Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The project will be a wormfic but each chapter the author rotates and none of them get anything from the previous except for the posted chapters
Chapters should at least flow, but authors can do what they want as long as it maintains cohesion and canonicity with the previous one.

I came up with this because I like writing Theo and if I'm allowed to be the first author I'd have Theo become a main character then, if not later. But why? Because I want to read fics where I don't know where the idea goes

And I'm sure others have as well. They want certain things to be written, but not know where it's taken in the end.

Thus, this idea, where the authors build upon what has been written by the others.

The rules:

1. Chapters should flow from one to the next, with the exception of interludes, meaning that while pov can change, unless it's an interlude it should involve what happened in the previous chapter.

2. No Contradictory info. Plot twists are allowed of course, but if one author says the abb is a hero group or Kaiser has blue hair then the abb is a villain group and Kaiser has blue hair. If an author wants to change something, they should find an intext way to change it.

3. Changes shouldn't be made maliciously. This is more a good faith rule. This is for fun, so don't try and undo others fun for the sake of it.

4. Asking clarification on what an author wrote is perfectly fine, but unless it was stated plainly in text it doesn't exist until it is established. In essence, death of the author.

5. Interlude rules To be Decided

6. Minimum word count of 1k, Maximum word count of 10k

7. Author rotation is in alphabetical order

The Authors:

Crabbmanboi: Project creator, author of Fracturing Gold and Snow Haired Salamander

Fwee: Author of Sworn and This Isn't My Cape

Partisanenpasta: Author of Crimson Shards on a Vacant Throne

Shakarn Agent: Author of Equity Partnership

Starlit Ronin: Author of Dragoon

Chapter Text

My hands lay flat against the granite countertop, one on each side of the porcelain sink, as I took a breath, steadying myself as best I could. Pushing aside the aching nausea in my gut, I looked up, staring into the mirror. My short blonde hair had grown somewhat longer over the past month, dangling slightly farther than my ears. Much of the baby fat on my face had fallen away, rubbing the salt that was the facial similarities to my Father right in my wounds. My face was slightly rounder than his, but there was enough resemblance to make it nearly uncanny.

I hadn’t lost the bulk though, the large stomach and flabby arms, though I had managed to add on muscle, the fat was still there, for now at least. Similarities to my Father were the least of my worries though. The changes still needed to be small and I had begun to realize I was running out of options.

I studied my eyes, the blue of the iris, the white of the bulb, but more importantly, the sharpness of the pupil, its size, its hardness. Unnaturally rigid. It had been my first experiment, the first change I had made with the energy I had accumulated, and I’d regretted it. It was too noticeable, too much. I hadn’t realized at the time that I couldn’t go back. 

But I needed to use my power, it became too painful to keep in after a while.

If the changes could be seen, then whatever cover I had was blown, and whatever chance at a life away from my Father was ruined. So I had to be careful, I had enlarged my veins to increase blood flow, hardened my bones, and improved and polished off whatever aspects of my biology couldn’t be seen.

Ironically enough, improving my eyesight was something I had done the most, but I hadn’t done anything to the ball like the first time since. The one thing I dared not do was mess with my telomerase, I could feel it wanting to change, but I refused. Regeneration was tempting, but not having my cell’s duplication in check was an assurance I’d be opening the door for all types of cancers, powers or not, it wasn’t a risk I was willing to take. And now, here I was, at a crossroads. I’d let the energy build as much as I could take without ruining my concentration, I needed to decide what to do with it.

So many paths, so many options I could take. A snowball effect I supposed. I was laying the foundations that greater changes that could be built upon. Every charge was worth more than the last. 

Three charges to use, three changes to make, three risks. I looked at my fingernails, the keratin dark and dense, and felt them, their potential. I ruled them out instantly, claws would almost certainly change my finger bones as well, and I didn’t need people asking what was wrong with my hands. Especially not with the double joints I’d added...everywhere. However, that did give me an idea.

I felt my neck, and more accurately I checked what it could be. The paths I could take, searching through them, looking with the added knowledge I’d researched since gaining my powers. It could work, but it would only be worth one charge, I went for it anyway.

I felt my neck crack and break, expanding and contracting as new muscles and bones suddenly grew from nothingness, remaking my anatomy in a new unique image. The previous edits I made weren’t undone but worked around, and expanded upon. As the crawling sensation beneath my skin abated, I bent my neck from side to side, looking in the mirror. It was definitely longer, but not enough to cause any outbursts, I think. Hopefully, it’d just be written off as a growth spurt. I turned my head to the side, then went further, my head turning one hundred and eighty degrees to look behind me.

Looking down at my own back was a strange feeling, but it was a useful ability, I hoped.

Now for the other two, my internal organs were an obvious choice, but with all the changes, and optimizations, I’d already done, I wasn’t sure what I could do that wouldn’t stick out to a medical professional. Though I suppose with the change I just made that ship had finally sailed.

I suppose it would be better to think, what about what was more immediately useful to my circumstances? What could be hidden?

What could help me in a fight?

I righted my head, returning it to its normal position. My long fingers tapped the countertop as I thought. My fingernails, again, were obvious choices but still too noticeable. I could still go with an organ, but none really appealed at the moment, save for the stomach, though I’m not sure what use I’d get out of the ability to digest iron, not like I could bite it, though I hadn’t necessarily tried…

With that thought, I opened my mouth, prying my lips back with my fingers to get a better look at my teeth, which remained largely unchanged, visually at least. The enamel was far tougher than most, and basically couldn’t be decayed at this point, unless by more concentrated acids. Well… teeth were more easily hidden than fingernails.

Not like I had a dentist appointment soon anyway.

I reached for the body part mentally, the information pathways surging in my mind. I wouldn’t bulk up their strength anymore without a size increase, sadly, so I reached for something more… primal. I watched in a mix of horror and fascination as my teeth rearranged themselves, shifting in their gums, growing slightly longer, but far sharper. Still omnivorous by design, but more suited to ripping and tearing. Kinda like a pigs, or boars.

Satisfied… well indifferent to the change, I pulled my fingers from my mouth after inspecting my work. Luckily enough, the teeth could probably be mistaken as human from afar. Probably. I was setting out into a field of unknowns and every step made my gut clench with anxiety. I dragged out a long breath, longer than the last, waiting for the knots of tension to untie themselves. I could still go for my stomach, and complete the set, my body could already digest bones, however, so I’m not sure what use I’d get out of the change.

My skin, I realized, was another aspect of myself I’d mostly left untouched. I’d stiffened it, hardened it in the past. Not bulletproof or anything, just thicker. It was a risk, a massive one. I shook my head at the idea. Not now. My eyes though… I’d poured a lot into them already, though I’d boosted their resilience on accident that first time, I’d since only improved my sight. I needed to protect them, they were valuable after all. My mind reached out, scouring through possibilities, one of which caught my attention, it wasn’t the eye itself but… it was good.

I felt the change wash over my face as the last of the energy was spent, the skin around my eyes crawled and writhed before settling. I felt it before I saw it as I looked in the mirror. A third eyelid, a translucent membrane that I flicked in and out over the eye, testing the muscle. It was slightly reinforced, a bit of extra protection, but if memory served it was something animals used to see underwater, and now it was mine. 

With a twinge of will, the translucent lid flicked back beneath my skin, hidden away.

Seventy-two hours till I had to do this again… I sighed, there was no point in dwelling on what I couldn’t control, especially not now. Technically I had gotten my wish after all… I straightened my back, returning to my full height smoothly and soundlessly. Without Father’s out on a trip, tomorrow was going to be busy for me. Here’s to hoping traffic is particularly bad. Grabbing my towel from the hanger, I hung it over my shoulder, completing the illusion of using the bathroom.

Unlocking the door, I moved out into a wide common area of the Ander’s mansion. A square room furnished with rugs, couches, and TVs, as well as a gaudy amount of flowers and metal decorations. A door was on three faces of the square, the middle being a bathroom with a bedroom on either side. Mine and the “guest” bedroom, which was typically taken up by the twins. The last face of the square was just a hallway leading to a staircase.

Navigating the area was simple as I made my way to my room. However, before I could reach it, I heard a click and the room suddenly grew bright like a flare, causing me to jump slightly. It stung my eyes for a sec before they adjusted. It was easy to forget how good my night vision now was…

I turned to the sound to find Nessa standing by the light switch in a bathrobe, her long blonde hair a messy crown. I could tell it was her by the small scar beneath her right eye, a gift from Dauntless.

She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, blinking. Her expression grew slightly surprised at the sight of me in only my pajama pants, “Theo? What’re you doing wandering around in the dark?” 

“Taking a shower. Sorry if the noise woke you.”

Nessa shook her head, “No, I just needed to use the bathroom, you’re fine.”

I relaxed slightly at that, though I still retained my guard, just in case. She had walked towards me as she had spoken, now standing pretty close to me as she continued. “If anything woke me it was Jess’s snoring. Honestly, its like someone put an airhorn in her instead of lungs.”

I shrugged, “I’ll take your word for it.”

She looked at me quizically, tilting her head before she sighed. If not for the improvements to my ear drums I wouldn’t have heard her whisper of, “Should’ve expected that.”

My eyes narrowed at the jab, but I didn’t acknowledge it. She turned away with a wave goodnight before pausing and turning back around. Suddenly her hand was flat atop my head her face annoyingly close to my own. Best to just let her do what she wants. Moving her hand away she kept it level, putting it over her head at close to the same height. 

“Hey Theo,” Nessa said, “Have you gotten taller?”

A shiver of fear ran through me, but I didn’t let it control me, instead shrugging in response. “Probably, I haven’t checked.”

Nessa hummed before smirking, ”At this rate, your balls will finally drop.”

I chose not to react to that comment, turning on my heel and heading to my room. “Goodnight, Nessa.”

I heard her huff, muttering remarks about my sense of humor to herself before the closing of my bedroom door cut it off. I turned the lock, a small modicum of privacy I was aloud, though I was fairly certain Father had a key.

Even with all that said, my room wasn’t exactly all that much to look at. It was stylized, clean, and proper like it had just been made. It wasn’t lived in. Sure it appeared luxurious, from the bed to the desk and curtains. But it was like doll houses’s sort of luxury, a false nobility. Fake, with every detail decided by Father, or at least decided by someone appointed by him. It was a reminder that this really wasn’t my room, it was his .

I had just been allowed to be the one to live in it.

I made my way over to the desk, pulling out one of the drawers. Stacks of paper and pencils were arranged neatly inside. I took them out, one by one, placing them neatly on the desktop till it was empty, just a flat wood bottom. I reached in, jamming a fingernail between the drawer’s “bottom” and its walls, prying the false bottom up, exposing the small compartment underneath, only large enough to fit a slip of paper; which is exactly what it hid.

A small ticket, one inch wide and three long, the only markings being an odd symbol and two things; a date and a time. Specifically tomorrow at noon. I sighed in relief at the sight of its continued presence, lowering the false bottom and carefully replacing the drawer’s contents.

I had to be careful with my movements, cliche though its place may be, it was about the best I could manage considering all the eyes on me. Which is why I had to print the ticket off at school, despite Immaculata’s prestige, it didn’t track students’ printing activity.

I would’ve used a public library, but I doubted the PRT didn’t have someone keeping watch on those places, and unlike public libraries, schools can’t have random adults following you in.

Closing the drawer, I flopped into bed unceremoniously. Despite all the edits I’d made to my body, I still felt exhausted, mentally at least. 

I closed my eyes, listening to the rhythmic rise and fall of my breath, the fog of drowsiness taking hold. Eventually succumbing to slumber.

At least in my dreams, I’d be free.

Chapter Text

My dreams were always the same these days. After drifting off, I would awaken in another body. Lean but strong, large but silent, a big cat with all the intelligence of a human. My fur was bleach-white, but not so bright that I couldn’t sneak around, and sneaking was exactly what I did.

Things felt different in my dreams, it felt like I could make a difference, but somehow also like nothing mattered, so it was fine if I made a mess of it. The only issue was the gnawing hunger deep in my stomach. I always woke up hungry in my dreams.

The landscape was always the same, too. I woke in a thick forest with foliage that covered steep hills and sudden drops, but if I followed the direction of the sun, I’d emerge into a clearing with short grass and gently rolling hills, and if I went in the opposite direction, I’d find a sudden cliff with an ocean far below, islands of various sizes dotting the horizon near and far. That was about all the exploring I’d done before I’d caught on to the game. Or maybe the hunt was a better term.

With a yawn so wide that it shouldn’t feel natural, I rose to my paws and plodded forward. This forest was full of vibrant smells tickling my nose and it had no shortage of drops and jumps where I could flex my muscles; it was the perfect playground. As I hopped down something like a seven foot cliff, I felt the cool air of the forest rush by my fur. I gave a happy little shake as I landed, just enjoying my body and its freedom.

I gathered myself, tail lashing behind me as I found the perfect angle to balance my weight, and in a single, heady burst of strength, I bounded forward, almost skipping off the ground and then pushing up, and I landed against the side of a tree with not so much an impact as a smooth shift in momentum. My claws dug in and held me there while I gathered my muscles for another leap.

Up, up, up! My primal brain thrilled even while my very human intellect worried about the drop I’d suffer if I somehow fell. But I knew better than that. This body was everything I’d wanted, even if I’d never choose it for myself. Strong, confident, successful. It took several more rapid cycles of leap, grab, bunch-up, leap, grab, bunch-up before I was high enough to twist my upper body and sink my claws into a thick branch of the tree, and then with a flick of my feline waist I was striding out along what might as well be a tightrope to a human but which I took just like a sidewalk.

I was above the treeline, now. Several of the larger, older trees still got up this far, but the majority of the forest was below me. I took in a deep breath, feeling my lungs expand in my chest, pushing at my ribs.

“Hhhhrrrrroooooooowwwwwwww!”

My call was a challenge, a claim. This world is mine, and you’re all just living in it. I still felt a twinge of human emotion at the shameless boast, that buried part of me remembering my waking life, how much of a lie that statement was in reality. It served its purpose in the dream, though. The game is on.

I remained where I was, a snow-white king on his wooden throne, and I groomed by paw while I waited.

The eagle didn’t keep me waiting long; it never did. It came out of the sky, almost faster than I could see, and the faint scream of its wings tearing the air grew louder until it passed by me, slicing away the tip of the branch with its razor-sharp feathers. A form of greeting, an acknowledgement that the game was on. As it opened up its wings to their full extent and caught the air, slowing down and gliding toward the plains, it cried out with its unique screech. A deal struck.

I wanted to smile, and my body took that impulse and turned it into a licking of my chops, sandpaper tongue sliding over sharp teeth.

We had a kind of partnership, the eagle and I. It would spot the bull from above and lead me to it with its cries, and then I would set up an ambush. We’d tuck into the meat of the kill together, though of course I would get the lion’s share. Sometimes the crow and the wolf would find the bull first, and we’d have to chase them off or steal away a haunch or side for ourselves, but we were faster, deadlier. We usually won the game.

The bull could often be found in the clearing, but sometimes it moved to one of the nearby areas as if it was trying to throw us off. Not that we’d ever failed to find it before, whether by ourselves or by following the sounds of combat between the bull and the wolf.

This time, it was standing atop a hill of short grass, its head constantly turning left and right in a very un-bull-like way while the eagle made its orbits overhead. I was circling around behind, my belly to the ground and my tail resting low behind me as I crawled through the taller grass at the base of the hill.

Bulls had better vision to either side than directly in front or behind themselves, but those were also the most dangerous angles to attack from. And with the way it was swiveling its head, it was getting something like a three-hundred-sixty degree arc of vision anyway. I wasn’t relishing the task of taking the bull down without the element of surprise, not when I’d felt its kicks cave in a rib before.

Maybe the bull would eventually get tired, would slip up on its vigilance, but I couldn’t wait that long. My hunger drove me, pushed me to act, to do something. Maybe if I could hold off only a little longer, the wolf would show up and provide a distraction? The tip of my tail twitched.

The eagle cried again, and I looked up. A warning? A call of exasperation? I got the impression that the eagle was trying to speak to me, but I had no idea what it was trying to say. It seemed to be looking towards me and not the bull, though, so I nodded my head toward the bull, twitching my tail again.

Once more, the eagle cried out, and then it was falling- no, diving . It plunged toward the bull, at the last moment pulling out its wings and making a near pass. The bull huffed out a cry of pain, and I could smell blood in the air.

That was the distraction I needed. I bounded forward, my powerful limbs eating up the distance as I climbed the hill and pounced on the back of the bull, my claws and teeth sinking in.

The game was over. While the bull could and would fight, try to buck me off, I was inside of its guard, and I had the back of its neck in my jaws. It thrashed, kicked its body up and twisted, but I had a firm grip, and each violent motion only served to carve deeper wounds in the bull’s body. Within a minute, the bull was sinking to the ground, its strength bleeding out of its body in delicious red rivulets. I finished it off by tearing out its throat, and then hopped off the corpse.

As a courtesy, I always tore out chunks of the food and left them aside for the eagle to pick at while I stuck my snout in the belly and just ate . My hunger was still present, it always was, but even without sating my hunger, the feeling of feeding was practically divine.

I was on my belly again, tearing and gulping and swallowing away, when I felt a presence approach- it was not so much sound or scent or sight, but some sixth sense, or a combination of hints from all five, that tipped me off. I turned, white maw dyed red, and regarded the wolf, with the crow riding almost comically atop its head.

There wasn’t really an established relationship between the wolf and I the same way that I had an arrangement with the eagle. We were rivals, enemies, but sometimes allies when the bull was being particularly difficult. This time, I’d won, I’d taken down the bull first, so the food was mine. I could share it, and wouldn’t I want the wolf to share when I was hungry myself? Basic empathy. But sharing would mean less for me, and I was still so hungry .

The hunger felt real, the lumps of soft flesh sliding down my feline throat felt real, but a part of me knew that this was just a dream. I’d probably still feel bad about it, but why not… indulge?

Time was still passing while I thought, and apparently the wolf took my passivity as permission to approach. I called it the wolf, but it had a pelt the color of grass and the texture of woven reeds, and it had four sets of eyes peering out from beneath its extended brow. I eyed it as it padded closer and began tugging at a bull leg, trying to tear it off.

Its pelt was thick on top, but the belly and the underside of the neck was unprotected. The wolf turned its head to better grab the leg, and I saw my opening.

Lunging forward with fangs bared, I struck.

Sticky, thick, sap-like blood spilled into my mouth. Wings flapped above. Tough flesh heaved within my maw. I twisted my neck, tearing out a chunk.

A second feast, a rare treat.

- - -

I woke up refreshed, and with my power more full than I was expecting. I just laid there for a moment before realizing the implications of that. Shit, oh shit, had I slept in?

I threw off my sheets and twisted over in bed, grabbing my phone from the nightstand and checking the time. Still early, thank God. Getting that ticket wouldn’t have been for nothing.

The Anders family- and attaches- were early risers as a rule. I woke up early compared to many of my peers, but Father and the Twins often made joking jabs at me about how I slept through half the morning. It meant that I had the bathroom to myself, but when I stepped inside, the faintest traces of steam on the mirror and lingering scent of shampoo was just a reminder that they had already been here, that just like always, I was trailing behind them.

While I went through the normal morning routine, my mind went back to last night’s dream. As usual ever since I’d gotten powers, my dream had been about that weird game, about being an albino panther stalking other animals. It was one of those dreams that built on previous nights, which was how I’d ended up working with the creature I’d started calling the eagle- at first, we’d fought each other, seen each other as food, but neither of us was easy to catch, and together we’d just tired each other out. Our cooperation had been an accident, where I’d been stalking the eagle itself until the bull- distracted by the eagle’s attacks but not really threatened- had appeared as easier prey. And from then on, we’d mostly just done the same kind of thing, but on purpose.

So did that mean in future dreams, the wolf would remember that I’d attacked it? Maybe not. The whole thing operated on dream logic, and even if I wanted to psychoanalyze myself, I had no idea what any of those animals were meant to represent. Was the bull symbolic of my father? A representation of my fears? I had no clue.

Today was a Saturday, which meant that I didn’t have to worry about school, but with everything else happening, it’d be a busy day for me. Once I was out of the bathroom and back in my room, I made absolutely sure that my door was locked, and pulled the ticket out of its secret compartment, slipping it into the pocket of my slacks.

Despite how much I’d have on my plate later, there wasn’t actually anything for me to do right now. So, how to kill the time until noon?

I left my room and made it down the staircase to the main wing of the mansion without being caught ‘lazing around’ by anybody, and when I slipped out the too-large front doors and made my way down the tree-lined path to the front gate, the only people I saw were some neighbors from a few houses down driving off to work in old classics or modern sports cars- never anything in-between.

It was getting cold out, but even if I hadn’t been dressed for the weather, my body had been adapted to keep me comfortable even in the dead of winter or the height of summer. A selectively insulating dermis, better heat flow through my body from the enhanced circulation, and an adaptation to my stomach that let it store or release heat through chemical bonds. Not the kind of thing that I could use in a fight, but early on, when I was doing my best to keep my changes minimal, that hadn’t been my focus.

The worst day of my life had been a kind of wake-up call, and I was finally ready to act on it. I had plans, a direction, and a determination to become the kind of man I should have been all along. Things were looking up for me at last.

I hadn’t been aware that I was smiling on my way out of the neighborhood until I saw Lynn at the bus stop, and the smile fell off my face.

It wasn’t right to say that I was avoiding her. But like Charlie and the others, seeing her reminded me far too vividly of bad times. Well, maybe that was more true for Lynn than the others.

Unbidden, my brain supplied the memories. Charlie lying on the table, gasping in pain and trying desperately to stem the flow of blood. Lynn screaming and weeping, a room away. Asking myself, why ? Why couldn’t I -

I blinked, hard, trying to banish the memories and keep my breath steady. The act brought out my third eyelid, and I quickly flicked it back. Well, it looked like we’d be on the same bus anyway, so I might as well go say hi.

Lynn looked up as I approached, a movement that did interesting things to the snaking white scar moving along the underside of her neck and jaw. She was wearing a light jacket that covered her arms up to the wrists and a fashionable scarf that did most of the rest, but apparently she couldn’t hide everything. I raised my eyes to her face, embarrassed to be staring like an asshole.

“You fucking asshole!”

Lynn’s first words to me, in… what, a week? And what…?

“I… did I do something?” I glanced around, but for now, it seemed we were alone. “I get if seeing me brings up some-”

“Last night! You fucking killed me, you ass!” Her face was pretty as ever, but the stern look she was giving me was anything but. She definitely looked alive, anyway.

“I…” That was hard to process. On several levels. I had a half-formed thought about how parts of my dream might have had significance to real things or people in my life, like how dreaming about your teeth falling out meant you had anxiety or something, but before I could think on it further, Lynn continued.

“As soon as I woke up, I texted Chelsea, and she agrees that you were out of line. I have a thing today, and now I probably can’t make it because you took my-” for the first time, Lynn seemed to realize that we were having this discussion in a very public place, and looked around like I had, before lowering her voice. “-you took my fucking powers!”

No, that couldn’t be right. Because of my family, I’d had better odds of getting powers myself, and sure, I couldn’t explain everything that had happened that night, not even now, but powers were weird, right? Maybe they always just… changed between a few different, very different options before settling on just one and staying that way. That’s how I’d rationalized it when things started flying around and the world became a photo-negative and the shit hit the fan.

“What powers?” I blurted out. Because sure, maybe she had gotten powers then too, fine. That would… explain some things. But when I woke up this morning, I hadn’t been able to fly, I hadn’t shot lasers from my eyes or crushed the kitchen sink by accident. I wasn’t about to admit to her that I had powers, but maybe if she explained hers, I could get a handle on what the hell was happening.

In response, Lynn tugged up the sleeve of her jacket, revealing even more thin lines of raised, whitened skin. And then one of them opened , and something bulged out from inside. It was red, or just coated in viscera from her body, and while I could only see the rounded tip of something, I got the impression that it existed deeper inside her than was physically possible.

“They come out of me,” she said, her voice softer now. She was looking down at her arm too, when I glanced up at her face, and with a single pointer finger, she pressed the growing nub back inside her body as if she was dunking an ice cube in her drink, and the scar gradually sealed back up, leaving only a smear of red as any evidence that it had been any different. “Usually they’re bigger, I can make more of them, they’re quicker to do what I say.” Her voice picked up steam, and thankfully now she wasn’t so much scolding me as she was explaining something that she was really interested in, “I can use them to make armor, turn myself basically bulletproof, and if I have one grab onto my fist, it’s like brass knuckles. And then there’s the fact that if someone tries to cut me up, that just means I have more of them. Or at least, it was that way.”

“Wait, wait, hold up!” I say, hands raised defensively. “I- that’s really cool- but I don’t know why you think I have anything to do with your powers changing! It’s not like I can do anything like that!”

Lynn looked at me, looked away, and then pulled out her phone and tapped away at it for a bit. I was about to speak up when someone else meandered up to the bus stop and rested against the outer barrier with an audible burble of bending plastic, or whatever the shelters were made of.

As if it was the first few drops preceding a downpour, the bus stop was suddenly crowded with people. It seemed unusual for a Saturday, but then most of my teenage years I’d spent my weekends watching television so I couldn’t be sure. Lynn was still sitting on a now-crowded bench, and I was standing a comfortable distance away, which meant that there were about three people directly between us at any given time. I stole the occasional glance, and saw her absorbed in her phone.

I couldn’t be sure if she was just pretending to use her phone to avoid admitting that I had a point, or if she was talking to someone, looking something up, or what.

When the bus pulled up, I happened to be one of the first people in, and I took one of the first open spots I saw. A minute of people shuffling by later, and Lynn plopped down next to me.

“Hey,” she said, holding out her phone to me. I glanced at the screen- the top of the screen labeled it a text conversation between Lynn and Chelsea.

L: I don’t think he knows.

C: Is that even possible? Maybe he’s not one of us?

L: No, that can’t be it. You should know anyway, he’s your hunting buddy.

C: It’s not like we talk? I don’t think we even have vocal cords in the dream.

L: Okay, so I’m the one with plants growing out of me and four eyes, you’re the one with feathers that can cut a bitch, T’s the shadow crow, and he’s the big cat with a pasty complexion, right?

C: Why the recap? I mean, yea.

L: I’m going to show this to him.

The bus suddenly felt very stuffy, my shirt’s collar pressing against a neck that was way too thick. My dreams… but things didn’t work that way! You couldn’t share a dream with someone else, not even when you were both capes. I was surrounded by capes at home, and I was sure I would have heard something about it by now if this was normal.

Every time I attacked the wolf it was her… oh my god, what if the bull was a person too?

I felt my breakfast fight its way up my throat, and I swallowed heavily. The acrid taste of bile lingered on my tongue.

“Okay, so I have an idea,” Lynn said conversationally, hugging my arm from the side. Looking like we were friends, and keeping me from running away. “I have a thing at noon sharp, and I have to be there, but you changed things, so I want you to come along and help if I need it. You’re not doing anything important, right?”

I struggled to come up with a lie that would satisfy her, because even if I was willing to be muscle for her- what was her cape name? Had I seen her before? Was she with one of the gangs?- noon today was literally the worst time for me. I had the ticket, and it wasn’t the kind of thing where you could reschedule, or get refunds.

“I kind of am?” I finally said. “I have a thing.”

Lynn’s expression darkened. “I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer, Theodore. You owe me, and this-” she hunched over a bit so that her body was blocking the rest of the bus’s vision, while she pulled something from her inner jacket pocket- “was not easy to get.”

It was a piece of paper. About one inch wide, three inches long. On it was printed today’s date, the time ‘12:00 PM’, and… a symbol which I had never seen before.

In my pants pocket, I felt a small patch of growing energy, like a hot pad had been pressed to my skin. Lynn’s ticket was starting to glow too.

“Shit…”

Chapter Text

Trigger warning: Use of slurs.

“What do you mean, ‘shit’?” The bus rumbled beneath me, and I immediately glanced out the window to avoid Lynn’s storm-clouded eyes. It was a drab day, even for late October, and the sidewalk was empty save for a lone jogger in a bright pink jacket cutting a brisk pace. 

The streets were clean, and the buildings nice, but that was hardly a surprise here in the nice part of Brockton Bay. The meeting point was behind the ABB territory, on the other end of the city by the already icy water of the bay. It would be a while until we got there. We’d barely make it in time. 

“Theodore…”

“I-uhm, why me?” I asked, trying to deflect. 

My head was cooking, and I struggled to keep my expression neutral. Every moment I felt Lynn’s gaze on me, the slip of paper in my pocket burned against my skin like it was on fire. Thoughts and emotions bubbled up inside me, messy and uncontrollable. I didn’t like it. Not even one day had passed and I already felt like everything was growing over my head again. 

Lynn had powers. 

She had powers like I had.

We were connected through the…dream. Did it mean that the others – Charlie, Tyler, Chelsea – had powers too? Oh god…

I didn’t know how to deal with the situation – didn’t even know whether I should feel scared or elated that I shared something with the two most important people in the world to me. What if Father finds out about us – everything? He’d be elated that I’d gotten powers, sure, but the others? He’d have them killed, or worse. The thought of something happening to Lynn or Chelsea…no…

No! I couldn’t let that happen. 

“Don’t you dare to deflect, Theodore!” Lynn hissed into my face, and I flinched. She leaned closer, her black, cold eyes drilling into mine. I immediately tried to shy away, instinctively. Sure, I could try to find excuses if I wanted, I was good at that, and Lynn…

She was intense . A ruthless, cold-hearted, and straight-out cantankerous bitch. She was easy to anger; if provoked, she went straight to full collision, butting heads, insults, or fists with whoever angered her. She wasn’t easy to deal with, and I…

…I was a coward and a pushover. 

I couldn't deal with conflict, I’ve never been able to do that, and to my chagrin even getting powers hadn’t changed that yet. And so I found myself instinctively pressing myself back in my seat, my body already anticipating the hit that was about to come. But, Lynn was–

I mentally slapped myself. 

What am I doing , I thought bitterly. Lynn hasn’t bullied me ever since the accident, but I guess old habits die hard. God, I am pathetic.  

I forced myself to meet Lynn’s gaze. Her almond-shaped eyes bore into mine like an endless void filled with stars. Starlight lasers laced with suspicion, a deep, almost intractable apathy, and…worry. I was suddenly very aware of how close we were now; her face in mine, her strong fingers wrapped around my biceps like steel cables, her athletic body half-leaning on me, half-pressing against mine.

Her scowling lips were inches apart from mine. 

Lynn claimed the initiative as she usually did, pressing a quick, aggressive kiss onto my lips before she slumped back into her seat, elbowing me in the side as she murmured: “Because I trust you, idiot.” 

“S-sorry,” I grimaced. 

“Yeah, doofus, and you–”

“Yes, I owe you, I know,” I interrupted her. “And I will help you, of course. It’s just…” I trailed off, unsure what to say. 

“Ooh, thank you, Theodore, my knight in shining armor,” Lynn purred, pressing a quick peck on my cheek that –together with the kiss – had me grow as red as a tomato. She just grinned at my reaction and proceeded to snuggle up against me as she pulled out her phone and began tapping away.

I couldn’t help but imagine a twinge of sarcasm in her words, but I found myself not minding much. This was nice. I was still unused to having someone, let alone two people caring genuinely for me. My fucked-up family and social environment aside, I never had any friends, even at school. Immaculata was nice, sure, but I’d always been struggling to connect with my fellow classmates, and so the other students had tolerated me at best. 

And now, there were Chelsea and Lynn… and I. It was weird how the worst day of our lives had changed things between us – all of us – so… fundamentally . It was new, beyond nice, and I even found it kind of amusing that I seemed to follow Father in that regard. 

Can’t even brag to him about it though, I thought with a twinge of amusement. Hah . I was sure he’d love to hear that I was dating two bisexual women who had notably different skin tones than myself; sandwiched between a nigger and a chink , as Justin would put it when he went on one of his drunken rants again. 

Father cared about appearance more than anything, so maybe that would be the point where he’d finally decide that I was too much of a failure to try and groom me into the heir to his perfect Empire? 

“Lynn?”

“Hm?” came the distracted answer. 

“What exactly do you need me for?”

“Hmm.”

“Lynn!” I elbowed her in the side. 

“Jeez, sorry,” she grimaced, finally looking up from her phone and subtly glancing around before she drew close enough that I could feel her hot breath brushing against my ear as she started whispering. “So, this ticket is the chance of my life . The entry to a very, very exclusive event, and I had to cash in favors of my Dad to get my hands on it. I am supposed to meet someone, show him the ticket, and he’ll give u – me something. Fuck if I know what, but apparently, you need it for the event.”

“Ok, but why do you need me for that?” I asked, frowning internally. What she said matched with what I knew, but she had to cash in favors from her Dad ? That didn’t make sense unless he was some sort of important Parahuman and not the boss of a recliner manufacturing corporation as she had told me. 

You needed someone to vouch for you if you wanted to enter the event, and I’d been forced to ask Melody to vouch for me after she’d told me about it one day and suggested that I’d give it a try. She was the only (and wasn’t that sad) person in my social circle I trusted, and especially trusted not to tell Father about it afterward. 

“Backup, you idiot,” Lynn hissed into my ear. I could almost feel her eye-roll. “I don’t know what’s going to await me there, and I want to be prepared.”

“Uhm,” I said. Suddenly, my throat felt dry. “Do you think things can go wrong? It’s just a simple meeting, right?”

“Hah, you’d think so,” Lynn replied. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they decide to test us before they let us continue.” 

The prospect of combat made me nervous because I couldn’t think of any other way to test Parahumans. No, it scared me. 

Melody had been training with me ever since I’d gotten powers after she’d caught me in the act more or less with my pants down, and she was utterly ruthless. She’d been drilling me almost daily, and she hardly pulled her punches, so I’d like to say that I had some combat experience. Yet, for all the training, aside from my dreams I’d never been in a real fight before. 

But I couldn’t let her down. 

“Oh, I see,” I said. “Well, I’ll have your back then.”

“I'd be surprised if you didn’t,” Lynn grinned, before snuggling up against me again. It felt nice, really nice, easing the rising uneasiness in my chest, and I put my arm around her shoulder, drawing her closer.

Yet, the ticket still burned hot in my pocket, a painful reminder that I still hadn’t told Lynn about it. I also couldn’t help but idly note that she hadn’t commented on the fact that her ticket was suddenly glowing, and had simply stuffed it back into her pocket after showing it to me without a second glance. 

It was weird, but I didn’t want to dwell on it right now, so I pushed it into the back of my mind with all the other worries chipping away at my nerves. Maybe she just hadn’t noticed? 

I hadn’t seen Lynn for a whole week, and Chelsea was pretty busy these days. Of course, I saw them both at school every day, but Immaculata had a strict policy when it came to PDA, so there could be nothing more than occasional secret, stolen kisses, or a quick touch in the hallway. 

…Not to mention that Tammi went to that school as well – as well as plenty of other Empire supporters – and given the fucking racist asshole pig she was, everything she saw would reach Father’s ear within a day, which would only bring me more trouble than I wanted to deal with.  

It meant that moments like this were rare, especially with Lynn, and I didn’t want to ruin it by telling her that I was doing things behind her back and without consulting her. It wasn’t exactly my fault, I knew that. The revelation that she had powers, most likely both of them –  if not all of us – had caught me off-guard by every definition of the word. 

Still, I…I’d just tell her later,  I told myself. 

“Do the others have tickets too?” I asked. 

“Not as far as I know,” Lynn said. “Chel doesn’t, and if the others do…you know that I’m not going to hold back against them.”

“Y-yeah…” I murmured awkwardly. Lynn disliked Tyler in an almost unhealthy manner. Not that I liked him much either, yet, I didn’t quite understand why Lynn thought so low about him. He wasn’t a bad guy by any means, and whenever I’d clumsily tried to bring the topic up at school, Lynn had immediately blocked my attempts. 

We spent the rest of the lengthy bus ride in silence, cuddled together like a normal couple, and as I looked out of the window, I could see the city slowly growing worse. The buildings got smaller and dirtier. Gang tags and graffiti began sullying the neglected facades, and the bus rumbled over the occasional pothole. 

We’d reached the docks, the kingdom of the ABB. It was a bad part of town, ruled by poverty and inhabited by druggies, prostitutes, and criminals. The rotten underbelly of Brockton Bay, as Dad liked to say. It was the part of the city that needed to be purged for the city to flourish again, not that I bought any of his disgusting ideology.

Melody wanted to take me here tonight, to show me the ropes against thugs and armed henchmen, but that was a problem for later. 

Lynn stirred in my arms, and I carefully retracted my fingers from where I’d been gently playing with her hair. She had nice hair, beautiful black strands, soft like silk.  

“We’re here,” I said. “Next station, I think.”

“Good,” she murmured, untangling herself from me. The warmth at my side disappeared, leaving an empty and hollow feeling. “You ready?”

I gave her a crooked grin. “As ready as I can be.”

“Good.”

Lynn rose from her seat as the bus came to a halt, and I accepted her hand so she could hoist me up. We exited, and I followed behind as she began striding along the sidewalk at a quick pace. There were cars on the streets, but the sidewalk was empty. 

“Uhm, don’t we need masks or anything?” I asked as we walked past a surprisingly neat Chinese restaurant. “I don’t have anything with me.”

“Fuck, right” Lynn cursed, coming to an abrupt halt. She turned around, fists briefly clenching before she visibly forced herself to relax. “How much time do we have left?”

I shot a glance at my wristwatch; 11:45. “15 minutes,” I replied. 

“Maybe. Shit. Fuck! ” She grabbed my hand, yanking me forward and pulling me toward an alley ahead. She was almost running, and I could hear her mumble to herself as I was pulled along. “Ok, there’s a safehouse…” Safehouse???  “…5 minutes away. There gotta be something. 5 minutes to change, maybe 3, and then…” she trailed off, before glancing back at me.

We entered the alley.

“Ok,” she said, visibly suppressing a curse. “I fucking trust you, Theodore, but no matter what happens, let me do the talking . This is going to be a close call, so don’t dally around. We can’t waste any time. We can’t miss this, understand? We just can’t.”

I nodded, too concentrated on running behind her to be able to speak. We’d already hit at least a few hundred meters, and I could see the end of the alley getting closer with each hasty step. It was amazing.

A few weeks ago, I’d have already collapsed like an empty sack of water thanks to my pathetic physical state, but all I felt now was a continuous burn in my legs. Yet, I could still feel my body jiggle in offputting ways, reminding myself that for all my improvements, I was still gloriously fat; pudgy Theo Anders, probably looking like a fool right now.    

We left the alley, and Lynn steered me toward an inconspicuous row house on the other side of the street. A simple, three-story apartment block, not too shabby but also not too pretty. She almost stumbled up the stairs, keys in hand, fumbling for a few seconds before the door finally unlocked. 

I froze when I followed her into the hallway, and the group of people loitering there turned to look at us. There were five of them, clad in red and green or wearing smaller accessories bearing the colors. They were roughly our age, save for their leader, who seemed to be in her early 20s. 

She coldly met my gaze, before placing a hand on the handgun tucked away in the waistband of her pants. It was a threat, but before I had a chance to react, let alone gather myself, Lynn pulled something from her satchel and shoved it into their leader’s face.  

Collectively, the group went pale.

I stared at the objects in my girlfriend’s hands, blinking, as it slowly dawned upon me. A tightly folded scarf, held in green and red, as well as a shimmering hairpin that I recognized immediately. A set of two elaborate kanzashi, made from a black material and each crowned with a gilded dragon dangling from a delicate chain.   

I was dating Lung’s fucking daughter. 

Chapter Text

Theo stared at the hairpin in shock, his eyes refusing to tear themselves away from it. He watched as the leader muttered an apology and bowed, and everyone behind him followed suit. Lynn hissed something at them, and they quickly straightened up and left, leaving Theo and Lynn alone in the hallway. Lynn finally put the hairpin away, treating it with a lot more care than he'd ever seen her show anything.

Lynn said something to him but he barely registered the words, all his focus instead going to keeping anything from showing on his face. Lynn placed a hand on his shoulder and yelled at him before shaking him back and forth, and he could barely register anything. His heartbeat was so loud that it was the only thing he could hear and focus on, the frantic pounding drawing out everything else. He could feel it everywhere: in his eyes, in his fingers, and inside of his skull. He needed-

Lynn's open palm slammed into the side of his face, and Theo barely felt it thanks to the changes he'd made. But looking at Lynn's face - the naked worry and concern she wore, the way she bit her bottom lip as she tried to figure out a solution to the problem in front of her, it helped to bring him back somewhat. Lynn's mask of confidence went back on her face as she figured out a solution, the concern melting away as if it was never there in the first place.

Lynn took his hand and began leading him into the hallway, and the physical contact helped. His heart began to settle down, and he was paying attention this time when Lynn spoke.

"I know this doesn't look good, but it isn't as bad as you think. Dad just does some important work for the ABB sometimes. He helps them out when he can, along with paying tribute and sheltering some of the members. That gives me some leeway with their members."

Ah, so her solution was to lie to him. She looked back at Theo to see if he was buying her story, and Theo wanted to do nothing more than break down and weep. His entire life had been spent fantasizing about escaping his father and the Empire his family had built on violence and bigotry. The first act he'd taken to try and build himself up into someone who could survive independently was already leading him back to a different gang built on the same principles as his father's, just painted in different colors.

If he had to leave his family, he would do it without hesitation. However, if he had to break up with Lynn, that would be significantly harder. His relationship with her was his first act of defiance against his father, and that meant something special to him. It was something he couldn't just cut away, even if it had seemed like she would be more harm than good for him in the long run.

But he couldn't say any of that out loud, could he? Not without revealing the reason why he knew what the hairpin represented. In the end, no matter how many changes he made to his body, he was still little spineless Theo Anders, so he ended up saying nothing. Lynn took his silence for shocked acceptance and dropped the issue.

Lynn slapped a little smile onto her face, and before they knew it, they were in front of an inconspicuous-looking green door. Lynn pulled out another set of keys, thumbing through them until she found the one she wanted. She slotted it into the keyhole and opened the door.

From snippets he'd overheard from Brad and Justin, Empire safe houses were just apartments where members could lay low after a major incident or retrieve stored medical supplies and weapons. As a result, most were empty husks that barely looked lived in. This one was admittedly not that.

"Wow." The word left Theo's mouth without him meaning to say it, and Lynn looked back at him, a little proud at his reaction.

"I know. It's not what you expected, right?"

The walls were adorned with photographs of a family of three, hanging scrolls, and pieces of modern art. The furniture was tasteful, all bright colors and soft undertones. The living room was massive, with a giant couch and a flat-screen TV taking up much of the space. The hall turned into a kitchen at the end, and to the side, a narrow corridor led to even more rooms.

Most of the Empire's safe houses were ones that had been bought or given to them by supporters of the cause. Did the ABB requisition theirs? Theo felt the same sensation of guilt he felt whenever he spent his father's money as he walked into the safe house.

While he'd been standing in the living room and taking it all in, Lynn had gone to one of the connected rooms and come back with a bundle of clothes under one hand and a cardboard box in the other. She set both down on the small table in the corner of the room and called him over.

"In my experience, clothes are a dead giveaway of who someone is, and they tend to get messed up in fights, meaning it's best to get changed into spares before going out. Here."

She threw him a pair of pants and a hoodie and immediately began stripping down. Theo blushed and immediately turned away.

"What the fuck are you doing, Theodore? Get changed! We barely have any time left!"

The blood quickly drained from Theo's face at that.

He'd never shown anyone his body after he'd gotten his powers. It wasn't that he was embarrassed about it, it was just that with his clothes off, he was still pudgy because he'd not wanted anyone to notice anything off about him. Underneath all that, he was decidedly not human anymore, but outside, he was the same as he'd always been. If life with his father had taught him anything, it was that the outer shell you wore influenced people's opinions more than you'd like.

Adding to his worries was the ticket in his pocket. He'd need to take it out and put it in the pocket of his new pants since he sure as hell wasn't leaving it here. However, that increased the chances of Lynn figuring out who he was. If he'd been able to figure out who she was after seeing the hairpin and the ticket, he was sure she could do the same. If she found out that he had a ticket, it would only take a little more digging to find out where he had gotten it from.

"If you could get changed within the next couple of days, that'd be nice, Theodore," Lynn snapped at him.

In the end, he decided to get it over with quickly and not think about the consequences. That's what he'd decided in his head, and obviously, it wasn't what happened, chicken that he was.

He stripped with antagonizing slowness, starting with his shoes and then stripping his shirt off. He put on a black hoodie Lynn had picked out for him, the fabric sticking uncomfortably to his frame. He moved on to his pants next and found that he just couldn't bring himself to remove them. He reached down and picked up his shoes, hoping that Lynn wouldn't mind.

By the time he'd finished, Lynn had already put on her mask and was impatiently tapping her foot against the ground. She was now wearing a black jacket and a green scarf, and to complete her cape outfit she was wearing a mask modeled after an anteater, the stripes on its long snout painted red, green, and black.

She stared at him for a moment too long and then turned her attention to the cardboard box. If she found his body distasteful or his behavior weird, she didn't comment on it.

A relationship built on lies and secrets, just like all his other ones.

"I made mine myself, but the box has a bunch of more standard masks in it that you can use for now," Lynn said, her voice muffled by the mask.

As he made his way to the box, Lynn tapped her foot on the floor impatiently, leading him to reach into the box and pull out the first mask he laid his hands on.

It was a white, featureless plastic mask. Before he could reach into the box and take something else out, Lynn began walking out of the room, and Theo had no time left to check out the other masks. With a sigh, he fixed the mask to his face with the elastic straps attached to it and ran to catch up with Lynn.

With her mask on, Lynn moved like a different person, every step confident and purposeful. In contrast, he felt like a child playing dress up. She moved down the hall, and they came across the ABB members from before. Lynn barked something at them in Japanese, and one of them reached into his pocket and held out a pair of keys to Lynn, before saying something else. Lynn grabbed the keys and marched out of the apartment complex and straight to one of the motorbikes.

"Can't we just walk there?"

"I know you're afraid of everything that exists, but we're short on time. Besides, you have nothing to be worried about. I'm a great driver."

Surprisingly enough, she was.

The floor of the factory was covered in dust, with massive pieces of rusted machinery half-covered by tarps taking up much of the space. The inside was dim, the windows on the top of the warehouse having turned yellow due to age a long time ago.

"How much time do we have left?" Theo asked, if only to keep an agitated Lynn from pacing all over the place and kicking up more dust into the air.

Lynn scowled and flipped open her phone to check, the armored fleshy tendril around her knuckles shifting slightly because of the movement. "A minute."

Theo hated this. The swirling feeling in his stomach reminded him too much of how he felt when he'd accumulated too many charges and just had to spend them. The anticipation mixed with apprehension for something he couldn't just avoid was something he had no desire to experience more of.

"What are the odds that they aren't going to show?" Lynn said, fiddling with the straps of her mask.

"Maybe the ticket showed you the wrong place or something?"

"Maybe. Not much we can do about it now."

Theo still didn't understand how the tickets worked. He'd printed it out on a non-tinkertech printer in Immaculata, and he was sure that he was the only cape that had ever interacted with it. For all intents and purposes, it was a normal piece of paper. However, despite it supposedly being a normal piece of paper, it was able to somehow glow and they were somehow able to use the symbol on it like a compass to find out where they had to go to meet someone.

"It's time," Lynn called to him. Theo tensed up, waiting for something, anything, to happen. A burst of light, a voice, or even someone just entering the factory through the side doorway.

A minute passed, and Theo felt himself sweat in anticipation, the tension reaching a crescendo.

Lynn sighed. "Looks like they aren't going to show-"

A giant cloud of dust and concrete fragments flew up from one corner of the room, and Theo instinctively flicked his third eyelid shut and stopped inhaling, sparing his eyes and lungs from the worst of the dust. Lynn, on the other hand, began to cough and move away.

A man wearing a maroon suit flickered into existence, and he beelined toward Theo. Theo settled into the basic stance Melody had shown him, hands close to his face and feet firmly planted onto the ground. He expected the man to do a multitude of things, but given his inexperience fighting and his struggle to center himself despite the adrenaline pouring into his bloodstream, he failed to react fast enough as the man kicked off with his right foot and translated all of his momentum into a punch aimed at his face.

Despite all the improvements he'd made, a punch was still a punch, and the sheer act of getting hit was enough to surprise him into taking a couple of steps back.

After the shock wore off, Theo looked to find the man grinning at him from underneath a baklava. The man held up his hand, and it looked horrible. Theo could see bones poking through the skin, and the hand itself had swollen up to twice its size. It freely dripped blood, and the very sight of it made Theo want to hurl. He had done that. Maybe not directly, but some of it was his fault.

"Must be my lucky day. I get to fight the first pairing that got made in this city, and both of you are bruisers. Been a while since I got myself into a semi-decent scrap."

Theo found himself frozen in place, a dozen questions on the tip of his tongue. Before he could ask any of them, Lynn moved forward, eager to take advantage of the man's injured state. She threw a straight punch at the man, who effortlessly slipped under it and kneed her in the side. Lynn staggered back, and the man lifted his broken hand and slammed it into Lynn's face.

Lynn was blasted back, barely being able to stand on her feet. That made no sense. The man's hand was broken. There was no way he should be able to move that hand, much less fight with it.

"Surprised? Most people tend to be."

The man lifted his once-broken hand and revealed what had become of it. The shattered bone and pulped flesh had shifted around to create a horrifying gauntlet, the many shards of bone acting as makeshift armor while hardened muscles and flesh gleamed from underneath the white bits.

Lynn recovered from the blow to the head he'd given her, the shards of bone having left shallow gashes on her mask.

"Motherfucker! You'll pay for that!"

The man seemed almost bemused at Lynn's swearing, taking a more relaxed stance and beckoning them forward casually. In response, Lynn screamed and rushed forward once again.

Theo rushed forward as well, hoping that Lynn had a plan in mind. He was here to help Lynn, and if he just stood around looking flabbergasted at everything that happened, he'd be useless.

The thing wrapped around Lynn's knuckles promptly unwrapped itself. Lynn flicked it forward like it was a whip, but before it could crash into his face, the man caught it with his mutated hand and yanked it forward. Lynn flew at him, and he grabbed her, spun her around, and tossed her straight at Theo. Theo caught her, but that was a mistake. The man had rushed forward during his throw. He snaked a roundhouse kick from behind Lynn, and Theo was forced to push Lynn down while he took the kick. The man's leg slammed into him with another crack, and this time, Theo went down.

On instinct, he pushed himself back up, fighting through the haze the blow to the head had left him with. He heard two more cracks and a howl of pain from Lynn.

The man had broken one of his legs and his other hand, and like all his other limbs, they had morphed into weapons and armor. The leg he'd used to attack Theo now had bone spikes that were piercing through the man's pants and was constantly oozing blood that was forming a slowly growing puddle underneath his feet, and the man's other arm had razor-sharp pieces of bone that lined the knuckles and formed claws at the tips of his fingers.

Lynn flicked one of her tendrils at him again, this time aiming for a leg. The man went low and caught it, before straightening up and trying to pull Lynn closer once more.

Theo could see what was about to happen seconds before it happened, and it seemed Lynn did as well. She let go of the tendril, and the man was forced to take two steps back to keep himself from falling.

"Theodore, now!"

Theo was already moving forward, his head finally in the fight. His feet ate up the distance between them, and he reared his fist back and punched. The man didn't even bother to dodge, instead moving his head forward to meet the blow. Theo's fist hit the man's face with a sickening crack.

Theo hated violence. He hated what it represented and what it was used for, but the thing he hated most about it was how it felt. The jarring feeling of bone against flesh, the recoil that traveled up his arms when his blows landed, and the sounds of things breaking and tearing-he hated all of it.

For all his training, he'd never landed a serious blow on another person yet, and it was just his luck that the first person he was fighting had the most nauseating power he'd seen. As soon as the fist impacted the man's face, it split cleanly down the middle with a series of resounding cracks.

Theo ignored the rising bile in his throat and tried to land another blow on the man so that this could all finally be over, but then the man's head opened up in an explosion of blood and viscera that splashed forward in a wide arc, causing his second punch to just slip off the man's skin. The man kicked forward, and Theo darted back to avoid the blow.

Lynn was coaxing more of her tendrils out of her cuts, a hand in front of her face to keep the blood out of her eyes.

A low warbling laugh sounded from where the man had been before, and Theo looked to see what had become of the man. He wasn't a man anymore.

His head had split cleanly into two, the two halves coming together to make a giant maw that stretched from the base of the man's neck to the top of his head. The blood had coagulated, hardening and forming armor, while the fragments of bone from his skull had turned into teeth that dotted the edges of the maw. His eyes and nose were just gone, leaving no weak points for them to target.

"How the fuck do we even take him out?" Lynn whispered to him, tendrils coiling around her legs and arms to help her with her mobility.

Theo's mouth was dry, but the lessons Melody had pounded in his head allowed him to say something that wasn't useless. "He's a changer. The only hope of winning we have is to hit the modified parts because he can't shift them to heal back up. That or we just use overwhelming force, something he can't just shrug off."

Lynn looked up at the rafters as he said that, and then looked back at him. "I might have a plan."

The man's new maw opened and shut, the teeth lining the edges making a clicking sound as they met each other. He made another clicking sound then laughed once again before charging forward, his massive maw open to swallow Theo whole. The inside of the maw was colored black, with a sinuous tongue swirling inside. Tiny fragments of bone lined the inside, meant to shred anything that entered inside it into pieces.

Theo met the man head-on, hands clasping around the edges of the maw and keeping it from snapping shut on his head. The man laughed that strange laugh again and struck him in the shoulder with his right hand. While Theo had made his skin harder, it wasn't meant to stand up to whatever this was. The shards of bone pierced his flesh and drew blood.

"Keep him occupied for a bit!" Lynn yelled at him, before turning and running away.

Theo wanted to tell her that he couldn't, but before he could voice any of his protests, the man bit down harder, forcing him to turn all of his attention towards him unless he wanted to get bit in half.

Theo grit his teeth and leaned back before letting the maw snap shut. He pushed the man away to create some space between them, almost slipping on the blood on the floor.  While Theo was struggling not to fall, the man seemed unbothered, barely sliding back as Theo shoved him.

The man was noticeably slower now with the state that his leg was in, but what he lacked in mobility he made up for in power.

Theo went for another punch, but the man dodged it before trying to bite at Theo's arm. His fist barely cleared the maw as he pulled his hand back.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Lynn scaling up one of the walls, using her tendrils to spear into the brickwork and creating handholds.

The man went for a punch with his right, and Theo didn't bother dodging, since the floor was slick with blood. The hit landed on his cheek, and he rotated his head completely around to soften the blow while he aimed a kick at the man's still human leg to try to bring him down.

He succeeded, but with the maw adding much more weight to the man's head, he collapsed forward, right on top of Theo. They fell into a tangle of flailing limbs, each trying to try to get an advantage over the other and neither succeeding.

The man's maw snapped at him, and Theo rolled to the side before hammering a fist into where his liver would be. He seemed to stun his opponent for a bit, but then the man snaked one of his hands forward and tried to put Theo's eye out with one of his claws. His third eyelid prevented anything from getting too damaged, and in retaliation, Theo opened his mouth and tore into the man's hand with his new teeth. As he ripped into it, more blood than humanly possible spurted out, adding to the puddle they were now rolling around in.

Theo didn't feel like he was here anymore. He felt like he was in the dream again, acting like an animal with no other prerogative other than to survive by killing anything that moved.

The maw snapped at him once again, and he caught it with both hands this time, before going for the jugular with his teeth and tearing. More blood oozed out, nearly blinding him. The man finally stumbled back onto his feet, trying to stop the flow of blood from his throat, giving Theo some time to breathe. Theo tried to stand, but the blood on the floor was unnaturally slippery, preventing him from rising to his feet.

Theo was losing. No matter what he did, he couldn't hurt the man in any way that mattered. Even if the man had any weak spots, he had nothing to hurt him with.

The man advanced, maw drooling. Theo attempted to get back on his feet once more but slipped once again. The man advanced, and Theo could barely even stand, let alone fight. He was helpless.

Theo frantically shifted through all the changes he'd made in his head, hoping and praying that one of them could get him out of this situation. But all the changes he had made had been changes he'd hastily made to keep his power satisfied, not things he'd made explicitly to help him in combat. He had no cards left to play, except for one.

Theo's power had been feeling unnaturally full throughout the whole day, and now, several hours before it was supposed to, it had given him a charge. As the man neared closer, Theo reached for the charge to spend it on something drastic, something to help him survive.

Whether he liked it or not, he needed a weapon here. Something unobtrusive enough that he could hide it, but effective enough to use here. He'd decided not to do anything to his hands, but a change in his feet would be easier to hide, and it also gave him more space to work with.

The man lunged forward, and Theo spent his charge. A space in the heel of the right foot was hollowed out, before being filled in with muscle and a single bone.

Theo kicked forward, and the man caught his leg and twisted it, aiming to break his ankle. Instead of breaking, Theo's foot bent at an unnatural angle, and before the man could try anything else, Theo willed his new set of muscles to contract. A long spike of bone speared out of an opening in his heel, piercing through the sole of his shoe and through the man's heart.

The man dropped Theo's foot like he'd been burned by it, and staggered a couple of steps back. The skin underneath the man's suit rippled, then exploded outwards, his suit tearing itself open to reveal shifting flesh.

Given how long it had taken the man to recover after his head had changed, Theo had assumed that an attack on a more vital part would force an adaptation that would take his body even longer to shift into. He turned out to be right.

As the man's body changed, Theo felt the fight ebb out of his body. He had done everything he could, and as always, it wasn't enough. He needed to run, to get out of here. He shakily got to his feet and began inching towards the door, moving slowly to not slip. The man's flesh had finally stopped shifting and the changes finally became apparent. His chest had armored itself, and the place Theo had skewed through had turned into a perpetually bleeding wound. The blood that oozed from it looked thicker and more…alive than the blood the man had been shedding before.

 The man radiated disappointment as he saw Theo trying to flee and then moved to pursue him. Theo tried to run, but the blood on the soles of his shoes caused him to slip, and he slammed into the floor, his momentum and the wetness causing him to slide straight into a wall back first.

The man opened his maw and screeched in victory, and just as Theo resigned himself to his fate, the screech of tearing metal answered the man's cry.

Theo looked upwards to find Lynn in the rafters, pulling on one of the support beams bolted to the wall, her tendrils using her as a bridge and grabbing onto the beam as well.  He saw her small form give the beam one last tug, her tendrils mirroring her. The beam finally snapped, and for a single moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then the roof began to shriek.

The roof shook as it caved in on itself, and then let out one final shriek before a massive chunk of the roof simply collapsed and hit the ground, burying the man and a large chunk of the space around him in corrugated metal and chunks of metal from the rafters.

Theo watched as the dust from the impact settled and the factory grew silent once more. He kept waiting for the fighting to continue, for the man to burst out from underneath the rubble even stronger than he was before, but nothing happened. He tried to convince his body that it was over, but something kept it going. His heart refused to slow down, and his eyes couldn't help but dart around as he searched for the next threat.

Lynn clambered down from the ceiling using her tendrils, and after she made it to the ground, she slowly walked up to Theo.

Both of them stared at the pile for a while, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Both of them were too spent to speak, but an unspoken question hung in the air that both wanted answered. What now?

The sound of a person slowly clapping rang through the still air of the factory, and Theo's neck twisted to see the new stranger who'd just materialized in a corner right out of sight.

He was wearing a suit just like the other man, his suit's navy blue contrasting the other man's maroon one. His face is hidden by a blank white mask, with no slit for his eyes or nose. He didn't seem to be a threat, but with parahumans, appearances were always deceiving.

Lynn's tendrils undulated before lying flat against her skin, and Theo could feel his heart begin to race once more.

"Not bad. Redcomb usually nearly kills the ones he tests. You're the only ones to pass by actually beating him."

Lynn glared at the man, still unwilling to drop her guard. She radiated hostility, and from the looks of it, she was going to act on it.

Theo didn't trust this man one bit, just like Lynn. However, unlike Lynn, Theo knew that antagonizing the man would get them nowhere. Before Lynn could anger the man by insulting him or being too curt, Theo gripped her shoulder to stop her and took charge of the conversation.

"And you are?"

"I'm not anyone of note. Just a bog-standard teleporter in service of the organization that gave you those lovely tickets."

The ticket inside Theo's pocket burned against his skin once again.

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a stopwatch, and after five seconds, the pile of scrap and rubble shifted as something under it disappeared.

"There. That should give you some peace of mind. I've moved Redcomb back to our safehouse, leaving me completely at your mercy. Again, the test is over. You can relax."

Lynn snarled. "How was this a fucking test? Your guy nearly killed us!"

The man snorted. "How are you surprised? If you have those tickets, you know what you can gain from all this. If the prize is anything you can dream of, then the difficulty of the contest will reflect that."

Theo had a hundred questions he wanted to ask, but it seemed like the man was done entertaining them.

"This was the first test. Not of combat capability or strength, but of adaptability and your willingness to fight even when presented with insurmountable odds. It is the most basic of our tests, and you have passed."

The man pulled out the stopwatch again, and this time, he looked at it longer. The ticket in Theo's pocket disappeared, and just as he started to panic, it was back again. He slid a hand into his pocket and found that it was heavier now, and the symbol on it had been stamped onto the paper, and it was clearly different.

"We'll shift pieces enough pieces in this city that places it on the brink of all-out war between every single faction here. That's when the competition will start."

Lynn looks disturbed. "Why?"

"Why not? You're here to compete, not ask questions. We have done so before, and we'll do so again. Why do you think the PRT is so afraid of us? The places we go and the people we touch always end up worse when we leave."

"What will we be doing?" Theo asked, trying to ignore the man's ominous statement.

"Objectives for each contestant differ. Some are assigned to protect people, others to hunt them. The more time passes, the more and more objectives you'll be given. The winner will be determined by how much you've done and the value of the actions you've done for us."

Lynn leans forward. "And the prize?"

"It is what we promised. Any favor you want that's with our power will be fulfilled. Fame, fortune, even whole cities if you want them. A single wish to be fulfilled for either you or your patron, and nobody else."

Theo opened his mouth to ask another question, but the man pulled out his clock again. "I wish I could stay to chat, but that's all the time I have to spend with you. Your tickets will reveal your objectives. Hold onto them."

Theo reached out a hand to stop the man from leaving, but before he could do so much as move a muscle, the man disappeared, leaving the pair alone in an empty factory.

The trip back to the safe house was silent. Theo was silent because he was digesting what the man had said, and Lynn was silent because…well, he didn't know why.

Lynn parked the bike in front of the apartment. The gang members from earlier were gone, and they had reached the safe house without any complications.

"Bathroom's down the hall. You can change there."

Lynn picked his clothes off the floor and tossed them to him, and he quickly headed off into the bathroom to change, thankful that he didn't have to show his body off a second time.

He peeled the bloody hoodie and pants off his form and moved his hand to his shoulder. He expected a still-bleeding wound but was surprised to find that it had already scabbed over. He ran his hands over his body and found that there wasn't much bruising either.

He hadn't messed with his platelet count or done anything to increase how fast he healed, so this was a surprise. He stared at his injuries in the mirror and then shook his head. He'd think about this later. Right now, he needed to get changed, nothing else.

Theo peeled his mask off and found that it was completely ruined. The once pristine white had been stained with the red and brown of drying blood, and the mask was cracked in the places where the other cape had punched him. It was more….fitting this way, he supposed. His face underneath it was in a similar state, his cheek and forehead sporting bruises and his lower lip cut. No one in his family would care anyway, so it didn't matter.

He slid the mask into the band of his new slacks and then left the bathroom after cleaning up his face a bit.

When he left the bathroom, he found Lynn waiting for him, already changed.  She winced once she saw his face.

"I'm so sorry, Theodore. I never knew things would get that heated or violent. I know how much you hate fighting, and if I'd known, I'd have never told you to accompany me."

"It's fine." Theo didn't mean it, but he said it anyway because it was what needed to be said.

"Oh. So… you're not mad?"

He was, and he wasn't. "No."

Lynn pulled her ticket out, and Theo could see the changes with his own eyes. "The symbol on it is different like it's been mashed together with another one, and there's a hole on the top now. Apart from that, there's nothing on there worth almost dying for."

"Yeah."

A heavy silence descended upon them, and things quickly became awkward.

Lynn tried to break the silence.

"So…want to hang out? Celebrate our win?"

He doesn't have the energy to do this. "I'm tired, Lynn. I'm going home."

Lynn deflated. "Oh, ok."

As he reached the door, Lynn called out to him. "Theodore, you know you can tell me anything, right? I'm not the judgy type."

Theo doubted that she'd like to learn about the fact that his father was Kaiser, but he kept that to himself.

"Likewise, Lynn. I'll see you later."

His trip home was tedious. All the adrenaline in Theo's system had long since been used up, meaning he was suffering from the effects of a crash. The only thing he was thankful for was the fact that most people shied away from him because of his face, leaving the seat next to him empty. It gave him time to reflect and think about things.

Is this what being a cape was like? Just an endless cycle of fighting, licking your wounds, and then fighting again? Theo didn't want to live like that, but he had powers now, and the ticket was his road to salvation. He couldn't stop. He just needed to do this until the competition ended. He'd been good at doing things he didn't like his whole life — a couple of more months of that wouldn't kill him. He just needed to hold on until he could leave.

His little period of self-reflection lasted for about ten minutes before he had to get off the bus. As soon as he got off, he was greeted by another familiar face from the incident.

Tyler looked the same as he'd always looked — he was large and stocky, and tall enough to tower over Theo without meaning to. Even though he looked physically imposing, his face was soft and babyish enough to counterbalance all of his intimidating features. Before they'd parted ways, Theo had been sort of close to Tyler, if only because of the fact he'd felt a strange kinship with him because of his appearance and how it had ostracized him.

Tyler awkwardly raised a hand in greeting. "Hey, Theo. Long time no see."

"Were you waiting for me?"

The sheepish smile Tyler shot back told him everything he needed to know.

"Just thought I'd check up on my nightly hunting buddy's boyfriend after last night, that's all."

So Tyler was the crow then? He supposed it made sense.

However, that didn't explain why he'd been waiting for him here. He knew for a fact that Tyler could never be caught dead waiting for the bus because he thought it was beneath him.

"Why are you here, Tyler? You have my number."

He rubbed the back of his head. "Look, this is something I need to tell you in person. I knew you wouldn't appreciate me coming to your crib because of your family, so this was the only option I had left."

Theo sighed. He didn't have the energy for any of this. "Look, I'm pretty beat up and very busy, so I'm just going to leave."

He turned to go, but Tyler grabbed his arm to keep him from walking off. "Theo, wait. Just hear me out before you go. You have to—"

Theo snatched his arm away from Tyler with a sharp jerk, surprising both Tyler and him. He was used to rolling over, but today had been a taxing day. He couldn't do this.

"I don't have to do anything, Tyler. You were always an entitled prick, but this is too far, even for you."

"Lynn is pretending to be in a relationship with you."

Theo clenched his fists to keep himself from just clocking Tyler in the face. Before he could ask him to just fuck off, Tyler began to talk, trying to get as many words out as he could while he still had Theo's attention.

"Look, I thought she had you wrapped around her little finger, which is why I didn't interfere before. But after what happened last night, you showed me that she doesn't have complete control over you yet. Did she meet you today?"

"It was a chance meeting. Nothing more."

"Judging by your face, it clearly wasn't. Did she get you to fight for her? Did she play the damsel in distress while you did the heavy lifting? Think about it, Theo. The very next day after you kill her in the dream, she just happens to show up and worms into your life again?"

"That wasn't what happened." Despite his best efforts, Tyler was getting through to him, and Theo's resolve was wavering.

Even while his mouth tried to fight back against what Tyler was saying, his brain was putting the pieces he'd been given together, and the picture they painted made way too much sense. There had never been a good reason for Lynn to go out with him even before their powers had come in, but he'd always assumed it was luck. Had she somehow figured out Theo was a third gen and tried to cozy up to him because she knew he'd become a cape? Did she really like him, or was she using him? He didn't have the answer, and that was damning.

"Look, Theo. I know I've been an asshole in the past, but I've always been in your corner since day one. You know I'm not the type to fuck around with things like this. I know her better than anyone, and I'm telling you this so you can get out while you can."

Tyler leaned in closer. "Charlie wants to meet me in the Docks for cape stuff. If you come with me, I promise I can show you something that will make you see where Lynn's true loyalties lie. I'll shoot you the location at midnight. Show up if you want to."

Tyler squeezed his shoulder and then walked off, leaving Theo even more drained than he had been before.

He was startled out of his daze by his phone buzzing, and he took it out of his pocket and flipped it open to find that he had a new message from Melody.

It seemed that his awful day wasn't over just yet.

Chapter Text

I walked down the hall toward Melody’s apartment, holding my nose all the while. It wasn’t that the building was run down, but they didn’t have any rules against smoking or drinking, attracting a certain type of people, which gave the place a stench. The type of repugnant smell that reminded me of tar and ash and hurt my more sensitive nose. I walked fast, making my way to my… benefactor’s apartment and knocking on the door. “Melody, it's me.”

It swung open promptly, with Melody leaning on the door frame. Her blonde hair was shaved into a buzzcut, and a low-cut t-shirt proudly revealed her athletic body, the ugly scar across her throat, and the artificial larynx that rested within. Her eyes shamelessly roamed my form. 

“Well you look slightly better than shit,” she buzzed, the mechanical larynx turning her voice into a hiss which hurt my ears.

I said nothing. She was right, after all.

“Com’on then,” she said, ushering me inside with a jut of her head. I shuffled in, my thoughts filled with the fight, the man, and his gore armor. The spikes of bone, the hits piercing my skin, my body, Lynn’s body, bruised and bloodied… Oh god, if we had been any slower-

Melody grumbled something and kicked the back of my legs, pushing me into the apartment, and slammed the door shut behind her. “One real fight and you turn into a jibbering mess. Gimme a break.”

The apartment was small, with a counter, a couch, and a coffee table with an open laptop on it. A punching bag and some weights were scattered about. It wasn’t exactly fancy, but that made it all the more bearable for me. It wasn’t a fancy, lifeless shell like my room back home. It looked lived in.

I took a seat on the couch as Melody walked over to her fridge. “I’m not… I’m not like that. I can’t just-”

“Fight like me?” Melody interrupted, her words accompanied by the clinking of glass and the closing of the fridge. 

“Yeah.”

“Well you’re wrong,” she said, walking over to the couch, and holding up a glass bottle next to my cheek till I finally grabbed it. “Not if the blood around your mouth is anything to go by.”

My hand shot up, feeling the dried blood around my mouth. For an instant I was back in the fight, my teeth tearing into my opponent’s throat, ripping chunks of meat from his body like an animal. Bile rose in my throat, and my stomach churned with discomfort, threatening to spew its contents out.

I didn’t remember spitting out the man’s flesh.

Melody patting me on the shoulder brought me back to reality. It wasn’t a comforting motion, no, it was congratulatory , which only made the churning in my gut worse.

She vaulted over the couch with a grace and ease that made me jealous, shaking it as she landed in her seat, taking a swig from her bottle as she did so. I looked at mine.

It was beer.

I placed it on the coffee table without another word.

That's when I noticed what was on the laptop. It showed a currently paused video of a warehouse. A warehouse with three figures in it and a collapsed roof. I recognized it immediately.

“How-”

“I vouched for you,” Melody interrupted, taking another draught from her beer. “Means I get to watch what you do. So you better not get handsy with that girl. I might get jealous.”

I scowled at her joke. Her tone was light but her face was impassive. An emotionless mask. “Who I associate with is none of your business,“ I replied stiffly.

“It is when you're risking your chances,” Melody explained, pressing a few buttons on the computer and replaying the fight from the start. Soon the room was filled with the sound of pained grunts, flesh and bone caving beneath strikes. “Your form might’ve been shit, and she may have bailed you out, but you could’ve won that-”

“I couldn’t have.”

“Maybe if you put that new claw of yours on your hands instead of your fucking feet you might’ve.”

“It was a hasty decision.” 

“And a poor one. Most of your mass is in your upper body, kid. The same can’t be said of your legs.” Melody explained, gesturing at the screen with her beer. “You can have any tool you want and you keep beating around the bush. Grow a pair and bite the bullet, give yourself an actual tool next time. If you’d prepared better, and hadn’t gone off with some ABB rat, then you wouldn’t have had to split the credit for the fight or had the piss beaten outta you.”

I let out a breath. What was I supposed to say to that? I definitely could’ve prepared better. I could’ve made changes that actually would’ve helped deal damage, Instead of  forcing me to-

-to rely on my fucking teeth like I was a feral animal. It had been a change I had made explicitly for combat purposes, yet I hadn’t even questioned what I’d really be doing with them.

If I hadn’t been so passive the fight would’ve finished sooner. Maybe if I had paid more attention I wouldn’t have stolen Lynn’s power… But there was no point in dwelling on that because it had already happened. I had hurt her, and, even if she was lying to me, I couldn’t just abandon her. It was also a hypocritical train of thought, no doubt. How could I blame her while doing the same thing?

I refused to.

Even if being a hero seemed like a pipedream, I could at least try.

“It won’t happen again,” I lied, my tone even. Though I had no strict obligation to help Lynn again, the fact that I had was a gateway to being called on again. She probably thought I was free, or maybe not. Maybe she really needed me or wanted to help me in her twisted way, or she was just using me to win. But did I really care? 

I wasn’t sure. 

Sure, I did have a wish I wanted to be fulfilled, but that wasn’t why I’d joined the competition in the first place. I‘d joined for the experience. Besides, there were probably dozens of more experienced capes participating, so I didn’t stand a chance, let alone on my own.

If I could help someone I cared about… it was fine by me.

“Uh-huh,” Melody said, bobbing her head. The sound of my claw piercing my opponent's chest echoed from the laptop, and I flinched. Melody clicked her tongue. “Scaredy cat.”

“I’ll do better,” I said, noticing the woman’s righteous disappointment. My shoulders sagged as I felt myself deflate against the couch. “I just… I just need time.”

“Something you don’t have a lot of,” Melody responded. “Or have you forgotten that this is a competition? If you don’t shape up, you're gonna get left behind. I’ll beat that weakness out of you. Well, the ABB will.”

I sank further into my seat. I’d hoped she would’ve forgotten.

But no, my day had to keep getting worse.

____________________________________________________________________________

“How many are there and where?” Melody- No, Cricket now, asked.

I pressed myself up against the brick wall, closing my eyes and listening. Don’t focus on their movements or their breathing , I told myself. Heartbeats were the most reliable. There were… three. No, four.

“Four.”

“Wrong, it's five,” Cricket hissed. I bit my lip in disappointment. I must not have heard the fifth due to the TV. “And you didn’t even tell me where. I’ll be increasing your weights for that.”

I simply mumbled my acceptance. 

“Two are upstairs, asleep. One’s watching TV downstairs and the other two are playing cards in the room next to the TV,” she listed each placement in an almost bored manner, the words slipping easily off her tongue. She reached out and patted me on the shoulder, and I shifted away from her touch. “Now, go give ‘em hell.”

I nodded and reached into my pocket, pulling out the bloodstained white mask and placing it onto my face. It felt weirdly warm against my skin, like a living thing gripping my face. The hooded trench coat Cricket had given me felt just as warm against my skin, even more so as I pulled up the hood to cover myself.

I couldn’t be Theo anymore, I was just another cape now. Another animal. The thought of slipping into that sort of madness made my mind recoil, but I pushed it off. I needed to be strong. Especially tonight.

Lynn may be connected to the ABB, but the ABB were still bad people. I couldn’t let them go unpunished just because of that connection. I couldn’t stop now. Could I fight Lynn if she showed up though? 

Never .

I stepped forward and gripped the rusted and half-attached door knob that led into the small building. I tried to turn it but the lock held, so I pushed it, forced it, and put all my weight and grip strength into turning it. It finally gave way with a small crack as the mechanism broke, and I carefully pushed the door open

My muscles were only somewhat enhanced by my power. Still, with all the minor things adding to that – the increased blood circulation due to my larger veins, subtle skeletal and sinew enhancements, and the mass of my body – they all added up to give me a heightened level of strength compared to what my body should have normally been capable of.  It wasn’t considerable, but it allowed me to do this much. It wouldn’t mean anything against someone even remotely as strong as a real brute though.

I crept inside, trying to recall, the feeling of stalking my dreams as an animal. I lifted my nose, taking in the scent of sweat, narcotics, and stagnant mold. Based on the noise, the TV room was down the hall, and a little past that were the people playing cards. 

Best to take out TV man first, he’d be the easiest.

With my plan in mind, I crept forward, careful not to step on any rotted or creaky boards. I poked my head around the corner and was greeted with the sight of a burly Asian man sitting on the couch with his back to me He seemed to be enamored by some late-night talk show while he smoked his large cigar. 

Beyond that was an archway that led to what looked like a dining room. I could see the back of one of the ABB grunts from where I was, seated around the dining table. Even from here and with the loud noises of the TV filling my ears, I could hear their conversation. My Japanese wasn’t great, but I understood enough of what they said to know that neither of them seemed enamored with their current position.

I tuned it out, choosing not to listen. 

Instead, I did my best to get behind the couch, bringing myself in position before my arms snaked out around the man’s neck just like I’d been taught, putting him into a chokehold. I could feel him twitch in shock and surprise when I carefully tightened my grip around his throat, only to go ramrod straight when I put a hand over his mouth and nose and began squeezing. 

He bucked, squirming against my arms, clawing at my clothes to get free. To breath. I tightened my grip, barring his way. His skin slapped against me, limp, wet with sweat. I could feel each strained movement, his slowing heartbeat beneath my fingers. I shuddered at the feeling.

Slowly, silently, the man’s movements flagged, and after a last desperate buckle, he finally went limp in my arms. Thankfully, no one of his friends took notice. They seemed too engrossed in their game, and the TV masked the noise of our struggle.  I loosened his grip and let the unconscious man fall back against the couch before reaching over the couch and extinguishing the man’s fallen cigar before something caught fire.

Taking a breath, I pondered on what to do next. There was no way up the stairs from where I had access to, so I had to confront the men playing cards now. No other option.

I couldn’t use my new claw. Lynn knew I had it, and I didn’t want her to track this back to me. I didn’t know how she’d react, and I also really didn’t want to kill anyone.

First, I dragged my first victim out of sight, using zip-ties to wrap him up before I gagged him with his own disgusting socks. They smelled like he’d worn them for weeks, and a part of me felt pity for the man when I crammed them into his mouth. 

Then I stepped back into the kitchen, my foot shooting out to kick the back of one man’s chair before they could react. I pushed him into the table, sending cards, bills, and bags of white powder scattering across the floor and knocking the breath out of him as his gut impacted the edge of the table.

His friend reacted immediately, scrambling for the revolver that had fallen onto the floor.

I immediately knew I wouldn’t be able to reach him in time, but this wasn’t the man in the maroon suit. Their motions, though not much slower, were far less graceful, so instead of leaping forward, I did my best to listen to the clicking of the hammer when it clicked into place. Then I darted forward, snagging his head

.

He staggered, and just as I heard the click of the gun, half a second before it actually fired, I ducked. The shot went wide, and I used the opening to slam the grunt’s face back into the table with the sound of crunching bone in the same motion.

The sound made me feel like I was going to vomit.

The energy of my power swirled in my gut, rising happily like a dog at my actions.

He fell to the floor with a pained moan, grasping what was undoubtedly a broken nose. But he still held the gun with his other hand, and the look in his eyes as he glared up at me told me that he’d gladly pull the trigger again. So before he could, I grabbed the end of the table and flipped it up and forward, bringing it down on him.

It missed him by a hair’s breadth. 

Another shot rang out, turning one edge of the cheap table into a shower of splinters but missing me entirely. But I ducked, and the man used the opportunity to scramble back on his feet. I slammed into the upturned table with my shoulder again, ramming it into the man and pinning him against the wall. Metal scraped against brick, telling me that the gun was trapped against the wall as well. 

Steeling my resolve, I pulled back my fist and slammed it into the man’s face. Each time, I felt bone and flesh give way beneath my fist with a sickening squelch, and my knuckles came back a little bloodier each time. 

It made me feel dirty. I was sure that the blood I was caking myself with would never wash off, but what choice did I have?

I finally stopped, hearing the man’s heart and breathing slow down. Only then did I dare to step away from my victim-

Only for a sharp pain to impact my side, like someone had injected fire straight into my organs. I let out a scream, louder than any of the gunshots. Through tear-blurred eyes, I looked down. There was a knife protruding from my side, buried to the handle in my flesh.

I tried to pull away, but the man who I kicked into the table gripped me tight, twisting the knife further which only elicited another scream of agony from me. Grabbing the man’s arms, I pulled them off me, yanking out the knife in the process. The blade ripped messily through my flesh on its way out, widening the wound.

I howled in pain, throwing the man away, and flinging him against the wall. The cupboards shattered on impact, sending wooden and ceramic raining down on his body.

A shuddering breath left my body, but I-

Another gunshot rang out of nowhere, and my shoulder exploded in agony.

I’d forgotten about the people upstairs. My injured arm felt heavy and I couldn’t feel it. Oh god, I couldn’t feel it. I’d been stabbed, I’d been shot-

When I looked dazedly around the room, there was crimson everywhere. My blood painted the ground of the kitchen, pooling around my feet and dripping from the appliances. Then something hard impacted the back of my head, sending me stumbling, only still standing because of all the adrenaline in my blood. Stars danced in my eyes as I turned around to face my opponents: A muscular man and a shaking woman with a gun, both of them barely clothed. 

I all but flinched away from them. This was a fucking disaster. I couldn’t – No. No real help was coming, not when Cricket was the only one watching. I had to get out of this on my own. I was outnumbered, but I was a bit stronger and faster. My senses were better and prompted by my train of thought, I could feel a new surge of adrenaline rushing through my body, numbing the pain further. 

“Wrong place, fucker,” the man spat, punching toward my face. I bent my elongated neck back, just enough to dodge the punch. The hammer of the man's revolver clicked in place, a sound I was now familiar with. My good hand reached out, snagging the man’s wrist.

I then twisted the man’s limb, pulling it taught before twisting my body and sending a knee directly into the man’s elbow. The sound of his shattering joint was only overshadowed by his scream of pain and a startled shriek coming from the woman. Her arm trembled as she pointed the gun at me, followed by the telltale click of the hammer. Without thinking, I tackled the man and pulled him in front of me… putting him right in the path of the bullet. 

 I only realized what I’d done when the bang of the gun echoed through the kitchen. His blood was everywhere, gushing from between my fingers out of the hole in his stomach. The taste of vomit on my tongue assaulted my senses, but I forced myself to swallow it again. I couldn’t stop now. I couldn’t. 

I threw him into the armed woman, causing both to tumble and smack against the floor. The man’s breathing was heavy, his blood pooling against the floor, but the woman was still awake. She looked weak and emaciated. I could tell from the look on her face that she was just as scared as I was; A mouse cornered by a cat. 

I wanted to let her go, but she was a criminal. And I was being watched. 

I had a job to do.

I stepped forward, grabbed her by the throat, and squeezed her windpipe.

“I'm sorry,” I whispered, unable to look away from the tears pooling from her horrified face  As I continued to choke her, her expression shifted from horror to rage. She kicked at the ground and clawed at my hands, refusing to give in while I slowly choked her out. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.””

The woman’s kicks became more forceful, and her nails raked over my hands with feral intensity. As the pressure around her neck increased, she involuntarily opened her mouth, letting out a gasp of air she’d desperately clung to. 

“I'm sorry.”

The woman continued to struggle, but her body was giving out, even while it repeated the same set of actions over and over. The woman’s kicking and scratching became less and less frequent as the seconds ticked on. 

“I'm sorry.”

The woman’s hands were the first to go limp, quickly followed by her feet. As her eyes began to droop, they pushed out the last bits of tears still in them, and the woman collapsed onto the ground, finally unconscious. I raised my hands to my eyes to find them wet as well.

“I'm sorry…”

I know she couldn't hear that last one, but it was more for my benefit than hers, as selfish as it sounded. 

____________________________________________________________________________

My arms and body still ached when I finished pulling the last of the ABB members outside. I’d done my best to treat their wounds with what I had available before I’d wrapped them up with tape and the last of my zip ties. They were in bad shape, and if it weren’t for my enhanced senses and if I had been any sloppier…

I knew that they were impoverished and had probably been forced into this situation. Yet here I was, injuring them for my own game. I may not have killed them, but the hospital bills and bail undoubtedly would. I was no better than they were.

I rubbed the side of my head. No, these were criminals. I wasn't supposed to feel that way about them.

 But they were still people. I couldn’t let myself forget that. I couldn’t let myself be any messier. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a burner phone, and called the police.

I gave them the address and the situation before throwing the phone onto the pavement and crushing it under my heel. The crack of the plastic sounded far too similar to the sound of bone breaking for my liking.

Shaking my head, I stepped away from the unconscious gang members and into an alley. I stripped out of the trench coat and the mask, stuffing them into the backpack I had stashed there before. I tried to use my injured arm to lift the bag but nearly cried out when a scalding fire immediately spread in my shoulder.

It wasn’t healed yet, stupid. But it was healed more than it should have been. Something was wrong with my biology, beyond what I had done. I shouldn’t be healing at all. I knew how my body worked, and frankly, I should be dead by now. Bleeding out in their kitchen.

Yet I just so happened to be regenerating, a bit at a time. I didn’t know why, but I was.

I was lucky. That's all I was. I wasn’t skilled and I certainly wasn’t a hero. I was just lucky.

I carefully retrieved a spare shirt from my backpack, tying it into a makeshift sling for my injured right arm. Then I limped my way down the alley, toward the car that Cricket had parked. I found her no longer wearing her costume. She was Melody again, sporting a look of disgust on her face as she stared at me in utter disbelief. 

“What the fuck was that?” Melody said. “I know you could take a cape, yet an armed whore and her man give you trouble? Seriously? Where the hell did all that training go?”

I barely paid attention to her. My gut felt full, too full. A charge and a half, at least. Yet it all came from the pain of a bunch of people. I hadn’t killed them, but I’d injured them so I could get stronger. Even if they were criminals, I was the aggressor. The truth was that I had assaulted those people, for my own gain, plain and simple.

“It was like watching a bunch of feral cats fight,” Melody said, rubbing her forehead with the back of her hand.

“I'm sorry.”

“Then show it by getting your act together,” she said, gesturing for me to get into the car. “I’m taking you home.”

“The docks,” I muttered.

“What?”

I let out a pained breath as I stepped closer, trying to make my words clearer, “I need to go to the docks.”

Melody scoffed, “Not on your life, and not in your condition.”

“I have something I need to do.”

“Fine, then walk,” she said, shrugging. Her scarred face was impassive. “I ain’t a chauffeur.”

I turned around and began to walk. If she wasn’t going to listen, she wasn’t going to listen. Better just do this myself.

“You fucking serious kid?” She yelled after me, followed by a loud groan. “If you’re still alive, then show up to my place early tomorrow. We’ll domesticate ya in time. Got it?”

“Yes ma’am,” I responded, grunting in pain. Yet, I resisted the urge to hold my side until I heard the click of the car’s door followed by the low rumble of a starting engine. Soon Melody’s car rapidly sped away, and I allowed the facade of strength I’d tried to project to crumble away.

The alley was dark without the light of her car but to me, it was still as clear as day.

I shifted my arm in its ramshackle sling, gripping my gut with my other arm as I walked toward the docks. My mind remained blank the entire time, just focused on getting there and finishing up this shitty night. The rest was just white noise underlaid by the pain of my wounds. 

Eventually, I made it, despite the watching eyes in the shadows that weren’t as secret as they thought they were. I found a box to sit on. It wasn’t midnight just yet, despite all the time it had taken me to get here. I still had a bit of time until Tyler was supposed to message me.

I wanted to go to sleep. Not to visit the hunting ground, but just disappear into quiet oblivion. I wanted to take a shower and cleanse myself of the blood and grime. I wanted to throw out this ticket and my mask and leave cape stuff behind completely. I wanted to meet up with Chelsea and let her just hold me for a moment. 

I just wanted this to stop.

But I couldn’t. I had to humor Tyler or he would never leave me alone. I knew that one day my powers would deny me a normal life, and if I didn’t keep fighting and became stronger, I’d be little more than prey to whoever wanted to hunt me down when I couldn’t hide anymore. 

My body felt like it was going to fall apart.

The jingle of my private phone interrupted my brooding, and I slowly pulled it out of my pocket. My fingers felt clammy, but the plastic of the phone was warm. 

T:[ Meet us here if you want to know the truth. Charlie and I will be waiting. ]

The truth huh? I didn’t think anything Tyler had would be anything close. Even so, I pushed myself off, my spine cracking as I stood. I just wanted to get this over with.

I walked through the dark maze of alleys, past dirty buildings and tipped-over dumpsters. The stains of graffiti and gang tags were everywhere. It was all the same, I thought gloomily. Wherever I went I could see signs of big people fighting over silly little things.

I stumbled and walked, and stumbled and walked, until I finally stood in front of the right building, and knocked tiredly against the door. It wasn’t even properly locked, and the door creaked open ominously as soon as my knuckles made contact.  

I sighed and walked in. It was a barren place. The walls were mostly torn down, revealing large swathes of empty space broken up by thin metal beams. Tarps loosely covered the run-down floor, and a small gas lamp sat in the center of one of those tarps.  Tyler and Charlie were already waiting for me, sitting on wooden crates next to the lamp.

They both stood when they spotted me, with Tyler’s form towering over Charlie’s. Charlie was a scrawny teen, wearing too baggy clothes to cover the scars I knew were there. His brown hair was ratty, matted, and long. When I stepped towards them, Charlie adjusted his glasses with his right hand, revealing its missing pinky and ring finger.

“Theo, you came,” Tyler said, stepping up in front of Charlie, knocking his shoulder as he stepped past him. I could see him frown at that but he said nothing.

“You look like sh-” Tyler began.

“Shit. Yeah, I know,” I interrupted with a growl, which caused both Tyler and Charlie to flinch. That… I rubbed my head with the back of my hand. “Sorry. It’s been a long day. Let's just get this over with.”

“Looks like it,” Tyler said, biting his lip. He took a breath and gestured for Charlie to come closer. “Okay, look, Charlie and I… we want to build a team with our group, stop the violence in the dream, and work together. We want your help to do that. Fight back against the others.”

“Chelsea and Lynn,” Theo stated the truth Tyler was effectively covering up. “I’m not going to fight against them. And that's ignoring the issue of the hunger pains . Did you even consider that.”

“I’ll figure something out. Just… listen, Lynn is using you, Theo. She shows up right after you kill her in the dream-”

“You brought that up before,” I said, frowning. “Just how do you know that we met up?”

“I keep tabs on everyone. How else am I supposed to plan things out?”

“My power isn’t suited for combat,” Charlie suddenly spoke up. I didn’t know what his power was, so I couldn’t refute it. Maybe he was like Othala, but I had no idea if that was the case. “Tyler’s is, everyone else’s but mine is. We need information to close the gap.”

“You guys are treading a dangerous line,” I said, shaking my head. There weren’t proper rules, a code, or anything like that. Small time or new capes might think so, believers in the ‘game’ as Father called it, but it was little more than a facade. If a cape wanted to, they would cross whatever lines they thought they could get away with. Most capes were criminals, after all. They were already breaking the rules in one way or another. They just made sure to do it carefully. Some boundaries shouldn’t be crossed without knowing about the consequences, especially by new capes. “If they find out what you’re doing-”

“You wouldn’t tell them, I know you,” Tyler said. “You're a victim, like us.”

“Do you?” I asked. “Know me, I mean. You had over a month to talk to me since that night and when you finally do you want something. ”

“We’ve talked-”

“About dinner, the weather. Benign stupid shit. Short exchanges aren’t friendships, Tyler. Now I find out you’re stalking us?”

“Listen, you should be grateful. If I hadn’t kept tabs, I wouldn’t have found out what Lynn is up to.”

“Frankly, I doubt she’s up to anything.”

“Maybe this will change your mind,” Tyler said, pulling out a manila folder of all things, like he thought that's what adults used, and handing it to me. I glanced up at Tyler, then back down at the folder. This was the proof he spoke about? I opened it and pulled out pictures.

Pictures of Lynn speaking with ABB members, wearing their covers. Utilizing the same mask she had when we fought the maroon-suited man as she stood alongside other ABB members. Part of me felt gross, pitying, as I saw Lynn standing beside them. But I was doing the same with the Empire. She may be Lung’s daughter, but how did I know that she wasn’t forced into it like I was?

But what made me pissed were the other pictures. Pictures of Lynn and Chelsea walking together, kissing on a bench, beneath the bleachers.

“She’s cheating on you, with Chelsea.”

Pictures of them were taken through a window. Of them together in private moments. Compromising moments. Multiple of them. My fingers crinkled the paper. “Did you take these, Tyler?”

“I did,” Tyler admitted. “She doesn’t care about you. She’s a villain, just using you. You’re the biggest predator in the dream, and with your help, we can overturn this dynamic. Stop having to kill each other.”

“I didn’t know you guys were in the dream before today, but after this? Frankly, I don’t think I care,” I said, using my injured hand just to rip the pictures in half. 

“I’m showing you what she really is!”

“By stalking them!? Sneaking around their homes!?” I yelled back. “You’re a fucking creep!”

“We just want to help. You can either get with us, or you're against us-” Tyler practically began to beg, but Charlie reached out, gripping Tyler’s shirt and shaking his head. 

I took a breath and stepped away. I wouldn’t entertain this any longer. Not if Tyler was stalking people I cared about. But… I turned to Charlie. “I’ll try not to hunt you anymore. I’m… I’m sorry I did. But I’m not picking sides. If I was, it sure as hell wouldn’t be yours.”

Charlie didn’t answer, he pretty much never did, but he nodded in acknowledgment. I turned toward Tyler, glaring at him, “As for you, Tyler, leave us out of your spy fantasies.”

“Even if you don’t kill Charlie, Lynn will. That isn’t a solution, Theo!” Tyler called after me.

I didn’t deem his words worthy of a response.

“I don’t want to be your enemy, Theo, but if you force me to, I will!“

I continued walking away, ignoring Tyler until I finally reached the door and left. I pulled out my phone as soon as I was far enough away and began texting Chelsea and Lynn.

__________________________________________________________________________

That night I entered the dream with not a yawn, nor a roar, but the quiet awakening of an undisputed king. Yet for the first time since the dreams began, my body felt wrong to me. Like a suit I was wearing, a skin stitched onto my own. I began to walk slowly through the foliage. Each paw felt heavy, every movement stilted as if the weight of the wounds I’d sustained today had been carried over to my new form. Not that I could see any visible wounds.

I easily found my way to the huge tree, the wooden throne I usually rested on.

Instead, I sat below it.

I wasn’t a king here, I was just a murderer. A predator. My instincts told me to move, to hunt like the animal I was. An urge that only burned harder when I heard the eagle caw in the sky above me, but I refused to move one inch from my spot. Not now, perhaps not ever again.

The eagle – no, Chelsea – landed on one of the tree’s branches, and for the first time, I got a good look at her in this form. She was large, her feathers were black but tipped with silver blade-like edges. Her eyes were white, all three of them, and a crest of silver and grey feathers topped her head. Beautiful.

My stomach, the panther’s stomach, growled, and I forced myself to turn away from her. Pushing the rising, almost ravenous, hunger down. She cried out to me.

I didn’t move.

She cried out again, hopping off the branch and onto the ground. I still refused to move. She hoped closer, and closer, hesitant each time as if she expected me to lash out. Not like I could blame her. When the dream began, that's exactly what I had done. 

Eventually, she seemingly realized that I wasn’t going to move one bit, taking her place next to my head. Gingerly, slowly, she rested her feathered head on top of mine.

We stayed there, comfortable in each other’s presence, despite the gnawing hunger, for what felt like minutes. Finally, slowly, we rose. The hunger pains growing to much to bear. Chelsea seemed to feel it as well, rising around the time I did.

We set off to hunt.

By the time we found Charlie, his bull body was already dead. Eaten by Lynn. 

I sat back down in the grass. I was fine with that.

I didn’t need anymore blood on my hands.

Chapter Text

“Well, uh, see you tonight, Charlie.” Tyler flinched as he said it, probably only realizing the implications of his words in hindsight.

“Well, uh, see you tonight, Charlie.” Tyler flinched as he said it, probably only realizing the implications of his words in hindsight.

“Uh huh,” I said.

Tyler was an asshole, and pretty much my exact opposite. He was an elitist, snobby jerk who thought that everyone else’s business was his. But he was also the only one in our little group who was willing to help me, so I had to suck it up and hang on his arm. It was emasculating, playing at being the helpless victim, but my ego came second to getting results.

Tyler used his power, and just like that I was alone. Did we really have to meet all the way out here? Damn Tyler and his flair for the dramatic, why couldn’t we have just talked at the park or a fucking Dennys or something? Ugh, there was nothing I could do about it now. I set off into the cold night, cursing my luck.

Finally, after half an hour of walking, I reached the edge of my neighborhood, and kept walking along the high fence until I got to the entrance. I lived a few houses away from the main road, but each house and yard was large enough that it still took me a couple minutes more to finally get home.

For weeks now, I was killed each night in my dreams. I was hunted down, mauled, and my body was eaten while I was still alive. I felt every little bit of it, and woke up feeling like shit. I couldn’t escape that night on the boat, not when it kept repeating over and over and over again.

I didn’t deserve this.

Dad would be deep asleep still, so I didn’t bother being quiet as I let myself in and locked the door behind me. The dream would be starting soon, and if I wasn’t in bed, I’d pass out on the spot, so I didn’t bother changing out of my clothes, just flopping on top of my sheets.

Of course, after a tense conversation and a long walk, my body was still pretty hyped up, and I couldn’t get my heartrate down, let alone find sleep on my own. I was tracing patterns on the ceiling texture, my personal alternative to counting sheep, when a sudden darkness slammed down on my consciousness.

---

“Uuuugggghhhhh.”

My head hurt, my stomach hurt, my soul hurt. I didn’t even have the vague drowsiness of coming out of sleep to moderate the pain, I was wide awake as soon as the dream ended. It was Sunday morning, the new worst day of my life, just like every day the past month had been.

I rolled out of bed and took a deep breath. Recite the words. I will conquer today as I have conquered the days before. I am a man, the blood of warriors runs through my veins. I am a Man. Just because they want to tear me down, put me under siege, that doesn’t mean I have to lie down and take it. I can fight back, I will fight back.

Dad was still asleep after I was done with showering and all the rest, so I had my phone out on the table, scrolling through social media, when I got buzzed by a notification. I scrolled to my FreedomForums app and I have never clicked on something faster in my life than when I saw the message sender and the preview under it.

ArmorOfMen

It’s time for us to meet…

The full message did not disappoint. ‘ It’s time for us to meet in person. I’ve just arrived in the city with two other members of the Bright Crusade. Since it’s your city, why don’t you play the role of host and show us around some local sights?’

They were here. I’d only had powers… God, had it only been a month?... and I was already a part of an international cape team. One that understood that capes didn’t get superpowers just to be gestapo and glorified pencil-pushers, but living demigods.

I was already typing out a reply before I knew what I was going to say.

HaleHail

Absolutely, and welcome to Brockton Bay. We could meet up at the Boardwalk, by the water. The fuckers in charge really let everything go to shit here, but we still have some tourist traps and some local hangouts and food places.

Half an hour later, I was leaning against a railing, watching people go by. Behind me, waves lapped at the shore and seagulls dive-bombed tourists. I’d seen way worse winters in Shreveport, but compared to Brockton Bay’s usual, the temperature really was dropping lately. Even some of the tourist-looking types had coats on, though theirs were more form over function, like a puffer jacket that only went down to the bottom of the ribcage.

I was bored. You’d think that it would be hard to be anything but excited given why I was here and who I was meeting, but that would be then, and this was now.

As a distraction, I pulled out my phone and scrolled through some old conversations on FF. I’d only known Supranova by his cape name for the last couple of days, but as it turned out, he was also a prolific poster on the site and we’d already chatted quite a lot in DMs. I’d always known that he was one of the smarter, go-to guys; not a leader, since true Freedom Fighters didn’t have leaders, but more like a ‘thought-leader’. It had been one of his posts that had brought me down the rabbit hole in the first place and opened my eyes to what was really happening in the world. The Protectorate was a ball and chain around the feet of the world’s parahumans, and the Triumvirate were the biggest traitors that had ever existed to our people.

It was embarrassing to admit that after I’d come into the light, I’d bought into some of the wild theories out there- that capes had been around since Ancient Egypt, that kind of thing- but Supranova had been the one to pull me out of those delusions. I still owed him for that, and here he was, helping me once more.

Thankfully, I wasn’t too deep in my reminiscence to notice the three people walking my way. I’d already seen them from a group photo that Supranova had sent, but it was still surprising to see him in the flesh. He had a larger-than-life feeling about him online, but in person, he seemed just like any other guy. Some combination of the features on his face made him seem young, but not boyish.

I stepped away from the railing and waved, catching their eyes. Once they got close enough, I smiled big and said, “hey you guys. It’s great to finally meet you in person.”

“Likewise,” Supranova said, coming up a few feet away with his hands in his pockets, leaning back slightly. “You can call me Gabriel. This is John and Oscar.” He gestured with his shoulders to the guys on his left and right as he said their names.

John had darker skin and a square jaw and was wearing a jacket with camo-patterned trimming. Oscar had a thick mustache and heavy brow that made him look angry, which was at odds with the smiley-face t-shirt he was wearing under an unzipped hoodie.

“I’m Charlie.” I made an effort to keep my posture firm as I gave them a nod. “So, what do you all want to see first?”

I had the jitters, but thankfully it didn’t seem to show on my face. Gabriel smiled wide and said, “let’s grab some food, and then, down to business.”

---

As it turned out, business meant business . We were in their motel room, styrofoam containers of half-eaten Chicky Chick Chicken crowding the small round table. John was sitting on one of the beds, digging through one duffel bag from the pile of luggage while occasional hisses and thuds came from the bathroom.

Apparently, there was a member of the Bright Crusade who was a master hacker, and he’d gotten into the social media accounts of a bunch of locals before these three had arrived. The guy being prepared in the bathroom was a member of the Empire Eighty-Eight, but you wouldn’t have known it from looking at him. He didn’t have any tattoos that I could see, or any, like, nazi accessories or anything. Just a blue button-up shirt and a tie. We’d grabbed him in an apartment’s parking lot and Oscar had knocked him out with his powers until we got him tied up in the shower stall. Soon it would be my turn to use my power.

This was… a lot. I was trying not to let it get to me, how quickly things had gone from just online chats to real action. But I knew Gabriel, trusted him. Plus, wasn’t this what it meant to be a superhuman? Defying rules, taking your due, living more than just the day-to-day that trapped ordinary humans in cycles where they worked to survive and never had the energy to truly live ?

I couldn’t let these guys down. My power was pretty shitty in a fight, and it had only gotten worse after the dreams had started, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t have value. I am a man, the blood of warriors runs through my veins. I am a Man. It was a war-chant that I’d learned on FF. Girls like Chelsea would say that it was misogynist, but they were missing the point. Women had their place in society too, no less important than men’s, and if they actually took the time to look, there were Words for them too. I just refused to apologize for being born with a special purpose, for embracing my natural masculine strengths. I am a Man. That came with responsibilities that I needed to fulfill and hundreds of generations of noble warriors in my lineage to draw strength from.

Taking deep breaths, I turned to start pacing when Gabriel- or Supranova now that he was half in costume- came out from the bathroom and looked to me. His mask had two halves of a galaxy, sliced diagonally and slid a couple of inches past each other, making it harder to find his eyes among the other celestial chaos, but I could still feel his gaze.

“Okay, Centimane. You need a mask or anything before we start?”

I shook my head. “No, even though the copy is linked to the original, it only goes one way. He won’t remember my face even if ‘he’ sees it.”

“Cool, cool. Let’s see you work your magic.”

I stepped past Supranova and Pisadeira and glanced back as they and John- or should I think of him as Tempest?- crowded by the entrance of the motel room so they wouldn’t get caught in my power. As if it would get me closer to the man on the other side, I pressed my hand against the wall dividing us.

Okay , I thought to myself. Small bubble, small . And then in some part of me that was hard to define, I grasped firmly, wound up, and threw , and in an instant, the colors of the motel room were inverted, sharpened, and distorted. Everything was the same shape, but inside of my bubbles, the maroon of the bed covers was a sea-blue, and the off-white popcorn ceiling became pitch-black valleys tipped with an earthy green.

It lingered just an instant, and then it was gone, the colors of the world returning to normal. The room itself was unchanged, as if nothing had happened.

My body, on the other hand… My forearm seized up, a jolt of pain shooting through it. I knew logically that it was the nerves warping and temporarily separating from my body, a necessary part of my power, but in the moment, it just hurt like a bitch. Like getting a charlie horse that just got worse and worse and had my arm curling against my chest in a useless bid to find some position that might ease the pain. I wasn’t screaming, I wasn’t , but it was almost worse to know that my new teammates were seeing me wheezing and groaning from a simple use of my power.

When the pain began to subside, I practically tore my sleeve pulling it up my arm, revealing the little bastard that had made himself at home there.

“Hey kid,” said the little shrunken-head tumor that had grown out of my body. Some part of me felt like these things should have weird, high-pitched voices, but some selective experimentation had revealed that they sounded- and acted- mostly like the people they’d come from, the ones caught in one of my bubbles.

“Hey, you good?” It wasn’t Supranova, who was silent along with the two others, it was the tumor again.

“Y- yeah,” I said, still short of breath. I took in one solid lungful of air, held it for a moment, and let it out. “Phew. So, let’s talk.”

I was holding my arm up like I was in some sci-fi movie talking on a hologram watch, which was less awkward than some of the other ways I’d had to have conversations with the tumors that had grown in other places but it still made me feel stupid.

I put on a serious face and said, “I’m with the Empire too. You don’t know my face, I’m sure, since I’m new.” Sticking to the script we’d worked out beforehand. Well, more like general notes than a literal script. We didn’t have to be too careful, since the tumors were more inclined to trust me than their originals so any weirdness or inaccuracies on my part would be smoothed over. Plus, if they did get suspicious, we could always just start over.

“I’m a cape, obviously-” the tumors were generally aware of what they were and that they weren’t actually the real person, but whatever made them trust me also seemed to keep them from freaking out about that. “-and I want to make a good impression, but I don’t know enough about the particulars of our operations, so I don’t know when or where I should be showing up.”

The shrunken head’s expression shifted, but because of the distorted features, I couldn’t tell what it was trying to express. “Uhhh, you’re really barking up the wrong tree here. I help organize rallies, protests, maybe get one of our boys out of trouble now and then, but it sounds to me like you need to talk to the big guy yourself.”

“It’s not like I have his phone number,” I said, running my free hand through my hair. “What about the rallies you mentioned? I could talk to him at one of those, right?”

“Ha! No offense, but you must be pretty green. Rallies are public for a reason, they’re meant to show the public and the politicians just how many of us there are, and force them to take us seriously. It would be bad PR to have a wanted criminal there, let alone a supervillain!”

“Plenty of guys who show up to those rallies have criminal records though, right?”

“Kid, there’s a difference between having a history and having a bounty out on you. The difference is, if they publish a story about how many people at our rallies have a history, we can spin it back at them and accuse them of character assassination and digging up long-buried dirt. But if-”

Supranova spoke up, taking a few steps toward us. “We’re getting off topic. We need to know where the Empire is going to act and when.”

The tumor tried to turn its head- an action which made my skin crawl- and said in a lower register than it had been using, “didn’t realize we had guests . You sure you trust them, kid?”

“They’re with me, it’s fine,” I said. Supranova was right, we were getting derailed. Just because the tumor was more inclined to trust me, that didn’t mean it was stupid, or that it wouldn’t clam up if it thought its secrets could be spilled to the wrong people. “I’m on a timetable here. Look, even if you don’t know what exactly the capes are up to, you have to have some idea of who I can talk to next.”

“I dunno, kid. You might be getting in over your head here. Who even got you involved in the Empire anyway? Maybe they can help sort you out.”

With a sigh, I willed the tumor to disappear, and with a twisting motion that thankfully looked worse than it felt, the shrunken head melded back into my arm. I fought the urge to scratch at the spot where it had been, to tear the damn thing out of me, but I knew in the logical part of my brain that it was completely gone, not burrowed deeper into my arm.

“Okay, I guess it’s time for round two,” I said. “What should we try next?”

---

About an hour later, it was pretty clear that either this guy wasn’t actually connected to any of the Empire Eighty-Eight’s criminal activities, or he’d had some sort of training that let him work around my power. The others were getting frustrated, and I was getting tired of using my power over and over, driving rusty railroad spikes of pain through my body each time.

I tugged my sleeves back down, more out of habit than anything. “This is bullshit. Can’t we just… wait until the Empire Eighty-Eight capes show up somewhere and deal with them then?”

Supranova raised a hand, palm-down, and waggled it back and forth. “Eh, we could . But without special access, we’d be showing up behind the Protectorate or other cape groups, and it wouldn’t be a meeting, it’d be a fight. Not to mention that capes on the bad side of the law prefer doing their work quiet; if they’re ‘showing up somewhere’, it’s because something went wrong for them, and they won’t appreciate us coming in and making things more complicated.”

“Then… where do we go from here?” I really wasn’t feeling like kidnapping ten more low-level Empire affiliates on the offhand chance that one of them might know Kaiser on a first-name basis and be able to set us up for a chat.

“We have other avenues to pursue. Don’t worry so much, Centimane, it takes time and patience to fulfill goals like ours.”

“Rome wasn’t burned in a day,” I replied, forcing on a smile.

Supranova shared a look with Pisadeira and then Tempest, and nodded to Tempest who cracked open the door and slipped outside.

When Supranova stepped forward and locked his gaze on mine, I realized that he was back to the kind of larger-than-life figure that I’d met online, no longer humble and human. He seemed at least half a foot taller than I knew him to be as he said, “the Protectorate must be laid low, yes, but that is not actually why we are here today. In fact, unless we get incredibly lucky and get a shot at one of the Big Three themselves, our interests will align with the Protectorate for this mission.”

It was unnerving hearing those words coming out of his mouth, of all people. Everyone in the cause, they hated the Protectorate for some reason or another. Personal, political, ideological… as for me, I just understood that humanity couldn’t progress unless superhumans stopped being held back by the likes of Alexandria and Eidolon. If the bright crusade wasn’t here for Armsmaster or another Protectorate cape…

“Did you hear about what happened in Belém?” I hadn’t, and after a short shake of my head, he continued, “in Brazil, our home, it used to be a sort of haven for parahumans. The population of capes was very high, but even the villains weren’t that violent. There were problems, here and there, but it was a good, peaceful place.”

I couldn’t help but wince. “And then an Endbringer attacked?”

“No. Prominent members of the cape community started going missing, or were found brutally murdered. The city’s water supply was poisoned, and a giant explosion left a crater three blocks wide. It seemed that every two days, there was a new crisis. What I’m about to tell you, we pieced together through chance encounters, scraps of evidence, and what few survivors were left.”

I stepped forward; it felt like I should sit down, maybe on the bed, but that seemed like it would be awkward.

“We call them the Dark Carnival. Nobody knows what they call themselves. They’re a group of capes and powerful humans who make a game out of death and destruction. They pick a target, a city, and from that city’s parahumans, they select participants. Those participants face off against each other and members of the Dark Carnival, sometimes in death-matches, sometimes to cause or prevent some disaster. The participants are narrowed down until only one is left, and then the Dark Carnival leaves.”

“What happens to the last participant?” I asked.

He shrugged. “We’re not sure. Sometimes they move to another city as if nothing happened. One ‘winner’ became a warlord in Africa, dominating an entire country with their powers. Some of them just… disappear.”

I thought for a moment. “Is that why you’re called the Bright Crusade? A kind of opposite to the Dark Carnival?”

Pisadeira scoffed. “It’s a dumb name if you ask me, but yeah.”

Supranova turned his head toward Pisadeira for a moment, giving him a silent stare, and then looked back to me. “You’re either taking this very well, or you haven’t realized yet.”

“Wha-” my mind raced through ten different things before putting the obvious pieces together. When I spoke, it was so quiet that even I could barely hear it. “They’re coming here.” Louder, I said, “Brockton Bay is their next target.”

“Thankfully, we figured it out before the ‘games’ started in full, so we still have a chance. The Protectorate won’t be of much help, that much we know, but this city is home to many capes. We need to gather as many of them as we can and resist the Dark Carnival. Hero or villain, solo or teams, it will take all of your city’s parahuman power to fight the likes of them.”

“I… know a few other capes. You know how I talked about the dream thing?”

“Yes, and like I said, we may be able to find a way to free you from the dream with the right people and enough time. That will come later, though. For now, we need to decide between three different leads.” Supranova gestured to Pisadeira, who moved to the door. A few seconds later, he returned with Tempest, and with a few words, Supranova invited everyone to gather around the bed laden with luggage. He reached into one of the bags and pulled out a three-ring binder, laying it open on the bed. Inside was what looked like a dossier on the Empire Eighty-Eight. “We could continue trying to contact the Empire.” He turned the page a few times until there was a new header- the Azyn Bad Boys. “There’s another major gang, a pan-Asian faction with a lot of reach. And finally-”

A few more flipped pages, and Supranova landed on a heading that wasn’t a gang, but a single person.

“Panacea is one of the capes who we have reason to believe is a participant in the Dark Carnival’s games. If we can ‘turn’ her to our side, she could be a strong ally and an insider during the events to come. We haven’t had any luck getting close to participants in the games before, but as a hero and a healer without much offensive power, she may be desperate for help.”

I scratched my upper arm. “She’s a part of a hero team, I think. I don’t know their names, but they have matching costumes and stuff. If she was looking for help, I bet she’d turn to them instead of us.”

“Maybe, especially at first,” Supranova said.

Tempest butted in, “the Dark Carnival are real bastards. For heroes, they’ll usually give them a couple of simple tests, make it hard for them to back out, and then another participant will take out their team or their family. Sometimes they have to do it themselves. Whoever her team are, they won’t last long in this game.”

We continued talking a bit more before deciding who we’d go after next. If I’d thought it was intimidating to kidnap a low-level member of the Empire and extract information from him, this was a whole other level. I was a part of the team, and we were playing a game of chess with the entire city as the board. We didn’t even have all of our pieces yet, but with a powerhouse like Supranova on our side, and the likes of Tyler, Theo, Chelsea, and Lynn likely to join the cause against the Dark Carnival, I was feeling pretty optimistic.

I am a man . I can do this.

“Uh huh,” I said.

Tyler was an asshole, and pretty much my exact opposite. He was an elitist, snobby jerk who thought that everyone else’s business was his. But he was also the only one in our little group who was willing to help me, so I had to suck it up and hang on his arm. It was emasculating, playing at being the helpless victim, but my ego came second to getting results.

Tyler used his power, and just like that I was alone. Did we really have to meet all the way out here? Damn Tyler and his flair for the dramatic, why couldn’t we have just talked at the park or a fucking Dennys or something? Ugh, there was nothing I could do about it now. I set off into the cold night, cursing my luck.

Finally, after half an hour of walking, I reached the edge of my neighborhood, and kept walking along the high fence until I got to the entrance. I lived a few houses away from the main road, but each house and yard was large enough that it still took me a couple minutes more to finally get home.

For weeks now, I was killed each night in my dreams. I was hunted down, mauled, and my body was eaten while I was still alive. I felt every little bit of it, and woke up feeling like shit. I couldn’t escape that night on the boat, not when it kept repeating over and over and over again.

I didn’t deserve this.

Dad would be deep asleep still, so I didn’t bother being quiet as I let myself in and locked the door behind me. The dream would be starting soon, and if I wasn’t in bed, I’d pass out on the spot, so I didn’t bother changing out of my clothes, just flopping on top of my sheets.

Of course, after a tense conversation and a long walk, my body was still pretty hyped up, and I couldn’t get my heartrate down, let alone find sleep on my own. I was tracing patterns on the ceiling texture, my personal alternative to counting sheep, when a sudden darkness slammed down on my consciousness.

---

“Uuuugggghhhhh.”

My head hurt, my stomach hurt, my soul hurt. I didn’t even have the vague drowsiness of coming out of sleep to moderate the pain, I was wide awake as soon as the dream ended. It was Sunday morning, the new worst day of my life, just like every day the past month had been.

I rolled out of bed and took a deep breath. Recite the words. I will conquer today as I have conquered the days before. I am a man, the blood of warriors runs through my veins. I am a Man. Just because they want to tear me down, put me under siege, that doesn’t mean I have to lie down and take it. I can fight back, I will fight back.

Dad was still asleep after I was done with showering and all the rest, so I had my phone out on the table, scrolling through social media, when I got buzzed by a notification. I scrolled to my FreedomForums app and I have never clicked on something faster in my life than when I saw the message sender and the preview under it.

ArmorOfMen

It’s time for us to meet…

The full message did not disappoint. ‘ It’s time for us to meet in person. I’ve just arrived in the city with two other members of the Bright Crusade. Since it’s your city, why don’t you play the role of host and show us around some local sights?’

They were here. I’d only had powers… God, had it only been a month?... and I was already a part of an international cape team. One that understood that capes didn’t get superpowers just to be gestapo and glorified pencil-pushers, but living demigods.

I was already typing out a reply before I knew what I was going to say.

HaleHail

Absolutely, and welcome to Brockton Bay. We could meet up at the Boardwalk, by the water. The fuckers in charge really let everything go to shit here, but we still have some tourist traps and some local hangouts and food places.

Half an hour later, I was leaning against a railing, watching people go by. Behind me, waves lapped at the shore and seagulls dive-bombed tourists. I’d seen way worse winters in Shreveport, but compared to Brockton Bay’s usual, the temperature really was dropping lately. Even some of the tourist-looking types had coats on, though theirs were more form over function, like a puffer jacket that only went down to the bottom of the ribcage.

I was bored. You’d think that it would be hard to be anything but excited given why I was here and who I was meeting, but that would be then, and this was now.

As a distraction, I pulled out my phone and scrolled through some old conversations on FF. I’d only known Supranova by his cape name for the last couple of days, but as it turned out, he was also a prolific poster on the site and we’d already chatted quite a lot in DMs. I’d always known that he was one of the smarter, go-to guys; not a leader, since true Freedom Fighters didn’t have leaders, but more like a ‘thought-leader’. It had been one of his posts that had brought me down the rabbit hole in the first place and opened my eyes to what was really happening in the world. The Protectorate was a ball and chain around the feet of the world’s parahumans, and the Triumvirate were the biggest traitors that had ever existed to our people.

It was embarrassing to admit that after I’d come into the light, I’d bought into some of the wild theories out there- that capes had been around since Ancient Egypt, that kind of thing- but Supranova had been the one to pull me out of those delusions. I still owed him for that, and here he was, helping me once more.

Thankfully, I wasn’t too deep in my reminiscence to notice the three people walking my way. I’d already seen them from a group photo that Supranova had sent, but it was still surprising to see him in the flesh. He had a larger-than-life feeling about him online, but in person, he seemed just like any other guy. Some combination of the features on his face made him seem young, but not boyish.

I stepped away from the railing and waved, catching their eyes. Once they got close enough, I smiled big and said, “hey you guys. It’s great to finally meet you in person.”

“Likewise,” Supranova said, coming up a few feet away with his hands in his pockets, leaning back slightly. “You can call me Gabriel. This is John and Oscar.” He gestured with his shoulders to the guys on his left and right as he said their names.

John had darker skin and a square jaw and was wearing a jacket with camo-patterned trimming. Oscar had a thick mustache and heavy brow that made him look angry, which was at odds with the smiley-face t-shirt he was wearing under an unzipped hoodie.

“I’m Charlie.” I made an effort to keep my posture firm as I gave them a nod. “So, what do you all want to see first?”

I had the jitters, but thankfully it didn’t seem to show on my face. Gabriel smiled wide and said, “let’s grab some food, and then, down to business.”

---

As it turned out, business meant business . We were in their motel room, styrofoam containers of half-eaten Chicky Chick Chicken crowding the small round table. John was sitting on one of the beds, digging through one duffel bag from the pile of luggage while occasional hisses and thuds came from the bathroom.

Apparently, there was a member of the Bright Crusade who was a master hacker, and he’d gotten into the social media accounts of a bunch of locals before these three had arrived. The guy being prepared in the bathroom was a member of the Empire Eighty-Eight, but you wouldn’t have known it from looking at him. He didn’t have any tattoos that I could see, or any, like, nazi accessories or anything. Just a blue button-up shirt and a tie. We’d grabbed him in an apartment’s parking lot and Oscar had knocked him out with his powers until we got him tied up in the shower stall. Soon it would be my turn to use my power.

This was… a lot. I was trying not to let it get to me, how quickly things had gone from just online chats to real action. But I knew Gabriel, trusted him. Plus, wasn’t this what it meant to be a superhuman? Defying rules, taking your due, living more than just the day-to-day that trapped ordinary humans in cycles where they worked to survive and never had the energy to truly live ?

I couldn’t let these guys down. My power was pretty shitty in a fight, and it had only gotten worse after the dreams had started, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t have value. I am a man, the blood of warriors runs through my veins. I am a Man. It was a war-chant that I’d learned on FF. Girls like Chelsea would say that it was misogynist, but they were missing the point. Women had their place in society too, no less important than men’s, and if they actually took the time to look, there were Words for them too. I just refused to apologize for being born with a special purpose, for embracing my natural masculine strengths. I am a Man. That came with responsibilities that I needed to fulfill and hundreds of generations of noble warriors in my lineage to draw strength from.

Taking deep breaths, I turned to start pacing when Gabriel- or Supranova now that he was half in costume- came out from the bathroom and looked to me. His mask had two halves of a galaxy, sliced diagonally and slid a couple of inches past each other, making it harder to find his eyes among the other celestial chaos, but I could still feel his gaze.

“Okay, Centimane. You need a mask or anything before we start?”

I shook my head. “No, even though the copy is linked to the original, it only goes one way. He won’t remember my face even if ‘he’ sees it.”

“Cool, cool. Let’s see you work your magic.”

I stepped past Supranova and Pisadeira and glanced back as they and John- or should I think of him as Tempest?- crowded by the entrance of the motel room so they wouldn’t get caught in my power. As if it would get me closer to the man on the other side, I pressed my hand against the wall dividing us.

Okay , I thought to myself. Small bubble, small . And then in some part of me that was hard to define, I grasped firmly, wound up, and threw , and in an instant, the colors of the motel room were inverted, sharpened, and distorted. Everything was the same shape, but inside of my bubbles, the maroon of the bed covers was a sea-blue, and the off-white popcorn ceiling became pitch-black valleys tipped with an earthy green.

It lingered just an instant, and then it was gone, the colors of the world returning to normal. The room itself was unchanged, as if nothing had happened.

My body, on the other hand… My forearm seized up, a jolt of pain shooting through it. I knew logically that it was the nerves warping and temporarily separating from my body, a necessary part of my power, but in the moment, it just hurt like a bitch. Like getting a charlie horse that just got worse and worse and had my arm curling against my chest in a useless bid to find some position that might ease the pain. I wasn’t screaming, I wasn’t , but it was almost worse to know that my new teammates were seeing me wheezing and groaning from a simple use of my power.

When the pain began to subside, I practically tore my sleeve pulling it up my arm, revealing the little bastard that had made himself at home there.

“Hey kid,” said the little shrunken-head tumor that had grown out of my body. Some part of me felt like these things should have weird, high-pitched voices, but some selective experimentation had revealed that they sounded- and acted- mostly like the people they’d come from, the ones caught in one of my bubbles.

“Hey, you good?” It wasn’t Supranova, who was silent along with the two others, it was the tumor again.

“Y- yeah,” I said, still short of breath. I took in one solid lungful of air, held it for a moment, and let it out. “Phew. So, let’s talk.”

I was holding my arm up like I was in some sci-fi movie talking on a hologram watch, which was less awkward than some of the other ways I’d had to have conversations with the tumors that had grown in other places but it still made me feel stupid.

I put on a serious face and said, “I’m with the Empire too. You don’t know my face, I’m sure, since I’m new.” Sticking to the script we’d worked out beforehand. Well, more like general notes than a literal script. We didn’t have to be too careful, since the tumors were more inclined to trust me than their originals so any weirdness or inaccuracies on my part would be smoothed over. Plus, if they did get suspicious, we could always just start over.

“I’m a cape, obviously-” the tumors were generally aware of what they were and that they weren’t actually the real person, but whatever made them trust me also seemed to keep them from freaking out about that. “-and I want to make a good impression, but I don’t know enough about the particulars of our operations, so I don’t know when or where I should be showing up.”

The shrunken head’s expression shifted, but because of the distorted features, I couldn’t tell what it was trying to express. “Uhhh, you’re really barking up the wrong tree here. I help organize rallies, protests, maybe get one of our boys out of trouble now and then, but it sounds to me like you need to talk to the big guy yourself.”

“It’s not like I have his phone number,” I said, running my free hand through my hair. “What about the rallies you mentioned? I could talk to him at one of those, right?”

“Ha! No offense, but you must be pretty green. Rallies are public for a reason, they’re meant to show the public and the politicians just how many of us there are, and force them to take us seriously. It would be bad PR to have a wanted criminal there, let alone a supervillain!”

“Plenty of guys who show up to those rallies have criminal records though, right?”

“Kid, there’s a difference between having a history and having a bounty out on you. The difference is, if they publish a story about how many people at our rallies have a history, we can spin it back at them and accuse them of character assassination and digging up long-buried dirt. But if-”

Supranova spoke up, taking a few steps toward us. “We’re getting off topic. We need to know where the Empire is going to act and when.”

The tumor tried to turn its head- an action which made my skin crawl- and said in a lower register than it had been using, “didn’t realize we had guests . You sure you trust them, kid?”

“They’re with me, it’s fine,” I said. Supranova was right, we were getting derailed. Just because the tumor was more inclined to trust me, that didn’t mean it was stupid, or that it wouldn’t clam up if it thought its secrets could be spilled to the wrong people. “I’m on a timetable here. Look, even if you don’t know what exactly the capes are up to, you have to have some idea of who I can talk to next.”

“I dunno, kid. You might be getting in over your head here. Who even got you involved in the Empire anyway? Maybe they can help sort you out.”

With a sigh, I willed the tumor to disappear, and with a twisting motion that thankfully looked worse than it felt, the shrunken head melded back into my arm. I fought the urge to scratch at the spot where it had been, to tear the damn thing out of me, but I knew in the logical part of my brain that it was completely gone, not burrowed deeper into my arm.

“Okay, I guess it’s time for round two,” I said. “What should we try next?”

---

About an hour later, it was pretty clear that either this guy wasn’t actually connected to any of the Empire Eighty-Eight’s criminal activities, or he’d had some sort of training that let him work around my power. The others were getting frustrated, and I was getting tired of using my power over and over, driving rusty railroad spikes of pain through my body each time.

I tugged my sleeves back down, more out of habit than anything. “This is bullshit. Can’t we just… wait until the Empire Eighty-Eight capes show up somewhere and deal with them then?”

Supranova raised a hand, palm-down, and waggled it back and forth. “Eh, we could . But without special access, we’d be showing up behind the Protectorate or other cape groups, and it wouldn’t be a meeting, it’d be a fight. Not to mention that capes on the bad side of the law prefer doing their work quiet; if they’re ‘showing up somewhere’, it’s because something went wrong for them, and they won’t appreciate us coming in and making things more complicated.”

“Then… where do we go from here?” I really wasn’t feeling like kidnapping ten more low-level Empire affiliates on the offhand chance that one of them might know Kaiser on a first-name basis and be able to set us up for a chat.

“We have other avenues to pursue. Don’t worry so much, Centimane, it takes time and patience to fulfill goals like ours.”

“Rome wasn’t burned in a day,” I replied, forcing on a smile.

Supranova shared a look with Pisadeira and then Tempest, and nodded to Tempest who cracked open the door and slipped outside.

When Supranova stepped forward and locked his gaze on mine, I realized that he was back to the kind of larger-than-life figure that I’d met online, no longer humble and human. He seemed at least half a foot taller than I knew him to be as he said, “the Protectorate must be laid low, yes, but that is not actually why we are here today. In fact, unless we get incredibly lucky and get a shot at one of the Big Three themselves, our interests will align with the Protectorate for this mission.”

It was unnerving hearing those words coming out of his mouth, of all people. Everyone in the cause, they hated the Protectorate for some reason or another. Personal, political, ideological… as for me, I just understood that humanity couldn’t progress unless superhumans stopped being held back by the likes of Alexandria and Eidolon. If the bright crusade wasn’t here for Armsmaster or another Protectorate cape…

“Did you hear about what happened in Belém?” I hadn’t, and after a short shake of my head, he continued, “in Brazil, our home, it used to be a sort of haven for parahumans. The population of capes was very high, but even the villains weren’t that violent. There were problems, here and there, but it was a good, peaceful place.”

I couldn’t help but wince. “And then an Endbringer attacked?”

“No. Prominent members of the cape community started going missing, or were found brutally murdered. The city’s water supply was poisoned, and a giant explosion left a crater three blocks wide. It seemed that every two days, there was a new crisis. What I’m about to tell you, we pieced together through chance encounters, scraps of evidence, and what few survivors were left.”

I stepped forward; it felt like I should sit down, maybe on the bed, but that seemed like it would be awkward.

“We call them the Dark Carnival. Nobody knows what they call themselves. They’re a group of capes and powerful humans who make a game out of death and destruction. They pick a target, a city, and from that city’s parahumans, they select participants. Those participants face off against each other and members of the Dark Carnival, sometimes in death-matches, sometimes to cause or prevent some disaster. The participants are narrowed down until only one is left, and then the Dark Carnival leaves.”

“What happens to the last participant?” I asked.

He shrugged. “We’re not sure. Sometimes they move to another city as if nothing happened. One ‘winner’ became a warlord in Africa, dominating an entire country with their powers. Some of them just… disappear.”

I thought for a moment. “Is that why you’re called the Bright Crusade? A kind of opposite to the Dark Carnival?”

Pisadeira scoffed. “It’s a dumb name if you ask me, but yeah.”

Supranova turned his head toward Pisadeira for a moment, giving him a silent stare, and then looked back to me. “You’re either taking this very well, or you haven’t realized yet.”

“Wha-” my mind raced through ten different things before putting the obvious pieces together. When I spoke, it was so quiet that even I could barely hear it. “They’re coming here.” Louder, I said, “Brockton Bay is their next target.”

“Thankfully, we figured it out before the ‘games’ started in full, so we still have a chance. The Protectorate won’t be of much help, that much we know, but this city is home to many capes. We need to gather as many of them as we can and resist the Dark Carnival. Hero or villain, solo or teams, it will take all of your city’s parahuman power to fight the likes of them.”

“I… know a few other capes. You know how I talked about the dream thing?”

“Yes, and like I said, we may be able to find a way to free you from the dream with the right people and enough time. That will come later, though. For now, we need to decide between three different leads.” Supranova gestured to Pisadeira, who moved to the door. A few seconds later, he returned with Tempest, and with a few words, Supranova invited everyone to gather around the bed laden with luggage. He reached into one of the bags and pulled out a three-ring binder, laying it open on the bed. Inside was what looked like a dossier on the Empire Eighty-Eight. “We could continue trying to contact the Empire.” He turned the page a few times until there was a new header- the Azyn Bad Boys. “There’s another major gang, a pan-Asian faction with a lot of reach. And finally-”

A few more flipped pages, and Supranova landed on a heading that wasn’t a gang, but a single person.

“Panacea is one of the capes who we have reason to believe is a participant in the Dark Carnival’s games. If we can ‘turn’ her to our side, she could be a strong ally and an insider during the events to come. We haven’t had any luck getting close to participants in the games before, but as a hero and a healer without much offensive power, she may be desperate for help.”

I scratched my upper arm. “She’s a part of a hero team, I think. I don’t know their names, but they have matching costumes and stuff. If she was looking for help, I bet she’d turn to them instead of us.”

“Maybe, especially at first,” Supranova said.

Tempest butted in, “the Dark Carnival are real bastards. For heroes, they’ll usually give them a couple of simple tests, make it hard for them to back out, and then another participant will take out their team or their family. Sometimes they have to do it themselves. Whoever her team are, they won’t last long in this game.”

We continued talking a bit more before deciding who we’d go after next. If I’d thought it was intimidating to kidnap a low-level member of the Empire and extract information from him, this was a whole other level. I was a part of the team, and we were playing a game of chess with the entire city as the board. We didn’t even have all of our pieces yet, but with a powerhouse like Supranova on our side, and the likes of Tyler, Theo, Chelsea, and Lynn likely to join the cause against the Dark Carnival, I was feeling pretty optimistic.

I am a man . I can do this.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

The ticket led me to an office building near the coast, one of the ones that was made up of a couple dozen office spaces leased out to different businesses. On the way in, I noticed that one of the rooms on the fourth floor had an unusual decoration on the window: post-it notes were used like pixels to create the same symbol that was now on my ticket.

The first floor was pretty open-plan, but the whole thing was cleared out, or had never been occupied in the first place. I ducked into a corner where I was pretty sure I was hidden from any cameras or anyone outside, and I reached into my bag and pulled out the two items that were the closest thing I had to a cape costume right now. The hooded trench coat hid my body well most of the time, and it was made of thick enough material to add some padding against attacks, and the mask… well, at least it didn’t get in the way.

Since the unused charges of my power had disappeared after I’d died in the dream, I had to rely on the changes that I’d already made. I was more flexible thanks to my double joints and the change to my neck. I had better hearing and vision, and my veins, bones, and muscles were just all-around better than a normal human. The only real weapon I had was a bone spike in my leg that I could thrust out of my foot with incredible force. Whatever was waiting for me in this trial, I would have liked to be able to adapt to it with my power, but I’d lost that chance.

After I had my costume sorted out, I figured that I should probably try to reach the room that had the symbol on the window, and it was easy enough to keep track of which side of the building that room was on while I found the staircase and made my way up to the fourth floor. Even though I knew which direction to head in, it took me a minute to find the right way through the narrow hallways. The whole thing felt wrong in a weirdly mundane way. I was following a mysterious ticket to an unknown building where I would probably have to fight someone with superpowers… but the thing that was making my skin crawl was just getting a little lost in a series of empty hallways.

When I reached the door that probably led into the marked space, I paused and pressed my ear against it. With my enhanced hearing, I could pick up incredibly subtle sounds through walls, but other noises could easily drown them out, such as the low rumbling coming from one of the rooms beyond. It could just be an air conditioning unit, but I couldn’t discount that it was something more dangerous. Either way, I could make out what sounded like a heartbeat through the noise. That reassured me that the noise wasn’t disguising a dozen men ready to jump me as soon as I walked in, since if I could pick up one person, I’d probably be able to notice others as well.

Beyond the door was another hallway that ended in a T-intersection. Thankfully, someone had left another post-it note with an arrow pointing to the left. The floor here was carpet, but it was also thin enough that I could hear a creaking with every step I took. I had to hope that it was just my enhanced hearing that picked the creaking up and that I wasn’t announcing my presence to everyone there.

The room I arrived in was pretty small, about fifteen feet square, though it felt much smaller with the man in bulky, churning power armor taking up one corner. He was obviously the source of the rumbling, with the way that the tubes curving over and behind his shoulders were putting out a fair amount of exhaust. He was standing next to an air vent set high on the wall, which was good, because the air in the room already smelled like burning gas, and I had to imagine that it would only get worse without ventilation. I thought I recognized him as one of the small-time Tinkers native to the city, but I couldn’t place a name.

“What gives?” he grunted, half-shouting over the sound of his own armor’s engine. “I passed your stupid test, I waited like you told me to. I thought I was done, so what’s with this guy?”

The person he was talking to was a woman standing more or less in the center of the empty room, facing neither of us. Her getup made her look like a carnival barker, with a red and white striped suit and a riverboat hat made of straw. She wore an upper-face mask with a skull print on it that made it look a little like half of her face was missing its skin. She also had a lapel pin shaped like some kind of rune or symbol, probably part of the same set that appeared on the tickets.

“I don’t know what the Ticketman told you, Trainwreck, but your journey’s just begun,” the woman said in a light, jovial tone. “And now that our other contestant has joined us,” she gestured to me, the motion odd and jerky, “I shall explain the rules of your next trial.”

I took a closer look at Trainwreck while he did the same to me. If I had to fight him, it couldn’t be in a straightforward brawl. The bone spike hidden in my leg might be able to puncture through his armor, but I couldn’t be sure of that, and his oversized arms probably weren’t just for show. That size came with a cost, though. Especially if we fought in this building, I could take advantage of the fact that his mobility would be limited by the corridors, and the sound put out by his power armor would let me pinpoint him pretty much anywhere in the building.

“This is going to be a race!” I glanced at the woman as she took a couple of twirling steps back, her movements still strange, almost like a marionette. She was either incredibly graceful, or there actually were strings keeping her from falling over when she stopped with a pose that reminded me of a figure skater; arms gently curving up and one leg out to the side. “There is something highly valuable that we have placed inside of the center column of a carousel, and the first of you to obtain it will be considered the winner and will be able to keep it.”

So, it wasn’t another fight, good. I had to hope that Trainwreck’s armor slowed him down, but I knew that a lot of power armor could make up for its own weight and then some. The woman continued, “it’s been animated by the powers of yours truly, and it will be making its way by here in…” she pulled a pocket watch from inside of her suit jacket with a flourish and consulted it, “about eight minutes. I’ll make sure to slow it down a little for you, but you must get on quick, because it will continue its tour of the city, regardless of whether you’re on it or not!”

She began a jerky walk towards the door, and I stepped aside; I wasn’t willing to get in her way, not when I didn’t know anything about her powers. Trainwreck didn’t seem to have the same concerns, as he began to trudge toward her, saying, “hey, we’re not done here!”

Just as the woman reached the doorway, the ground shook and there was a sound like distant thunder. I stumbled back against the wall, and while Trainwreck was apparently too stable to be affected the same way by the shaking, it seemed to give him pause long enough for the woman to swing the door shut behind her.

The shaking continued, and it was a struggle just to stay on my feet. The thunder sound didn’t let up; if anything, it grew louder, a rolling sound gathering momentum like a boulder rolling down a hill. Whatever was happening, it was bad. It had to be some kind of parahuman power, or something even worse, like a nuclear bomb going off or an Endbringer attacking.

Trainwreck plowed the door down with his shoulder, apparently not worried about leaving his back open to me, but from the way he stopped and punched the wall next to him- putting a hole in it big enough for someone to easily climb through- I took it that the woman had disappeared in the short time that we couldn’t see her. This would have been the point where I made a quiet exit, but Trainwreck was unfortunately standing in the only doorway out of here, completely filling the space and then some.

And then, of course, when I was considering how to get away without attracting my opponent’s attention, he turned to me, scraping away more drywall and causing a few ceiling tiles to fall out of place behind him. “Hhm. Never said anything about all this bullshit, thought I was done with that big ‘test’. But all I need to do is to beat you in a race? Easy enough to outrace a guy with broken legs.”

“I-” Another tremor sent me stumbling away from the wall. I could feel the building creaking as much as I heard it, and I still had no idea where that sound was coming from. Even Trainwreck had to almost shout to be heard over it.

After a couple of false starts, I found my voice. “Look, you don’t know me, right? Don’t underestimate someone with powers. Plus, this building might be coming down around us any second, and I don’t think either of us can chase down that carousel with-”

“-blah blah blah.” He interrupted me. After a moment, considering, he added, “fine. Just stay out of my way.”

I made sure to give him several seconds’ head start before following after. A combination of the fact that I was behind him and that these were pretty narrow, confined spaces meant that the exhaust from his power armor chugged out directly into my path, and I flicked my second eyelids closed to keep my eyes from stinging.

I needed to get my head in the game. Whatever was happening outside, the woman didn’t seem to have cared, so it was probably part of this race, or at least wouldn’t interfere with it. That hopefully ruled out the worst-case scenarios, so I could just focus on the task in front of me.

As soon as the path forked, I took a different route to Trainwreck, and based on the sound of his power armor moving through the building, I was making better progress than him. After a couple of dead ends, I found a stairway and stumbled my way down it, gripping the handrail tightly so the shaking ground didn’t send me tumbling down.

When I reached the lobby on the first floor, Trainwreck was still on the second. I couldn’t see anything happening through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the building itself was still shaking, so I figured it would be safest to head outside. While I moved out into the empty street, I looked in the direction of that strange sound like continuous thunder, and I saw something almost indescribable.

The Protectorate Headquarters was sinking into the water.

It wasn’t a slow process, and even though there was a lot of smoke or dust obscuring the details, I could clearly see huge chunks of metal supports and the buildings on top breaking away and falling into the bay. It was like seeing a mountain crumble. This… was this caused by the people behind the tickets?

My gut churned like I was on a roller coaster about to drop. What had I gotten myself into?

Was this my fault?

How could I survive this competition?

I didn’t know how long I stood there, staring, but it was long enough for the shaking to die down, even if the sound hadn’t. As something on the Protectorate Headquarters exploded, sending up a plume of blue fire and dark smoke, I realized that I needed to be preparing, thinking up some kind of strategy. No matter how literally earth-shaking the fall of the Protectorate Headquarters was, there was still a task in front of me if I wanted the prize at the end of this tunnel.

Trainwreck was still inside, the sound of his engine emanating from somewhere on the third or fourth floor. He’d had plenty of time to find his way out, which meant that he was there for a reason. I’d gotten outside because I wasn’t sure if the building would fall or not, but even if Trainwreck didn’t need to worry about that, he wouldn’t stay behind unless he had a plan. Was he going to jump from the building when the carousel came by?

Thinking about it, that woman had said that her power was making the carousel move and that she would be directing it here. How had she phrased it, exactly? I couldn’t remember. How fast would it be going? Could I just climb on? Maybe it wasn’t even going to stay near the ground.

Now that the shaking had died down from whatever had happened to the Protectorate Headquarters, maybe I could find some high ground like Trainwreck had. Or something else? Maybe I could put together a kind of grappling hook, or-

I was interrupted by the sight of what must have been the carousel, barreling around the corner of the street ahead. I didn’t know why, but I’d been expecting an actual merry-go-round like you’d see in carnivals, maybe pulled along by the horses that usually circle around the center. This thing shared the general shape, but it was a wicker-like construction made of thick yellow-white strands that were probably some kind of bone. Instead of horses mounted on poles that could be ridden, there were humanoid creatures buried waist-deep in the floor or hanging from the ceiling, their limbs ending in sharp-looking bone blades. The carousel itself didn’t so much slide as it flowed, carried along by some kind of current that was only visible as brief ghostly splashes impacting the sides of the thing, making it rock from side to side.

True to the woman’s word, the reckless pace of the carousel seemed to be slowing down as it neared, but its floor was on a platform easily four feet thick, and it was still going dangerously fast, not to mention how its spinning gave it a rotational speed too. I couldn’t just pull myself onto it, and I only had a few more seconds to plan anything.

I had no plan. I was standing in the path of something the size of a truck, and it was about to hit me like one.

Instinct took over, and I pushed off with my back paws, choosing to meet the carousel instead of letting it run me over. I slammed into the side of it with my belly, clawing desperately against the bone-weave until I managed to pull myself over the edge. For a moment, I laid with my arms and legs splayed out, panting. What- what just happened? It was like I’d been inside of a dream for a moment.

I didn’t have time to consider, because one of those skeletons noticed me and swung its bladed forearms down towards me.

I turned and curled my upper body away from the strike, and the blades missed me by a hair, slicing into my trench coat. I was able to get my feet under me and stagger away, out of its range, until I could grab onto one of the pillars lining the outside of the carousel.

The structure itself was shifting from side to side beneath me as it flowed along, making it hard to keep my balance. I had just managed to get into a somewhat stable crouch when the whole thing shook violently, and I stumbled forward, nearly falling off the side. Was that Trainwreck? He would have jumped onto the roof from his spot inside the building if my guess was right.

With both of us on, I could feel the carousel begin to pick up speed, and I held on for dear life as we hurtled toward a building, only to turn at the last moment, the carousel tilting violently. It really was like some kind of amusement park ride, where the challenge was to keep your balance.
The carousel clipped something solid on the road, and the impact sent the entire thing spinning in the opposite direction. I steadied myself and took a closer look toward the center of the carousel: my objective, the pillar in the middle. It might have been hard to just make it there without falling or being thrown off, but there were plenty of obstacles in my way. Now that I had the chance to take a closer look, I could see that whatever those skeleton things were, they weren’t human. Their skulls were oblong, almost like an alien monster, and what I’d thought were just forearm bones sharpened into blades looked more like long, narrow pincers. Probably still sharp.

At least with the more monstrous skeletons to fight, I didn’t have to worry about punching someone’s great-great-grandmother, since this carousel hadn’t been made by scavenging from the graveyard or anything.

There wasn’t a clear way in towards the middle without getting in range of a bunch of those skeletons, and I didn’t have time to circle around and find a better way in. I couldn’t just run past them either, since the uneven floor and the way the whole thing was shifting around meant that I was as likely to fall into their arms as to stay out of their reach.

By this point, the carousel had sped back up a significant amount and was plowing through a more populated area. Buildings were flying by on either side, and car horns were blaring in panic. The longer this went on, the more likely that innocent people would end up getting hurt.

As I tried desperately to work on a plan, there was a horrible metal shriek and the carousel shifted dramatically, nearly throwing me forward into the arms of a skeleton. I lost my grip on the bone pillar I was using as an anchor, but I was able to scramble away before the skeleton sliced me up with its lunge forward. As I grabbed a pair of bones in the floor as handholds, the sound of wind whipping by and the massive creaking of bones failed to hide the screams that were quickly left behind.

Okay, think. I needed to get to the center column, and soon. Did I have options? Just a glance at the outside world showed me that we were moving too fast for me to grab or use something from the environment; as soon as I hopped off, it would be nearly impossible to get back on.

The carousel shook again, this time accompanied by a wet crunch from above. Trainwreck, fighting his way to the center from the top. Could I take advantage of that somehow?

I couldn’t think, couldn’t plan in any intelligent way. I needed to act, though. Damn it!

The carousel shifted, raising the side I was on and shoving me toward the middle. I seized on that momentum and took off in a stumbling run forward. There were two skeletons coming out of the floor and one coming out of the ceiling in front of me, and they were staring at me with those empty eye sockets. As I ran, I crouched low to the ground, speeding forward on all fours, my claws digging into the bones and giving me leverage. I juked closer to the skeleton on the left, getting inside its guard and brushing by its spine. As it failed to hit me, my tail slid along the underside of its ribs. I ran until I was past their reach. The carousel shifted again, spinning even faster from some impact, and I nearly fell to the side and into the reach of a different skeleton. I had to keep moving forward, had to get to the center before the unpredictable shifting got me killed.

Two skeletons stood in my way next, and I didn’t have time to edge my way around out of their range. I’d managed to dodge past a set of them before, and I’d just have to hope that I could do the same again here. How did I do it last time? Hard to remember, it was a blur. Stay close, stay low, something like that. With that plan, I dove forward, but the floor fell away from my feet for a moment, and I stumbled forward, colliding with a skeleton’s oversized ribcage. My hands found grip on two of the ribs, and in a moment of panic, I braced my right leg against its pelvis.

If I had any chance at taking down a skeleton, it would probably be by attacking the spine where they connected to the carousel. Not only would it rob them of their source of leverage, but if I could break a whole skeleton free of the rest of the carousel, it might just fall apart. Maybe.

As my reinforced bone spike shot out, the skeleton raked its blades against my back. Its attack felt stronger than it probably was because the jarring sensation of bone-against-bone vibrated through me from my own attack, and the sound of my flesh shredding was accompanied by a crackling bang. The skeleton with its arms almost wrapped around me just stiffened all at once, and then it began to melt into ash, including the ribcage that I was holding onto.

I almost immediately stumbled again, but through some miracle, I managed to keep my footing. Through the noise- the honking, the sound of the carousel itself, and the impacts as it ran over cars and rammed into buildings- I could hear Trainwreck somewhere above me, smashing his way through, though I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where he was. He definitely wasn’t at the middle already, which meant that the way the carousel was moving was probably affecting him as much as it was affecting me.

A skeleton to the side reached out, spearing its blades toward me, but it fell short. I took this momentary reprieve to try and reach behind to my back to feel out how bad the injuries were, but by the way that my shoulder muscles failed to cooperate, I could guess that it was pretty bad. I wouldn’t be able to move my arms as much anymore, and I knew that the numbness would soon give way to some very gnarly pain. I couldn’t stop now though, had to keep moving. I really wished that I could have used a charge of my power, maybe to help deal with the blood loss or something, but that wasn’t the world I was living in.

There were sirens now, and plenty of distant shouting. It was hard to focus, but I’d thrown myself at the metaphorical tiger, and now that I had it by the tail, there was no way I was letting go. I tried baiting the next skeleton from outside of its range, but it reached further than I expected and I wasn’t able to dodge back in time before it sliced two long gashes down my left leg. It hurt, bad, but I blinked away the tears of pain and kicked out with the bone spike in my other leg. It was the one weapon that I really had right now, but it worked. My spike contacted one of the skeleton’s arms and shattered it from the force of impact.

I moved forward, and this time, the shifting of the carousel was on my side. I was able to close in quickly, taking advantage of the angle with the skeleton’s broken arm. To make up for any lack of power in my arms, I wrapped both of them around its spinal column while I lined my right foot up with the base.

Once more, my bone spike shot out, and as it shattered the root of the skeleton, my right leg cramped up. Somehow worse than the pain of being cut into, I could feel every nerve in my leg lighting up at once. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe, I could only hunch over and press my hands against my throbbing leg as if I could somehow press the pain out.

I must have overused the muscles that drove the spike, that was all I could think. But that didn’t help me, didn’t ease the pain, didn’t let me move. I forced air into my lungs and wretched my focus away from my leg. Trainwreck must have been making steady progress across the top, which meant that every second I spent recovering was a second that I was falling behind.

How long before I could use the bone spike without this pain? Was it like a sprain, or was something torn? My power shouldn’t have given me something like this if it could backfire too bad, but ever since I’d gotten powers, things had been weird in a lot of ways.

After a few seconds, or maybe more than that, the pain had faded down to the same dull throb that the rest of my body was feeling right now. I needed to move forward, and I’d figure it out when I had to.

There were skeletons between me and the center pillar, and they were grouped together tight enough that if I tried to engage one, two others would be able to get to me too. There were even some coming out of the ceiling, meaning that I couldn’t try to go up and over. If I circled around, I’d have to get through more skeletons too, and I’d be losing time.

I could see the pillar with more detail now; it wasn’t a solid piece, but like the rest of the carousel, it was woven together with yellow-white bones, leaving some holes. It seemed like there were multiple layers overlapping, but if I could get close enough, I might be able to find somewhere to reach through.

As I took a step forward, the whole carousel lurched dramatically. It was like I was standing on top of a car going at highway speeds, and the car had run into a brick wall. I went flying at the skeletons, completely uncontrolled, flailing wildly. I felt something long and sharp slice along my side, around to my back, and my head got a hard knock that blacked out my vision for a moment.

I was definitely feeling the effects of blood loss. Despite my enhanced body, I just didn’t have as much strength in my body as normal, and my thoughts were starting to feel slower too. Once everything stopped moving and I came back to my senses, I was slumped up against something at an awkward angle, my legs lying against the floor but elevated above my pelvis. It took a moment to process that the carousel must have stopped and was sitting tilted. Which meant that I was leaning up against…

The idea of leaning against a skeleton who might skewer me any moment was enough to jolt me into motion, and I turned to find, to my relief, that I was only pressing my back into the pillar at the center of the carousel.

The pillar… that contained the goal of this race…

I scrambled up, though my aching knees nearly didn’t support my weight. This close, I could see something inside, but there was so little light that I couldn’t make out any details. I had several false starts of trying to reach my hand in, only for an inner mesh to block it. Finally, I found an angle that worked and reached all the way in. Instead of something I could just grab, there was a smooth, flat surface inside, cold to the touch. I thought it was also a bit slimy, but that could have been some of my own blood on my hand. I tried to find an edge or something, but all I could feel was the same smooth surface. Though, I could just make out a reddish glow from around where I was touching.

“Hey! You there!”

I jerked my hand back and looked around for the source of the voice. Now that I was actually paying attention, I noticed that the carousel had indeed stopped moving, somewhere downtown. We were in the middle of the street, with half-smashed cars shoved off to either side and deep furrows dug into the road in random places. More important than that, though, was Glory Girl, a local hero who could absolutely kick my ass even with my power, staring me down from a combat stance that probably wasn’t as practical as it would be on the ground instead of floating a few inches above it. Behind her, Trainwreck struggled with his armor. It looked like Glory Girl had disabled its legs, and had somehow shoved one of his oversized arms down a manhole. He probably wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.

I put up my hands to show that I wasn’t hostile, and tried to take a step back. Unfortunately, it turned into more of a stumble because of the uneven terrain and because my body was far from a hundred percent right now after fighting through those skeletons.

The skeletons all seemed to be gone, for some reason. Was it because I won the race by making it to the middle, or did Glory Girl do something? I assumed that sudden stop was her smashing into the carousel, and maybe that… disabled it, or something.

Either way, I had to get out of here. I had to tend to my injuries, and if I could do that without explaining myself to anyone, even better.

“Explain yourself, now,” Glory Girl said. “What is this thing, and why were you riding it through traffic?”

“I…” I needed to lie, obviously, but what could I say that would convince her to let me go?

In the end, I didn’t need to come up with anything, because at that moment, the column at the center of the carousel burst open, revealing a figure coated in a reddish-white fluid. Humanoid, but clearly not human. Its red eyes, the only feature I could clearly make out, flicked to Glory Girl, and then to me. It didn’t look away.

It took a step toward me, and in that moment, I moved, and so did Glory Girl.

Chapter Text

The thing took a step toward me, and I flinched back – just one step, heel scraping against something, and I almost lost my footing. I stumbled, but whatever the creature was, it maintained its gaze on me. It didn’t look away. It just kept staring. More and more eyes bloomed in its face, crimson and glowing, unblinking as they all locked onto me. Too many eyes – some bigger, some smaller, some round, or long, rectangular stripes that looked like someone had tacked on a few LED strips to their face as some kind of juvenile prank– but what really unsettled me was just how soulless this gaze was.

I was staring into the eyes of a machine, and not those of a living being.

I gulped. My heart thundered in my chest, and I could feel sweat break out on my forehead.  Something hard and constricting wrapped itself around my heart, and suddenly, I found it difficult to draw breath. ‘Get it together, Theo,’ I told myself. I forced the breath out through my nose and glanced toward Glory Girl, trying to ignore that the thing followed my every move, and even tilted its torso and head to keep its gaze locked on my face. 

In the single heartbeat that had passed ever since that thing had stumbled out of the carousel, she had already started to drift closer and around us, circling to a position next to or behind me. I didn’t know what she was planning, but her body was tense, and her lips were clenched into a thin line. She looked ready to pounce at any moment, looking at us with icy eyes. I hoped her attention was directed toward that… thing, and not me.

"What is this thing?" Glory Girl snapped. “Who are you? What did you do? I'm not asking again.”

“I—” I took a breath, trying to keep my voice steady. “I don’t know. I’m new. I saw it, and… I just tried to help. I don’t know what’s happening.”

An ear-piercing, grinding noise broke my train of thought, but it was just Trainwreck trying to wrangle himself free. It did not look like he was succeeding anytime soon, but whatever I – or Glory Girl, given her slowly shifting facial expression – wanted to say next died in my throat when the creature shifted again.   

It lurched forward, moving so fast I couldn’t react, struggled even to follow its movement with my eyes, and then we were suddenly just inches apart. From one blink to the other, it was right in my face, staring at me with these unblinking mechanical eyes that hurt to look into from this distance. Our noses were almost touching, and I felt the whisper of the creature’s breath –  wet and sour-sweet – against my skin. 

I couldn’t help but think that the nose looked oddly human, even though it was buried and dripping with muck to the point that nearly all its features were obscured. It was as if it had been smeared in a mix of jelly-like goo that refused to let go even as it dripped and ran down from its body and onto me. The muck felt and smelled surprisingly nice, and when a puddle of goo that’d splattered onto my face from the sudden lurch dripped across my panting mouth, I tasted sweetness, citrus, and iron.

My stomach twisted, and I forced my mouth shut. 

“Okay, don’t. Move,” Glory Girl said. “Whatever this thing is, it looks dangerous. Don’t set it off.”

I swallowed the sarcastic remark on my tongue. ‘Okay, Theo, don’t panic,’ I tried to reassure myself. ‘This thing is totally not creepy and not right in my personal space, but it has to be on my side, right? It has to be the reward, and it hasn’t attacked me yet. Fuck, just why does this have to happen to me?’

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl when the thing raised one hand and reached for my face. I didn’t interrupt it. I couldn’t move. I wasn’t even scared, for some reason, but with my stretching thoughts stumbling over each other like a landslide, I found my limbs frozen in place. And so I just looked, my gaze alternating between staring into those hypnotizing crimson eyes and at these all-too-human fingers inching toward my mask. They were long, slender – metal instead of flesh, or so I thought – and yet, they had something oddly delicate about them, despite being all smeared and gunky.   

The next moment, everything happened at once. Time snapped back to normal, the fingers closed in on my face, and then Glory Girl shoulder-checked herself in between us, grabbing and yanking the thing’s arm away from me before anyone could react. The creature’s head immediately snapped around to look at her, and its other hand promptly wrapped itself around the heroine’s arm. It tried to dislodge Glory Girl’s grip on its arm, but the hero didn’t even budge.

“I don’t know what your g-” Glory Girl growled, before she was cut off by the other stone dropping onto the mess that was this situation. I’d used the brief scuffle between the two as the distraction that it was, and tried to back off to a safe distance. I didn’t want to run away. I just wanted some distance to gather myself and assess the situation. Of course, as I was slowly backing away, the first step I took had me stumble again.

This time, I fell flat on my ass, and that was what saved me. 

A manhole cover sailed over my head, spinning through the air like a deranged Frisbee, and close enough that I could still feel the airflow brushing against my scalp. Glory Girl didn’t notice it, and it moved too fast for me to react, and so it slammed into her unguarded back like a cannonball. 

The impact was louder than it should be, accompanied by the groaning of splintering metal. I didn’t know how good the metal was that they used to make manhole covers, but it practically folded in on itself from the sheer force before ricocheting to the side and crashing into the flank of an upturned car. 

‘If that had hit my head, I’d be dead,’ I thought with a spike of dread. My heart sank once more, but to her credit, Alexandria Junior didn’t even flinch. Then she suddenly screamed in what I thought was equal shock and pain, stumbling back and away from the creature. I could only watch as she cringed in on herself, hands clutched around her midsection, and I had just enough time to register the red of blood and the torn section of her costume before she stumbled over a bar and collapsed, twitching and spasming. 

She didn’t get back up again, even when I stumbled back to my feet and scrambled over to her. Someone laughed loudly, and it took me a moment to realize it was Trainwreck, still busy freeing his hand from the pothole in the ground. “Nice play,” he called over to us. “Serves the glory bitch right.”

I ignored him. 

The creature stood over Glory Girl, moving. “Get away from her!” I shouted, nearly stumbling over my words in my panic. I didn’t– I couldn’t–  “Stop!”

I was prepared to tackle the thing, but to my surprise, it immediately backed off. I could feel its gaze on me as I fell on my knees next to Glory Girl and grabbed her by the shoulders to hold her down. She was still spasming uncontrollably, her eyes rolling around wildly in their sockets, and I had to tear my gaze from her foaming mouth to check her body. The wound on her stomach wasn’t deep, just a few bloody scratches.

‘Poison?’ I thought. ‘Fuckfuckfuckfuck, what do I do now?’ 

My heart clenched in my chest again, and I gasped for air.

I had never been a fanboy or anything, never particularly cared about her, but this… If I didn’t do anything… I couldn’t just let her die. She didn’t deserve this. But… there was nothing I could do. My powers were useless against this kind of stuff, weren’t they? 

My gaze flickered over to Trainweck. “I- Hey! Do you have something that can help her?”

The Tinker stopped trying to wrench his arm free, caught my desperate glance, and balked. “Me? Are you fucking talking to me, kid? Why would I have anything to help this bitch, let alone lift a finger for her?”

“Well,” I hedged. “Uh–”

Trainwreck’s arm – or a part of it, at least – finally came free with the shriek of tearing metal, and a shower of screws and tiny parts. He took a moment to scowl at his stump before looking back at me.

“No kid, fuck Glory Hole, and fuck you, especially! You just booted me out! Why not ask your new little pet?”

“Then why did you help me?” I shouted angrily.

Trainwreck gave me the finger. “Tried to hit both of you, and I missed. Lucky you, fuckface. Well, you owe me one, now. A big one. Have fun with your toy, and a prison cell if you don’t get the fuck out of here now.” And with that, he heaved himself around and began to drag himself away with his remaining hand.

My reply died on my lips when Glory Girl buckled beneath me, nearly throwing me off. I cursed and looked toward the creature. ‘Shit. Here goes nothing.’ 

“Hey, you,” I said. Red eyes immediately snapped toward me, followed by a slowly turning head. “Can you do something, please? You poisoned her. Do you have an antidote?”

The creature tilted its head.

“She can’t die,” I ground out. “Save her!”

The creature seemed to sway for a moment before bowing its head. I tried not to flinch when it knelt next to me and placed its hand on Glory Girl’s abdomen. I didn’t see what it – perhaps she, I realized when I noticed the contours of the creature’s chest – did besides placing her hand onto the wound, but the heroine stopped twitching, and eventually relaxed. Her head rolled back, but her chest still moved.

“W-will she be fine?” I forced myself to ask quietly.

The creature nodded, and it felt like an invisible weight dropped from my chest. I exhaled, falling back on my knees, and looked around. 

It was only now, in the silence and without any distraction, that I could properly take in the sight around me. The street was a mess. It looked like a warzone, but the only thing cutting through the silence was my breath, the splatter of a smashed fire hydrant ejecting water into the air, and the wail of sirens all over the city as the dust settled around me. Up ahead, I caught Trainwreck dragging himself around a corner and out of sight. 

There was no one but us around now.

Then I spotted an unmoving hand poking out from beneath an upturned and utterly smashed car, and a much smaller one next to it, and my stomach rebelled. I barely had time to tear off my mask before I vomited all over my knees and Glory Girl.

“Urgh,” I groaned, retching. “F-fuck.” I clenched my eyes shut so I wouldn’t have to see the sight of my failure, and wiped my face with my sleeve. Suddenly, a slimy hand locked around my jaw and turned my head. When I opened my eyes, I stared right into the creature’s face. Once again, we were inches apart, and all of her eyes bore into me.

Slimy lips cracked open, and then a soft female voice whispered, so silent that I could barely hear it: “Imprint complete.” I wasn’t even startled anymore when the creature dropped to one knee and bowed her head in submission. “I await your orders, master.”

“Great, just great,” I murmured blankly, too done to say or think anything, wobbling to my feet. I laughed, short and bitter. “Good for you. Have a cookie.” 

Glory Girl shifted at my feet and murmured something. Her eyes fluttered, but they didn’t open. I needed to get out of here, quickly, and so, without saying anything, I simply turned and limped away.  

I was convinced there had only been a handful of days in my life where I’d felt as miserable, both physically and mentally, as I did now. I wasn’t just hurting; I was drained, scraped raw inside and out. Every breath felt like it took effort. And I was so tired, I didn’t even have the energy to fake it otherwise. Not that I’d ever been particularly good at faking anything.

I’d stopped crying a few minutes ago. Not because I’d calmed down. I was simply too exhausted to keep going. Every inch of my body hurt. Everything ached. I was filthy, torn up, and bleeding, limping through the near-empty streets behind the city center like some vagrant… covered in god-knows-what. 

No matter how hard I tried, my mind kept dragging me back to the scene of the carnage. Again and again. Like it wanted to rub my nose in it – to remind me that all of it, every shattered piece, was on me. Because I’d signed up for this. Because I’d wanted an escape from the privileged shitshow that was my embarrassment of a life. 

And this is how it had turned out.

In a roundabout way, it reminded me of the many other points in my life where I’d been at my lowest, but especially the worst ones. Like the day I’d decided to stop calling my Father ‘Dad’, or the day when Mom hadn’t come home for dinner as she’d promised… because she’d died for ‘the cause’. 

The fucking cause that was responsible for so much pain and misery in my life. All because it demanded that I fit in.

I gritted my teeth when another dull ache surged through my ankle, and my leg threatened to give out beneath me. Immediately, there was a stabilizing hand on my arm, and I didn’t have to look to know who it was. Of course, it was her – the thing, the woman, the whatever following me like a ghost. She never spoke, never touched me unless I was about to fall, and she would always step back immediately after.

God, I just wanted a hug.

I felt so awful . I just wanted to be held and comforted by a girl who cared about me for who I was, and not because Father had told her to charm me up like that one time in Middle School so I’d eventually ‘man up’.

I thought about Lynn and Chelsea, and I just wanted to bury my face in one of their chests and sob until I passed out. The fantasy almost made me bark out a humourless laugh. It was ridiculous. Both Chel and Lynn were as shit with empathy as callous people could be. Neither of them was any good at comforting. But at least they’d try, and their awkward fumbling would beat crying alone in a dark corner so no one saw my tears, before stuffing my face at the nearest burger joint to eat my worries away.

But even if I wanted to, my phone was toast. I looked like hell. And my minion still had goo sliding off her skin like she’d stepped out of a sci-fi horror film. Going home wasn’t an option either. No way I could explain this to Nessa or any of our service staff. No way I could show up at either of their doors like this

But I’d… I’d… yeah, once all of this here was settled, I’d go and visit Chel. Maybe she’d let me crash at her place for the night. Maybe… maybe she’d be able to cheer me up a little. 

I mulled the thought over in my head as I crossed the street and dipped into a familiar side alley. I’d never been to her place. Chel didn’t like visitors. She was weirdly private about it. Never offered sleepovers like Lynn did, subtly veiled in her jokes about my virginity. 

I didn’t think I’d ever seen Chel give out her address to anyone , but I knew where she lived, and I knew why she kept it to herself. I knew about the five locks on her door. About how obsessed she was with keeping her space spotless. I knew she didn’t want me seeing what was outside that room. 

I knew that she wouldn’t like me showing up at her doorstep, and find out that her Dad was a miserable hoarder, and their house a trash-filled dump… but she was my girlfriend. She was supposed to be there for me when I needed it, right? And right now, I didn’t know where else to go.

I sighed and shook off the thought, then glanced at the girl-thing trailing behind me like a shadow. “First,” I muttered, “I need to get us clean and figure out what the hell to do with you.”

She just looked at me, unblinking and silent.

“Hey, uh… you.” I glanced around to make sure we were alone. The alley was dark and still. Good. “Who are you? Do you have a name?

A slight tilt of her head. Then, finally, she shook it – once, sharply.

“You were… made, right?” I asked. “You… need to have some kind of name. Didn’t anyone ever call you anything?”

Another pause. Then, in a whisper that barely stirred the air, she answered:

“Sentinel 366A. Premium model. A proper designation is expected to be granted by the master, but not required.”

For some reason, that word hit like acid. ‘Master.’ I swallowed hard. “Who… who’s the master?”

Instead of replying, the creature simply sank to one knee again and bowed her head at me. I stared. A hollow feeling opened in my gut and spread like frost. The meaning was obvious. She meant me. There was something wrong with my tongue. It felt thick, sour, and I couldn’t swallow it away. “So… you want me to name you?”

She nodded once.

My throat tightened. I almost said ‘please stop’, but the words wouldn’t come. I couldn’t deal with that. Not now. “I’ll… think about it.”

“As you wish, master,” she whispered. It made me feel sick all over again, but maybe it was just an exacerbation of the lingering effects from my earlier fight.

“I, uh… okay. What can you do? Abilities? Powers?”

She rose slowly. Some of her eyes flicked toward mine, almost hesitant. Eventually, she stepped closer to me and began to whisper, “This unit is programmed with extensive bodyguard and combat parameters. I exist to serve and protect. I am capable of adaptation, skill acquisition, and limited self-repair. If provided material, I can create TinkerTech equipment for you–”

“Wait, what?” I interrupted. “You can make Tinkertech? You’re a Parahuman?”

The creature nodded, but it looked unsure to me. Her body was tense, almost like she didn’t quite understand the question.

“Explain,” I said, more forcefully.

“This premium unit comes with a basic equipment cache and lifetime repairs. In the event of death or critical damage, I will be automatically recalled via an indestructible teleport beacon to my creator for restoration.”

A thought crept into my head, and I couldn’t make it leave. Creator, she’d said. Creator. Was I staring at a person? Someone – some Parahuman, a person – who’d been ‘harvested’, conditioned, gutted, and rebuilt into this?

The bile hit before I could stop it. I turned and threw up against the wall, gasping. When I wiped my mouth, she was still standing nearby, shifting awkwardly, watching. She looked… afraid.

I waved her off. “I’m fine.” 

I wasn’t. ‘Oh God.’

“So, what, urgh, what can you do?” I muttered. “What are your powers?” 

Again, the creature seemed to ponder the question. “Explosives,” she eventually whispered. Couldn’t she talk louder? “I… understand bombs. Conventional. Exotic. I see how they’re built, how to trigger them. I instinctively understand catalysts and ignition systems.”

‘Oh great,’ I thought mutely. ‘Of course. Of course I’d get a goddamn bombmaker. Tinkertech bombs and a brainwashed servant… just fuck my life, will you?’ 

“Anything else?” I asked, already dreading the answer.

This time, the creature pondered even longer, and when she spoke-whispered again, her voice was laced with confusion and insecurity. “What does the master wish me to do?” she asked finally. “I am capable of all functions required of me… or can acquire them. I retain all necessary biological components for sexual gratification.”

“What? No! God, no—don’t say that!” I pinched the bridge of my nose and yanked off the ruined coat. “We’ll… continue this interview later. I’m not in the headspace.”

“Understood, master.”

“Don’t – ugh. Look, can you follow me? Quietly. Stay out of sight. Where I’m going, people can’t ever see you.”

“Yes, master.”

Her body rippled. I blinked – and realized I could barely see her anymore. With my enhanced eyes, I could see how the light shimmered slightly around where her shape ought to be. Not invisible, exactly, but… blended. Like a chameleon.

I sighed, stepping out of the alley and glancing toward the hill where my target sat in all of its dull glory: Immaculata. Was it stupid to try and break into my own school on a weekend to find spare clothes and a shower for both of us?

Seriously, who the fuck cared, at this point?

I paused when a thought struck me and turned around. “Wait, what did you do to Glory Girl? The hero.. earlier. The one in white. Do you have any hidden weapons?”

The creature blinked back into existence, still dripping with slime, but distinctly female. Slender and elegant, and most likely shredded with cybernetics like a Borg from Star Trek. A part of me dreaded to know what she’d look like without the gunk. 

Slowly, she spread her arms, and I watched as they seemed to split at the forearms, revealing gleaming, curved blades that almost scraped the ground when they were fully unsheathed. Colorless fluids coated the blades. 

Poison.