderly touching his cheek.

    My arm was extended over his shoulder. ¡°Sorry.¡± I pulled my limb back and sat on my hand as I tried to get my breathing under control. I wasn¡¯t hyperventilating, but I was breathing quickly. The situation was becoming embarrassing so I diverted my attention up at a random corner of the building.

    That had been vivid enough that I thought I was there, back in Salt Lake City when it all happened. The vision was a consequence of opening the box. Life would have been better if Fail hadn¡¯t shown up. Things hadn¡¯t got so bad right away, but now that I was idle there wasn¡¯t much I could do to distract myself.

    ¡°Are you feeling well?¡± Sonya asked, concern etched into her eyebrows.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I responded, clearly not convincing anyone. ¡°I had a shit night.¡±

    ¡°You weren¡¯t online.¡± Nathan said, causing me to look at him questioningly. ¡°Last night, I mean. Would¡¯ve invited you if you were.¡±

    ¡°The console is downstairs and the screen has surround sound.¡± I said, reminding Nathan of what he already knew. ¡°I¡¯d have woken the whole house.¡±

    ¡°How late were you up?¡± Sonya asked.

    I didn¡¯t answer, she was looking at Nathan.

    He shrugged. ¡°I dunno, what do you consider late? Because it was only an hour after that, I swear.¡±

    I looked back at the corner. The silence told me that Sonya had turned her attention to me. Since the answer to her question was ¡®I¡¯m still up¡¯, I didn¡¯t want to say it. Better to let my studies of the corner distract me.

    ¡°Michael.¡± Sonya repeated. I met her eyes. ¡°Is something wrong?¡±

    ¡°You know why I¡¯m in Graceland, right?¡± I asked.

    Nathan sucked in a breath and Sonya looked confused. I looked back to the corner. There was the shadow of a tree moving gently over the surface. Pinpricks of light made it through the canopy, lighting up parts of the building.

    I found another corner to look at.

    I was dimly aware of Nathan giving Sonya a very abridged explanation as I tried to find ways to distract myself.

    ¡°Any news of the vigilante?¡± I asked when Nathan was done, forcing a subject change.

    ¡°Yeah, uh¡­ no. Not since Clothesline.¡± Sonya said, pulling out her Vphone.

    ¡°Hm.¡± Considering the letters I sent, I would have expected something to have come up by now.

    ¡°Actually, wait.¡± Sonya rapidly navigated menus on her screen. ¡°There¡¯s a new name in the deceased list for Graceland.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll put this plainly, and pardon my french.¡± Nathan said. ¡°The fuck?¡±

    ¡°Mist. He¡¯s one of the Collectors.¡± Sonya explained.

    ¡°Go back a bit. There¡¯s a deceased list?¡±

    ¡°Well yeah, there¡¯s five lists.¡± Sonya put her phone down and counted them off on her fingers. ¡°Deceased, MIA, active hero, active villain, and the master list. There are a few gifted that come up multiple times on the master, since not everyone tells what¡¯s going on when they rebrand.¡±

    ¡°How big is the missing list?¡± I asked out of curiosity.

    ¡°Short.¡± Sonya said. ¡°Globally, I think a total of twenty names are consistently on there, but the number goes up and down. The big one is Hope, of course. Most of the rest are the ones that got chulainned and survived. Anyway, Mist is- or was a Collector. That¡¯s the biggest name under the Entrepreneurs, most of them have been on the MIA list, actually. They spend a lot of time laying low between jobs. A lot of gifted actually go missing during Calamity atta-¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve barely heard of them.¡± Nathan cut Sonya off.

    She took a moment to comprehend what Nathan had done, then the conversation kept flowing. ¡°That¡¯s because they don¡¯t act very often. They do surgical strikes at the whim of their employers. That¡¯s bank heists, assaults of enemy territory, fear mongering once or twice, and the occasional kidnapping hashtag-slash recruitment. They don¡¯t act much, but they act big.¡±

    ¡°You think there¡¯s going to be a big reaction to the vigilante?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Maybe, maybe not.¡± Sonya said. ¡°There¡¯s been speculation over Clothesline¡¯s death, but no hard evidence has been released to the public. Mostly it¡¯s been internet detectives making wild accusations at the Gray Apostles because of their connection to Orcus.¡±

    A restraining order. I remembered. That was way off mark, though. I wondered if my letters had made it in time.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen any news from the Regulation, though.¡± Sonya said, her Vphone back in her hand. ¡°Just an update from GiftedList.com because I live in Graceland.¡±

    ¡°Gifted list, you said?¡± I pulled one of my Vphones out. The one that went with my civilian identity.

    ¡°Yeah. One word.¡±

    I pulled up the web explorer app and navigated to the active Graceland page, then scrolled down to the list of Sentrys. My moniker was there, so I followed the link, a little worried about what I would find. It was just a picture taken from my debut, one of me on stage, staff in hand and standing against a grey background. There was a line of text detailing the date I had officially ¡®gone active¡¯ as well as my position on the team.

    ¡°You like Lock, huh?¡± Sonya asked, peering at my screen.

    I looked at her, trying to think up a reasonable answer to that. ¡°You could say that.¡± I swiped sideways and found myself on Slingshot¡¯s page. Similar deal, an informative line of text detailing when she went active and a picture from the debut. Another swipe took me to Satellite. ¡°How often does the Sentry get new heroes?¡±

    ¡°Fucking fast.¡± Nathan said, looking at his own phone. ¡°They¡¯ve taken on four new people recently. Muffle and Satellite, and more recently the boyfriend-girlfriend pair. They lose people just as fast as well.¡±

    ¡°How?¡± I asked, belated realising what he said about Slingshot and Lock.

    ¡°You know that topic we¡¯re avoiding?¡± Nathan asked pointedly. I nodded, suddenly no longer embarrassed. ¡°That¡¯s one of them.¡±

    ¡°Talent poaching is a thing as well.¡± Sonya jumped in. ¡°But it¡¯s common courtesy to not poach within the bounds of the city. The Regulation makes the Sentry do the rounds to neighboring cities under the guise of PR visits, but really it¡¯s so the teams there can get to know the Sentrys and invite them to the fold. You get a lot of underage heroes moving around because of it.¡±

    ¡°All the underage heroes in Graceland are with the Sentry.¡± I said, earning an approving look from Sonya. ¡°Are we not poaching then?¡±

    ¡°Kind of¡­¡± Sonya trailed off. ¡°I¡¯d need to breach that topic to explain properly.¡±

    Nathan cut in. ¡°Don¡¯t, then.¡±

    ¡°Is that fine?¡± Sonya asked me.

    I didn¡¯t know how to answer that one. Fortunately, I didn¡¯t have to when I was saved by the bell. ¡°What do I have next Nathan?¡±

    ¡°What do I look like, your butler?¡± Nathan rebuked indignantly. I waited, then, ¡°You have calculus now. Good luck not hitting the desk with your head.¡± It was a weird habit of his to remember other people¡¯s timetables. Weird, but useful.

    ¡°I¡¯m heading in the other direction.¡± Sonya said as she hefted her bag over one shoulder. ¡°See you boys.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± I said. ¡°Nathan, I mean. Bye. Not you. Fuck.¡±

    ¡°You should go home if it¡¯s that bad.¡± Sonya told me.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make it.¡± I told myself, waving at Sonya as she walked away. Nathan and I fell in step. After a moment I blurted, ¡°I want to ask something.¡±

    ¡°About Sonya?¡± Nathan asked. I frowned at him. ¡°Was just hazarding a guess, man.¡±

    ¡°The two from earlier.¡± I said, pausing so he could figure it out. ¡°After english.¡± I specified.

    ¡°Michael¡­¡±

    ¡°Do you know their names?¡±

    ¡°You-¡± Nathan paused. ¡°Why are you asking?¡±

    ¡°Idle curiosity.¡± I half-lied. My curiosity was not idle. The only reason I hadn¡¯t asked sooner was because Sonya had shown up and I wanted to do Nathan the service of not bringing it up in front of other people.

    ¡°So you don¡¯t intend to make a huge deal about it?¡± Nathan checked.

    ¡°When have I ever done that?¡± I asked. Discounting the time I worked with a villain and told my superiors about it, the time after I had to choke Prism out, or that time when I was mindraped into beating the crap out of Zephyr, that is.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Nathan scratched the back of his head. ¡°Alright then, his name is Nick. I don¡¯t know the other guy¡¯s name.¡±

    That made me frown. I was expecting something¡­ I don¡¯t know, something more menacing at least. ¡°What did they want?¡±

    ¡°They were cordially extending an invitation for me to go to the hound races later this week. I don¡¯t intend to go.¡±

    ¡°He seemed pretty insistent.¡± I commented.

    ¡°Yeah, well fuck ¡®em.¡± Nathan shrugged. ¡°They don¡¯t control me and they aren¡¯t going to get anything from me by going physical. I¡¯ll bet he isn¡¯t even that good in a fight.¡±

    I grimaced, recalling how he had landed me in hospital. ¡°If you¡¯re sure¡­¡±

    ¡°I am. That¡¯s your phone, by the way.¡±

    A ringtone had been repeating for the past few seconds. Getting five or so seconds in before suddenly repeating from the start. It was difficult to distinguish new sounds in loud environments and I was¡­ distracted in more ways than one.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    I pulled it out and saw five messages from an unknown number. ¡°Probably spam.¡± I muttered.

    ¡°Have fun¡­¡± Nathan trailed off as he split away to go towards his class. ¡°If you can¡­¡±

    Normally, I would have laughed, but I was looking at the messages.

    I forgot to ask - Received 11.26

    What¡¯s your number? - Received 11.26

    But I¡¯m messaging you now so uh - Received 11.26

    Please don¡¯t be mad - Received 11.26

    I made a number finder - Received 11.27

    As I was reading another message came through.

    Can we talk? - Received 11.27

    I started typing out a response.

    Like now - Received 11.27

    Who is this? - Sent 11.27

    Please - Received 11.27

    Its L - Received 11.27

    Why now? - Sent 11.27

    I¡¯m on break and think I need to - Received 11.28

    I¡¯m at school now, why? - Sent 11.28

    Which school? - Received 11.28

    Merryfair - Sent 11.28

    I waited for a minute, but there weren¡¯t any more replies. So I pocketed my phone and looked up to find that students were already heading into class for calculus. It was easy to fall in step with them and get into class without being late. I found a desk at the back of the room and leaned my head against the wall, wondering what Elsbeth wanted to talk about.

    The teacher, a thin indian man with a pot belly, didn¡¯t seem to care all that much about the back half of the room. All the students that actually cared about learning were up the front and the ones that preferred to talk and muck about on their phones went to the back. The front would do their thing, and the back would do theirs, never overlapping. The only rule was that if you were at the back, you stayed quiet.

    It wasn¡¯t a written rule, but it was agreed to by all.

    Normally I would sit at the front and pay some attention to keep up with the demands of my Regulation overlords, but not today. Right now it took all my effort just to keep my eyes open. Leaning against the wall let me focus on the physics of the room without actually having to look through or close my eyes.

    I spent the time trying to figure out how to listen through my power. The problem was that it was hard to tell whether what I was hearing came through my ears or my sixth sense. The back of the room was quiet, but there were still a number of overlapping sounds to sort through. Different places in the structure picked up noises at different times.

    It was a fucking incomprehencible mess, in other words.

    Still, it would be a good skill to have, if I could develop it. A small part of my brain pointed out that I hadn¡¯t practiced much sign language since that first session with Muffle. There just hadn¡¯t been the time. I would need to do something about that outside of being a Sentry to develop that skill, most likely. My thoughts came to a halt when I felt the physics of the classroom spontaneously warp. A spot about the size of a head vanished from my senses in the ceiling.

    I looked up and saw a familiar helmet. Lucidity¡¯s. I frowned and gestured outside with my head. She gave a thumbs up from the roof and retreated back inside the ceiling. With my bag with my hand and holding it on the side of me opposite to the teacher, I stood and walked out.

    ¡°Going to the toilet.¡± I muttered, earning a nod from the teacher.

    If he noticed that I was sitting at the back today, or that I had my bag in my hand, he didn¡¯t say anything. So I made it out unmolested and looked to see a masked girl just outside the class. I pointed away from the class and started walking, letting Lucidity catch up if she wanted to.

    ¡°Take your mask off.¡± I told her. ¡°People will ask questions if I¡¯m seen with a hero.¡±

    There was a hissing sound. I glanced over to see Elsbeth wearing the cargo pants of her costume, but a short sleeved light blue tee shirt instead of the tactical jacket and bandoliers. My gaze lingered on her scars again, and her eyes. Just the one blind eye, actually.

    ¡°Sorry about this, Michael.¡± She said.

    ¡°Do you have a good reason?¡± I asked, aiming the direction we were walking to the exit of the school. ¡°If you do, then it¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°Yes. No. Maybe, it¡¯s about the question. I dunno.¡±

    ¡°Seems reasonable to me.¡± I shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not going to ask for you to say anything you don¡¯t want to, given how well that¡¯s turned out for me.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t sleep.¡± I said.

    Neither of us said anything for a few moments.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Elsbeth said.

    ¡°Welcome.¡± I said, looking at the exit from Merryfair grounds as it came into view. There was a teacher standing just outside the gate. I needed an excuse, but couldn¡¯t think one up. The teacher wasn¡¯t one I recognised, so that might play in my favour.

    Elsbeth and I didn¡¯t slow our pace, because pausing would have been suspicious and I¡¯m pretty sure Elsbeth wasn¡¯t thinking about that. We stepped out of the school grounds and I gave up trying to think up a decent lie.

    ¡°Wait.¡± The teacher said. I didn¡¯t. ¡°Wait.¡± The teacher said again, getting in our way. ¡°Why are you two leaving?¡±

    I looked at Elsbeth and she looked back at me. Then I looked back to the teacher and said, ¡°Family crisis. We really need to go.¡±

    ¡°You two don¡¯t look like siblings¡­¡±

    I pointed at Elsbeth. ¡°She¡¯s not from my parents. Needed somewhere to go after Quetzalcoatl.¡±

    He frowned as he turned that over in his head. Elsbeth¡¯s obvious scarring helped sell the story. Eventually he said, ¡°You can go, but you need a slip to leave during school.¡± The teacher pointed at a building. ¡°Pick one up from the student centre before you go.¡±

    Neither of us moved. I had an idea and asked, ¡°Do you recognise me?¡±

    ¡°No, why?¡±

    I ran.

    ¡°Stop!¡± The teacher made a grab for me but I was already too far away. He wasn¡¯t fat, but he also wasn¡¯t that athletic. It didn¡¯t help him that I was tampering with the friction in my shoes to get a little bit of a speed boost. I glanced over my shoulder to find Elsbeth dodging around the man and following me.

    I rounded a corner and used my power to speed along to the next while there weren¡¯t any eyes on me. When I looked back I saw Elsbeth round the corner, see me, then dive into the pavement the moment she was out of sight of the teacher.

    Seconds later she erupted from the ground in front of me and darted around the corner. I did the same, not wanting to be at the corner to let the teacher know which way we were heading next.

    ¡°You just ran!¡± Elsbeth was laughing. I let her infectious joy influence my mood, and smiled to myself. ¡°Did you see his face? He was like ¡®what are you on about?¡¯ then ¡®oh crap¡¯. Pfft!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll probably end up with detention.¡± I shrugged. ¡°But that was worth it. Come on, let¡¯s go somewhere.¡±

    ~~~

    ¡°We keep getting looks.¡± Elsbeth said.

    ¡°That¡¯s because we¡¯re two school aged kids and we¡¯re outside of school, during school.¡± I replied. ¡°Now what do you want to see? Story of Toys 4 or a Left at Home rerun?¡±

    ¡°Which Left at Home is it?¡±

    ¡°The second one, where he gets his plane tickets mixed up and goes to New York. I don¡¯t know why they¡¯re showing it, since it isn¡¯t anywhere near christmas.¡±

    ¡°And what¡¯s Story of Toys 4 about?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, haven¡¯t seen it.¡± My movie going had slipped since starting as a hero.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Elsbeth thought for a while, looking at the available movies. ¡°What¡¯s ¡®The Notebook¡¯?¡±

    I blinked. ¡°Story about finding friends, I guess. A girl finds a techo notebook that makes her manifest and realise her life is the movie. I¡¯d give it an eight.¡± I was surprised it was still showing. That was the movie I had seen the night Nick had mugged me.

    I still couldn¡¯t get over the fact that that guy¡¯s name was Nick.

    ¡°Let¡¯s watch that one.¡± Elsbeth decided.

    ¡°Okay, but we¡¯re going to have to wait a bit. The next viewing isn¡¯t for another hour or so.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s get food.¡±

    ¡°Amen to that, but we should get the tickets first.¡±

    ~~~

    We killed time by wandering nearby shops. Buying lunch was a quick endeavour, but eating it was less so. Since that left us with forty minutes still left to kill, we bought snacks from a dairy and I winced at the ridiculous markup. With twenty minutes still left to go, I found myself at a souvenir shop looking at the items for sale.

    It was no surprise that the Regulation had their hands in commercialising their heroes. Each of the local Sentinels had figurines for sale, as well as each of the members of Aegis. The ones of Archangel, Kinetic, and Victorious were above the ones of Orcus, Sting, Voidling, and Zephyr, all in various poses. Above all of those figurines was one of Hope.

    The notable Sentrys also had figurines, but they were off to the side and given less importance than the grown up heroes. I saw one of Blinker and Unshaken. They came as a pair. I hadn¡¯t realised they were a thing. There were also Muffle Earmuffs, Snowflake Snowglobes, a collage of Collage, as well as a Lucidity themed diary and a little figurine of her that was meant to go on a keychain.

    Elsbeth was embarrassed by her products, so I bought both. Her reaction put a nice feeling in the back of my stomach. I didn¡¯t rub it in, but I basked in it. It was better than the wet and sticky feeling that had been nestling there before. That one kind of reminded me of blood.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t Muffle a recent addition?¡± I asked Elsbeth after making the purchase and returning to browse alongside her.

    ¡°Yeah, five months.¡± She said. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Just wondering how long it takes for them to make a Lock sticker or something.¡±

    ¡°Well I had a figurine after two months, but my guy said I was a special case.¡±

    ¡°The advertiseming guy?¡± I asked, eyebrow arched.

    Elsbeth huffed. ¡°Shut up, that was one time. I didn¡¯t like the figure. It was embarrassing to have around. Collage gave me one to put in my bedroom, so I hid it in his. I don¡¯t want me to look at me when I¡¯m trying to sleep. Not that I really do that anymore¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± I prompted.

    ¡°I still sleep, but the time in my dreamspace counts, I think.¡± Elsbeth explained. ¡°So when I¡¯m done with an action packed day, it¡¯s like I¡¯m ready to go to lunch. Or that¡¯s how it feels.¡±

    ¡°Seems convenient.¡±

    ¡°My guy says I should regulate as much as possible, or whatever. Try to keep to a normal timetable. But they also say I should put my all into being a hero.¡± Elsbeth gestured wildly. ¡°I don¡¯t even.¡±

    ¡°So why were you a special case?¡± I asked.

    ¡°¡®Cause I¡¯m a kid.¡± She answered with a resigned shrug. ¡°I was nine when I joined up, and had a pretty good handle on my powers because I manifested years before that.¡±

    ¡°Can I ask when you manifested?¡±

    ¡°Five.¡±

    I winced. The only benchmarks I had for manifesting was my own and my doppelganger¡¯s. If her manifestation was anywhere between those, then her innocence had been lost far too soon. The topic was sensitive though, so I didn¡¯t say anything.

    I changed the subject. ¡°So are you the longest staying Sentry in Graceland?¡±

    ¡°No, Blinker has me beat by a year and seven months.¡± Elsbeth said. ¡°Unshaken joined two months before I did as well.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re about to graduate out, aren¡¯t they?¡±

    ¡°They are. Then I¡¯ll be the eldest Sentry!¡±

    I laughed and pulled my Vphone out to check the time. ¡°We should go. The theatre¡¯ll be open by now.¡±

    ¡°Why do you care about Lock¡¯s products?¡± Elsbeth asked as we left the souvenir shop.

    I hummed, thinking of the videos I watched the night before. ¡°Couldn¡¯t say.¡± I lied.

    There was a sharp ding. Elsbeth was holding an eight ball towards me that had the word ¡®LIE¡¯ showing.

    ¡°What¡¯s with the eight ball?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Lie detector.¡± Elsbeth said.

    ¡°And you¡¯re just bringing that out now? Why didn¡¯t you use that when Michael was here?¡±

    Elsbeth blushed. ¡°I didn¡¯t think of it at the time, and you were both being honest anyway. I have a good sense for that stuff.¡± I stopped myself from arching an eyebrow, but Elsbeth still caught onto my reaction. ¡°I do!¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything.¡±

    ¡°Your face went all ¡®Oh really?¡¯ and my eight ball didn¡¯t even ping!¡±

    ¡°So how honest do you think we were, having listened to all that?¡±

    ¡°I think you were pretty honest.¡± Elsbeth said, glancing down at the lie detector. There wasn¡¯t anything showing in the viewing hole.

    ¡°I was honest and told the whole story.¡± I said, prompting a ding.

    ¡°Ah! What? Did you lie to me?¡±

    ¡°I just played your lie detector¡± Then, referring to my description for ¡®The Notebook¡¯, I said, ¡°I was honest.¡± No ding. ¡°I told the whole story.¡± I said, referring to the conversation between Fail and I, taking a good moment to change my avenue of thought. The word ¡®LIE¡¯ showed up on the eight ball with a ding. ¡°I didn¡¯t tell all the details because I didn¡¯t want to describe each and every death I saw.¡± No ding. ¡°Seems you¡¯ve got some kinks to work out.¡±

    ¡°Darn it, I thought I had his power in the ball.¡±

    ¡°He definitely seemed to have a built-in lie detector, but there was more to it. You still haven¡¯t told me why you visited me at school.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    The eight ball dinged.

    I raised an eyebrow.

    Elsbeth slumped. ¡°I need to talk to someone, but everyone was busy.¡± The eight ball didn¡¯t ding.

    ¡°Why not talk to Slingshot?¡± I asked.

    ¡°She¡¯s at school, still.¡±

    ¡°Orcus?¡±

    ¡°Just no.¡±

    ¡°Zephyr, even?¡±

    ¡°Even more, nope.¡±

    ¡°Why me?¡±

    ¡°Because I just like you so much!¡±

    Ding.

    ¡°Ouch.¡± I said.

    ¡°Because it¡¯s about the question I asked Fail¡­¡± Elsbeth said defeatedly as she made the eight ball vanish. She disguised the supernatural event by feigning putting it in her pocket. Anyone paying attention would¡¯ve noticed that the ball was too big for the pocket, but the place was pretty empty, given the time.

    I pondered for a moment, and suspended the conversation to get our tickets clipped. After we had left the staff member behind I said, ¡°You were asked to keep that quiet, so that¡¯s fine. Why is it bothering you so much though? I got catharsis from my questions.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that mean?¡±

    ¡°Emotional release. It¡¯s what a good story gives you in the end if the writers are kind enough to not finish on a cliffhanger.¡±

    ¡°How did you get that?¡± Elsbeth asked, trying to divert the topic as we found our way to our cinema.

    ¡°I asked who did a certain bad thing, and tattled on them.¡± I told her, sparing the grisly details. ¡°Fail and I discussed the best way to make it happen, I did exactly that, and I got a good feeling to offset the bad. You don¡¯t need to mention names, but a general understanding might help me grasp at what this is all about.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t make anything happen...¡± Elsbeth said. ¡°Where are we sitting?¡± We were in the cinema now.

    ¡°Wherever we want. Do you see anyone else in here?¡±

    Elsbeth looked around, then shook her head.

    An idea occurred to me. ¡°Can you make a truth detector?¡± Elsbeth punched a seat and pulled out another eight ball. This one was white. ¡°We are the only people with tickets to see the movie in this theatre right now.¡±

    The ball dinged and the word ¡®TRUTH¡¯ showed up in the viewing hole.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to sit there, then.¡± Elsbeth pointed at the exact middle seats and started moving. The eight ball dinged and I followed along after a shrug.

    ¡°Good, now throw that thing away. It¡¯ll ruin the movie.¡± The eight ball dinged to confirm my statement.

    Elsbeth punched a seat again, pulling out a blaster. She threw the eight ball at the movie screen and used the blaster to skeet shoot it. It exploded in a cloud of white dust. I looked at the cloud lightly obscuring the spot where the picture was going to be. That hadn¡¯t been meant literally.

    ¡°That better go away before the trailers end.¡± I said.

    Elsbeth giggled. ¡°It will.¡± Then she sighed and fell into her seat. ¡°I didn¡¯t get any of that word you used from my question.¡±

    I sat in the seat next to her and let Elsbeth find the words at her own pace.

    ¡°So there was this person.¡± Elsbeth eventually said, gesturing with her hands. ¡°She was bad. I didn¡¯t like her. She¡­ she hurt my mom.¡±

    I nodded but didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°Then she vanished. I didn¡¯t know where to, I thought she was dead for the longest time. I asked what happened to her. Turns out she was just reformed into a good person and not by choice. I asked for more, you know, but it was just¡­¡± Elsbeth gesture something frustratedly. ¡°It¡¯s not fair.¡±

    ¡°So my first question is if powers are involved.¡± I said.

    ¡°They are.¡± Elsbeth nodded.

    ¡°This ¡®good person¡¯, do they resemble anything of the bad person?¡±

    ¡°No. But it¡¯s like this whole big thing with everyone involved in it. Apparently I was going to be told when I turned eighteen.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Whatever I was about to say was interrupted by the pre roll ads suddenly starting. What she was talking about seriously reminded me of the conspiracy leveled against me.

    Elsbeth sunk lower in her seat.

    ¡°I hate to say it, but I¡¯m pretty sure the person you¡¯re talking about classifies as two different people. That¡¯s how I¡¯m interpreting it.¡±

    ¡°The bad one is still around¡­¡± Elsbeth mumbled. ¡°Just not like you or me. She¡¯s not getting punished. She¡¯s missing.¡±

    ¡°Do you know if she has agency?¡±

    ¡°Has what?¡± Elsbeth frowned at me.

    ¡°The ability to do anything. To take any actions at all.¡± I clarified. Elsbeth shook her head. ¡°That would drive me insane.¡±

    ¡°She was already insane¡­¡±

    ¡°Maybe.¡± I admitted. This was beginning to feel something like an argument, which wasn¡¯t what I wanted. Elsbeth had helped me without hesitation yesterday, and I wanted to repay that. ¡°But I¡¯m not here to argue about what an adequate punishment for a bad woman might be, I¡¯m here because you pulled me out of school.¡±

    ¡°Sorry.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say that, that¡¯s my word. I wasn¡¯t enjoying school anyway. And how about that escape from Merryfair?¡±

    Elsbeth giggled a bit at the memory.

    I leaned back in my seat and settled in to watch the movie for a second time. If my luck held, Nick would try and mug me after this. That was something I wasn¡¯t sure if I was looking forward to. The movie held up on a second viewing. I gave it an eight out of ten and nearly fell asleep towards the end. But that wasn¡¯t because the movie was bad.

 4. Men/Monsters 2

    Taking a break should have been good for me, given everything I¡¯d been through recently. The ten day suspension meant that nothing could take me off guard and make things worse with the heroes. But there was a problem with that, the issue being that I was probably worse off without distractions given that the box had been opened.

    Before the lid had been lifted, it had been easy to lock away all associations to the Eclipse and carry on as if nothing happened. It hadn¡¯t been perfect, though, and things still had an effect. What ended up happening was that I just went through the motions anyway, with a slight robotic feeling to the actions. When I signed on as a hero, I¡¯d started developing into something new, started travelling down a new path. Then I opened the box and took approximately thirty seven steps back.

    Light was the big one. Before opening the box, even Ardent¡¯s blinding light hadn¡¯t taken me off guard. Now even stepping outside was something I dreaded. The feeling was exacerbated if I knew it was sunny. Being alone came a close second.

    Despite that, I wasn¡¯t spending much time around people. Doing that would either make them concerned for me, which made the feeling worse, or they would feel worse, which made me feel guilty. Feeling guilty, I had found, also made it worse. So I had taken a concrete pill and was dealing with it.

    One thing that helped was the situation regarding Satellite finally breaking the news. The video that was being given the most attention was an interview with Mark. Not Mark, as in any old guy, but in reference to actual marks. He was a Transhuman, and was at the top of the hero group known as Scar¡¯s Advent. He had a power that left permanent marks on the people that fought him, so the name fit.

    What he said was, ¡°We investigated and found evidence consistent with the use of Satellites powers at both scenes of the crimes he has been accused of being involved in. We¡¯ve put in a request for information regarding the third murder Satellite has been accused of, but the Regulation hasn¡¯t supplied that information yet. We think they won¡¯t. That the Regulation is sheltering a murderer is frankly disgusting.¡±

    That had been incredibly cathartic to hear. The news presenter had gone on to agree with Mark, making it even better. The distance the Regulation had forced upon me meant that none of it was falling back to me. There were theories online that Lock was on strike because of the whole Satellite situation, which I watched silently.

    There wasn¡¯t any word so far on what was happening with Satellite himself, but the accusations were in the air. Fail assured me that he was going to prison, or even better, the Megahold. Given the livestream I¡¯d piggybacked on, he was going to the Megahold.

    It just needed to come over America before he could be put there, of course. That was still days away.

    As for me, while I had been suspended from duty, but still had access to SRT facilities. The secret entrance didn¡¯t accept my blank card, but I could still walk in and out through the public one, so I did that despite the warnings not to. I lifted some weights in the gym, did some running, other workouts too, then went home. Sparring was off the table. Blinker didn¡¯t even want to see me.

    I had maintained the rest of the regime he set out for me regardless for the past four days. Today I found myself walking into a scene in the lobby. Two people, a man and a woman, were making a scene at the receptionist¡¯s desk. The receptionist looked like they hadn¡¯t gotten enough sleep, a feeling I could relate to, and that they weren¡¯t getting paid enough for this.

    ¡°You can¡¯t hold onto her anymore. She needs to come home.¡± The woman¡¯s voice carried, and the emotional waver in it came along for the ride.

    ¡°They had their chance to look at it.¡± The man had an accent. British? No, it was faster and deeper. ¡°I don¡¯t care what techo is interested, give us our daughter back.¡±

    ¡°Please. You¡¯ve been holding on to her for so long.¡±

    ¡°Sir, m¡¯am.¡± The receptionist¡¯s voice was strained. ¡°I¡¯ve already sent a message to the one responsible for releasing the body. They will respond to it when they are able.¡±

    Body. I repeated to myself. Were they talking about Clothesline?

    ¡°That¡¯s not good enough.¡± The man said.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m just a receptionist.¡±

    ¡°She shouldn¡¯t be in the same building as¡­ him!¡± The woman pointed upwards.

    Were they keeping Satellite up there? I wondered as I made it to the elevator and called it. I touched the wall and felt the building snap into my view. Instead of looking up, I looked below and felt an occupant in the underground cells.

    I wasn¡¯t about to correct the woman, though. The memory of Elsbeth telling me she would help without hesitating sprung to mind. There wasn¡¯t much I could do to help here, but I did have an idea. I got my Sentry Vphone out as I stepped into an elevator alone and called 76743. Rosie.

    ¡°Hello Lock, how may I help you?¡± Rosie asked pleasantly, playing the sound of picking up a phone again.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± It took a moment to figure out what to say. ¡°The body of Hayley Vermont hasn¡¯t been released.¡± I said as the elevator started going up. I was alone, and felt safe saying it. For good measure, I activated my mask. ¡°Can I know why?¡±

    ¡°You may.¡± Rosie told me, stopping there.

    ¡°Please tell me.¡± I asked, a little irritated.

    ¡°One of Hayley¡¯s bones was snapped when she was found. The autopsy found that the bone in her leg had been replaced with a foriegn material akin to spider silk, yet had a greater stress capacity than typical bone matter. This bone has attracted the attention of adepts who have requested that the release of the body be delayed.¡±

    ¡°Can I know which adepts requested that?¡±

    ¡°You may not.¡±

    My finger twitched belatedly and I shook my head to ward off an encroaching headache. ¡°Can I place a priority request to have the bone removed so the body can be sent back to the parents? She may have been a villain, but they deserve to put her to rest.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Rosie hummed, which made me frown. Just how lifelike had Rosie been designed?

    I squinted at nothing as I waited for her to answer, trying to stay awake and lucid. Her hum became a tune that I recognised. It was the theme for the movie I went to see with Elsbeth. My hand clenched into a fist as the elevator opened to the right floor.

    ¡°Doctor Langford has been sent a message to release the body without the bone by five pm.¡± Rosie informed me as I made my way to the gym. A moment later a sonic boom echoed throughout the building. It was currently four. ¡°He has received the message and is currently moving.¡± There was a smug undertone in her perpetually pleasant voice.

    ¡°Thanks, Rosie.¡± I said, but didn¡¯t hang up right away. I don¡¯t think I normally would have said what I said next. ¡°You¡¯re very scary.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I could not parse that request.¡± Rosie told me warmly.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked. When there wasn¡¯t any response I checked my phone and found that the call had ended.

    Yeah. Rosie was scary.

    I spent the next forty five minutes thinking about it. The thoughts sometimes distracted my from the workout I came to do. That ended in one of two ways each time. Either I reduced the weight of the machines I was using, or I would have an accident when I just forgot that I was handling something heavy. Then there was the fact that I was bleary eyed the whole time as well, which probably didn¡¯t help with anything.

    Sleep hadn¡¯t really been all too welcoming, either. All I had managed since opening the box was the occasional involuntary nap, which always ended too soon and with me feeling worse than I had before slipping under. Regardless, I finished my workout for the day and left the building feeling a bit more energised thanks to the workout.

    I didn¡¯t say hi to anyone, Sentinel, Sentry, or otherwise. My workout was done alone, and most of the Sentry was out on after school publicity patrol around now. When I passed back through the lobby, Mr and Mrs Vermont were much more calm and were waiting in chairs off to the side. Mr Vermont was even on his phone.

    Mrs Vermont caught me looking at them, so I averted my gaze and walked past without saying hello.

    ~~~

    ¡°Here comes trouble.¡± Nathan said, stopping the conversation we were having about nothing.

    I looked and saw Nick striding towards us. His lacky wasn¡¯t far behind, but he stopped by the corner.

    ¡°I¡¯m offended, Nathan.¡± Nick said, his voice conveying that he was ticked off, but it didn¡¯t sound like offense. ¡°I extended you a branch that so many are vying for. That you turned it down reflects bad on me as well.¡±

    My eyes were still bleary, and I¡¯d only been taking a small part in the conversation. That cloud was clearing up as I registered the presence Nick was putting up. It wasn¡¯t focused on me, just on Nathan. I glanced over and realised that Sonya wasn¡¯t sitting with us today. Which was probably for the best.

    Nathan glanced at me, then back to Nick. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in Hound races. Fuck off.¡± His voice was trying to be strong, and held up for the most part. There was still wavering in there, though.

    I blinked. That had been a quick transition to blatant hostility.

    Nick cocked his head at that, then casually reached down and picked Nathan up by the collar. He didn¡¯t hold Nathan close, just up, and only far enough that he was standing on his toes.

    ¡°Well, Nathan¡­¡± Nick said. ¡°You are cordially invited to the Hound races tonight. This time you¡¯ll have an actual invitation, rather than just my word.¡± With his other hand he produced a shard of glass. It was thick and pointed, and was shaped almost like a W that was missing half a limb. Nick held it close enough to Nick¡¯s face that he had to go cross eyed.

    ¡°The fuck is this?¡± Nathan asked.

    I glanced at Nick¡¯s lacky. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. It was so similar to the time I got mugged. How long had it been since then? Three weeks? Four? It felt like I¡¯d lived a lifetime since then.

    Getting mugged had put me in a position to get a pep talk from Lucidity, and I¡¯d come away from that with a desire to do something if I ever found myself in a situation like that again. This was exactly that, and what was I doing? I was blinking my eyes, squinting to even look at a guy who was less than ten feet away.

    What could I do? That was the better question to ask. Standing up to Nick would prompt his lacky to get involved as well. If I did that now, I would be between him and the guy harassing my friend. It felt like if I even stood he would get involved, but that was a good first step wasn¡¯t it?

    Standing took more effort than I thought it would have. Nick hadn¡¯t recognised me for whatever reason, and if I got his attention then I wouldn¡¯t be able to pretend it never happened like I wanted to. I pushed the self contradicting thoughts aside and stood with half of my attention on the lacky. They pushed off from the wall as I stood.

    ¡°Now, now.¡± Nick wagged a finger in my direction, still holding the glass symbol. Had he explained what the glass was? How long had I spent in my own goddamn head? ¡°Let¡¯s not make this a scene.

    ¡°You¡¯ve kind of done that yourself.¡± Nathan said.

    Nick rounded on him and pulled Nathan a little closer. I reached over and gripped his arm. He didn¡¯t have long sleeves, so I couldn¡¯t use my power here, but I got the message across. I did my best to ignore the mental image of his body.

    Nick looked at me with an appraising eye. ¡°You going to say anything, kid?¡±

    ¡°Michael.¡± I retorted.

    ¡°Thanks, Michael.¡± Nick rolled his eyes. ¡°Do you have anything to add?¡±

    ¡°Michael, don¡¯t.¡± Nathan pleaded.

    ¡°Just repeating something.¡± I said after taking a moment to remember how to speak. ¡°Fuck off.¡±

    Nick sighed and looked past me with his eyes. Then he flicked them back to me briefly. One hand grabbed my arm while the other took hold of my neck, making my shoulders rise reflexively. I was tugged back and my grip on Nick slipped.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t about you.¡± The lacky said, taking about twice as long as anyone else would to get the words out while he dragged me away from Nathan and Nick.

    I could tell through the hand on my neck where the lacky¡¯s clothes stopped thanks to the weight on the skin. When I tried to turn and throw a punch or something, his grip on my neck tightened and there wasn¡¯t anything I could do about it. I reached back, my power giving me a perfect measure to judge where exactly I needed to be reaching, and got my fingers on his shirt.

    From there it was easy to grip the fabric and pull with supernatural strength, throwing my head back at the same moment. My head connected with the lower half of his face, and I felt a crunch. The lacky¡¯s grip on my broke and I turned so I could properly deal with him. Pushing on his shirt with enhanced force was easy enough since he was dealing with a bloody mouth. He went sprawling. I didn¡¯t touch him again, so I didn¡¯t know if he had any teeth dislodge

    Frankly, I didn¡¯t care if he did. That fucker had stood by while I got hospitalised.

    I rushed back to where Nathan was being accosted by Nick only to find that Nick was leaving. Their business was apparently done, and the shard of glass was nowhere in sight. Nick shoulder checked me as he left, muttering the word ¡®fucker¡¯. I watched him go. If he was leaving, then I had no problem with that.

    When I looked back at Nathan, I realised we still had a problem as he grimly watched the older boy round the corner. I heard him asking what the fuck happened to the lacky, then they moved away.

    Nathan sighed.

    I put my hand on the outside of Nathan¡¯s arm. ¡°Are you good?¡±

    Nathan looked at my arm in momentary confusion. It was the first time I had gone out of my way to make physical contact with him, then he sighed. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good.¡±

    It was a lie. I felt his heartbeat flutter and blood rush to his face as he said it. It and another half dozen other bodily functions were operating like what happened in me whenever I lied. Before I took my hand away, I made eye contact with him as a method of challenging it, but Nathan didn¡¯t say any more. I pulled away, having achieved what I wanted with the gesture.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    There was a strange shape poking into him from one of his pockets.

    I sat, the adrenaline already wearing off. ¡°What¡¯re the Hound races?¡±

    Nathan sat as well. ¡°Some dumb shit the Beastmasters do some nights. Straight up illegal stuff I want nothing to do with.¡±

    ¡°But you accepted Bad Valentine¡¯s invitation.¡± I said.

    ¡°Who? That was Nick.¡±

    I closed my eyes and pulled out my phone, having realised my blunder as soon as I said it. I waggled the phone. ¡°Giftedlist.com.¡± I said. ¡°Bad Valentine¡¯s a new member. Glass powers.¡± I hadn¡¯t checked to see if he was on it yet, but it seemed likely.

    ¡°Right¡­ Shit.¡± Nathan leaned back. ¡°Guess Sonya¡¯s rubbing off on you as well.¡± I shrugged and put my phone away. ¡°What¡¯s a gifted want with me anyway?¡±

    ¡°Do you have a secret you¡¯re not sharing with anyone?¡± I asked, very conscious of my own.

    ¡°If I do, I¡¯m keeping it very well. Even I don¡¯t know.¡±

    I gave a sharp laugh. Then lapsed into silence for a while. I opened an eye, squinting at the light, and looked at Nathan. He was looking in my direction, but not at me. He was looking at where Nick had gone.

    ¡°You¡¯re going, aren¡¯t you.¡±

    Nathan looked at me, then sighed. ¡°What the fuck am I supposed to do? He¡¯s just gonna escalate until I go.¡±

    ¡°Tell a teacher, make it a deal that¡¯s bigger than him.¡±

    ¡°What? And use this glass as evidence?¡± Nathan held up the glass Nick had given him. ¡°They¡¯ll think I¡¯m one of the Beastmasters, given how many others are around here.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯d be a start.¡± I said.

    ¡°It¡¯d make it back home, and then I¡¯d have to deal with my parents thinking I¡¯m a Beastmaster. They¡¯ll take away all the things I like and all I¡¯ll have to do is homework. I won¡¯t be allowed out except for school and shit. Basically grounded. All for what? To tattle on someone?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re blowing it out of proportion.¡± I told him.

    He shook the glass. ¡°There¡¯s a fucking gifted involved!¡±

    ¡°Transhuman.¡± I corrected automatically, my tiredness was inhibiting my inhibitions. It was a strange thing to have to deal with.

    ¡°Who cares? It¡¯s already bigger than Nick is supposed to be, and he did all that anyway.¡±

    ¡°Kind of my point.¡± I muttered. ¡°Nathan, what do you think he¡¯s going to do next if you don¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Nathan said exasperatedly. ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m going.¡±

    ¡°Think about it, he only does physical stuff. If you keep saying no, you¡¯ll end up in hospital and get some days off school. It would be like when I got mugged.¡± Almost exactly like when I got mugged.

    Nathan thought about it. ¡°As appealing as days off of school are, I think I won¡¯t. I like my record of never breaking anything.¡±

    ¡°He-¡± I almost said he won¡¯t because he didn¡¯t break any of mine, but stopped myself. ¡°You¡¯re making it hard to help you.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate it, Michael, but I can handle this on my own.¡± Nathan rebuked.

    I stared at him with both eyes. He was lying, and I didn¡¯t need to check his body to tell. ¡°Bring me, then.¡± I decided.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Bring me along, then I¡¯ll make sure that when you get reinvited, you say ¡®no¡¯. Sound good?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to bring you to something like that.¡± Nathan told me.

    ¡°Tough shit.¡± I rebuked. ¡°You¡¯re worried about being falsely accused of being a Beastmaster. If you go to this ¡®Hound Race¡¯ Nick invited you to, you may as well be a Beastmaster. Are you seeing the hole you¡¯re digging? It¡¯s quite obvious to me.¡±

    ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Nathan trailed off. I looked at him pointedly to keep him talking, but he got saved by the bell.

    ¡°I¡¯ll call you after school and we can meet up.¡± I said definitively as I picked up my bag. ¡°When is this thing, anyway?¡±

    ¡°Sunset or sometime around that.¡± Nathan answered, getting to his feet as well.. ¡°That¡¯s what Nick said.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll see you later, then.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±

    ~~~

    ¡°Michael!¡± Nathan hissed from behind me, causing me to jolt awake.

    I looked back and saw wet red hair sticking to the side of a clammy face, her eyes staring at me unblinkingly. Then I blinked and Emma vanished. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°This is us.¡± He stood and started moving to get off the bus. I looked around, realising we were pretty far from the centre of the city. Traffic was less dense here, and the spaces between the buildings were larger. I didn¡¯t recognise exactly where we were, but looking over the building let me see landmarks like the SRT, even though Lake Shane wasn¡¯t visible.

    The bus came to a stop and I stood to follow Nathan. We walked in quiet, with me squinting and actively looking around. It was an attempt to combat my tiredness and to have some light hit my eyes both, while also limiting the amount of light I looked at so the memories stayed in the box. There was a safe zone in there. It was slim, but I had been getting used to staying there over the past five days.

    We walked for fifteen minutes from the bus stop before reaching a group of people all gathered on the road. It seemed the event was hosted in a run down warehouse, but the roller doors were down and there were enough people that they had spilled out onto the street. The age demographic was young, but people mostly older than Nathan and me.

    Further up and down the street were ugly buildings build to a certain low standard and seemingly copy/pasted all the way down. There were maybe three different models on this road, with the warehouse being a unique building amongst the blad. Normally there wouldn¡¯t be anyone here at this hour, but apparently Hound races drew crowds

    The vast majority were people at the tail end of high school, or had graduated highschool but didn¡¯t look like they were bothering with further education. A lot of guys had facial hair, but the ones that were growing full beards were few and far between. The girls were dressed like tonight was a party night, but the guys hadn¡¯t done the same. There were wife beaters and trashy girls galore.

    I recognised a few faces from Merryfair here, but so far Nathan was the only person I could put a name to. ¡°What the hell are we even supposed to do here?¡±

    Nathan shrugged. ¡°Nick just said to come. Most of the today was him promising that things would get worse if I didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°How you can be so blase about this, but go along with it anyway is beyond me.¡± I commented. ¡°I¡¯m perfectly fine staying on the sideline. How about you?¡±

    ¡°Sounds like a plan.¡± Nathan admitted, pointing at a fence near the crowd but was free of people. ¡°There, or is that too close to the crowd?¡±

    I deadpanned a glare. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± That Nathan was minding my current aversion for light and sound, courtesy of my lack of sleep, was great. It would be better if he looked for himself.

    We went to the fence and sat. Nathan leaning against the fence, while I rested on the ground and let my head fall back against the wire mesh. Most people were milling about, and the kind of persons in the crowd changed as it got closer to the warehouse. No one was going in or out, so I assumed that whoever was in charge was either inside or staying nearby. I squinted, trying to get a clear view of the people there, but my eyesight was too blurry.

    To counteract that, I divided my attention into my piercing and my eyes. Things cleared up a bit, but I didn¡¯t see anyone that stood out. No Nick, either. I glanced down at the concrete the building was built on. The driveway didn¡¯t extend to the ground I was sitting on, so I couldn¡¯t touch the ground and get a sense of what was inside.

    I could touch the ground, but that wouldn¡¯t give me any good information. Touching the ground wasn¡¯t a good idea at the best of times, anyway.

    At least two people in the crowd had brought speakers and were playing music through them. They were far enough away that they didn¡¯t interrupt each other, but if you were in the inbetween, you got two different songs playing in your ears. One was rock and the other was pop. They didn¡¯t mesh.

    A new song that was definitely in the ¡®screaming¡¯ spectrum of the metal genre faded in as a car approached. The crowd reacted to it, going from just milling around to clearing the driveway and turning the music down. The metal was being played louder from the arriving car than either of the speakers had been playing, and it dominated as the car rolled up the driveway and came to a smooth stop just before the roller door.

    The metal stopped, and the other music was turned back up. The car was sleek black, with flame decals on the side that were pale blue instead of typical fire colours. It was clearly a sporty car, maybe a bit modified, but it was hard to tell with me having to squint at it. The two people that stepped out were easier for me to recognise, given the more than human qualities they had.

    The guy that stepped out on the side closer to us was dressed entirely in black leather, save for the band t-shirt, and had pointed studs in rows on each shoulder. He was far away, but I could tell even though I was squinting that he had black eyeliner that had been wet and drained down his cheeks. His hands, neck, face, and dyed black hair all had shards of jagged glass stuck in them.

    He had blond roots, which kind of detracted from the intimidating look. The dots were all connecting, however. Altered, with glass in his body. This being a Beastmaster gathering. That was Bad Valentine.

    He showed his namesake as he greeted the crowd with a yell and stuck his tongue out. There were glass shards clearly growing out of it. As he shook his fist in the air, the glass shards in the mouth fell out and flew to his hand. Bad Valentine grabbed them and threw them to the crowd, who started scrambling for them as Bad Valentine laughed. A good chunk of the crowd was totally about all that. Joining in or egging others on despite the fact that the supervillain had essentially made a lolly scramble over his tongue.

    Much more quietly on the other side of the car a villain I had seen before. Their presence was much quieter now that they didn¡¯t have electricity crackling down wires that had been engraved into their arms. Channel was wearing a puffy vest and had her hands jammed into her pockets. She, like Bad Valentine, was surveying the crowd. Channel¡¯s continuous scan was interrupted when she looked in our direction. A moment or two later it continued, then was called off before she finished scanning.

    That made me frown. Had Channel recognised me? How? I glanced behind us and saw another group of college aged guys approaching, jostling each other as they moved and generally being rowdy. It wasn¡¯t that much different from what the rest of the crowd was doing.

    ¡°Did you see that?¡± Nathan asked.

    ¡°See what?¡± I responded distractedly, watching the group to see if they did anything remarkable. If Channel knew one of them, then the way she looked at us could be explained that way. I didn¡¯t want to think about the alternative.

    ¡°That gifted. The girl with wires scrimshawed into her arms.¡± Nathan said. ¡°Did she look at us?¡±

    ¡°Maybe she was looking for someone new.¡± I ad libbed. ¡°We¡¯d fit. Maybe it was one of those guys.¡±

    Nathan glanced in the direction I was looking. ¡°Maybe.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t looking like the guys were here for anything other than a little bit of fun, but Nathan seemed to buy it. I sure as hell wasn¡¯t sold on it. Channel had stepped away from the crowd towards the warehouse and was waiting by a small door around the building from the roller doors. Her eyes were locked on Bad Valentine, who was mingling with the crowd, but slowly following after her.

    Eventually Bad Valentine reached the warehouse, opened the door, and went inside first. Channel caught the door, pushed someone trying to get inside away from it, and went inside after glancing in our direction again.

    A new chill went up my spine. It was a refreshing change from the constant memories, but the implications were not good. I glanced over at Nathan, who was appraising the guys I had pointed out earlier. From the way his mouth was twisting, he wasn¡¯t that sold on them being the guys Channel was looking at.

    More people slowly trickled into the area until the sun was well and truly dipping down. In the end there were a total of thirty to forty people milling about. Enough that people we didn¡¯t know were joining us at the fence and asking us who we were. Both Nathan and I were only cordial enough to answer the questions, but we gave the air that we didn¡¯t really want to talk.

    There was a lot of enthusiasm about the Hound races. People kept saying things along the lines of ¡®The Hounds were gonna roll tonight.¡¯ ¡®A Hound might bite the dust.¡¯ ¡®Which Hound is your favourite?¡¯

    I tried asking what exactly the Hound races were, and was given a simple answer. ¡®The Hounds would race to the finish line.¡¯ I suspected that meant at some point all these people would be moving inside and the reason we were being kept out was so we didn¡¯t disturb the hounds. It made sense, what with the Beastmasters¡¯ group name.

    It was also very illegal, as far as I could tell. But supervillains.

    No other Beastmasters showed up as far as I could tell. There were pictures of Jackel and Wayvern online, and they had a difficult time blending in. Definitely more than Bad Valentine and Channel did since they just looked like normal people who had manifested amidst being tortured. Rainbowfish had a similar deal, being a rainbow fish-person.

    Retch was the only Beastmaster I hadn¡¯t seen a clear picture of. I had seen a picture, but she had been half obscured by black smog, the focus had been soft, and she had been moving fast enough to blur the camera. That being said, no one here matched any of them.

    There were two people we knew here, however. One of them snuck up on us.

    ¡°Nathan.¡± Nick said loudly, grabbing both his shoulders from behind in the same moment. ¡°You actually fucking showed up. That¡¯s fuckin¡¯ great. You looking forward to the Hound races?¡±

    I looked up and started standing, making sure not to touch the dirt.

    ¡°Sure.¡± Nathan said uneasily.

    ¡°That¡¯s cool. Want to meet one of the racers?¡±

    ¡°Are you going to tell us why Nathan¡¯s getting special treatment?¡± I asked, now standing.

    Nick glanced at me and released Nathan with a pat to his shoulder. ¡°Brought your friend as well? That¡¯s nice.¡±

    I looked at Nick flatly, then glanced at Nathan.

    ¡°Seriously, man. Why?¡± Nathan said.

    ¡°You¡¯re gettin¡¯ an opportunity most don¡¯t.¡± Nick¡¯s lacky said, ever present in his shadow. His lips were still swollen from earlier today. ¡°Why you complainin¡¯?

    ¡°What is even your name?¡± I asked exasperatedly.

    ¡°Ben.¡± He said simply. I kind of expected it. Not that name specifically, but one that was short and completely failed to represent his personality. Or maybe it fit perfectly. Either way, it wasn¡¯t the kind of name I¡¯d been dealing with a lot recently.

    ¡°And what¡¯s the opportunity?¡± I followed up.

    ¡°Front row seats.¡± Nick grinned. ¡°And a chance to meet the talent. Come on.¡± He jumped the fence and made a beeline for the warehouse. Ben stayed where he was and glared at us until we started moving.

    ¡°Are you going to explain anything?¡± Nathan called after Nick.

    ¡°I will, but I want to show you first.¡± Nick replied, making it into the crowd proper. The noise of people was enough to drown out our words and we didn¡¯t get any more questions in. I shoved my hands in my pockets and tried not to let anyone touch my face or neck as we navigated towards the door Bad Valentine and Channel had disappeared through.

    ¡°Got your invitation?¡± Nick asked when we caught up.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Nathan had his hands in his pockets, presumably holding it at that moment. ¡°Did that come from his tongue?¡±

    Nick grinned. ¡°Get it out, but don¡¯t show the crowd.¡± Then he knocked on the door loudly.

    After a few moments, a pretty nondescript older guy opened the door. He looked at us, then glanced at the shard of glass in Nathan¡¯s hand.

    ¡°That¡¯s for three.¡± The man said, prompting Nick¡¯s positive facade to slip momentarily.

    ¡°Yeah, fine.¡± He huffed, turning to Ben. ¡°Have fun at the races I guess.¡±

    Ben frowned and jerked his head at me. ¡°You not gonna?¡±

    ¡°Two for one.¡± Nick responded cryptically. Ben shrugged and left, quickly finding someone he knew to hang out with.

    The man at the door stepped back and Nick led us through. I was expecting the smell of animals to hit me as I stepped inside. Instead, I got a strong wiff of gasoline and oil, or whatever it was that many cars smelled like. The majority of the warehouse was filled with four impressive cars that had been tailored for looking good and racing.

    Cars weren¡¯t really my thing. They gave me a headache whenever I spent too much time in one, but I could clearly see the care that had gone into designing these things and maintaining them. There were about ten people in the warehouse, either milling about or working on the cars. Nick waved at a few as he led us to a flight of stairs and away from the main warehouse.

    The atmosphere was tense. There was music playing from a speaker by one of the cars, but it was classical, and was nearly drowned out by the small sounds of tools as people worked on them. While some acknowledged Nick, none even gave us a glance.

    It was confusing. The ¡®Hounds¡¯ were clearly these cars. But what the hell was this for? Why had Nick brought us here?

    He lead us to the second floor of the warehouse, where the offices normally were. Here there weren¡¯t any desks, but chairs were arranged around a table and the cast sitting there sent another chill up my spine.

    Bad Valentine and Channel were there. It made sense, seeing as they hadn¡¯t been downstairs. Also there was a tall, but thin man wearing a jackal mask and a teenage guy with rainbows in his hair. Jackal, presumably, and Rainbowfish. Or maybe the former was a spokesperson for Jackal, since Jackal was Altered like the rest of the Beastmasters.

    ¡°Brought ¡®em.¡± Nick announced his presence, causing the four supervillains to look at us.

    I started fucking sweating right there. All tiredness was chased out of my body in that instant. The three Beastmasters I could see the eyes of appraised us. Channel looked me up and down, and didn¡¯t move on to Nathan. When I met her eyes a spark flickered off of a wire jutting out of her head and she kept staring.

    We looked at each other for a bit. I looked away first, not wanting to attract attention to my civilian identity.

    ¡°Shit, looks like Channel found someone she likes.¡± Rainbowfish commented, laughing. He turned his head to me, letting it droop at an angle. ¡°Sorry bro.¡± He didn¡¯t sound sorry at all.

    Bad Valentine joined in with the laughter and Nick shot me a look I couldn¡¯t parse.

    So much for not attracting attention.

    ¡°Does this meet your conditions?¡± The man with the Jackal mask spoke to the room. I heard a disturbance behind us and looked to see a familiar rectangular portal slowly forming out of blue mist. When it finished, the mist faded and it was like there was a doorway to another room at the top of the stairs. Through the door stepped a woman with a green veil over her face, wearing short green dress with dozens of strings of beads dangling off of it.

    She stepped through and surveyed Nathan and myself, sizing us up like the Beastmasters just had.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Greenflame smiled through the word. ¡°It¡¯s more than I asked for, but this will do.¡±

 4. Men/Monsters 3

    I was so monumentally fucked in this moment. There were four supervillains on one side of me, and another supervillain that was playing the villains of Graceland against each other on my other side. It was a battle to keep my face straight, and I was pretty sure I was failing.

    Greenflame thankfully stepped past us without addressing either of us. I gave Nathan a concerned look, only to meet his confused one. There wasn¡¯t anything I could say that wouldn¡¯t blow my cover, so I didn¡¯t say anything and watched the meeting of Greenflame and the Beastmasters.

    There had been something in the air as Greenflame went by. A certain¡­ it was difficult to describe. The air she pushed out of her way had been excited as it made contact with my skin. It wasn¡¯t like heat or sound, but it also didn¡¯t feel like a standard force or vibration. I put it down to her power fucking with the area around her.

    Another person stepped through the portal before it shimmered and faded. He was a shorter guy, probably a year or two older than me. Around the age where people started getting ready for graduating high school. The hood concealed most of his features, but from the smoothness of his chin, the way he carried himself, and the situation we were in, it was easy to tell both his lack of maturity and where his loyalties lay. I wondered who he was. Patrol Officer, maybe? It was strange that he would show himself like this.

    Looking back in the direction of the supervillains meant I noticed Channel still staring at me. I clenched my fists in my pockets and stared at the back of Greenflame¡¯s head, waiting for one of the villains to start talking.

    The man representing Jackal stood and traced his fingers along the edge of the table as he started making his way around. His fingers dropped from the surface of the table and went to the backs of Bad Valentine and Channel¡¯s chairs. The male supervillain clenched his fist as the fingers inevitably made contact with the back of his shirt. Channel shivered and broke away from staring at me.

    Greenflame looked as the man stood before her, far closer than most people would, completely disregarding the concept of personal space. The man in the Jackal mask reached out with one hand and pulled a chair out. He gestured for Greenflame to sit.

    He certainly had the composure of someone in charge of a group of supervillains. I wasn¡¯t sure whether or not to put that down to an unknown facet of Jackal¡¯s power that let him appear normal, or to contribute it to this man being the only thing between safety and Jackal¡¯s wrath.

    ¡°Well that¡¯s a little rude.¡± Greenflame commented, sitting like she¡¯d been told.

    ¡°I am displaying self control as a sign of respect.¡± The man in the Jackal mask said as he slowly paced back to his side of the table. ¡°The services you sell are impressive, and you have the backers to show for it. You have used this reputation to pull us around when we could have concluded our arrangement long ago.¡±

    ¡°What you must understand,¡± Greenflame spoke confidently. ¡°Is that I cannot favour one client more than any other. In this case, that requires me to offer you the deal I offered another client, with no leeway as to the interpretation.¡±

    ¡°This requires a neutral party?¡±

    ¡°One that is free to make their own decisions, yes.¡±

    Nathan gulped. They were talking about him.

    ¡°We got the perfect guy for you.¡± Rainbowfish said. ¡°Fits all the criteria, as you listed them. With the brown hair, the brown eyes, the slightly brown skin-¡±

    ¡°Dreadnaught.¡± Greenflame flicked her hand towards Rainbowfish. The hooded boy Greenflame brought along stepped over to Rainbowfish and placed a hand softly on his shoulder.

    Rainbowfish glanced up at the hooded guy. ¡°Did she just say Dreadnaught?¡±

    ¡°She did.¡± The boy who was apparently the world¡¯s strongest cat said without intonation.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Rainbowfish looked back to Greenflame, then Jackal. ¡°I tried.¡±

    ¡°That is fine.¡± Jackal¡¯s representative said, then addressed Greenflame. ¡°But if you allowed yourself to believe a small tale, then your terms would have all been met.¡±

    ¡°But that would have been incredibly boring.¡± Greenflame smiled. ¡°And you haven¡¯t met the requirements of my services yet, you must still do one job for me. It will be for your benefit, not mine, and you will be including the third party in the plan.¡± Greenflame leaned her chair back and looked backwards until she was looking at us. ¡°We already talked about that, but I thought you needed to know.¡±

    Then her chair fell back to its original position with a clatter.

    ¡°So what¡¯s the job?¡± Bad Valentine demanded. His voice dropped at weird moments, like something was in his throat. Given his power, there probably was. ¡°Shakedown? Smash and Grab? Grand Theft Auto is always fun.¡±

    ¡°I was thinking of more of a grab and smash, coupled with grand humiliation for a certain group.¡± Greenflame explained. ¡°You Beastmasters will choose one of your gifted to be the team leader, and you, Nathan, will be the lieutenant.¡±

    ¡°I- Hol-¡± Nathan took a moment to remember how to speak. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The leader and the lieutenant can choose a small number of persons to take with them on the job. There can only be one gifted on the team. Are the rules understood?¡±

    Nathan¡¯s confused response was dwarfed by the Jackal Representative¡¯s slamming of the table.

    ¡°You are dragging us along a pointless ride.¡± He snarled.

    One of the lights flickered as electricity arced from it to Channel. The villain¡¯s brown hair briefly rising, before settling in a neat shape. A thrumming sound permeated the room.

    ¡°Not pointless.¡± Greenflame wagged a finger, heedless of the implied threats. ¡°Don¡¯t you want the future? This is the price.¡±

    ¡°This and two hundred thousand dollars.¡± Bad Valentine jumped in. ¡°I¡¯m not even getting the wish, can we just hurry this along. I want to race tonight.¡±

    Jackal¡¯s representative glared at Bad Valentine, and the latter villain slumped forward. His face slammed against the table, two shards of glass jutting from his face impaled the table, stopping his nose from taking the brunt of the impact.

    ¡°Down, pet.¡± He told Channel, and the thrumming sound lowered until it was no more.

    Yeah, this motherfucker was Jackal. The way he was in charge of these guys, and the way Bad Valentine had fallen asleep. That was a power at work, no doubt about it.

    Jackal looked back to Greenflame. ¡°What is the job?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to arm yourselves.¡± Greenflame explained. ¡°Not with anything here. You¡¯re going to go to a place and pick up a specific weapon. Then you¡¯ll leave with the bounty, preferably without casualties. Does that sound doable?¡±

    ¡°Where is this place and what weapon is it?¡±

    ¡°Not so fast.¡± Greenflame swept out of her chair and traced her hand along the table much like Jackal had. She kept speaking as she took her time tracing the chairs the supervillains were sitting on.

    ¡°The process will go like this.¡± Her fingers traced along one of Channel¡¯s wires. ¡°You will pay me.¡± Her hand dropped from Channel¡¯s other shoulder. ¡°I will tell you the job.¡± Greenflame slowed down by Bad Valentine and showed fascination touching the tip of one of his shards. ¡°You will complete the job.¡± She passed behind Jackal. ¡°If you do the job well enough.¡± Greenflame reached Rainbowfish, her hand reaching towards his neck.

    Rainbowfish¡¯s hand caught Greenflame¡¯s. ¡°Mind the gills, will ya?¡±

    Greenflame smiled and went around Dreadnaught, draping herself around the hooded teenager¡¯s shoulders. She turned her attention to the leader of the Beastmasters. ¡°Then, and only then, will you get your wish, Jackal.¡±

    Jackal and Greenflame had a short staring contest, then the former turned his attention to us, the ¡®non-powered¡¯ people in the room. Nick gasped from behind me. I glanced back and saw his eyes were wide.

    ¡°Find Niel and tell him to bring the payment to me.¡± Jackal told him. ¡°Don¡¯t even try to skim off the top.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t dream of it.¡± Nick joked shakily, then slunk away from the tense room. Nathan and I were left with no one to our backs. I knew there were enough people downstairs that running would only escalate the situation into something worse, so I put a hand on Nathan¡¯s shoulder to stop him when he started to follow.

    When he looked at me my expression was grim. I turned back to the supervillain meeting. Greenflame was moving towards us. I stepped back, not wanting to experience being near her again.

    Greenflame paused with her hands out, then lowered them. ¡°I apologise if I scared you, child. You might say your involvement in this is¡­ out of my hands.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch me.¡± I blurted, shoving my hands into my pockets. The situation galled me. I should have pulled Nathan back with me.

    ¡°Then I suppose Nathan will have to be the one.¡± Greenflame turned to the named boy and touched his face. Nathan didn¡¯t know what to do. ¡°Don¡¯t be scared, you¡¯ll return to your home unharmed tonight.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t even want to be here.¡± Nathan responded.

    ¡°Ah, but again. It is out of my hands.¡±

    ¡°Sure it is.¡± I blurted again.

    Greenflame seemed surprised. ¡°Oh?¡± When I didn¡¯t elaborate she took a step towards me and I took another step back. I had my hands out of my pockets now to search for anything behind me. It would have been better to look around for a weapon, but I wasn¡¯t taking my eyes off the supervillain. Thankfully, Greenflame only took the one step.

    ¡°Do not terrorise him.¡± Channel said, now standing. Her voice was a lot higher than I was expecting. She sounded younger than she looked.

    Greenflame looked between Channel and me, teeth beginning to show through her smile. Meanwhile Rainbowfish let out a chuckle.

    ¡°Called it.¡±

    Then Dreadnaught¡¯s hand tightened on Rainbowfish¡¯s shoulder and he shut up again. Greenflame seemed to have had enough of the situation between her, Channel, and myself, and returned to her chair.

    ¡°What a wonderful dynamic.¡± She spoke aloud to herself. I didn¡¯t like that she kept commenting on things the rest of us didn¡¯t know. Greenflame clearly had a Smart ability in her powerset. She had been the first one to name Nathan. If she could figure that one out, what else could she figure out?

    Hopefully not my caped identity. Then I¡¯d be even more fucked.

    Jackal sat as well, gesturing at Channel to sit with him. Eventually Nick returned with another older, mechanic looking person. The other guy had a duffel bag that they put on the table by Greenflame at Jackal¡¯s direction, then stood back from. Greenflame ignored the bag and reached her hand towards the mechanic.

    ¡°Thank you Niel.¡± She said.

    Niel looked to Jackal, who nodded permission, then shook Greenflame¡¯s hand. After the handshake, he walked back out of the room. Greenflame sat in her chair and looked at Jackal.

    ¡°The money is all there.¡± Jackal said.

    ¡°I know.¡± Greenflame responded, sounding a little bored. ¡°I¡¯ll have Dreadnaught carry it, and yadda, yadda. I was considering the exact words I should use to describe this job I want you to do for me.¡±

    Jackal tilted his head a little and waited. Bad Valentine jolted awake after a few moments and went to say something, but stopped when Jackal gestured at him. He swallowed and looked around the room, taking in what had changed while he was out.

    ¡°You¡¯re looking for a medieval weapon.¡± Greenflame said at length. ¡°You are aware of the fatalist church in Duncan?¡± Jackal nodded. ¡°Well would you believe it, it¡¯s actually a front!¡± Greenflame flourished her hands at the revelation. ¡°A certain smarmy gang has been using it as a place to store their ill gotten gains. If the Courtesans make you uneasy, you can rest easy because they don¡¯t store their people there. It is a place for money and treasure.¡±

    ¡°Treasure like a medieval weapon?¡± Jackal spoke carefully as he uttered ¡®medieval weapon¡¯.

    ¡°Amongst other things.¡± Greenflame nodded. ¡°But what you¡¯re looking for is the weapon that¡¯s four centuries out of date. I¡¯ll give you thirty six hours to get it. You get that, you return to me, and you get your wish. As per the terms of the agreement, the one that executes the job does not get to make a wish.¡±

    Meaning whoever did what she was asking wouldn¡¯t get to make the wish. Jackal couldn¡¯t be the one do it.

    ¡°I see.¡± Jackal stood again and paced to a window in the room showing the warehouse below.

    ¡°Can I be the one th-¡± Channel started saying.

    ¡°You will stay sitting.¡± Jackal responded, shutting her down. Channel sat further down in her chair and looked at the table. ¡°Tonight you are required for the Hound Races.¡±

    ¡°If I may.¡± Rainbowfish raised his hand to speak. The teenager called Dreadnaught looked at Greenflame, who gestured permission. ¡°I¡¯m fuckin¡¯ out of this job. You can get your wish all you want, but I¡¯m not going into hostile territory by myself. People have started to stop listening to me when I speak.¡±

    ¡°You were not amongst the candidates I had in mind.¡± Jackal responded flatly, then he turned to face the room. ¡°Seeing as Retch and Wayvern are indisposed for today, that leaves only one candidate. Bad Valentine.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re finally letting me out?¡± Bad Valentine grinned. A shard of glass grew down in front of his teeth, but still inside his mouth, making it appear like a translucent fang. He gestured with a hand and the shard flew to it. ¡°¡®Bout fucking time.¡±

    Jackal stared at Bad Valentine until things started feeling awkward.

    ¡°Sorry boss.¡± Bad Valentine muttered, not meeting Jackal¡¯s gaze.

    ¡°Choose your team and start preparing.¡± Jackal told the villain. ¡°And do not use that title.¡±

    Greenflame clapped her hands. ¡°Perfect! You¡¯re on your way. Take Dreadnaught and have fun! I¡¯ll be back when you are.¡± The blue mist of Patrol Officer¡¯s portals spread behind Greenflame and she disappeared through the dimensional rift. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Dreadnaught took his hand off of Rainbowfish, who let out a deep breath, then the hooded teenager threw the bag of money through the portal after her, which subsequently closed. That left four Beastmasters, one human who was apparently Dreadnaught, and Nathan, Nick, and myself as the only apparent non-transhumans in the room.

    ¡°Greenflame has left us with a task, and has given us the location and objective, as well as some information, but not as much as I would like.¡± Jackal spoke, sitting at the desk. ¡°Who are you thinking of bringing along? If you name any drivers, I¡¯m going to veto them. They¡¯re needed for the races.¡±

    Bad Valentine pushed away from the table. ¡°Think I¡¯ll take Nick, since he¡¯s right fucking there, as well as Joe and Nancy.¡± Nick grimaced when he was named, but didn¡¯t say anything.

    ¡°Acceptable.¡± Jackal nodded. ¡°Though you are traveling into a Courtesan stronghold. Are you certain you are capable with only three assistants?¡±

    Bad Valentine shrugged. ¡°Think I got a pretty nice deal, all considering. If there¡¯s gifted guarding that place, which I doubt there is, I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯m really looking forward to when they make me start defending.¡± He grinned a little at that.

    ¡°Apologise to Wayvern.¡± Rainbowfish deadpanned.

    ¡°I will when she¡¯s here.¡± Bad Valentine flippantly responded, then jerked his chin up at Nick. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Nick and Bad Valentine made to leave, but Channel caught the latter¡¯s arm. She pointed at me. ¡°Lieutenant.¡±

    As Bad Valentine reared back to face Channel, Rainbowfish piped up. ¡°You got it wrong, Channel. It¡¯s the other one that got dubbed lieutenant. It doesn¡¯t matter how much you like them.¡±

    Channel ignored him as Bad Valentine gave a sigh.

    ¡°Do I have to bring along the uninitiated?¡± He asked Jackal.

    ¡°You do.¡±

    ¡°And me.¡± Dreadnaught added. ¡°To make sure you behave.¡±

    ¡°What a fucking hassle.¡± Bad Valentine sighed. ¡°Right. All of you. Get moving.¡±

    ¡°Um, no.¡± Nathan said a moment before I could say something stupider. ¡°We¡¯ve been coerced into coming here, and now you expect us to just take part in your gang shit?¡± There was silence as the Beastmasters seemed to remember that we were people too.

    ¡°We¡¯re not gifted.¡± Nathan added. ¡°Leave us the fuck out of this.¡±

    ¡°You can be paid.¡± Jackal said.

    Nathan shook his head. ¡°I¡¯d rather just call the cops on all of you.¡±

    That was a good idea. I actually got my phone out and started dialing, holding it behind my back and using my power to hit the right spots without looking. That I hadn¡¯t been doing this the moment I walked in had me kicking myself.

    ¡°We can compensate you for your time and inconvenience.¡± Jackal looked at Rainbowfish. ¡°How much money do we have prepared for things like this?¡±

    Rainbowfish made a show of thinking. ¡°Somewhere along the lines of fifty thousand dollars. I¡¯m sure we can prepare ten thousand authentic bucks for each of these lads. I could even throw in a thousand dollars consolation for the one that got Channel¡¯s attention.¡±

    I was sure that he was lying through his teeth for that, but I didn¡¯t say anything about it. That lie was to our benefit. When I looked at Nathan, I saw that he was taken off guard by the offer. It was tempting him.

    ¡°You¡¯re not actually consider taking it.¡± I told him. ¡°There¡¯s no way they have that kind of money. He¡¯s just saying that.¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡± Rainbowfish hastily said, then he breathed and much more cordially said. ¡°Didn¡¯t you see that two hundred thou we just gave to that woman? That was with a discount, which we would have been fine with not having. So is it really that hard to believe we have ten thou- twenty thousand dollars as backup? Just do this for us and your money will be waiting for you.¡±

    Dreadnaught didn¡¯t have anything to say on the matter. I looked at Rainbowfish for a few seconds and elected not to say anything that would make me a target. So I glanced away when my phone stopped making ringing noises and went through. Channel immediately perked up.

    ¡°Someone got a call.¡± She said.

    Well that was bullshit. Everyone started looking at each other suspiciously, then everyone followed Channel¡¯s line of sight as she stared at me.

    ¡°What?¡± I said, knowing they knew it was me. I just needed to delay until they traced my location or something.

    Nick grabbed my arm and jerked it up, revealing my Vphone in my hand. Bad Valentine flicked his wrist at me, sending glass into the phone casing that carried it out of my grasp and into the wall.

    ¡°Bad boy.¡± Bad Valentine told me as more shards of glass floated in front of his face, slowly orbiting it. I stared back at him, wondering what the fuck I should be doing. Doing nothing ended up being the best thing when those shards of glass were also sent into my phone, and even more glass appeared from his body to replace them.

    Rainbowfish was the first one to break the tension. ¡°And to make the offer more appealing, we¡¯ll even throw in enough money to get you a new Vphone. All of the five dollars you spent on that Vthing will be recompensed.¡±

    ¡°Your cooperation would be greatly appreciated, Nathan.¡± Jackal said.

    ¡°And if we don¡¯t?¡± I asked.

    Jackal looked at me. ¡°You will.¡± Amber glowed in the eyes of his mask and suddenly my body sagged under an inexplicable weight. I wanted to close my eyes so bad. It was just like what Meretha did to me, but far more forceful. I staggered as I felt myself slipping under the veil. That I was so tired right now just added to the weight.

    Jackal was a monarch. He couldn¡¯t be resisted. Still, I tried.

    Getting my mouth to move took a while. ¡°You¡­¡± Was all I got out before falling forwards as my legs gave way.

    ~~~

    ¡°Come on. Come one.¡± The ring tone kept going, though. No one picked up. ¡°Fuck.¡± I cut the call when the prerecorded female voice started telling me the person I was trying to reach was unavailable. I went to the next person in my contacts and called them.

    Nothing. They didn¡¯t pick up. The next one didn¡¯t either.

    As I was going for the next number my phone started ringing. The caller id was Tess¡¯. I accepted it immediately.

    ¡°Tess!¡± I said as I put the Vphone to my ear.

    ¡°Michael!¡± Tess said at almost the exact same time. ¡°Are you safe?¡±

    The ground shook, the quake dislodging dust from the ceiling. I had moved away from the window. The light was more painful the closer it was to the Eclipse.

    ¡°Safe as I can be, there¡¯s a fucking Calamity in the sky.¡±

    ¡°Where are you? Are you on your way to a shelter?¡±

    I shook my head as the ground shook again. ¡°You know, Tess, it¡¯s really funny. I was asleep and the whole class left when the sirens started.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still at school? You idiot, Michael. You-¡±

    I cut her off before she could get going. There was a hysterical note in her voice that I just couldn¡¯t ignore. ¡°Where are you? Maybe we can meet up.¡±

    Tess took a breath that I heard through the call. The serene sound of Quetzalcoatl was fading from my ears. It was moving away. ¡°I¡¯m at uni right n- oh god it¡¯s coming closer.¡±

    ¡°Hide!¡± I hissed into the Vphone. Of course it was. Further from me and closer to her. It was that big of a deal.

    There was shouting from the other side of the line as I sat against a wall of the class and tried not to rock myself. The sound of Quetzalcouatl came to a crescendo as the light coming through the gaps in the curtains suddenly started changing in angle, as if the sun was a light on a rope that was swinging randomly in the wind. The surface where the light touched burned to a black colour. There were screams.

    As I listened to the sounds coming through the phone I couldn¡¯t help but wonder how many people just died. I didn¡¯t say anything. There was a chance Tess wouldn¡¯t respond if I did. Eventually the light reset to normal.

    ¡°Michael?¡± Tess¡¯ shaky voice came through the line, making me sigh in relief.

    ¡°Tess, did it hit you at all?¡± I demanded flusteredly. The fact that I wasn¡¯t able to do anything was racketing up the tension in my body. I needed to do something with my hands.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine.¡± Tess gave a strained laugh. ¡°Barbara though¡­¡±

    Barbara got hit. I knew Barbara.

    ¡°Tess, we need to meet. Somewhere in the city, halfway between us.¡±

    ¡°Okay, Michael.¡± Tess¡¯ voice had less energy than before. ¡°Can you make it, though? There isn¡¯t much cover around your school.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m close enough, and I have run of the place.¡± I was looking at my hand as I held it in a strained claw. It was something to channel my nervous energy into. ¡°I¡¯m sure there¡¯s an umbrella or something I can use.¡±

    ¡°Michael, no stealing!¡± Tess said firmly.

    ¡°It¡¯s that or brave the light.¡± I responded, still doing the claw but not looking at it. ¡°Do you want me to brave the light?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me the details or I¡¯ll have to get you for it.¡± Tess told me. She liked to be pedantic about law with me, which was fine. I kind of enjoyed the endless banter it made, even if it annoyed me to the point of stamping upstairs and locking myself in my room sometimes. That she was doing it now was insane.

    ¡°You should get one too.¡± I told her. ¡°Get several if you can. And don¡¯t move as a group. I read online that it goes for groups.¡± A rumble in the ground punctuated my point. ¡°I¡¯m going to get moving now.¡±

    ¡°Stay on the line Michael.¡± Tess said pleadingly. ¡°Please stay on the line¡­¡±

    ¡°I was planning on it.¡± I said as I pulled my finger away from the hang up button. ¡°Still here, Tess.¡±

    ¡°Still here.¡± She repeated.

    I stood and started looking around for an umbrella. There were a lot of discarded bags in the room, as well as a few jackets, but no umbrellas. There was a good chance others had had the same idea as me on their way out. I grabbed the largest jacket in the room and started going from class to class looking for an umbrella.

    Eventually I poked my head into a teacher¡¯s office and saw a long umbrella sitting in a dusty corner. It was claimed and I moved to the exit of the building. I stopped before stepping out and lifted my Vphone back to my ear.

    ¡°Tess?¡± I said. I could hear distant shouting, both through the phone and in the area surrounding the school. More importantly, I could hear panting that would only be picked up if Tess still had her phone.

    ¡°I got an umbrella and I¡¯m heading out now.¡± I kept talking, not quite focusing on what was coming out of my mouth. The sound of the Eclipse was rising again. It was nearing crescendo.

    ¡°Do you have a path in mind?¡± Tess asked between pants for breath. It didn¡¯t sound like she was slowing down to talk either.

    The sound was rising still. It kind of reminded me of a violin building up to the bridge. ¡°Get under something!¡± I yelled, moving away from the door and into a corner.

    Tess made a surprised sound, and the sounds of scuffling came through the phone. Seconds passed and the serene sound reached the drop. The light arced in ways it shouldn¡¯t.

    ¡°I¡¯m safe.¡± Tess said right as I started to worry.

    ¡°Me too.¡± I responded.

    The sound of the Eclipse faded abruptly, and the rays of light coming in jumped back to where they were supposed to be. Cautiously, I stood and went to the door. I looked over the horizon and noticed three things.

    First, the skyline had changed. A skyscraper just wasn¡¯t there anymore. Second, the earth was charred black. I tested it to find that it wasn¡¯t slippery or sticky, just black and maybe warm. I didn¡¯t touch it with skin, so I couldn¡¯t tell. Hopefully I wouldn¡¯t have to. The third thing I noticed was that the Eclipse was really far away on the horizon.

    I could see a number of birds taking to the sky far off in the distance to the left of where the Calamity was arcing through the sky. It was moving in a mixture of snake like movements, and flapping its wings that some people thought it didn¡¯t actually need. It coiled around itself from far away and eventually faced towards the birds in the sky.

    They weren¡¯t birds, I realised. They were the gifted that had rallied to fight the Calamity.

    The form of the Eclipse blurred, the gold-white tendrils that trailed from its body leaving a traceable line burnt into my retinas. It intercepted three of the heroes, then crashed into a tall building that didn¡¯t quite meet the criteria to be a skyscraper. There were no shakes that reached me from the initial impact, but the Calamity had bisected the building. The tendrils cutting through what the body itself could not reach.

    The three heroes hit the ground before the top half of the building did. One of the specks split into two on the way down. When the building hit the ground there was a moment before the shakes sent a tremor up my legs.

    I lifted my phone to my ear. ¡°Tess.¡±

    Nothing.

    ¡°Tess!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m okay!¡± Tess responded. ¡°It was two blocks away from me.¡±

    I breathed a sigh of relief, then remembered I just saw three heroes die.

    ¡°It sent up a lot of dust as well. I¡¯m going to use that as cover.¡± Tess was still talking. ¡°Michael. Michael! Are you listening? God damn it, say something-¡±

    ¡°Michael!¡±

    I punched at the voice, but I was in a bad position to throw something like that. In a panic, I jolted upright and used my elbow to strike backwards at the source of the sound. Someone caught it and snapped into focus in my sixth sense. The body was one I knew. Nathan.

    ¡°Sorry.¡± I said as I screwed my eyes shut and held my other hand to the bridge of my nose.

    ¡°Jesus, what the hell were you dreaming about?¡± Nathan let go of my elbow and he vanished from my senses. I blinked until the light stopped hurting and looked at him through squinted eyes.

    ¡°Things worse than this.¡± I said soullessly, then looked around. ¡°What happened?¡± We were in the back of a car. My movements had been arrested somewhat by a seatbelt that I was just now realising was strapped around me. It had stopped me from getting a good hit in on Nathan. There was a divider between us and the front seats, so I couldn¡¯t hear what they were saying. I reached forward with a hand and touch the divider to confirm that they were in fact talking and not listening in.

    Nathan didn¡¯t look like he wanted to answer the question, but did anyway. ¡°We¡¯re following the Beastmasters. I¡¯d have liked to say no, but with what Jackal did to you¡­ You know.¡±

    ¡°I get it.¡± I said, not quite getting it. ¡°I don¡¯t like it, but I get it.¡±

    ¡°I said that you were my guy, otherwise you would have been left at the Hound races.¡± Nathan continued. ¡°I don¡¯t think staying there would have been a good idea.¡±

    ¡°Being here isn¡¯t a good idea either. So we¡¯re helping these guys steal a sword?¡± or a flail, if I¡¯m right.

    Nathan¡¯s mouth twisted in a way that wasn¡¯t too sure of itself. ¡°Sure. Whatever that ¡®medieval weapon¡¯ ends up being. Our role is specifically lookout. So we aren¡¯t actually doing anything.¡±

    ¡°But we are complicit.¡± I said, remembering Tess telling me about the concept. What it entailed exactly and how severe punishment could get. ¡°This is deep shit.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ You were right.¡± Nathan sighed. I looked at him without turning my head. ¡°Don¡¯t say it.¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t felt any of the consequences you were worrying about yet.¡± I decided to say. ¡°You might just get lucky.¡±

    Nathan didn¡¯t seem sure how to take that. ¡°I guess that means a lot, coming from you.¡±

    I considered the insinuation. It ran parallel to the memory I had just relived. ¡°Yeah, I guess it does.¡± I was looking through the clear part of the divider at the people in the front of the car. There was a blond woman with heavy goth make up on, from what I could see from behind. There was another guy I didn¡¯t know in the front. Joe and Nancy, presumably.

    ¡°Anything else you can tell me about this?¡± I asked after some silence where I gathered my bearings and fixed my facade.

    ¡°Yeah, Bad Valentine fucking scares me.¡± Nathan said. ¡°You didn¡¯t see him when we were getting in the cars. Jackal has a tight fucking leash on that guy.¡±

    ¡°Ah, shit.¡± I slumped down in the seat. That meant Bad Valentine was going to pick a fight if the opportunity arose. Hopefully things wouldn¡¯t come to that, but I wasn¡¯t ruling it out for anything.

    The car we were in eventually pulled up behind another flash car that Dreadnaught was stepping out of. Nathan and I stepped out to join him on the sidewalk as Joe, Nancy, Nick, and Bad Valentine did the same.

    We were standing right outside a church that had a fatalistic sign out the front that had me staring at it in its audaciousness. It was run down, but still held the letters reading ¡®The Inevitable approaches always¡¯ ¡®Attend on Sunday¡¯s to stave off the time of its coming¡¯. That they had turned a Calamity into an advertisement for their faux religion was ridiculous. The apostrophe on ¡®Sunday¡¯s¡¯ was just insulting. The church itself was as run down as the sign, and didn¡¯t even match my mental image of a church. It was shaped like any other building on the block, and didn¡¯t even have a slanted roof.

    I suppose it made sense that somewhere like this would be a front. But they could have had the decency to use a longer standing religion like Catholicism.

    ¡°Alright, here¡¯s the plan.¡± Bad Valentine clapped his hands, making a sound of clashing glass that most people would not make when clapping their hands. I looked as his hands separated. There were glass shards poking out of his palm. He should have just impaled himself but there wasn¡¯t any blood. ¡°You three.¡± He pointed at Nathan and me, then at Dreadnaught. ¡°You¡¯re lookout. Find somewhere and lookout. You.¡± He pointed at Nick. ¡°Mind the fuckin¡¯ cars. And you two are with me.¡± Referring to Joe and Nancy.

    ¡°What¡¯s your plan?¡± I asked. ¡°I would have been there for the rest of the planning, but someone put me to sleep.¡±

    ¡°Show some fuckin¡¯ respect.¡± Joe told me, sounding about twice as educated as Ben. Which wasn¡¯t saying anything at all.

    I glared at him for a moment, then looked back to Bad Valentine. ¡°If you¡¯re going to hold me hostage and make me complicit in something, I want to make sure it doesn¡¯t come back to me. Does that make sense?¡±

    ¡°Ey, it¡¯s fine.¡± Bad Valentine grinned. ¡°I asked ¡®round before we left and found someone that goes here on sundays. She told me where the secret door no one is allowed through is, so I¡¯m going to go in there, grab the thing, maybe some other shit too, and walk out like the boss that I am. Fucking terrible security if a random churchgoer notices something wrong, y¡¯know.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have any response that cut through how stunned I was at his stupidity. Greenflame had been the one to set this up, and he was just going to walk in? Eventually I just shook my head and pointed at a far corner. ¡°Nathan and I are going to stand over there and lookout. If anything approaches, we¡¯ll let you know.¡±

    Nathan was about to ask something, so I pushed him to get us moving.

    ¡°We can just leave if it goes to shit.¡± I whispered to him. He got the message and nodded.

    Dreadnaught wandered over to the sign and looked up at it, completely disinterested in the goings on. Nick was standing by the cars. He made to lean on one, but Nancy got up in his face right as he was leaning back. It seemed she was the owner and didn¡¯t want anything scuffing the paintjob.

    Then Bad Valentine yelled at his minions and they made to follow him inside the church. The door was locked, so Bad Valentine grew a dagger sized shard of glass, popped it out, and swiped it through the middle. When he pushed the door, it opened. By that time Nathan and I were at the corner looking back.

    Bad Valentine strode inside confidently, and Joe and Nancy followed close behind. Two seconds passed, then there were dark flashes of light as people in costume started appearing at the front entrance of the church, around the side of it, and even on the roof. They were prepared and organised. This was a very carefully constructed trap, and Bad Valentine had waltzed right into it.

 4. Men/Monsters 4

    There were four of them. The two at the front of the church were dressed in purple and orange. I knew their titles were Partymaster and Agent Orange respectively. The former had a Monarch power that incapacitated people near him, near as anyone could tell, while the latter seemed to have a precognitive power and a strange Disrupter power. Neither were active enough for the Regulation to have a comprehensive analysis of their powers.

    Along the side, and climbing up to a window that had a sizable ledge outside it, was Tableturner. He was unique in that he was a Disrupter that affected living things as well as non-living things. As a Disrupter that only got to affect the non-living side of things, I was envious of his power, even if it was pretty underwhelming on paper.

    It had been mixed in with the notes Voidling had given me weeks ago. The research papers and theories behind why so many powers seemed to work on living things exclusively, or only on ¡®dead¡¯ things. It was referred to as Felwyr¡¯s Law of Effect. It proposed that powers as a rule worked on either living things or object, with no overlap. The paper I read went on to describe a number of convoluted ways that powers contrived their effects on objects in such a way that it could never work on people.

    There were few exceptions to that rule, and I was technically one of them. My Ghost power worked on anything I touched, which included my own skin, and Madeleine¡¯s unmasked face a week ago. But my Disrupter power simply refused to operate the same way.

    Tableturner was another exception. He could make anything spin. His costume advertised that fact with yellow arrows arranged in circles covering the entire thing, and a big yellow circle covering the face of his mask, breaking over the mouth with an arrowhead on both ends.

    The final supervillain was on the roof, and had a grey and yellow coloured costume, similar to Tableturner¡¯s in design, but different in expression. There was much more grey in Reactor¡¯s costume, and the edges were trimmed with yellow. She was an Enforcer, and her powers were much better analysed than Agent Orange and Partymaster.

    Reactor took hits and kept them, then returned them back whenever she got her hands on anything she wanted to hurt. To top things off, she was naturally stronger than a standard person. She was one of the figureheads of the Collectors, an Employee gang of the Entrepreneurs.

    Right now, Reactor was jumping on the roof of the church. Each jump was higher than the last. Each jump made the church shake just a little bit more.

    There used to be a fifth member of the Collectors, but Satellite had changed that.

    ¡°This is the part where we leave.¡± I said. ¡°Bad Valentine is fucked, those are the Collectors.¡±

    Already there were shouts coming from within the church. Tableturner looked a bit silly standing on the ledge, staring inside, but he was undoubtedly using his power to maximum effect.

    ¡°What do we do?¡± Nathan asked, staring at the church.

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you listening? We need to get the fuck out of here.¡± I grabbed his arm where his sleeve covered it and pulled, but for all my working out, I wasn¡¯t stronger than Nathan. It was a problem that I could have solved with my power, but I didn¡¯t want to reveal that right now.

    ¡°If this comes back to me-¡± Nathan cut off as Reactor jumped up to a new height and descended feet first, crashing explosively through the roof instead of landing and jumping again.

    The sounds of the commotion coming from the building became louder as heavy things were thrown around, and a sound like that of a silenced machine gun firing kept intermittently joining the debacle.

    Nick was torn between staying by the cars and joining the Beastmasters inside. He was stepping towards the entrance to the church and stopping repeatedly, his trepidation clear even from as far away as we were. Dreadnaught, for his part, had turned to face the action and was doing nothing.

    If he really was the world¡¯s strongest cat, this probably didn¡¯t worry him too much.

    ¡°What if he tells them about me and they come after me?¡± Nathan asked.

    ¡°They won¡¯t.¡± I told him. ¡°You don¡¯t matter enough.¡± Belatedly I added, ¡°Please don¡¯t take that the wrong way.¡±

    Tableturner dived down from his ledge as the window shook and spontaneously shattered. The shards hovered, turned, then shot towards the villain on the ground. As the glass flew, Tableturner flicked his hands repeatedly. Each time one of the glass shards diverted away, with half of them going into the wall of the church, and the rest flying off in random directions.

    The big ones were diverted first, but there were too many for Tableturner to turn away. The small shards hit Tableturner, causing superficial damage and not even drawing blood. The scuffed supervillain stood and started climbing to another window.

    ¡°I think I should stay, so I know what I have to deal with.¡± Nathan decided.

    I touched his pants, then used my power to easily grab his Vphone. ¡°Lovely that you think that, but you¡¯re not thinking straight.¡± I opened it and bypassed the lock by going to emergency calls and dialing for the police. Nathan didn¡¯t notice. Channel wasn¡¯t here to realise a call was going through.

    ¡°He¡¯s winning.¡± He said, slack jawed.

    I glanced back up. Tableturner was gesturing aggressively, but hadn¡¯t been made to move again just yet. There were glass shards that were impaled in the ground just outside the entrances to the church. All the windows had been shattered by now.

    Reactor had been driven out of the church, but she¡¯d been sent out through the roof. She was holding her arms protectively around her face as two dozen pointed shards of glass were pressing into her body, none of them actually drawing blood. The trajectory of her impromptu flight took her about three stories up before the force behind the glass shards faded and she started to fall. She landed in a lawn across the road, her legs sinking halfway into the dirt.

    Unperturbed by the fall, Reactor pulled herself out of the holes and leaped back to the church with a single bound. She landed next to Nick and casually flicked him in the forehead, sending him sprawling to the pavement.

    I have to admit, that was satisfying to see.

    Reactor was giving Dreadnaught an appraising look as the call connected. I spoke over the operator. ¡°I¡¯m at the Doomsday Church in Duncan, you know the one about the Calamities?¡± The form of the Eclipse flashed in my mind¡¯s eye, and I faltered. I wanted to keep talking to get the information across, but I settled to wait for confirmation from the other end.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Nathan asked, looking and seeing me with his Vphone.

    I held up a hand as I listened to the operator. ¡°I can pull the address up.¡± They said. ¡°What is the purpose of this call?¡±

    ¡°Supervillains.¡± I said.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Nathan tried to grab at his phone, but I got a grip on the front of his shirt and cheated to keep him at bay.

    ¡°Can you describe them?¡± The operator asked, now speaking more urgently. Good.

    I hastily considered how to describe them, since I didn¡¯t want to seem too knowledgeable about transhumans in front of Nathan. ¡°There¡¯s a woman that jumped through a roof, a man making things spin, and two more that I saw dressed in purple and orange. I think they¡¯re fighting another one that has glass powers.¡±

    ¡°Dude!¡± Nathan disentangled himself from my grasp and made another swipe at the phone. While I wasn¡¯t stronger than him, I was a bit faster. That combined with weeks of sparring let me avoid his grabs for the most part.

    I realised I was kind of underselling it. ¡°It¡¯s a big fight. Buildings are being destroyed.¡±

    ¡°Keep your distance if you can.¡± The operator told me. ¡°The heroes are being alerted and are on their-¡± That was all I heard because Nathan hit the phone from my hand and sent it skittering onto the road.

    I looked at it, then back to him.

    ¡°Are you trying to fuck me?¡± Nathan demanded.

    ¡°No.¡± I responded flatly. ¡°That was good, actually. Now they think a civilian is under duress. They¡¯ll hurry up.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I want!¡± Nathan ran a hand through his hair. ¡°I¡¯m so fucked, now.¡±

    ¡°Nathan.¡± I snapped my fingers to make him look at me. ¡°You¡¯re being ridiculous. The Beastmasters coerced you into working with them. If you went to the heroes with what you learned, they¡¯d probably pay you instead of locking you up like you think they will.¡±

    Nathan shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not the heroes I¡¯m worried about.¡±

    ¡°The Beastmasters?¡± I frowned. ¡°They don¡¯t want to care about you either. Weren¡¯t you paying attention to that meeting? You were only brought in because of that green woman.¡±

    The commotion in the church was quieter now. Not because it had toned down, but because it had moved further into the church. Despite how I was advocating for vacating the area, I kind of wanted to get closer. Bad Valentine had displayed a frightening degree of telekinesis over glass. I wanted to see it in action, and get my hands on a piece of glass he was controlling to pick at how it worked.

    That was something that would have to wait until I was in costume. I had no intentions of getting closer with Nathan in play.

    Reactor had talked briefly with Dreadnaught while I was on the phone, and apparently decided he wasn¡¯t worth the effort. She had gone back into the church with the rest of the Collectors. Tableturner had since gone inside. Nick was on the floor. He wasn¡¯t knocked out, he was moving in place, holding his head and probably moaning.

    ¡°Dude, I¡¯m going to get so fucking grounded.¡± Nathan said.

    I blinked. ¡°Was that a joke, or were you being serious?¡±

    Nathan deadpanned at me. ¡°I know I have a reputation, but I don¡¯t make that many jokes.¡±

    ¡°This is a stressful situation.¡± I said simply. ¡°People crack.¡±

    ¡°Not you, apparently.¡±

    ¡°I cracked a long time ago.¡± I said, ignoring the golden hallucinatory form flying overhead. ¡°What do you want to do about your phone? It¡¯s still in the call. They¡¯d have traced it by now.¡±

    ¡°Fuck.¡± Nathan said. ¡°They¡¯re gonna investigate that.¡±

    ¡°In which case, you should tell the truth.¡± I told him, walking over and hitting the hang up button. Vphones were made sturdy, there wasn¡¯t even a scratch on the thing. It was a far cry from how Bad Valentine had made short work of mine not two hours before.

    ¡°Hey, Mike.¡± Nathan said, one hand patting at my shoulder.

    I glanced over with his phone in my hand. He was pointing at the entrance to the church. I followed where he was pointing and saw a woman in an exquisitely made green and black costume. The colours were the same as what I used, but she used black as the primary colour while I used green.

    Her mask had a sculpted feather that completely covered the right side of her head and curved back over it, Robin Hood style. The rest of her costume was similarly asymmetrical, with many short points and curves extending from the body on the right side, while the left was more utilitarian in design. She had two quivers on her back. One strapped over the right shoulder, and another hanging from her waist. Another, smaller quiver that held bolts instead of arrows hung from her left thigh.

    Despite the arrows and bolts, she didn¡¯t carry any bows or crossbows. She was Yearn, an Entrepreneur. She didn¡¯t need bows or arrows. Yearn walked into the church, registering Dreadnaught¡¯s presence, but not doing anything about it. Now it was five supervillain against Bad Valentine.

    ¡°We really should get the fuck out of here.¡± I reiterated. ¡°Bad Valentine is a lost cause.¡±

    Nathan glanced at me and I saw a lot in his face. He didn¡¯t like the situation, how Nick had intimidated him into stepping into this mess. He didn¡¯t like how things had so quickly blown up in our faces, and was torn between listening to me and acting so as to not provoke the bully more. At the same time, there was guilt in his expression. He wanted to watch the supervillains fight.

    I sighed. ¡°Fucking hell, Nathan.¡±

    ¡°You can go if you want.¡± He said. ¡°This is my mess.¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already stepped in, it¡¯s my mess too.¡±

    ¡°Michael-¡±

    ¡°If I leave, they¡¯ll ask you where I went. Do you want that?¡± I asked pointedly. Nathan shook his head. ¡°Then we leave together, or not at all. Actually, how about this?¡± I pulled Nathan¡¯s attention away from the church. ¡°If Bad Valentine wins, we go back to the Beastmasters and just resolve this as smoothly as possible. If Bad Valentine loses, we resolve this as smoothly as possible by leaving.¡±

    ¡°But what if they talk?¡± Nathan rebuked.

    ¡°Then it¡¯ll be your word against the established supervillain¡¯s.¡±

    Nathan thought on that. ¡°Alright¡­¡± And with that, it was settled that we would watch the supervillain fight. If anything, it would give me insight on how to fight these villains should I have to fight them in the future. As an afterthought, I handed Nathan his phone back.

    There was a third alternative that I didn¡¯t mention to Nathan. The third outcome being the heroes dropping in and breaking it up before the villains could resolve it themselves. In that case, I was intending on cooperating and using my status as a hero to make sure my side of things was given weight. Since there was a conspiracy surrounding me where my superiors thought I was a mole or something, I wasn¡¯t totally confident things would turn out favourably.

    But on the other hand, if they were keeping me close and hadn¡¯t caught on to the fact that I knew, they might have to act to keep up the facade.

    The yelling of an excited man relishing in destruction reached my ears as the commotion moved back into the church proper. Shards of glass were inadvertently being flung through random windows and several rapid thunking sounds punctuated each time Bad Valentine used his power.

    The front door to the church opened and a very goth teenager stumbled outside. There weren¡¯t any steps, but she simulated falling down them quite nicely. Nancy lay there for a moment before rousing herself and crawling forwards towards the cars. Nick wasn¡¯t in a state to help her, but Dreadnaught walked over.

    Dreadnaught then stopped and turned away a short distance from Nancy, making me frown. Why had he turned back? Joe was soon to follow Nancy out the door, similarly incapacitated, which was weird. Neither of them were wounded. There were a few cuts on them, but they were mostly superficial. They didn¡¯t seem to have anything broken, why were they crawling on the ground?

    Partymaster. I realised, catching a glimpse of the man in the purple costume from inside the church. He had a Monarch power that would do that. I hadn¡¯t seen him do it, but the effect was clearly there. As if to punctuate the point, Nancy threw up and Joe started screaming.

    The fight inside reach a new height as shards of glass started penetrating the walls of the church. Neat rows of clear spikes appeared on the outside, and shortly one of the walls came down as Reactor was thrust through it.

    Reactor was bleeding now, but it was superficial, the tiniest of scratches. Even so, she had fallen from three floors up and walked it off without a scratch. That Reactor was bleeding at all was impressive and said a lot about Bad Valentine¡¯s power. She was propelled through the wall, all the way to the next building. That put her out of the fight for the time being.

    The hole left by Reactor didn¡¯t lend much of a view inside. But the impact coupled with the shards impaled in the wall, already reducing its integrity, meant that side of the building was barely hanging on. One chunk of wall that was twice the size of the hole Reactor left suddenly shifted and twisted in place, trying to move towards the centre of the church.

    Seeing that sent a chill down my spine. Yearn had used her power on the chunk. It now used something, Bad Valentine presumably, as the new source of its gravity. The wall dislodged itself and fell away from us, then was interrupted in its plummet across the ground as shard after shard of glass impaled itself on the other side of it. He was playing horizontal keepy uppy with it.

    Bad Valentine wasn¡¯t visible beyond the floating wall so much as his armour of glass was. Each time he flung out with his power, glass went from floating protectively to flying dangerously, and more glass was shed to replace what was lost. So much so that the supervillain had enough glass swirling around him that there was no seeing through it without it being cleared by Bad Valentine himself.

    As the Beastmaster hurled volley after volley of glass at the chunk of wall, Yearn was moving to another chunk of wall and tugging it free. Once there was enough separation from the wall, she tapped it with her power and it also started falling towards Bad Valentine. Then Yearn started getting to work on another chunk of wall.

    Now that we could see inside the church, we could see just how devastating the fight had been. The church, since it had barely classified as one, used plastic chairs in the place of authentic pews. All of them were destroyed in some fashion or another, ranging from ¡®riddled with shards of glass¡¯ to ¡®shredded¡¯. More shards of glass were riddling the entire building, making stepping anywhere treacherous.

    Agent Orange and Partymaster were visible again, and both seemed at a loss as to what to do. Partymaster was hiding behind what cover he could find, which at this point amounted to the floating pieces of wall Yearn had made. At the same time he was cautiously making his way towards where Reactor was, carefully picking where he stepped so as to not impale himself on a sharp piece of glass.

    On the other hand, Agent Orange had foregone cover in favour of simply dodging the attacks Bad Valentine sent his way. Now that he was focused on the glass filled walls gravitating towards him, he wasn¡¯t having to dodge much. That being said, Agent Orange was holding back because of the swirling wall of glass between him and Bad Valentine.

    Yearn was now touching parts of chairs and sending them into the blender. She touched a fourth piece of wall and sent it above Bad Valentine to the roof instead of the villain himself. The part Yearn touched had a window frame in it, and it kept its shape surprisingly well as it crashed into the roof.

    The roof wasn¡¯t meant to withstand that kind of impact from below. It was wrenched upwards enough that I could see the roof go up from the outside. There was a snapping sound as Yearn¡¯s debris broke through, then it arced in the space above before coming back down on the roof from the top this time. While the first impact merely bent the roof, the second one snapped the weakened part of the structure, which caused both pieces of debris to start falling on Bad Valentine.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± Agent Orange cursed loud enough for us to hear

    There was an incoherent yell as Bad Valentine cleared his wall of glass, sending it up at the falling debris at the last second. Half the wall hit it from below to slow the fall of the debris, while the rest impacted at an angle to deflect it away. At the same moment, all the discarded glass on the floor rose and pointed at the nearest villains that weren¡¯t Bad Valentine.

    The villains joined Agent Orange in yelling as each of them were riddled with glass. The shards weren¡¯t so large that they killed the villains, their costumes took the brunt of the blows and they were left standing. But the aesthetic of the Collectors was suddenly changed as they were now covered by glass sticking out of their costumes, and blood was dripping from various places in each of them.

    Seriously, they looked like mosaics.

    Bad Valentine was laughing triumphantly. He wasn¡¯t worried about the debris Yearn had gravitated towards him, having shot so much glass into them that the glass weighed more than the wall did. Now that Bad Valentine¡¯s wall of glass was gone, I could see that he was more crystal than person. With the rapid and repeated use of his power, he had been growing more and more shards until only a part of his nose, forehead, and cheek were the places where skin was visible.

    In one hand he held a flail, no doubt the medieval weapon Greenflame had asked for. I made the connections, looking at that. Waterlad had stolen the flail from the Heroes of Yesterday. The Racketeers had handed it off to the Collectors. The Collectors had set a trap for whoever came looking for it, but hadn¡¯t expected the Beastmasters to come looking for it.

    And Greenflame had suggested that the Courtesans were holding it, for some reason.

    The flail clearly wasn¡¯t just a flail. It was the macguffin all this was based around. Looking at it, I could see something dripping from the spikes. It was too far away to tell if it was dripping blood.

    Reactor picked herself out of the building she had been thrown into and beheld the scene before her. As Reactor was picking herself up, Yearn had been acting. One hand went for arrows, while the other picked out several bolts. Both hands swept out, and half a dozen arrows and bolts arced through the air before turning towards Bad Valentine.

    The Beastmaster noticed at the last minute and pulled glass from his hands and face to block the projectiles. At the same moment the glass in the debris that fell from the roof quivered, then shot towards Yearn. The attack came from the side, and came too fast for Yearn to see coming. She was taken off her feet and to the ground by the glass, hard.

    Bad Valentine¡¯s defence hadn¡¯t been built up like it was before, and he only caught about half of Yearn¡¯s projectiles. His glassy form worked in his favour, and some of the arrowheads were deflected by the glass protruding from him, deflecting what could have been a fatal wound, while others didn¡¯t quite come in at the right angle. He still had arrows in him, but he wasn¡¯t about to fall over.

    The arrows he defended against rolled over the glass defences and dropped to Bad Valentine, where they rugged his pretty ruined jacket. Reactor took a look at him, then produced something from a pocket in her costume. Bad Valentine was turning towards Reactor as she crushed whatever it was in her hand and threw it at him.

    Bad Valentine thrust out the hand with the flail, making it swing wildly as he flung shards of glass from the back of his hand and lower arm. At the same time glass from his other hand darted between the projectile Reactor had thrown and Bad Valentine, intercepting it and letting it fall.

    Glass impacted Reactor, who half turned and raised an arm to shield her face. She lowered it, and gave Bad Valentine a calculating look. Then she vanished in a flash of dark light, leaving Bad Valentine in a ruined building of debris and glass, surrounded by Yearn and the other Collectors.

    Then Yearn vanished in a flash of dark light, followed by Tableturner and Agent Orange. Partymaster had fallen somewhere outside of my view, but I assumed Boss evacuated him the same as the rest. Then Bad Valentine was left standing in the mess, something dripping from the flail at his side.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Bad Valentine was yelling at us. ¡°Get the fuck over here!¡±

    I really didn¡¯t want to get closer to the guy who just decked five of Graceland¡¯s most prolific supervillains, but now he was focused on us, and could probably hit us from as far away as we were. Nathan nudged me and started walking. I followed along, but slower.

    Bad Valentine was talking to Dreadnaught when I entered earshot. ¡°Can you fucking hold this?¡± Bad Valentine¡¯s voice was more gravelly than before, and he was shedding glass, returning to a more normal appearance. ¡°I fucking hate holding it.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s yours.¡± Dreadnaught told Bad Valentine. ¡°She said the job was for your benefit. Not ours.¡±

    ¡°Fuck you. Your bitch of a boss told us the Courtesans would be here, not the fucking Collectors.¡± Bad Valentine gesticulated with the flail, which swung wildly. ¡°The only reason I succeeded was because I¡¯m a total fucking badass. Anyone else wouldn¡¯t have made it out of there.¡±

    ¡°Congratulations.¡± Dreadnaught said, ¡®impressed¡¯.

    ¡°I can see why she wouldn¡¯t want it.¡± Bad Valentine was holding the flail, looking at it and ignoring Dreadnaught¡¯s lack of respect. Red liquid that really reminded me of blood continued to drip from it. ¡°Thing¡¯s fucking creepy.¡±

    ¡°Use it well.¡± Dreadnaught shrugged.

    Nathan was approaching Nancy, but stopped about as far away as Dreadnaught did. ¡°Uh... fuck.¡± He was searching for words.

    ¡°Stay away from them.¡± Dreadnaught told Nathan offhandedly. ¡°A Whisper got their hands on them, so it¡¯s not safe to get close. We should leave them for the righteous.¡±

    At his words, Joe started screaming all over again. Now that I was closer, I couldn¡¯t see anything wrong with him. He was just screaming.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Nathan stepped back from Nancy. Bad Valentine shot Dreadnaught a look, but didn¡¯t challenge him on that.

    ¡°Who can drive the other car?¡± Bad Valentine asked.

    Dreadnaught shrugged. Nathan looked at Nancy with a frown. I didn¡¯t volunteer anything.

    ¡°I can driive.¡± Nick told us from where he was lying on the ground, now leaning on his elbows and slurring his words.

    ¡°Yeah. No.¡± Bad Valentine immediately decided, walking over to his car and unlocking it. ¡°You.¡± It took me a moment to realise he was talking to me. ¡°Can you drive?¡±

    I nodded. Mom had been giving me driving lessons since I was old enough to reach the pedals. That had been one of the few family things she and I had done together, since driving was a valuable skill to have on a set.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Bad Valentine almost got in his car, but went over to Nancy¡¯s and checked inside. ¡°You drive stick?¡± Another nod, coupled with an eye roll. Obviously I could manual. ¡°Good. Nick, get Nancy¡¯s keys and toss them over.¡±

    ¡°I can dri-¡± Nick was cut off by a glass shard hitting the ground next to his head.

    ¡°Get. Nancy¡¯s. Keys.¡± Bad Valentine told Nick while Dreadnaught casually got in the passenger seat of the villain¡¯s car.

    Nick started crawling towards Nancy, and paused when he reached the same threshold that Nathan had. Another shard of glass was enough to get his going again. Bad Valentine grabbed the shards revolving around him and handed them to me.

    ¡°Throw ¡®em at him until he obeys.¡± Then he got into his car and turned the key in the ignition. Right at that moment, a police car came around the corner, followed by a white and yellow van. Bad Valentine swore. ¡°Shit! You two, get in, now!¡±

    I blinked as I stared at the van behind the police car. It was white and had two yellow stripes along each side. It was out of place following the police car, what was it doing?

    In the meantime, Nathan had followed Bad Valentine¡¯s orders and had jumped into the idling car. There was still some distance between them and us, and a lot of people were yelling at me. It took me back¡­

    The sound of an engine revving brought me to the present as I watched Bad Valentine start driving away, and Nathan looking at me with a difficult to read expression as he slammed the door. They had to do a U-turn to move away from the cops, which let the police close the distance significantly. Still, they turned around and accelerated hard away from the danger as the cop car matched their speed, now with sirens. My friend now taking part in a police pursuit.

    Nick meanwhile, had successfully retrieved the keys and was approaching me. When he reached the threshold distance I immediately felt like everything I thought or did had a delay. I raised my hand in front of me and clenched it into a fist. It took an extra split second.

    In a display of wisdom, I stepped away from Nick and threw a glass shard at the ground next to him. These ones weren¡¯t sharp, thankfully, so it was like throwing small rocks.

    ¡°You stay there.¡± I told him. Nick groaned, but listened. His head hit the ground and he stopped moving, keys still in his hands.

    The white and yellow van pulled up by Nancy¡¯s car and the side door opened, letting two people pile out and take in the situation. It was a man and a woman. The woman had a white and costume accented with orange, and a helmet of similar colours that had large insect like reflective lenses over the eyes.

    The man had light combat armour on under a flowing grey coat. He had a lopsided belt on the outside of the coat that had a small pouch on the lower end. His metal mask had horizontal rectangular holes for the mouth and eyes, and looked medieval, almost. The mask was spray painted black, to go with his hair, and intent blue eyes were visible through the holes.

    From how the two stood and carried themselves, I was expecting the woman to talk first. But it was the man who walked up to me, drawing a wooden sword that had no business fitting inside a pouch that small.

    ¡°What happened here?¡± He demanded, his voice controlled in a way that made me peg him as volatile.

    ¡°Hold on, Forsaken!¡± Another man called.

    Forsaken didn¡¯t look, but I did and saw a familiar blue and red costumed man walking towards us, a taser in hand but not raised. That was Risk. No doubt he just recognised me.

    In that case, my cover was blown so I blacked my face and said, ¡°Hey Risk.¡±

    The woman gasped in amazement and Risk shook his head with a sigh.

    ¡°I was going to give you an out.¡± He said. ¡°Less than a fifty percent chance you¡¯d do that. Anyway, since that ship has sailed, Forsaken, Glitter Bomb, this is Lock. I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you here, Sentry.¡±

    I belatedly remembered to put grey in my eyes. ¡°There wasn¡¯t going to be a call, so I made one. Hello, you two.¡±

    ¡°How are the paths, Glitter?¡± Risk asked Glitter Bomb.

    She pointed the way Bad Valentine had driven off, then her finger drifted to the left. ¡°It¡¯s getting further away.¡± Then she looked at the destroyed church. ¡°Who did that!?¡±

    ¡°Lock, it is pertinent that you tell me what happened here.¡± Forsaken¡¯s sword twitched in his grasp. ¡°Quickly.¡±

    Straight to business, then. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you.¡±

 4. Men/Monsters 5

    ¡°So let me get this straight as succinctly as possible.¡± Risk said, having listened to my explanation. ¡°Greenflame is doing business with the Beastmasters, and that business involved Bad Valentine making a debut fighting the four remaining Collectors and then Yearn as well, and he won?¡±

    ¡°He did.¡± I answered.

    ¡°And there¡¯s no trace of them because of Boss. The business with Greenflame involved retrieving a flail that ¡®bled¡¯, is that right?¡± Risk continued. I nodded. ¡°You know, Forsaken, when you said there would be ¡®bleed¡¯, I wasn¡¯t expecting it to be so literal.¡±

    ¡°She has begun to influence the world.¡± Forsaken said gravely. ¡°That she is in the hands of villains bodes ill. There will be a repeat.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like when she does that.¡± Glitter Bomb agreed.

    Aand both of you are crazy. ¡°And my friend and I were forced to tag along.¡± I added, again. ¡°He was coerced, and I came to stop him from doing anything stupid.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t succeed.¡± Risk said.

    ¡°I tried.¡± I shrugged. ¡°But yeah, don¡¯t get close to those three. Partymaster did something to them.¡± I gestured at the three non-powered beastmasters. ¡°That¡¯s Nancy, Nick, and Joe.¡±

    ¡°We should pursue the Beastmasters.¡± Forsaken told Risk before he could respond to me. ¡°Time is of the essence, now.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re staying here.¡± Risk told him, leaving no room for argument. ¡°When Toil gets here he can make the call. This is the scene of a supernatural conflict, we need to contain it until the Regulation gives the clear.¡±

    Forsaken didn¡¯t look happy about that, but accepted it.

    ¡°You missed the part where this is an Entrepreneur storehouse.¡± I belatedly realised as Forsaken and Glitter Bomb moved back to the van.

    ¡°We already knew that.¡± Risk replied. ¡°Glitter Bomb and Forsaken have been looking for that flail since the Racketeers stole it. We knew it was here, but the safest path was too long and thin to be traveled. Ambushes abound and so on.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s this about paths?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Glitter Bomb¡¯s power.¡± Risk explained. ¡°She¡¯s Smart. It lets her know specific routes to anything she knows or has sufficiently interacted with. Works on people too, and can be dangerous or safe paths. Very useful.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t see how that fits her name.¡±

    ¡°She can also make glitter.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Yeah, that would make sense then.

    ¡°Though, Lock.¡± Risk said, taking a more serious tone as he turned to the three people lying on the ground in front of the church. ¡°Weren¡¯t you mingling with these people today? They know who you are.¡±

    ¡°Shit.¡± I turned the mask off and glanced at Nick, Nancy, and Joe each. None of them seemed to be paying any attention. I knew I was tired, but I thought there was enough adrenaline going through me that I at least had reasonable judgement. ¡°Yeah, that one goes to school with me.¡± I was referring to Nathan.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t seem to be paying attention.¡± Risk commented.

    ¡°What are the chances of him outing me?¡± I asked, remembering that he had that power.

    Risk shook his head. ¡°Not how it works, Sentry. I can predict the outcomes of a situation, but not situations themselves.¡±

    ¡°Then¡­¡± Gears ground painfully in my head. ¡°Then how about the outcome of this. Here and now, outside the church, do I get outed?¡±

    The blue and red superhero thought for a moment. ¡°It isn¡¯t part of the two most likely outcomes. I¡¯d say you have up to a sixty four point nine percent chance. That¡¯s not necessarily the number, mind you, it would be anywhere between that and zero.¡±

    I considered the information. ¡°Small mercy.¡± I decided, then turned the mask back on. ¡°And now?¡±

    ¡°Unchanged.¡± Risk told me. ¡°Now stop playing with my power. Toil¡¯s here.¡±

    ¡°Risk, you¡¯re impossible to sneak up on.¡± A cheery voice spoke up from right behind us. It was so close that my shoulders flinched up as I ducked away. I nearly missed what he said next. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, I appreciate the practice. But you could let me win once or twice. Who¡¯s this? Lock?¡±

    Toil was wearing a white half cape over one shoulder and had a staff that I found myself eyeing warily. His blue, toned with white costume revealed in asymmetry, not unlike Yearn¡¯s did. But Toil¡¯s had the same theme on both sides, just expressed in different ways. The cape was flamboyant, and made for showmanship. Under the cape, however, I could just see a shoulder pauldron that was sturdier than what was on his other shoulder. Similar expressions of utilitarianism underneath showmanship repeated themselves all the way down.

    I was close enough to see how he was altered as well. It was subtle, but it was definitely there. The blood red fingernails, the bloody sclera, and the one ear facing towards me being pointed enough that it stood out. Like an attempt at a blood elf or something.

    Risk sighed. ¡°You guessed correctly.¡±

    ¡°And why haven¡¯t you started investigating this scene? Did you know I was coming?¡±

    ¡°Again, you guessed correctly.¡± Risk was rolling his eyes enough that it showed through the mask. ¡°The two most likely scenarios involved starting the investigation without you and getting told off for doing so, or to not and get told off for not starting. Both telling offs happened at around the same time, and they were sixty and thirty nine point five percent respectively. You¡¯ve settled into a pattern.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll need to practice on being unpredictable again. I always hate it when I get two proficiencies that contradict each other. But that¡¯s moot. Start the investigation now, take Sacred and Wall Walker with you, start inside the building. There¡¯ll be a door that''s been ruined, and probably with glass. Go through that first. I¡¯m guessing that we can¡¯t approach these three because of a Whisper effect right now. I¡¯ve handled Forsaken already.¡±

    ¡°Monarch.¡± I muttered as Risk moved towards a second van and met with another hero in a yellow costume that had fire motifs. Wall Walker was just getting out to join them.

    Toil hummed, realising I was there again. ¡°There¡¯s always something. Partymaster, I¡¯m guessing.¡±

    I nodded as Joe screamed again.

    Toil winced. ¡°That one got touched by Agent Orange on top of it. That¡¯s a Disrupter affect I never want to experience again.¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t he get tranquilised or something? To stop the screaming.¡± I asked.

    Toil shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll put it this way, that poor boy is out of sync with where he¡¯s supposed to be. It¡¯s a very painful divergence that doesn¡¯t do much to the body, but hurts the mind severely. Right now he¡¯s experiencing a life in twain, you could say.¡±

    I frowned, and Toil elaborated.

    ¡°Agent Orange gave him a light push most likely, and the action caused a new timeline to be split off from our own. We don¡¯t get to experience it, but that boy does. All it accomplished was changing where he fell over, but the disparity is causing him immense pain, as you can clearly see.¡±

    Joe was still screaming.

    ¡°Not much to do except to wait for the laws of the universe to reestablish themselves. Until then, he¡¯ll still be physically reacting to the pain because the other him is fine and experiencing things too.¡±

    ¡°What if he got tranqed in both timelines?¡± I asked.

    ¡°He¡¯s in thousands, one new one for each instant where he¡¯s made a decision.¡± Toil shrugged. ¡°Statistical improbability he gets proper treatment in all of those, and we can¡¯t even get close right now. It¡¯ll sort itself out in a day or so.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m staying away from Agent Orange, then.¡± I muttered to myself.

    ¡°You should be staying away from all villains right now, Michael.¡± Toil said.

    It took a moment for me to realise he just used my real name. I stared at him. ¡°Why does everyone know my goddamn name?¡±

    ¡°To be fair, it¡¯s just Risk and I that know your name here in the HoY. The leader has to supervise all cases, even if I don¡¯t take an active role in them.¡± Risk gestured at my face. ¡°I caught a glimpse of your honest visage just now when I was approaching, and I recognised the look.¡±

    ¡°What look?¡± I demanded.

    ¡°You¡¯re running ragged, haven¡¯t slept enough, and you¡¯re haunted.¡± Toil said succinctly. I didn¡¯t really have a rebuttal for that, so he continued. ¡°It¡¯s common enough in the business, we all have our demons.¡± His body language darkened for a moment. ¡°But normally the Regulation steps in before things get too bad. That you¡¯re even on your feet right now is amazing. How much sleep have you gotten recently?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± I thought for a moment. ¡°Today? Half an hour, probably.¡±

    ¡°What about yesterday?¡±

    I had to think about that one too. ¡°I don¡¯t remember.¡±

    ¡°If you were on my team, I would be sneaking sleeping pills into your meals until you caught up on that sleep deficit.¡± Toil said matter of factly. ¡°That kind of sleeplessness leads to bad calls unless you have a power like Sacred¡¯s that stops you from getting tired. Literally burns the melatonin out of his body, that one. You clearly don¡¯t have that, going by the bags under your eyes that I caught a glimpse of. Actually, let me see your face.¡±

    I blinked.

    ¡°Unless that¡¯s overstepping my bounds.¡± Toil followed up.

    I shook my head and checked to see where the other heroes of Yesterday were. Blinking red and blue lights from down the street distracted me and I made my decision and stood with my back to the heroes in the church.

    Toil hummed as he inspected my naked face. ¡°Yup, you¡¯re quite the open book. Have you talked to anyone about Salt Lake City yet?¡±

    I squinted, not appreciating the comment. ¡°That¡¯s why I can¡¯t sleep.¡±

    ¡°Who did you talk to?¡±

    ¡°Myself,¡± I said cryptically. ¡°And a twelve year old girl.¡±

    ¡°One of your family members, or...¡± Toil asked. I shrugged like it didn¡¯t matter. ¡°I wasn¡¯t there, personally, at Salt Lake. The teleporter in Seattle didn¡¯t deem the Heroes of Yesterday important enough to make the journey. Which, fair, we can¡¯t fly. That being said, I was present when Scathach and Railerrunner made a crater and a mountain out of Fairbanks, wiped it out, same as what you went through. I don¡¯t have the civilian experience, but I have that.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re point is?¡± I demanded frostily.

    ¡°Go see a therapist.¡± Toil said. A void of quiet fell between us as I stared at him. The reason I didn¡¯t want to do that was because I would break before I got better. Since Fail had made me open the box, that argument was weaker.

    ¡°It won¡¯t cost you anything.¡± Toil eventually continued. ¡°The Regulation subsidises that stuff for all their Sentrys and Sentinels. And I can tell it¡¯s something you¡¯ve considered before.¡±

    ¡°There are reasons I¡¯m not doing that.¡± I said. The conspiracy against me, for one. Doctor-patient confidentiality was supposed to be a thing, but I wasn¡¯t entirely confident Zephyr would respect that given how often my name was slipped to people without my permission.

    ¡°Do tell.¡± Toil said, leaning on his staff and making it very clear that he was waiting.

    I squinted at him as angrily as I could muster, given my state. No excuses were forthcoming.

    Toil waited.

    ¡°The nightmares.¡± I eventually sighed. ¡°Talking won¡¯t stop them. Sleeping pills would just put them on a schedule.¡±

    ¡°They would pass in time.¡± Toil said.

    ¡°They weren¡¯t a problem.¡± I snapped. ¡°Then I talked about it, and now they¡¯re a problem. How long would it take, anyway? A month? A year? How about ten?¡±Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°It would take as long as it needs to.¡± Toil said. ¡°Though, there may be a way to cheat around that time.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± I said, already knowing what he was about to suggest.

    ¡°Sondor would let you choose what would take its place.¡± Toil continued.

    ¡°Sondor would obliterate the final memories of me before my brain got fucked up.¡± I rebuked. ¡°I know what she does, rehabilitating villains and all that. Giving them fake memories and fundamentally rewriting who they are. I don¡¯t want that. What happened in the sunlit city was me. Whatever she puts in its place wouldn¡¯t be me.¡±

    ¡°At the very least, it would no longer be haunting you. Maybe working with Forsaken has made me too candid about this kind of thing¡­ Regardless, you are still your own person, Michael. Sondor would never do anything without your permission. If you see her as the devil, then I¡¯m her advocate.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for caring.¡± I bit through my words.

    ¡°It¡¯s my pleasure.¡± Toil said in a way that I couldn¡¯t hear as sarcastic. ¡°You¡¯re going to need to give a statement to the police, which is why I really asked you to put your power down. Come, I¡¯ll introduce you to a nice one.¡± He started moving towards the policemen just getting out of their cars.

    ¡°A nice police officer?¡± I asked. ¡°Right¡­¡±

    ¡°Hey. You work with those people as much as you work with Lucidity. And the one I¡¯m introducing you to is nice. I¡¯m a very proficient judge of character.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the second time you used that word.¡± I commented as I followed. ¡°You¡¯re Smart right? Got a power that involves getting better at things?¡±

    ¡°The more I do something, yes.¡± Toil answered, then pointed. ¡°That person there is Constable Greggory Chambers. He won¡¯t push too hard, since you¡¯re going to be forthcoming, and will probably offer to drop you off somewhere. Tell them everything you told Risk and you¡¯ll probably get home before the leftovers get too cold in the fridge. You foster mom cooked up meatballs tonight, but one of your sisters burned the spaghetti. There should be lasagna in the freezer that¡¯s more your speed, though if you cook up that you¡¯ll want to find a way to heat up the middle.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s uncanny, how you do that.¡± I said, taking in Constable Chambers. The policeman was freakishly tall, but didn¡¯t have the broadness to match, making him look a bit like a stick. As someone who eternally looked like a stick, I could empathise.

    ¡°I¡¯m a very proficient guesser.¡± Toil said, smugness embedded in his voice. Then, much more loudly, ¡°Constable Chambers! How are the kids?¡±

    Toil had a silver tongue, I realised. The way he changed tact so suddenly. It made sense, though. If he got better at something the more he did it, then he would be incredibly good at talking to people, given how much people liked to talk. As he exercised his sudden charisma on the constable, I found myself wondering how much he practiced listening.

    He was definitely proficient at extracting information, going by how much he made me admit to. Was he doing subtle therapy under that? I didn¡¯t feel any better, but parts of our conversation were hanging in my head. His suggestion regarding Sondor present at the forefront of it.

    Actually, how good would Toil be at manipulating people? I found myself squinting at Toil. Completely unprompted, he looked at me and cocked his head, simulating a wink under his mask. That meant he knew where my thoughts had gone and had reacted appropriately.

    Yeah, he was manipulating me.

    Pretty quickly, Toil was finished explaining my situation to Constable Chambers and clapped me on the shoulder as he went to join the other heroes investigating the church. In that time, other police and Regulation personal had shown up to the scene and were cordoning it off. Constable Chambers took me to a police car and had me sit in the passenger seat.

    ¡°Alright.¡± He said after getting into the driver¡¯s seat. His voice had positive energy to it, but it didn¡¯t sound like he was putting it on for my benefit. It was just how he spoke. ¡°Michael, was it? Toil tells me you have quite the story.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I blinked repeatedly to get my head in the game. Since Toil had started speaking to the Constable, my mind had been left to wander places I wished it wouldn¡¯t. ¡°Yeah. So do you know about Greenflame?¡±

    ~~~

    ¡°I¡¯ll shout you the money for the phone.¡± Constable Chambers told me as he put the car in park.

    I looked at him with a frown. ¡°Shout?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you the money. Lend it. However you want to put it, it¡¯s on me.¡± Constable Chambers elaborated. He had his wallet out and was pulling a ten dollar note from within.

    ¡°I have the money.¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s just a phone.¡±

    Constable Chambers held the note between two fingers and thrust it in my direction. ¡°You had a rough night, and I don¡¯t think Rainbowfish is going to follow through on that promise to pay for your phone.¡±

    I considered arguing further. Becoming a charity case wasn¡¯t something I was striving for, but this much was inconsequential. I grudgingly accepted the ten dollar note and pondered spending twice as much as I normally did as I moved over to the Vphone vending machine.

    These things were everywhere, and had been for at least a decade. Not just in the states, either. Vphones were a worldwide phenomenon. They became popular when an Adept called Voice appeared and started selling his tech commercially, taking a different stance on using his power than most did. Instead of becoming a hero or villain, Voice became rich. A mascot for his business, which sold the tech he specialised in.

    Voice¡¯s adept specialisation was telecommunication, so he made things like phones, and variations on phones. If it had a wifi or data connection, he could do it. The cherry on top was that he sold most of his stuff for dirt cheap prices. I had been too young to really register what was going on, but the time where Voice was spreading his technology across the world was a time where the people of the world got a big case of whiplash from the sudden advancement in technology.

    It wasn¡¯t the first time an Adept had revolutionised technology, but it was the first time anyone in Africa could connect to anyone in Europe at the press of a button. It opened up the gates to a flood of communication, or so the experts liked to say. It also went a great way towards getting education to the farther to reach areas, at least until the telecommunication companies that supplied broadband put a throttle on that little area of advancement.

    The open secret to Voice¡¯s success was that he designed his technology- phones, routers, broadcast towers, etcetera- to be easily manufacturable to anyone that wasn¡¯t him, which was where most other Adepts failed in their business practices. There were still phones that could only be made by the man himself, but they were expensive and hard to acquire for obvious reasons.

    That, combined with completely original trademarks and copyrights, cheap base materials, and an easy to assemble production line lead to me looking at an old vending machine with half its lights not working, trying to decide if I wanted a four dollar Vphone, or a twelve dollar one. The big difference between the two being the Vphones¡¯ durability, general shape, with the more expensive one being larger, and a very subtle difference in processing speed.

    Both had 48 megapixel cameras, a zoom lens that ranged between 22mm and 70mm, and could rotate between prime lenses that were 24mm, 50mm, and 85mm. They also had video calling, audio calling, and texting capabilities, eight terabytes of data storage with room for more, and the capability to recover all my lost data from the one Bad Valentine destroyed.

    After some deliberation, I went with the twelve dollar one, reasoning that it basically cost me two dollars with the money Constable Chambers had given me and was therefore half the price. That it also had a 38mm prime lens was icing on the cake. Plus I liked the shape more. It had curved edges that I enjoyed dragging my fingers across, and accommodated how loosely I tended to handle my Vphones.

    I couldn¡¯t imagine living in a world where these things cost more than pocket change.

    Constable Chambers didn¡¯t ask for the change as he started driving me back to the house I was living in. During the drive I connected the Vphone to the number that was connected to me and spent most of it trying to recall the passwords and security questions that I set up four months ago.

    The process involved confirming my email address, so I had to use the internet app to navigate to my email page, which required more passwords and security questions. But eventually I had all my old apps, numbers, and conversations loaded onto the Vphone.

    ¡°Get some rest.¡± Constable Chambers told me before I closed the door on him. I paused, unsure if I should close it now, and he started lowering it from his side. So I closed it and leaned down to listen. ¡°It¡¯s a school night.¡± He elaborated.

    My brows furrowed. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll do that.¡± I lied. ¡°Thanks for dropping me off.¡±

    There was a moment''s hesitation as the police man looked at me. Then he said, ¡°It was a pleasure, Michael. Stay out of trouble.¡± I couldn¡¯t pin down any sarcasm or dishonesty in that statement. It was hard to deny him living up to the reputation Toil had given him.

    I nodded and stepped back. The police car pulled away from the curb. When he rounded a corner I pulled out my new Vphone and called a number I¡¯d been itching to call ever since the device had entered my possession. It rung for long enough that I was expecting to not get an answer when the other end was picked up.

    ¡°Michael?¡± Nathan said, his voice sounded weak. ¡°Fucking hell, you scared me.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± I asked. ¡°Did the Beastmasters let you go?¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ Yeah, they did.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯m guessing they¡¯re not too happy with me.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. They aren¡¯t.¡± Nathan breathed a sigh. ¡°Why¡¯d you stay behind, man?¡±

    I flashed back to the moment. I knew exactly why I didn¡¯t move. ¡°Can¡¯t say.¡±

    ¡°They told me to tell you to keep quiet.¡± Nathan said. ¡°Apparently Rainbowfish tried to do something to you, but it didn¡¯t work.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Okay.¡± I didn¡¯t know how to respond to that. ¡°What happened with that bleeding flail? Green- uh¡­ the green woman?¡±

    Nathan took his sweet time coming up with a response. ¡°Can we talk about this tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°Seriously?¡±

    Again, Nathan took a while to respond. ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s find somewhere else to hang tomorrow, so Nick doesn¡¯t find us again.¡± He sounded about as tired as I felt.

    ¡°Nick got jailed.¡±

    ¡°His lackey, then.¡±

    I breathed heavily, holding my Vphone where it wouldn¡¯t pick up on that before responding. ¡°Alright, but you got home okay, at least?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    There was a poignant silence.

    ¡°I¡¯ll see you tomorrow then.¡± I said.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Nathan responded, then I ended the call.

    With nothing more keeping me outside I jumped the gate onto the lawn, using my power to have my clothes keep me up a little. I couldn¡¯t do that to the extent of keeping me aloft, because then they would break, but I could finagle things to make me jump higher than I maybe should, and come back down slower than most. The problem was all the seams digging into me. It wasn¡¯t that high a gate, anyway. It only came up to my waist.

    Right before I reached the door, the interior lights turned on. I didn¡¯t let it interrupt my momentum, but the door opened away from me moments before I could get my hands on it. The swinging door revealed a woman with stress hairs who was trying to get me to call her mom.

    ¡°Hi Kathrine.¡± I said as I pulled my hand back and put it in a pocket.

    ¡°Just where have you been?¡± She demanded, keeping her voice down.

    I listened and realised that the house was quiet. The girls were asleep, or at least had been put to bed. ¡°Do you want to have this conversation inside or outside?¡± I asked.

    Kathrine considered that for a moment, then stepped out to join me on the porch. When she spoke, her voice was still hushed. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me anything tonight, and you were out later than you usually are. After that night where you didn¡¯t come back at all, you¡¯ve been acting strange. I¡¯m not consenting to you being a Sentry again until you tell me what is happening with you.¡±

    I blinked. It was true that I was acting strange, but Kathrine hadn¡¯t done any more than brush the surface. ¡°I got in trouble.¡± I told Kathrine honestly. ¡°I¡¯m not allowed to be a Sentry for another five days, anyway.¡±

    Kathrine seemed taken off guard. The last time we spoke on the matter, she had been holding this hostage, and had assumed she could do that again this conversation. She recovered quickly, though. ¡°You have a lot of explaining to do.¡±

    So I did, leaving out all the parts about Fail and the conspiracies surrounding me, which was a lot. ¡°I¡¯ve been going to the SRT anyway to keep up with my fitness, because otherwise Zephyr will get on my case again.¡± I finished.

    Kathrine seemed a little stunned. ¡°You should have said something. That kind of treatment isn¡¯t okay.¡±

    ¡°I assaulted a hero. Does that sound like something that¡¯ll end well for me?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a minor.¡± Kathrine stressed. ¡°No wonder you¡¯ve been acting so strangely. I was wondering if maybe you-¡±

    ¡°Hit puberty?¡± I guessed.

    ¡°No, Michael. That¡¯s more the realm of Marie right now and Sofiya in a few years. I was thinking you got yourself a girlfriend, or maybe you met a villain without your costume and were getting blackmailed.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°I did meet a villain.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant.¡± Kathrine breathed out. ¡°I meant with the knowledge of who you really are and your¡­¡± She gestured at me.

    I knew what she was trying to say. ¡°No villains know about my powers and call me Michael.¡± I said truthfully. That was the most honest I could be about that. It ended the conversation pretty decisively, and Kathrine tried to mother me by ushering me inside and preparing today¡¯s leftovers.

    She was a little shocked when I vetoed burned spaghetti and asked for the lasagna in the freezer. ¡°How did you know it was burned?¡±

    ¡°Lucky guess.¡± I answered.

    ¡°How in the world would you guess that?¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t me.¡±

    ~~~

    Nathan looked better than I did when I looked in the mirror. Given the state I was in, that wasn¡¯t saying much. Nathan looked terrible. When we met up for break, we had only really exchanged greetings, but hadn¡¯t started talking because what we were going to talk about wasn¡¯t something we wanted anyone else to hear.

    At least, that¡¯s how it was for me. Nathan wasn¡¯t really engaging much. Either way, it left me with a little relative peace and quiet, which was nice in contrast to the hellscape that was paying attention in class. All that was really said were suggestions as to new places to hang out, since Nathan didn¡¯t want to go back to the old one.

    There had been a spot that was deserted and relatively out of traffic, but was in the sun. Several more that were in the shade and already occupied or too close to general traffic for us to want to settle. We got close to giving up when we passed by our old spot and saw that three girls had taken up residence there.

    ¡°Library building?¡± I suggested. ¡°Not inside it, around from the entrance. Might be a corner.¡±

    ¡°May as well.¡± Nathan spoke, his voice hoarse.

    We found the corner I had recalled, but not remembered well. It was a wedge between two buildings, the library and a class block, and went in quite a way. A bench had been built into the library side of the wedge and a girl was sitting far in the back of it, her boots drawn up onto the bench itself.

    ¡°No dice.¡± Nathan said. ¡°Parking lot?¡±

    ¡°One minute.¡± I said, squinting at the blonde girl. She was wearing jeans and a black shirt, and had a book open that was pressed against her knees harder than I¡¯d seen others in that position. The girl was crouched, but only made contact with the bench where her thigh high boots made contact with the wood.

    She looked up at me and I saw something flash across her face. I was still squinting to get a better look without seeming creepy by going into the wedge, then just turning around without saying anything.

    ¡°Michael?¡± She said in a familiar voice. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you came here. I thought you were in Bi- the other one.¡±

    ¡°You know her?¡± Nathan asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you talked to girls that weren¡¯t Sonya.¡±

    ¡°I talk to people.¡± I shot back at him. ¡°The Greenflame thing can wait a bit, I guess. Hey, Madeleine. This is Nathan. Nathan, Madeleine.¡±

    Madeleine bookmarked where she was and put the book down as she lowered her feet to the ground one by one. ¡°What did you just say?¡±

    ¡°Nothing important.¡± I waved my hand dismissively, a horizontal movement with my palm facing down. Trying to get across that Nathan wasn¡¯t privy to my secret identity, or that it wasn¡¯t something I wanted her to ask about. ¡°Can I sit?¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re sure¡­¡± Madeleine trailed off as she watched us sit down. A moment passed before something flashed across her face. ¡°And don¡¯t use my full name, please. Just Maddy is fine.¡±

    I halted, the request digging into me. ¡°I liked saying it, but okay.¡±

    ¡°Hold on.¡± Nathan said, suddenly sounding more focused than he had been all day. ¡°How did you know that she was called Greenflame?¡±

 4. Men/Monsters 6

    I was blanking for the first time in a while. My civilian persona wasn¡¯t supposed to know that kind of information, but it had slipped out anyway. Toil was right. I really was too tired for this. Still, I was searching with more clarity that I had since watching Bad Valentine in that fight yesterday.

    I looked at Nathan, who was squinting at me suspiciously. His mouth twisted in a way that also communicated how suspicious he was feeling. I glanced at Madeleine, who was looking at me for answers. I looked back to Nathan.

    ¡°Well it was kind of obvious wasn¡¯t it?¡± Fell out of my mouth.

    ¡°Was it?¡± Nathan asked.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I nodded.

    Nathan considered that. ¡°Alright¡­¡± He let some quiet hang between us. ¡°Going to explain how?¡±

    Shit. ¡°Well she wears green, for one.¡± I improvised. ¡°And she¡¯s canadian, like me. I had a scroll through the Canada forums of GiftedList after Sonya showed it to me.¡±

    Nathan¡¯s mouth twisted until it was a mirror of his previous expression. Still suspicious. ¡°If you say so.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s semi-prolific, recently moved, and isn¡¯t part of any large gangs.¡± I continued. ¡°But her power is strong enough that people give her the time of day. And then there was that other guy she was traveling with. Fucking Dreadnaught.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I know Dreadnaught.¡±

    ¡°Dreadnaught¡¯s a fucking cat. Didn¡¯t that make you scratch your head?¡±

    ¡°Um.¡± Madeleine said, making herself known again. ¡°What¡¯s this about Dreadnaught and Greenflame?¡±

    I looked at her and blanked again, but my mouth didn¡¯t. ¡°Crazy things you wouldn¡¯t believe.¡±

    ¡°Try me.¡± She responded.

    I was about to keep going, but Nathan spoke before I could. ¡°It¡¯s none of your business.¡±

    I closed my mouth and forced myself not to say anything.

    ¡°Michael, can I talk to you?¡± Nathan asked in a way that meant it wasn¡¯t really a question.

    ¡°Yeah, sure.¡± I stood to follow Nathan, but paused before leaving Madeleine behind. ¡°I¡¯ll explain. But later.¡±

    Madeleine nodded and I stepped outside of the wedge the conversation had been happening in. Nathan was checking over his shoulders, making sure no one else was close.

    Then he looked me right in the eye. ¡°Michael, I gotta ask. Do you have powers?¡±

    Well fuck, I didn¡¯t think I was that obvious. ¡°Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°¡®Cause ever since you came back from that mugging, you¡¯ve been acting weird. I did some reading last night about people getting powers. It only happens during really traumatising moments, and I don¡¯t know. Maybe you survived Salt Lake okay, but that mugging was the straw that broke the camel¡¯s back.¡±

    I needed time to comprehend that and come up with a response, but I didn¡¯t have time. If I still wanted my cover, then I couldn¡¯t make it seem like I was trying to maintain one. So I opened my mouth. ¡°I didn¡¯t manifest because I got mugged. I wish I had-¡±

    ¡°Yeah, me too.¡± Nathan sighed. ¡°Fuck all that did.¡±

    My mouth clicked shut as I realised what he was implying. ¡°Did Greenflame use her power on you?¡±

    Nathan nodded.

    ¡°Jesus fucking christ, Nathan. Do you know what she does?¡±

    ¡°She explained it.¡±

    ¡°And you just bought that?¡± I demanded. ¡°Did it occur to you that she could be lying about her power?¡±

    ¡°As soon as it finished, yeah.¡± Nathan admitted.

    ¡°Greenflame sells the future, or that¡¯s how she puts it.¡± I said. ¡°Personally, I think it makes more sense if she actually claims the futures of others and tailors it to her own ends. Congratulations, you¡¯re a pawn in whatever game she¡¯s playing.¡±

    ¡°How she puts it? Where did you hear that?¡±

    I was kicking myself as I smoothly replied, ¡°Last night when I was researching, I just told you that.¡±

    ¡°Right, because you can trust everything you hear on the internet.¡± Nathan muttered.

    ¡°So you deferred to the supervillain merchant?¡± My voice was dripping with incredulousness. ¡°Who deals in fate?¡±

    ¡°Michael, I get it. I fucked up.¡± Nathan said, strained. ¡°Don¡¯t make me say that you were right.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need to.¡± I said. You¡¯re thinking it right now, anyway. ¡°What happened after I got left behind.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Nathan looked past me and stared. I followed his line of sight and met Madeleine¡¯s eyes. She was standing at the entrance to the wedge. ¡°Hey, we just met and all. So could you give us a little space for this?¡±

    ¡°Yip.¡± Madeleine nodded and promptly vanished back into the wedge corner.

    I looked back to Nathan.

    He gave a heavy sigh before starting. ¡°Right, so BV was hurling abuse at you for a good chunk of the car chase. But it wasn¡¯t that long because he rolled down the window and hit the tyres of the police cars with his power. We got away pretty easily.¡±

    ¡°Did the police crash?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not that I saw.¡± Nathan answered, doing little to answer my question.

    Still, nothing about crashed police had come up in any of my feeds. It was indicitive that the torn tires were the worst of that particular exchange. ¡°Then?¡±

    ¡°We got back to the warehouse after a bit. Bad Valentine called someone before we got there, then the phone was handed to me and I was told you had found your own way there.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡± I said.

    ¡°Yeah, I thought it seemed weird. Rainbowfish met us as we got back and just kept telling me about how you got there before us, since you didn¡¯t have to escape the police. But there was no way, it was too far. Eventually, he threw a chair.¡±

    ¡°His power didn¡¯t work?¡±

    ¡°Do you know what it is?¡±

    I frowned, genuinely thinking of how to describe it.

    Nathan seemed to accept that I didn¡¯t and moved on. ¡°Makes lies true, apparently. But only if he gets to pull the wool from my eyes.¡± I nodded along to that explanation. ¡°Anyway, that flail? Greenflame didn¡¯t care about it. She just told Jackal that all her conditions had been met and that he could make his wish now.¡±

    ¡°And that was?¡± I prompted.

    ¡°For a wide reaching and profitable business. I forgot the exact wording.¡± Nathan sighed. ¡°Fucking nothing happened when the flames died down. Then she turned around and asked me what I wanted to wish for.¡±

    ¡°And you wished for power.¡± I finished for him.

    ¡°Powers.¡± Nathan stressed the ¡®s¡¯. ¡°I wished for powers to get back at Jackal. That was my wording. She just burned my head with that green fire and when it ended, she had a guitar pick in her hand. Said it was for her, and that my wish was fulfilled. Jackal¡¯s fucking eyes as I walked out, man.¡±

    I took a moment to take all that in. ¡°You got burned, Nathan. In more ways than one.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I fucking got that. Only thing I have going for me is that Greenflame forbade Jackal from coming after me.¡± Nathan ran a hand through his hair. ¡°Look, I think I need some time alone.¡±

    ¡°Go hang out with Sonya or something.¡± I suggested. ¡°She¡¯s good to you.¡±

    ¡°That supposed to mean something?¡± Normally Nathan was good at indicating whether or not he was joking through inflection alone, but that sentence blurred the line. I frowned, unsure of how to respond.

    Nathan shoved my shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m joking, Mike. I¡¯ll see you around.¡±

    I watched him walk off. Right before I turned to go tell Madeleine what all that was about, I made eye contact with a teacher that was walking from one building to another with a white container that held his lunch. It was the guy that I had run from when Elsbeth and I had fled school.

    He slowed down, then turned and started walking directly towards me. I sighed and leaned against the wall behind me. Madeleine poked her head out again, looked at me, then the teacher, then went back into the wedge again.

    That hurt a little. I pressed my knuckles against the building and felt my awareness expand far beyond my comparatively small self. By dividing my attention and putting half of it through the building, I was able to convince myself that I wasn¡¯t appearing as stressed as I really was.

    ¡°Hello there.¡± The teacher said. I had let my gaze drift to the side and met his eyes when he said that. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s yours?¡± I countered.

    He chuckled, making me narrow my eyes. ¡°You can call me Mr Wainwrite. You really gave me quite the impression the other day. I had a lot of trouble finding you. Found out we don¡¯t have a girl with scars like that here, either.¡±

    ¡°Would you believe me if I told you she was the family member picking me up?¡± I tested.

    Mr Wainwrite snorted. ¡°What¡¯s your name, son?¡±

    I looked at him as evenly as I could. If I told him my name, I wouldn¡¯t be able to pull that trick again. But then again, it was a one time thing and if I didn¡¯t fess up now, things could get worse. I sighed.

    ¡°Michael.¡± I said.

    ¡°Michael¡­?¡± The teacher prompted.

    ¡°Barker.¡±

    ¡°Well, Michael Barker.¡± Mr Wainwrite made sure to enunciate my name. ¡°Truancy tends to have the worst connotation that upper management wants to have associated with students here, so I¡¯m going to be giving you detention for running away like that. However, I could be persuaded to overlook it.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re in the open.¡± I said. ¡°Are you sure you want to say that kind of thing here?¡±

    Mr Wainwrite thought about that, then gave another laugh, putting me on edge. ¡°No, no, Michael. Nothing of that sort. I just noticed how fast you were. It was baffling.¡±

    If I hadn¡¯t been diverting my attention between the conversation and the big building behind me, I would have groaned. The threats to uncover my identity were coming one after the other today.

    ¡°What am I trying to say? Yes. I¡¯ll forget to file that detention if you join the track team.¡± Mr Wainwrite finished, then amended. ¡°My track team.¡±

    I blinked, my attention being forced back into me as I lost contact with the building behind me. I shoved my palm against the wall and probably shoved a bit too much of myself back into the building. It shook a little.

    ¡°Yeah, no.¡± I decided. There was no way I was going to be using my power so publicly. Even if my power was common knowledge, I¡¯d be banned from that kind of thing anyway.

    ¡°So is that a yes or a-¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a no.¡± I told him. ¡°Is that all?¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Hard no.¡± I frowned. ¡°I¡¯m tired. Can you let me go?¡±

    ¡°It can get you out of some of your classes.¡± Mr Wainwrite persisted. ¡°All you have to do is show up for training before school a few days each week.¡±

    ¡°Wainwrite.¡± I said shortly. ¡°I¡¯ve said no.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Mr Wainwrite blinked as his momentum was finally interrupted. ¡°I just wanted to be sure, because you were incredibly fast.¡±

    ¡°What do I say to make you leave?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You join the track team.¡± He joked. I met his eyes with a flat expression. ¡°Sorry. Too far. You¡¯re sure, though?¡±

    I breathed in, very slowly. Then breathed back out.

    ¡°Gotcha. Going now.¡± With that, Mr Wainwrite finally left. He looked over his shoulder to see if I changed me mind. I hadn¡¯t.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    I explored the building with my power a little before moving on. There were still several people inside, despite it being break. Normally all students got kicked out unless it was raining. I counted the number of people sized masses I could feel. Eight. Then I went to talk with Madeleine.

    ¡°Sorry about all that.¡± I said as I sat down on the bench and pressed my feet against the opposite wall. I was far enough into the wedge that I could do that and have my back pressing against the library building.

    ¡°I thought you were on probation from being a Sentry.¡± Slingshot told me. ¡°So um, what was all that?¡±

    I took that in as I answered. ¡°Nathan got coerced into doing some shady stuff. I tagged along to make sure he didn¡¯t get in too deep, but that quickly went right out the window when Greenflame got involved.¡±

    Madeleine leaned back a bit in surprise. She may have had her shoes on, but she still reacted as if she was flying. Though, she probably was, just with her feet anchored to the ground by her boots.

    ¡°What? Greenflame?¡± She asked. I nodded. ¡°With that guy?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t make much sense to me either.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°So what happened?¡± Madeleine asked, and I gave her much the same version that I gave the Constable the day before. The bell rang before I was able to finish the story, because Madeleine asked a few questions that turned the storytelling into speculation, and I evaluated what was left with a few short sentences.

    We were moving out of the wedge when a thought crossed my mind, and I vocalised it before my chest could get too tight about it. ¡°Do you want to join us on break tomorrow?¡± I blurted.

    ¡°Uh, sure.¡± Madeleine responded with a tight smile.

    ¡°Just to hang out.¡± I stressed.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, Mike.¡± Madeleine¡¯s smile relaxed a bit, moving to a more neutral expression. ¡°I think I got that.

    My mind flashed with irritation. ¡°Why do-¡± Madeleine was looking at me. It made me pause. ¡°I¡¯m more than ¡®Mike¡¯.¡±

    ¡°I like saying it.¡±

    ¡°Alright, Madeleine. Call me Mike.¡± I said, earning a trace of a scowl.

    ¡°That¡¯s not fair, Michael.¡± Madeleine amended.

    I shrugged, trying really hard not to react to the disappointment I felt from that victory. ¡°Then we don¡¯t have a problem, Maddy. See you.¡± I turned around because the way I needed to go was in the opposite direction.

    When I was halfway to my next class I noticed Ben moving towards me. I ignored him and kept walking, turning to travel a route which would add a minute or two to my travel time, but put me on a path that he wasn¡¯t on. Unfortunately, that just seemed to aggravate him. Ben caught up to me in a low traffic area and spun me to face him. Unfortunately, he was easily able to since I was still so early in building my strength.

    ¡°You.¡± He said, voice low.

    ¡°Me.¡± I agreed. ¡°Can you let me go?¡±

    ¡°Jackal¡¯s not happy you skimped out on the job.¡± Ben told me. ¡°Bad Val¡¯ might agree with him.¡±

    ¡°Well when you force people to do things, they act up.¡± I rebuked. ¡°You can tell Jackal that.¡±

    ¡°Jackal wanted me to tell you somthin¡¯.¡± Ben told me, tightening his grip on my shirt. ¡°Don¡¯t fukin¡¯ tell anyone about yesterday, or you got the Beasts to deal with.¡±

    ¡°Too late.¡± I deadpanned. No point in lying about this.

    ¡°You shittin¡¯ me?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m dead serious. Do you know what happened? I was left to the police, so I decided to be entirely upfront about everything. Hey, are there any more Hound races tonight? I missed yesterday.¡±

    Ben was looking at me with an expression of disbelief. ¡°Ain¡¯t you the one Nick fucked up?¡±

    My eyes widened, then narrowed. Was he just realising that? ¡°Yeah. It didn¡¯t turn out well for him now, did it? Because he did that, I just stood back when the cops showed up. Hell, I was eager to tell.¡± I glanced down at his arm. Short sleeves. I couldn¡¯t force him away by wrenching his arm away from me so I placed my palm on his shoulder. ¡°If he wants round two¡­¡± I pushed, using my power to exaggerate the force. Ben¡¯s hand lost its grip on my shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m right fucking here.¡±

    Ben looked at his hand like he couldn¡¯t believe he just lost his grip. ¡°Got it.¡± Then he punched me in the gut with the other hand.

    One of the things I didn¡¯t like about my power was that I had to be able to focus on a force to change it. In the case of Ben punching me through my shirt, the blow came too quickly for me to tamper with it. I felt the force appear in two ways, then I felt it vanish before being able to do anything about it. The force in my shirt vanished, while the pain from the blow stayed.

    I leaned forward a bit, feeling sick. ¡°You going to dig your hole any deeper?¡± I asked pointedly.

    Ben froze, realising we were in a hallway that, while it didn¡¯t have much traffic, still had people walking through it. People were giving us space. Some were watching with Vphones in their hands. Her gave me an expression of impotent rage, stuffed his hands in his pockets and stalked off.

    ¡°Thanks for helping, guys.¡± I told the crowd sarcastically, then pushed through towards my class. The crowd parted around me.

    ~~~

    The sun was still in the sky, irritating me as I inspected each car I passed walking down the sidewalk. I was alone and back in Beastmaster territory. The warehouse where the races had been was three corners away, but that wasn¡¯t what I was looking for. There was a chance that what I was looking for had already moved into action, in which case there wasn¡¯t anything I could do. But I was hopeful it hadn¡¯t yet.

    I rounded a corner and found what I was looking for.

    ¡°Glitter Bomb. Forsaken.¡± I projected my voice as I knocked on the door of the white and yellow van. My mask active from the moment I raised my hand. ¡°It¡¯s Lock.¡±

    I heard a high pitched gasp from inside, then some movement. The door opened revealing Forsaken in his metal mask.

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± He asked, curt.

    ¡°I have some more information regarding the situation yesterday.¡± I said. ¡°And I got the impression that you wouldn¡¯t let this matter with the flail lie. I¡¯m here to offer help if you¡¯ll have me.¡±

    ¡°Hi Lock.¡± Glitter Bomb eagerly waved from inside. I waved back less enthusiastically.

    Forsaken took a moment to respond. ¡°Tell me the information, then go home.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going home.¡±

    ¡°Then go talk to Toil. He seemed to like you.¡± Forsaken started sliding the van door shut.

    I touched it and opposed the force, stopping him. ¡°While I¡¯ll admit the information doesn¡¯t really apply to the flail, it¡¯s just stories from my friend. That thing creeped me out. It isn¡¯t exactly ¡®game¡¯ level, is it?¡±

    Forsaken tugged on the door again, but I was still opposing it. He let go and it slammed back into its open position. ¡°You¡¯re sixteen. There are rules regarding underage heroes in situations with high levels of danger. The Regulation should be keeping you far away from such situations.¡±

    ¡°Cool.¡± I said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°This is a matter that could result in deaths.¡± Forsaken stressed. ¡°Real deaths. Not the theoretical ones that Risk works to avoid.¡±

    ¡°And I was on a team with Satellite.¡± I rebuked. ¡°Admittedly, only for one mission, but I still rubbed shoulders with a killer. It doesn¡¯t bother me because I manifested after Salt Lake City. Yes, that Salt Lake City. I¡¯m restless. Can you please let me help?¡±

    ¡°Forsaken,¡± Glitter Bomb said from within the van. ¡°The path just widened.¡±

    Forsaken looked at the heroine. ¡°With Lock¡¯s involvement?¡± Glitter Bomb nodded. ¡°And without?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the same as before.¡±

    Forsaken looked back to me, calculating. Eventually, ¡°Inside.¡± He stepped back into the van and let me enter. I got the door, using my power to slide it off the catcher with a dismissive wave of my hand.

    The inside of the van was spacious enough for multiple people to stand in with their head¡¯s ducked. Instead of rows of seats facing forward, there were two rows along the long sides of the van with two seatbelts marking where people were supposed to sit. Glitter Bomb was sitting next to the back door of the van, and was looking out even though there was solid metal between her and the world outside.

    Forsaken sat next to Glitter Bomb. I sat opposite Forsaken, slinging my bag off my shoulder and depositing it between my feet.

    ¡°What¡¯s your plan?¡± I asked.

    ¡°We follow the path.¡± Glitter Bomb answered.

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± I asked when Forsaken didn¡¯t elaborate. He nodded. ¡°Are you relying on her power that much?¡±

    ¡°Hey, my power is really good.¡± Glitter Bomb told me indignantly. The childish reaction took me off guard coming from a grown woman.

    ¡°Once the path reaches a certain breadth, reaching the destination becomes certain.¡± Forsaken added. ¡°We¡¯re waiting for the path to spread to that width and more. Then we¡¯ll make for the flail.¡±

    ¡°Sorry to step in on your operation and start asking questions.¡± I said, ¡°Do you mind if I ask?¡±

    Forsaken waved a hand to give me the go ahead.

    ¡°Does the pathing power get you back out?¡± I asked. Forsaken shook his head a moment before Glitter Bomb did. ¡°Do you know who is in there?¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t checked in the past half hour. It has likely changed.¡±

    ¡°Where is Toil? He knows this is a serious thing, right?¡±

    ¡°Toil is aware.¡± Forsaken nodded. ¡°Your stories of Bad Valentine have caused him to become cautious. He is putting through requests for information from people who are able to procure it.¡±

    I thought of contacting Fail at that, then thought better of it. ¡°Can¡¯t he just guess? He¡¯s really good at that.¡±

    ¡°When all is said and done, a guess is just a guess. Toil wants to be sure before committing.¡±

    ¡°So are you going behind his back by being here?¡± I asked. Forsaken looked at me levelly, then nodded. ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°I like this.¡± Glitter Bomb said. ¡°Being rebellious, I mean.¡± She got a concerned look from Forsaken. ¡°This much is harmless, right?¡±

    ¡°We need to get the flail back.¡± He said grimly. Glitter Bomb didn¡¯t say anything, but I inferred from her body language that she wholly agreed.

    ¡°So why is the flail so important?¡± I asked. Forsaken met my inquisitive gaze, which wasn¡¯t a squint, for once. ¡°You¡¯re making a really big deal about it, and the only thing I would give that much importance to is one of Greenflame¡¯s artefacts.¡±

    ¡°Your view of the world is still small.¡± Forsaken said, then sat straighter. ¡°It is a creation of mine that possesses a will, but not a life. That will is of hostile intent to all that is not the holder of the weapon. Fortunately, without a holder the flail cannot exert its power on the world. Unfortunately, the flail has a holder by the name of Bad Valentine.¡±

    ¡°What does it do?¡±

    ¡°It grants the wielder a power.¡±

    ¡°Which is?¡± I asked when further explanations weren¡¯t forthcoming.

    ¡°It¡¯s got two parts.¡± Glitter Bomb told me. I turned my attention to her. ¡°First it bleeds everywhere, and it can keep bleeding for a really long time. If it bleeds more, the second part is stronger. Which is a big old stabby stab.¡±

    I blinked. ¡°A stabby stab?¡±

    Glitter Bomb faltered and glanced at Forsaken. ¡°That¡¯s right, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°In essence.¡± Said Forsaken. ¡°The liquid of the first stage acts as an origin point, and the wielder chooses a target for the second. When the power is activated the blood converges on the origin point, then transmutes to a metallic substance and extends towards the target.¡±

    ¡°From how you¡¯re talking about it, this happens quickly.¡± I said.

    Forsaken gave half a nod. ¡°In an instant.¡±

    ¡°So why did you make it?¡±

    Forsaken didn¡¯t answer that question right away. I noticed his head twitch towards Glitter Bomb, but his eyes were trained on me. At length he said, ¡°There was no other choice.¡± And that was all he said.

    I had a feeling I knew what was going on, but I decided to move past that. There was no reasonable way I should have known.

    ¡°You¡¯ve said you¡¯re keeping watch, but you¡¯re on the inside of a van, and the window is up there.¡± I pointed at the high window at the back. The rest of the walls in the back of the van were windowless. ¡°May I ask how you¡¯re keeping watch?¡±

    ¡°Fairy.¡± Forsaken said, getting Glitter Bomb¡¯s attention.

    She looked at us, then realised we were waiting for her to speak. She got out some pictures from a pocket of her costume. ¡°See these?¡± She showed them to me. They were pictures of all the known Beastmasters. Bad Valentine was missing. ¡°I can focus on these people and path towards them. These ones.¡± She pointed at Jackal, Rainbowfish, and Wayvern. ¡°They¡¯re that way, as well as the flail. This one.¡±

    She was pointing in the general direction of the warehouse the Beastmasters were using as a headquarters. Then she pointed at Channel, and then in another direction. ¡°Is that way, and this one is that way.¡± Another direction for Retch. ¡°She¡¯s really far away. Like, really far. She moves quickly, though.¡±

    ¡°Bet she does.¡± I murmured, thinking back to my fight with Clothesline.

    ¡°So basically, we¡¯re waiting for the path for the flail to move, or to get wide enough.¡± Glitter Bomb finished. ¡°Then we¡¯ll be able to stroll on up, and take it!¡±

    ¡°Just like that?¡± I asked Forsaken. He seemed to be the one in charge.

    Glitter Bomb let out an indignant, ¡°Yeah!¡± Before the male hero could answer.

    He finished his nod from earlier. ¡°In essentiality, yes. If it moves, we will be able to follow from a distance, thanks to Fairy¡¯s power.¡±

    ¡°And Fairy is¡­¡± I drifted a hand to gesture at Glitter Bomb.

    Forsaken nodded while Glitter Bomb went, ¡°That¡¯s me.¡±

    Strange¡­ but okay. ¡°Does the origin point of the path matter? If it does, you could try driving around the block and see if it gets wider at any point.¡±

    ¡°That depends.¡± Forsaken answered before Glitter Bomb could. ¡°Fairy has access to more than one kind of path. For her most direct paths, which come with great risk, the origin point does matter. In regards to her safer paths, if another starting spot would be safer, then one starting in a different spot will go there first. We are using one such path for this mission.¡±

    ¡°So there¡¯s more than one kind of path?¡± I questioned, getting a nod. ¡°What others are there? They could be useful.¡±

    ¡°I recognise that you are becoming familiar with how we operate.¡± Forsaken said. ¡°However, we are taking point in this operation. If you want to work with us, you must trust that we know what we¡¯re doing.¡±

    I tried to come up with a response that would let us continue to discuss powers, but none were forthcoming. I leaned back in my seat and crossed my arms. ¡°So now we wait?¡±

    ¡°Now we wait.¡± Forsaken echoed as Glitter Bomb returned to staring through the van door.

    After some comfortably uncomfortable silence, I reached down and opened my bag. From within, I pulled a pair of fingerless gloves and pulled them on. They weren¡¯t the pair I¡¯d worn when Greenflame came to Graceland, those had gotten lost somewhere. This pair was new, bought from a sports store on the way over.

    Before I put them on, I decided to apply my Ghost power to them. I got most of the surface to the black colour on my face by wiping my palm over it, but all the little details where the design left tiny little trenches were left untouched. It wasn¡¯t that bad an effect, so I let it be. Where the fabric had creased on my initial pass had been left untouched, however, and I made sure to get those on my second run.

    When I was done making my gloves look cool, I did the same to my shirt and jacket, going with the green of my costume for the jacket and black for the shirt. I didn¡¯t bother with the parts that were covered by the jacket. My pants were made the green as well.

    I noticed Glitter Bomb watching me as I ran my hands all over myself. She glanced away quickly when I turned my head her way. Once I was done with my appearance, I pulled a collapsible baton out of my bag and let it rest in my hands.

    The segmented object was something I found myself enjoying analysing through my sixth sense. The sliding mechanisms, or more specifically the locking mechanisms that kept the baton in one of two positions were gratifying to figure out. I removed friction from the parts that slid, and ended up having the baton extend and collapse without moving a muscle.

    ¡°I thought you were an Enforcer.¡± Forsaken commented. I started looking through my eyes again, and realised his attention was on me.

    ¡°You¡¯re not the only one. Risk thought so as well until I told him otherwise. I¡¯m a Dagger range Disrupter and Ghost.¡± I raised the baton, stopped holding it, and made it slide halfway down my hand, where it stuck as if glued. I had to pause and focus because of the finicky uses of my power. ¡°I have telekinesis on anything I touch, on the deader side of Felwyr¡¯s law.¡±

    ¡°How strong?¡±

    ¡°Pretty strong, but not as strong as Orcus and I can hurt myself.¡± I explained. ¡°I thought you guys knew.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡± Glitter Bomb said. ¡°What¡¯s your Ghost power?¡±

    ¡°My face.¡± I explained. ¡°I change the colour of things.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty cool, you can like, do graffiti and stuff.¡± She leaned closer. ¡°Have you done any graffiti and stuff?¡±

    Forsaken crossed his arms. ¡°I¡¯m worried now. You just improvised a costume, but you don¡¯t have much protection. With your powerset you¡¯ll need to get close.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s why I got the baton. I¡¯m vigilante at the moment, I can¡¯t access the stuff I¡¯d have as a Sentry. My costume was specifically made with that in mind, but that¡¯s not helping us here.¡±

    Forsaken thought for a moment. Glitter Bomb looked between us.

    ¡°Forsaken! Are you really going to do it?¡± Glitter Bomb asked excitedly.

    ¡°Lock.¡± Forsaken ignored the heroine. ¡°I will lend you a weapon for this mission.¡±

    That got my attention. If all Forsaken¡¯s weapons had powers, then he just told me that he was giving me a power. ¡°Which one?¡±

    ¡°The spear.¡± He said. ¡°But not now. When we move.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to stab anyone.¡±

    ¡°Then the spear won¡¯t let you.¡±

    That made me frown, but Forsaken offered no further explanation. Maybe he thought his vague explanation of the will in his flail was enough. I nodded hesitantly and set the baton down beside me. Back to waiting.

    As time passed I did my best to stave off the tiredness the inactivity was giving me. I failed first when my head fell back and hit the wall of the van. I straightened back up, but there wasn¡¯t any action to be had, so I soon found myself back in that position. From that position, I failed at staying awake again when my eyes closed.

    I saw gold overhead.

 4. Men/Monsters 7

    In the event of a fire, you¡¯re supposed to get low and get the fuck away from there. In the event of an earthquake, you get under a table or a doorway and hold out hope that it won¡¯t get worse. In the event of a tsunami, go for high ground.

    In the event of Quetzalcouatl, the safety procedure was to get somewhere safe. But the definition of safe in that procedure left a lot to be desired. Because the Eclipse went for crowds, it was better to stay separate. The fact that it went for crowds was well known, but the procedure was still to get to shelters, effectively herding hundreds of people to their deaths if the Calamity made it to any such shelter.

    If I¡¯d been awake when the sirens first sounded, that would¡¯ve been where I ended up.

    Light hurt more than it burned around the Eclipse, so it was best to stay inside, or at least under cover. It did, however, burn a lot when it was bringing down the more dangerous stuff, and that effectively herded everyone into metaphorical barrels otherwise known as buildings. The Eclipse could then move almost casually through any such building and have it be the end of dozens of people.

    Not so much, now that it had been doing that for twenty minutes. All the high rises were long abandoned. Single story buildings were mostly safe, and two story buildings were largely left alone. Still, sometimes the Eclipse dove down low and took the roofs off these structures anyway, possibly just to remind everyone that it could. Then again, it wasn¡¯t like it mattered in the city centre where everything had been built tall.

    Whether or not the Eclipse was sentient was still out to the jury. Whether or not it was cunning had been settled long ago.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s moving near to you.¡± Tess¡¯ voice came over the phone. ¡°Are you under anything? Do you have shelter?¡±

    I looked at the blackened tree on the corner of the road. Since I was in a residential area, all the buildings were closed to me, and the only shelter I could benefit from was that tree and any sheltered porches I could make it to.

    ¡°I¡¯m close enough.¡± I told Tess. The song of the Eclipse wasn¡¯t rising right now. I didn¡¯t need to break for shelter just yet.

    ¡°Get closer.¡± Was Tess¡¯ response.

    I was already running with an umbrella to keep the light off my head. At the same time I was talking to Tess through my headphones connected to my Vphone. It was awkward, but the alternative was dangerous. I hadn¡¯t tested the umbrella against the intense light, and I didn¡¯t want to try. ¡°How about you, where are you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m in a hardware store right now.¡± Tess told me, making me laugh.

    ¡°Are you looting? You?¡±

    ¡°Shut up, it¡¯s already been looted.¡±

    I nodded my head at that. It didn¡¯t make sense, but I kind of expected it. The sky was falling down around us, and people had taken the time to clear out a hardware store. Who cared if hundreds of people were dying by the minute? Some people really wanted a new screen.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t this supposed to be a ¡®meet halfway¡¯ kind of thing?¡± I asked, breaking the quiet that was me breathing heavily.

    ¡°I saw some heroes escorting some people. They¡¯re in my way.¡± Tess explained.

    ¡°So you¡¯re waiting? Good.¡± The eclipse went for groups.

    ¡°Michael!¡± Tess suddenly insisted.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s going up!¡±

    I struggled to connect what she said to what she meant until I realised the Eclipse was getting louder. The tree was definitely close enough that I could reach it, but I¡¯d just noticed a dairy on the road beyond that had its door open. I made a judgement call and started sprinting towards it.

    Just in case, I kept the umbrella up the whole way. It was a good thing I did, because the sound of the Eclipse reached crescendo moments before I got inside. I winced as the pain from the light suddenly intensified despite the meagre shade my umbrella gave me. When I crossed the threshold, the umbrella was caught on the doorframe and I let it be pulled from my grasp.

    I ran further into the shop so that a rogue shaft of light didn¡¯t catch me and caught my breath as I watched the umbrella that had helped me through the city for the past twenty minutes slowly blacken and burn. Then the effect ended and some quiet returned.

    ¡°I made it.¡± I said for Tess¡¯ benefit. I got a sigh of relief and a chastising remark from my adopted sister.

    The dairy had been looted, but only once going by the look of it. Some stuff was on the floor, though that could have just been a quake from the Eclipse hitting the ground or adequately sized building. I noted that there was a screen that once would have had security footage playing on it. The screen had been smashed, but a glance around told me that the cameras still had red lights and were therefore recording. Mostly, it was packets of chips and other snacks that were missing. Anything that one or two people could carry in their arms.

    I didn¡¯t understand it, but I was grateful for the energy drinks they left behind. I decided to have one and put two more in my pocket for later. The initial pop and the drink going down my throat was immensely satisfying.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Tess asked.

    I froze, even though she couldn¡¯t see me. ¡°Water.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t go ¡®ahh¡¯ after having a drink of water. Are you looting?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an energy drink.¡± I sighed. ¡°Figured I could use it.¡±

    ¡°You better pay.¡±

    ¡°Why are you insisting on this? Right now, me not paying for an energy drink has to be the forty hundredth baddest thing happening in this city.¡±

    There was silence over the line for a bit.

    Tess¡¯ voice was small. ¡°I need something.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll come back and pay the owner after all this is done.¡± I said easily. Anything to stop her dwelling. ¡°Promise.¡±

    Nothing came back over the line. This call was really going on for a while. One of us was going to get one hell of a phone bill.

    I waited for Quetzalcouatl¡¯s next crescendo before leaving the dairy. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to find a replacement umbrella. After some more running, I was amongst the taller buildings that were still short enough that the Eclipse hadn¡¯t turned its attention to them yet.

    ¡°In the city now.¡± I said for Tess.

    ¡°I¡¯m moving again.¡± Was the response.

    ¡°It¡¯s going up!¡± Came through the line after a few moments. It was harder for me to make out, since the Eclipse was on the other side of where Tess was. ¡°I¡¯m safe. Are you?¡±

    ¡°Safe.¡± I told her. At the moment, I was inside a shopping mall that the Eclipse had carved parts of the roof out of. The red edges from where its tendrils had burned through the metal parts of it were still glowing. Other parts were less neatly destroyed and weren¡¯t glowing, since that had come from the Eclipse clawing at the structure, or just smashing into it.

    I hadn¡¯t been safe when I said it, but there was still a ways to go before the crescendo burned the city. I moved into a sunglasses shop that had been abandoned and waited it out there. It was really tempting to grab two pairs of shades for me and Tess, but she¡¯d make a big deal about it, so I stayed my hand.

    Then it was safe to move again, and I moved on after a brief and failed search for another umbrella. Where were those things even sold, usually?

    The song of the Eclipse started rising again before I could make it out of the mall and to the next safe shelter. I found a wall that was decently in shade and waited. From where I waited, I could see the twisting and nebulous form of the Quetzalcouatl, and several flying forms that split away from it to dive for cover. There were rigid trails of white light coming off of one of them, allowing me to identify them as Archangel.

    The hero of Aegis, and the other ones that I couldn¡¯t identify from where I was had been harrying the Eclipse. As the forms split away, the Eclipse flared its wings almost lazily. The superheated tendrils slashed through the air and half of them were blocked by Archangel, while most of the rest were dodged. Each time a tendril was blocked, a white shaft of light fell down from above, creating straight lines the blocked the drifting yellow ones. One form didn¡¯t manage to dodge and became two forms as it fell.

    Now that it no longer had anything interfering with it, the Calamity was free to turn its attention elsewhere. The song reached its crescendo and the Eclipse glistened in the supernatural light as it turned in my direction.

    Pictures of the Eclipse were widespread on the internet. It was the only Calamity that spent its downtime in a place where cameras could easily reach. Satellite footage and pictures of it in action circulated after every attack and every time it fucking turned around. I was familiar with how it looked, but seeing it first hand was something else entirely.

    It had the body of a golden snake, roughly fifteen metres long and two metres in diameter at its thickest points. There were four limbs attached to the creature. Two feathered wings that span more distance than the body of the snake, and were clawed like a pterodactyl''s, and two large forearms that ended in talons and looked almost out of place because of how large they were. Both pairs of limbs extended from the shoulders, though they were too thin to be called that.

    Running down the back of the snake were two rows of frills. One started where the wings started, and ran down roughly one third of the Eclipse¡¯s body, while the other row grew from head to tail. Extending out from some of these frills, the bends in the arms and wings, and the tip of the tail were the tendrils. They looked like thick power lines that had too much electricity running through them, and glowed white hot enough that it hurt to look at.

    It¡¯s head had four eyes, if you could call them that. On the left side of its diamond shaped face had one eye that seemed too large for the size of the head, while the right side had two eyes that were of a less unnatural size. The fourth eye was slightly larger than the one on the left, and was in the centre of what would be its forehead, just below where the frill started.

    The eyes didn¡¯t look like they should be even able to function. They were merely white orbs. There were no pupils or irises, just a pale white that somehow stood out from the golden scales surrounding them. The eyes weren¡¯t even the most unsettling feature of the Eclipse, its mouth took that prize.

    The Eclipse had a similarly shaped head to a dog, but lacked nostrils, and the split that was its mouth went too far back, extending even down the neck of the Eclipse. Two additional tendrils grew from the right side of its mouth. One from the back of the jaw, and one from closer to the front on the bottom. Right now the double jaw was open wide as the Eclipse projected its eerie song.

    Usually it was immaculate, as it regenerated when it spent time in the Zenith. Right now it was scuffed, with wounds all along its body. But none of the wounds were deep, and not much blood was dripping from them. The defenders weren¡¯t doing well this time.

    The crescendo ended, the jaw of the Eclipse snapped shut, and I saw it drifting in the air for a moment. It took enough of a pause that the tendrils began to drift in the air, since the Eclipse wasn¡¯t pulling them anywhere. Its head slowly reared up. Then it tensed.

    Then the mall I was hiding in was divided again. As were the buildings between it and the Eclipse, as well as the buildings on the other side. Fortunately for me, it passed through the mall far enough away that I was spared from even the debris of the casual destruction. I slowly turned and looked at where a pharmacy had just been, now replaced by a dust cloud and concrete that had been heated to the point of glowing.

    I started stumbling away, barely remembering to find my next cover before leaving the safety of the shade. There was a sound in my ear. I couldn¡¯t identify what it was right away. Coming so close to the Eclipse had shocked me, and the sound of it crashing through the mall had, in hindsight, left my ears ringing.

    ¡°Michael! I can hear you panting, what was that?¡± Tess was shouting. ¡°Please say something. Please, just anything.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know what to say, so I just ran to the next shelter. It was a cafe with large windows in the storefront. I made sure to take cover behind the counter where it wasn¡¯t burned black before taking a breath. Tess was talking in my ear the whole way, which wasn¡¯t helping.

    ¡°Tess-¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh, thank god.¡± She sounded monumentally relieved, which didn¡¯t make sense to me.

    ¡°God is here, Tess.¡± I told her, rambling. I wasn¡¯t religious. ¡°He just smashed through the mall I was about to leave and then some.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the point! You¡¯re still safe, aren¡¯t you? Please tell me you¡¯re still safe.¡±

    ¡°I got out.¡± I told her. ¡°How far away are you?¡±

    ¡°From where? How far away from where?¡±

    ¡°From where the Eclipse just destroyed a fucking mall twice for some reason!¡± I took a breath and tried to calm myself down. I didn¡¯t apologise.

    ¡°Not far.¡± Tess eventually told me. ¡°You know that cinema Emma took you to?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s close.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll meet there, okay?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to make it Michael.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    I almost moved but realised that the Eclipse was about to reach crescendo again. I gave a warning to Tess and stayed where I was until it was safe again. While the Eclipse did that, I had my second energy drink. It helped. Then I moved, having to double back in order to get to where Tess and I were going to meet up.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    It took a few minutes, and I had to wait and let a few groups of heroes pass, but I reached the street we were going to meet at. Right about that time there was the sound of bending metal, a screech that made me have to cover my ears. I looked up to see a four story building juddering upwards half a block away. Then the last of the cables holding it down snapped, and it drifted up and off towards the eclipse.

    That was Kinetic. They¡¯d given him the clear to throw buildings around. That meant there was a chance he¡¯d take cover away from me when I needed it.

    Maybe I was just being pessimistic.

    I shook my head and looked at the theatre. It was still too far away for me to be comfortable making a mad dash for it, so I found another store that hadn¡¯t been destroyed and ran there instead.

    ¡°I¡¯m a dash or two away from the cinema.¡± I told Tess, still peeking out and peering at it.

    ¡°Where abouts, exactly?¡±

    I looked around the spot I had taken cover in. ¡°Uh¡­ It¡¯s a restaurant I think. There isn¡¯t any branding on the inside. There¡¯s an ice cream truck across the street, though.¡±

    A head poked out of the door to the cinema. She had light brown hair that was done up in a simple ponytail, the easiest hairstyle that kept it out of the eyes, apparently. Tess looked up and down the street, found the truck, then found me.

    She waved. ¡°Found you.¡±

    I waved back, cognizant that the Eclipse was getting louder at an alarming rate. ¡°I¡¯ll be right over. Hide for the time being.¡±

    Tess listened to the Eclipse. ¡°Yeah.¡± She went back inside to find cover as I retreated into the restaurant to do the same. I jumped behind the small counter that was always there in restaurants and realised that I couldn¡¯t see the sky, meaning I was safe.

    The rise of the Elcipse¡¯s song was cut off abruptly. I almost asked Tess about it when the ground shook violently, and some cutlery that was still of some tables that hadn¡¯t been shaken off yet were finally deposited on the floor. Then the howl started.

    It had a similar quality to the Eclipse¡¯s earlier sounds, but it didn¡¯t come with the bending and burning light that effectively herded an entire city indoors. It did come with more violent quakes, however.

    I saw flashes of gold reflected in the windows across the street, and I realised that I still had line of sight on the cinema Tess was hiding in. A snarl sounded within the howl, and the quakes stopped. Then the howl was silenced again, and moments later another, much more violent quake threatened to knock me off my feet.

    Sounds of sizzling and breaking stone reached my ears. The screech of bending metal sometimes joined them. I kept watching outward and saw a tendril slash horizontally through the cinema above where Tess was hiding. A golden tail smashed into the building from behind and it crumbled in a cacophony of falling debris, a howling Calamity, and shouting heroes.

    Despite the noise, I heard the quiet beat from the call cutting off through my earbud.

    ~~~

    ¡°Hey, Lock!¡± Someone was stage whispering. I felt an urge to punch out, having just been pulled from one of my least favourite memories, but the rousing was gentle enough that I was able to stay the urge. Rubbing my eye with one palm, I took in my surroundings. The speaker was Glitter Bomb.

    ¡°What.¡± My voice was flat. I hated recalling that moment.

    ¡°We can make the path now.¡± Glitter Bomb was still whispering. Her voice was lowered further as she leaned in. ¡°Were you having a nightmare?¡±

    My hand dropped to my baton as I stared flatly at the heroine. I expect the effect was lessened by my power obscuring my face, so I made up for it by having the baton move into my grasp. ¡°I was.¡±

    Forsaken was outside the van, but he leaned back in. ¡°Hurry up.¡± He said.

    Glitter Bomb gave me another indecipherable look before following the hero. I focused on my earring for a moment, calming down. Finding a centre from which I could operate. The sound of Glitter Bomb hitting the pavement shook me back into my body and I found it within me to get moving.

    ¡°The safe one is a complex one though, we need to split up.¡± Glitter Bomb was telling Forsaken. ¡°And it¡¯s real short for you, but then it¡¯ll get real long.¡±

    ¡°Whose left in there?¡± I asked, still feeling a bit bleary and gesturing towards where the Beastmasters had their base.

    ¡°Um. Not Jackal.¡± Glitter Bomb was getting her pictures out again. ¡°Not Channel or Retch, they¡¯re still that way.¡± She flipped through the pictures after vaguely gesturing past me. ¡°Rainbowfish went that way,¡± Glitter Bomb pointed off to her right, away from the base. ¡°His path is really similar to Jackal¡¯s so they¡¯re probably together. Only Wayvern is still in there.¡±

    ¡°And Bad Valentine.¡± I said.

    ¡°How would you know?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s holding the flail, isn¡¯t he?¡±

    ¡°Where is the flail right now?¡± Forsaken asked Glitter Bomb.

    She thought for a moment. ¡°It¡¯s in there.¡± Glitter Bomb gestured towards the Beastmaster base. ¡°A bit apart from Wayvern. It hasn¡¯t moved much, but it did move at some point.¡± I got the distinct impression that she was frowning. ¡°It¡¯s moving now, but not moving moving.¡± She looked at me. ¡°You get me?¡±

    ¡°So it is being carried.¡± Forsaken said, leveling his gaze in the direction of the building. ¡°That makes this complicated.¡±

    ¡°Your path avoids conflict, right?¡± I asked Glitter Bomb, getting a nod. ¡°But that won¡¯t matter much if it leads you to where someone is holding it and they want to have a fight.¡± I directed that at Forsaken, getting another nod.

    ¡°We have accepted that as an eventuality.¡± Forsaken said decidedly. ¡°Were it avoidable, we would have retrieved the flail last night. Fairy, what is the path we are walking?¡±

    ¡°Okay. So.¡± Glitter Bomb paused for a second, thinking. ¡°We¡¯re all going to walk up to that building.¡± She pointed at a building beyond the one we were trying to infiltrate. ¡°We¡¯ll go around to the farthest corner, then we¡¯ll stop. After five minutes, we keep walking around and make it to the Beastmaster headquarters and split up.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not comfortable with that.¡± Forsaken said. ¡°We could find trouble.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s-¡± Glitter Bomb fidgeted. ¡°It¡¯s the only way.¡±

    I raised in imperceivable eyebrow.

    ¡°So you two go to the second door around the right, while I get access by climbing up to the second floor on the left. You get in, hug the wall on the left, skipping every second corner and the first staircase. I tap on a window, then you let me in through another.¡±

    ¡°Why must we let you in?¡± Forsaken questioned.

    Glitter Bomb glanced between the two of us. ¡°Because my path doesn¡¯t go that way. I get caught if I do, I think.¡±

    Forsaken thought, then nodded. ¡°I have the directions. Shall we go?¡±

    Glitter Bomb shook her head. ¡°We¡¯re supposed to stay here for a bit longer.¡± She didn¡¯t expand and say exactly how much time she meant.

    I frowned. ¡°How much long-¡±

    ¡°Come on!¡± Glitter Bomb suddenly started walking.

    That much longer, apparently. I glanced at Forsaken, who had taken it in stride. Apparently this was normal for him. I resisted the urge to sigh and made to follow. After a few steps an ornate wooden shaft was presented in front of me. It was Forsaken handing me the spear.

    I took it tentatively. We were still on the sidewalk, and that gave me some reservations. But Forsaken wasn¡¯t focused on that. He was keeping his head held high and looking around, and had a gun held loosely in his off hand that he transferred to his newly freed one.

    The shaft of the spear had grooves running lengthwise along it, and the decorative features bent at forty five degree angles every now and then, giving it an indiscernible pattern. The tip of the spear was shorter than my hand, and the blade simply tapered to a point after the guard. There was a decorative blue ribbon that was wrapped at the pointy end, just before the blade started.

    It was heavy as well. I found myself twisting my hands around it as kept an eye out. There was a car leaving the driveway of the Beastmaster base, but they didn¡¯t react to us and left, driving down the road away from us. Other than them and us, the street was empty. The ground around us also looked different as I glanced towards it. It was constantly shifting towards me, but never actually moving. Some spots more than others.

    That would be the power of the spear, then. I wondered how I was supposed to access the power of it, since I hadn¡¯t been given any time to get familiar with this thing like I had Cloud¡¯s former staff. Speaking of, this thing was a lot heavier than the staff. I tried to mess with its gravity, but it didn¡¯t become lighter.

    I tried again and failed.

    It was a spear, nothing but wood and metal, with a little blue ribbon attached. My power should have worked on it. The only things it didn¡¯t work on were living things, possibly meaning that the spear was alive. A chill crept over me and I felt my hairs start to stand on end.

    Forsaken has said he gave his weapons will. This spear was alive.

    But he hadn¡¯t said that the will of the weapon¡¯s was original.

    I glanced at the hero as we passed by the Beastmaster¡¯s base. He was looking at the building and keeping an eye on Glitter Bomb. This wasn¡¯t the time to ask the question. The five minutes of waiting we were about to do would.

    Glitter Bomb cut across the lawn and Forsaken and I followed. She lead us to the farthest corner then pointed at Forsaken, then at another spot on the ground. Forsaken stepped where she pointed as Glitter Bomb gave me the same treatment. I moved to the indicated spot and set the spear down. There was an urge to lean on it that I had to resist. This thing had a pointy end.

    Some of the five minutes passed before I said anything. ¡°What¡¯s their name?¡±

    It was a guess. But with everything I¡¯d heard and observed, it felt right. Forsaken snapped his head in my direction, his grip on the gun tight, and Glitter Bomb gasped way too loudly again. That meant I was right, or close to it.

    I pulled my lips thin at the confirmation and nudged my head towards the spear.

    ¡°Sedimentary.¡± Forsaken said at length. ¡°He was a detective.¡±

    ¡°All your weapons are like this?¡± I asked.

    There was a pregnant pause.

    ¡°All but one.¡± Forsaken glanced at Glitter Bomb. His hand strayed to his bag. ¡°Just in case. How did you figure it out?¡±

    ¡°I have telekinesis on non-living things.¡± I said. That was enough explanation for Forsaken, who nodded in understanding.

    ¡°He likes those with sharp minds. Sedimentary will enjoy this.¡±

    ¡°And how do I use it?¡±

    ¡°Sedimentary will show you.¡±

    ¡°A living weapon in every sense of the word.¡± I looked at the spear, then glanced back at Forsaken. ¡°You¡¯re terrifying.¡±

    Glitter Bomb hummed in agreement. Forsaken took it in stride and we spent the last of the five minutes in silence. When it was over Glitter Bomb just started walking again, and we followed behind. Both Forsaken and me keeping an eye out, but it was deserted. We made it to the building we were trying to infiltrate easy enough.

    ¡°Remember, second door on the right.¡± Glitter Bomb repeated. ¡°Hug the left, skip every second turn and the first staircase. Then go to the first room, still hugging the left. Let me in through there.¡±

    She left to go do her thing, then Forsaken brushed past me to go the way she had told us to. I trailed behind as we made our way to the front of the building. There was a side door that looked pretty flimsy. It would¡¯ve been my first choice for infiltration, but we had a Smart authority telling us otherwise.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get why the Beastmasters are still here.¡± I commented, keeping my voice down. I still got a warning look from Forsaken for my trouble. ¡°This place got compromised yesterday. I was the one that compromised it.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps there is too much within to move in a single day.¡± Forsaken matched my volume.

    ¡°Then why are there still two Beastmasters here?¡±

    Forsaken didn¡¯t answer as he made it to the second door and turned the handle. It was the one I¡¯d entered through the day before, and was unsurprisingly locked.

    ¡°The spear.¡± He held his hand out.

    I looked at it. ¡°I think this is why I helped the path. I can unlock that by touching it.¡±

    The hand dropped. ¡°Then do it.¡±

    I stepped over and touched the door handle. It was one of those ball shaped ones that had the keyhole in the middle of the handle. The tumblers snapped into focus and I started making them move. Since I still hadn¡¯t figured out rotational movement I had to use my fingertip to make the lock move, but the door was soon open.

    Forsaken lead the way inside. I followed behind again, looking around at the space within the warehouse. It was looking like Forsaken was right. None of the expensive cars from the day before were here, and a lot of the benches that once held tools had been cleared. Where once was a dozen and a half people bustling around four or five cars was now just an empty space. I was aware of our footsteps echoing.

    The second time Forsaken glared at me for making too much noise, I just stopped walking and used my power to advance instead. Thankfully there wasn¡¯t any carpet or flooring tiles, so it was a one and done application of my power. All I did was futz with friction, and it was as if I was standing on a treadmill.

    I wasn¡¯t used to it, though. I nearly fell over three times in five seconds, but I stopped making echoing footsteps. Forsaken, on his part, was much better at being quiet than I was while walking. That could probably be put down to experience, or he had living shoes.

    I wasn¡¯t ruling anything out.

    The first staircase was right there, so we skipped that. The second left took us to a thin hallway that curled around the back of the warehouse space. There were three doors here, and we checked into the second one. It was just an office space, and we stood in it long enough to realise there was no exit through here before turning to leave.

    The sound of footsteps squeaking on concrete stopped us. I held on to the door and pulled it almost shut, then locked it. After a half minute, there was the sound of another door opening, and whoever was walking was gone.

    So this was why the timing mattered. I found myself respecting Glitter Bomb¡¯s power a lot more.

    We resumed walking the path and made it to the top of the second staircase. The floor was carpeted up here, so I had to actually walk, but it was fine since I wasn¡¯t echoing anymore. We turned left and went into the first room. I was closing the door behind us when I heard the soft sound of talking in the hallway I¡¯d just come from.

    I raised a finger in front of my face that I wasn¡¯t sure Forsaken would see, but I kept it there as my other hand let Sedimentary lean against my shoulder and then touched the door. Using my power, I erased friction from the hinges and pushed it soundlessly closed, leaving it just a little bit open like I had downstairs. Thankfully the door opened into the room, so it wasn¡¯t obviously in the corridor.

    Two voices came closer. The first was female and sounded like she was biting all her words. The other was more familiar.

    ¡°-lucky you convinced him, I think. He¡¯s been going off the rails. Can¡¯t tell if he¡¯s about to snap.¡±

    ¡°Is that why he¡¯s still here?¡± The second person asked. Nick. What was he doing out so quickly?

    ¡°That and the flail makes Jackal incredibly nervous. Never seen something disturb him like that, and he collects us like pets. I still remember finding Channel, and that gave me nightmares. Shame you couldn¡¯t get your girl to add to that.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t remind me.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯ll be fine, though I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t actually care. Talks like he has two powers now, but hasn¡¯t shown the second one. What happened to her?¡±

    ¡°She walked out. Did a whole bunch of-¡± They were down the stairs now, out of earshot.

    I looked behind me to see Forsaken helping Glitter Bomb up through the window. She managed to get a hand on the sill and leaped over in one fluid motion once she was high enough. She crept over to me, staying low.

    ¡°We¡¯re in.¡± She stage whispered, sounding far more enthused than I did. ¡°We just have to get to the end of that hallway to the left. Second to last door on the right.¡± She glanced through the wall. ¡°Yeah, that.¡±

    I closed the door before I spoke, using my power to prevent the click of the tooth snapping into place. ¡°I heard two people walking past. They were talking about the flail, and I have advice for if you end up fighting Bad Valentine.¡±

    Forsaken gestured for me to get on with it while Glitter Bomb looked enraptured.

    ¡°His power winds up. Each time he attacks he sends out shards of glass that are left where they land while more shards grow out of him to become a telekinetic shield. He¡¯ll be at his most vulnerable at the beginning of an encounter. You do not want him to get a big telekinetic shield.¡±

    ¡°Bag ¡®em and tag ¡®em, got it.¡± Glitter Bomb nodded.

    I coloured my eyebrows silver and furrowed them at her, then blacked them again.

    ¡°It¡¯s a cool saying.¡± Glitter Bomb explained. ¡°Captain Furlow says it all the time.¡±

    I blinked, getting that. Captain Furlow was a character in a cartoon aimed at pre-teens. ¡°Anyway, the more of a shield he has, then the more devastating his counterattack. From what I saw of him in action, his power handles the initial defence while he attacks, growing larger the longer the fight goes on. Then when he actively defends, the power attacks.¡±

    Saying that, I recalled Bad Valentine talking about how he was looking forward to being made to defend.

    ¡°He subconsciously attacks?¡± Forsaken checked.

    ¡°Maybe. I¡¯m not Bad Valentine so I don¡¯t know for sure. What I do know is that conscious defence will come from the shield he¡¯s constructed, while the subconscious attack will come from whatever glass is left lying around from his conscious ones. He can use-¡±

    A piercing scream cut me off. It was a man¡¯s scream, one that was beyond any notions of retaining their pride. Just pain and fear. I was very familiar with screams of fear. It didn¡¯t sound like it came from that far away either. In fact, it sounded like it came from the room down the hall. Second from the end on the right. I looked at the others.

    ¡°We should help.¡± I said, opening the door. I needed to be able to offer help without hesitation. That¡¯s what I was aiming for. A nameless person screaming? Yeah, that sounded like something I should try and help stop.

    I felt like I¡¯d already hesitated thinking about it. That wasn¡¯t good enough.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Glitter Bomb hissed, grabbing my arm with more strength than I expected. It was too late though, I was one step out the door and had nearly walked into an impressive female form.

    She was athletically built, though that was probably the last thing anyone would notice about her. Much more noticeable than her toned muscles and bald head were the leathery wings grew out from behind her shoulders that wrapped around a good portion of her body, and the tail complete with a stinger that grew out behind her.

    Wayvern looked at the three of us as we stared back at her. Then Forsaken aimed his gun past my head and fired.

 4. Men/Monsters 8

    I saw surprise in Wayvern¡¯s expression for a single instant before I went deaf. Then I realised that her form was blurring, expanding, and also collapsing in on itself. Her wings were flaring out a little as Wayvern was half a step through backing up to put some distance between us.

    Needless to say, she didn¡¯t make it. Her image had frozen the moment the gun went off and everything had become triangles that expanded and retracted in a seemingly random order. The ones around the edges and the ones in the spot that Forsaken had shot stretched more that the ones halfway between the two. They stretched further and further while the bases of the triangles became thinner and thinner, until they were imperceptible, then presumably gone.

    The process repeated again and again until all that was Wayvern had vanished from the hallway. It only took a few seconds. Forsaken was talking the whole time, but my ears were still ringing from the fucking gunshot that went off right next to me.

    Forsaken fired again, aiming out the window this time. Then he pushed me out the doorway and gestured for me to follow as he made his way to where the flail was. I gripped Sedimentary with one hand while the other brushed against my baton. I¡¯d frozen. That wasn¡¯t good.

    I had become a hero to act.

    Two powers were at my disposal, one in each hand. My own, which was finicky and liable to end with many broken things, some of them myself. And in my other hand, a power that I didn¡¯t consciously know how to use.

    A vibration traveled through the spear and up my arm. I gripped it with both hands and made after Forsaken. Was that Sedimentary communicating to me? Another vibration ran through the spear.

    I had no fucking clue what he was trying to tell me.

    Forsaken tested the door Glitter Bomb had pointed out and found it unlocked, so he opened it like a SWAT officer. His gun in a position where he could easily aim it after opening the door, and he went in gun first. Glitter Bomb was close behind, and I was a late third.

    I was glad the two of them went through first, because their bodies blocked a decent amount of the scene. Selfish, I know. But that didn¡¯t change the fact that what I saw was going to keep me up at night. There was far too much blood everywhere for me to just brush this one off.

    The room was an office that had been partially cleared out. Whoever had done the clearing had gone straight for the stuff that was important, and left everything decorative behind. There was a chibi jackal figurine on the desk that told me exactly who used to sit there. The person that sat there now was a teenage girl with dark hair. She was wearing clothes, but they were so stained with blood that the original colour was impossible to make out.

    It looked like her blood, and she wasn¡¯t exactly sitting, either. She was on a four legged chair that was turned one hundred and eighty degrees from the desk and leaned back so her head lolled backwards with an agape expression. There were three lines on each of her cheeks that blood still ebbed from. They were shaped not too dissimilarly to a cat¡¯s whiskers.

    Jagged shards of glass stabbed into the desk and walls made it obvious who did this.

    The other part of the scene involved a man impaled to the wall. That was what Forsaken and Glitter Bomb were obscuring from me, but looking past them I could see that he was fixed there by long shafts of metal. The stabby stab that Glitter Bomb had told me about. At least six stabby stabs from the looks of it.

    Bad Valentine was nowhere to be seen. But there were red motes dancing on the ceiling that made me wary. Looking up made me realise that there were ceiling tiles missing from their holes. I knew how sturdy ceiling tiles were, and doubted he was hiding up there. There was a door to an adjacent room, and an interior window that had been smashed. Both were much more likely.

    Forsaken was holding a hand out to stop Glitter Bomb, and checked over his shoulder before correcting the elevation of the arm to be in front of her head. She ducked and walked past him, revealing more of the guy impaled on the wall.

    ¡°Where is the flail?¡± Forsaken asked. My ears were still ringing, but I¡¯d recovered enough to comprehend what he was saying.

    Glitter Bomb pointed right above me.

    Fucking hell. He was standing on the top of the wall.

    There were crashing sounds as the ceiling came down around me. I ducked with my arms over my exposed head and locked everything I was touching. Sans Sedimentary, of course. I felt an impact attempt to affect my sleeves, but fail to find any traction, then another, much larger force as what I presumed to be Bad Valentine himself fell on me feet first. The Altered was accompanied by at least a dozen smaller forces that, while small in area, were about equivalent in actual force.

    I weathered most of the assault, but two shards got my fingers. One slashed the back of a thumb, and my pinky on my other hand was slashed as well. Looking through my power told me that both cuts were light, which was a small relief.

    Still locked, I glanced up. My head able to move since I wasn¡¯t wearing my hood, and my angle didn¡¯t let me see above myself, but I could see the heroes reacting. Forsaken was putting his gun away for some reason as Glitter Bomb was waving an imaginary conductor¡¯s wand. With each swish and flick, white arcs appeared in the air where the tip of her imaginary wand was and mingled with the red briefly before rushing in my direction and becoming something else.

    I saw the spray of colours and glints and shut my eyes the moment before the glitter bombs hit.

    Bad Valentine was still on me by virtue of having his legs in the groove between where my sleeves were. Since my clothes weren¡¯t accepting new forces, the fact that there was nowhere left for the boot to go was the only reason he stayed on top of me. He had no friction on me, but I could feel him jerk back as he got hit.

    The glitter hadn¡¯t had any push behind it, I¡¯d realised that when some of it had tried to find purchase on my clothes. Glitter Bomb had made him jump back reflexively. I unlocked myself once he was off and started moving.

    I lunged past the desk and turned around. What I saw was disheartening. Bad Valentine was back on his feet and already had a decent amount of glass swirling around his body. The bleeding flail was at his side, but now it was bleeding up. The crimson drops defying gravity as they ascended and expanded to become more red motes in the ceiling.

    The villain himself was wearing much the same clothing as he was the day before, but now it was wet. The blood of others less obvious because of the already dark colour of the leather. Fresh shards growing out of him were easily distinguishable from the older ones because they were clean, while the older ones had blood running down their sharp ends.

    I glanced upward warily, and saw that the mass of motes above Bad Valentine was gathering in the centre of the room. Specifically near Glitter Bomb. Barely thinking, I dashed beside her and waited half a moment. Glitter Bomb finished sending out a package of glitter and I jumped in front of her, yelling ¡°Duck!¡±

    My clothes all got locked at the apex of my jumps, and in that moment Bad Valentine swung towards us with the flail and the red motes converged along the arc of the spiked ball on the chain. The swing finished, and the ¡®big old stabby stab¡¯ came for me because I was in the way. Probably trying to kill two birds with one stone by stabbing Glitter Bomb through me.

    It didn¡¯t work. My power prevailed and the bloody spike shattered on impact.

    I unlocked myself, barely noting the wedgie the action had given me being relieved, and dropped back to the floor. Bad Valentine wore a shocked expression for a moment, a moment in which I considered drawing my baton and attempting to knock him out. I vetoed the idea since I didn¡¯t want him to counterattack with this much glass. He didn¡¯t have much glass in his shield, but there was a lot strewn about in the room. Enough to make me a living statue of glass if he wanted.

    A short-lived statue of glass.

    I got my baton out anyway and brandished it. I used my power to prevent it from extending, then made it do so belatedly, hoping the delayed action would confuse Bad Valentine. Give him something to trip on at the very least.

    Looking at him, the mind game didn¡¯t work. He was twirling the Flail now, quickly replenishing the spent red motes.

    ¡°Out of the way!¡± It was Forsaken. I glanced back and saw him with a reflex bow, string drawn and arrow knocked. ¡°Out of the way!¡±

    Not needing to be told a third time, I dodged to the side of the room where the man was crucified. Less glass there. Glitter Bomb had gone right. That didn¡¯t bode well for her, but she was fine until Bad Valentine defended.

    The moment we were out of the way, Bad Valentine pushed his off hand towards Forsaken, unleashing a small barrage of glass from his shield as more grew out of his body to replenish and reinforce.

    Forsaken took at least six shards to the side, then released the arrow.

    The arrow vanished, and not because it flew that quickly. It dissolved and was replaced by a hurtling ball of fire that approached Bad Valentine as his reflexive defence dropped. Not giving him the time to respond. The ball of fire impacted and picked up the villain without losing speed. Bad Valentine was standing close to the doorway, but he was carried out of the room, through the wall on the other side of the wallway, and through the outside wall of the building.

    It didn¡¯t feel like Bad Valentine was actually being pushed through walls, looking at him. The force needed to break even a timber wall was enough to break a human body, I knew that better than most. Still, he was carried, the fire flaring out and becoming more intense with each not-impact. He sailed outside and the fireball exploded.

    ¡°Pull him back.¡± Forsaken hissed at me.

    I was about to shoot back that my power didn¡¯t have the range for that, but Sedimentary pulsed in a strange way. I didn¡¯t know what to do, but I had a suspicion as to what exactly was being asked of me. It hurt, and one hand went to my temple as I stepped towards the hole in the wall. After a short massage that didn¡¯t do anything, I dropped my baton, put my hand on the spear and shoved it forward.

    Then I pulled it back and a nearly horizontal pillar of earth came back with it. I didn¡¯t aim it, that was Sedimentary doing the work. All I did was pull the trigger on the power, and the consciousness behind the spear tended to the fine details. There was a yell as Bad Valentine was hit by a pillar of moving earth.

    ¡°He¡¯ll likely run.¡± Forsaken said as I was finishing up. ¡°Fairy.¡± He held out his bow, and Glitter Bomb took it reverently. Forsaken pulled his gun out of his bag again and aimed it at the girl that had the cat scratches.

    ¡°Wait.¡± I stepped in the way, getting a closer look. ¡°I recognise her, that¡¯s Nancy from yesterday. She was a driver for Bad Valentine.¡± I looked at the guy on the wall with fresh eyes. ¡°That¡¯s Joe, he came with.¡±

    ¡°Sufficient motive, then.¡± Forsaken said. Glitter Bomb hummed an affirmative. ¡°Out of the way.¡± He was holding his gun like he was about to shoot them. I was alarmed.

    ¡°They¡¯ve been tortured for some fucking reason. They need help, not an execution.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t an execution. This will save them.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re holding a gun. Forgive me if I don¡¯t think you¡¯re going to shoot someone back to health.¡±

    Forsaken lowered the gun. ¡°The more we talk, the more time Bad Valentine has to prepare. The gun will put them in a suspended state within then next bullet. Time will pass for the mind, but not the body. We can transport them without needing to worry about their health that way.¡±

    I looked at Glitter Bomb, who was already moving towards the hole outside. I looked at Nancy, who was still bleeding, and now that I was looking at her, she was looking back at me. There wasn¡¯t enough strength in her neck for her to lift it up, but it had fallen towards the side I was on. This side of her body had been lacerated to a much greater extent than what I¡¯d seen before. It was symmetrical. The look in her eyes was hopeless, like she was a robot on her last percentage of battery, and she was looking at me.

    She¡¯d been listening, that wasn¡¯t good. Joe was in an even worse state. I grimaced and erased friction from the sides of my shoes, making his blood slip off. Forsaken was clearly getting impatient. I couldn¡¯t ignore the shards in his costume.

    ¡°Fuck. Fine.¡±

    The moment I was out of the way, Forsaken shot Nancy and her body froze then dissolved into fractals the same way Wayvern¡¯s did. He retrieved the next bullet from the chamber, then shot Joe to the same effect.

    Both bullets were handed to me. ¡°Your responsibility is to ensure we are not ambushed, from the side or from behind. If we should fall tonight, you are the one who will transport them to healthcare.¡±

    I tested my power on the bullets and found that it worked. ¡°How do I get them out? These bullets aren¡¯t alive.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Shoot the bullets.¡± Forsaken told me seriously. ¡°Come. Our quarry is not too far away. We can still catch him.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s setting a trap.¡± Glitter Bomb added.

    ¡°You can get around it?¡±

    ¡°Mostly.¡±

    ¡°Good enough. Lock, keep an eye out for Wayvern. She might not be coming back, but if she does I want you to intercept her. Fight her to a standstill if you can. Retreat if you can¡¯t.¡±

    I nodded and followed after them, making sure to get next to Glitter Bomb. ¡°Which way is Wayvern?¡±

    Glitter Bomb pointed ahead of her to the right.

    ¡°And Bad Valentine?¡±

    Ahead and to the left. About fifteen degrees more of a turn than Wayvern.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    I could feel the ground beneath the hole in the side of the building swirling in that moving-not-moving way. When I pointed Sedimentary at it, the spear pulsed. I lifted the tip of the spear and a square pillar of earth emerged at an angle from the ground, giving us a slope to slide down.

    ¡°You are a quick study.¡± Forsaken commented before leaping.

    ¡°Like me.¡± Glitter Bomb told me before leaping.

    I shook my head and leaped, landing a little awkwardly and using my power to smooth things out friction wise. That turned out to be a mistake because I hit the ground a little too hard and shocked the bottom of my feet. I stood up and even that hurt, but at least I hadn¡¯t rolled my ankle.

    Forsaken and Glitter Bomb were already moving and I made to go after them. Sedimentary pulsed as I ran and the ground underneath me shifted, rising at a very low diagonal as a fast enough speed that when it stopped, I was flung forwards. Landing was a bitch, I almost tripped, and the ground shock worsened from the maneuver. But now I was right behind the Heroes of Yesterday.

    ¡°Don¡¯t just act up.¡± I hissed. Sedimentary pulsed, and that¡¯s when I realised that each pulse was different.

    The one that just happened occured in the spear all at once, with no starting point and no part where the vibration faded last. It was uniform, no travelling vibration, and no expression of power that I could make out. When Sedimentary launched me, the vibrations started at the base and moved to the point, fading out almost entirely where I was holding it.

    I adjusted my grip so I was holding it near the point and said, ¡°Do that again, but less.¡±

    Sedimentary pulsed when I was moving the arm holding it forward slightly. This time the vibrations travelled to the end point and I noticed that the vibrations tapered off as they traveled. It only happened in an instant as a similar pillar erupted beneath me and I got launched again, ending up in front of Forsaken and Glitter Bomb.

    ¡°To the right!¡± Glitter Bomb shouted.

    I looked, there was a gap between two clusters of conjoined buildings that a figure in black leather with a shimmering entourage of glass was running through. I pointed at him with Sedimentary and pulled like I had before. A pillar of earth erupted from in front of Bad Valentine and blocked off the alley.

    He looked back at me as I wondered why that pillar had been the least impressive one so far. Bad Valentine swung the flail around, loosing some red motes as I adjusted my grip on Sedimentary. The bloodlights drifted to the left of the alley and up to a window that Bad Valentine started climbing towards. He threw part of his shield at the wall to act as footholds.

    Forsaken caught up with me and loosed an arrow. It transformed into a fireball that Bad Valentine shot some glass into. That only made it bigger, but it was poorly aimed and was never going to hit its mark. It hit the window Bad Valentine was climbing for, removing it from the wall and taking it out of sight. The villain looked between us and the window, then leaped through it.

    Forsaken swore and made to follow. I made to do the same, but Glitter Bomb caught my arm and pointed at the roof of the other building cluster. ¡°You need to go up there.¡±

    It took me a moment to figure it out. ¡°Alone?¡±

    ¡°I have to follow the blood, sorry.¡±

    I frowned at the specific wording. ¡°Keep him safe, he¡¯s bleeding.¡±

    ¡°I know, I don¡¯t like it.¡± Then Glitter Bomb was off, following after Forsaken.

    I pointed at the roof with Sedimentary and the ground right in front of me rose up, nearly taking my nose off. It gave me a fucking shock, but it confirmed my theory. When I had used the spear offensively, or used it at a distance, the vibrations started at the front and traveled back. Since I was holding it at the front, effectively negating Sedementary¡¯s power, the greatest expression of the power couldn¡¯t take form. Then, when I tried to make a pillar underneath me, but was holding it at the base, it had been inaccurate.

    ¡°Sorry, was figuring you out.¡± I muttered, adjusting to hold near the point. ¡°Let¡¯s get to the roof this time, eh.¡± I paused, considering how Canadian I felt, then shook it off and pushed up.

    Sedimentary pulsed twice. The first was uniform, for communicating something. I still had no clue as to what. But the second pulse was as it should be, with all the strongest points able to express themselves. The spear launched me up and over the first pillar, which was already crumbling, and I landed somewhat heavily on the roof.

    I gingerly took a few steps. My feet were getting numb, and I didn¡¯t really appreciate how Sedimentary was throwing me around. Still, if I had figured out everything to Sedimentary¡¯s power, then I could actually start to use it. Glitter Bomb had sent me up here to fend off Wayvern, who flew. Chances were it was best for me to use range, so I gripped the spear near the base.

    ¡°Person we¡¯re fighting is a flier.¡± I said for Sedimentary¡¯s benefit. ¡°Am I holding you right?¡±

    A pulse.

    ¡°Can you pulse two times in a row?¡±

    Three pulses.

    ¡°Are you making a joke?¡±

    One pulse.

    ¡°Can we do a ¡®three is no, one is yes¡¯ kind of thing?¡±

    Two pulses.

    I sighed and started scanning the horizon. This wasn¡¯t getting anywhere. ¡°Can you let me know when you see Wayvern?¡±

    Sedimentary immediately pulsed and I frowned. This was a new vibration, it faded out around where I was holding it like it usually did, but it wasn¡¯t sourceless and it didn¡¯t make any pillars shoot up. The vibration didn¡¯t taper off, either. What it did do was indicate a direction.

    I looked in the indicated direction and saw a small form approaching. Barely visible against the night sky.

    ¡°You keep a good eye out.¡± I murmured, causing Sedimentary to pulse repeatedly. They were weak vibrations. It gave me the impression that the spear was laughing.

    Wayvern got closer and a pit dropped in my stomach. The ¡®laughter¡¯ stopped in the same instant.

    ¡°You know, this isn¡¯t the first winged beast I¡¯ve watched approaching.¡± I used the term ¡®beast¡¯ liberally. Wayvern was just Altered, but the other thing I was referring to was different. ¡°I¡¯d ask if I can count on you, but you¡¯re just a spear.¡±

    That got a sharp pulse.

    ¡°Got any ideas? I haven¡¯t fought a flying villain before.¡±

    Three pulses, each of them traveling in a different direction.

    ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± I stood on the rooftop with my back to the alley I¡¯d come from, Sedimentary in hand, waiting for Wayvern to get close. With a close eye, I saw her change course from flying to the building on the other side of the alley. Her new course taking a wide berth.

    I adjusted to hold the spear near the point and thrust in her direction. This time I got a pillar of concrete throwing me to the rooftop closer to Wayvern. A glance behind me told me that the concrete fixture wasn¡¯t staying as well as the earthen ones. It crumbled almost instantly and left debris behind.

    That meant I wasn¡¯t permanently changing the building or adding mass that needed to be removed. Well, it did need to be removed, but it was the difference of demolition and picking up debris.

    The idle worries of being a hero.

    I shook the invasive thought and focused on landing. It was rough, but after the initial impact, I shut off friction and was able to slide along after Wayvern, the edge taken off the shock. The process was repeated three times before Wayvern seemed to give up on going around me.

    She flared her wings, then went into a dive headed straight for me, which is what I had been waiting for. I adjusted Sedimentary, then swiped up. A pillar of earth came up from underneath her, which was easily dodged. That much was expected.

    Then I pulled the spear towards me, bringing a second pillar out of the first. It came towards me directly over Wayvern, who heard the sound of moving earth and rolled midair to see what was above her. That¡¯s when I gripped Sedimentary in the middle and pulled down.

    Wayvern was fast enough to partially get out of the way, but the pillar was about a full meter in diameter and caught one of her wings. She tumbled and went into a freefall. I pulled back a bit on the spear and swiped to the side, causing a pillar to hit Wayvern sideways and throw her over a rooftop rather than let her fall further into the alley.

    She went tumbling as the three pillars became falling rocks that were going to do a lot of property damage. I ignored them and jumped after Wayvern with Sedimentary¡¯s help. I stopped before Wayvern did. She had skimmed, rolled, and bounced on the flat roof all the way to the low barrier on the other end of the building. Now, Wayvern was a pile of leathery limbs and what might be fashionable clothing.

    Wayvern let out a long groan as the wings flared and the tail straightened out. ¡°I fucking hate crash landings.¡±

    ¡°Sorry. I have a thing against winged creatures flying at me.¡± I said, getting her attention.

    Wayvern unsteadily got to her feet. ¡°That supposed to mean something?¡± Her voice was testy. Did I just offend her?

    ¡°Nothing against you, just¡­¡± I weighed Sedimentary a bit. It struck me again how strange it felt to carry something I didn¡¯t have any control over the weight of. ¡°Fuck the Eclipse.¡±

    ¡°You just compared me to a monster.¡± Wayvern wrapped her wings loosely around herself. I could see scuffs and scratches where blood had been drawn. She unwrapped the wings slowly and displayed an impressive flexibility as she turned them up side down to look at the other side. ¡°Look what you did to my wings.¡±

    ¡°Again, sorry.¡±

    ¡°Fuck up, Captain Canada.¡± The wings snapped behind Wayvern, perfectly folded. Her tail flicked up and over her shoulder, stopping the movement with the now obvious barb a foot in front of her face like some kind of shoulder mounted cannon. ¡°I don¡¯t got time to worry about you right now. There¡¯s a terrible sweetheart nearby that I¡¯m supposed to be looking after.¡±

    I realised how much I¡¯d been saying sorry and almost said it again. ¡°The name¡¯s Lock and I can¡¯t let you leave. My job is to keep you here, or away from where you¡¯re trying to go. And that isn¡¯t a good name for Bad Valentine.¡±

    ¡°If you know who I¡¯m talking about, then you know how bad it could get if no one keeps him in check.¡±

    ¡°I do know of him, and I¡¯m curious why you think that.¡± I wasn¡¯t, really. These were stalling tactics.

    The question seemed to take Wayvern off balance. Then she took a step forward with her head tilted down and a determined expression on her face. ¡°Listen, Lock. This isn¡¯t a business night. The only agenda we have right now is survival. If you keep me here then things are going to get messy. And it won¡¯t be us that pays.¡±

    Damn, that was a good argument. I even agreed thanks to the scene I walked in on with Nancy and Joe. Still, delaying tactics. ¡°It¡¯s already messy.¡± I gestured behind me. ¡°Bad Valentine is running.¡±

    ¡°From the other two that were with you?¡± Wayvern checked. My normally impassive expression remained impassive. ¡°Shit.¡±

    ¡°You still haven¡¯t told me why you think civilians are going to get hurt.¡±

    ¡°Fuck! If I fucking tell you, will you let me go babysit the baby?¡±

    ¡°Baby?¡±

    ¡°He hasn¡¯t had his powers for more than two weeks!¡± Wayvern exclaimed. ¡°He doesn¡¯t understand that talking can be a better way of doing things. He just attacks. Jackal¡¯s been trying to get his leash sorted, and he was my responsibility tonight.¡±

    ¡°Maybe.¡± I said, thinking on it. ¡°What are your thoughts on the flail?¡±

    ¡°Fuck the flail.¡± Wayvern immediately declared, earning sympathy points I did not want to be giving out. ¡°He¡¯s been worse since he got his hands on that thing. BV was reckless before, but now it¡¯s a whole ¡®nother level. It¡¯s like it isn¡¯t even him. I¡¯m part of this for the clean stuff. I obviously can¡¯t live a normal fucking life, so I lay low and don¡¯t give the Regulation reason to take notice of me.¡±

    ¡°Smart.¡± I commented hollowly.

    ¡°So here I am, appealing to your moral judgement, so I can just¡­ continue as things were. With your piece of shit power, I won¡¯t be getting away anytime soon. There¡¯s no need to shake things up.¡±

    I thought on it. ¡°I appreciate the forthrightness-¡±

    I looked behind me. There had been a muffled shout, almost sounding like my name. It was shrill.

    I turned back to Wayvern. ¡°Don¡¯t attack me. Don¡¯t attack a Hero of Yesterday. Only get your baby out of here after separating him from the flail, and we have a deal.¡±

    ¡°Deal.¡± Wayvern agreed instantly. She flared her wings and took off, sending a blast of air past me that threatened to knock me over.

    My mouth pulled tight, I adjusted the grip on Sedimentary and thrust towards the direction the sound had come from. The pillar took me across the gap before failing, and I used my power to slide along the rooftops and keep pace with Wayvern.

    I saw red motes first, which worried me. I pulled my grip back a bit and swung down with the spear, making a pillar that grew down from the side of the building and slid down it. The red motes had been inside, I¡¯d seen them through a window. But there hadn¡¯t been any access that I could make out on the roof, which is why I dropped down to street level.

    The moment I touched down, a door not far from me slammed open and Glitter Bomb ran out holding a body. It had a long red spike piercing the chest. The spike was unbroken, and went through the body entirely.

    I swore. The body was Forsaken.

    ¡°Lock, close the door!¡± Glitter Bomb yelled, her shout hysterical.

    I reacted, sliding my hand down Sedimentary and swinging up with the spear. Just enough power was exerted to make a pillar of earth that was as tall as the doorway, in the doorway. I turned my attention to Glitter Bomb.

    ¡°The flail?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s still in there!¡±

    I looked up, Wayvern was above us. Totally still and watching like a gargoyle. ¡°No more fighting, we lost tonight.¡±

    ¡°Works for me.¡± The Beastmaster shrugged.

    ¡°Get that flail back to the Heroes of Yesterday if you can. It¡¯s a fucking danger anywhere else.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡±

    ¡°Lock, the window!¡± Glitter Bomb interrupted urgently.

    I looked at the building. ¡°Which one?¡±

    ¡°Urrm¡­¡± She floundered, at a complete loss of how to point since she was carrying Forsaken.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter.¡± I decided. ¡°We¡¯re retreating. You have to get the flail back another time.¡±

    ¡°But-¡± Glitter Bomb floundered again. ¡°But we¡¯re so close. It¡¯s so easy to reach.¡±

    I leaned closer and whispered so Wayvern wouldn¡¯t hear. ¡°Fairy, Forsaken is wounded. I have two more wounded in my pocket. We need to leave, now.¡±

    As if to punctuate my point, a window, probably the one Glitter Bomb was trying to point out, spontaneously shattered. The heroine with a wounded hero in her arms gulped visibly.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t leave any weapons behind?¡± I checked. Glitter Bomb shook her head. ¡°Then let¡¯s go. To the van. Which way?¡±

    Glitter Bomb looked past me and I started us moving. I erected a pillar in front of the window for good measure.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± I shouted back at Wayvern. If she responded, I didn¡¯t stick around to hear it.

    Glitter Bomb lead us down the business street back onto the road proper. We quickly approached the white and yellow van, I opened the door, unlocking it with my power and making sure there was room so the spike in Forsaken wasn¡¯t disturbed.

    But Glitter Bomb didn¡¯t move, she just stared into the van. I looked inside to see a man in a tight fitting costume that was literally on fire. The fire was a pale gold colour and it wasn¡¯t burning or spreading to anything. There was another guy in costume in the driver¡¯s seat. His costume was white. It was Sacred and Toil. That¡¯s when it hit me, this van was parked right outside the Beastmaster hideout. The van Forsaken and Glitter Bomb had used was around another corner.

    Toil turned to face us around the headrest. ¡°Fairy, you were told to wait.¡±

 4. Men/Monsters 9

    ¡°You understand how serious this is, right?¡± Toil¡¯s eyes were facing forward, but he was projecting his voice to bounce his words off the windscreen and back at Glitter Bomb in the back seat. ¡°I know you don¡¯t like this, but I need to know you understand.¡±

    ¡°I understand.¡± Glitter Bomb answered breathily, barely speaking above a whisper as she looked down at the bleeding man in her lap. The spike had been shortened considerably, so now it only jutted out a short distance instead of being in danger of hitting the opposite wall. Enough to get a grip on, but not so much that it was dangerous to move him.

    Sacred had been responsible for that. He used his power to set the spike on fire, then burned specific parts of it away over the course of less than a minute. It was actually still on golden fire, but it wasn¡¯t burning anything. Then he¡¯d retrieved the key for the other van from Forsaken and gone to drive that one. I was sitting in the front with Toil, as Glitter Bomb had insisted on being the one to look after Forsaken.

    I had considered using my power to help keep him stable and avoid jostling him, but forces were changing in volume and direction too much for me to comfortably do that. If I had locked his coat, then he¡¯d have just crashed through the wall of the van when it moved, and maybe through me.

    ¡°Please assure me that you understand.¡± Toil pressed. ¡°I¡¯m a very good judge of character, but I¡¯ve been wrong about you more than once. Assuage my fears, Glitter Bomb.¡± He¡¯d switched back to calling her Glitter Bomb after realising I was here.

    ¡°The rules say that I¡¯m not supposed to break any rules.¡± Glitter Bomb said, her voice croaky. ¡°So I¡¯m not supposed to attack anyone, go out after curfew, encourage lawbreaking, supposed to do my homework, write in my diary as well as my journal every day. I¡¯m supposed to be honest and not tell any lies or touch anyone, and-¡± Her voice caught. ¡°And I¡¯m holding Forsaken right now.¡±

    Beside me, Toil¡¯s fingers tightened on the steering wheel. ¡°You¡¯re not disallowed from giving first aid.¡± There wasn¡¯t a response. ¡°You¡¯re giving him first aid, Glitter Bomb.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a certificate.¡± Was Glitter Bomb¡¯s quiet response.

    ¡°I do. You¡¯re doing what I told you to right now, that¡¯s fine. The rest of it, I can¡¯t say the same.¡±

    ¡°But touching is the big one.¡± Glitter Bomb insisted. ¡°I¡¯ve jaywalked before and the agents questioned me because of it. Even though it wasn¡¯t after curfew and the road was mostly empty and Forsaken was watching me. All I did was bump into someone after crossing and they still questioned me. I¡¯m going to get locked up for touching Forsaken.¡±

    She¡¯d touched me as well. Grabbed my arm twice. It didn¡¯t seem like the best time to bring it up, so I didn¡¯t.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I told you that.¡± Toil said. ¡°First aid. Absolutely necessary.¡±

    ¡°They won¡¯t care¡­¡±

    Toil glanced at me, then turned his attention back to the road. ¡°Fairy-¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t get me back!¡± Glitter Bomb exploded. ¡°We did it to get me back, but I¡¯m still gone.¡±

    I got another glance from Toil, much more calculating this time. ¡°Our company isn¡¯t in the know, Fairy.¡±

    There was a choked laugh. ¡°Lock¡¯s really smart, he figured out Sedimentary was alive and used him really well. Hey, Lock, can you look at me please?¡±

    After a moment¡¯s hesitation, I turned in my seat and looked as Glitter Bomb removed her mask. Long dark hair tumbled down the back of her head, framing a reasonably attractive face. She had a nose that kind of reminded me of my own. Her a smile that was contrasted by wet eyes that hadn¡¯t loosed any tears yet, as well as the fact that her lips were trembling.

    ¡°I used to kill people.¡± She told me, making my stomach drop.

    ¡°Fairy.¡± Toil warned.

    ¡°He¡¯d figure it out, Ryan!¡± The woman in the back shouted. ¡°He made buddies with Sedimentary! He¡¯s basically a detective. He¡¯d have searched me up online and gone through all the villains that disappeared around the time that I appeared.¡±

    Toil cut her off, voice strong and dangerous. ¡°Fairy, you¡¯re making things worse for yourself.¡±

    ¡°So what!? Things are terrible already!¡±

    ¡°Exposing me was not on the table, Fairy.¡±

    ¡°You said my name first!¡±

    ¡°Lock already knew it. Forsaken never calls you anything else.¡±

    ¡°Still!¡±

    ¡°Fairy!¡±

    ¡°Toil!¡±

    I was looking between these two like it was a tennis match. I very much wanted to get out at the moment, but since the car was in motion that was a non-option. Using my power was an option, but I was worried that would just make things escalate when I wanted them to calm down.

    ¡°Do you want to go to the Megahold?¡± Toil questioned after taking a breath.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t understand why you didn¡¯t put me there in the first place!¡± Fairy shot back.

    ¡°There is a time and place for these discussions.¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Here and now!¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s who to consider as well.¡±

    ¡°Yeah! I want Lock to hear this, and you are the one who made it worse by interrupting me you meanie! Lock.¡±

    I looked at Fairy, afraid to open my mouth.

    ¡°I killed at least thirteen people.¡± She was openly crying now, but she wasn¡¯t letting that interrupt her. ¡°Thirteen because that¡¯s the number of bodies that were found with red spikes through them that was released to the public. They don¡¯t know how many they didn¡¯t find, and they don¡¯t know if I killed anyone else in a different way. So thirteen is the lower estimate. I killed thirteen people. Actual people dead by my hand. Forsaken is the one that stopped me.¡±

    I was stunned, yet my mouth opened and said, ¡°I figured.¡± My even tone belied the disgust I felt inside.

    ¡°See, Toil?¡± Fairy jabbed a finger at me. ¡°I told you he was smart.¡±

    ¡°We need to have a discussion about this shortly, Lock.¡± Toil said, giving me another wary glance.

    ¡°Again, I figured.¡± I replied.

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°Glitter Bomb was-¡± I started to explain.

    ¡°Fairy!¡± Said woman interrupted me.

    ¡°Fairy,¡± I amended. ¡°She was just as fascinated with the flail as Forsaken, even though it was a creation of his and not her¡¯s. She shouldn¡¯t have known as much as she explained to me. Specifically about the power of the flail.¡±

    ¡°A big old stabby stab.¡± Fairy reminded Toil.

    ¡°And then Felwyr¡¯s law kicked in, stopping me from making the spear light, so¡­¡± The spear I was still holding pulsed. It was leaning across my body, the point going back behind the headrest. It wasn¡¯t about to stab anyone. I glanced up at the wooden staff Toil was known for using, strapped to a corner of the van where it was out of the way. Maybe... ¡°Made some steps in logic.¡±

    ¡°Like a detective.¡± Fairy bragged, apparently now my formerly murderous cheerleader.

    ¡°How is Forsaken?¡± Toil purposefully asked. Fairy changed tact quickly, rushing to check on the hero but holding back, being purposefully gentle.

    ¡°He¡¯s still here.¡± She eventually told us. ¡°But he¡¯s colder now.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good. We¡¯re close to the hospital.¡± Toil told her. The drive continued in silence.

    ~~~

    I watched Fairy follow Forsaken as he was wheeled away into a more private corner of the hospital. Now that Fairy had mentioned it, I was noticing her stay as close to Forsaken as she could while still staying well out of the way of everyone else. More than once she stopped entirely and watched Forsaken¡¯s bed get further and further away until the hallway cleared and she ran to catch up.

    Once she was out of sight I turned to Toil. ¡°What¡¯s really going on?¡±

    There had to have been a reason that he and Sacred had been where they were to pick us up. Then with how Sacred had quickly commandeered the keys to the other van and driven off like he had somewhere to be while Forsaken was still bleeding. It had been telling.

    Toil gazed at where Forsaken and Glitter Bomb had just turned around a corner. Glitter Bomb because she had her helmet back on. After a drawn out moment he uncrossed his arms and turned back to where the van was parked.

    ¡°A-13.¡± He said simply, expecting me to follow.

    I had to mentally run through the information from Voidling¡¯s USB to get what that meant. Fortunately, that topic wasn¡¯t as out of date as the rest of the stuff that was on there. An A-13 was what was colloquially known as a Theta Class Monster. All capital letters required. The appearances of those things were relatively frequent on a global scale, about once every month or two, always somewhere populated, and were never good news. That being said, an A-13 was nothing compared to a Calamity.

    The biggest point of difference being death toll. A Calamity always racked that number up high, with lesser encounters having casualties reaching three digits only while there were records of A-13s being put down without any fatal casualties. The second largest point of difference was that an A-13 appeared, while a Calamity arrived. The appearing process took a while, which gave some advanced warning. This would be the Heroes of Yesterday responding to that advanced warning.

    Dealing with an A-13 was also a Regulation centric operation, and I was still suspended from duty.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll be allowed to help with this one.¡± I said.

    ¡°You will.¡± Toil responded, sounding sure.

    ¡°Is that a guess?¡± I asked. Silence answered for him. ¡°I don¡¯t even have my good equipment. I can¡¯t use my power on the spear.¡± Which was still in the van, since that wouldn¡¯t have been a good thing to lug around in a hospital. Thinking about the spear made me recall the other technically-alive things I was carting around. ¡°And were we just in the emergency ward?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Toil stopped. ¡°You have more business to do there.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question.

    I pulled out the bullets of Joe and Nancy. ¡°Two people in what I would call a pretty fucking critical condition. I have to shoot these to get them out.¡±

    Toil held his hand out. ¡°We can deal with them later. They won¡¯t get any worse like that.¡±

    ¡°Uh, no.¡± I wrapped my fist around the bullets. ¡°I¡¯m going to get these guys to recovery as soon as possible, thanks. Then I¡¯ll go to the hero operation that probably doesn¡¯t want me.¡±

    Toil met my gaze hard, then dropped his hand. ¡°I¡¯ll call over a good nurse.¡± He went off and found a number of orderlies that were quite shocked when I told them about the condition the two people in the bullets were. They wouldn¡¯t have believed me, I don¡¯t think, if Toil wasn¡¯t there. But he was, and they prepared two beds with medical staff and equipment ready to take care of Joe and Nancy as soon as they appeared.

    I shot one bullet at the ground next to a bed using my power, using the level of force I recalled from actually getting shot. Instead of ricocheting like a normal bullet would have, or making a hole, the bullet made a field of rapidly expanding triangles, moving in the reverse of the effect that put them in the bullets. That was Joe¡¯s bullet, and I quickly learned that the spikes were long enough that getting him on the bed almost wasn¡¯t feasible.

    Needless to say, the emergency ward went into overdrive when Joe appeared. I caught Toil watching the mess with one hand covering his face, but splitting the fingers so he could keep an eye on things. Those red spikes jammed into him were telling. There were going to be questions.

    The secretary wasn¡¯t amused after everything had cleared out and I reminded her there was another person in another bullet. Nancy didn¡¯t have any spikes through her, so she was cleared away much more quickly. Then Toil and I were asked to fill out some forms for the two new patients as best we could, detailing how we found them and such. I was honest, but vague. Naming Bad Valentine, but trying to avoid implicating myself.

    Probably failed, all things considered.

    Either way, Toil then drove me off to where the A-13 had started manifesting.

    ~~~

    I did some research on my Vphone on the drive over, chewing through a not insignificant portion of my data. The area where an A-13 was manifesting was identifiable through a number of ways. Most times, there was electromagnetic disruption, resulting in spots where wifi and data just failed to reach. Other than that, there tended to be tremors, spontaneously forming cracks, and occasional expressions of minor powers. That included little fires starting, warped parts of floor or walls, and many other phenomena that just didn¡¯t happen anywhere else, barring transhumans showing off.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    A-13s had been appearing ever since the Hundred Hour Day kicked everything supernatural into overdrive. Consequently, the standard response to these things appearing was widespread, and there was even a branch of the Regulation whose job was exclusively to deal with these things. They were called Control. Probably short for ¡®Beast Control¡¯ or ¡®Monster Control¡¯ because of the colloquialism.

    Theta Class Monsters were called that because there wasn¡¯t any other way to really describe them. Back when they had first started appearing, scientists had given them scientific names that no one could recall or pronounce. Some rolled off the tongue, like Sexpedes, kind of, but the practice had fallen off because each A-13 was unique. None of them really matched. I passed over at least half a dozen papers that claimed as much, and more that claimed the opposite.

    One useful tidbit I found correlating from multiple sources was that there was always a five hour grace period between the A-13 announcing its arrival and actually showing up. One scary tidbit that was similarly correlated was that the grace period could extend beyond thirty hours, and that the longer one of these things spent appearing, the stronger they were.

    The area where this A-13 was appearing was on the busiest road in Graceland, King Street. Why a street on this side of America had such a name was beyond me, but that didn¡¯t really matter here. The blocks around where the electromagnetic disruptions had started had been evacuated and quarantined, and the Regulation had moved in to enforce it. Toil parked as close as he could, which wasn¡¯t that close, and we had to walk the rest of the way in. Thankfully, there was a detachment of Regulation troopers that were manning an entrance to the quarantine zone so we didn¡¯t have to navigate through crowds.

    Inside there were some E-Z Ups that had been assembled around the perimeter of the quarantine, and black plastic walls had been hung up so that the heroes and Regulation had privacy from the public eye. Beyond that, there was next to nothing closer to the centre.

    The public eye had come in force. I counted five news vans parked illegally nearer to the cordon than we got, and even more cameramen, suggesting there were vans parked where we couldn¡¯t see. It wasn¡¯t quite the middle of the night yet, we were still an hour and a half or so shy of midnight, but there were still a lot of people here interested in seeing the monster. The cordon made it difficult to see what was inside from outside, but as heroes Toil and I were waved in without incident.

    There were no people at the crossroads. No cars, either. All the shops were closed and the tables that were normally out for cafes even at this hour had been packed up and put away. Then, on the other side of the quarantine, more tents. It was a brief zone where every trace of human life had been erased. It was ruined by the camera flashes from the other side.

    Toil walked ahead of me and met with Zephyr and Orcus. Also there was Mark from Scar¡¯s Advent. His costume had clawed gauntlets that went back almost to his elbow. The green and yellow mask went back and out to the sides at two points reminiscent of cat ears. There were no sleeves to be seen, letting Mark show off his ripped arms. His costume also seemed to be a size too small for him, though that was probably on purpose. The guy clearly worked out.

    As Toil arrived with the group there was a quick discourse, then they each glanced my way, one by one. First was Mark, surprisingly. He gave me a once over and returned to the conversation. Second was Zephyr, who stared at me and gave nothing away. The last time I¡¯d been near her, I¡¯d shoved her head into a mirror hard enough to break it, all because of accusations that should have been pointed at Satellite the whole time. I didn¡¯t know where we stood.

    Last was Orcus, who split away from the group and made his way towards me. ¡°Lock.¡±

    ¡°Orcus.¡± I responded in kind.

    Orcus appraised me. He said. ¡°You were suspended from acting as a hero.¡±

    I fidgeted with Sedimentary, which no one had thought to take off of me. ¡°I was acting as a vigilante.¡±

    Orcus was, as ever, entirely impassive. His voice inhumanely even and maintained a consistent pace throughout. ¡°Your suspension ends early, as of this conversation. Toil¡¯s review of your performance as a sidekick will determine your punishment, if you deserve any. You are to remain on standby until a crisis situation occurs, or you are relieved.¡±

    I had forgotten how nice it was for someone to just get to the point. ¡°I can do that. What about my gear?¡±

    ¡°It will be transported to you.¡±

    ¡°Even the costume?¡±

    Orcus considered that. ¡°We will determine if moving your costume is feasible. If not, you will be relieved so you may transport it yourself. I will not be participating in this crisis.¡±

    That made me frown. Orcus¡¯ power made him crazy strong and durable. He was an asset. Not having him help against a literal monster didn¡¯t make any sense.

    Orcus picked upon my confusion. He said. ¡°The Regulation has weighed my worth against that of the Gray Apostles and have decided that their value outweighs my own. Because of the restraining order between us, they are not allowed here while I am present. I must leave.¡±

    ¡°Gray Apostles, huh.¡± I thought of what I knew of them, which wasn¡¯t actually that much. They were a hero group that focused on raids and general one-and-done operations. They didn¡¯t seem to care about the publicity angle that the Sentry supposedly pushed, and they were much less known than the Heroes of Yesterday.

    Orcus¡¯ voice maintained tempo, but the inflection changed. There was actual variation. ¡°They were good people.¡± I frowned at him. ¡°If you are lucky, they will be good to you.¡±

    There was obviously history there, but I was at a loss of what to say.

    ¡°Your post is there.¡± Orcus indicated a shop that had been left open. I recognised a few Sentrys in there. When I looked back Orcus was walking away.

    Another look at Zephyr found her still watching me with her arms folded. Not wanting to deal with that, I went to the open coffee shop I had been directed to.

    There were four heroes inside, only two of which I knew firsthand. Snowflake was sitting near the entrance of the shop, so she had a view of the empty street. We made eye contact and I raised a hand to wave, but she¡¯d already returned to watching the street. The area immediately around her dropped in temperature. Consequently, no one was staying near her.

    Further inside Slingshot was lying horizontally in the air by a wall, with her back to said wall, and was holding a book in front of her that I¡¯d seen her reading earlier that day. She still had her sunglasses on, and at this point I was comfortable calling power shenanigans. Other than the two Sentrys, there were two heroes from Scar¡¯s Advent. The only other two heroes from Scar¡¯s Advent.

    The oldest hero in the room was Hangnail. She had a costume that matched Mark¡¯s, which made sense since they were a literal power couple. It was sleeveless, had a similarly shaped mask, and had the same colour scheme, though this one seemed to actually fit. Instead of clawed gauntlets, she had wrist bands with the Scar¡¯s Advent logo, three orange claw marks, and had a utility belt with a baton and taser openly worn. She maintained a professional image, from what little I¡¯d seen and heard of her, but right now she was on her phone.

    Last was a younger boy that wore a cowl over his mask, and had a breezy costume that billowed around him, even in the still air of the shop. It covered his arms and legs entirely, and it was a much darker colour than the other two in Scar¡¯s Advent, so much so that it looked black at first glance. It was a strange blend of menacing and flighty, and had a similar effect to my Ghost power, which I saw as a blend of menacing and mysterious by virtue of communicating absolutely nothing.

    His name was Papercut, which didn¡¯t really fit the costume, and he perked up as I walked in. He must have been starved for conversation, seeing as how the three other female heroes were all ignoring him. I felt a little guilty as I walked over to Slingshot and cleared my throat.

    ¡°Hey Slingshot.¡± I announced my presence.

    The heroine put her book down sideways. ¡°Oh, hi Lock.¡± She frowned. ¡°I thought you weren¡¯t allowed here.¡±

    That got Snowflake¡¯s attention. I ignored it. It also felt like a gut punch, which I also ignored. ¡°Back on duty as of a conversation I just had a minute ago. An A-13 warrants that, apparently. How long ago did all this start?¡±

    ¡°Nearly three hours so far.¡± Snowflake butted in. Slingshot recoiled and turned to face more towards her, but was still horizontal. ¡°Thought you weren¡¯t showing your face. What happened, meat?¡±

    ¡°I did something I shouldn¡¯t have.¡± I answered hesitantly.

    ¡°And what¡¯s with the spear?¡±

    Sedimentary pulsed. I still didn¡¯t know what that meant. ¡°Unresolved.¡± I didn¡¯t want to go blabbing about the matters of the Heroes of Yesterday. Sedimentary pulsed again.

    Slingshot was holding back from participating, while Snowflake was putting up a hard front.

    I decided to change the subject. ¡°How long until Control gets here?¡±

    ¡°Not long.¡± Snowflake looked back outside. ¡°Best prepare. They¡¯re no nonsense kind of people.¡±

    ¡°Have you met them?¡± Slingshot tentatively asked.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t.¡± Snowflake shot back. ¡°They have a reputation.¡±

    ¡°Do you know which ones are coming?¡± I questioned. ¡°The States roster, as far as I can remember, has Eden, Gracious, Overlord, Common Sense, and Brainstorm.¡±

    Snowflake hummed. ¡°Gracious got offed a while ago and you missed the techo. Unloaded got added last month.¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t he a villain?¡± Papercut piped up. I looked over just in time to see him get clouted on the back of the head by Hangnail.

    ¡°It¡¯s not good to talk about things like that.¡± Hangnail scolded him. ¡°Not everyone makes the best of a second chance.¡±

    ¡°Kid¡¯s got a point, though.¡± Snowflake commented. ¡°Bang Bang was a terror in Washington. Everyone was all nervous he¡¯d try something on parliament. With skills like his, wall penetrating bullets can be taken for granted, even if those walls are marble blocks more than a foot thick.¡±

    Hangnail crossed her arms, her phone forgotten for the moment. ¡°Who is teaching you respect, Sentry? Because they aren¡¯t doing a good job.¡±

    Snowflake rounded on Hangnail and met her gaze for an uncomfortably long time. ¡°I¡¯m teaching myself el respeto.¡±

    Hangnail shook her head in disapproval. ¡°Terrible role model. Papercut, this is exactly why you aren¡¯t in the Sentry.¡±

    ¡°Gee, thanks for batting for me.¡± Papercut moved his head expressively, communicating the eye roll through the mask and cowl.

    Snowflake kept her eyes trained on Hangnail. ¡°Do you know what¡¯s better than a good role model?¡± She waited long enough that I felt like I should say something. ¡°Making your own fucking decisions.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know what to say. It was clearly an attempt to get a rise out of Hangnail, but the heroine was cocking her head, trying to figure out how to take that. Snowflake looked away before anyone decided to pick up on that.

    ¡°Papercut is fourteen.¡± Hangnail said. ¡°He¡¯s not ready for that kind of thing yet. The show you¡¯re displaying is just proving my point.¡±

    Snowflake huffed, but didn¡¯t pick up the conversation.

    Slingshot glanced at me and righted herself. ¡°You look better.¡±

    Three words, and I was floored. It took me a moment to recover from the rush that Collage¡¯s power gave me and at that point responding felt awkward. But it was my turn to say something, so I had to.

    ¡°Got some rest.¡± Is what I ended up saying and immediately regretting.

    Slingshot nodded, also bobbing up and down a bit with her body. I noticed she was drifting a bit, leaning back to the side. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡±

    Fuck, I hated this. I started stepping away. ¡°I¡¯m gonna sit while we wait.¡± Slingshot nodded her understanding and returned her attention to her book. Slowly rotating sideways again.

    I ended up moving over to Papercut and sat at the same table, but moved my chair so I was facing out and keeping an eye on the busywork of the Regulation. Other than that, all that was left to do was wait. There were a lot of boxes that were getting carried into the cordon and the equipment inside being set up all around.

    They didn¡¯t know what powers the A-13 would have, so they were preparing for as much as possible. Going by the stories I¡¯d read online, the monster would pull something out of the bag that would complicate everything.

    ¡°You¡¯re Lock, aren¡¯t you?¡± Papercut asked me.

    ¡°That¡¯s me.¡±

    ¡°Have you rebranded or something? Your costume is different and you had Cloud¡¯s staff on your debut.¡±

    Sedimentary pulsed sharply for some reason. I shrugged. ¡°Was doing some extra work with the Heroes of Yesterday, outside of Sentry time. Regulation didn¡¯t let me have my normal gear for it.¡± In no small part because I didn¡¯t ask.

    ¡°Thought that was a bit fast. You didn¡¯t even have any articles from before the day you debuted.¡± That got me giving Papercut a sideeye. ¡±I actually have a question. How did you get Cloud¡¯s staff if you didn¡¯t even fight him on that day? The whole thing with Metafore didn¡¯t put you and him against each other, so it doesn¡¯t make sense.¡±

    ¡°Cloud and I had a fight about a week before.¡± I started explaining.

    ¡°The time the Racketeers got in the Regulation HQ!¡± Papercut cut me off, palming his forehead like he couldn¡¯t believe how stupid he¡¯d been. ¡°Oh course, that makes so much sense!¡±

    ¡°Cool it, Cutter.¡± Hangnail said, not looking up from her Vphone.

    Papercut let out an embarrassed laugh, then scooted closer. He kept talking in a lower volume. ¡°So you signed right up with the Sentry, right? You¡¯re like, the only guy in Graceland that would go straight from manifesting to signing on with the heroes. Most people try vigilante or solo hero stuff first.¡±

    ¡°You could say I¡¯m doing things a bit backwards, then. And I¡¯m not the only one.¡± I jerked my head towards Slingshot, though she was just doing it for the boots.

    ¡°Good.¡± Hangnail joined in, but still didn¡¯t look up. ¡°Too many potential heroes try a solo act and get caught out by Queue. They always end up in one of the three employee gangs or killed. That¡¯s why you joined the team right out of manifesting, Cutter.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not Cutter!¡± Papercut rounded on Hangnail with indignance. ¡°It¡¯s Papercut. You spent so long arguing with me about this name, you could at least use it.¡±

    ¡°Cutter flows better in conversation.¡±

    ¡°Then I should have been Shadowblade, or Backstab, or Lies In Wait, or any of the other hundred names we wrote down on that whiteboard. I still can¡¯t get over the fact that you didn¡¯t let me call myself Edge.¡±

    Hangnail shrugged, but dignified Papercut with eye contact. ¡°Edge was taken.¡±

    ¡°Ugh.¡± Papercut turned back to me. ¡°Please distract me so I don¡¯t have to talk to my mom. She always gets like this on stakeouts.¡±

    ¡°Cutter.¡± Hangnail warned.

    ¡°Sorry, Nailer.¡± He paused, then continued when Hangnail sighed instead of continuing to tell him off. ¡°Sorry, Lock. Hey, what are your powers?¡±

    ¡°I can move things with my mind if I touch them.¡± I answered after making sure Hangnail wasn¡¯t going to jump in saying that it was irresponsible to ask someone what their powers were. ¡°And I doodle.¡±

    ¡°You doodle?¡±

    I turned and stared at Papercut. ¡°Look at me.¡±

    He did, from top to bottom. ¡°Oh yeah. Cool. I¡¯m a forcefield Disrupter, check it out.¡±

    Papercut held out his hand and splayed his fingers. From the fingertips a number of faint orange lines extended, splitting and expanding in a fashion that almost reminded me of a circuit board, but also blood vessels. I should know, I could sense my own thanks to the blankness I felt within them, and I felt circuit boards every time I touched something electrical. The forcefields were see through, and none were wider than one of his fingers. Some were so thin that I could barely see them. It didn¡¯t help that they were see through.

    ¡°Go ahead and punch through it.¡± He prompted.

    ¡°If you¡¯re sure.¡± I said, and gently pushed my hand through the forcefields. They barely made any resistance, and the fist sized area I punched through winked out. The forcefields attached beyond where it was disrupted disappeared as well. My Smart power informed me of the continuous force, almost all the way back to the fingers, but that too vanished when the forcefield did and I wasn¡¯t touching anything to transmit my power.

    ¡°Now, I know what you¡¯re going to say.¡± Papercut told me with a hint of smugness. ¡°¡®Not very impressive, right? That¡¯s because my power has another factor to it. Try moving literally anywhere. Actually, just stand up.¡±

    I paused, having already figured it out, then attempted to stand. Papercut¡¯s power had snaked under my clothes in bands and wrapped around my limbs. When I moved, the forcefields didn¡¯t, and were much stronger than the ones I punched through. The difference in strength caught me off guard and I fell back into the chair.

    Papercut spread his arms wide like a showman, the strands on that end growing so they maintained distance from his fingers. ¡°Cool right?¡±

    ¡°What made them stronger?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Light. Or lack of light. More darkness equals more strength. Since it¡¯s darker under your clothes than it is under these lights, my forcefields are stronger. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d have been able to pull that off with your normal costume.¡±

    ¡°So why the name Papercut?¡± The name didn¡¯t really fit, in my opinion. I was looking at his power at the same time, trying to figure it out. It was weird to observe. The forcefields weren¡¯t moving, but if felt like they had force behind them that shouldn¡¯t have been there. It was directionless, but it didn¡¯t cancel itself out. If anything, it felt like what happened when I applied forces to something I had locked.

    Papercut shot Hangnail a look. It went ignored, unsurprisingly. ¡°Well, I can make my forcefields real thin, see?¡± A thin orange thread grew past my eyes. It wasn¡¯t moving too fast, about walking speed. But I was also tracking how it diverged, and each end was able to grow at about the same rate. ¡°If you pressed a finger against that, it¡¯d push back only so much, then break. If the lighting isn¡¯t too good, it breaks skin. Like a papercut.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s why you wanted to be called shadowblade.¡± I realised.

    ¡°Yes! Thank you!¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t encourage him.¡± Hangnail asked me.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say it was good.¡± I replied. ¡°All the names you mentioned seemed like you were trying too hard.

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    I decided to distract Papercut by flexing my own power a little. All I did was add another instance of gravity to his forcefields and they all winked out. Papercut flinched back in surprise as more than half of his active forcefields were destroyed.

    ¡°You said you were a Disrupter, not a Traitor.¡± He said accusingly.

    ¡°It looks like my power trumps yours.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Good thing we¡¯re on the same side.¡± We talked powers for a bit, discussing the ways our powers were strong and ways they were weak. Mine were obvious, and a lot of the discussion was dedicated to Papercut suggesting ways to get around them, most of which I had already thought up.

    Eventually someone approached where we were waiting and conversed with Snowflake. They left and Snowflake stood up to relay the message.

    ¡°Control is here. Mission brief in fifteen.¡±

 4. Men/Monsters D.1 (Interlude)

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t work like that big guy. Think of it like this, you have a scrape and need a plaster, but there are only two available. One is pink and girly, got a cartoon princesses on it, while the other just has a poop emoji on it. You can cover your booboo with the princess or the poo. Your scrape is equivocal to a big gaping void, or it¡¯s about to be. What would you prefer to cover the void with? A princess or a poo?¡±

    - Sondor explaining her power to Viscount Ryan.

    _____________________________________________________________

    ¡°Felix-¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡±

    There was a moment before Terry let out a long sigh. ¡°Felix, that¡¯s fine, but you gotta be more careful.¡±

    Something Felix knew already, but it was hard. Life was demanding and things were chaotic. Always speeding up, always complicating, always needing something more. He could stay slow and get left behind, or keep up and things like this would happen.

    Another literal sword wound to add to the canvas.

    ¡°And you gotta see someone about that.¡±

    Who? Felix thought sarcastically. An upstanding doctor? They¡¯ll ask questions.

    Felix continued to take his costume off. The base had a set of lockers in an out of the way room for them to store their costumes and equipment. Felix¡¯s locker had the least in it. Felix¡¯s locker had ¡®THE SNAIL¡¯ spray painted down the door. All the other lockers for the Verdant Crescent just had a picture of the gifted in costume. Or a logo.

    There was the Snideman- fuck him, Bat Whisperer- an inaccurate title if there ever was one, Plantitude- more flora than fauna, and Wreckface- who ironically had the fairest face amongst them, even with the mask on. And then there was him. The Snail.

    He found himself staring at the vandalised door. How had he let himself end up with such an insulting yet accurate name? Then he closed his eyes and opened the locker like he always did, wincing in pain as he moved.

    Too fast. His power had failed.

    ¡°Come on, Felix.¡± Terry tried again.

    ¡°What are you expecting me to say, Terry?¡± Felix asked, not turning around. He measured the length of each word, else the wound would pump more blood out of him.

    It had taken him so long just to get down here. All the others would have taken their costumes off and started celebrating the successful heist an hour ago. How long had Terry spent with them before coming to look? How long for the sword to get mentioned?

    Terry¡¯s answer was not forthcoming. Felix got his mask off, as intricate as the clasps were, before anything more was said.

    ¡°Look, I get that you guys are put on a pedestal and all, but you¡¯re still human.¡± Terry said. ¡°Transhuman, but still.¡±

    ¡°So?¡± Felix shot back, drawing it out so it wasn¡¯t too snappy. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡±

    ¡°You need to get anything off your shoulders?¡±

    Felix couldn¡¯t help it. He laughed and blood resumed flowing along its natural course, spilling out of him and splashing on the floor. His nerves began firing and pain overwhelmed the laughter, turning it into painful wheezing. The painful wheezing was slow enough on the outtake that Felix¡¯s power kicked back into effect and the pain receded. He was left chuckling slowly. A strained and haunting sound.

    His power was enhanced strength, enhanced durability, and constant healing. A standard Enforcer powerset, so strong that if he decided to, he could move anything and nothing could move him, making him both an unstoppable force and an immovable, invulnerable object. But it came with the caveat that the more quickly he moved, the less of an effect it had. And the drop off was ridiculous.

    Running completely negated the power. Walking made it superficial. He couldn¡¯t even stay as an immovable object because he needed to breath and that was considered moving.

    Terry threw his hands up in exasperation and Felix only knew because when they came down, they hit his pants. And the exasperated sigh. Mostly the sigh.

    Felix cleared his throat, to mild success. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you forgot, but I¡¯m a supervillain. You don¡¯t need to care about me. No one does anyway, not really. I¡¯ll be fine. I heal when I sleep.¡± It was why no one bothered giving him medical attention for the fucking sword wound leaking blood from his side.

    ¡°Felix, you probably don¡¯t think much of me because I¡¯m normal. You probably don¡¯t think much of me because you¡¯re a villain. You probably don¡¯t think much of actually talking to someone because you¡¯re a villain.¡±

    ¡°Terry.¡± Felix¡¯s voice scratched. There was blood where it shouldn¡¯t be. When had that happened? Felix cleared his throat again. ¡°Don¡¯t call me Felix, we¡¯re not that close. I don¡¯t like being reminded that I didn¡¯t have a choice. And you¡¯re right. And you can go now.¡±

    ¡°Fucking fine.¡± Terry dropped all pretense and walked to the door. ¡°If you¡¯re just going to be a dick to everyone, then I¡¯ll have to settle for ignoring you.¡± The door slammed instead of being closed. The sudden shift in character leaving Felix more stunned than he thought he would be.

    That was honestly the nicest fuck off that Felix had received during his time in the Verdant Crescent, but it hit the hardest. It shouldn¡¯t have, but Terry was the last one to spurn Felix. Every one of his teammates didn¡¯t like being associated with someone the Regulation had dubbed ¡®The Snail¡¯. And the ¡®The¡¯ was warranted and capitalised because he was The Snail. All the unpowered hanger-ons reviled The Snail because it put them in better standing with the cooler supervillains.

    As Felix slowly, cautiously took off his costume and put on a red shirt so the blood wasn¡¯t obvious, he found himself wondering why he stuck around.

    As Felix trudged out the door and measured each footstep, he found himself wishing he hadn¡¯t been stuck with this stupid power he had. He could be amazing, but only at the pace of a snail.

    He lived five minutes walk away from the hideout, but at the pace he was forced to travel, it was going to take him the better part of an hour. The thoughts turned in on themselves and extrapolated with nothing interesting to distract him. Words repeated in his head and poisoned themselves to the point that Felix felt sick when they came up in different contexts.

    Slowly, he moved. All the negativity in the world with nowhere to go.

    Felix was frustrated by the time he reached his apartment. He screamed mentally as he was forced to slowly climb into bed instead of just letting himself fall onto it. The darkness of the ceiling above continued to be dark as he failed at getting to sleep.

    ¡°I fucking hate this.¡± Felix let himself quietly admit.

    ~~~

    Felix was making a terrible decision, but he truly no longer cared. In the end, the sponsor of the Verdant Crescent had jumped the gun and kicked The Snail off the team the day before he was going to walk out. It had come as an unpleasant surprise, which was a common enough occurrence with Snideman on the team, but walking out was something that Felix had wanted to own.

    He shouldn¡¯t have written the date on his calendar in his apartment. If he hadn¡¯t then Snideman wouldn¡¯t have had the thread of secrets to follow, but if he hadn¡¯t he never would have had the resolve.

    Still, at least he was out. Felix had been given a severance package so they parted on neutral terms instead of hostile ones. That it was going towards this instead of getting straight¡­ Felix didn¡¯t know.

    ¡°Name your price.¡± He said.

    The woman in green pulled the pipe away from her mouth and blew smoke over the circular table between them. She took her time emptying her lungs, then just as hastily took a breath. ¡°Why does everyone want to get straight to business? Come. Sit awhile. Let me get to know you. It¡¯s the reason I have the chair.¡±

    Felix glanced down at the wooden chair on his side of the table. They were in a dark room that was only lit by the crystal orb in the centre of the table. It was, Felix thought, pointlessly dramatic. That the light from the orb was flickering just a touch too sharply and regularly to be a power sealed the deal for him. It was just shitty lighting, and wasn¡¯t even her trademark green. He sighed and sat in the chair, not bothering to pull it towards the table, letting the dim light envelop him as well as the woman, and crossed his arms.

    ¡°So tell me Snail, how are things between you and the Verdant Crescent?¡± The woman asked, using a tone like she was asking herself.

    ¡°We don¡¯t talk anymore.¡±

    ¡°My condolences.¡± She took a long breath through her pipe and breathed the smoke out between them. The woman considered the pipe, then turned it around and offered it towards him. ¡°Do you smoke?¡±

    Felix looked at the pipe, then took it. His puff left him coughing. He hadn¡¯t smoked before, much less through a pipe. Maybe he took it because he was feeling adventurous in new terrain, not having a team to tie him down.

    ¡°It¡¯s good.¡± He lied as he handed the pipe back. The woman¡¯s fingers brushed against his as she reclaimed her pipe.

    Greenflame took another puff, uncaring of his opinion. ¡°What is it that you want out of life? I understand that you are here to satisfy that desire, but outside of your wish, what is it you want?¡±

    Felix considered the question. ¡°I want to get taken seriously.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ve been ridiculed pretty much my entire life. It¡¯s why I manifested, in a way, and I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s why I got a public one. I¡¯d be surprised if it didn¡¯t have a hand in why my power turned out the way it did.¡±

    ¡°Now let¡¯s not get into wish territory.¡± Greenflame smoothly butted in. ¡°No power talk until I say so.¡±

    Felix sighed, his shoulders dropping with the outtake of breath. ¡°Words don¡¯t come easily to me. I don¡¯t defend myself fast enough. By the time I¡¯ve come up with something to say, things have normally moved on.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re holding this conversation just fine.¡±

    ¡°Maybe. Since it¡¯s only you and me are talking.¡±

    ¡°Anything else?¡±

    Felix had had more to say, but he stayed his words and thought on the question. ¡°I want to be lucky, I guess?¡±

    Greenflame hummed with interest. ¡°Your other desire was something you could act on. Work towards. This seems quite outside the realms of possibility, unless you believe the term ¡®you make your own luck¡¯.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Would you explain?¡±

    Felix had to think of the words. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m unlucky, really.¡±

    ¡°Even with the cards you¡¯ve been dealt?¡±

    ¡°... Can I mention my power?¡±

    Greenflame gave him a long look before inclining her head. ¡°You may.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a shitty power compared to all the others I¡¯ve heard of. I honestly don¡¯t think I¡¯ve heard of a more useless power. But I don¡¯t think I was unlucky to get it. I don¡¯t think I was lucky to get it, either.¡±

    ¡°Being lucky to have a power and unlucky for it to be a bad one doesn¡¯t mean it cancels out and your luck is even.¡± Greenflame said, some strength backing her words.

    ¡°It completely changed my life, and things were much the same before and after.¡± Felix argued. ¡°If nothing changed, how could it be considered in terms of luck?¡±

    ¡°You had a power afterwards.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything with it. Not really.¡±

    ¡°But you had it.¡±

    Felix shook his head. ¡°I went from school to a slum, but I still had a locker. My dad was still gone, and my mom still didn¡¯t care. Someone cared enough to not be a dick, then they stopped pretending. None of that matters. What I mean by luck is by having something happen, and being able to do something about it, and to feel the consequences be they good or bad. My power isn¡¯t lucky because it doesn¡¯t enable me to act, but it isn¡¯t unlucky either because of it. It¡¯s not a me problem, since most of the time being able to act requires doing something I simply can¡¯t do or be.¡±

    Greenflame let out a puff. ¡°Be?¡±

    Felix had to think again. ¡°Opportunities only available for girls. There were a few I wanted to take, before manifesting.¡± He stopped as Greenflame let out a series of unflattering guffaws.

    She wiped her eyes demurely. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s precious.¡±

    Her reaction made Felix want to change the subject. ¡°Do you have anymore questions?¡±

    The amused sparkle vanished from Greenflame¡¯s posture. ¡°Don¡¯t rush me. I get catty when I¡¯m rushed.¡±

    Felix raised his hand. ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to rush anything. Remember who you¡¯re talking to.¡±

    The sparkle reappeared with a chuckle. ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right. You have a very¡­ dry way of going about things.¡±

    Felix let his hand fall back to where it was. Then he crossed his arms. He didn¡¯t say anything as Greenflame puffed again.

    ¡°Do you have anything you hate?¡± She asked through the smoke.

    Felix had to consider the options to determine what to say first. ¡°Swords.¡±

    ¡°After Keaton decided to be a hero, I can¡¯t blame you.¡±

    ¡°Snails.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t imagine why.¡± Greenflame took a puff.

    ¡°Snideman.¡±

    ¡°Tell me more about Snideman.¡± Greenflame decided. ¡°And I appreciate the sibilance.¡±

    Felix hadn¡¯t realised all his hates started with S. He took another moment to think up what he was going to say about Snideman. ¡°He¡¯s the worst. From what he told us of his past, he was smart before he manifested, but he got a Smart power anyway. He was a gaslighter and a dick who suddenly had access to all these incorporeal threads leading from people to their insecurities. It¡¯s a miracle he hasn¡¯t unmasked anyone yet. I don¡¯t count.¡±

    ¡°And why do you hate Snideman?¡±

    Felix hesitated. ¡°He took something that I wanted away from me.¡±

    Greenflame nodded. ¡°As good a reason as any. Is there anything else you hate?¡±

    ¡°Friends, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Oh, do tell.¡± Greenflame requested, kicking up her feet onto the table next to the crystal ball.

    ¡°This is another power one.¡± Felix said. Greenflame waved her permission. ¡°Before I got my powers, no one bothered to stay near me. No one hated me, but all I got was indifference and the expected politeness. Now that I have powers¡­¡± Felix thought of Terry, the nicest one. Or the worst one. He wasn¡¯t that good a judge of character. ¡°They just want things from me. Things I can¡¯t deliver.¡±

    ¡°Ah, the dilemma of wealth.¡±

    Felix glanced at his bag that held the money. He decided against mentioning how poor he once was.

    ¡°Well in that case, I think I should begin. Remove two hundred and two dollars from the bag, the rest is my price.¡± Greenflame tapped the tobacco out of her pipe, hitting the tray three times. Each time she tapped a pillar of flame erupted behind her chair.

    Felix sat up and retrieved the money. He put the bag on the table and pushed it over. This was what he had been waiting for.

    ¡°Your past.¡± Greenflame¡¯s voice burned as she straightened her poster. She gestured to the card on Felix¡¯s left. ¡°The Peasant.¡± The pillar solidified into the shape of a card. An unmasked Felix amidst a crowd of faceless people was depicted.

    ¡°Your present.¡± Greenflame continued despite Felix¡¯s hesitation seeing his own face. ¡°The Peasant.¡± The centre pillar solidified into a copy of the first.

    The woman in green pointed her pipe at the centre card. ¡°And that¡¯s despite you having a power now. Can you guess what your future is?¡±

    ¡°I can.¡± Felix deadpanned.

    A smile spread across Greenflame¡¯s face. ¡°Good thing you came to me. You may have ended up on the lowest rung of the Sentinels if you continued as is.¡±

    ¡°Really? At my age?¡±

    ¡°Considering how long it would take you to get restless with mundane life, yes.¡±

    Felix considered the implications.

    ¡°What is your wish, Felix?¡±

    Felix hadn¡¯t introduced himself, but considering she was looking at his future¡­ ¡°I had a wish walking in here, but you¡¯ve made me second guess myself.¡±

    Greenflame smiled green fire.

    ¡°There was one thing I wanted to wish for, and was content to work at the rest myself. You asked me those questions, and now I worry my wish isn¡¯t worded right. And you have a reputation for being a monkey paw. There¡¯s so much I want, but I can¡¯t group it in a single sentence with a single point.¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Felix considered his words. ¡°I want to be strong without being slow. That was all I came here to wish for. Now I want to be faster with my words and I want to be faster with my thoughts. I want to be able to act when luck decides to give me an offer. I want to be able to make sure that Keaton never cuts me again. I want more than that as well, but it¡¯s harder to put into words.¡±

    Greenflame reduced the flames at her mouth. ¡°You were a member of a small time gang of teenage villains in Calgary. Sponsored, yes, but small. You were smart enough in class, but never stood out. Your problem, I think, is perspective. You have spent so much time as a Peasant, you lack perspective.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    It was a good point. Felix thought on that.

    ¡°I think I have my wish.¡±

    ¡°Then I can offer you a future.¡± Greenflame¡¯s mouth spat fire. ¡°What is your wish?¡±

    Felix took a breath to reassure himself. ¡°I want to be the kind of person that everyone takes seriously.¡±

    He paused.

    ¡°I want to be powerful without being held back.¡±

    He paused again. Thinking.

    ¡°I want to never be cut by a fucking sword ever again. I want to have the kind of presence that makes people shit themselves when I¡¯m in the room. I want to stand shoulder to- no, on the shoulders of the world¡¯s greatest heroes and to be able to choose if I help against a Calamity. Just so that when the people who walked all over me beg for my help, I can look them in the eye as I shake my head.¡± The word reverberated around him and pushed back the fire.

    Curious. The green fires weren¡¯t his.

    He took a breath, and hoped that there would be no retribution for the words he said next.

    ¡°I wish for all that.¡±

    Green fire smiled for the woman across from him. ¡°I can offer you the future of a Titan.¡±

    The third card depicted a Felix that had grown to a gargantuan size. So large that the mountains on either side of his image were dwarfed. The sun shone from a corner of the illustration and a ray of light protected Felix¡¯s modesty. Greenflame raised her hands to both sides.

    ¡°Do you accept?¡±

    Felix didn¡¯t think on it. ¡°I do.¡±

    Green fire billowed out from the three cards and encompassed the room. The fire from Greenflame¡¯s eyes darted down her arms and ignited her hands in a raging inferno. Despite being surrounded by fire, Felix wasn¡¯t hot.

    Hands enveloped in green fire were offered across the table and Felix took them. The fire spread slowly, and this time it burned. Felix stayed still, but still it hurt. He tried to stop his breathing to become invulnerable but it was fruitless. He still burned. Then it got worse because he had to scream, reducing the effectiveness of his power. He ripped his hands from Greenflame¡¯s and watched as his fingers blackened and began to disintegrate.

    The fire spread to his arms and Felix screamed much the same.

    The fire spread to his torso and Felix screamed until his lungs burned away.

    He tried to run, but the fire covered his eyes and burned those too.

    He kept running into walls and eventually the fire burned away his legs.

    When Felix finally felt something that wasn¡¯t pain, he felt all his limbs exactly where they were meant to be and felt like he was in perfect health. Then when he opened his eyes he was much lower to the ground. At first he thought he was lying down, and he was. But when he stood up his eyes rose less than he was used to.

    ~~~

    Felix decided to have a short break and listen to what he had just spent hours wroughting in this place. The first shouts came quickly. They graced his ears the moment he let himself pause.

    ¡°We need backup!¡±

    ¡°Oh god, where did it go?¡±

    Felix was under a cupboard.

    ¡°Stay with me Lawrence, stay with me.¡± Felix¡¯s ear flicked. That one was coming from a different direction. Mistakes had been made with Lawrence. He hadn¡¯t expected the man to be so fragile.

    ¡°We need backup!¡± It was a different person to the first. They were in the direction of Lawrence, and were female going by the voice.

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡±

    ¡°Backup!¡± It wasn¡¯t his whole sentence, but the guy yelling about things he didn¡¯t know was louder than him. It was the first guy again.

    A strong voice cut in. ¡°Stay together and watch your exits! It blends in with the shadows, Whisper countermeasures!¡±

    ¡°What are the fucking Whisper countermeasures!?¡± Felix¡¯s ear flicked again. He was curious about what the Whisper countermeasures were as well. They never applied to him before.

    ¡°When is Aegis getting here?¡± Something Felix would also like to know. He wasn¡¯t sure if they were even coming.

    ¡°We need some fucking backup!¡± The first guy shouted again.

    Felix barely moved as he listened to all of them. Now that Calgary had been evacuated, or at least this area of it, it was easy to pick out the panicked shouts. There were so many calls for backup because there were two groups of them, heroes and Regulation, mixed and matched. Each calling a different source of backup.

    His right ear twitched as a thundercrack sounded, far away near where there were still civilians. The Thunder. Aegis had arrived. They were treating him like a Calamity. Felix wasn¡¯t sure whether he should feel complimented or insulted. Sure, he had tossed around all those heroes, even Keaton. Left the ¡®hero¡¯ in a Keaton sized crater. But he hadn¡¯t killed anyone.

    Felix had perfect control now that he didn¡¯t have to be slow. Lawrence would survive.

    These two groups of heroes, Felix wasn¡¯t even sure why he was playing with them anymore. He had started all this by seeking out his old hideout, and finding it abandoned. All that was left was the Locker with THE SNAIL spray painted on it.

    That had made Felix get angry in a way that he hadn¡¯t been able to before, so he destroyed the building. It was easy now. That, at least, had quenched the anger, but it had alerted the Sentinels to his presence. They didn¡¯t want to let him get away, and he honestly didn¡¯t really want to leave. Felix had wanted to play.

    So he played with the heroes. He batted around the heavyset Muscle Wizard, an Enforcer that once had made him envious. Now... forgettable. He had pounced at Gale And Storm, and made her reevaluate what constituted a safe height. All the others he beat down casually, until Keaton emerged.

    Keaton had monologued, and Felix hadn¡¯t been caught in his power like before. So Felix pounced halfway through the speech and made the crater. Everything after that was a game of cat and mouse. Felix rumbled his laughter through his throat, close enough to one group that they spooked.

    ¡°Where is it coming from?¡± A particularly nervous voice asked.

    ¡°Why did a Calamity have to appear? We just got Scathach!¡±

    ¡°Focus!¡±

    Felix ignored them, and leaped through the wall on the other side of the room. The strength behind his leap destroying the floor beneath him just as much as he took the wall away by jumping through it. All the men and women in body armour and wielding guns could do was cover their eyes and ears, duck, and pray.

    The Thunder had not delivered Aegis too far away. Only a few blocks. It took as many leaps to reach it. Felix landed lightly on the edge of a skyscraper¡¯s roof. He saw them there, the three great and undefeatable heroes. The vanguard, floating in space. Archangel, in her bright and resplendent glory. Kinetic, comparatively mundane despite his reputation as the first hero. He also had a nosebleed that he was wiping away. Curious. And then there was Victorious. Hope¡¯s replacement was already glowing blue. Something Felix had never understood.

    Felix¡¯s tail flicked in two directions at once. To the right and up. He wanted to play.

    ¡°Where is the kitten?¡± Kinetic wondered aloud. He hadn¡¯t seen Felix yet.

    ¡°I¡¯m scanning local channels now.¡± Victorious responded, also oblivious to Felix. ¡°Hm, switch back to FM.¡±

    ¡°Switching.¡±

    Victorious paused, listening. ¡°It just jumped out of a building. Took a good chunk of wall with it apparently.¡± He pressed something Felix couldn¡¯t see. ¡°Give me an address.¡±

    ¡°Men,¡± Archangel spoke. ¡°It is right there.¡± She did not point, but solid beams of light extended from the shoulders of the two men. Thin, and only briefly gracing this existence before winking out, but they conveyed the direction easily enough.

    Felix¡¯s tails flicked again.

    Victorious flew closer, blasting the air behind him as he moved. Felix considered pouncing, but decided not to. Yet. Victorious stopped a short distance away. Several meters of air separated them.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you attacking?¡± He asked.

    Felix twitched an ear and meowed.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± Kinetic shouted from behind. ¡°Theta or Omega?¡±

    Victorious turned back. ¡°It¡¯s passive!¡±

    Felix jumped onto Victorious¡¯ shoulder and half of his blue returned to his normal colour, everywhere within about a metre of Felix. Victorious started to fall. There was a crack from Victorious¡¯ leg and the hero vanished from under Felix just as he was digging his claws in, making him spin with the exit maneuver. Being a cat, Felix righted himself and plummeted five stories, where he landed lightly on his feet.

    ¡°Victorious, you¡¯re bleeding.¡± Kinetic said far above.

    ¡°I know.¡± Was Victorious¡¯ gruff response. His lower half was still blue, but his upper half was red, still heating up to match the rest of him. The colour obscured the parts that were bleeding at the moment.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you flick back?¡±

    ¡°Have to return to how I was before I changed. The thing negated my power, forced part of me back to normal.¡±

    Felix wanted to join in, so he jumped up to them and landed on Archangel, breaking the sound barrier on his way up. The other heroes started shouting as Archangel¡¯s wings vanished and she started falling like Victorious had. The heroine reached for something as Felix dug his claws in. He found out what that something was as the knife point hit the bottom of his mouth and got caught in his fur.

    Felix meowed. He meant to say ow, even if he didn¡¯t feel any pain.

    Archangel immediately dropped the dagger and slugged Felix in the side to no effect. He wondered what she was trying to do, then got it when he noticed the ground getting closer. Felix climbed so he was between Archangel and the ground, then leaped down as hard as he was comfortable. He broke the sound barrier again before landing, just as Archangel did from the force of his kick.

    Far above, her power reactivated as her rigid wings of light flickered back into existence, stabilising the heroine and lighting up the sky. Felix, on his part, jumped up a nearby building, then jumped off of it so he could land on the third and final hero of Aegis. Kinetic figured out what was going on though, and was getting out of the way.

    He was using his power on the wall of the building Felix was jumping from at the same time, and it threw his aim off tremendously. There was also a flying car that was moving to intercept, but it wasn¡¯t moving fast enough. Felix landed on Kinetic¡¯s leg and dug his claws in there. Kinetic didn¡¯t fall like the rest, but he did drop a little, maybe in an attempt to shake Felix off.

    But Felix was enjoying this. He wasn¡¯t about to back out now, so he started climbing.

    ¡°Get this thing off of me!¡± Kinetic yelled.

    Archangel responded with a blast of light that hit Felix perfectly while missing Kinetic. But it did nothing to slow him and he kept climbing. The world dimmed as Archangel intensified her power, maintaining the pillar of light as Victorious repositioned.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure what I can do against this thing.¡± He told Archangel. ¡°I return to normal when it gets close.¡±

    ¡°Find a bat.¡± Archangel responded as she made three more lances of light to blast Felix with.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have clearance yet.¡±

    ¡°Invulnerability and power negation.¡± Archangel said. The implications went unsaid as she paused, and Felix wasn¡¯t sure what they were. ¡°Find a bat.¡±

    There was a sonic boom as Victorious disappeared to do exactly that. Archangel had to let up on her assault from some angles as Felix made it to Kinetic¡¯s shoulder. She introduced new angles, but it wasn¡¯t impeding Felix any. Kinetic stopped floating and started falling.

    Now Felix could say he had stood on the shoulders of Aegis. His wish had been granted.

    He jumped far away, but got slammed out of the air by a long steel beam.

    Felix picked himself out of the deep hole and looked up, his ears flicking asymmetrically. Victorious had found his bat. Archangel¡¯s assault started again a moment later, severely limiting what Felix could see and burning the ground around him.

    His fur was standing on end, but the heroes didn¡¯t care. Didn¡¯t they know cat body language? Felix arched his spine to further the point.

    The sound of something very big breaking made Felix¡¯s left ear flick more aggressively. His tail twitched and he launched himself in the opposite direction, keeping close to the ground. The moment he was out of the pillars of light, Felix saw he had jumped at a nearby concrete ramp. He pulled his legs up and landed sideways, then jumped in a different direction, only to be batted in a different direction by a flying green glowing baseball batter.

    Felix¡¯s body was redirected again as he hit an angled shaft of hard light, but it wasn¡¯t as dramatic as Archangel probably intended. His new cat body twisted around the shaft of light and his tails slapped it before it left its reach. The blow launched Felix sideways instead of down, and he twisted in the air to land sideways on the skyscraper in his way.

    The skyscraper that was moving.

    ¡°Shit, it¡¯s on it.¡± Kinetic muttered, letting Felix pinpoint his location.

    Felix aimed.

    ¡°Smash it down. Might do something.¡± Victorious suggested. The next moment the building tilted down and accelerated in the direction of gravity.

    Felix corrected his aim, then kicked. The action collapsed the building in the middle and shook it from Kinetic¡¯s telekinetic grip, letting it sail towards the hero whose power had just failed them. Felix the cat landed gracefully on top of a car and turned to watch the building go.

    It moved quickly, and reached the position where Kinetic was within moments of Felix turning to watch. Then every surviving window in the building shattered as it stopped and crumpled. The building shaped debris was crushed into a ball only a third of its former size in a split second, then thrust back in the direction of Felix before the sound reached his new ears. It was thrust quite quickly.

    Felix hopped down under the car, then kicked it towards the ball of concrete flying his way. The car had less force behind it, and was deflected down when it impacted the ball. It continued to crash through a low building and destroy three of its four walls, but left its roof mostly standing. The big flying ball was driven off course and hit the cars behind Felix. He hopped up onto a new car and meowed.

    ¡°Kinetic, are you well?¡± Archangel asked, still keeping an eye on Felix. She stayed her pillars of light for the time being.

    ¡°Like turning a key.¡± Kinetic responded, but he was breathing hard.

    ¡°It¡¯s playing.¡± Victorious observed when it became clear this was a lull in the fight. ¡°No deaths so far, and only select wounded. Reckless destruction means that someone who gets caught in a falling building might change that, but I seriously think that the worst damage it¡¯s done is what it did to me.¡± His glowing shoulder had blots of red blood seeping through the costume and disrupting the glowing green/white nimbus.

    Felix meowed. Lawrence had been worse off than Victorious.

    ¡°Is it even a monster?¡± Kinetic asked.

    Felix pushed his ears back.

    ¡°Can you understand us?¡± Archangel asked.

    Felix pushed his ears forward and meowed.

    ¡°I think that¡¯s as close to a yes as we¡¯re going to get.¡± Kinetic commented.

    ¡°Are the monsters evolving?¡± Victorious asked the other members of Aegis as he drifted to better surround Felix. Felix tracked him.

    Kinetic shrugged in space. ¡°Can¡¯t definitively say no. Alpha class reproduces but this is the only example of this one. Theta class are all unique, but we haven¡¯t seen any smaller than a big dog. This thing is a kitten. Calamity¡­¡±

    ¡°We thought there was a pattern.¡± Archangel said. ¡°Are you a monster?¡±

    Felix considered that, then hissed.

    ¡°So the kitty doesn¡¯t like being called a monster.¡± Kinetic observed as Felix¡¯s ear flicked. ¡°Unfortunately, doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s a human. Altered is possible, but it doesn¡¯t match. Altered still have human features.¡±

    Felix meowed as he flexed his tails. He started writing on the roof under him.

    ¡°Maybe it thinks you¡¯re right.¡± Victorious suggested.

    ¡°Leaving¡­ Bye now.¡± Archangel read as Felix¡¯s tails carved out the words on the roof of the car, even though his body was blocking line of sight and the angle she was at meant the words would be upside down and diagonal.

    Felix¡¯s ears flicked in annoyance. Then he meowed and jumped to another car. He carved his preferred name, to take one he enjoyed rather than be given one he hated. Then he launched himself far away. He had his fun, and he wasn¡¯t interested in talking to the heroes.

    Kinetic groaned before Felix got too far away. ¡°I¡¯m going to get so much shit for that building.¡±

    ~~~

    Felix turned the guitar pick around in his fingers. It was light blue, and had no text or decoration on it. Nothing, not even texture to help grip the thing. It was completely mundane, even in his hands, not that it mattered when he had hands.

    ¡°Find the city busker. Give that to them.¡± Greenflame instructed.

    ¡°Which busker?¡± Felix asked.

    ¡°The one with bleached hair and piercing eyes.¡±

    ¡°What will they be playing?¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Greenflame swirled her bourbon in its glass. She paused, and a drop or two sloshed out of the crystal vessel. ¡°They may be more than one.¡±

    ¡°May be?¡±

    ¡°May be.¡±

    Felix looked at Greenflame lounging in that same chair, sitting at that same table in a different dark room with that same shitty orb. He contemplated how some things never changed and pocketed the guitar pick. ¡°How much should I tip?¡±

    Greenflame gesticulated with her glass. ¡°I already told you, doesn¡¯t matter. Just make sure you drop off the pick. Off with you, there¡¯s a deadline.¡±

    Felix turned to go, then frowned. ¡°Where am I looking?¡±

    ¡°King street. Patrol Officer, if you don¡¯t mind?¡± At Greenflame¡¯s behest, the blue mist portal opened up, leading to a rooftop closer to downtown in Graceland. Felix walked through and was immediately buffeted by wind. He was moving relatively slowly, however, so the wind didn¡¯t have much impact.

    Patrol Officer closed the portal before Felix shifted into Dreadnaught with a brief burst of verdant fire. The agony passed in a moment, and he was used to it. That freedom was only afforded to him as long as he stayed with Greenflame. A metaphorical collar for her metaphorical kitty, Felix the Dreadnaught.

    Dreadnaught hopped onto the balcony edge of the building and looked down at the city below. A good portion of King street was empty, the roads blocked off and crowds gathering at the edges. He had a sense of foreboding that he had become all too familiar with.

    It was impossible to tell if this was a scene that Greenflame had orchestrated, but it was a scene that Greenflame had orchestrated. Dreadnaught¡¯s ear flicked, and he jumped to an alley that seemed out of the way. After making sure it was empty, he leaped down and shifted back to Felix, then walked out onto the street with his hands in his pockets and his hood up.

    He listened. He was a ways away from the crowd still, but he couldn¡¯t hear any music. So Felix went towards the crowd. The sound of people murmuring picked up. Felix stepped through the crowd, using his slow strength to more easily navigate to the front. What he saw was disappointing, just tents that had been erected to block most of the view of the public. What he could see was just evacuated street.

    Excited whispers swept through the crowd as a male figure in a silver and black costume that was checkered, with the four corners converging over where his heart would be. Felix recognised him from his first outing as Dreadnaught.

    After leaving Aegis behind, Felix had hidden amongst civilians to get a good look at Control. The chessboard man was known as Eden, and he was making an eden. Several people got their Vphones out and started recording as silvery liquid seemed to rise from the ground around Eden grew upwards in silvery lines. The process took some time, but Eden shortly constructed barriers around the centre where the monster would appear, which seemed to be a corner store for a coffee chain.

    Felix watched as the first set of barriers was completed and Bang Bang, someone Felix hadn¡¯t expected, walked up in his new costume and started setting up his techo gear. He wore armour that used the same theory as ring mail, but had bullet casings instead.

    The bullets fell around the symbol of Control, a flat circle with barriers going up on the left and right sides, which sat in his centre chest. The bullets only came down as far as his waist, not unlike a poncho, and underneath that were the myriad of guns and projectile throwers Bang Bang was known for, though these were only the ones he was able to carry on his person. His mask was shaped like two handguns aiming to the left and right of his head, using the trigger guards as eyeholes. Overall, it was a decent redesign.

    Bang Bang could recognise Felix, however. He shrunk back from the front of the crowd, moving faster because people wanted his front row position and didn¡¯t resist. After passing the critical point where the crowd suddenly lessened, he started making his way around and keeping an ear out for music. Felix made it three quarters of the way around the cordon before hearing anything.

    There were two sounds. A guitar being played through an amp, and a beautiful woman¡¯s vocals. They were playing a song that used to be popular, but Felix didn¡¯t recognise it until he got closer. When he recognised it, he froze.

    The Cat and the Snail.

    Definitely Greenflame. It was just a reminder of how far her hold extended, something Felix brushed off since dwelling on it was pointless now. When he got close enough to see the buskers, he saw a lithe woman with bleached white hair singing her heart out. Next to her and a little bit back was a heavyset man with similarly bleached hair wearing a top hat and playing an electric guitar. Not too loud, thankfully. Felix¡¯s ears were sensitive ever since he made his wish. He noted the guitar player¡¯s intense eyes.

    Not quite the Deus Ex Machina look, then. They would have had golden eyes if they were modeling themselves after that woman. Several people had over the decades. Bleached white hair had been popularised by the miraculous vigilante.

    Felix pulled out the pick and some loose change, then walked by the buskers and dropped the pick into the guitar case the buskers were using to collect money amongst his coins. The guitar player nodded thanks while the singer gave him a coquettish wink, showing off her piercing eyes. Felix tipping the buskers started another person in the small but growing crowd stepping up and giving tips as well. They got similar reactions.

    ¡°What was that for?¡± Someone in the crowd asked, directing the question right at Felix.

    He paused and looked at the speaker. The guy was wearing a hood just like Felix, but his was blue while Felix liked his hoodies dark and almost black. His hair, which was just visible underneath the hood, was bleached white. His eyes were an intense and pale blue.

    ¡°Tipping.¡± Felix answered and made to move.

    ¡°But why the pick?¡± The guy asked, making Felix pause again. He looked at the speaker, then he looked at the singer, then at the guitar player. Each of the buskers met his eyes as he looked at them, then looked away the instant he moved on. The specific wording of Greenflame¡¯s direction echoed in his mind, and rumours he had picked up throughout his career swam to the surface.

    ¡°Oh, the City.¡± Felix realised. ¡°Who hired you this time?¡±

    ¡°Surprisingly, no one.¡± The City guy said after flashing a smile. ¡°The three of us are just killing time in Graceland. We¡¯re poised to move across the Canadian border or move to Seattle as required. But right now¡­¡± He shrugged and sighed. ¡°No work for us.¡±

    ¡°Too numerous?¡±

    ¡°No, just no work.¡±

    Felix looked at the guy with suspicion.

    ¡°~nothing at all~¡± The singer sang.

    ¡°What brings the Dreadnaught to Graceland?¡±

    There was a beat where the two transhumans stared at each other. Eventually Felix sighed. He¡¯d mentioned the name of the City out loud, so this much was to be expected. ¡°I guess you could say I¡¯m wandering.¡±

    ¡°I could, but that would be letting you deflect. Now I¡¯ll rephrase so my question is clear. Why did you drop the guitar pick into the tipping case?¡±

    Felix picked his words, but got interrupted by the chorus of the song.

    ¡°Tell me why~ Sweet, sweet kitty~¡±

    Felix tried to hide how disturbed he was. He did it by stilling his movements. ¡°I noticed you needed a guitar pick?¡±

    The City guy gave Felix a long and calculating look. ¡°Close, but I¡¯m satisfied¡­ It will have to do. Thank you Dreadnaught.¡±

    ¡°What for?¡±

    ¡°For the guitar pick. Once we¡¯ve determined it doesn¡¯t have any Whisper effects we¡¯ll probably use it.¡±

    Felix pondered whether or not he should mention that the pick was actually a Traitor effect, considering how it lead to someone getting powers. He decided not to. Though, now that he knew the City was involved, it was plain to see how that kid was getting powers. He really should have only wished for one.

    The City guy gave Felix a friendly pat on the shoulder. ¡°Venessa recently broke his second to last pick, so we were going to pack up. Now we might be able to keep busking until the beast shows up. Thank you kitty cat.¡±

    ¡°Welcome.¡± Felix nodded shortly with a frown on his face. Venessa was a girl¡¯s name, but this guy had definitely been talking about the guitar player, who seemed quite comfortable in his body if that sleeveless shirt at this hour was any indication. When he glanced at him, his eyes were met once again.

    Venessa gave Felix a wink that outright invited him to bed. Even if that was the way Felix swung, these City folk were creeping him out too much for him to consider it. He broke eye contact and hurried to leave. As he retreated the singer sang a line of the song in her passionate voice, sending a lasting chill up Felix¡¯s spine.

    It was hard to believe the City had picked out that exact song, but they might have been able to time it just right. Maybe it was influence from Greenflame. It was also possible there wasn¡¯t any ulterior motive behind them. Regardless, the words stuck with him.

    ¡°~and the snail ran away~¡±

 4. Men/Monsters S.2 (Interlude)

    ¡°Chk chk.¡±

    - Bang Bang. (Pre rebrand)

    _____________________________________________________________

    ¡°Eva¡­¡± His fluttering eyes were watering, his sweaty skin pale. He did not let his mortal wounds stop him from delivering the words he had been holding on to for so long. ¡°There¡¯s something you need to-¡± Blood spattered on Eva¡¯s dress as he coughed. ¡°There¡¯s something that¡­ I need to tell you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t strain yourself Liam.¡± Eva scolded. Her eyes were threatening to overflow with water as well, but she didn¡¯t let them. Couldn¡¯t, even. Dark Knight Vorugal was near and to break down now would only strengthen him. ¡°You need to hold on. Just hold on.¡±

    Liam shook his head, heedless of the damage that movement did to him. ¡°I¡¯ve loved you,¡± He told her, resolute. ¡°For so long.¡±

    Eva had to fight to hold back the tears. It was hard, but she held back the tide. ¡°I know you dummy.¡±

    Liam was dumbfounded. His skin became a degree colder before he got over the shock. ¡°But when?¡±

    ¡°For a while. Ever since you stood up for me in Darkarch. There¡¯s only one reason someone would go that far.¡±

    ¡°But-¡± He was so pale now. ¡°But that was when we met.¡±

    ¡°I only figured it out because I was watching you. And I was watching you because I love-

    Slingshot shut the book with a disappointed sigh.

    Sword, Sorcerer & the Return of the Dark Knight had started out promising, but that romantic subplot had been rearing its head for two solid thirds of the book and every single scene dedicated to it had been, for lack of a better term, icky. That the white squire Liam had been felled and was bleeding out, then using that as an excuse to confess to the ruby maiden Eva had been foreshadowed so obviously for the whole goddamn novel.

    There weren¡¯t even twenty pages left in the book and so much was left to wrap up. Slingshot predicted a cliffhanger ending, because there was no way all that was going to be resolved to any satisfactory extent. She would read it anyway, but she wouldn¡¯t enjoy it, and not now.

    Slingshot just wanted a good book to read, but everything seemed to be following the standard young adult fiction tropes these days. She had read romantic subplot after romantic subplot tank so many otherwise good stories that she was beginning to wonder if there existed any good books that didn¡¯t fall into the ick trap.

    There were, but she¡¯d read them already. Slingshot briefly considered going back to read them again, but tossed that idea as soon as it came up. One month was not enough breathing room to read a six hundred page book again. Even if it was a good one.

    In her musings, Slingshot realised she was going heels over head and righted herself before her skirt fell up. Or before it fell down since she¡¯d be up side down. She wore leggings under the skirt, and the costume designer had insisted on the skirt despite Slingshot¡¯s inclination to go without it.

    If the skirt wasn¡¯t there, then other people wouldn¡¯t want to see what was under it. Slingshot had mentally prepared herself for a bodysuit when she manifested, expecting something like Hope and Queen Freeze used to wear. Then she¡¯d have been free to just let herself drift at any angle, but now she had a skirt and she had to be mindful of it.

    She didn¡¯t enjoy musing on that, so Slingshot flew to her bag and opened it. She put Sword, Sorcerer & the Return of the Dark Knight in and took a workbook out. Homework to do and time to kill until Control arrived.

    Getting the right book took a few tries, but she found it. She looked at the bordering lines and focused, then dragged them sideways with her power. There was a subtle strain at the back of her mind, like a finger that was itching to bend. She ignored the itch and kept the book where it was. Until she let that ¡®finger¡¯ twitch, or she dragged the workbook further, it would stay there, suspended in the air.

    But Slingshot hadn¡¯t set it level. It was tilted, not level with the floor. Not that that was a problem, since she just floated up and rotated her body until it matched the angle, letting her work in it with relative ease.

    Working on homework wasn¡¯t easy, though. Slingshot was distracted, her mind wandered, going to the Theta Monster that was going to appear sometime in the next day. People normally died where they appeared, would she die? There was a chance.

    Norman, dad, ugh, he hadn¡¯t wanted her to attend things like this. He definitely hadn¡¯t wanted her to sign on for Omega level threat relief. But Slingshot¡­ she¡¯d made a promise. It wasn¡¯t to him and it wasn¡¯t negotiable.

    Slingshot dropped her pen and moved the lines around it, catching it before it fell too far. She ran her hand through her hair and rotated idly until she came to a stop looking at the other heroes in the room.

    Snowflake was using her power, making snowflakes land on her finger one by one to build up a thin pillar that shouldn¡¯t exist this time of year. Hangnail was finally off her phone, but she was leaning back in her chair and staring at the ceiling, not paying attention, letting her son babble.

    Papercut was a second generation gifted, with two transhuman parents. Supposedly, that made people more likely to manifest, and the younger guy evidently had. The articles Slingshot had read around the time she manifested proposed exactly that, though the numbers were inconclusive. Maybe because so few transhumans lived long enough to have kids.

    Looking at them was strange for Slingshot. Instead of seeing shades and colours like normal people saw, her eyes observed colours that didn¡¯t exist on the same spectrum. Sunglasses did nothing to impede her sight, but they did for everyone else. It¡¯s why she wore them. Apart from the unique situation with the colours, there were the lines.

    They were everywhere and on everything. Marking out all the changes in angles, spreading out nebulously on curved objects. They looked somewhat green, though Slingshot didn¡¯t see green as it used to be. She didn¡¯t have a word to describe the colour though, so she just called it green. The lines were especially strong for outlines. Manipulating those outlines was the basis of her telekinesis.

    Focusing on an outline made it grow, and let her drag the object like another limb that she just knew how to move. That movement made the outlines smear behind them, and when Slingshot let that twitch happen, the smears would become the vector in which her power flung things.

    Active powers made things light up in Slingshot¡¯s vision. Right now, the area of Snowflake¡¯s power became a little bit darker that the surroundings, and the snow was easier to make out thanks to a thick outline. The line marking where her field ended on the floor was quite helpful. Hangnail was turning her power on and off under the table, making small orbs of something that matched one of Slingshot¡¯s new blues, and then disappearing them. Slingshot only noticed because she¡¯d drifted to be heel over head again, so she righted herself once more.

    Papercut¡¯s power was prismatic, and constantly shifted like water contaminated with oil. The areas where the forcefields were present were very blatantly obvious to Slingshot, even though they were see through, according to Lock. The outlines just stuck out so obnoxiously that they almost entirely obscured wherever they were.

    And then Lock. His power let him obscure himself as far as colours went, but since Slingshot saw in lines and outlines, she was privy to his real face. He had a cute nose, which helped Slingshot understand how satisfied he looked whenever he was obscuring his expression and using that to his advantage. It was hard to take a face that cute seriously, especially when his eyebrows were furrowed and he was getting all frustrated.

    Plus, he had walked in with glitter drifting from his hair. Slingshot wasn¡¯t sure if he was aware of it, and she was wondering if she should bring it up. On one hand Lock seemed like the kind of person to prefer a more serious aesthetic, but on the other hand she was enjoying the sparkles that were lighting up his short dark hair.

    Lock¡¯s power made outlines thicken much like her¡¯s did when he was exerting his form of telekinesis, and usually he was walking around in that costume of his. The more he was doing to something, the thicker the outline. Thanks to that, Lock¡¯s normal costume had such a thick outline that Slingshot was having trouble connecting him to this new casual costume, which barely had any outlines at all.

    Then there was the spear Lock had with him today. The lines running along the shaft of it made an optical illusion to Slingshot, like they were moving without moving, and they were thicker than the lines on anything else. There was a power active there, but it wasn¡¯t Lock¡¯s usual. His were normally rigid and unmoving.

    It was quite off putting.

    As for Lock himself, he had been acting strange today, though he¡¯d never really been normal. When he was in costume he was overly serious, taking note of everything and anything. Capable of seeing the humour in things, but seldom laughing at it. Yet that seriousness was pliable, easily changed. One of the first things Slingshot noticed about Lock was that he changed how he talked to people like a girl changed clothes.

    She must have only said five words to him in costume today, yet he¡¯d changed the course of the confrontation between Snowflake and Hangnail with a well timed question, and then he¡¯d gone over to Scar¡¯s Advent and activated his glib tongue. Papercut had been itching to talk, and felt the most comfortable talking to Lock. Lock kept the conversation flowing, he traded information about their powers, getting more than he gave, even though they spent more time talking about Lock¡¯s power than Papercut¡¯s.

    Papercut eventually asked a question that Slingshot had been meaning to ask for a while. ¡°Can¡¯t you use your power to fly?¡±

    Lock¡¯s invisible expression involved tightening his lips. He must not like that topic too much. ¡°I can¡¯t do it because it¡¯d be putting essentially twice my body weight on my clothes. It would be uncomfortable, and they¡¯d rip.¡±

    ¡°But what about your costume. It¡¯s just one piece right? I heard you got shot, so it should be able to take the strain.¡±

    Slingshot had heard about Lock getting shot as well. She took a moment to be glad that she hadn¡¯t been shot at yet.

    ¡°That¡¯s a no go as well. If I used my power to push that up, then I¡¯d be giving myself a wedgie the entire time. Then I¡¯d have trouble stabilising since the forces my power invokes are uniform. If I started tipping, there wouldn¡¯t be much for me to do.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but you could add a big force to it, curl up, and fly like a meteor.¡±

    Slingshot had to stifle a laugh.

    Lock¡¯s response took a few moments to present itself. ¡°That- There¡¯s just too many things I don¡¯t control. Not to mention that I get the backlash. Remember Isaac¡¯s laws? That everything has an equal and opposite reaction? I¡¯d go splat. Besides, I can get around just fine.¡± His hand reached for the spear he¡¯d brought along as he said that.

    The air of the room changed as Snowflake stood up. ¡°Control is here. Mission brief in fifteen.¡± Then she turned around and walked out, leaving her snowflakes drifting in the air displaced by her exit.

    Slingshot checked the directions of the smears before releasing and catching her workbook and pen. She put the stationary away and slung her bag over her shoulders, then made to leave and barely managed to avoid crashing into Lock. Scar¡¯s Advent had already left.

    Lock¡¯s invisible expression was thoughtful, almost concerned. Slingshot let herself smile at it. He wouldn¡¯t see it because her own expression was hidden by a bandana and a pair of aviators.

    ¡°Are you feeling ready for this?¡± Lock eventually asked, taking his time picking his words.

    ¡°Yip.¡± Slingshot responded.

    ¡°Only checking because this has the chance to turn out more dangerous than the whole Greenflame thing.¡± He paused, thinking. ¡°Not as bad as things could get, though.¡±

    Slingshot knew what he was talking about. The Calamities. ¡°This isn¡¯t him.¡±

    That threw Lock for a loop. ¡°Him?¡±

    ¡°Quetzalcoatl.¡± Slingshot tugged at the straps of her bag, just now realising she¡¯d been drifting sideways again. She righted herself.

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± He hummed to himself briefly. Slingshot watched decisions fly past on his face. ¡°Why not Ai Laau?¡±

    Ah. Slingshot hadn¡¯t meant for him to ask a question like that. ¡°Um¡­¡± Think up something. ¡°Proximity, I guess. He wasn¡¯t too far away recently. We¡¯re still dealing with refugees.¡±

    Surprise made it onto Lock¡¯s expression. ¡°I guess we are.¡± He glanced outside, looked back to her, then made a decision. A second later he said, ¡°The meeting¡¯s starting soon. We should move.¡±

    ¡°Yip.¡± Slingshot floated after him. She had to regulate how quickly she moved, since Lock¡¯s walking speed was much slower than her flight, she constantly needed to correct. Speeding up and slowing down as needed.

    How much charge was left in her boots? Without slowing at all, Slingshot brought both knees up and fiddled with the operating keys on the outer side of the right boot. Sixteen percent, and she didn¡¯t know when next she would have these things on the charge. Best to save it.

    Orcus wasn¡¯t at the meeting, as well as a few of the Sentry. Muffle, for one, wasn¡¯t here since he would disrupt the work that needed to be done. Lucidity wasn¡¯t here either. Maybe it was past her bedtime. More likely she was too young. Unshaken, Blinker, Snowflake, and Collage were all already there. As were Zephyr, Voidling, and Sting, who seemed to have a haunted air about him ever since the Courtesans kidnapped him.

    The Heroes of Yesterday were only mostly here apparently, but Slingshot didn¡¯t know their roster so she couldn¡¯t name the absentees. Lock split off to talk to the one in white and blue with the cape, who looked to be the leader. He gestured at the spear a few times, but Slingshot couldn¡¯t figure out what they were talking about.

    Scar¡¯s Advent was present, of course. The three of them were grouped apart from everyone else. The meeting was taking place in a bookstore that had been emptied of people, but not of books. There was a bit of a temptation to go peruse, but Slingshot stamped down on that urge. This wasn¡¯t the time for browsing.

    The cashiers were situated in an island in the middle of the store, so the staff had four counters in one location for customer service. The cashiers themselves had been pushed to one side and presumably emptied. Overlord from Control was lounging on the counter, paying some attention to the screen of a laptop open next to him, but was more focused on sizing everyone up.

    Overlord¡¯s costume was light. A black vest that was nearer to a singlet than anything else, and long blue pants that gave him a look like he was going to a disco. What it really accomplished was showing how skinny he was. His mask was grey and featureless, but had a big yellow O over one of his eyes, and an interconnected little v over his nose. He had the symbol of control on the front of his singlet/vest.

    Behind him was Brainstorm. She was standing half bent at another counter and was completely focused on another laptop. Her domino mask covered less than Overlord¡¯s did, but her features were difficult to make out since her hair was lit up. Brainstorm¡¯s power let her turn her hair into arcing electricity. Right now it was humming quietly and occasionally crackling, the energy spreading out in the same dark red colour as her natural hair. The rest of her relatively straightforward costume had lightning motifs that were clearly spreading out from the head. The symbol of Control was small and off centre, near one of her shoulders.

    The costume itself was well fitted, but not tight by any means. Slingshot respected a woman that didn¡¯t rely on sex appeal.

    In front of both of those was Common Sense. He had a visor over his eyes that had neon letters on it spelling out ¡®DUH¡¯. His costume looked like he had tried to cross civilian clothes with military gear and tried to make it look good, but had failed on all counts. His sleeves were baggy and his pants were too short, and he had an ill fitted bulletproof vest on over his jacket. The symbol of control was tiny on the vest of his costume, barely larger than a name on a nametag would be. In the same spot too.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    Frankly, he looked like a slob. But there was something about him, either how the other¡¯s were looking to him or how he was simply standing in the most authoritative position, that gave Slingshot the impression that he was the one she should be listening to. He was a longstanding member of Control, and had even had a documentary made about him that Slingshot had watched a while ago.

    His name was pretty on the nose, if the documentary was accurate.

    Time ticked past, and Lock left the Heroes of Yesterday to rejoin her by a bookshelf that she¡¯d ended up by. Where Slingshot had kept herself from browsing, Lock went right to it.

    ¡°Sword, Sorcerer, & the Darkarch Assassin.¡± He read out loud to himself after a bit. Slingshot turned in alarm to find him pulling the book off the shelf and reading the blurb on the back. She looked at the other titles and groaned to herself. Of course she had ended up by the YA fiction section.

    Lock glanced at Slingshot, and she couldn¡¯t figure out what that one meant. He glanced back to the book. ¡°Wasn¡¯t there a series being made about this? Seems decent. Actually it¡¯s not the first, nevermind.¡±

    Slingshot used her power to catch the book as he was putting it back. He looked back to her with curiosity. She swallowed. ¡°Let me see?¡±

    Lock relinquished the book and Slingshot floated it over to her. She checked the reviews. Not that bad. But that didn¡¯t answer the question of whether or not it was worth finishing the first book. Only reading it would answer that question, which was the dilemma.

    As Slingshot turned the book over in her power, she noticed the number three on the spine. The Darkarch Assassin wasn¡¯t that bad a title, and the blurb promised action. A return to the roots for the characters, spoiling Liam¡¯s survival, but threatening the deaths of other characters Slingshot cared about more, as well as others she didn¡¯t know. The problem was that the blurb always promised action. The better stories were usually the ones with vague blurbs more focused on setting the tone.

    Slingshot was mostly worried about another make-me-want-to-vomit love subplot. Still, she made to seek out the second in the series. The room quieting behind her made her stop and put the book back, and pay attention to the meeting.

    Common Sense stepped up, then frowned and looked at Overlord. They exchanged hushed words, then Overlord picked something up from the counter and handed it over. Common Sense stepped up again, raised a customer service bell, and tapped it several times.

    The rest of the conversation stopped as people started getting annoyed. Slingshot was considering using her power to snatch the bell when Common Sense hid it behind his back and launched straight into his speech.

    ¡°Alright, so Graceland. This is the second time I¡¯ve been here, but the first time I¡¯ve been here for an A-13.¡± He spoke, pacing just a little. ¡°Consequently, most of you, especially you young ones, won¡¯t know what the deal is with these Theta class monsters. I¡¯ll put it plain and simple. There are two truths to these things. The first is that they are all powerful, and the second is that they all want to kill you.¡±

    He didn¡¯t even let that sink in before moving on. ¡°There¡¯s a lot to discuss about them concerning relative power levels, what form it¡¯s going to take, and general guesswork about their intentions, and you¡¯re free to discuss it. Know that it¡¯s going to be big, and so long as you assume that whatever is going to appear across the street is both hostile and more powerful than you, you probably won¡¯t die. That goes doubly true for you, Blinker.¡±

    Blinker reacted from being singled out, but Common sense kept going before Blinker could challenge that.

    ¡°The electromagnetic disturbances have been ongoing for four hours now, and this is a high traffic area, so we can assume a thirty minute window between the when it first appeared and it being noticed. That means we have somewhere between an hour and a whole day before shit hits the fan.

    ¡°Standard Control containment procedure involves setting up barriers around the point of appearance, aiming all guns and powers in, pulling the trigger until everything stops moving, and hoping that¡¯s enough. Eden and Unloaded are setting that up now. However, since that normally that isn¡¯t enough, we¡¯re having this meeting. Can I get a show of hands for all the Lance powers in the room?¡±

    Voidling, Collage, and Hangnail all raised their hands. Slingshot¡¯s hand tentatively followed.

    ¡°You meet with Brainstorm and explain your powers after this is done. Show of hands for powers that are good for crowd control.¡±

    Snowflake, Papercut, Sting, and one of the Heroes of Yesterday- the one whose costume was on fire, raised their hands. Hangnail raised her hand again.

    Common Sense singled out Hangnail. ¡°You put your hand up twice. Why?¡±

    ¡°Because my power¡¯s good for stopping movement and I can make it from a distance.¡± Hangnail pointed above Common Sense, where her power swirled and formed into a small blue orb. There were actually two, Slingshot noticed, but only one was coloured in. She took it to mean that Hangnail could choose to make invisible orbs.

    Well, invisible to everyone but Slingshot.

    ¡°Those take a hell of a lot of effort to move.¡± Hangnail continued. ¡°I¡¯ve broken metal bats on them.¡±

    ¡°How many can you make?¡±

    ¡°A few.¡± Three more orbs joined the first, as well as two more ¡®invisible¡¯ ones, then they all vanished. ¡°Depends on how much I¡¯m able to focus.¡±

    Common Sense thought on it, then turned around. Overlord nodded, then Common Sense turned back around. ¡°The ones that just put their hands up, you talk to Overlord when this is done. You with the orbs, talk to Brainstorm afterwards. Final show. Everyone with little to no range.¡±

    Lock put his hand up, along with Unshaken, Wall Walker, Mark, and Zephyr. Slingshot realised that Blinker hadn¡¯t put his hand up for any of them.

    ¡°If you can¡¯t do much damage, put your hand down.¡±

    Everyone that had their hand up kept them up, though Mark seemed indecisive about his. In the end he stuck it out.

    Common Sense took them all in. ¡°You guys come see me. You.¡± He pointed at Blinker. ¡°What¡¯s your power?¡±

    ¡°Short range teleportation.¡± Blinker answered. Slingshot noticed Lock letting out a long breath.

    Common Sense continued without hesitation. ¡°You¡¯re on standard patrol. Don¡¯t take part in this. You.¡± He pointed at the hero from the Heroes of Yesterday in white with the half cape.

    ¡°I¡¯m really very good at stuff.¡± He answered.

    Common Sense paused for a moment, then he smiled a bit. ¡°Damn, Toil. You went all in with the redesign. I didn¡¯t recognise you.¡±

    Toil laughed. ¡°I really wanted a cape.¡±

    ¡°Do you want a gun this time?¡±

    ¡°I have been practicing.¡±

    ¡°Perfect, Unloaded will set you up. That makes you Risk.¡± Common Sense turned to the last Hero of Yesterday to be addressed.

    ¡°What gave me away?¡± Risk asked sarcastically. It almost fell flat, but Overlord burst out laughing. Brainstorm zapped him without looking, and he calmed down to silent chuckles.

    Common Sense shook his head. ¡°You and I are going to have long discussions leading into this. After I get to know everyone, that is. Stick around.¡±

    Risk nodded, and let the meeting move on. But it got disrupted by four people in armour entering the bookstore. At first Slingshot thought she had just seen four Orcuses walk in, but then she caught on to the differences in the armour.

    The one in front was female, and was fairly evenly proportioned compared to the rest. It was only really possible to tell it was a she because the breastplate stuck out ever so slightly. Instead of horns curling back, this woman had two tiny pointed nubs in the forehead, and had a crack in the helmet that Orcus didn¡¯t have. It was a rough parting line shaped almost like a smile going all the way across the front. The effect was off putting.

    The other woman was taller, a bit thinner, but a bit curvier, and had a row of horns in a mohawk that were longer at the front than at the back. One of the remaining men was wide and short compared to the rest, while the other was the tallest and not so wide. The short one had bulls horns that went out and then up, and extended beyond the helmet as if he intended to ram them into something. The tall one didn¡¯t have horns on his helmet, rather, he had ridges along his arms and legs, and jagged armour at the elbows. None of them had the smile line of the woman with impish horns.

    ¡°I assume you are the Gray Apostles.¡± Common Sense was the first to speak.

    The smile line didn¡¯t move as the imp horned woman spoke. ¡°We are.¡± Her voice was harsh and guttural. It permeated the room with a familiar undertone that Slingshot was finding unnerving.

    Lock swore next to her. Slingshot glanced at him in confusion, he was frowning. Then she hesitantly tapped his shoulder for an explanation.

    ¡°They hold themselves exactly like him.¡± He explained.

    Slingshot looked at the Gray Apostles with fresh eyes. Lock was right, and it made them even more creepy.

    ¡°You just missed the important part of the meeting.¡± Common Sense started.

    ¡°We are already aware of standard Theta class creation containment procedures.¡± The woman interrupted him before he could get going. ¡°Brute, Fear, and Method are your front line. No questions. You and I will speak tactics.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not how this goes, Instinct.¡± Toil spoke up.

    ¡°For once, I agree with Toil.¡± Zephyr added. ¡°You can¡¯t just walk in and expect everyone to obey your commands.¡±

    Instinct stared at Zephyr, then her helmet moved for the first time as she barked a single laugh. ¡°You¡¯re cute. The orders I have given here have only been to my own team, and to Common Sense.¡± She looked at the hero from Control. ¡°And if you have common sense, you will listen to me.¡±

    That left the focus on Common Sense, who was looking at the Gray Apostles with something bordering on disdain. ¡°We¡¯ll talk later, Instinct. Tell your people to listen to Eden and Unloaded, and to stay out of the way for the time being. They¡¯re still setting up and we aren¡¯t on five yet.¡±

    ¡°The child is still with you?¡± Instinct spoke rhetorically, she¡¯d already turned around and started to leave. ¡°I wonder if he still-¡± She was out the door.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Common Sense clapped his hands and injecting some energy into the now tense room. ¡°As standoffish as those five are, our chances of survival just went up dramatically. Break and talk to us as we decided earlier. I¡¯ll be moving outside for this. All this is is getting to know what powers we¡¯re working with here. I¡¯ll say it again. If we¡¯re lucky, no one is going to die this time.¡±

    Slingshot noticed his fingers were crossed as he said it. Overlord and Brainstorm absentmindedly knocked on the counter twice.

    ¡°Remember, we don¡¯t know exactly how long it¡¯s going to take to hatch, but we will get some advanced warning. Your job is to get ready as soon as possible and stay ready.¡±

    ¡°Hurry up and wait.¡± Lock muttered.

    Common Sense heard it and pointed next to Slingshot. ¡°Good analogy, now hurry up.¡±

    ~~~

    Slingshot¡¯s new bandolier was heavy, but even though it weighed on her it didn¡¯t force her down to the ground. Brainstorm had gotten a thoughtful expression when Slingshot explained her power to her, then directed her to Unloaded and told her to interrupt whatever he was doing to explain her power to him. Unloaded had been handling a volatile energy weapon at the time, so it was difficult for Slingshot to work up the courage to interrupt him.

    Thankfully, it was much easier after he put the weapon down. Slingshot introduced herself before he could pick up another one, and he immediately asked if he could scan her power in action after he realised what it was. She acquiesced, even if she didn¡¯t really get all the mutterings about boomerang guns and curved bullets he was going on about.

    When she asked, all she got was something about ricocheting bullets not having enough versatility. Slingshot let it fly over her head.

    In any case, Unloaded had given her a plethora of impact grenades that had handy descriptions of what they did for the upcoming battle. Most of them just exploded, but there were a few with different effects like ¡®pause¡¯, ¡®electrify¡¯, ¡®speed up¡¯, and ¡®cover¡¯.

    The speed up grenade was meant to be used on friends. Slingshot had checked with the man himself.

    She tossed one in the air and watched it fall. At the peak of its arc, Slingshot put her power on it, but didn¡¯t make it move. She let it travel and watched the smear grow as it went. Once it nearly hit the ground, Slingshot released her power, and the grenade abruptly reversed course, but it didn''t travel back along the smear. Instead, it traveled more directly towards Slingshot. She put her power on it again just before it flew past her and she made it stop in space, where she easily picked it up and put it back on the bandolier.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Someone shouted from below. Slingshot looked down to see a man in Regulation combat uniform looking up at her. ¡°Be careful with those!¡±

    ¡°I will!¡± She had to shout down to him since there were three floors between them.

    Slingshot pulled another grenade off her bandolier and used her power to make it rotate around her. When it drifted out of her line of sight things got weird. She could still ¡®see¡¯ the grenade even when it was directly behind her. At some point it stopped being off to the left and started being off to her right, then it came back into where here eyes could see.

    She put it back onto the bandolier and looked down again, hoping someone else would be done. Lock had just stepped away from Common Sense and was looking around. After a few glances, he looked up and met Slingshot¡¯s gaze. He gave a small wave, still holding that spear.

    Slingshot waved back and started descending slowly. Slowly because she didn¡¯t want to upturn her skirt, and because she didn¡¯t feel like going headfirst and risking hair in her face. Soon enough she was next to Lock, who had found somewhere to sit on the barrier Eden had constructed in the middle of the street. An impressive achievement considering the hustle and bustle.

    It was almost like stadium seating, but the seats were further apart, and there were barriers in front of each seat. They were angled, slightly orange in colour, especially around the edges, and had outlines so thin that Slingshot almost didn¡¯t see them half the time. She had to take a moment to remember that it was her new ¡®orange¡¯, so it was probably a completely different colour to everyone else. In any case, it was all centered on where the spot where the Theta Monster was supposed to appear.

    Lock glanced up when Slingshot ¡®landed¡¯. He looked worse than before, really, really tired. ¡°Unloaded give you some toys?¡± He asked in an upbeat way that belied his expression.

    ¡°Yip.¡± Slingshot pointed at a grenade. ¡°Not all of them are bad, though. This is a go fast grenade.¡±

    She saw the urge to laugh make it to his face, but Lock didn¡¯t laugh. ¡°Does it hurt to use?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­¡± Slingshot didn¡¯t actually know. She checked the instructions. ¡°It just says to use on an ally and has a warning against hitting an enemy with it.¡±

    ¡°Well yeah, who¡¯d willingly speed up a monster?¡± Lock nodded, his expression far away. ¡°How fast do you think it makes you go? Not as fast as the Eclipse, obviously.¡±

    Slingshot rocked sideways. She hadn¡¯t even considered that.

    Lock¡¯s expression matched his words for once. ¡°Is something wrong?¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Slingshot realised how far sideways she was- almost upside down- and righted herself. ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    ¡°Is it? Because that¡¯s the farthest I¡¯ve seen you lean in response to anything. All I said was a name.¡±

    Slingshot considered flying away, and not just because Lock had named the Eclipse. He had also just admitted to watching her, not unlike Liam from that ick romantic subplot. She already knew he watched her, and she wasn¡¯t ready to think about why she knew that.

    But Slingshot stayed on, or at least near the ground. Lock didn¡¯t seem to have any bad intentions, and he knew her as Madeleine, not just Slingshot. She liked the concern he showed for her just as much as she hated it. She didn¡¯t really know how to react to it.

    ¡°Um, so this is a big monster we¡¯re going to be fighting, right?¡± Slingshot started. Lock nodded, paying her his full attention. ¡°And that isn¡¯t that far removed from a Calamity, right?¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°Well, this is going to sound stupid, but I¡¯m looking to rest a demon of mine by fighting this monster.¡± As soon as the words were out, they sounded stupid. Slingshot wanted to stop, so she did.

    The quiet between them stretched into awkwardness.

    Lock looked like he was as far away from all this as Slingshot was. ¡°Yeah, me too.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± That had taken Slingshot off guard.

    Lock shifted, raising and then finding a new spot for the spear he was carrying around to rest. ¡°You mentioned how we¡¯re still dealing with refugees from the last Calamity attack. I¡¯m one of them. Manifested because of it, even.¡±

    Slingshot almost went sideways again, but saved it, almost, and it became a slightly graceful maneuver. She caught Lock smirking detachedly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t know.¡±

    The smirk vanished as Lock came back. ¡°No, don¡¯t apologise.¡± He insisted. ¡°I received more than my fair share of those just making my way up here, and then I spent a solid month getting the youngest to stop tearing up whenever she saw me. Besides, I¡¯m Canadian. My word.¡±

    ¡°Sorry.¡± Slingshot apologised, then tilted forwards in embarrassment, staring at something that wouldn¡¯t give Lock an angle to see her face, even though it was pretty well covered. Or maybe so she wouldn¡¯t see his. She needed something to distract from this. ¡°What did you mean by the youngest?¡±

    ¡°I got put up with a foster family. Alice is five, and still getting to know everything. The oldest, Marie, is twelve and a terror. The middle child is Sofiya and she¡¯s nine. She lost her family to a Calamity just like I did. Scathach and the Undertaker. They¡¯re all girls.¡±

    Slingshot made a face. ¡°And they just put you there? Um, no offence, but you¡¯re a guy and you¡¯re so much older than them.¡±

    Lock chuckled for the first time in a while. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s not ideal. But there was overflow even this far away from the Sunlit City, and I got priority housing thanks to my age.¡± He looked better now, more relaxed. He was always so tense at the start of a conversation. ¡°The reason they gave for putting me there was because Sofiya was a Calamity victim as well, so we could help each other recover or something along those lines.¡± He shrugged. ¡°I suppose it worked out.¡±

    It worked out. The words repeated in Slingshot¡¯s head. Maybe¡­

    ¡°Um, that demon I was talking about.¡± Slingshot blurted. She hadn¡¯t made a decision properly yet, but if she thought on it she¡¯d back down, and then she wouldn¡¯t even think about talking about it for so long. That would be fine, but this was something she wanted to get off her chest. Tell someone that wasn¡¯t her dad.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to think this is silly.¡± She sighed. Lock didn¡¯t say anything, didn¡¯t interrupt. He just paid rapt attention. ¡°I had two friends that I grew up with, Hannah and Michelle. We were tight knit, thick as thieves, all those sayings and all that. We made this stupid, stupid pact.¡±

    ¡°What was it?¡± Lock prompted. He was good at doing that, greasing the conversation.

    ¡°To go see a Calamity if we ever had the chance.¡± Slingshot was tense, but as the words came out she felt all the tension leave her. What remained wasn¡¯t relaxing, though.

    ¡°You described the pact accurately.¡± Lock commented, making Slingshot laugh again. It was pained and fleeting.

    ¡°So uh... when the Eclipse descended on Salt Lake City, they went along to go see it. They were killed as soon as they got there. The bodies landed outside.¡±

    Lock nodded, understanding the implication. ¡°Question.¡± Slingshot didn¡¯t interrupt. ¡°How did they get there? Salt Lake city isn¡¯t- wasn¡¯t that close.¡±

    ¡°You know what hurricane chasers are?¡± Slingshot asked. Lock did, obviously. ¡°Well, Calamity chasers are a thing too. It¡¯s like a club, all these like minded people getting together wanting to see something awe-some, and some of them are well funded. We were¡­ I suppose unlucky enough to find a group someone really rich was a part of. Han and Mich went to a private airport and got on a small plane, and they were there before five hours had passed.¡±

    ¡°Ah. So that¡¯s how they were killed on arrival.¡±

    ¡°And while my best friends were doing that, I was in Europe because Dad had a business trip and wanted to bring me along. And I only went because I thought that would let me see He Who Is.¡± Slingshot slumped in midair. ¡°We didn¡¯t even end up going to London. I was watching a movie when the news broke. I ignored it and didn¡¯t even realise until the next day.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s rough.¡± Lock said, even though the words he was supposed to say were ¡®I¡¯m sorry.¡¯

    ¡°I started manifesting at the wake and it stopped me from speaking.¡± Slingshot finished lamely.

    Lock didn¡¯t seem to know what to say, but that was fine. Slingshot could see the empathy on his face. He was too easy to read.

    ¡°Talk about a wake up call, right?¡± Slingshot gave an awkward smile she remembered too late wouldn¡¯t be seen through the bandana.

    ¡°Well,¡± Lock said at length. He might have caught a hint of it through everything. ¡°You and I both have a reason to give this thing hell then.¡±

    Slingshot nodded bodily. ¡°Yip.¡±

 5. Bloodlust/Hunger 1

    ¡°Kill me and I shall return even stronger.¡±

    - Blue Mistress, before the trick was revealed.

    ¡°Told you so.¡±

    - Blue Mistress, after the trick was revealed.

    _____________________________________________________________

    Ever since becoming a hero, I¡¯d found myself doing an awful lot of waiting. When Metafore¡¯s prediction came through, when Waterlad gave me the tip something was happening but didn¡¯t say exactly when, and earlier today before that disaster with the Beastmasters had seen me waiting for hours.

    Now I was looking at anywhere between another thirty hours or thirty seconds before things kicked into action. It wasn¡¯t that I was unfamiliar with waiting. When mom took me to set, there had been long periods where I hadn¡¯t been allowed to speak or move. After getting reprimanded in front of twenty professionals, some of whom you liked, one tended to learn the lesson quickly. Still, those had been periods of time ranging from minutes, to tens of minutes, and one time even a half hour long take when the director demanded rolling resets.

    I¡¯d never understood that, myself.

    The point was that this was similar, but not the same, and it was starting to get to me. There was a base where people could get tea, coffee, and biscuits a short distance behind the circular shooting stadium Eden had made in the middle of the city. I had yet to visit it, but I was leaning towards going as time went on. Tea never really felt like it did anything beyond going down my throat and tasting however that particular tea tasted. Coffee messed with my comparatively small body and left my knees shaking and hands shivering.

    My eyes were getting heavy again, but that wouldn¡¯t be much of an improvement.

    A biscuit would be nice, I hadn¡¯t eaten in a while. Apparently there would be a standing lunch for the Control troopers, but I wasn¡¯t sure if the Sentry was catered for. They should be, but I wasn¡¯t holding my breath.

    I looked up. Slingshot was pacing, or doing the flying equivalent. It had taken me a little bit to pin down the pattern, but it was like a figure eight with an extra loop. She was flying in and out of the floodlights up above, so it was hard to keep track of her at times. Occasionally she would add an extra loop and stop, figure out what happened, then start again from a new point.

    I looked down and to the side, nearly having to turn my body to see what I was looking for. Zephyr had her eyes towards the sky, watching Slingshot like I had just been. She had wanted to be up there as well, but when she¡¯d started turning herself into a hurricane Common Sense had stopped her. We already had eyes in the sky, and the constant noise of Zephyr¡¯s power would have made the tense wait even worse.

    Now she was at the back and out of the way. When things started happening, Zephyr would take to the air. It was easy to see she couldn¡¯t wait for that.

    I turned my eyes forward again. Meandering in and out of the coffee shop where the monster was appearing were two of the Gray Apostles and Unshaken. They¡¯d struck up a conversation that had been going on for a long while now. I couldn¡¯t tell how it was going, none of them really had any tells, but it had been going on for well over an hour.

    I lingered there, watching the three of them. Unshaken really looked like she fit in, the colours of their costumes kind of matched. All she needed were some horns. That image ran away from me and I mentally redesigned Unshaken¡¯s entire ensemble, then dashed the mental image. I didn¡¯t know anything about how Unshaken looked under the mask, and, well, I embarrassed myself with the design.

    Too much skin, and I didn¡¯t even know her skin colour.

    Even still, I didn¡¯t move on. The Gray Apostles were what kept my attention this time. I was wondering what their connection to Orcus was, what had constituted the restraining order when someone sat next to me and interrupted my thoughts.

    I looked over and saw the neon DUH. ¡°Hello Common Sense.¡± I greeted, turning my eyes forward again.

    ¡°Hey Lock.¡± His tone was much more conversational now, compared to the hard edge he had during the meeting. He followed my line of sight. ¡°Watching out for your teammates?¡±

    I blinked. ¡°Watching, sure. Unshaken can handle herself.¡±

    ¡°That she can. I¡¯ve never seen anyone so safe.¡± That wasn¡¯t the first time he¡¯d used the specific term ¡®safe¡¯. When Common Sense told me to take a mid field position in the barrier stadium, he said that was where I went from endangered to safe. He moved on before offering an explanation.

    ¡°Is that because of your power?¡± I asked, probing.

    ¡°It¡¯s the interaction between my power and her¡¯s. I¡¯ve encountered one unstoppable force before, but that one has conditions that muddy the water. Haven¡¯t heard anything about them in a while.¡±

    ¡°Who are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°A ghost.¡± Common Sense said cryptically. ¡°I see in shapes and colours.¡± I rolled my eyes. Both at the way he avoided the question and at the non-sequitur. Everyone saw in shapes and colours. ¡°Unshaken is a safe shape with a colour that promises no danger.¡±

    ¡°Hm.¡± I ran through the implications. ¡°That informs the name then? You see danger and just avoid it?¡±

    He tapped his visor instead of answering.

    ¡°So what does this situation look like to your eyes?¡± I gestured towards the coffee shop.

    Common Sense looked out and took it in. ¡°I see a lot of red, then where you see that guy?¡± He pointed at the person closest to the shop that wasn¡¯t in a costume. They were talking to Overlord, who noticed the point and waved back. ¡°There¡¯s a sea of red danger going out until his piece of cover. Then it abruptly changes to a much nicer orange. Then, as it comes up and away,¡± He swept with an arm towards the back of everything. ¡°It slowly turns blue as you go back.¡±

    ¡°Do those colours mean something?¡±

    ¡°They do. Orange usually comes with being shot from behind, which is why it fades. Red is the danger zone.¡± He held his visor as he said the next word. ¡°Obviously. Blue is a general stub-your-toe kind of danger, because all this is on Eden¡¯s power and people might fall on their butts if it disappears. It¡¯s not a likely thing, so the shape is pretty safe and it¡¯s overridden by more present dangers. The curious thing is, there¡¯s another red spot up there.¡± He pointed at the side of a tall building, about four floors up.

    ¡°Any idea why?¡±

    ¡°When these creatures appear, it¡¯s unstable. You¡¯ve heard of volatile manifestations before right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I nodded. When powers manifested, the person manifesting experienced a variety of seemingly random supernatural effects. For me, right and left swapped and a corpse started talking to me. For Fail, his colours acted strange. Lucidity, who had been excused from A-13 duty apparently, had started being pulled in every direction. Volatile manifestations turned those effects outward, and they affected the world at large, normally in easily noticeable ways.

    ¡°This will be worse.¡± Common Sense continued. ¡°My first suspicion is a Lance effect, in which case that¡¯s going to be ground zero for a hostile effect. My second suspicion is that the monster is going to have a Displacer power.¡± He huffed. ¡°Which would be very bad. So I asked Unloaded to set up a mortar and point it at the wall. The red is deeper now.¡±

    ¡°As good a countermeasure as any, I suppose.¡± I commented.

    ¡°Exploding things is a good countermeasure.¡± Common Sense agreed. ¡°Doesn¡¯t always work, but it¡¯s a good one.¡± I got the feeling there was a story there.

    ¡°So why are you talking to me?¡± I asked, pulling off something of a non-sequitur.

    ¡°Checking in. You¡¯ve changed from a blue to a yellow. Almost a gold.¡±

    My mouth tightened, not that he saw it. ¡°What does yellow mean?¡±

    ¡°Yellow starts from here.¡± Common Sense tapped a finger to his visor. No, his head. ¡°And then it spreads.¡±

    I had to stop myself from sighing. That would make him the second person to hound me on this in as many days. Or almost as many days. It was the middle of the night, things were blending.

    ¡°And then, once there¡¯s a lot of yellow, it turns gold. People make mistakes when they¡¯re gold.¡±

    ¡°What does gold mean?¡± I asked, having to focus on my voice to keep it even.

    ¡°I see I¡¯ve stepped on a landmine, that wasn¡¯t my intention. This is me letting you know that you¡¯re first in line to get relieved.¡± That¡¯s not what gold means. ¡°Control has a few trucks for occasions like this. They¡¯re filled with bunks and alarms. People will be rotating in and out as time wears on since these things can never seem to apparate at a reasonable hour. Heroes have their own truck if they care about their identity.¡±

    He had backpedalled, but I wasn¡¯t relaxing yet. ¡°I do.¡±

    ¡°Then it works out, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Common Sense stood and stretched. ¡°I¡¯m doing regular rounds on the local heroes, touching base and making sure everyone¡¯s at least a little bit steadfast. Best case scenario, it appears while everyone is still awake and sharp, so in the next ten seconds, and it has weak powers that it doesn¡¯t use effectively, so we can kill it quickly and we can all go home for cookies.¡±

    Common Sense looked at the coffee store for ten seconds, then shrugged. ¡°I guess it was a bit too much to hope for. I¡¯ll be checking in with you again later.¡±

    ¡°Wait.¡± I leaned forward and shifted my grip on Sedimentary so I was holding the middle. ¡°You didn¡¯t say. What does gold mean?¡±

    It was Common Sense¡¯s mouth that tightened this time. He hadn¡¯t answered on purpose. ¡°I see it in very tired people. Anyone who¡¯s been awake for more than a day and it¡¯s starting to mess with their judgement. I¡¯ve also seen it in people with mental disabilities, anyone whose lost a grip on the world¡­¡±

    I had to remind myself to ignore it. ¡°I have a grip on the world.¡± I told him.

    Common Sense laughed nervously. ¡°Those were some strange colours coming out of your mouth just now.¡± He glanced over to where Voidling was situated, farther back than me. ¡°The next time I swing by will be to tell you to get rest. If you¡¯re still here the round I make after that, I go to your superiors.¡±

    ¡°Copy,¡± I told him.

    ¡°Radio etiquette.¡± He commented. ¡°You should save that for the comms, but it¡¯s good to see a Sentry with it.¡±

    I didn¡¯t offer a response beyond ¡®hm¡¯ing at him. It had been a roundabout way of ending the conversation without coming off too rude or distracted, and Common Sense struck me as the type to always get the last word. True to form, even my quiet ¡®hm¡¯ made him stick around for another few words.

    ¡°Get some food in the meantime. There¡¯re biscuits, fruits, and bars right behind Eden¡¯s work.¡±

    I nodded to give him the final words, and then he was gone. Off to talk to another Sentry. Collage, from the direction he was moving.

    The revelation stuck with me, that I looked like I was losing my perception of things. I squinted back at Unshaken and the two Gray Apostles. They didn¡¯t look any different. I checked the coffee shop behind them. Nothing special about that either. The ground underneath all that was shifting slightly, but that was because I was holding onto Sedimentary still.

    Risk had said there was bleed from Forsaken¡¯s weapons. At the time, he was talking about the flail specifically, but maybe he had been talking about all of his weapons. I couldn¡¯t forget that this spear used to be an actual person who could talk. Right now Sedimentary¡¯s only vector of communication was through the vibrations that didn¡¯t really add up to anything I could comprehend reliably.

    ¡°Bleed.¡± I said out loud.

    Sedimentary vibrated in response. Even looking at the vibrations through my power, I couldn¡¯t determine anything unique about that one.

    ¡°Is it intentional?¡±

    Sedimentary vibrated like an alarm. Lots of short bursts of vibrations for a few seconds. What that meant, I couldn¡¯t say.

    I thought on my next question. ¡°Do you get lonely?¡± Sedimentary had been kept in Forsaken¡¯s bag. From what I could gather, he spent the bulk of his time in there.

    No vibration.

    ¡°You used to be a detective.¡± I said.

    That got a vibration.

    ¡°You alright there, son?¡± A Control trooper asked, catching me off guard. I looked over. He was in the cover next to me, situation close enough that his question had barely been above a whisper, but I¡¯d heard it clearly.

    ¡°I¡¯m talking to myself.¡± I said, not quite sure how true that was. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    The trooper nodded once, slowly. ¡°I think you should listen to Common Sense and go get some sleep then. Even if that¡¯s¡­ power related. Talking to yourself ain¡¯t right.¡± He wasn¡¯t just talking about it from a bland ¡®you sound crazy¡¯ stance. I realised when I looked around and noticed that some of the other Control trooper not far from me were looking uncomfortable as well.

    I stood, leaving Sedimentary there. ¡°Look after the spear for me? I¡¯m going to get food. Don¡¯t touch it.¡± I blinked after standing. Seeing the concrete around me actually stay still was off putting after spending so much time with the spear. I wondered if I was still almost gold.

    The trooper nodded and eyed it warily. It was a touch more ornate than most weapons that showed up pretty much anywhere. That I, a transhuman, had told him not to touch it said that it was probably power related. It was, and hopefully that would convince them to leave it alone. I wanted to have some words somewhere it couldn¡¯t hear.

    The food base had the stuff needed to make coffee and tea, which I ignored. There were fruits and bars, as promised, as well as cookies. But Control had committed a cardinal sin. Shortbread cookies in a plastic container mixed with other cookies that looked like chocolate chip, but weren¡¯t. I took a few of both and went into the bookstore from earlier with a Vphone out. The one I wasn¡¯t supposed to have.

    ¡®Oliver¡¯ picked up after four rings. ¡°Salute, friend- no. Person who keeps things closed.¡±

    ¡°Hi Oliver.¡± I said. No one was in the bookstore with me, but I didn¡¯t want to say anything too suspicious, what with the conspiracy against me and all. That being said, once I got to the point of this call that would go out the window.

    ¡°Ah, so we¡¯re going with Oliver, huh?¡± Fail responded. ¡°That¡¯s fair. I suspect you¡¯re in a place where you need to watch your tongue. Surrounded by heroes. No, not quite right. Control.¡±

    ¡°An A-13 is showing up.¡± I explained. ¡°It¡¯s a mix.¡±

    ¡°Not bad enough for the heroes to call a truce, but enough to declare a ceasefire.¡± Fail commented. ¡°It¡¯s not going to last. Also, T-384, not that I¡¯m particularly interested. Well, that¡¯s all this courtesy call gets you, I¡¯m afraid. How have you been?¡±

    ¡°Ups and downs.¡± I said, holding a bitter note in my voice. His showing up was why I¡¯d stopped sleeping, after all.

    ¡°Because of me?¡± Fail paused. ¡°Because of me.¡±

    ¡°What did you mean by that?¡± I asked, hoping his power would fill him in on what I was asking about.

    ¡°Uh uh uh. Gotta be some kind of trade for things where I¡¯m not interested. But that¡¯s not what this call is about. Or it kind of is. Man, I love being able to talk like this. What¡¯s really up?¡±

    I frowned. ¡°I¡¯m talking to you as myself.¡± How would his power interpret that?

    There was a clearly annoyed tone as Fail spoke. ¡°You playing some kind of game with me? You know that my power sees us as the same person and doesn¡¯t play nice where that¡¯s involved.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not really sure what the words I would use to describe this are, but I figured you would be interested in this.¡±

    ¡°In what?¡± Fail asked. Snappy.

    ¡°An inanimate spear.¡± I said, finally letting loose the bait. The quiet that followed my statement told me he was interested.

    ¡°Does this spear have a name?¡± Fail eventually asked.

    ¡°I would¡¯ve thought you knew.¡± I stated, purposefully drawing it out.

    ¡°Power¡¯s not telling me. That means powers are involved. What are you not telling me?¡±

    I smiled. He was interested. ¡°Tell me how it works first.¡± I let my smile shine through into my words.

    There was quiet on the other end of the line. This was an international call, so it wouldn¡¯t be cheap. But with the answers I was going to be getting from this, it would be worth it.

    Fail sighed. ¡°You¡¯ve pretty much got it figured out already.¡±

    ¡°I thought it was a lie detector that let you cheat who was lying. This is a lie, but from there it¡¯s the truth. That sort of thing.¡±

    Fail laughed. ¡°Then I need to work on my act, you saw right through it. But that isn¡¯t quite it. No lies, just objective falsehoods. If I already know the truth being obscured then I get to know the truth and where it fits.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± I had to think. ¡°Terrifying.¡±

    ¡°To others, yes. But you don¡¯t need to worry so long as you¡¯re my friend.¡± Fail paused. ¡°So work on that, for your own sake.¡±

    ¡°Noted.¡±

    ¡°Spear.¡± Fail changed the subject, sounding like a petulant child. ¡°Tell.¡±

    ¡°Sedimentary.¡± I said. Shortly after saying that I heard the sound of a rolling chair and the tapping of keys.

    Eventually Fail sighed on the other end. ¡°That isn¡¯t right, Sedimentary died in 2015. My power isn¡¯t pinging on that. The man is dead.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say he wasn¡¯t dead. I said that the spear is called Sedimentary.¡±

    ¡°Both true, but that doesn¡¯t make sense. Unless he was revived somehow, which he wasn¡¯t. Bye mom!¡± A door closed on the other end of the line. ¡°There are powers that can revive the dead. No. There aren¡¯t. There are powers that cheat death through extraneous ways, but I don¡¯t know how. Hold on. Sedimentary was killed. There we go.¡±

    It took me a few moments to gather myself. ¡°Mom?¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Fail stumbled. ¡°Yeah, she works strange hours. I don¡¯t sleep well, so she says goodbye if I¡¯m awake.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± I echoed. It was a strange hour. A glance at my phone screen told me it was past midnight, and the timezones weren¡¯t that different. Then, ¡°Sedimentary was killed by who?¡± Couldn¡¯t dwell on it. She wasn¡¯t my mom.

    Not anymore.

    Fail clicked his tongue to communicate annoyance. ¡°Don¡¯t ask questions. It makes me consider all the possible outcomes and I get hits on all of them. Every single one just now was a no, but if one wasn''t, then I wouldn''t know because it all swept past too quickly. And I get a terrible fucking headache if I get too many negatives too quickly. Just say a statement and I¡¯ll know definitively yes or no, and where any nos are meant to be.¡±

    ¡°Sedimentary was killed by Forsaken.¡± I stated. It was a shot in the dark, almost.

    ¡°Bingo, almost. The killing part was definitely Forsaken, but there¡¯s more to it. Dude¡¯s still dead, but that means this Forsaken has a power that lets him use people¡¯s corpses, something something, weapons. But you already figured that. Macabre, but you already knew. It¡¯s not why you called.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still interested?¡± I checked.

    ¡°Fuck yeah. I¡¯ve already done a power analysis on all the big fishes of the world and I ran into more blind spots than I¡¯d have liked. This is underground. This is new. This is interesting. You¡¯ve been exposed to the power most likely. You wouldn¡¯t reach out, otherwise.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been handling Sedimentary for a few hours now.¡± I admitted. ¡°There¡¯s a whole thing with a villain called Bad Val-¡± I cut off as I heard the door open behind me. It was one of Control¡¯s heroes. Brainstorm. She gave me a thumbs up with a questioning expression. I returned the thumbs up without getting off the Vphone and she went away, her hair sparking as she went.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Fail asked.

    ¡°Unshaken asking me about a romantic subplot.¡± I responded, knowing his power would correct that. Fail made a prolonged sound of annoyance. ¡°Bad Valentine got his hands on a flail, which I¡¯m pretty sure used to be a mass murderer called Blood Royal. He-¡±

    Fail was muttering something on the other end. I waited for him to say, ¡°Yeah, the flail is Blood Royal. Just had to check since you put that in the context of being sure.¡±

    ¡°Does that invalidate your power? Tacking that on.¡±

    ¡°It can.¡± Fail clarified. ¡°And I would appreciate it if you didn¡¯t do it on purpose.¡±

    Good to know. ¡°So Bad Valentine has Blood Royal, and together they¡¯ve gone off the deep end. Forsaken mentioned something about bleed.¡±

    ¡°He did.¡± Fail confirmed. ¡°What kind of bleed? Was the flail literally bleeding, or was he talking about something else?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± I responded. I didn¡¯t feel the need to say ¡®both¡¯.

    ¡°Personality bleed.¡± The question was a statement. It was followed up, ¡°Blood Royal is impressing herself on Bad Valentine. Just looking at the first search results for Blood Royal right now. I haven¡¯t even clicked any links and none of this is looking pretty. Thirteen kills, huh. Hold on, let me look at my chart. It¡¯s actually forty seven, wow. Yike. You¡¯re worried that Bad Valentine is going to go serial on Graceland.¡±

    ¡°He seems to be leaning down that path.¡± I agreed.

    ¡°And you¡¯ve got T-384 to deal with.¡± Fail laughed. ¡°I do not envy you.¡±

    ¡°Question.¡± I said abruptly. ¡°Your power can ping off the statement: Bad Valentine is going to kill people.¡± Keeping the inflection to that of a statement was difficult, but I managed it.

    ¡°Fail,¡± Fail said after a while. ¡°Wish my power could... but it doesn¡¯t.¡±

    I thought for a moment, a little disappointed. ¡°Probably for the better. How about this? Bad Valentine intends to kill.¡±

    ¡°No ping. You have a problem.¡±

    My stomach dropped. ¡°Shit.¡±

    ¡°And still, we aren¡¯t talking about why you called in the first place.¡± Fail said. ¡°Come on, Michael, stop stringing me along. You know why you called. I know why you called. Just say it so I can give you an answer that will satisfy you.¡±

    There was a beat where neither of us said anything.

    ¡°Yeah, no. It¡¯s not going to be satisfying.¡± Fail added.

    ¡°Tell me.¡± My voice was tired. I belatedly realised I should have framed that as a request.

    Fail didn¡¯t seem to mind. ¡°The personality bleed you got from Sedimentary, it¡¯s still there. I¡¯ve been running statements through my head this entire conversation, I know you aren¡¯t holding it. I know how long you¡¯ve been holding it, thanks to the unfair advantage my power gives me over you, and I know that it doesn¡¯t go backwards over time.¡±

    ¡°Tell me there¡¯s a way it gets fixed.¡±

    ¡°There is. Trying to figure out what.¡±

    ¡°Forsaken.¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes, and more. Not sure what else is needed.¡±

    ¡°Forsaken and the spear.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that seems to be it. Now that I think about it, this is why you opened with that line, ¡®I¡¯m talking to you as myself¡¯. You didn¡¯t think you were entirely yourself and you were right.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s benign right now.¡± I took a breath. ¡°Tell me that¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not.¡±

    ¡°Fuck.¡±

    That about summed it up.

    ¡°How have I not noticed anything until now?¡± I asked, more to myself than to my temporal clone.

    ¡°Theory.¡± Fail said. ¡°Anything new to your personality will be something you¡¯re already used to, since it¡¯s coming from another¡­ person who is already used to it. You wouldn¡¯t have noticed until someone brought something up, and it would¡¯ve been something minor, like a preference between tea and coffee. From what I gathered on Sedimentary, he was a hero that focused on cracking tough cases, finding villains that knew how to disappear. That he did it as a disrupter is impressive. You have some similar qualities. You were probably similar people and that¡¯s why it was difficult for the bleed to be noticed with you.¡±

    I held my breath.

    ¡°It is.¡± Fail confirmed.

    ¡°And it¡¯s different with Bad Valentine and Blood Royal because they are such different characters.¡± I checked, having to make sure I didn¡¯t make it a question.

    ¡°I see the willingness to kill for sport as something that would divide someone apart from the majority of the human race, so yes. But hey, I just helped you out by running another statement through my head. Sedimentary loves his tea. Green tea, specifically. And he never had much of a taste for coffee, but he takes his black.¡±

    ¡°Not helping.¡±

    ¡°I am, just not very much. Oh, I know. It¡¯s two way bleed.¡±

    I waited.

    ¡°It¡¯s not.¡±

    I sighed. ¡°Thanks for checking.¡±

    There was rustling through the line. I presumed that was Fail shrugging. ¡°You¡¯ve found yourself in an interesting situation, and you¡¯ve already received your payment for my services. There¡¯s more to unravel here is all.¡±

    ¡°When did I become such a dick?¡± I wondered out loud.

    ¡°When did I become such a detective, you mean. Oh wait!¡± Fail guffawed mercilessly through the line. I didn¡¯t find it funny. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll lay out your truths. You have a mass murderer running rampant through your city. It doesn¡¯t matter that they are a supposedly inanimate object, they¡¯re running rampant. To make matters worse, they¡¯ve teamed up with Bad Valentine, who has a terrifying power in his own regard if this classified Regulation report is anything to go by.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t about to let that one slip by. ¡°How do you have access to classified reports?¡±

    ¡°Passwords are a non-issue.¡± Fail explained. I wanted him to go on and address the morals of that action, but he didn¡¯t. ¡°So that¡¯s truth one. Truth number two is that you are not yourself thanks to a powered weapon that was ¡®gifted¡¯ to you by a man you do not presently have access to. Why is that, by the way?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s in hospital.¡± I said.

    ¡°Critical? Critical.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say not to ask questions?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine if they¡¯re binary.¡± Fail answered dismissively. ¡°What that means is you¡¯re going to have to deal with not quite being yourself for the next little while. Looking at this medical report, he¡¯s going to be out of commission for the next day or so. Terrible timing, if you ask me.¡±

    ¡°Medical report.¡± I said.

    ¡°Yeah. Medical report.¡± Fail repeated. His tone said ¡®what of it?¡¯ ¡°You hold on to yourself now. I haven¡¯t had a conversation with this kind of dynamic ever, and I want to have more. Three.¡± He paused for effect.

    ¡°The A-13.¡± I cut him off before he could get the satisfaction.

    ¡°T-384.¡± His tone was snappy. He liked being dramatic. ¡°It¡¯s the three hundred and eighty fourth Theta class case documented by the Regulation. It¡¯s also going to appear somewhere between now and thirty hours from now, so you have to be on your toes for whenever that finally swings around. The A-13 case file is outdated. They have a different documenting system for these things.¡±

    ¡°There have been three hundred and eighty four monsters so far?¡± I checked.

    ¡°Three hundred and eighty three, is what you¡¯re asking. Three eight four isn¡¯t here yet.¡± Fail explained, making me roll my eyes. ¡°And no. There have actually been three hundred and fifty nine so far. Three sixty Theta cases once you¡¯re done with whatever is appearing over there. Some dinguses classified some unfortunate altered as Theta class threats back in the day, or misclassified the Alpha class. Twenty four total missed labels in total. Terrible.¡±

    ¡°I get the feeling that that¡¯s not really relevant.¡±

    ¡°It isn¡¯t. It¡¯s fluff as far as you¡¯re concerned, but if you were a little bit more grateful about this then I would be more willing to lend you my services in the future. You never know, that fluff might be critical to something else you¡¯re working on. But it doesn¡¯t matter how interesting your offers might be. If you¡¯re a dick, I¡¯m cutting you off.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t really sure how to respond to that.

    ¡°Look, Oliver.¡± It felt weird calling him that. I probably wasn¡¯t cut out for this kind of thing, or maybe that was Sedimentary¡¯s traits butting in. Hadn¡¯t I been somewhat decent at social maneuvers? ¡°I¡¯m¡­ sorry if I¡¯m snappy. As you so eloquently put, I¡¯ve got a mass murderer, a fleeting identity, and a big fucking monster to deal with. This is my plate, and I¡¯ve got to deal with it. So I should probably get off this call now before I embarrass myself.¡±

    ¡°Too late.¡± Fail said flippantly. ¡°You gotta work on your apologies, man. I¡¯m ashamed that you¡¯re Canadian and took so much just to say sorry. And then you justified it. That¡¯s breaking culture.¡±

    I breathed before answering. ¡°Like I said, I have shit to deal with. You know what that shit was.¡±

    Fail failed to think up a flippant response.

    ¡°Anyways, I¡¯m gonna get off now. Common Sense wants me at my post, which is something I never thought I¡¯d say, or asleep. I have a face to show.¡±

    A chuckle came through the line. ¡°You hide your face, though. Nice. That shit show is likely going to hold off until T-384 shows up and throws spanners in everyone¡¯s plans. I¡¯ll say au reviuor, and leave you with one little tidbit of information which I hope for you to plant and make blossom.¡±

    ¡°Does it have anything to do with what we just discussed?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Fail immediately negated. I had to beat down a sarcastic response. Fail was right, after all. He was much better as a friend than an enemy. ¡°Just thought I¡¯d let you know that Slingshot is into you.¡±

    My brain crashed as my finger was on the way to the hangup button. I ended up hitting speaker instead.

    ¡°Now take it and go, Lock!¡± Fail was enjoying himself far too much. I jerked my hand away from my ear. ¡°Make it blossom into something great. I wanna hear about it all the way up here, so get busy. I want scandal. I want drama. And I know you have it in you. Don¡¯t disappoint me. Aren¡¯t I just the best wingman ever?¡±

    Several of my smaller gears suddenly bit and started moving again. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go.¡± I told Fail and I hung up. As the call disconnected I heaved a heavy sigh and pocketed my phone. It took me a moment to gather myself. I didn¡¯t really want to let on that something was wrong with me, and Fail¡¯s last nugget of information was making it hard for me to establish a baseline.

    When I turned around I came face to face with a smiling grey helmet with imp horns that was uncomfortably close.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± I flinched away.

    ¡°Most interesting.¡± Instinct commented, her voice resonating like a rattlesnake¡¯s tail.

 5. Bloodlust/Hunger 2

    I had no idea how long Instinct had been there, and that worried me. Some of the stuff I¡¯d been saying hadn¡¯t been meant for anyone but me and Fail. Not only that, I had flubbed and hit speaker at the end instead of hanging up. Mostly that, actually. That last part had been heard, there was no question.

    Fuck, it felt like I was in a shitty soap opera now. That was something that I was not happy about.

    My face should be bright fucking red, I could feel it. My only saving grace was my Ghost power obscuring my colour. Yet I was pretty sure that anyone who put a hand to my cheek would swear I had a fever.

    Instinct didn¡¯t say anything for a long while. Eventually I gathered myself enough to register that I should follow through on going back to my post. ¡°Excuse me.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Instinct rattled as she stepped to the side.

    I gave her a wide berth regardless. Her voice was really off putting. It was basically the opposite of Orcus¡¯, but had pretty much the same effect. If it wasn¡¯t for the smile and the impish horns, I might have thought Orcus was the one who walked in on me.

    After I got out of the shop I breathed a short sigh of relief, but any stress that got washed away came right back as Instinct walked out after me. I didn¡¯t stop for her, but she maintained distance. She still wasn¡¯t saying anything.

    I was spooked. I used my power to speed up my walk without changing the speed of my gait, essentially moonwalking forwards. Instinct kept up and didn¡¯t even seem like she was trying. Soon enough, I was back at my post where Sedimentary had thankfully remained untouched. Instinct was still following me.

    Picking up Sedimentary for protection was tempting, but I resisted. Instinct was a hero, and I was surrounded by other heroes. She wasn¡¯t about to attack me. Hopefully.

    ¡°Why are you following me?¡± I asked her straight straight. My voice was more flat than I¡¯d been expecting, but not as strong as I¡¯d hoped.

    ¡°I am interested in the Sentry.¡± Instinct said in her unsettling tone. ¡°Most time, we of the Gray Apostles are kept far and away from all Sentrys and Sentinels. It can make for difficult operations, but we manage despite the restriction. Because of this, we don¡¯t have many chances to introduce ourselves.¡±

    I waited for a moment, making sure that was all she had to say. ¡°You haven¡¯t introduced yourself yet.¡±

    ¡°I have not.¡± Instinct rattled. ¡°First, I am trying to determine an impression of you.¡± She fell silent again. I glanced around, only to see the Control troopers uncomfortably glancing away whenever I looked in their direction.

    Hanging me out to dry?

    I homed in on Toil, then glanced back at Instinct who was standing unarmed, with both her gauntleted hands held loosely by her sides. Somehow I felt like I¡¯d have been more comfortable if Instinct had a weapon. Since she wasn¡¯t saying anything, or doing anything to further conversation, I started moving to Toil.

    Instinct started moving before I did, which threw me off, but didn¡¯t stop me from moving.

    ¡°Toil.¡± I got his attention. ¡°I have some questions.¡±

    Toil put his hand up and excused himself from a conversation with Risk and Sacred. He had a big gun that looked like it had been ripped out of a sci-fi movie on a strap that looped over one shoulder. Something Unloaded had made, no doubt.

    ¡°What is it?¡± He asked, glancing at Instinct. ¡°Is she troubling you?¡±

    ¡°I am keeping my distance.¡± Instinct declared.

    I glanced over. She was only a short few metres away from me. ¡°Short distance.¡± I muttered. ¡°They¡¯re questions about earlier today. Probably better asked in private.¡± I shot a look at Instinct, who did nothing to indicate she understood the implication.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think the bunk trucks are being used yet.¡± Toil said leading the way and gesturing to a large truck that had been parked around the corner, and was only just visible. It was then that I noticed the cordon that Control had made had expanded since I arrived. Now roughly two blocks in every direction were closed off. A significant portion of the space in between was deserted.

    Under the street lights, it was like I was walking through a movie. It was a stark contrast to Eden¡¯s stadium, which felt like a movie set.

    Instinct, of course, followed us the whole way over to the truck. I didn¡¯t get her deal.

    Slingshot drifted closer. I waved up at her and she waved back, then drifted away and vanished above the light. Which was a relief, because I didn¡¯t think I was capable of holding a proper conversation with her right now.

    Toil and I got on the bunk truck, which lived up to its name with several bunks in the back of the truck, and Instinct made to get on after us. She was stopped by Toil.

    ¡°This is between me and him.¡± He told her.

    ¡°Very well.¡± She stopped advancing towards us, but stayed in the truck.

    ¡°Leave.¡± Toil growled, irritation at the edges of his voice. Thankfully, Instinct stepped back without turning and left the truck. Toil closed the door after her, then made sure all the windows were closed and the blinds were drawn.

    As he did that, I found myself bracing myself on one of the bunks to stand. I was used to having a staff or something to lean on, it felt a little weird.

    ¡°Is this about Glitter-¡± Toil started asking as soon as he was confident things were private.

    ¡°It¡¯s not.¡± I answered before the question was finished. ¡°Not really. I want to know if you know about Forsaken.¡±

    There was a tense pause. ¡°What about Forsaken?¡± The question was tentative. I was under the impression that Toil knew what I was asking about, but didn¡¯t want to admit it.

    I decided to spin a small story to sell what I was asking about. ¡°I went for a pick me up earlier.¡± Not technically a lie, but the pick me up I was talking about were cookies. ¡°And I did something I¡¯ve never done before. I had tea.¡±

    The way Toil didn¡¯t relax was telling.

    I kept going. ¡°I got the boiling water, the teabag, let it strain, and everything. Even knew when to start sipping it. That¡¯s something I¡¯ve never done before.¡± And I still hadn¡¯t, but it felt like the right thing to say. This tale might not be as tall as I thought it¡¯d be. ¡°So I started thinking about it, how I might be different in any ways, and a whole bunch of dominoes fell into place. So here¡¯s my question.¡± I took a breath. ¡°Can you help me?¡±

    Toil let out a deep sigh. ¡°Yes, but not now. What else have you noticed?¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s more what have you noticed.¡± I said. ¡°Remember how Gli- Fairy was talking about me?¡± Calling me a detective. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you take it back when I offered it?¡±

    Toil sighed after some consideration. ¡°If I¡¯m going to be honest, I thought you had more time.¡±

    ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s personality bleed-¡± He started to explain.

    ¡°I got that. Are you telling me that you knew?¡±

    ¡°I did.¡±

    The image of Toil with his hand half covering his face in the hospital sprung to mind. That hadn¡¯t just been because of the situation with Glitter Bomb and Forsaken spiraling out of control. He knew, and I had been holding Sedimentary at the time.

    ¡°Tell me everything.¡± I demanded. The way I said it wasn¡¯t eager. Just the opposite, actually. But I needed to know. My fingers were white where I was holding the bunk, and I was doing my best Orcus impression for my voice.

    ¡°The¡­ people Forsaken puts into his weapons... As you have likely figured, they are all transhuman. One of the many facets of his power means that the containment of those people isn¡¯t permanent. In fact, it degrades after only a few hours, and whatever is kept inside starts to escape. That¡¯s why Forsaken has that bag. It¡¯s another transhuman, Gorger, I think his name was. He had a pocket dimension that he could put things in by eating them. It¡¯s easier for him to maintain one of his creations instead of all of them, and then touch them up whenever they¡¯re brought out.¡±

    Toil looked at his hands for a moment, then dropped them and looked at me square on. ¡°Forsaken can put everything back where it¡¯s meant to be, but with things as they are right now, there are two problems with that.¡±

    ¡°Forsaken is in hospital right now.¡± I deadpanned.

    ¡°And after enough time has passed, Forsaken becomes unable to dislodge all of the bleed.¡± Toil finished.

    It didn¡¯t hit me as hard as Collage¡¯s pink beam did, but it was close.

    ¡°Last I heard, Forsaken was going in for surgery.¡± Toil continued. ¡°He was lucky, the spike didn¡¯t pierce any of his vitals, but it did scratch his lung and intestine. If what the doctors told me holds true and there are no complications, he¡¯ll be out of surgery by hour ten.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯ll be able to fix me.¡± I said. He¡¯d be unconscious for who knows how long after that.

    ¡°No.¡± Toil agreed. ¡°It doesn¡¯t.¡±

    I took that in. Then I had to ask, ¡°Is that why Fairy isn¡¯t allowed to touch people?¡±

    Toil hesitated. Then, ¡°Just a foreword, this is a guess. Forsaken¡¯s power works by breaking down whatever it is that keeps ourselves in ourselves. I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s proof of us having a soul, and I hope it isn¡¯t because his power doesn¡¯t work on people without powers, but once that barrier is broken, it doesn¡¯t go back up. Not all the way. The Regulation thinks that yes, Fairy has that same quality, but we haven¡¯t tested it to find out.¡±

    I nodded. I was more on my feet now. My grip on the bunk wasn¡¯t necessary.

    ¡°I suppose if we get a more childlike Forsaken, we¡¯ll be able to tell for sure.¡± Toil thought aloud. He looked back to me. ¡°Lock, you have my sincerest apologies. We should have told you long before it got this far.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not fine, but I understand.¡± I said shortly. ¡°You can¡¯t exactly advertise this stuff.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Toil agreed. ¡°And that doesn¡¯t excuse the fact that Forsaken and I put you in serious psychological danger. And it doesn¡¯t change the fact that what I¡¯m about to suggest is unforgivable...¡±

    He was quiet for too long.

    ¡°Well?¡± I prompted.

    ¡°Keep using the spear.¡± Toil said. ¡°You¡¯ll have more range with it in your hands, which I know is something you struggle with. And if you can figure Sedimentary out, you can pull of some impressive maneuvers. I knew the man while he was still alive and in his prime, and he was a force to be reckoned with. Control was never able to get over the fact that he¡¯d rather be a detective than a monster slayer, but he did participate in a few of these things. Two of the seventeen deathless incidents were because of him.¡±

    I thought on it. ¡°More of me is going to get overwritten.¡± I said simply.

    ¡°So limit the time you hold onto him. Don¡¯t pick him up until you have to. In the meantime, I think I should tell Common Sense about you and the spear. He¡¯ll probably recognise the power, and we shouldn¡¯t blindside him with it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I nodded. ¡°Go do that.¡±

    Toil moved to leave. He glanced back at the door when I didn¡¯t move. ¡°Are you coming?¡±

    ¡°I think I¡¯m going to get some rest.¡± I lied. ¡°Got some things to think about.¡±

    Toil gave me a long look, then nodded and made to leave. The door opened before Toil could get a hand on the handle. Instinct was on the other side.

    ¡°Leave him alone.¡± Toil growled at Instinct.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Instinct¡¯s response rumbled more than Instinct¡¯s warning, and she wasn¡¯t even trying. ¡°If he asks me to, I will.¡±

    Toil looked at me. I waved a hand, a horizontal movement with my palm facing down in an attempt to say it was fine, and he left. He didn¡¯t look all that happy with it. Instinct stepped up into the truck with a grace I hadn¡¯t recognised until now. She approached, and I mentally made sure that the colours on my face were what I intended them to be.

    Instinct stopped in front of me and very obviously sized me up. ¡°You just had emotional release.¡±

    ¡°Catharsis, you mean?¡± I almost scoffed. ¡°Yeah, no.¡±

    ¡°I did not say it was positive.¡± Instinct rattled, then put a clenched hand to her chest with a light clang. ¡°I am Instinct, the figurehead of the Gray Apostles. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.¡±

    ¡°Lock.¡± I supplied my own name. ¡°But you already knew that, probably.¡±

    ¡°I did.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t tell if she was a worse or better conversationalist than Orcus. With the quirks that each of them had, it was hard to measure them against each other. ¡°How did your impression of me turn out?¡±

    ¡°Less than flattering. I was not intending to mention it.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh.¡±

    ¡°What is it you intend to do?¡± Instinct asked, changing tact as if I hadn¡¯t spoken.

    I frowned, not that she could see it. ¡°As in right now, or when the monster gets here?¡±

    ¡°In general. I want to know how you measure against my impression.¡±

    That wasn¡¯t very helpful for narrowing it down, and I didn¡¯t want to broadcast my every action. Not when I had a conspiracy against me to worry about, and not to someone being this actively creepy.

    I ended up saying, ¡°What you heard earlier, I¡¯m not going to act on that.¡±

    Instinct nodded slowly. She clearly didn¡¯t believe me.

    ¡°Is that all? Can you go now?¡±

    ¡°I can, but I do not think I should.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Instinct lowered her head, bringing the cracked featureless smile down and closer to my own. ¡°You intend to do far more than fail to act on something.¡±

    She sounded too sure. I crossed my arms. ¡°Is a power whispering that in your ear?¡±

    Instinct didn¡¯t move, but she made this¡­ sound. ¡°No, not in my ears.¡±

    I realised what was going on. ¡°You know, I¡¯m getting tired of Smart powers nosing in where they aren¡¯t welcome. Tell me whatever it is you know that others wouldn¡¯t, so I can address it and get on with this situation.¡± I gestured towards ground zero.

    ¡°You do not intend to assist in this situation at this time.¡± Instinct said correctly. I started to leave, but she placed an open palm against my solar plexus in a single fluid motion. From the contact with my shirt, I could tell she was exerting more force than she should have from that position. She was an Enforcer as well as a Psychic?

    ¡°That is simply what my power informs me of.¡± Instinct continued once she had me stopped.

    I considered that. ¡°What are you going to do about it?¡±

    ¡°Inquire.¡± Instinct rattled out. That was all she said to answer.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to rearm.¡± I told her, then walked forwards again, using my power to equally oppose any force she put on my shirt. Instinct¡¯s boots screeched on the floor as the motion made her rotate in the space.

    It was the first thing that I¡¯d seen perplex the Gray Apostle, and I used that to escape the Bunk Truck. I speed walked away from the whole mess that the A-13 was causing and pulled out my Vphone. Orcus wasn¡¯t there, and I wasn¡¯t about to contact Zephyr, so I sent Voidling a message saying I was going to the SRT to pick up my proper costume and weapon. I didn¡¯t wait for a reply, I just set the phone on silent and put it in my pocket, then focused on walking faster than most sprinters could run.

    ¡°Hey.¡± Slingshot said from off to my right.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± My concentration lapsed and I tripped on nothing. All it was was a foot coming down with not quite the right amount of force behind it, but it put me off balance. I had to use my power on my clothes to slow down before I hit the ground, which I only accomplished through reflex. All the seams strained against my body, and I heard stitches breaking.

    It was a fast decceleration, but it was better than skinning myself at the speed I¡¯d been going at. Even still I got skuffed as I put one shoulder forward and rolled on that before springing up off the ground again thanks to the sheer amount of speed I had behind me. I landed the second time far less gracefully, but it wasn¡¯t as bad as it could have been.

    I lay face up for a few seconds, regretting the wedgie my power gave me whenever I did that. A concerned Slingshot drifted into view.

    ¡°Um, sorry.¡± She apologised.

    The false infatuation I¡¯d worked so hard to quench was running rampant. I didn¡¯t trust myself to speak.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± She asked, leaning forward in that way she always did when she was concerned.

    I looked away with my eyes and started picking myself up, wincing at all the new aches. ¡°I¡¯m fine, I think.¡± My power supplied me with a mental image of myself, and nothing seemed to be out of place. My voice, on the other hand¡­ I wasn¡¯t sure if it was me imagining things, but I sounded more strangled than I normally did. That in itself was an enigma. Was it because of the fall, or because Slingshot was right there? I couldn¡¯t tell.

    Fuck Fail. I didn¡¯t need this right now.

    ¡°Maybe be more careful in the future.¡± I said, facing but not looking at Slingshot. ¡°Bad things would have happened if I¡¯d been going faster.¡±

    ¡°Yip, yip.¡± Slingshot agreed, almost sounding like a dog. Damn it, that wasn¡¯t an image I wanted.

    I carefully placed my eyeline to be looking past Slingshot. ¡°So why are you following me?¡±

    ¡°Well, you moving around a lot, and everyone had the grimmest expressions on. Then you started going away. I checked with Zephyr, and I got permission to make sure you were okay.¡± Slingshot paused, and I used that time to process. I needed that time, my brain was running hot.  Wait, Zephyr let Slingshot check on me? ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    Uuh¡­ Could be worse. I thought. This was going to be rough. I was dealing with two different trains of thought at once. But that¡¯s not saying much because right now I¡¯m panicking as much as I was in Salt Lake City. ¡°Dealing.¡± I lied.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Slingshot pressed, and my defences crumbled.

    I didn¡¯t say anything. I just sighed and started walking again. Slingshot was able to easily keep pace, even as I started sliding at the speed I¡¯d been going before. I let myself glance over. She was flying sideways, completely unconcerned about the speed we were moving, and was mostly looking at me.

    I turned my eyes ahead and focused on navigating the streets. It was balls o¡¯clock in the morning now, and there were only a few cars on the road. But that was enough that I had to watch out, now that we were out of Control¡¯s cordon. I noted distant music playing a tune I recognised, but I couldn¡¯t place it.

    Just distractions. Slingshot flying alongside me was supposed to be my focus right now.

    ¡°Three- four things are bothering me.¡± I said. ¡°Take your pick and I¡¯ll tell you about it.¡±

    ¡°Um, all of them?¡± Slingshot asked.

    I huffed, then ticked off the things on my fingers as I mentioned them. ¡°A murderer, my sanity, the Theta class situation I just walked away from, and¡­¡± You. I thought, but I couldn¡¯t say that. ¡°Me.¡± It was close enough.

    ¡°You said yourself twice.¡± Slingshot pointed out.

    I had. It took me a moment to recognise that fact.

    ¡°Is that why you corrected from three to four?¡±

    I shrugged a shoulder and nodded.

    ¡°So what¡¯s that about?¡±

    ¡°Pointless drama.¡± I answered.

    ¡°Ah.¡± Slingshot shrank away a little. It hurt to see, and was worse to notice.

    ¡°You got hit by Collage¡¯s beam right?¡± I blurted suddenly. ¡°I remember you saying that at some point.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­¡± Slingshot came back down a little. ¡°Yeah¡­¡±

    ¡°Which one? Was it pink?¡± I had no idea why I had started down this thread of conversation, but I wasn¡¯t about to abort now. The rails of my mind had been worn down by days of sleeplessness and now all this.

    Better to do a callosal fuck up now than when I was in the state of mind to cringe at every word.

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Slingshot said.

    ¡°Did you meet anyone new when it was still affecting you?¡±

    ¡°No. Why?¡±

    ¡°Because that¡¯s a first impression, and first impressions stick. Maybe more than they should in this case.¡± Just like that, the cat was out of the bag. I didn¡¯t watch Slingshot¡¯s face for a reaction, but I could see her body in my peripheral, and that was enough with how expressively she floated around.

    I saw her taking the information in. I saw the moment of realisation. I saw a second moment of realisation. I saw her gear up to say something and think better of it.

    ¡°It¡¯s been eating at me for a while, and right now I¡¯m worn down enough not to care.¡± I spoke before she could. With the cat now out of the bag, I might as well get its litter out too. ¡°For the record, I¡¯ve been trying to act as though there wasn¡¯t anything supernatural between us. Trying to figure you out as I would have without that effect.¡±

    ¡°I-¡± Slingshot halted verbally. ¡°Should we be talking about this at this speed?¡±

    ¡°I think I¡¯d shut up if I slowed down.¡± It wasn¡¯t a lie. That part of me was focusing on managing the friction in my boots was distracting from the part of me that was repeating ¡®oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck.¡¯

    ¡°Well, I¡­ Is that why you¡¯ve been sticking close to me?¡±

    I wasn¡¯t sure how to answer that, but I tried. ¡°You weren¡¯t the only one I got a false first impression on.¡±

    ¡°Who else?¡± Slingshot asked. I saw another moment of realisation. ¡°Lucidity!¡±

    ¡°No.¡± I cut in quickly. ¡°I met Lucidity before the beam. I¡¯m not- no.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Just no.¡±

    ¡°Then who, Michael?¡±

    I looked around quickly before turning back to the hysterical Slingshot. ¡°Name!¡± I hissed. Slingshot recoiled as she realised what she¡¯d done. ¡°It was Unshaken.¡±

    Slingshot tensed, rotated sideways a bit, then looked at me in alarm. All while travelling alongside me at a rapid speed. ¡°What¡¯s- What is it like?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like being in love, I expect.¡± Then I shrugged. ¡°But I don¡¯t really know because I haven¡¯t been in love, like- that. Being around one of, uh, them is a rush that¡¯s difficult to put words to.¡± I glanced at Slingshot, trying to get a read on how she was taking this, but she was impassive for the first time a while. ¡°Whenever I get attention, it¡¯s like I¡¯m on top of the world. Whenever I get scolded, it cuts deep. Like I¡¯m a fucking dog or something.¡±

    ¡°Do you hate it?¡±

    I took a deep breath and navigated around a pothole. ¡°The idea of this? Yeah. Fuck Collage for hazing me like that. You¡¯re lucky you didn¡¯t meet anyone new when he did it to you.¡±

    ¡°Thats¡­¡±

    ¡°As for the love itself, I can¡¯t like it because it¡¯s not me.¡± I floundered, trying to find good words to say next. ¡°But... I think I¡¯m past hating it.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Slingshot wasn¡¯t drifting sideways quizzically, I noticed. She was curling up on herself little by little instead. Had Fail told the truth? Why was he turning a power that could be used to unravel the secrets of reality towards the purposes of teen drama?

    ¡°Time heals all wounds, or something like that.¡± I decided. ¡°Actually, you know where I¡¯m from. I can be candid. It¡¯s more that I have deeper wounds than being forced to like a girl I spend a lot of time around.¡±

    Slingshot wasn¡¯t curling up any more, but she wasn¡¯t reversing it. Had I said the right thing? What even was the right thing? What did I want out of this? Rationally, all I wanted was a relationship where we could be heroes together and that was kind of it. Irrationally, I wanted so much more.

    Which goal was I heading towards? Was the bleed from Sedimentary influencing that decision? This was the absolute worst time for this to come out. Slingshot was still curled up and we were about to go around a corner.

    ¡°Next right.¡± I said, bringing her out of it.

    She looked around and realised what I meant. ¡°Oh, right. Yes.¡± She pulled away so I would have the space to turn. While she could turn on a dime, I was stuck slowly redirecting the force with which I was moving. Soon enough we were back to me walking awkwardly beside her as she floated.

    ¡°The longer this goes, the more awkward it¡¯s going to get.¡± I realised. ¡°Um. I love you. Not much can change that. All I really want after this talk is to keep being able to be- no, work with you. Have things not be awkward.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like that too.¡± Slingshot agreed, but it sounded like her mind was somewhere else.

    So much for things not being awkward.

    ¡°For what it¡¯s worth I have trouble dealing with Unshaken as well, and from my warped perspective my judgement of her character is much less flattering than my judgment of yours. I can¡¯t- nope.¡±

    Slingshot waited a second, but I was not about to keep talking under the influence. ¡°What were you going to say?¡°

    And just like that my defences crumbled again. ¡°I was going to talk about whether or not I might have ended up liking you anyway, but I realised it was pointless. This isn¡¯t schrodinger''s cat, we know for certain that I¡­ I don¡¯t like saying it out loud. You know what I mean.¡±

    ¡°That¡­¡± Slingshot paused and made sure her midair posture was proper. ¡°It¡¯s a lot to take in, that you have those feelings.¡±

    ¡°Should I give you some space?¡± I asked, possibly too abruptly. I slowed down as I said that, we were right outside the SRT. ¡°We¡¯re here, and I planned to shower and change costume, then go back to the Theta site. You probably don¡¯t want to follow me into the shower, considering everything we just talked about. Changing rooms, I can¡¯t say. Or you could just head on back without me. Between your flight and how fast I can move on the clear roads, it¡¯s safe, and you could take the time to sort that out.¡±

    Slingshot seemed overwhelmed, she was leaning back a little in space. That had definitely been too much. Everything that had happened had taken my filter off, or it was Sedimentary butting in again?

    ¡°Know what? I¡¯m just going to go inside before I say anything more embarrassing.¡± True to my word I started moving inside.

    ¡°M- Lock.¡± Slingshot said. I turned around and looked past her. ¡°Um, are you looking at me?¡±

    I flicked my eyes to look at her aviators. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I- It- This is what my dad was worried about, with showing my face.¡± She was wringing her hands and subconsciously rotating so her head was closer to the ground. ¡°It¡¯s almost like a¡­ a really bad¡­¡± She floundered for the right word.

    ¡°Movie?¡± I offered.

    ¡°Sure.¡± More wringing of the hands. ¡°Because¡­¡± She floundered again.

    I had an inkling of what was going on there, thanks to Fail¡¯s unwanted assistance. Still, I wasn¡¯t about to put those words in her mouth, partly because she could be working up to letting me down instead. Eventually I pointed my thumb over my shoulder.

    ¡°Should I let you sort that out and find the words?¡± I asked. Slingshot nodded earnestly. My lips pulled tight and I turned to go inside. This time Slingshot didn¡¯t stop me.

    I needed a distraction to wind down from all that, so I went straight to the shower and got inside with my clothes still on. After spending several seconds enjoying the feeling of warm water hitting my head with my eyes closed, I noticed there wasn¡¯t any sound. Muffle was in the shower room as well, I just hadn¡¯t noticed.

    It wasn¡¯t like that changed anything, seeing as we had stalls. Still, I would¡¯ve liked the audio stimulation. As it stood, the silence just let my mind replay the words of Slingshot over and over. I tried to think about something else and ended up thinking about the scene I walked in on with Forsaken, how weak Nancy and Joe had been. I hadn¡¯t received any word on how they were doing, and I probably wouldn¡¯t.

    The distraction didn¡¯t last. The memory connected me to think about my interactions with Forsaken. Then I thought about Fairy and how her personality was probably bleeding into others with her every touch. Then I thought about how Sedimentary had bled into me. Then I thought about how he might be altering my behaviour, which lead to me thinking about the conversation that I just had with Slingshot, and the cycle started over again.

    It was easier to manage under the shower, so I put off getting out of it, or even changing clothes. The water was like a masseuse massaging away a headache that I hadn¡¯t even known was there. I found myself leaning against the wall and ever so slowly sliding down into a sitting position. I hung my head forward to catch the falling water when I realised I didn¡¯t want to move.

    I realised too late that I was falling asleep again.

 5. Bloodlust/Hunger 3

    Someone was yelling. ¡°Get that kid out of here!¡±

    It wasn¡¯t someone I was paying attention to. I was trying to move across rubble, but I wasn¡¯t making much progress. When the building had fallen, it hadn¡¯t had the decency to fall flat. Every footstep had to be angled, and most surfaces weren¡¯t wide enough to get a foothold.

    I pushed aside what I could, but I wasn¡¯t sure where to start. There were so many things I didn¡¯t know.

    Where was Tess?

    She should have been far back into the theatre, but I knew there was a counter along the side of the building. She might have taken cover there because it was less distance she had to move.

    So where was the counter? Where did the theatre end? Where had the walls been? The dust had mostly cleared, but the only thing I could use to place myself was the road.

    Everything was too loud. The sound of the Eclipse wasn¡¯t reaching crescendo, but even if I started running now, I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d make it to shelter. Other than the big monster were three gifted and that¡¯s all I noticed from a glance up.

    One was standing on two small disk shaped platforms with energy coalescing underneath. He had devices on his arms that similar energy flickered off of and extended far beyond the end of his limbs, crackling endlessly. I didn¡¯t recognise him. Another was floating on his own. His body was altered, with sharp corners travelling up and down his body. He was large, at least three times the size of the guy on the disks. His power was generating a continuous sucking noise that I couldn¡¯t determine the purpose of.

    Other than that was a woman in a blue and white costume with an avian mask. Her arms and legs had transformed into literal twisters that were pushing air through themselves, and were generating a high pitched whine. She was the closest.

    Take the distance between me and her, double it, and that was the distance between me and the Eclipse. I barely cared.

    ¡°Get the fuck out of here kid! We can¡¯t save you!¡± The female hero shouted before flying towards to the Eclipse, which had just regained some air.

    The others were shouting too, but I didn¡¯t know what they were saying.

    Too many voices.

    I couldn¡¯t find one to listen to. I didn¡¯t want to hear that I couldn¡¯t be saved.

    I flinched as my ring tone played too loudly through the bud in my ear. I stumbled and fell against some rubble before I could focus enough to accept the call.

    ¡°Who-¡± I started.

    ¡°Michael!¡± The voice on the other end hissed, sounding relieved. ¡°We¡¯re at the shelter, near your school. We just checked all around and you¡¯re not here. Where are you?¡±

    ¡°Dad...¡± I didn¡¯t know what to say. Heroes were still yelling at me.

    ¡°That noise.¡± Dad said. ¡°You¡¯re still outside.¡±

    I looked at the Eclipse. He was fighting off heroes now. I watched a tendril pass through Victorious, who I only identified by the green light. ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Dad made a sound that was somewhere between an explicative and and a sigh. ¡°You fool. Where are you?¡±

    ¡°Um.¡± My eyes darted. The heroes. The rubble. The rubble further back where I thought Tess was. The other spots. My phone with the wire connecting to my earbud. The heroes again. The guy standing on the disks was approaching now.

    ¡°Michael.¡± Dad repeated.

    ¡°Tess¡­¡± My voice was shallow.

    There was silence on the other end of the line.

    ¡°Kid!¡± The guy on the disks got my attention. He was moving by making long strides that shouldn¡¯t have given him any push on the air, but gave him a lot more than if he¡¯d been on the ground. ¡°You need to get inside. It¡¯ll start singing again now that it¡¯s up.¡±

    ¡°My-¡± My voice broke. The words didn¡¯t come back.

    The hero looked over his shoulder then back at me. I wasn¡¯t sure what he was looking at. ¡°Arm. Permission.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I didn¡¯t really hear him. Dad was talking at the same time.

    ¡°Give me your arm.¡± The hero demanded, not really focused on me.

    ¡°She¡¯s really gone.¡± Dad said.

    The song of the Eclipse entered its rising action, and the hero stopped asking for permission. Instead he wrapped me up with a hug that put me perilously close to those long lances of energy. He rushed to the nearest building, two floors up, and leaped through a window. Lifting an arm from me and using a blade of energy to slash the window while he was still a fair distance away.

    The window broke cleanly enough. The impact still jostled me, but we made it through with only a few cuts.

    We¡¯d arrived in an office building that had an open floor. That meant we could see the sky on all sides. It wasn¡¯t very safe.

    The hero¡¯s energy lances were carving out chunks of the building, and he had to carefully turn some dials while still moving him and myself towards the centre. The energy sputtered one last time, then reduced in length until it barely extended past his hands.

    ¡°Get under something.¡± He told me while he did the same.

    It took a moment to parse what he¡¯d said, but I did it. Seconds passed, then the crescendo came.

    It lasted longer this time. I could see on the floor the black parts where the bending light had burned it already, but this one burned new patches of carpet. At one point the light came disturbingly close to me.

    Then it ended.

    The hero was up and at it quicker than I was, but I could see around his mask of flickering red energy that he was far more tired than I was. He worked his arms again, bringing the lances of energy back to their previous length.

    Part of his leg was burned. His teeth were gritted.

    He didn¡¯t even look at me as he gave me parting words. ¡°Take the stairs. Get away. Stay inside.¡± Then he leaped and his disks took him far away from me.

    My earbud had fallen out at some point. I put it back in. ¡°Dad.¡±

    I heard relief through the line. ¡°You scared me, Michael. Where. Are. You?¡±

    ¡°Where Quetzalcoatl just came down.¡± I finally answered, looking over the blackened rubble that covered Tess¡¯ body. ¡°It came down over her.¡±

    There was quiet. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Michael. There¡¯s no time to grieve. You need to come to someplace safe. Come to the shelter.¡±

    I nodded. Then remembered to say, ¡°Okay.¡±

    I took the stairs, as the hero had told me to. I was nervous when I saw that his energy arms had actually sliced through the concrete at one point, but it was still standing, and it ended up holding my weight. Then I was back on the street.

    I ended the call with my dad. I couldn¡¯t move through the city with someone in my ear again. I would¡¯ve started talking and commenting on everything around me, and that would¡¯ve made me spiral into something like hysteria. I needed to keep my mouth shut.

    There were bodies on the street when I had been moving towards Tess. Now that I didn¡¯t have her as a distraction, and now I was moving more slowly through the city, taking more time to wait, not taking any chances, I noticed more of them.

    Or I noticed what was left of them.

    Quetzalcoatl¡¯s light hurt more than it burned, but things that stayed in the light for both that and the more intense stuff got hit hard. Buildings turned black, but they didn¡¯t really get destroyed. Flesh, on the other hand, got broken down at the fundamental level, or that was the prevailing theory.

    Point was, the bodies disappeared quickly, left a smell, and there was a lot of dust. Nothing, not even a shadow was left behind. Clothing didn¡¯t help much, thanks to the way light twisted.

    I passed an alley that the wind had pushed dozens of clothes into. There must have been enough for twenty people in there.

    All gone now.

    I caught more displays of powers on my way over to the shelter. A defender with power related to air made a giant slash with some kind of green gas. It carved into the side of Quetzalcouatl and sent its blood spattering to the buildings below. That happened at least halfway across the city, and the only reason I saw it was because the slash was larger than the creature it was cutting.

    It was the first wound that actually seemed to slow it down.

    A building was falling down after a crescendo, and a heroine flew from floor to floor, erecting pillars made of ice to stop it from falling. I saw there were civilians on the ground floor.

    It fell after the next crescendo.

    Kinetic lifted a building from on top of me, but fortunately that happened after the sun stopped being deadly. He didn¡¯t even look at me as he squashed the building into pointed tubular shape, catching any of the falling rubble and adding it to the mass to the weapon.

    It eventually got jammed into the wound the slash opened up, but it took some doing.

    Every so often, I¡¯d see more heroes falling. Either not getting inside in time, or getting caught by a lazily drifting tendril that Archangel wasn¡¯t in a position to stop. It killed people and it was barely even paying attention to them.

    By the time I got close to the shelter, everything looked a little more red. Quetzalcoatl and the rest of the Calamities all had several titles. In this case there was the name Quetzalcoatl, the title of the Eclipse, which described a Calamity¡¯s method of slaughter, then others that it earned but saw less use like the Serpent of the Sun, Droughtbringer, and so on.

    When I noticed the redness encroaching, I glanced up. The moon wasn¡¯t exactly going over the sun, but the white circle that was the sun was dimmed. I could actually look at it while squinting. A black mist of some sort was coalescing there, dimming some parts more than others, and rapidly writhing within itself.

    The Eclipse was this far along already, and the best the heroes had done was drive a concrete stake into a wound. It wasn¡¯t enough.

    This place was finished.

    When I looked at it, it was twisting through the air in my general direction. Not quite coming at me, but at where I was going. It wasn¡¯t even moving to a crescendo. The defenders were exhausted and too few. It had barely anyone to hold it back as it beheld the large flat structure that was the shelter.

    It was mostly built underground to prevent the Eclipse from destroying it with one of its fly bys. Of course, that just made the shelter more vulnerable to Ai Laau, but he wasn¡¯t here. Still, there were thousands of people in there.

    It¡¯s head reared up and back. It was pausing, looming over the concrete stronghold. Staring down with those orbs we called eyes.

    It knew.

    Not only that, it was putting on a show. It was telling us that nowhere was safe.

    Quetzalcoatl blurred into the shelter and my eyes opened halfway to standing up. I listened for screams, but all I heard was the shower still going. I could hear it now. Muffle had moved away. How long had I been asleep? I checked my fingers.

    Only slightly prudish. That was good. I hadn¡¯t missed hours.

    I patted my pockets and found a Vphone, not the one I wasn¡¯t supposed to have, which I used to check the time. It, like all models of Vphone, was waterproof all the way down to the bottom of the mariana trench, and still worked fine after however long I¡¯d spent in the shower. It was two am. That meant¡­ when had I fallen asleep?

    I shook myself, there was no point in dwelling. I felt more like myself after the shower, though that was just a feeling. Now at least, Slingshot wasn¡¯t every second thought. Better to get moving. I turned the shower off and immediately heard someone moving around outside the stall.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°I¡¯m coming out.¡± I announced, then waited a second.

    They didn¡¯t say anything, so I assumed I was fine. I stepped out of the stall, horribly conscious of how wet my clothes were. There was a bench opposite the shower stalls, and Blinker was setting his costume on said bench. He had his hands behind his mask, though, and was putting it on. There were boxer shorts between me and his privates, so he was decent.

    His body was, predictably, spotless.

    He turned to see who I was. ¡°Lock.¡± He said shortly.

    ¡°Blinker.¡± I responded. There was a lot I wanted to say to him. I was having trouble deciding what to say first. ¡°About that thing that didn¡¯t happen.¡±

    He¡¯d turned away while I was thinking. There was a bottle of shampoo in his hand that he gripped tight, then put back down. He took a breath and turned to me.

    ¡°I can¡¯t talk about that.¡± He said.

    ¡°So hypothetically,¡± I immediately said, changing tact. ¡°If you were to be accused of outrageous things you didn¡¯t do by a hero you¡¯re supposed to trust, while another hero you¡¯re supposed to trust, and the person all of you answer to condoned ridickulous methods of interrogation and lines of questioning. Just hypothetically, if that happened, what would you do?¡±

    Blinker winced several times during that. ¡°I¡¯d get angry.¡±

    ¡°And hypothetically, if you were the second hero I was supposed to trust, and I were the one accused, how the fuck would you justify that?¡±

    I was coming in a lot hotter than I thought I would¡¯ve. Was that Sedimentary? Or was it leftover from the memory? I couldn¡¯t tell.

    ¡°Well,¡±  Blinker said slowly. He took his sweet time picking his words. ¡°I would acknowledge that there were some things the accused did that were suspicious.¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°When I worked with Waterlad, I came clean about it fifteen minutes later. I got scrutiny for that. It doesn¡¯t justify what happened.¡±

    ¡°But you still did it, and you didn¡¯t show much remorse. It stands to reason you would do it again.¡± He paused. ¡°Hypothetically.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not buying it.¡± I declared. ¡°Try better.¡±

    ¡°You just came to us, assuming you¡¯d be a hero.¡± Blinker didn¡¯t sound too sure of himself there. ¡°Or, that was the facade you were putting on.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± I deadpanned. I was waiting for him to mention Fail. He was in the know about him, after all.

    ¡°Really.¡±

    ¡°Fucking what?¡±

    ¡°Hypothetically,¡± Blinker started.

    ¡°Hypothetically.¡± I repeated before he could get into it.

    Blinker sighed. ¡°Hypothetically, most heroes either come to sign up shortly after manifesting their powers. Otherwise they strike out on their own doing vigilante work, or just become villains. You¡­¡± He paused.

    ¡°Did nothing.¡± I finished for him.

    ¡°Seemingly.¡± Blinker specified. ¡°Seemingly did nothing.¡±

    I blinked. More because I was expecting him to admit to Fail already. ¡°You thought I was a mole.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, thought.¡± He agreed, making me narrow my eyes. He¡¯d just admitted that he still thought I was a mole.

    ¡°Blinker, something you might not know about my powers, or maybe you just haven¡¯t thought about it, I sense forces.¡±

    ¡°I know about that.¡± Blinker cut in.

    ¡°Let me finish.¡± I told him snappily. ¡°Everything has forces on it. Gravity, holding things down. Friction, stopping things from sliding. Surface tension, keeping things together. There¡¯s a lot that I have access to, and a lot that I have to sort through to just to make something go up.¡± I gestured at the roof abruptly, making Blinker flinch.

    ¡°It¡¯s always on, like Slingshot¡¯s flight.¡± I continued. ¡°But that isn¡¯t everything. Everything would include the not insubstantial force from the moon. You know, that thing we rely on for the tides. But that¡¯s not the kicker. Do you know about the Struent effect?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Blinker answered with a shake of his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s a really passive effect on most powers that most of the time doesn¡¯t get noticed. I found out about Felwyr¡¯s law of effect recently and had to dig deeper, which is how I found this, but I really think you should put more of an effort into training your recruits. Even the ones that you think are moles for some reason so they won¡¯t catch onto the fact that you think they¡¯re fucking moles.¡±

    I took a breath, I¡¯d gotten off track.

    ¡°The Struent effect is what keeps powers bound to the earth. Your power has it. Slingshot¡¯s power has it. You just don¡¯t know because it involves thinking big and in abstract, and unless someone tells you about it, you have no way of knowing.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not getting it.¡± Blinker said.

    ¡°You travel into your future.¡± I said, making Blinker wilt, if only a fraction. ¡°But not really. You travel to where you would be standing three seconds from now, but not really. If you were to move, say, three metres with your power. It would look like you moved three metres. Then if you moved back, you¡¯d go back three metres, and anything that happened to your body in those past three seconds would be erased.¡±

    I didn¡¯t actually know if it was three seconds, but it didn¡¯t matter for the point I was making.

    ¡°This ball we call Earth is travelling through the void at hundreds and thousands of miles an hour.¡± I said, ¡°Who knows how much distance is actually travelled in each second. The Struent effect is what stops you from hopping back three seconds and appearing in the void left behind by the earth. Or going forward and appearing in the space that the earth hasn¡¯t reached yet.¡±

    Blinker took that in. ¡°I see. How does that matter here?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the fucking Struent effect!¡± I shouted. ¡°You were wondering what I was doing for those months? I was figuring out how to walk when everything is screaming at me that we¡¯re moving at hundreds of thousands of miles an hour, and I was trying to hide the fact that I had powers!¡±

    Once again, Blinker took that in. ¡°I s-¡±

    ¡°The fucking direction changes too!¡± I jabbed my finger towards a wall, near an upper corner. ¡°That¡¯s the way we¡¯re moving now. I used to think I could use it to tell time, but it changes more nebulously than you¡¯d think, thanks to the fact that we¡¯re rotating on an angle. And I get it all. The pull of the moon, the pull of the fucking sun, the way we¡¯re hurtling through space following the sun which is also travelling through space, and the sum of all of them! Whatever safeguards everyone else got that let them just use their powers didn¡¯t come to me. I had to figure it out myself. And I moved here from the Sunlit City after Quetzalcoatl, and I just lost my fucking family!¡±

    I took a breath. ¡°Why did you lie about your power?¡±

    Blinker probably blinked under his mask. ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    That had been an incredibly abrupt change of pace, but I needed to talk about something other than that bullshit conspiracy. ¡°You lied to Common Sense. Why?¡±

    Blinker stared at me. ¡°It¡¯s foolish to reveal everything about your powers.¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°No. Keeping pointless secrets when it puts people¡¯s lives in jeopardy is foolish.¡± I pointed at his costume. ¡°When I broke your arm, the costume got scuffed. I saw your bone poking through it. Then you went back and now it''s fine. Does that extend to things you hold as well as things you wear? Because if it does, I can name a hero in Control that would very much like to give you a heavy weapon.¡±

    ¡°Unloaded.¡± Blinker said. ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°So you have this insane potential that you¡¯re keeping on the down low. Why?¡± I pressed.

    Blinker looked away.

    ¡°What the actual fuck is wrong with you?¡± Seriously, I knew for a fact that Waterlad knew about this aspect of his power. His secret was already sold.

    Blinker¡¯s head snapped back to me. ¡°I think I¡¯ve had enough of this.¡± He went into a shower stall with his mask still on and closed it behind him. I could see him going through the motions of taking off his mask.

    ¡°Last question,¡± I said. ¡°Because I¡¯m itching to get back to somewhere that you could be useful. But I¡¯ll ask it politely. How is it that you¡¯re the one who is captain of the Sentry?¡±

    Blinker flashed and appeared pushing the door of the bathroom stall open. He was in the motion of going in, but then he flashed again and had my collar in his grasp.

    I casually reached down and locked the briefs he still had on, then locked my shirt as well, wet as it was. Blinker stiffened when he realised he couldn¡¯t move, but he didn¡¯t flash away.

    ¡°I¡¯m the only one that¡¯s in a state to lead.¡± He said, his voice low. He was doing his best Orcus impression.

    ¡°Why not Collage?¡± I asked. ¡°He¡¯s about your age. He has a terrible sense of humour, but a decent sense of timing. He knows when to be serious.¡±

    Blinker was silent.

    ¡°You¡¯ve already admitted that it¡¯s a touchy subject.¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m going to ask the others if you don¡¯t give me a reasonable explanation. As a Sentry under you, I deserve to know.¡±

    ¡°Fucking fine.¡± Blinker spat. He tried to move, but couldn¡¯t extract his hand from the shirt. I unlocked everything and let him jerk away from me.

    He stumbled, then flashed twice in quick succession, appearing a short distance back from me.

    ¡°It¡¯s all to do with Halcion.¡± Blinker said.

    I closed my eyes and nodded, having expected as much ever since seeing how easily Prism got drained. They hid it well, but the simple fact that Halcion was here in Graceland and had been for a while meant that casualties were unavoidable. The only question was how much had been lost to the villain.

    ¡°What did you lose?¡± I asked, opening my eyes again.

    ¡°Happiness.¡± Blinker told me. I winced. ¡°Lucidity was recently on the team and managed to take down one of the mistresses with a taser. It knocked her down, but didn¡¯t kill her, which is exactly what we want with those ones. I knew Lucidity before she was let on the team. I was proud. That¡¯s when he got me.¡±

    ¡°How?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Civilian disguise.¡± Blinker said shortly. ¡°Fortunately, Water¡­ lad was able to knock me out and Lucidity was able to turn the taser on Halcion before he really got started using my power, but I still lost the ability to be happy.¡± He looked at me. ¡°You can¡¯t know what it¡¯s like.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t claim to. So if you can¡¯t be happy. What about the others? Unshaken and Collage are the oldest ones, what happened to them?¡±

    ¡°Unshaken, believe it or not, hasn¡¯t been drained.¡± Blinker said, making my eyebrows shoot up. Not that he saw that, of course. ¡°She¡¯s fast enough that she notices whenever he starts using his effect. It normally slows his targets down, but she doesn¡¯t do slow. Unshaken has avoided every assault. If it wasn¡¯t for her attitude, she¡¯d be the leader.¡±

    I would¡¯ve raised my eyebrows further if it was feasible, but it would¡¯ve ultimately been pointless. This time the surprise came from a reasonable decision being made within the Sentry. Unshaken wasn¡¯t leadership material, even I agreed with that.

    ¡°And Collage?¡± I prompted.

    ¡°Anger. Sadness and grief. Panic. Disgust. Calm. Guilt. Basically everything.¡±

    I blinked. ¡°How? He¡¯s a lance.¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t been in the field with him, but Collage acts more like a dagger. Like you.¡± Binker sighed. ¡°He made the mistake of using a pink beam on Halcion shortly after his first outing. Halcion went after him until happiness was the only thing he had left as retribution, sometimes going to the crisis areas other villains set up to do it. Even going so far as to kidnap Collage and threaten the lives of the rest of us just to ensure he could get his fear. He¡¯s been left alone ever since because even the villains he made enemies of think that letting him live like that is punishment enough.¡±

    So Collage literally couldn¡¯t feel anything but happiness¡­ No wonder he was always making bad jokes. He was trying to feel something. ¡°What do you feel when you would be happy?¡±

    ¡°Nothing.¡± Blinker answered shortly. ¡°Not even a sinking in the stomach. Just a void that reminds me of what was. I get angry about it sometimes. No idea what Collage goes through.¡±

    I thought on that. ¡°I think I get it. At least, I get it enough.¡±

    ¡°Then stand by your word and get out of here.¡± Blinker told me, pointing at the door. Then he pushed into his shower stall.

    For just a second, I saw a second copy of Blinker¡¯s mask hung up on a hook. I only noticed because Blinker paused to look at it.

    So he could make time duplicates. The implications¡­.

    Weren¡¯t something I wanted to even think about.

    ¡°Blinker, one last thing.¡± I said.

    He looked at me over his shoulder, not even trying to be intimidating. Even so, he was still. It didn¡¯t matter for him, he had three or so free seconds to poise like a predator and I¡¯d only ever have a split second to react. I¡¯d never feel safe around him again.

    I gestured between him and me. ¡°This was rapport building. It¡¯s something you should¡¯ve done much sooner instead of keeping me at arms length and putting me in the gym.¡± Then I stayed true to my word and left.

    I stopped when I realised I was still soaking wet. I was tracking water outside of the shower stalls, but that was semi alright because the adjacent locker room didn¡¯t have a carpeted floor. Frowning to myself, I closed my eyes and focused on my clothes and put my attention in them.

    My power had a strange relationship with water. One thing I was still failing to grasp at was what differentiated a body of water from something like my Vphones. I could sense the entirety of my phone¡¯s components when I touched it, yet when I touched water or air, my power was cut off just past my fingertips.

    Barely past my fingertips. Even with the help of my sixth sense it was hard to grasp just how short that distance was.

    And yet, when an object got wet, I could sense that water. It didn¡¯t count if it was surface wetness, water only snuck in when it was actually in something, like it was right now with my clothes. What irked me about this was that while I could track how much weight got added when something got wet, there wasn¡¯t a thing I could do to help make it dry. I pulled my attention back to my more mundane senses and felt better than when I¡¯d woken up.

    Since I couldn¡¯t do anything with my current ensemble, I just found some replacement clothes riddled with Sentinel logos, covered the logos with my power, and got in the costume that was my own. I hadn¡¯t worn the stupidly heavy thing in a week, and I¡¯d come to miss it. Something about having that much weight there but not really weighing on me was oddly comforting.

    I diegned to keep my protective mask down until it was needed. It got difficult to breathe through after a while. After that I collected my staff and left, pausing only to grab my collapsible baton. It would be nice to have a backup.

    On my way out I passed the man who spoke no words. Muffle signed a few things at me, some of which I caught, but most I did not. I did catch the handsigns for phone, talking, and both positives or negatives. Or I thought I did. It flew over my head, and I indicated as such with my hands.

    Then I realised he might have been asking how my studies of sign language were going. I tried to say, ¡°I haven¡¯t been studying as much as I should¡¯ve.¡± But the words were snatched by Muffle¡¯s power.

    He nodded and tapped his phone. He signed three letters: A P P. I nodded, getting it.

    Would probably be better to rely on a learning app than the big man who couldn¡¯t speak out loud. Especially if I was going to make a habit of getting suspended. It wasn¡¯t something I was aiming for, but with how things went around here it was a possibility.

    That all being said, I cursed to myself in the elevator when I remembered again that learning sign language had more use than just talking to Muffle. It had field uses as well, just in case being quiet was necessary. I¡¯d needed to be quiet earlier today, and while I wasn¡¯t sure if Forsaken knew sign language, it still would¡¯ve been useful.

    Something to work on. I¡¯d do it while waiting for the monster to appear. Anywhere between no time at all and- I checked my Vphone- twenty two hours for that thing to appear.

    I was really hoping the rumour about stronger monsters taking more time to appear wasn¡¯t true.

    When I finally got back outside, Slingshot was nowhere to be seen. That meant nothing to me since I¡¯d figured out she had a tendency to float above the lights, so I looked up and looked for boots. I didn¡¯t find any so I went to my phone and called her through the Sentry line.

    ¡°You¡¯re done?¡± She asked, skipping the ¡®hellos¡¯ and ¡®how are yous¡¯. Fine by me.

    ¡°I fell asleep in the shower.¡± I answered. ¡°Did I keep you waiting? Or did you head back to the Control area?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m still here.¡± She said. I heard the words half through the phone and with my own ears. I glanced up and then away when I saw her coming down upright from directly above me. She ended the call and I was marginally slower at putting my phone away.

    ¡°We should get back.¡± She showed no sign that she¡¯d noticed my blunder. Not for the first time, I was glad no one could see my expression. There was no way I¡¯d hide this much redness otherwise.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I started walking. Slingshot kept pace, even as I sped up. She wasn¡¯t saying anything and I wasn¡¯t about to be the one to broach the subject. I¡¯d embarrassed myself enough already, thank you very much.

    So much for things not being awkward.

 5. Bloodlust/Hunger 4

    ¡°I was wondering what was strange earlier.¡± She commented in a harsh voice. ¡°Should¡¯ve realised you¡¯d never actually stab someone.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± I responded, now painfully aware of how I was holding my staff. I wasn¡¯t sure if my voice was wavering or not.

    Unshaken was lying near where I¡¯d left Sedimentary. The man-spear-power-construct hadn¡¯t been moved, going by the fact that he looked like he was still where I left him. I wasn¡¯t totally sure, but he was there, and that was good enough for me.

    I went to share a look with Slingshot, but she was already high up and I quickly cast my gaze groundward again. But Unshaken was above so I corrected and just looked ahead. Like that, I made my way around the other Sentry and sat back in my designated spot. Unshaken wasn¡¯t exactly lying down, but she wasn¡¯t sitting either. She was sprawled across the steps of Eden¡¯s construction in such a way that her back arched to let her head rest against the low but long step.

    Looking at it made me worry her power would kick in and she would just fall through the ground.

    It was tough looking at her because she was Unshaken, and Collage was due for another slap for how he¡¯d changed my outlook on those two. She wasn¡¯t even acting provocatively, nor was her costume designed with being attractive in mind. It was just that my mind was in a mood to latch onto anything at the moment.

    ¡°Where¡¯d you and the pipsqueak run off to?¡± Unshaken asked, oblivious to my trappings.

    ¡°Base.¡± I said shortly. ¡°For my costume.¡±

    ¡°And the pipsqueak?¡± She pressed.

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t tell you, her reasons are her own.¡±

    ¡°Aww, are you defending her?¡±

    I looked down, my chin pressing into my chest in a pointless gesture to hide my embarrassment. Of course, it would¡¯ve been better if I hadn¡¯t done anything at all. My face could not be perceived, but my silhouette was another matter.

    ¡°You are!¡± Unshaken¡¯s voice was way too pleased.

    Fuck, I didn¡¯t want this. ¡°Why are you even here?¡± I pointedly kept my voice even and pointed towards the store where the monster was slated to appear. ¡°Your spot is closer.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯ll be enough time for me to get back to my spot.¡± Unshaken said dismissively. ¡°You know how my power works better than most. Nothing, not even a blast of lightning would stop me. ¡®Course, the only one able to direct lightning like that is Channel.¡± She smirked, remembering something I wasn¡¯t privy to. She didn¡¯t expand on it and I wasn¡¯t about to ask her to.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t an answer.¡± I said after letting her reminisce.

    She looked at me, the movement pushing against Eden¡¯s construct. Out of curiosity I touched the step and found that the weight of Unshaken had actually pushed the construct where she¡¯d been resting her head. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was there. Then I pulled my hand away because it, like Lucidity¡¯s constructs, didn¡¯t obey standard physics and it was jarring.

    ¡°Damn Gray Apostles keep hounding me with questions. Had enough of it, so I left instead of getting them to piss off.¡± She said.

    ¡°Know the feeling.¡± I replied, making sure to not look at her.

    ¡°Oh?¡± It wasn¡¯t a polite prod. Unshaken didn¡¯t do polite. It was a demand for more information.

    Damn it, why is she acting so familiar all of a sudden? ¡°Instinct was hounding me.¡± I explained. ¡°Said she had a terrible impression of me. What were they talking about with you?¡±

    ¡°Orcus.¡± She said simply. ¡°What do you think gave her that terrible impression?¡±

    I fumbled through responses until I ended up with, ¡°They aren¡¯t the whole reason you came here, is it?¡±

    ¡°Play nice. We¡¯re getting to know each other.¡±

    I was hearing every line Unshaken said in two different ways. There was the part of me that wanted to ignore the context behind what she was saying and just enjoy the fact that she was talking to me. Then there was the part of me who was terrified at the implied subtext. I wasn¡¯t sure what conclusions I was coming to yet, but I sure as hell didn¡¯t trust myself right now.

    There were two, no, three things potentially influencing my judgement at the moment. Collage¡¯s pink beam, Sedimentary, and the one time Glitter Bomb had touched me at the Beastmaster¡¯s place. That last one had been heat of the moment. I could only hope it had been fleeting enough that there weren¡¯t any effects beyond superficial bleed.

    With a heavy heart, I touched Eden¡¯s construct and threw my attention into it, bringing the total number of things modifying my thoughts up to four.

    ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve been active since the warehouse.¡± I realised, giving Unshaken a calm glance. It was purely for show. I was actually watching her through the forces she imposed on the construct beneath her, which were much less attractive. ¡°You have questions.¡±

    Unshaken paused, then sat up. ¡°What did you just do?¡±

    ¡°I calmed down.¡± That wasn¡¯t technically the whole truth, but it was close enough for me to say it. I came back into myself enough to ensure eye contact, and was glad I did considering where I used to be staring, then went back down.

    The Sentry before me waited, then gave up on staring me down. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve got questions. How long?¡±

    ¡°As long as I¡¯ve known you.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit.¡±

    ¡°Collage explained it as a first impression. Those stick.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen people under the effects of his beam. You¡¯re not acting like that. Never have.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve never seen me off of it.¡± I replied serenely.

    That gave her approximately one split second of pause. ¡°Who else.¡±

    I had enough presence of mind to sigh. ¡°Not Lucidity, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re wondering. Other than that, I¡¯d like to keep that to myself.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s obviously Slingshot.¡± She said. I was nearly shaken from my state. ¡°It¡¯s Slingshot.¡± She said again, cementing the fact as true. I didn¡¯t deny it because even with my place deep in my power, I didn¡¯t trust myself to act right. Better to observe the flow of the universe, as untrue to honest forces as this construction was.

    ¡°Shame.¡± Unshaken leaned back, putting her hands between her head and the step this time. ¡°Snowflake could use some love.¡±

    ¡°Snowflake is something of a frigid bitch.¡± I said before realising I shouldn¡¯t say that kind of thing as a hero. I was even less of myself at the moment. ¡°It¡¯s her brand.¡± I followed up after a moment¡¯s pause.

    ¡°Huh. So you can do funny.¡± Unshaken commented. I came back to myself to turn my gaze on her. ¡°Alright, spill. What are you doing?¡±

    I considered what to say. ¡°I¡¯m following the example of my captain and concealing aspects of my power from those around me. The only difference is, what I¡¯m concealing doesn¡¯t deprive us of vast amounts of firepower.¡±

    That gave Unshaken approximately one split second of pause once again. ¡°How did you figure that out.¡± Her words were phrased like a question, but spoken as a demand. That part of me that just wanted to enjoy this shifted despite the alien environment I was confining myself in.

    ¡°Broke his arm sparring.¡±

    ¡°Shit, you too?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help it, I came back to myself and looked at Unshaken. She was leaning towards me ever so slightly, showing genuine interest. I quickly threw myself back down into the construct before saying anything.

    ¡°I swung too hard.¡± I said evasively as I started making the staff roll around the back of my hand. ¡°I¡¯m guessing there¡¯s a story behind yours as well.¡±

    ¡°Mine is simpler. I caught him and didn¡¯t let go. Tell me what you¡¯re doing.¡±

    I sighed. ¡°I¡¯m just focusing elsewhere right now. For reasons we already talked about.¡±

    She laughed mercilessly. ¡°It¡¯s that strong!?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have threatened to throw a truck if it wasn¡¯t.¡± I deadpanned.

    ¡°Oh yeah, you did say that in there.¡± Unshaken said detachedly. ¡°So you¡¯re Smart, huh?¡±

    I was really hating this conversation. ¡°Not like you think.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, no shit. You¡¯re no Queue, constantly blackmailing everyone into his employ. You¡¯re more of a Collage brand Smart, then.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not following.¡±

    ¡°Supplements the power. You know his gimmick?¡± She checked.

    ¡°Touch a colour, shoot a beam.¡± I remembered. ¡°Different colour, different beam.¡±

    ¡°His power lets him touch colours.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Smart 1. You¡¯d be the same.¡±

    Personally, I¡¯d put myself as a number higher than one, given what I¡¯d told Blinker. I wasn¡¯t about to repeat that here. Regardless, I came back into myself and glanced back at the Sentry we were discussing. He was sitting behind his piece of cover with a blank expression on his face.

    What I¡¯d recently learned about the guy made it harder to hate him, but he was still unjustified doing what he did to me. Still, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if his Smart power trumped my Ghost power or the other way around. Something for another time.

    I turned my head forward again and dove back to where it was safe.

    It wasn¡¯t like splitting my attention this way made me go zen. It was more like a distraction that felt more important to focus on than whatever else might be happening. In this case it was making me feel like I was talking to Unshaken while I was watching a show that didn¡¯t have a pause button, except there was no show, and Unshaken¡¯s words always passed the forefront of my mind.

    ¡°Well?¡± She demanded.

    ¡°Cool.¡± I admitted. I was going to expand on that, but decided not to. Instead I tried to change the subject.

    Unshaken was going to keep talking, but another character approached first. ¡°So you¡¯re Lock, right?¡±

    I looked, then I looked. It was the one with the disco costume, Overlord. ¡°That¡¯s me.¡±

    ¡°Overlord.¡± He needlessly introduced himself and collapsed on my other side near Sedimentary. Too close for comfort. I put my staff down between the man and the spear.

    Overlord put on a demeanour that I was struggling to put a finger on. He wore the flashy singlet and the baggy pants, but walked with a slouch that said he didn¡¯t really care. There had been constant quiet discussion between the Control troopers between their various pieces of cover the entire time I¡¯d been here, some of which had mentioned this guy by name. So far he hadn¡¯t done anything to show why people were talking about him.

    There was a lot of betting on how high he¡¯d go. I didn¡¯t know what he did, but that seemed power related. The most popular bet, from what I heard at least, was fifty feet. Though it went all the way up to two hundred feet. It flew over my head.

    He didn¡¯t even have a piece of cover to call his own. That being said, Common Sense had made the people with powers good for crowd control go to Overlord, so he definitely had a power along that avenue. I just wasn¡¯t familiar with what exactly it was.

    His mask shifted as I purposefully placed my staff next to the spear and took care not to touch it. ¡°You got moved.¡± He told me. His voice reminded me of me. Specifically me when I wasn¡¯t focusing on my own senses.

    ¡°Oh yeah?¡± I prompted.

    ¡°One row back.¡± He pointed with a bare shrugged shoulder. ¡°Common Sense was wondering why you didn¡¯t bring it up earlier.¡± He sounded so disinterested, and it was beginning to bother me. If he was telling me this stuff, he could sound like he was invested in it.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d be keeping it at the time.¡± I explained. ¡°I tried giving it back, but he told me to hold onto it.¡±

    ¡°You talking about the spear?¡± Unshaken butted in.

    Overlord moved to look at her. He had to sit up a bit to do so, but he quickly fell back to his lying down position. ¡°Reasonable.¡± He said at length.

    And that was enough for him, it seemed. I looked over my shoulder at Unshaken, to see what her take on it was, but that was a mistake. She met my gaze and I had to throw myself down into the construct to prevent an obvious reaction. I looked back at Overlord. I needed something that wasn¡¯t Unshaken to focus on.

    ¡°Do you have any stories?¡± I asked.

    Overlord stirred. ¡°Mwa?¡± Had he fallen asleep?

    ¡°I asked if you¡¯ve got any stories about previous monsters.¡± I waved a hand towards the shop. ¡°I have no clue what¡¯s coming out of here, but anything you could tell us would be good.¡±

    ¡°Mmm¡­¡± Overlord chewed his cheek. ¡°I¡¯m not the best storyteller.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but you¡¯re here.¡± I pointed out. ¡°And you have an audience of at least two.¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m bored.¡± Unshaken spoke up. ¡°Ciao, nerd.¡± With that, she was gone. Her footsteps sounding in my ear, but not appearing on my sixth sense.

    The sudden goodbye cut deep, and part of me enjoyed it. I slit that part¡¯s throat and dragged it back down into Eden¡¯s construct. I intended to leave it there when I stopped touching it. ¡°You still have an audience.¡± I told Overlord after watching her go more forlornly than I¡¯d have liked.

    ¡°Still two.¡± Overlord agreed. He was looking up. I followed his gaze and flinched when Slingshot was right fucking there. ¡°Heh.¡± Came out of Overlord¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°You scared me.¡± I told Slingshot before throwing myself right back down into Eden¡¯s construct again.

    ¡°Sorry, but I am interested.¡± Slingshot told me, then Overlord. She drifted around so that we were arranged in a triangle. Overlord was lying down, while I was pointedly sitting up straight. Slingshot was halfway between sitting and standing, and was drifting slightly. She had purposefully put herself in a spot where she had a lot of wiggle room. ¡°I¡¯ve seen so many pictures, and some videos, but that isn¡¯t a first hand account.¡±

    ¡°You ever read the almanac?¡± He checked, his gaze skyward. Slingshot nodded. ¡°Not much more I can give you then. All I have is my perspective, and from my perspective they were all ants.¡±

    ¡°People die to these things.¡± I spoke up after coming back, making sure not to look directly at Slingshot. ¡°A villain recently died in Graceland, and that became a whole thing. But that isn¡¯t going to be like this is it?¡±

    ¡°Mmm¡­¡± Overlord chewed his cheek. ¡°Were you there when they died?¡±

    Both of us shook our heads.

    ¡°Shame. That would¡¯ve been a good warm up.¡±

    Slingshot and I shared a look, which made my heart jump as one of the Control troopers nearby spoke up. ¡°Careful O.V. Don¡¯t scare ¡®em like you did in Boston.¡± I looked to find it was the guy who had commented on me talking to Sedimentary.

    ¡°They asked for details, though.¡± Overlord drawled back at him, sounding like he was complaining but also not invested in it.

    ¡°No excuse for not stopping when the red one started crying.¡± The trooper shot back.

    ¡°Heh.¡± Overlord chuckled fondly. ¡°Alright, which one do you want¡¯a know about?¡±

    ¡°Floorhog.¡± I said as Slingshot said something else.

    ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Overlord drawled. ¡°Jamie, what¡¯d they say.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re closer to them.¡± Trooper Jamie told him, then pointed at me. ¡°I heard him say Floorhog, and she said Ice Phoenix.¡±

    ¡°Floorhog, huh?¡± Overlord rolled the word around on his tongue. ¡°Interesting you¡¯d ask about that one. Control teams act nationally, and that one happened in Canada.¡±

    I knew that, but I was forthcoming with my explanation. ¡°I was from there originally. Left before it happened.¡±

    Overlord paused and stilled. ¡°Yeah, I can hear it. Anyway, you¡¯re lucky. That was one of the ones that wiped out the original containment team so they called over borders for reinforcement, and we¡¯re kept awake whenever a creature is on it¡¯s way, so us. Joe Done did something with his power, and we were all there to help, so I helped with that one.¡±

    ¡°What did it look like?¡± Slingshot asked, already enraptured with this hero¡¯s disinterested form of storytelling. I filed away the name Joe Done.

    ¡°It was one of the more human looking ones.¡± Overlord¡¯s head moved forward a fraction, like he was squinting at something and that something was a memory. ¡°It had four limbs and a head, but it was three times your size. And whatever made it decided that spiders were a good inspiration, so the limbs were all splayed out, it stood on the fours, and the limbs didn¡¯t have fingies.¡± We waggled his fingers out in front of him to further the point.

    ¡°That team didn¡¯t have Eden or an Eden sub, so they had to build their defences manually or so the story went. Turned out badly ¡®cuz Floorhog had a power that Eden trumped, the Traitor. Anyway, Floorhog turned the ground into quicksand, drowned twelve men on appearance, three of which were Control, and then he started blasting.¡±

    ¡°Twelve people? Just like that?¡± Slingshot asked, very interested.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Overlord scratched his mask absently, like he thought he was scratching his cheek. ¡°More like sixteen. Some got hit by it manifesting.¡±

    ¡°These things appear volatile.¡± I said, earning a sound of approval.

    ¡°Pretty much. It¡¯s why I¡¯m on the ground until it starts kicking up a fuss. That and I get tired.¡± Overlord yawned, as if to prove his point. ¡°Why does this one gotta start so late?¡± He whined, kicking impotently with one foot. It was the most focused thing he said so far. ¡°I was up early yesterday. Now I¡¯ll be up until the end of tomorrow, and then we¡¯ll start fighting.¡±

    I cleared my throat. ¡°So Floorhog.¡±

    ¡°Eh.¡± Overlord stopped whining and got back on track. ¡°That one was fast, but that doesn¡¯t matter to me, really. Had the power to blur itself momentarily, making power slide off as if he was the back of a duck. No limit to how many times he could do it either, and no cooldown like I have. That ant was skittering about in ways that I consider unholy.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t believe in god.¡± Jamie cut in.

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe in god.¡± Overlord repeating in a mocking tone. If it was a joke, it didn¡¯t make sense to me. ¡°Oh yeah, the sand caught fire too. Whole city block burned down, and that was before I got there to look at it.¡±

    ¡°My¡­¡± Slingshot trailed off. ¡°And that¡¯s what¡¯s coming here? Not exactly that, I mean, but that much power?¡±

    I gave Slingshot a glance. Her enthusiasm was making it very easy to believe that she would¡¯ve gone to see a Calamity if she had the chance. Hopefully whatever ended up appearing here didn¡¯t make her get starstruck.

    ¡°Eh.¡± Overlord shrugged. ¡°Floorhog wasn¡¯t that strong. I¡¯ve had monsters try shoot me down from hundreds of feet away. That one was limited to whatever was around it. Hmm¡­ I suppose the permanent transmutation to fire sand was pretty strong. They don¡¯t normally do property destruction. It¡¯s a rare commodity now from what I hear.¡±

    ¡°I told you that.¡± Jamie said.

    Overlord ignored him. ¡°If there was such a thing as normal, Floorhog was normal. He just had the right stuff for the occasion. The Enforcers it would''ve taken time to kill got drowned, the Lances were useless from far away and up close when it killed them. Then the rest scattered. The Control in charge was killed first, which also made things worse, or something like that. Floorhog could do more, but I forget exactly what. That one was a footnote. Ice Phoenix, on the other hand...¡±

    Slingshot drifted forward in anticipation.

    Overlord paused. ¡°Jamie, what did Ice Phoenix do?¡±

    Jamie sighed as I felt Slingshot wilt in disappointment. ¡°Ice Phoenix made ice, and remade its body with special ice. It was rough to put down, but that wasn¡¯t why you hated it.¡±

    ¡°Ooh¡­¡± Overlord realised. ¡°That fucker froze powers.¡±

    I frowned. ¡°How would that even work?¡±

    Overlord laughed. ¡°I have no fucking clue! All I know is, I now know what it¡¯s like to be a pillar man now, and I hate it.¡±

    So Overlord¡¯s power made him really tall. It fit the name, kind of, and explained why people were betting over his height. I looked at my fingers and wondered how my power might get frozen. My power kind of did that with things already, though my interpretation of locking was a little different from what Overlord seemed to be describing.

    ¡°What did it look like?¡± Slingshot asked in earnest.

    ¡°Ice Phoenix is a, uh¡­ Jamie, what¡¯s the word I¡¯m looking for?¡±

    ¡°No clue.¡± Jamie replied.

    ¡°Misleading, got it. It¡¯s a misleading title. Ice Phoenix wasn¡¯t really an Ice Phoenix.¡±

    ¡°Well I knew that.¡± Slingshot said. ¡°It¡¯s not even a bird. It didn¡¯t fly.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I mean.¡± Overlord waved a hand in my direction. ¡°I meant it isn¡¯t a phoenix. It¡¯s dead. If it were actually a phoenix, it¡¯s still be around. See how it¡¯s misleading?¡± He chuckled suddenly. ¡°Now there is actually something deserving of the title phoenix, and they show up these sometimes, but I haven¡¯t seen any of ¡®em so far. But they¡¯ve got a misleading title too.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± I asked when it became clear he thought that was a good stopping point.

    ¡°The City.¡± Overlord said.

    I looked at Slingshot to find that she seemed about as confused as I was. When I looked back at Overlord he wasn¡¯t talking. That was another good stopping point apparently.

    ¡°We won¡¯t have to worry about ¡®the City¡¯, will we?¡± I asked.

    Overlord shrugged helpfully.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of the City before.¡± Slingshot said. ¡°When did it appear?¡±

    ¡°Ah, now that¡¯s more misinformation.¡± Overlord suddenly became more lucid and sat up to jab a finger in Slingshot¡¯s face. I didn¡¯t blame her when she floated away reflexively. ¡°The City is a monster, but it isn¡¯t a monster. I¡¯m of the belief that it¡¯s an Omega level threat, but not many people believe me.¡±

    ¡°Because the City is a ghost.¡± Jamie butted in. He addressed Slingshot and me. ¡°Listen to his drivel, there¡¯re some real nuggets in there. But don¡¯t for a second take anything he says without a pinch of salt.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m wise.¡± Overlord told us, suddenly defencive. ¡°I¡¯m the longest standing member of Control in the United States, you know.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s your twenty second year this year.¡± Slingshot nodded.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Overlord pointed at her and looked at Jamie. ¡°I have a fan!¡±

    Slingshot lowered herself closer to the ground, embarrassed. ¡°You were telling us about the City.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah, if you ever see one of them, run. And don¡¯t die.¡± Overlord told us and stopped there.

    ¡°You weren¡¯t lying when you said you were a bad storyteller.¡± I commented, getting a shrug out of the superhero.

    ¡°True, but you made me talk and it passed the time.¡± Overlord looked at Jamie. ¡°What¡¯s the time now?¡±

    ¡°Half past two.¡±

    ¡°Uugh.¡± Overlord groaned. ¡°Still? I hate this.¡±

    ¡°You got off track.¡± Jamie told him. ¡°You were originally telling them about Ice Phoenix.¡±

    ¡°Was I? Oh yeah, it¡¯s a misleading title.¡±

    ¡°You told us already.¡± I said evenly, doing my best to sound as though I wasn¡¯t as done with him as I was. ¡°How did the manifestation go?¡±

    ¡°Weell¡­¡± Overlord drew out the word and trailed off deep in thought. ¡°Okay, so you know how there are bipeds that stand on two legs, and quardropeds that stand on four?¡±

    ¡°Yip.¡± Slingshot said.

    ¡°Do you know what the term for eight legs is?¡± He asked seriously.

    I was at a loss, and so was Slingshot. So I took the initiative. ¡°You mean it was like a spider?¡±

    ¡°Kind of.¡± Overlord wobbled his ¡®fingies¡¯. ¡°It didn¡¯t really have something you¡¯d call a central nervous system. Or a body. Like, I really want that term so I can ask for some more accurate branding, because Ice Phoenix was kind of just the legs.¡±

    I struggled to imagine that.

    ¡°I knew that, I was asking how it went.¡± Slingshot butted in. ¡°Who was there? Who fought it and how? That¡¯s the stuff I want to know.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Overlord put a hand over his heart. ¡°I went up like I always do and got frozen on the way up. Then when I was up there I went kthoom, pshew, and thumped all over that thing.¡± He did his best to imitate something coming down and exploding with his hands for each sound effect. ¡°Common Sense was like: ¡®Don¡¯t stand there!¡¯ Brainstorm went: ¡®zap zap zap¡¯ but from further away than Common Sense, and she shot the turrets once they stopped being manned. Eden just made the thing everyone else stood on, and Gracious really gave Ice Phoenix the good old what for. The Traitor.¡±

    ¡°What did Gracious do?¡± I asked openly. Slingshot was a fan and Overlord had worked with them, so I wasn¡¯t sure who would be quicker to answer. As it turned out, it was the fan.

    ¡°She had the power to change powers and make them solid.¡± Slingshot explained. ¡°Then she got enforcer buffs from interacting with the solid powers.¡±

    ¡°Mmm¡­¡± Overlord hummed sadly. ¡°I miss her. She did all the work back then.¡±

    I took that to mean she handled the local heroes like he had been tasked with a few hours ago. It didn¡¯t sound like all the much work, honestly. All it was was talking to gifted, figuring out the best power interactions, and assembling them accordingly. It hadn¡¯t even taken a full hour.

    I didn¡¯t ask what happened to her. Instead, I looked it up on a Vphone seeing as the storytelling seemed to be coming to a close. There was an article close to the top which spelled it out. Lisa Pedding, otherwise known as Gracious, had died on the eve of christmas in 2018. There was a description of her power that used more words than Slingshot had to say the same thing, but it also described how that became her demise.

    The Theta class monster at the time had been called Fragmented Hare. Its appearance was, unsurprisingly, that of a fragmented hare like creature. It¡¯s power let it move fast, and shoot cutting rays of energy. Gracious¡¯ power interaction made the rays solid, but they were still fast moving and thin, and she had been standing in the way. Which led to a closed casket funeral.

    I didn¡¯t say anything on the matter and put away my Vphone. Slingshot and Overlord were still talking, but I didn¡¯t have it in me to pay attention to them anymore. Instead I turned over what I had learned in my head.

    Fail had spelled it all out for me, but only now was I beginning to comprehend what exactly was coming. My experience with Quetzalcoatl had this overwhelming feeling of insignificance, where whatever I did, I was nothing. Just dust in human shape if I got caught outside at the wrong time. The scale of powers had shifted since then. I had a power now, and a pretty strong one in the right circumstances. That coupled with the fact that whatever this thing ended up being named was undoubtedly weaker than a Calamity had put me in a mindset where I thought I¡¯d be fine.

    But that wasn¡¯t the case. I had a sneaking suspicion that Overlord¡¯s frankly strange demeanour was a direct result of going to these things and watching people he knew die for longer than I¡¯d been alive. For twenty two years, at that. There was a real possibility that he had seen more people die than I could call by name. If things didn¡¯t pan out favourably in the next day, I could be one of those people.

    None of that was even taking into account the fact that there was a psychopath on the loose. Bad Valentine could be keeping an eye on this situation for all I knew, or he could be tracking down Forsaken so that the hero would stop tracking him. I didn¡¯t know, and that was terrifying. Compared to that, the whole personality bleed thing was something I didn¡¯t even want to spare the time thinking about, and I had nothing but time in front of me.

    Nothing was happening.

    I stood, picking up my staff as I went. ¡°Hey, Overlord.¡± I said, cutting into his and Slingshot¡¯s conversation. ¡°Do you know what the deal with the spear is?¡±

    ¡°Myeah.¡± He responded. Which was good enough.

    I walked to the unit base Control had set up. It likely wasn¡¯t the title Control used, but it worked for me. All that conversation had me distracted, I needed something that wasn¡¯t that. This time, though, instead of just going for cookies, I also went for tea. I didn¡¯t realise I¡¯d done that until I went to pick up the paper cup and winced at how hot it was. Then I froze.

    The story I told Toil had come true. Then I nearly dropped the cup when Slingshot was right behind me again.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got to stop doing that.¡± I hissed as nicely as I could.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Slingshot said, then she said again more loudly. ¡°Sorry! I¡¯ve kind of been distracted today.¡±

    It was the middle of the night. Another time, I might have pointed that out. But considering the things she and I had said already this night, I let it pass without comment.

    ¡°So, I¡¯ve been thinking¡­ and I realised something that- oh god this is going to sound so corny.¡± Slingshot waged an internal war with herself as I waited. ¡°It¡¯s a love triangle isn¡¯t it?¡±

    I put the cup of tea down. It was too hot to drink at the moment, and that particular thought hadn¡¯t crossed my mind in that particular way yet. It was¡­ accurate. I also didn¡¯t like that the term ¡®love triangle¡¯ applied to me. Romance was something that I could appreciate, but even so I felt like gouging my eyes out when movies ham fisted them into the plot.

    Yet that did nothing to detract from the fact that I was in love with two girls that I worked with. Both were now in the know. One was teasing me and enjoying it, and apparently paired off with my captain, the other had just brought this up.

    ¡°Huh,¡± is how I summarised my thoughts.

    Slingshot wilted. ¡°Damnit, I¡¯m so sorry about this Lock.¡±

    Alarm bells went off in my head. ¡°For what?¡±

    ¡°For all that.¡± She gestured at me. No, she gestured at my head. Was she talking about my face? ¡°It¡¯s not natural, what happened to you, and now you¡¯ve got to live with that. I wish there was something I could do to help, but I¡¯m worried that if I keep talking to you, you¡¯ll just get worse.¡±

    More alarm bells. ¡°Uh¡­¡±

    ¡°I just- I don¡¯t know what to do in this kind of situation.¡± Slingshot said.

    ¡°Nothing.¡± I said abruptly, cutting off whatever it was she was about to say.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to do anything.¡± I reiterated, then sighed. ¡°Up until now, we¡¯ve been able to get along just fine. You looked out for me when Waterlad invited me to spy on Boss, you gave me directions when Zephyr was being difficult, and we¡¯ve even had lunch- of sorts- together- with Lucidity- without this coming up. We worked together fine.¡±

    ¡°It kind of came up.¡± Slingshot said, visibly wincing.

    ¡°Maybe it did, but tonight? I only said that because I¡¯m running ragged after this whole situation and parts of my past catching up to me. I think I had a delayed reaction to going through all that, but my point is: regretting this whole situation isn¡¯t something that I¡¯ve lost any sleep over.¡±

    Mostly because I wasn¡¯t sleeping anyway, but the point stands.

    Slingshot drifted up an inch. ¡°But it might. Somewhere down the track it might. If not for you, for me. Because you told me about it and I kind of feel responsible.¡±

    I was going to respond, but some Control troopers came around the corner. I picked up my cup and stepped away from the table with the snacks, beckoning Slingshot to come with me. Only when we were a good distance away did I continue.

    ¡°This is hardly the time or the place to be talking about this kind of thing.¡± I told her. ¡°Overlord¡¯s terrible stories finally penned it in for me. There¡¯s a one in fifty chance that one person dies, and a much larger chance that many more people die. That¡¯s a matter of fact. This-¡± I gestured between the two of us, ¡°Makes me happier than you could know. But I¡¯ve got shadows ahead and skeletons behind that¡¯s making it difficult for me to be honest.¡±

    ¡°You told you¡¯d shut up if you slowed down.¡± Slingshot said, her voice showing the disappointment more than hiding it. ¡°I didn¡¯t realise it meant you¡¯d talk like this as well.¡±

    Damnit, and I¡¯d been doing so well. ¡°Do you want to go on a date, then?¡± I asked bluntly. I had no fallbacks, even this was improvisation. ¡°You don¡¯t need to answer n-¡±

    ¡°I definitely do.¡± Slingshot cut me off.

    But she didn¡¯t follow it up right away.