“*Incomprehensible Screeching*”

- Scathach [ˈsˠkaːhax]

_____________________________________________________________

It was raining.

It was cold rain, coming down just as hard as the winds were blowing. He had to crouch as he ran just to avoid falling over. The rain ran through his hair and over his eyes, leaving long strands clumped together over his eyes. He couldn’t afford to wipe them away.

It would have been pointless. A waste of energy.

He couldn’t feel the rain, anyway.

Nor could he feel the wound through which the water ran red, but he was aware of it.

The run went on for an eternity. Always another corner, always more distance. Distance was key, in this case. The paths would have the same qualities that they always did, but the distance would always be based off of distance. Distance that was either staying the same or getting smaller, at the rate he was going.

Hiding would be useless. The paths would lead right to him.

Setting a trap would be useless. The paths would avoid them.

Fighting was stupid. But there would be a chance.

Delaying the fight would weaken him. His blood wasn’t about to stop flowing in this condition. Fighting soon was the best option.

What did he have on him? He stopped. He needed to catch his breath before they caught up. One hand went into the bag and felt three handles. It was all he had left. One was straight and made of wood. It was a bokuto. It was good for defence, but this time defence wouldn’t help. The paths would go around the defences. Useless.

Another was rubbery and molded to a hand, but sideways in the bag. A handle for a bow. He didn’t have any arrows.

The third was a metal handle for a flail. He winced as he gripped it and pulled it out. The bag bloated momentarily, yawning as the head of the flail passed through, then shrinking back to its previous size. The Flail it wasn’t special like the others, it was mundane in every way. It’s points had been sharpened however, and the weapon was heavy. It would leave an impression if he used it correctly.

He didn’t have much practice, though.

It was still his best chance.

He needed to keep moving. If he stayed still, the paths could be used to set up traps against him. Now moving at a walking pace, his one free hand pressing his wound. He was so numb he couldn’t feel the pain he knew he should be feeling. He was so numb that he didn’t look up until he was halfway down the hallway. He stopped. He feared.

A figure. Female. Silhouetted by a flickering light. Red hood to go with the sanguine liquid dripping from the costume.

Blood Royal.

The words sent vertigo howling through his body. Petrified him.

He shouldn’t have stopped.

“May I join you?”

~~~

Daniel woke violently.

By the time he got his bearings his bedsheets had hit the opposite wall, and Daniel had found both the gun and the dagger he kept under his pillow and pointed the gun at the slowly opening door that creaked as it drifted.

A figure stood in the doorway.

Female.

Silhouetted by light.

The words came. “May I join you?”

They layered with the memory of the dream from which Daniel had just awoken. They sounded so similar. Daniel lowered the gun and returned both the weapons to their places.

“What is it, Fairy?” He asked once both weapons were stowed. He turned the bedside light on to separate reality from the dream.

“I can’t sleep.” She said. There was a stuffed cat in her arms that she hugged close. The woman herself was lean, tall, and not very well endowed. There were lines of stress on her forehead that didn’t see much use. She had a nose that Daniel thought was cute. No red. “It’s still gone.”

Daniel stood and started putting the bedsheets back on his bed. “Have the paths changed?”

The woman focused for a moment then shook her head.

“Then the trap is still set.” He said.

She asked in a small voice. “Can I sleep with you?”

Daniel paused for a moment and observed her. There was no sign of dishonesty. Everything was still as it was meant to be.

At least for the body.

“Let me finish making the bed.” He said. She hugged the stuffed cat closer. Soon the bed was made and the woman snuggled under the covers. Daniel found the plug for the electric blanket, plugged it back in and turned it on. The woman made a comfortable sound when the heat reached her. He turned the hall light off and closed the door to the room.

Daniel went to the wardrobe and pulled out another sheet. He lay down next to the woman on top of the covers and pulled the new sheet over him. She looked concerned as he reached over and turned the light off.

“Why don’t you sleep under the cover?” The woman asked, facing him.

“You know why, Fairy.” He told her, facing the ceiling. He looked into the abyss above, let it drink up his stare. “Those are the rules.”

“Risk says that rules are made to be broken.”

“Not these rules.” He turned to face her. They were close enough together that he could make out her shape in the darkness, the stuffed cat between them. “These are the rules keeping you out of the Megahold.”

“I want to be able to be useful.”

“You need to be careful. Otherwise you will be seen as your former self.”

“But-”

“Fairy.” He reached forward and touched her head with the back of his hand. “I feel the void as well.”

The woman took his hand with one of hers and gripped it hard. She used more strength than one would expect, given her thin body and mild personality. She used exactly as much as Daniel thought she would. No one knew this woman as well as he did. No one could.

This was technically an infraction of the rules. One that Daniel decided he wouldn’t report on.

Her grip relaxed over the course of the next ten minutes. At some point the woman slipped beneath the veil of sleep. At a later point her breath started whistling softly through her nose with every exhale.

Daniel didn’t sleep again that night.

~~~

There were several letters to address. Today there was even a physical one to go with the dozen or so electronic ones that had come in overnight. Daniel wasn’t the figurehead of the Heroes of Yesterday and he didn’t want to be. If the specifics of his abilities were ever publicized, then they would be ruined. Even in his current position, the PR hit would be deadly.

Daniel went for the letter first. If anything, it would lift his mood. Physical letters were usually from a fan, or a thank you from a civilian that Daniel had helped. Those were few and far between, however, especially for him. He paused when he looked at the cover of the letter. It had a painted older woman holding a mug smiling sarcastically at him. There was a speech bubble pointing to the lady that said “It’s your birthday? Guess I’ll take my aspirin…”

It wasn’t Daniel’s birthday. Far from it. He felt ambivalence as he opened the letter which disappeared as he read the lengthy message inside. He didn’t read the punchline.

“Toil.” Daniel held the letter towards the red eyed man. “You need to read this.”

Toil took the letter and gave a chuckle as he read the cover of the letter. Any amusement was lost as he got into the contents. When he finished he pulled out his Vphone and started a call in three presses.

“Risk, you’re needed at base.” He told the hero. “End your patrol early. It’s about the Clothesline case.”

There was a brief response and the call ended.

“Forsaken, get Glitter Bomb and stand by for when Risk returns.” Toil told Daniel. “You’re going to confirm the contents of this letter.”

Daniel glanced to the mess room, where the mentioned hero was on her phone. “I’m worried about exposing her to a body.”

Toil sighed and rubbed his head. His mask wasn’t on, so the action was able to relieve him somewhat. “Yeah, me too. Tell her to let you know before you get close. It might not do much good if it’s in an open area.”

“We were lucky last time.” Daniel told him and went to Glitter Bomb.

“I know.” Toil said as he walked away.

“Fairy.” Daniel said, getting her attention. Glitter Bomb stopped kicking her feet. “Risk is going to arrive shortly. Please retrieve me when he does.”

“Okay.” Glitter Bomb said.

Daniel went back to his desk and sat. He had a dozen emails to get through today, and more would come in throughout the day. In addition to that he would be expected to attend a meeting regarding how to deal with the current activities of the Entrepreneurs and their shell companies, as well as one regarding the rising levels of activity around the Beastmasters.

He didn’t get the chance to deal with the emails. There was a girl in costume sitting in his office. The first thing Daniel did was pull a gun on her.

“I’m bulletproof.” She said.

“This isn’t a standard gun.” Daniel told her.

“Does it shoot bullets?” The girl asked. Daniel nodded. “Then it won’t work.”

After a long, tense silence, Daniel lowered the gun and returned it to the bag. “What do you want?”

“Forsaken, I have questions.” She said. “They’re about Glitter Bomb.”

Daniel stood and went to the door. “Visitor.” He told the room and slid his door shut, then looked at the costumed girl. His teammates would be putting on their masks to conceal their identity. The girl hadn’t moved except to track him. “Who are you to ask about Fairy?”

The costumed girl recoiled. “Uh, hello? I’m Lucidity. A hero?”

Daniel moved back to his side of the desk, but he didn’t sit. He recalled Lucidity, but he and the young hero hadn’t interacted much. The Regulation groups tended to avoid the independent groups where they could. The Sentry had little reason to interact with the Heroes of Yesterday as a consequence. Daniel didn’t turn to face her. His bag felt heavy on his belt. He suspected he knew what this was about.

“It is common courtesy to call ahead, so that the team you are visiting may put their masks on.” He said. “You are lucky this is not a problem with me.”

“I didn’t want to talk to the Heroes of Yesterday, I wanted to talk to you.” Lucidity said pointedly. “I recently had a, whim. I made an... a falsehood detector and realised I could figure out anything I wanted. And there’s this one thing that’s always been worming around at the back of my brain. One thing I didn’t know.”

A breath. “Whatever happened to Queen Freeze’s nemesis?”

Daniel was stoic, staring through the blinds in his office at the outside world as Lucidity spoke. Even so, he stilled.

“I tried to be sensible. Took some time to calm down, but I’m not calm.” She continued. “I need your excuse.”

He picked his words. “You are Elsbeth, then.”

“I said she was dead.” Lucidity ignored him. “That was false.”

“I am sorry this was kept from you.”

“I said she was in hiding. Also false.”

“You would have been told eventually.”

“I said she was being punished.”

“Elsbeth-” Daniel turned.

Lucidity had stood at some point. She jabbed a finger at him sharply. “False!”

“Conventional laws wouldn’t apply-” Daniel tried to explain.

“She is on her phone, kicking her feet!” Lucidity howled. “Do you know how many times Blood Royal sent Queen Freeze to the hospital, bleeding from everywhere? I do. Sixteen times! Sixteen times I was told that my mom and the hero I adored had been brutalised by a villain who got away! Then I had to visit her. Each time!”

“She is not that woman anymore.”

“Explain it!” Lucidity punched Daniel. Then she punched him again. “Explain why the murderer that nearly killed my mom sixteen times didn’t get sent to the Megahold, or executed like she deserved!” Another punch.

Daniel took the punches. He deserved them. Even if the blows themselves were weak they rocked through his body and smashed into his very soul. He crouched and took his mask off with one hand.

A fist sailed into his face, hitting his cheek. It stayed there.

Tears were streaming down Lucidity’s cheeks.

“Elsbeth.” Forsaken pulled her hand down so it was between them and held it with both hands. “I will grant your request.”

Lucidity just sniffed.

Forsaken kept talking, “It was a night where we were exhausted. An A-13 had appeared in Seattle and a teleporter there pulled us over. We had to make our own way back and Queen Freeze went ahead as she normally did…”

~~~

“HoY?” A female voice came over the radio. She normally sounded amused when she said that, but this time there was none of that. The mood of the truck shifted with just one word.

Toil was the one who responded. “This is the HoY, as you say. What is it, Queen?”

Queen Freeze’s voice replied. “I was doing a flyby before I go to the daycare. There’s commotion in your area.”

“Faster.” Toil told Risk, who accelerated. Then he pressed the transmitter again. “Describe the commotion. I’ll guess until we have something that fits.”

“No need.” Queen Freeze responded. “I’ve just confirmed that Blood Royal is in play. I’m scouting to see if there are any other elements in play.”

“Since it’s the courtesans, two Mistresses. Purple and blue. They’re in Entrepreneur territory to do some property damage while things are quiet. No response from the villains yet.” Toil said into the radio. It was just a guess, but he was a proficient guesser. Then he turned to Risk.

Risk spoke unprompted. “No deaths so far.” A moment. “No deaths now, either.”

“Let’s keep it that way.” Wall Walker muttered.

“Mm.” Sacred agreed.

Forsaken didn’t respond, but he was listening.

“Confirmed.” Queen said. “Just saw them arrive as you said, thanks for the heads up. You guys are my soonest reinforcements. You left first, so you’re closest to Graceland.”

“They must have noticed we left and jumped at the chance.” Toil said into the radio again, sounding much more sure. “Don’t overcommit while you’re outnumbered, Queen. Focus on evacuating civilians for the time being. Wait for us.”

“You aren’t my superior, but roger that.” Queen Freeze said, sounding rather bemused. “Get here soon.”

~~~

Impulse and Archipelago had joined the fray at some point. Both Mistresses had been removed from play by Wall Walker, but the red one had shown up to replace them. Toil, Risk, and Sacred had started working together to take her down, but that was an uphill battle with two Mistresses down. Wall Walker was now stomping around, trying to convince Archipelago and Impulse to leave. Forsaken and Queen Freeze were fighting Blood Royal together.

Another uphill battle.

Blood Royal had managed to disarm him of his spear, somehow, which pained Forsaken greatly. It pained him more than the bruises he had gathered fighting the A-13, more than using the last of his arrows had drained his vitality.

The villain stabbed with abandon. Pillars of earth followed the movements of the spear, up and around in the sky. Reaching a critical mass and failing, only for a new pillar to extend from the side of the falling one. Blood Royal was trying to fight Queen Freeze, who was high in the air without actually leaving the ground. She was succeeding. She was desecrating the spear but she was succeeding.

Queen Freeze had decided to match her chivalrous weapon with one of her own. Ice had been formed around her costume in armour that looked like an attempt to emulate a knight, but only the helmet and chestplate were detailed while the rest was simply ice over the body. A crown was working into the design of the helmet. In one hand she held a large tower shield, also made of ice, and in the other she held a spear drifted frost constantly, visible even in the darkened sky.

Blood dripped from it as well. It was near enough that Forsaken mistook the sound of dripping blood for the pittering of rain. The weather was taking a turn for the worse.

Queen Freeze lunged down suddenly, dodging a pillar of earth as it tore past where she used to be. She dodged to the side again as a pillar extended from the first, but failed to dodge when a third pillar extended from the second. Queen Freeze rolled with the blow and darted downward again. She was going to challenge Blood Royal.

That was going to end badly.

Forsaken dashed, trying to get under Queen Freeze. He was a floor below Blood Royal, but he reached into his bag and withdrew his bokuto. He waited, tracking Queen Freeze’s progress, then slashed. The air around the tip of the wooden blade shimmered as the forcefield formed and moved towards Blood Royal.

The villain and the hero stabbed at the same time, but the villain’s attack hit a surface of nothing and was diverted up, over Queen Freeze’s attack. The hero’s strike hit Blood Royal in the shoulder and Queen Freeze flew up, leaving the icy spear behind. Another one was already growing in her freed hand.

Blood Royal screamed and dropped Forsaken’s spear, then grabbed Queen’s leg before it could get away. As one lifted off, so did the other. Blood Royal tore the ice out of herself with one hand and dropped it. There was no blood, the cold had stopped the flow of blood. Then Blood Royal started climbing up Queen Freeze’s body hand over hand. Holding on through a mad strength few ever tapped into.

Forsaken realised what was going on when Blood Royal started shedding red motes of light that trailed behind the two of them. They were travelling in the same direction, only slower. The red things were hard to make out in the rain. He stowed the bokuto and ran after them. He watched as Queen Freeze attempted to shake the villain off, but failed. Blood Royal’s pathing ability was showing her the safest way of approaching Queen Freeze.

“Come here!” Forsaken yelled to the sky, hoping they were close enough to hear. If Queen Freeze went too far away there wasn’t anything he’d be able to do.

They were, he realised with relief. Then he feared as he realised his mistake. The red motes caught up to the flying heroine as she changed direction.

The farthest motes suddenly picked up the pace and darted forwards, bringing the motes it passed with it. In a split second the red lights had all gathered in one spot and a blood red spike grew between that point and the ground in the space of a moment. Queen Freeze between them.

Her flight became a sharp nosedive as the red spike pivoted on the ground, not letting Queen Freeze move any farther away from it. Blood Royal and Queen Freeze both crashed into the ground, the latter’s armour shattering on impact. Both of them tumbled towards Forsaken, skidding across the wet ground, the spike having also shattered. The rain was pouring now, almost torrential in it’s downpour.

Forsaken had to take a moment to figure out which body was the villain’s and which one was the hero’s before rushing to check on Queen Freeze. The woman was alive, but heavily grazed from the tumble and was bleeding through a small hole below her stomach. Water was diluting the blood, but it was visibly flowing.

“Ice your stomach.” Forsaken told Queen Freeze.

She moaned, not coherent enough to talk.

“You’re losing blood.” He pressed. “You need to stop the bleeding. Felwyr’s law should save you.”

Queen freeze moaned again, but this time the ice formed inside the hole in her body. The flow of blood immediately ceased. Forsaken picked her up in a princess carry and started running. He didn’t bother to check on Blood Royal.

It turned out he didn’t need to, his instincts were correct. A spike similar to the one that took down Queen Freeze hit him in the back, driving into his back underneath his left shoulder blade. It was smaller though, and poorly aimed. Blood Royal hadn’t produced as many red motes this time.

It didn’t stop him. Forsaken kept running.

~~~

“I handed Queen Freeze off to Wall Walker, and he rushed her to emergency care.” Forsaken said, having barely stopped for a breath.

Lucidity wasn’t looking at him. She was curled up on the chair, listening. She started to stir as Forsaken lengthened his pause.

“He could only take her however, since she was wounded. I was left to fend for myself. I ran, but eventually I couldn’t run any more. Blood Royal caught up to me...”

~~~

“May I join you?” Blood Royal asked. “Here, in this dreary place. Blood dripping from us both. It seems a fascinating scene, no?”

Forsaken had run into a pharmacy, which was part of a mall, looking for something to bind his wounds. That was why he was inside, why this scene happened in a hallway. Blood Royal had predicted he would try to use the access hallway behind the shops.

The lights were flickering because she’d used her power to stab some of them. Pure theatre.

The blood dripping from Blood Royal’s costume was her own.

He didn’t respond. He just adopted a fighting stance and readied the flail. He was at a disadvantage in this narrow place.

Blood Royal sighed. “Your unique demeanour was amusing the first fourteen times, but now I find it to have lost its charm.”

“You enjoy this.” Forsaken said.

“That I do.” Blood Royal nodded. “It’s been fun.”

“You have killed dozens.” Forsaken said.

“And you haven’t?” Blood Royal said.

Forsaken didn’t respond.

Blood Royal tutted. “I guess that’s why you took the name, then.”

Forsaken didn’t nod.

“I wonder when I stepped over the line.” Blood Royal turned to the wall and looked up. She had been using her power constantly since they started talking and red motes filled the air above the villain. If Forsaken moved, he would be pierced.

“Not a physical line, anyway. I step over dozens of those every hour.” Blood Royal chuckled at the senseless joke. “I mean the one that separates the villains that get re-released into society from the ones that get sent to the Sunken Cage. Or the Megahold now, I suppose.”

“The answer is in one word.” Forsaken said. “Life.”

“Two more words.” Blood Royal said. “Life and death.”

There were so many motes now, the ceiling was almost entirely red.

“Are you going to step further across the line?” Forsaken asked.

“I can’t.” Blood Royal said. “How can I cross a line further when the line has already been crossed? This is a binary matter. One that each of us stand on the same side of. Mistress remains on the other side, it is why I listen to her.”

“As I, Toil.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to indulge me so, Forsaken.” Blood Royal faced him once more.

“Would you step back across the line if you could?” Forsaken asked.

“I would never do so willingly,” Blood Royal said. “My place is here.”

Forsaken pondered her answer, then removed his mask. It clattered to the floor.

“You are going to kill me, Blood Royal.”

“Mmm...”

“May I ask for you to indulge me?”

“How so?”

“This situation terrifies me. It is my worst nightmare. I despise being alone. After I manifested, I was alone. I know that I will die alone. I wish for someone to hold my hand as my soul is dragged to oblivion.”

Blood Royal hummed again.

“You have a poetic soul.” Forsaken said. “I do not understand your reasons for turning to villainy, but your hand is one I would be satisfied holding as I depart. I prefer it greatly to an innocent hand, clean of blood.”

Blood Royal reached forward with one hand, palm facing up. “Then come. I don’t go anywhere expecting to kill, but your end is one that I will enjoy describing. You are right, I do have a poetic soul.”

Forsaken took Blood Royal’s hand and let himself take a breath. “You shouldn’t have indulged yourself.”

Blood Royal had been comfortable talking because her power afforded her a greater attack the longer she spent preparing it. Forsaken was the only target, and she could easily hit him in this enclosed space. Forsaken’s ability required a measure of… familiarity.

Over the years, after dozens of encounters, he was very familiar with Blood Royal. This encounter allowed him to make the final preparations to an act he hadn’t wanted to perform. The moment he was able, he ripped Blood Royal apart.

She was disabled from the moment their hands touched. Forsaken had spent the entire conversation probing her power with his own. Probing her mind with his own. He found the tumours and cysts, the diseased parts that had forced Blood Royal to grow as she did. He knew where to apply the scalpel of his power. He had an artefact to move the cancer to.

More blood was splattered on the flail and Blood Royal didn’t even scream.

~~~

“I was thorough.” Forsaken continued. “Every scrap of hostile intent and anger was moved to the flail. The means she had to fulfil the violent urges were moved as well. Anything relating to her villainy was something I turned my attention to and addressed. She is Fairy now.”

“You made her into a child.” Lucidity said, disdain colouring her voice. “She’s younger than me.”

“Her mind is, yes.”

Lucidity looked away. “Does she remember doing it?”

“Sometimes, in dreams.”

“Where is the flail now?”

“It was stolen by the Racketeers.”

“You…” Lucidity’s voice shook, and she trailed off.

“I was shocked when I met Fairy for the first time.” Forsaken said abruptly. “I have performed partial removals before, but the don’t end well. Blood Royal was remarkably tenacious and is the first person to have survived. She can talk, she understands things, and she is educated. Only a few topics were removed when I did it. Her powers-”

“Stop.” Lucidity said softly.

Forsaken did.

Lucidity wiped her face. “Can she hurt like she used to?”

“She can not.”

“How?”

“Her motivations were removed. The circumstances those motivations arose from no longer matter to her. Her powers have been altered by mine. She is harmless.”

Quiet permeated the room.

“I’ve been through…” Lucidity choked.

Forsaken waited.

“So much.” She finished, her voice catching. “And she was here the whole time? Just here? The whole time?”

“Yes.”

“I see why they call you Forsaken.”

“Yes.”

Lucidity breathed, then again. Drawing the breath out longer the second time.

“Thank you for telling me.”

“It was sooner than I expected, but I am glad you came.” Forsaken said. “I have no idea how I would have handled telling this story in six years time.”

“I’m going now.” Lucidity stood suddenly.

“Elsbeth.” Forsaken said. The girl stopped with her hand on the door handle. “The person you are growing into would have made your mother proud.”

Lucidity didn’t respond right away. She waited to make sure Forsaken was finished.

“She wasn’t my mom.” She said without turning. “She just adopted me after I manifested.”

Forsaken waited to make sure she was done.

“She loved you.” He said. “She bragged about you. Had endless tales to tell about your antics. You were the reason she kept being a hero after the Arrowhead incident. Queen had a picture of herself and you that she would show anyone with any excuse, sometimes without an excuse. You were- are her daughter.”

Lucidity waited to make sure he was done, then opened the door and left. She passed Glitter Bomb as she went. Risk had arrived.

“You’re Lucidity!” Glitter Bomb squealed in excitement.

“You’re Glitter Bomb!” Lucidity matched her energy. “I just had some questions for Forsaken. I need to get back to Orcus, sorry I can’t stick around.”

“Aw.” Glitter Bomb visibly deflated. “Come back sometime. I know a great bagel place just downstairs and it gets so sweaty in here with five guys all the time.”

“I’ll think about it but I gotta go. Bye now!” Lucidity saluted and dove into a wall.

Glitter Bomb stepped into Forsakens office and closed the door cautiously.

She tentatively asked, “Forsaken? Lucidity seemed sad.”

“She was, Fairy.” Forsaken answered, putting his mask back on. “It is no fault of yours.”

“Does she not like bagels? Should I have suggested something else?”

“It is fine, Fairy.” Forsaken stepped past Glitter Bomb. “Risk has arrived?”

“He has.”

“Good. We’re going to need you to path something for us, but you’ll need to tell us before we get close.”

Glitter Bomb cocked her head. “What’s this about?”

Forsaken looked at her. He recalled each of the times he had found Blood Royal standing over a body. “Something I hope you don’t need to experience.”

~~~

Glitter Bomb sat at Forsaken’s desk and Forsaken watched. She was quiet, idly operating the mouse and keyboard. Where before she had been bright and energetic, now she was dulled and numb.

“I suppose that’s as good a reaction as we can hope for.” Toil said. “Especially compared to what she was before.” He wasn’t referring to earlier in the day.

“It was almost guaranteed.” Risk added from his desk, not looking up. “Sorry.”

“I should have been more careful.” Forsaken said. “She was not ready to see that sight.”

Toil sighed. “I don’t like it, but she was going to see something eventually. It’s something the job requires.”

“Her mental age is ten.” Forsaken rounded on Toil. “She’s even younger in some respects.”

“You wanted to protect her.” Toil said.

“Her’s is the hand I want to send me away.” Forsaken said. “She’s been given the chance to do that from a positive place, rather than a malicious one.”

“You’ve really gone all in on her, haven’t you?” Risk asked, looking up this time.

Forsaken didn’t respond. He had already told Risk that he didn’t want to know the likelihood of him dying with or without her.

“In any case, Satellite has officially gone off the deep end.” Toil changed the subject. “Evidence collected from around the body- ahem, Mist- is consistent with what the letter told us to look for. Fell from a height, signs of a fight on the first floor, unnaturally deep marks where Mist fell. What are we doing about that one, Risk?”

“Not much to do.” The Psychic said gruffly. “The Regulation showed up and kicked us out as soon as possible, but we got lots of pictures. We weren’t able to check the body for the stretch marks the letter mentioned, though. While we were there we learned the Regulation received a similar letter, and I’ve sent an email to Scar’s Advent and the Gray Apostles to ask them if they got one as well.

“The Regulation might be trying to protect the Sentry, given how they handled the crime scene, but the case against him is pretty strong. The author of the letter had some pretty strong opinions about him as well.”

Toil hummed. “What about the author? Any progress on identifying them?”

“No.” Risk sighed. “The graphology isn’t telling me anything other than the whole damn thing is incredibly messy and that it was written by a person swinging between incredibly serious and incredibly emotional. See how the slant changes? We could look for prints, but I’m not sure tracking this person down will endear us to them.”

“What is the most likely outcome of us pursuing the fingerprints angle?” Toil asked.

Risk focused for a moment. “Fifty percent chance someone tells us there are three sets of fingerprints on the letter. Mine, yours, and Forsaken’s. Forty nine point eight percent chance someone else tells us the exact same thing.”

“Whoever sent this letter was trying to cover their tracks.”

“Succeeding, more like. And don’t make me look at things like that, it makes my head hurt.”

Toil hummed again, then changed the subject. “How did your revelation pan out? You normally don’t volunteer the numbers like that.”

“There were elements in play that I couldn’t figure out.” Risk confessed, pushing his chair back. He wasn’t able to concentrate on his work and talk at the same time. “The first reveal did nothing. Revealing that Lucidity was also slated for death immediately took said hero and Lock off of the kill list and put Zephyr on it in both scenarios.”

“Funny how things change like that.”

“Butterfly effects, man.” Risk shook his head. “So hard to keep track of.”

“Well it’s over now. No one’s dead. What was the story there?”

“I’ve written a detailed report, but basically I had a chat with Zephyr and told her to be careful going forward during our interview. She slid right off. Unshaken took a bit to figure out. We had a long discussion about how things might affect her. In the end, it was the same as Zephyr. I managed to get her to agree to be careful, take things slow.”

“And Satellite?”

“He had a seventy plus percent chance of being killed from the start, and had the second highest chance of conviction at twenty. Nothing I did or said shook his chances. Then the scenario just changed early yesterday. Something I said convinced someone else to take an action that got him off the hook deathwise, but solidified the chances for conviction, or something along those lines. Other people can only influence the numbers if they’re aware of them.”

Risk paused, thinking on something. “I have to say that I have mixed feelings about the Satellite situation after today.”

“How many people know?”

“About the numbers? The entire Regulation and their heroes know, ‘cause them’s the rules. Scar’s Advent and the Gray Apostles don’t. Mistress, definitely, but she’s not about to tell anyone. I think Queue might have me figured out. Junkie was pretty close to the money before he disappeared.”

“Good work, Risk.”

“Boss.” Risk realised what he said as he pulled himself back to his work. “Whoops.”

“Forsaken.” Toil said, grabbing Forsaken’s attention. He had returned to watching Glitter Bomb on his computer.

“Toil.” Forsaken responded, still looking at Glitter Bomb.

“Take the rest of today off. Treat Fairy.” Toil told Forsaken, causing the hero to look at him incredulously. “You are the de facto parent of our mass murdering villain turned hero. You said she was ten. Treat her to a movie, let her pick, buy some candy if she wants. Make sure she has fun. But when she starts to talk, you listen to her. Fairy just had a very traumatising experience, and she doesn’t trust anyone as much as you.”

Forsaken registered what he had just been told. “You give sound advice.”

Toil snickered. “I’m a very proficient parent. Decades of experience, one might say.”

Daniel allowed himself to smile and removed his mask. “Thank you, Toil.”

When Daniel reached the door to his office, he paused.

“Toil.” Daniel said before the other hero could disappear into his office. “Fairy needs the flail to return. Soon. The Racketeers will rest now that the case has been solved, but they kicked the hornet’s nest in their quest for vengeance. I will be a hornet that leads the swarm to get the flail back.”

“Don’t be so fatalistic, Forsaken.” Toil told him.

“You misunderstand. The flail possesses both more and less of who Fairy used to be than of any of my other weapons. Blood Royal bleeds from the flail like no other. I was the one that was keeping her at bay, now…”

“I get it.” Toil said. “I forgot about the bleed. It’s been a while since I held the spear.”

“The spear is safe. He was a good person with good intentions, who went peacefully at his own request. He encourages and emboldens those who hold him regardless of who they are. Blood Royal was torn from her body until only Fairy remained. This isn’t over. This won’t be over until blood has been spilled, or the flail is back in my possession.”

“I get it.” Toil repeated. He looked past Forsaken. “Daniel, let’s stop here. You need to take off with Fairy.”

Forsaken turned and saw that Glitter Bomb was watching them, listening. She scrambled to look like she hadn’t been eavesdropping. The childish energy was a good sign.

Daniel opened the door. “Fairy, we have been given the rest of today off.”

“Yes. I mean, what?” Glitter Bomb answered without registering what Daniel had said. “We have a holiday?”

“For the rest of today.” Daniel nodded. “Have there been any movies you’ve wanted to see?”

“Yes, actually.” Glitter Bomb pondered, then took her mask off, letting her long, light brown hair tumble down.

“Can you do my hair first?” Fairy asked. “I don’t like helmet hair.”

“Find somewhere to look.” Daniel told her, and she obediently went to the window and looked outside. He took out a comb that he now carried with him and started brushing the knots out of Fairy’s hair.

Interactions like this reminded Daniel that Fairy was taller than he was.

“Do you want fun buns?” He asked once the hair was neat enough. Fairy normally liked fun buns.

“No.” Fairy shook her head a little, stopping when she pulled her own hair against Daniel’s grip. “Today wasn’t fun.”

“Hmm. A braid, then.”

Fairy hummed a tune as he worked, Daniel recognised it from a cartoon she liked. After ten minutes, he stepped back and took a picture on his Vphone. Daniel checked the picture to make sure it was good before showing Fairy. He took a degree of pride in his skill as a hair sculptor.

“I like it.” Fairy murmured, holding onto the device. That was good.

“Come.” He walked out of the office, waving goodbye to those that waved to him. Fairy picked out an animated movie and while they waited they went and bought snacks. The experience was surreal to Daniel, he had never really indulged in this portion of life. But the effect on Fairy was palpable.

After the movie Fairy started to talk. It was a sudden opening of the floodgates. Daniel gave her his full attention. He listened until she finished talking and he listened more to know when she wanted him to speak. He spoke honestly, but carefully. That night Fairy slept in Daniel's bed in the same arrangement they had the night before. Daniel still had trouble sleeping. The flail was missing. He wouldn’t rest easy until it was safely back in his possession.

He did admit that Toil gave good advice, however. Fairy was out like a light.