In the event of a fire, you’re supposed to get low and get the fuck away from there. In the event of an earthquake, you get under a table or a doorway and hold out hope that it won’t get worse. In the event of a tsunami, go for high ground.

In the event of Quetzalcouatl, the safety procedure was to get somewhere safe. But the definition of safe in that procedure left a lot to be desired. Because the Eclipse went for crowds, it was better to stay separate. The fact that it went for crowds was well known, but the procedure was still to get to shelters, effectively herding hundreds of people to their deaths if the Calamity made it to any such shelter.

If I’d been awake when the sirens first sounded, that would’ve been where I ended up.

Light hurt more than it burned around the Eclipse, so it was best to stay inside, or at least under cover. It did, however, burn a lot when it was bringing down the more dangerous stuff, and that effectively herded everyone into metaphorical barrels otherwise known as buildings. The Eclipse could then move almost casually through any such building and have it be the end of dozens of people.

Not so much, now that it had been doing that for twenty minutes. All the high rises were long abandoned. Single story buildings were mostly safe, and two story buildings were largely left alone. Still, sometimes the Eclipse dove down low and took the roofs off these structures anyway, possibly just to remind everyone that it could. Then again, it wasn’t like it mattered in the city centre where everything had been built tall.

Whether or not the Eclipse was sentient was still out to the jury. Whether or not it was cunning had been settled long ago.

“I think it’s moving near to you.” Tess’ voice came over the phone. “Are you under anything? Do you have shelter?”

I looked at the blackened tree on the corner of the road. Since I was in a residential area, all the buildings were closed to me, and the only shelter I could benefit from was that tree and any sheltered porches I could make it to.

“I’m close enough.” I told Tess. The song of the Eclipse wasn’t rising right now. I didn’t need to break for shelter just yet.

“Get closer.” Was Tess’ response.

I was already running with an umbrella to keep the light off my head. At the same time I was talking to Tess through my headphones connected to my Vphone. It was awkward, but the alternative was dangerous. I hadn’t tested the umbrella against the intense light, and I didn’t want to try. “How about you, where are you?”

“I’m in a hardware store right now.” Tess told me, making me laugh.

“Are you looting? You?”

“Shut up, it’s already been looted.”

I nodded my head at that. It didn’t make sense, but I kind of expected it. The sky was falling down around us, and people had taken the time to clear out a hardware store. Who cared if hundreds of people were dying by the minute? Some people really wanted a new screen.

“Wasn’t this supposed to be a ‘meet halfway’ kind of thing?” I asked, breaking the quiet that was me breathing heavily.

“I saw some heroes escorting some people. They’re in my way.” Tess explained.

“So you’re waiting? Good.” The eclipse went for groups.

“Michael!” Tess suddenly insisted.

“What?”

“It’s going up!”

I struggled to connect what she said to what she meant until I realised the Eclipse was getting louder. The tree was definitely close enough that I could reach it, but I’d just noticed a dairy on the road beyond that had its door open. I made a judgement call and started sprinting towards it.

Just in case, I kept the umbrella up the whole way. It was a good thing I did, because the sound of the Eclipse reached crescendo moments before I got inside. I winced as the pain from the light suddenly intensified despite the meagre shade my umbrella gave me. When I crossed the threshold, the umbrella was caught on the doorframe and I let it be pulled from my grasp.

I ran further into the shop so that a rogue shaft of light didn’t catch me and caught my breath as I watched the umbrella that had helped me through the city for the past twenty minutes slowly blacken and burn. Then the effect ended and some quiet returned.

“I made it.” I said for Tess’ benefit. I got a sigh of relief and a chastising remark from my adopted sister.

The dairy had been looted, but only once going by the look of it. Some stuff was on the floor, though that could have just been a quake from the Eclipse hitting the ground or adequately sized building. I noted that there was a screen that once would have had security footage playing on it. The screen had been smashed, but a glance around told me that the cameras still had red lights and were therefore recording. Mostly, it was packets of chips and other snacks that were missing. Anything that one or two people could carry in their arms.

I didn’t understand it, but I was grateful for the energy drinks they left behind. I decided to have one and put two more in my pocket for later. The initial pop and the drink going down my throat was immensely satisfying.

“What was that?” Tess asked.

I froze, even though she couldn’t see me. “Water.”

“You don’t go ‘ahh’ after having a drink of water. Are you looting?”

“It’s an energy drink.” I sighed. “Figured I could use it.”

“You better pay.”

“Why are you insisting on this? Right now, me not paying for an energy drink has to be the forty hundredth baddest thing happening in this city.”

There was silence over the line for a bit.

Tess’ voice was small. “I need something.”

“I’ll come back and pay the owner after all this is done.” I said easily. Anything to stop her dwelling. “Promise.”

Nothing came back over the line. This call was really going on for a while. One of us was going to get one hell of a phone bill.

I waited for Quetzalcouatl’s next crescendo before leaving the dairy. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a replacement umbrella. After some more running, I was amongst the taller buildings that were still short enough that the Eclipse hadn’t turned its attention to them yet.

“In the city now.” I said for Tess.

“I’m moving again.” Was the response.

“It’s going up!” Came through the line after a few moments. It was harder for me to make out, since the Eclipse was on the other side of where Tess was. “I’m safe. Are you?”

“Safe.” I told her. At the moment, I was inside a shopping mall that the Eclipse had carved parts of the roof out of. The red edges from where its tendrils had burned through the metal parts of it were still glowing. Other parts were less neatly destroyed and weren’t glowing, since that had come from the Eclipse clawing at the structure, or just smashing into it.

I hadn’t been safe when I said it, but there was still a ways to go before the crescendo burned the city. I moved into a sunglasses shop that had been abandoned and waited it out there. It was really tempting to grab two pairs of shades for me and Tess, but she’d make a big deal about it, so I stayed my hand.

Then it was safe to move again, and I moved on after a brief and failed search for another umbrella. Where were those things even sold, usually?

The song of the Eclipse started rising again before I could make it out of the mall and to the next safe shelter. I found a wall that was decently in shade and waited. From where I waited, I could see the twisting and nebulous form of the Quetzalcouatl, and several flying forms that split away from it to dive for cover. There were rigid trails of white light coming off of one of them, allowing me to identify them as Archangel.

The hero of Aegis, and the other ones that I couldn’t identify from where I was had been harrying the Eclipse. As the forms split away, the Eclipse flared its wings almost lazily. The superheated tendrils slashed through the air and half of them were blocked by Archangel, while most of the rest were dodged. Each time a tendril was blocked, a white shaft of light fell down from above, creating straight lines the blocked the drifting yellow ones. One form didn’t manage to dodge and became two forms as it fell.

Now that it no longer had anything interfering with it, the Calamity was free to turn its attention elsewhere. The song reached its crescendo and the Eclipse glistened in the supernatural light as it turned in my direction.

Pictures of the Eclipse were widespread on the internet. It was the only Calamity that spent its downtime in a place where cameras could easily reach. Satellite footage and pictures of it in action circulated after every attack and every time it fucking turned around. I was familiar with how it looked, but seeing it first hand was something else entirely.

It had the body of a golden snake, roughly fifteen metres long and two metres in diameter at its thickest points. There were four limbs attached to the creature. Two feathered wings that span more distance than the body of the snake, and were clawed like a pterodactyl's, and two large forearms that ended in talons and looked almost out of place because of how large they were. Both pairs of limbs extended from the shoulders, though they were too thin to be called that.

Running down the back of the snake were two rows of frills. One started where the wings started, and ran down roughly one third of the Eclipse’s body, while the other row grew from head to tail. Extending out from some of these frills, the bends in the arms and wings, and the tip of the tail were the tendrils. They looked like thick power lines that had too much electricity running through them, and glowed white hot enough that it hurt to look at.

It’s head had four eyes, if you could call them that. On the left side of its diamond shaped face had one eye that seemed too large for the size of the head, while the right side had two eyes that were of a less unnatural size. The fourth eye was slightly larger than the one on the left, and was in the centre of what would be its forehead, just below where the frill started.

The eyes didn’t look like they should be even able to function. They were merely white orbs. There were no pupils or irises, just a pale white that somehow stood out from the golden scales surrounding them. The eyes weren’t even the most unsettling feature of the Eclipse, its mouth took that prize.

The Eclipse had a similarly shaped head to a dog, but lacked nostrils, and the split that was its mouth went too far back, extending even down the neck of the Eclipse. Two additional tendrils grew from the right side of its mouth. One from the back of the jaw, and one from closer to the front on the bottom. Right now the double jaw was open wide as the Eclipse projected its eerie song.

Usually it was immaculate, as it regenerated when it spent time in the Zenith. Right now it was scuffed, with wounds all along its body. But none of the wounds were deep, and not much blood was dripping from them. The defenders weren’t doing well this time.

The crescendo ended, the jaw of the Eclipse snapped shut, and I saw it drifting in the air for a moment. It took enough of a pause that the tendrils began to drift in the air, since the Eclipse wasn’t pulling them anywhere. Its head slowly reared up. Then it tensed.

Then the mall I was hiding in was divided again. As were the buildings between it and the Eclipse, as well as the buildings on the other side. Fortunately for me, it passed through the mall far enough away that I was spared from even the debris of the casual destruction. I slowly turned and looked at where a pharmacy had just been, now replaced by a dust cloud and concrete that had been heated to the point of glowing.

I started stumbling away, barely remembering to find my next cover before leaving the safety of the shade. There was a sound in my ear. I couldn’t identify what it was right away. Coming so close to the Eclipse had shocked me, and the sound of it crashing through the mall had, in hindsight, left my ears ringing.

“Michael! I can hear you panting, what was that?” Tess was shouting. “Please say something. Please, just anything.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just ran to the next shelter. It was a cafe with large windows in the storefront. I made sure to take cover behind the counter where it wasn’t burned black before taking a breath. Tess was talking in my ear the whole way, which wasn’t helping.

“Tess-” I said.

“Oh, thank god.” She sounded monumentally relieved, which didn’t make sense to me.

“God is here, Tess.” I told her, rambling. I wasn’t religious. “He just smashed through the mall I was about to leave and then some.”

“That’s not the point! You’re still safe, aren’t you? Please tell me you’re still safe.”

“I got out.” I told her. “How far away are you?”

“From where? How far away from where?”

“From where the Eclipse just destroyed a fucking mall twice for some reason!” I took a breath and tried to calm myself down. I didn’t apologise.

“Not far.” Tess eventually told me. “You know that cinema Emma took you to?”

“Yeah, it’s close.”

“We’ll meet there, okay?”

“Okay.”

“We’re going to make it Michael.”

“Okay.”

I almost moved but realised that the Eclipse was about to reach crescendo again. I gave a warning to Tess and stayed where I was until it was safe again. While the Eclipse did that, I had my second energy drink. It helped. Then I moved, having to double back in order to get to where Tess and I were going to meet up.

It took a few minutes, and I had to wait and let a few groups of heroes pass, but I reached the street we were going to meet at. Right about that time there was the sound of bending metal, a screech that made me have to cover my ears. I looked up to see a four story building juddering upwards half a block away. Then the last of the cables holding it down snapped, and it drifted up and off towards the eclipse.

That was Kinetic. They’d given him the clear to throw buildings around. That meant there was a chance he’d take cover away from me when I needed it.

Maybe I was just being pessimistic.

I shook my head and looked at the theatre. It was still too far away for me to be comfortable making a mad dash for it, so I found another store that hadn’t been destroyed and ran there instead.

“I’m a dash or two away from the cinema.” I told Tess, still peeking out and peering at it.

“Where abouts, exactly?”

I looked around the spot I had taken cover in. “Uh… It’s a restaurant I think. There isn’t any branding on the inside. There’s an ice cream truck across the street, though.”

A head poked out of the door to the cinema. She had light brown hair that was done up in a simple ponytail, the easiest hairstyle that kept it out of the eyes, apparently. Tess looked up and down the street, found the truck, then found me.

She waved. “Found you.”

I waved back, cognizant that the Eclipse was getting louder at an alarming rate. “I’ll be right over. Hide for the time being.”

Tess listened to the Eclipse. “Yeah.” She went back inside to find cover as I retreated into the restaurant to do the same. I jumped behind the small counter that was always there in restaurants and realised that I couldn’t see the sky, meaning I was safe.

The rise of the Elcipse’s song was cut off abruptly. I almost asked Tess about it when the ground shook violently, and some cutlery that was still of some tables that hadn’t been shaken off yet were finally deposited on the floor. Then the howl started.

It had a similar quality to the Eclipse’s earlier sounds, but it didn’t come with the bending and burning light that effectively herded an entire city indoors. It did come with more violent quakes, however.

I saw flashes of gold reflected in the windows across the street, and I realised that I still had line of sight on the cinema Tess was hiding in. A snarl sounded within the howl, and the quakes stopped. Then the howl was silenced again, and moments later another, much more violent quake threatened to knock me off my feet.

Sounds of sizzling and breaking stone reached my ears. The screech of bending metal sometimes joined them. I kept watching outward and saw a tendril slash horizontally through the cinema above where Tess was hiding. A golden tail smashed into the building from behind and it crumbled in a cacophony of falling debris, a howling Calamity, and shouting heroes.

Despite the noise, I heard the quiet beat from the call cutting off through my earbud.

~~~

“Hey, Lock!” Someone was stage whispering. I felt an urge to punch out, having just been pulled from one of my least favourite memories, but the rousing was gentle enough that I was able to stay the urge. Rubbing my eye with one palm, I took in my surroundings. The speaker was Glitter Bomb.

“What.” My voice was flat. I hated recalling that moment.

“We can make the path now.” Glitter Bomb was still whispering. Her voice was lowered further as she leaned in. “Were you having a nightmare?”

My hand dropped to my baton as I stared flatly at the heroine. I expect the effect was lessened by my power obscuring my face, so I made up for it by having the baton move into my grasp. “I was.”

Forsaken was outside the van, but he leaned back in. “Hurry up.” He said.

Glitter Bomb gave me another indecipherable look before following the hero. I focused on my earring for a moment, calming down. Finding a centre from which I could operate. The sound of Glitter Bomb hitting the pavement shook me back into my body and I found it within me to get moving.

“The safe one is a complex one though, we need to split up.” Glitter Bomb was telling Forsaken. “And it’s real short for you, but then it’ll get real long.”

“Whose left in there?” I asked, still feeling a bit bleary and gesturing towards where the Beastmasters had their base.

“Um. Not Jackal.” Glitter Bomb was getting her pictures out again. “Not Channel or Retch, they’re still that way.” She flipped through the pictures after vaguely gesturing past me. “Rainbowfish went that way,” Glitter Bomb pointed off to her right, away from the base. “His path is really similar to Jackal’s so they’re probably together. Only Wayvern is still in there.”

“And Bad Valentine.” I said.

“How would you know?”

“He’s holding the flail, isn’t he?”

“Where is the flail right now?” Forsaken asked Glitter Bomb.

She thought for a moment. “It’s in there.” Glitter Bomb gestured towards the Beastmaster base. “A bit apart from Wayvern. It hasn’t moved much, but it did move at some point.” I got the distinct impression that she was frowning. “It’s moving now, but not moving moving.” She looked at me. “You get me?”

“So it is being carried.” Forsaken said, leveling his gaze in the direction of the building. “That makes this complicated.”

“Your path avoids conflict, right?” I asked Glitter Bomb, getting a nod. “But that won’t matter much if it leads you to where someone is holding it and they want to have a fight.” I directed that at Forsaken, getting another nod.

“We have accepted that as an eventuality.” Forsaken said decidedly. “Were it avoidable, we would have retrieved the flail last night. Fairy, what is the path we are walking?”

“Okay. So.” Glitter Bomb paused for a second, thinking. “We’re all going to walk up to that building.” She pointed at a building beyond the one we were trying to infiltrate. “We’ll go around to the farthest corner, then we’ll stop. After five minutes, we keep walking around and make it to the Beastmaster headquarters and split up.”

“I’m not comfortable with that.” Forsaken said. “We could find trouble.”

“It’s-” Glitter Bomb fidgeted. “It’s the only way.”

I raised in imperceivable eyebrow.

“So you two go to the second door around the right, while I get access by climbing up to the second floor on the left. You get in, hug the wall on the left, skipping every second corner and the first staircase. I tap on a window, then you let me in through another.”

“Why must we let you in?” Forsaken questioned.

Glitter Bomb glanced between the two of us. “Because my path doesn’t go that way. I get caught if I do, I think.”

Forsaken thought, then nodded. “I have the directions. Shall we go?”

Glitter Bomb shook her head. “We’re supposed to stay here for a bit longer.” She didn’t expand and say exactly how much time she meant.

I frowned. “How much long-”

“Come on!” Glitter Bomb suddenly started walking.

That much longer, apparently. I glanced at Forsaken, who had taken it in stride. Apparently this was normal for him. I resisted the urge to sigh and made to follow. After a few steps an ornate wooden shaft was presented in front of me. It was Forsaken handing me the spear.

I took it tentatively. We were still on the sidewalk, and that gave me some reservations. But Forsaken wasn’t focused on that. He was keeping his head held high and looking around, and had a gun held loosely in his off hand that he transferred to his newly freed one.

The shaft of the spear had grooves running lengthwise along it, and the decorative features bent at forty five degree angles every now and then, giving it an indiscernible pattern. The tip of the spear was shorter than my hand, and the blade simply tapered to a point after the guard. There was a decorative blue ribbon that was wrapped at the pointy end, just before the blade started.

It was heavy as well. I found myself twisting my hands around it as kept an eye out. There was a car leaving the driveway of the Beastmaster base, but they didn’t react to us and left, driving down the road away from us. Other than them and us, the street was empty. The ground around us also looked different as I glanced towards it. It was constantly shifting towards me, but never actually moving. Some spots more than others.

That would be the power of the spear, then. I wondered how I was supposed to access the power of it, since I hadn’t been given any time to get familiar with this thing like I had Cloud’s former staff. Speaking of, this thing was a lot heavier than the staff. I tried to mess with its gravity, but it didn’t become lighter.

I tried again and failed.

It was a spear, nothing but wood and metal, with a little blue ribbon attached. My power should have worked on it. The only things it didn’t work on were living things, possibly meaning that the spear was alive. A chill crept over me and I felt my hairs start to stand on end.

Forsaken has said he gave his weapons will. This spear was alive.

But he hadn’t said that the will of the weapon’s was original.

I glanced at the hero as we passed by the Beastmaster’s base. He was looking at the building and keeping an eye on Glitter Bomb. This wasn’t the time to ask the question. The five minutes of waiting we were about to do would.

Glitter Bomb cut across the lawn and Forsaken and I followed. She lead us to the farthest corner then pointed at Forsaken, then at another spot on the ground. Forsaken stepped where she pointed as Glitter Bomb gave me the same treatment. I moved to the indicated spot and set the spear down. There was an urge to lean on it that I had to resist. This thing had a pointy end.

Some of the five minutes passed before I said anything. “What’s their name?”

It was a guess. But with everything I’d heard and observed, it felt right. Forsaken snapped his head in my direction, his grip on the gun tight, and Glitter Bomb gasped way too loudly again. That meant I was right, or close to it.

I pulled my lips thin at the confirmation and nudged my head towards the spear.

“Sedimentary.” Forsaken said at length. “He was a detective.”

“All your weapons are like this?” I asked.

There was a pregnant pause.

“All but one.” Forsaken glanced at Glitter Bomb. His hand strayed to his bag. “Just in case. How did you figure it out?”

“I have telekinesis on non-living things.” I said. That was enough explanation for Forsaken, who nodded in understanding.

“He likes those with sharp minds. Sedimentary will enjoy this.”

“And how do I use it?”

“Sedimentary will show you.”

“A living weapon in every sense of the word.” I looked at the spear, then glanced back at Forsaken. “You’re terrifying.”

Glitter Bomb hummed in agreement. Forsaken took it in stride and we spent the last of the five minutes in silence. When it was over Glitter Bomb just started walking again, and we followed behind. Both Forsaken and me keeping an eye out, but it was deserted. We made it to the building we were trying to infiltrate easy enough.

“Remember, second door on the right.” Glitter Bomb repeated. “Hug the left, skip every second turn and the first staircase. Then go to the first room, still hugging the left. Let me in through there.”

She left to go do her thing, then Forsaken brushed past me to go the way she had told us to. I trailed behind as we made our way to the front of the building. There was a side door that looked pretty flimsy. It would’ve been my first choice for infiltration, but we had a Smart authority telling us otherwise.

“I don’t get why the Beastmasters are still here.” I commented, keeping my voice down. I still got a warning look from Forsaken for my trouble. “This place got compromised yesterday. I was the one that compromised it.”

“Perhaps there is too much within to move in a single day.” Forsaken matched my volume.

“Then why are there still two Beastmasters here?”

Forsaken didn’t answer as he made it to the second door and turned the handle. It was the one I’d entered through the day before, and was unsurprisingly locked.

“The spear.” He held his hand out.

I looked at it. “I think this is why I helped the path. I can unlock that by touching it.”

The hand dropped. “Then do it.”

I stepped over and touched the door handle. It was one of those ball shaped ones that had the keyhole in the middle of the handle. The tumblers snapped into focus and I started making them move. Since I still hadn’t figured out rotational movement I had to use my fingertip to make the lock move, but the door was soon open.

Forsaken lead the way inside. I followed behind again, looking around at the space within the warehouse. It was looking like Forsaken was right. None of the expensive cars from the day before were here, and a lot of the benches that once held tools had been cleared. Where once was a dozen and a half people bustling around four or five cars was now just an empty space. I was aware of our footsteps echoing.

The second time Forsaken glared at me for making too much noise, I just stopped walking and used my power to advance instead. Thankfully there wasn’t any carpet or flooring tiles, so it was a one and done application of my power. All I did was futz with friction, and it was as if I was standing on a treadmill.

I wasn’t used to it, though. I nearly fell over three times in five seconds, but I stopped making echoing footsteps. Forsaken, on his part, was much better at being quiet than I was while walking. That could probably be put down to experience, or he had living shoes.

I wasn’t ruling anything out.

The first staircase was right there, so we skipped that. The second left took us to a thin hallway that curled around the back of the warehouse space. There were three doors here, and we checked into the second one. It was just an office space, and we stood in it long enough to realise there was no exit through here before turning to leave.

The sound of footsteps squeaking on concrete stopped us. I held on to the door and pulled it almost shut, then locked it. After a half minute, there was the sound of another door opening, and whoever was walking was gone.

So this was why the timing mattered. I found myself respecting Glitter Bomb’s power a lot more.

We resumed walking the path and made it to the top of the second staircase. The floor was carpeted up here, so I had to actually walk, but it was fine since I wasn’t echoing anymore. We turned left and went into the first room. I was closing the door behind us when I heard the soft sound of talking in the hallway I’d just come from.

I raised a finger in front of my face that I wasn’t sure Forsaken would see, but I kept it there as my other hand let Sedimentary lean against my shoulder and then touched the door. Using my power, I erased friction from the hinges and pushed it soundlessly closed, leaving it just a little bit open like I had downstairs. Thankfully the door opened into the room, so it wasn’t obviously in the corridor.

Two voices came closer. The first was female and sounded like she was biting all her words. The other was more familiar.

“-lucky you convinced him, I think. He’s been going off the rails. Can’t tell if he’s about to snap.”

“Is that why he’s still here?” The second person asked. Nick. What was he doing out so quickly?

“That and the flail makes Jackal incredibly nervous. Never seen something disturb him like that, and he collects us like pets. I still remember finding Channel, and that gave me nightmares. Shame you couldn’t get your girl to add to that.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“He’ll be fine, though I’m sure you don’t actually care. Talks like he has two powers now, but hasn’t shown the second one. What happened to her?”

“She walked out. Did a whole bunch of-” They were down the stairs now, out of earshot.

I looked behind me to see Forsaken helping Glitter Bomb up through the window. She managed to get a hand on the sill and leaped over in one fluid motion once she was high enough. She crept over to me, staying low.

“We’re in.” She stage whispered, sounding far more enthused than I did. “We just have to get to the end of that hallway to the left. Second to last door on the right.” She glanced through the wall. “Yeah, that.”

I closed the door before I spoke, using my power to prevent the click of the tooth snapping into place. “I heard two people walking past. They were talking about the flail, and I have advice for if you end up fighting Bad Valentine.”

Forsaken gestured for me to get on with it while Glitter Bomb looked enraptured.

“His power winds up. Each time he attacks he sends out shards of glass that are left where they land while more shards grow out of him to become a telekinetic shield. He’ll be at his most vulnerable at the beginning of an encounter. You do not want him to get a big telekinetic shield.”

“Bag ‘em and tag ‘em, got it.” Glitter Bomb nodded.

I coloured my eyebrows silver and furrowed them at her, then blacked them again.

“It’s a cool saying.” Glitter Bomb explained. “Captain Furlow says it all the time.”

I blinked, getting that. Captain Furlow was a character in a cartoon aimed at pre-teens. “Anyway, the more of a shield he has, then the more devastating his counterattack. From what I saw of him in action, his power handles the initial defence while he attacks, growing larger the longer the fight goes on. Then when he actively defends, the power attacks.”

Saying that, I recalled Bad Valentine talking about how he was looking forward to being made to defend.

“He subconsciously attacks?” Forsaken checked.

“Maybe. I’m not Bad Valentine so I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that conscious defence will come from the shield he’s constructed, while the subconscious attack will come from whatever glass is left lying around from his conscious ones. He can use-”

A piercing scream cut me off. It was a man’s scream, one that was beyond any notions of retaining their pride. Just pain and fear. I was very familiar with screams of fear. It didn’t sound like it came from that far away either. In fact, it sounded like it came from the room down the hall. Second from the end on the right. I looked at the others.

“We should help.” I said, opening the door. I needed to be able to offer help without hesitation. That’s what I was aiming for. A nameless person screaming? Yeah, that sounded like something I should try and help stop.

I felt like I’d already hesitated thinking about it. That wasn’t good enough.

“Wait!” Glitter Bomb hissed, grabbing my arm with more strength than I expected. It was too late though, I was one step out the door and had nearly walked into an impressive female form.

She was athletically built, though that was probably the last thing anyone would notice about her. Much more noticeable than her toned muscles and bald head were the leathery wings grew out from behind her shoulders that wrapped around a good portion of her body, and the tail complete with a stinger that grew out behind her.

Wayvern looked at the three of us as we stared back at her. Then Forsaken aimed his gun past my head and fired.