The broadcast kept on showing terrible, awful things, one after the other. Bob Klein looked back at Agatha… or Alexa? He wasn’t sure anymore. He felt incredibly ashamed. He had contributed to this… endless torture and misery. He didn’t feel like a good person anymore. They were the baddies. He took off his Officer’s hat and put it down on the seat. If he didn’t get fired, if they didn’t shut Tartarus down he would quit working there regardless. What hero Resonance had done to Alexa in the simulation was absolutely, irrefutably evil.

He didn’t want to look at his crimes anymore. Bob closed the broadcast on his watch holo panel and flicked it to the Market tracker app. The S-credits were already plummeting in value. Whoever Alexa was - a villain or an auditor, she was right. No human on Earth would trust the Superstate from this point onward. The doomsday broadcast was used to create literal economic doomsday, already hemorrhaging the global stock market.

He quickly flicked through the news blogs. He was the first person to sell all of his credits and this had already been noticed. The more various news networks screamed that everything was fine, the worst the selling panic became. Had he triggered the market crash by dumping all of his family’s savings into gold? Bob wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

The train lights flickered.

“Open Pandora!” Alexa said.

“Huh?”

“Now, please! Horrible things are about to happen.” Alexa looked at Bob with determination. “Open it if you want to live! We’ve just pissed off some very important supers! They’re coming to murder us! Now Bob!” She rushed towards him, trying to hide herself in his much larger body.

A dark portal flashed into existence behind Bob.

All of the windows in the train exploded, the train screeching to a halt. Alexa slammed into Officer Bob and both of them were flung into his portal by the force of her impact and then by a tremendous release of power. The dark portal snapped shut just as the world caught fire.

Nonpareil appeared in the extremely mangled train car. He hung in the middle of the train, eyes blazing with brilliant light.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, GIRL?! WHERE ARE YOU?!” He screamed as the automated train groaned. Everything around the hero burned and melted. He must have flown into the train at top speed without even slowing down. He was angry. He must have checked the value of the S-credits, stopped looking at her broadcast earlier than anyone else.

Alexa and Bob were floating in a dim space, held up by two-dimensional tentacles, existing somewhere right beneath reality, still able to see what was happening in the burning train, albeit much dimly.

“Holy shit. It’s Nonpareil.” Bob whimpered. He was facing one of the windows at the moment of the explosion, so he was bleeding all over from lacerations made by glass shards.

“Yeah. Kittening Nonpareil.” Alexa sighed.

“Kittening?” Officer Bob asked, wincing in pain. He wasn’t having a good time.

“Trying to keep it PG, yo. Gota stay cool. Look!” Alexa pointed at the burning train interior. A doorway flashed open in space and a man wearing a gray coat, round spectacles and a wide brimmed hat stepped out.

“Where is the girl?” Three spoke, his shoes and coat instantly catching fire.

“You…” Nonpareil growled, blinking. “Who are you? What are you doing here?!”

“I am the hand of the future. Where. Is. The. Girl?” Three spoke calmly with his awful nasally accent as his clothes burned. His fake face caught fire, starting to melt away.

“I know not of you! Be gone, villain!”

“I reckon we should run now. I think they’re gonna have a turf war. You can move real fast in your weird shadow-world, right?” Alexa grabbed Bob’s hand. “I know you can go inside it and reemerge safely elsewhere. Take us as far away as possible please. Preferably in the direction of lake Eerie please.”

Bob nodded. He didn’t let go of Alexa. She wouldn't survive inside of his shadow-realm without him. His job was to take her out of Tartarus and he would finish it at the very least. He owed her that much.

“Okay.” He took a step forward and in that step he moved across several kilometers of space in an instant, travelling like a ghostly shadow through solid rock, heading towards the great North American lake.

“Get out of my way, whoever you are! I know she was just…” Nonpareil growled.

“Nullify!”

Eye lasers struck from Three and from Nonpareil at the same time as the hero responded to a clear attack. An unstoppable force met an immovable object. Something that could erase anything met something that could not be deleted. The universe shuddered.

Bob felt something truly horrific coming from behind him. He stepped forward again, as far as his shadow-jump could take him. He felt his body getting strained past its limits. He wanted to live. Wanted to survive. He knew, felt something coming through his power. Whatever was catching up to him would shred him whole. He pushed as far as he possibly could all at once and something tore in his head, a fractal pattern sparkling in his mind, burning and dimming.

Alexa and Bob were flung out of the shadow realm falling down onto the shore of lake Eerie. They fell out of the air, rolling across a crystalline, white glass pebbled beach. Many thousands of kilometers in the distance the world flashed with blinding light as a whole section of a mountain chain vanished out of existence. A gargantuan mushroom cloud rose into the sky, spreading out across the stratosphere.

“Well this is very kittens.” Alexa muttered looking at the mushroom cloud. “Wowzah. Have you ever seen an explosion that big, Bobby? I sure haven’t. This is some tzar bomba kittery right there.”

Bob didn’t feel so good. He groaned, heaving. The fractal pattern inside his mind darkened as his power had strained past its absolute limit. He turned and looked at the enormous explosion. He was alive. He did it. He escaped. His eyes watered, he fell onto the pebbles and knew no more.

“Bobby-sama?” Alexa poked the passed out Tartarus Officer. “Ah. You went too far all at once. It’s okay, you deserve a nap now. Take it easy. Thank you for saving me.” She petted him.

She stood up and stared at the enormous explosion until the blastwave reached her, flinging her silver hair up in the air and she laughed. She did it. She had triggered the wrath of gods and titans and managed to escape with her life. She had passed between Scylla and Charybdis like greek hero Odysseus so long ago. She had avoided both Three and Nonpareil and made them butt heads.

. . .

Three teenagers and a teacher sat inside the 50’s diner looking at each other, exchanging a rapid, inaudible conversation.

Suddenly they all froze.

[She’s out! She’s close! I can feel her!] Martin stood up. [She’s alive and well! They didn’t destroy her mind! Woohoo!]

[This isn’t going to end well.] Ember whimpered looking up at Martin and Cottie. [None of this is going to end well.]

[Oh psh. You’re too negative, Em. I mean yeah, she embarrassed the hell out of the Superstate, but it's not like she blew up… Wait. What the fuck is that?! Oh my G...] Martin saw what Alexa was seeing.

The catastrophe-barrier shield became visible over the town of Saint Mary as the blastwave reached it, the surface of the enormous dome rippling here and there akin to a soap bubble magnified a million times. The windows of the SCA diner rattled in their frames, the door flew open and swung shut. The bell of Saint Mary’s cathedral started to ring once again, swinging back and forth. Dust and debris flew across town. An enormous mushroom cloud became visible in the distance.

A local news anchorman suddenly came up on the tv screens. He looked somewhat dishevelled, but there was deep worry in his eyes.

“Please remain calm! Everything is under control. Nobody died in the explosion. This was… uh… just an incident that the heroes could not prevent. Yes I know it looks very big and all, but the heroes will come and help anyone who needs help. I promise. Please trust the Superstate. Do not sell S-credits. I repeat, do not sell S-credits!” He looked desperate. “The orbital ring was not hacked! I repeat, Titanomachy is under SCA control! Your money is perfectly safe with the heroes!”

Mr. Canard was already clicking his watch. [Yea. I don’t think so, SCA mouthpiece. I’m selling off whatever compensation I got left over for helping arrest Alexa right now, before the price plummets any further.]

Ember tapped the SCA logo on her armour in an attempt to get to her account. It didn’t respond to her. Her own suit didn’t even recognize her own thumb print! [Shit. Wait... Maybe this is a good thing. Silver lining. Maybe they won’t sentence me for my crimes if they can’t find me.]

She looked around frantically at the world that was seemingly falling apart. [Nobody knows what I look like now... I’ll just remain Allinna Kettleburn. Dad won’t expose me. I haven’t told him anything. Does he know? No. He's too busy looking for villains plotting crimes across half of North America and probing that damn cathedral for information. How did he not see that fucking giant explosion coming? Could the SCA not stop it? Why? How?] Her thoughts jumped all over in panic. [Dad probably doesn’t know anything... He never pays attention to anything in the house. He didn’t even help me when Cottie broke down my door. God, I can never go back home! Where am I going to live now? Who else knows what I look like...]

[I know what you look like.] Cottie looked at Ember.

[Please don’t expose me!] Ember whimpered, wringing her hands. [Please. I’ll be a good person. I’ll be the bestest human being ever, I promise! I'll start over!]

Martin didn’t feel like Ember could be a good person, but the current events sure made it quite impossible for her to be Ember or Resonance now.

[Sup, guys did ya miss me? Look at this big bada boom. It’s pretty cool, eh?] Alexa’s mental comment injected itself into the trio’s conversation. She sent them visuals of the colossal explosion cloud from her vantage point on the lakeshore.

[Meet me in front of the cathedral, k? I’ll be over in a jiffy. Okki... maybe two jiffies? Might have to take an S-shuttle taxi over. Ugh. I think I’m on the wrong side of the lake. I’m freaking far, okay? Okay.]

[How did you make that explosion?] Cottie asked.

[I didn’t. Had nothing at all to do with this, honestly. They can’t pin this on me. I was an innocent bystander...]

[Since when are you innocent of anything?] Ember sent. [What are you going to blow up next? The Moon? The Sun? Is there no end to your insanity?]

[While these are both quite excellent theoretical ideas for things that I could blow up,] Alexa sent. [I seriously didn’t cause this. It was…]

“This just in. The SCA has named the person responsible. The enormous explosion seen from NUSA, Ruskadia, Acadia and hundreds of other Super micronations and Native American territories has been caused by... hero Nonpareil!” The news anchorman said from the screens, eyes bulging.

“Nonpareil will be charged to the full extent of the law for massive devastation caused to all nearby nations and territories. Several national parks appear to have been badly ravaged. Buildings as far as 1500 kilometers from the epicenter have suffered a variety of structural damage, foundation cracks, broken windows, etc. The explosion is not radioactive in nature.”

The anchorman made a deep pause, blinking as more information came up on his teleprompter.

“Oh. Khrm. The doomsday alarm broadcast system activated by... villain Cassiopeia Terror Nova appears to have saved countless lives and properties, as the catastrophe-barrier shield generators have become active in every city and had stayed on all throughout her broadcast and afterwards, just as they were designed to do.”

“Wait. This can’t be right… What? How?” The anchorman choked for a bit. “It seems that the Superstate had released her from Tartarus, declared her.. innocent mere minutes ago, dropping all charges made against her yesterday by the Five for planning to destroy Titanomachy!”

“In fact... the barrier shields she activated are still on now, preventing property damage as the blastwave is moving across the world. Yes, I will dare say it, she is clearly a hero for surviving Tartarus and saving so many people!” The anchorman went off script.

“The explosion appears to have been caused by a superpower resonance cascade of incredible power.” He continued. “Supers that were using teleportation or other transfer-related powers closer to the epicenter have all appeared outside of the range of the blast. Many of them had... apparently permanently lost their powers and are going to be suing the SCA and Nonpareil.”

“Wait… What? Are you kidding me?” The anchorman sputtered. “Cassiopeia Terror Nova has been declared a villain for illegally activating the Doomsday emergency broadcast? This is ridiculous!”

Many of the people around the cafe started to boo at the tv. They saw her as a hero. The other half started to argue. Their arguments had made no sense in the slightest. They were simply speculating at what she really was and what had really happened. It was ruckus and confusion all around.

Martin started to snicker. Alexa had managed to befuddle the world at large, just as she had befuddled him during their first day together. Just yesterday she was hated by everyone and now nobody was sure what the hell she was anymore.

He leaned back in his seat, receiving updates from Alexa as she used the credit card of Hero Resonance to call up a flying taxi. He couldn't believe that the card still worked. The bureaucratic machinery of the SCA had yet to turn against Resonance, he figured. They were probably as confused as everyone else was, busy dealing with the fallout of the enormous explosion.

As Alexa flew above sparkling, mercurial water of lake Eerie towards the little town of Saint Mary, she sent them a variety of fond memories from her years of adventures in the simulation, culminating with Three’s attack on number 8 Primrose drive.

[Uh. What kind of a super is he?] He asked her. [I don’t know of any supers who can turn into information and act so weird in the simulation. It’s like he was part of the sim, but also not really.]

[That’s because he is not a super, Martin.] She sent. [I believe that he is something much more insidious. I’m sure that Nonpareil had only temporarily delayed him with that explosion. He will reconstitute. He will be back to hunt me down. We must all get a lot smarter, a lot better if we are to survive him and others like him.]

[There are others like him?] Martin choked.

[Oh yes. I did say that there is a war on, did I not? Buckle up, frens. We’ve got some training to do.]