I saw surprise in Wayvern’s expression for a single instant before I went deaf. Then I realised that her form was blurring, expanding, and also collapsing in on itself. Her wings were flaring out a little as Wayvern was half a step through backing up to put some distance between us.

Needless to say, she didn’t make it. Her image had frozen the moment the gun went off and everything had become triangles that expanded and retracted in a seemingly random order. The ones around the edges and the ones in the spot that Forsaken had shot stretched more that the ones halfway between the two. They stretched further and further while the bases of the triangles became thinner and thinner, until they were imperceptible, then presumably gone.

The process repeated again and again until all that was Wayvern had vanished from the hallway. It only took a few seconds. Forsaken was talking the whole time, but my ears were still ringing from the fucking gunshot that went off right next to me.

Forsaken fired again, aiming out the window this time. Then he pushed me out the doorway and gestured for me to follow as he made his way to where the flail was. I gripped Sedimentary with one hand while the other brushed against my baton. I’d frozen. That wasn’t good.

I had become a hero to act.

Two powers were at my disposal, one in each hand. My own, which was finicky and liable to end with many broken things, some of them myself. And in my other hand, a power that I didn’t consciously know how to use.

A vibration traveled through the spear and up my arm. I gripped it with both hands and made after Forsaken. Was that Sedimentary communicating to me? Another vibration ran through the spear.

I had no fucking clue what he was trying to tell me.

Forsaken tested the door Glitter Bomb had pointed out and found it unlocked, so he opened it like a SWAT officer. His gun in a position where he could easily aim it after opening the door, and he went in gun first. Glitter Bomb was close behind, and I was a late third.

I was glad the two of them went through first, because their bodies blocked a decent amount of the scene. Selfish, I know. But that didn’t change the fact that what I saw was going to keep me up at night. There was far too much blood everywhere for me to just brush this one off.

The room was an office that had been partially cleared out. Whoever had done the clearing had gone straight for the stuff that was important, and left everything decorative behind. There was a chibi jackal figurine on the desk that told me exactly who used to sit there. The person that sat there now was a teenage girl with dark hair. She was wearing clothes, but they were so stained with blood that the original colour was impossible to make out.

It looked like her blood, and she wasn’t exactly sitting, either. She was on a four legged chair that was turned one hundred and eighty degrees from the desk and leaned back so her head lolled backwards with an agape expression. There were three lines on each of her cheeks that blood still ebbed from. They were shaped not too dissimilarly to a cat’s whiskers.

Jagged shards of glass stabbed into the desk and walls made it obvious who did this.

The other part of the scene involved a man impaled to the wall. That was what Forsaken and Glitter Bomb were obscuring from me, but looking past them I could see that he was fixed there by long shafts of metal. The stabby stab that Glitter Bomb had told me about. At least six stabby stabs from the looks of it.

Bad Valentine was nowhere to be seen. But there were red motes dancing on the ceiling that made me wary. Looking up made me realise that there were ceiling tiles missing from their holes. I knew how sturdy ceiling tiles were, and doubted he was hiding up there. There was a door to an adjacent room, and an interior window that had been smashed. Both were much more likely.

Forsaken was holding a hand out to stop Glitter Bomb, and checked over his shoulder before correcting the elevation of the arm to be in front of her head. She ducked and walked past him, revealing more of the guy impaled on the wall.

“Where is the flail?” Forsaken asked. My ears were still ringing, but I’d recovered enough to comprehend what he was saying.

Glitter Bomb pointed right above me.

Fucking hell. He was standing on the top of the wall.

There were crashing sounds as the ceiling came down around me. I ducked with my arms over my exposed head and locked everything I was touching. Sans Sedimentary, of course. I felt an impact attempt to affect my sleeves, but fail to find any traction, then another, much larger force as what I presumed to be Bad Valentine himself fell on me feet first. The Altered was accompanied by at least a dozen smaller forces that, while small in area, were about equivalent in actual force.

I weathered most of the assault, but two shards got my fingers. One slashed the back of a thumb, and my pinky on my other hand was slashed as well. Looking through my power told me that both cuts were light, which was a small relief.

Still locked, I glanced up. My head able to move since I wasn’t wearing my hood, and my angle didn’t let me see above myself, but I could see the heroes reacting. Forsaken was putting his gun away for some reason as Glitter Bomb was waving an imaginary conductor’s wand. With each swish and flick, white arcs appeared in the air where the tip of her imaginary wand was and mingled with the red briefly before rushing in my direction and becoming something else.

I saw the spray of colours and glints and shut my eyes the moment before the glitter bombs hit.

Bad Valentine was still on me by virtue of having his legs in the groove between where my sleeves were. Since my clothes weren’t accepting new forces, the fact that there was nowhere left for the boot to go was the only reason he stayed on top of me. He had no friction on me, but I could feel him jerk back as he got hit.

The glitter hadn’t had any push behind it, I’d realised that when some of it had tried to find purchase on my clothes. Glitter Bomb had made him jump back reflexively. I unlocked myself once he was off and started moving.

I lunged past the desk and turned around. What I saw was disheartening. Bad Valentine was back on his feet and already had a decent amount of glass swirling around his body. The bleeding flail was at his side, but now it was bleeding up. The crimson drops defying gravity as they ascended and expanded to become more red motes in the ceiling.

The villain himself was wearing much the same clothing as he was the day before, but now it was wet. The blood of others less obvious because of the already dark colour of the leather. Fresh shards growing out of him were easily distinguishable from the older ones because they were clean, while the older ones had blood running down their sharp ends.

I glanced upward warily, and saw that the mass of motes above Bad Valentine was gathering in the centre of the room. Specifically near Glitter Bomb. Barely thinking, I dashed beside her and waited half a moment. Glitter Bomb finished sending out a package of glitter and I jumped in front of her, yelling “Duck!”

My clothes all got locked at the apex of my jumps, and in that moment Bad Valentine swung towards us with the flail and the red motes converged along the arc of the spiked ball on the chain. The swing finished, and the ‘big old stabby stab’ came for me because I was in the way. Probably trying to kill two birds with one stone by stabbing Glitter Bomb through me.

It didn’t work. My power prevailed and the bloody spike shattered on impact.

I unlocked myself, barely noting the wedgie the action had given me being relieved, and dropped back to the floor. Bad Valentine wore a shocked expression for a moment, a moment in which I considered drawing my baton and attempting to knock him out. I vetoed the idea since I didn’t want him to counterattack with this much glass. He didn’t have much glass in his shield, but there was a lot strewn about in the room. Enough to make me a living statue of glass if he wanted.

A short-lived statue of glass.

I got my baton out anyway and brandished it. I used my power to prevent it from extending, then made it do so belatedly, hoping the delayed action would confuse Bad Valentine. Give him something to trip on at the very least.

Looking at him, the mind game didn’t work. He was twirling the Flail now, quickly replenishing the spent red motes.

“Out of the way!” It was Forsaken. I glanced back and saw him with a reflex bow, string drawn and arrow knocked. “Out of the way!”

Not needing to be told a third time, I dodged to the side of the room where the man was crucified. Less glass there. Glitter Bomb had gone right. That didn’t bode well for her, but she was fine until Bad Valentine defended.

The moment we were out of the way, Bad Valentine pushed his off hand towards Forsaken, unleashing a small barrage of glass from his shield as more grew out of his body to replenish and reinforce.

Forsaken took at least six shards to the side, then released the arrow.

The arrow vanished, and not because it flew that quickly. It dissolved and was replaced by a hurtling ball of fire that approached Bad Valentine as his reflexive defence dropped. Not giving him the time to respond. The ball of fire impacted and picked up the villain without losing speed. Bad Valentine was standing close to the doorway, but he was carried out of the room, through the wall on the other side of the wallway, and through the outside wall of the building.

It didn’t feel like Bad Valentine was actually being pushed through walls, looking at him. The force needed to break even a timber wall was enough to break a human body, I knew that better than most. Still, he was carried, the fire flaring out and becoming more intense with each not-impact. He sailed outside and the fireball exploded.

“Pull him back.” Forsaken hissed at me.

I was about to shoot back that my power didn’t have the range for that, but Sedimentary pulsed in a strange way. I didn’t know what to do, but I had a suspicion as to what exactly was being asked of me. It hurt, and one hand went to my temple as I stepped towards the hole in the wall. After a short massage that didn’t do anything, I dropped my baton, put my hand on the spear and shoved it forward.

Then I pulled it back and a nearly horizontal pillar of earth came back with it. I didn’t aim it, that was Sedimentary doing the work. All I did was pull the trigger on the power, and the consciousness behind the spear tended to the fine details. There was a yell as Bad Valentine was hit by a pillar of moving earth.

“He’ll likely run.” Forsaken said as I was finishing up. “Fairy.” He held out his bow, and Glitter Bomb took it reverently. Forsaken pulled his gun out of his bag again and aimed it at the girl that had the cat scratches.

“Wait.” I stepped in the way, getting a closer look. “I recognise her, that’s Nancy from yesterday. She was a driver for Bad Valentine.” I looked at the guy on the wall with fresh eyes. “That’s Joe, he came with.”

“Sufficient motive, then.” Forsaken said. Glitter Bomb hummed an affirmative. “Out of the way.” He was holding his gun like he was about to shoot them. I was alarmed.

“They’ve been tortured for some fucking reason. They need help, not an execution.”

“This isn’t an execution. This will save them.”

“You’re holding a gun. Forgive me if I don’t think you’re going to shoot someone back to health.”

Forsaken lowered the gun. “The more we talk, the more time Bad Valentine has to prepare. The gun will put them in a suspended state within then next bullet. Time will pass for the mind, but not the body. We can transport them without needing to worry about their health that way.”

I looked at Glitter Bomb, who was already moving towards the hole outside. I looked at Nancy, who was still bleeding, and now that I was looking at her, she was looking back at me. There wasn’t enough strength in her neck for her to lift it up, but it had fallen towards the side I was on. This side of her body had been lacerated to a much greater extent than what I’d seen before. It was symmetrical. The look in her eyes was hopeless, like she was a robot on her last percentage of battery, and she was looking at me.

She’d been listening, that wasn’t good. Joe was in an even worse state. I grimaced and erased friction from the sides of my shoes, making his blood slip off. Forsaken was clearly getting impatient. I couldn’t ignore the shards in his costume.

“Fuck. Fine.”

The moment I was out of the way, Forsaken shot Nancy and her body froze then dissolved into fractals the same way Wayvern’s did. He retrieved the next bullet from the chamber, then shot Joe to the same effect.

Both bullets were handed to me. “Your responsibility is to ensure we are not ambushed, from the side or from behind. If we should fall tonight, you are the one who will transport them to healthcare.”

I tested my power on the bullets and found that it worked. “How do I get them out? These bullets aren’t alive.”

“Shoot the bullets.” Forsaken told me seriously. “Come. Our quarry is not too far away. We can still catch him.”

“He’s setting a trap.” Glitter Bomb added.

“You can get around it?”

“Mostly.”

“Good enough. Lock, keep an eye out for Wayvern. She might not be coming back, but if she does I want you to intercept her. Fight her to a standstill if you can. Retreat if you can’t.”

I nodded and followed after them, making sure to get next to Glitter Bomb. “Which way is Wayvern?”

Glitter Bomb pointed ahead of her to the right.

“And Bad Valentine?”

Ahead and to the left. About fifteen degrees more of a turn than Wayvern.

“Thanks.”

I could feel the ground beneath the hole in the side of the building swirling in that moving-not-moving way. When I pointed Sedimentary at it, the spear pulsed. I lifted the tip of the spear and a square pillar of earth emerged at an angle from the ground, giving us a slope to slide down.

“You are a quick study.” Forsaken commented before leaping.

“Like me.” Glitter Bomb told me before leaping.

I shook my head and leaped, landing a little awkwardly and using my power to smooth things out friction wise. That turned out to be a mistake because I hit the ground a little too hard and shocked the bottom of my feet. I stood up and even that hurt, but at least I hadn’t rolled my ankle.

Forsaken and Glitter Bomb were already moving and I made to go after them. Sedimentary pulsed as I ran and the ground underneath me shifted, rising at a very low diagonal as a fast enough speed that when it stopped, I was flung forwards. Landing was a bitch, I almost tripped, and the ground shock worsened from the maneuver. But now I was right behind the Heroes of Yesterday.

“Don’t just act up.” I hissed. Sedimentary pulsed, and that’s when I realised that each pulse was different.

The one that just happened occured in the spear all at once, with no starting point and no part where the vibration faded last. It was uniform, no travelling vibration, and no expression of power that I could make out. When Sedimentary launched me, the vibrations started at the base and moved to the point, fading out almost entirely where I was holding it.

I adjusted my grip so I was holding it near the point and said, “Do that again, but less.”

Sedimentary pulsed when I was moving the arm holding it forward slightly. This time the vibrations travelled to the end point and I noticed that the vibrations tapered off as they traveled. It only happened in an instant as a similar pillar erupted beneath me and I got launched again, ending up in front of Forsaken and Glitter Bomb.

“To the right!” Glitter Bomb shouted.

I looked, there was a gap between two clusters of conjoined buildings that a figure in black leather with a shimmering entourage of glass was running through. I pointed at him with Sedimentary and pulled like I had before. A pillar of earth erupted from in front of Bad Valentine and blocked off the alley.

He looked back at me as I wondered why that pillar had been the least impressive one so far. Bad Valentine swung the flail around, loosing some red motes as I adjusted my grip on Sedimentary. The bloodlights drifted to the left of the alley and up to a window that Bad Valentine started climbing towards. He threw part of his shield at the wall to act as footholds.

Forsaken caught up with me and loosed an arrow. It transformed into a fireball that Bad Valentine shot some glass into. That only made it bigger, but it was poorly aimed and was never going to hit its mark. It hit the window Bad Valentine was climbing for, removing it from the wall and taking it out of sight. The villain looked between us and the window, then leaped through it.

Forsaken swore and made to follow. I made to do the same, but Glitter Bomb caught my arm and pointed at the roof of the other building cluster. “You need to go up there.”

It took me a moment to figure it out. “Alone?”

“I have to follow the blood, sorry.”

I frowned at the specific wording. “Keep him safe, he’s bleeding.”

“I know, I don’t like it.” Then Glitter Bomb was off, following after Forsaken.

I pointed at the roof with Sedimentary and the ground right in front of me rose up, nearly taking my nose off. It gave me a fucking shock, but it confirmed my theory. When I had used the spear offensively, or used it at a distance, the vibrations started at the front and traveled back. Since I was holding it at the front, effectively negating Sedementary’s power, the greatest expression of the power couldn’t take form. Then, when I tried to make a pillar underneath me, but was holding it at the base, it had been inaccurate.

“Sorry, was figuring you out.” I muttered, adjusting to hold near the point. “Let’s get to the roof this time, eh.” I paused, considering how Canadian I felt, then shook it off and pushed up.

Sedimentary pulsed twice. The first was uniform, for communicating something. I still had no clue as to what. But the second pulse was as it should be, with all the strongest points able to express themselves. The spear launched me up and over the first pillar, which was already crumbling, and I landed somewhat heavily on the roof.

I gingerly took a few steps. My feet were getting numb, and I didn’t really appreciate how Sedimentary was throwing me around. Still, if I had figured out everything to Sedimentary’s power, then I could actually start to use it. Glitter Bomb had sent me up here to fend off Wayvern, who flew. Chances were it was best for me to use range, so I gripped the spear near the base.

“Person we’re fighting is a flier.” I said for Sedimentary’s benefit. “Am I holding you right?”

A pulse.

“Can you pulse two times in a row?”

Three pulses.

“Are you making a joke?”

One pulse.

“Can we do a ‘three is no, one is yes’ kind of thing?”

Two pulses.

I sighed and started scanning the horizon. This wasn’t getting anywhere. “Can you let me know when you see Wayvern?”

Sedimentary immediately pulsed and I frowned. This was a new vibration, it faded out around where I was holding it like it usually did, but it wasn’t sourceless and it didn’t make any pillars shoot up. The vibration didn’t taper off, either. What it did do was indicate a direction.

I looked in the indicated direction and saw a small form approaching. Barely visible against the night sky.

“You keep a good eye out.” I murmured, causing Sedimentary to pulse repeatedly. They were weak vibrations. It gave me the impression that the spear was laughing.

Wayvern got closer and a pit dropped in my stomach. The ‘laughter’ stopped in the same instant.

“You know, this isn’t the first winged beast I’ve watched approaching.” I used the term ‘beast’ liberally. Wayvern was just Altered, but the other thing I was referring to was different. “I’d ask if I can count on you, but you’re just a spear.”

That got a sharp pulse.

“Got any ideas? I haven’t fought a flying villain before.”

Three pulses, each of them traveling in a different direction.

“Sounds good to me.” I stood on the rooftop with my back to the alley I’d come from, Sedimentary in hand, waiting for Wayvern to get close. With a close eye, I saw her change course from flying to the building on the other side of the alley. Her new course taking a wide berth.

I adjusted to hold the spear near the point and thrust in her direction. This time I got a pillar of concrete throwing me to the rooftop closer to Wayvern. A glance behind me told me that the concrete fixture wasn’t staying as well as the earthen ones. It crumbled almost instantly and left debris behind.

That meant I wasn’t permanently changing the building or adding mass that needed to be removed. Well, it did need to be removed, but it was the difference of demolition and picking up debris.

The idle worries of being a hero.

I shook the invasive thought and focused on landing. It was rough, but after the initial impact, I shut off friction and was able to slide along after Wayvern, the edge taken off the shock. The process was repeated three times before Wayvern seemed to give up on going around me.

She flared her wings, then went into a dive headed straight for me, which is what I had been waiting for. I adjusted Sedimentary, then swiped up. A pillar of earth came up from underneath her, which was easily dodged. That much was expected.

Then I pulled the spear towards me, bringing a second pillar out of the first. It came towards me directly over Wayvern, who heard the sound of moving earth and rolled midair to see what was above her. That’s when I gripped Sedimentary in the middle and pulled down.

Wayvern was fast enough to partially get out of the way, but the pillar was about a full meter in diameter and caught one of her wings. She tumbled and went into a freefall. I pulled back a bit on the spear and swiped to the side, causing a pillar to hit Wayvern sideways and throw her over a rooftop rather than let her fall further into the alley.

She went tumbling as the three pillars became falling rocks that were going to do a lot of property damage. I ignored them and jumped after Wayvern with Sedimentary’s help. I stopped before Wayvern did. She had skimmed, rolled, and bounced on the flat roof all the way to the low barrier on the other end of the building. Now, Wayvern was a pile of leathery limbs and what might be fashionable clothing.

Wayvern let out a long groan as the wings flared and the tail straightened out. “I fucking hate crash landings.”

“Sorry. I have a thing against winged creatures flying at me.” I said, getting her attention.

Wayvern unsteadily got to her feet. “That supposed to mean something?” Her voice was testy. Did I just offend her?

“Nothing against you, just…” I weighed Sedimentary a bit. It struck me again how strange it felt to carry something I didn’t have any control over the weight of. “Fuck the Eclipse.”

“You just compared me to a monster.” Wayvern wrapped her wings loosely around herself. I could see scuffs and scratches where blood had been drawn. She unwrapped the wings slowly and displayed an impressive flexibility as she turned them up side down to look at the other side. “Look what you did to my wings.”

“Again, sorry.”

“Fuck up, Captain Canada.” The wings snapped behind Wayvern, perfectly folded. Her tail flicked up and over her shoulder, stopping the movement with the now obvious barb a foot in front of her face like some kind of shoulder mounted cannon. “I don’t got time to worry about you right now. There’s a terrible sweetheart nearby that I’m supposed to be looking after.”

I realised how much I’d been saying sorry and almost said it again. “The name’s Lock and I can’t let you leave. My job is to keep you here, or away from where you’re trying to go. And that isn’t a good name for Bad Valentine.”

“If you know who I’m talking about, then you know how bad it could get if no one keeps him in check.”

“I do know of him, and I’m curious why you think that.” I wasn’t, really. These were stalling tactics.

The question seemed to take Wayvern off balance. Then she took a step forward with her head tilted down and a determined expression on her face. “Listen, Lock. This isn’t a business night. The only agenda we have right now is survival. If you keep me here then things are going to get messy. And it won’t be us that pays.”

Damn, that was a good argument. I even agreed thanks to the scene I walked in on with Nancy and Joe. Still, delaying tactics. “It’s already messy.” I gestured behind me. “Bad Valentine is running.”

“From the other two that were with you?” Wayvern checked. My normally impassive expression remained impassive. “Shit.”

“You still haven’t told me why you think civilians are going to get hurt.”

“Fuck! If I fucking tell you, will you let me go babysit the baby?”

“Baby?”

“He hasn’t had his powers for more than two weeks!” Wayvern exclaimed. “He doesn’t understand that talking can be a better way of doing things. He just attacks. Jackal’s been trying to get his leash sorted, and he was my responsibility tonight.”

“Maybe.” I said, thinking on it. “What are your thoughts on the flail?”

“Fuck the flail.” Wayvern immediately declared, earning sympathy points I did not want to be giving out. “He’s been worse since he got his hands on that thing. BV was reckless before, but now it’s a whole ‘nother level. It’s like it isn’t even him. I’m part of this for the clean stuff. I obviously can’t live a normal fucking life, so I lay low and don’t give the Regulation reason to take notice of me.”

“Smart.” I commented hollowly.

“So here I am, appealing to your moral judgement, so I can just… continue as things were. With your piece of shit power, I won’t be getting away anytime soon. There’s no need to shake things up.”

I thought on it. “I appreciate the forthrightness-”

I looked behind me. There had been a muffled shout, almost sounding like my name. It was shrill.

I turned back to Wayvern. “Don’t attack me. Don’t attack a Hero of Yesterday. Only get your baby out of here after separating him from the flail, and we have a deal.”

“Deal.” Wayvern agreed instantly. She flared her wings and took off, sending a blast of air past me that threatened to knock me over.

My mouth pulled tight, I adjusted the grip on Sedimentary and thrust towards the direction the sound had come from. The pillar took me across the gap before failing, and I used my power to slide along the rooftops and keep pace with Wayvern.

I saw red motes first, which worried me. I pulled my grip back a bit and swung down with the spear, making a pillar that grew down from the side of the building and slid down it. The red motes had been inside, I’d seen them through a window. But there hadn’t been any access that I could make out on the roof, which is why I dropped down to street level.

The moment I touched down, a door not far from me slammed open and Glitter Bomb ran out holding a body. It had a long red spike piercing the chest. The spike was unbroken, and went through the body entirely.

I swore. The body was Forsaken.

“Lock, close the door!” Glitter Bomb yelled, her shout hysterical.

I reacted, sliding my hand down Sedimentary and swinging up with the spear. Just enough power was exerted to make a pillar of earth that was as tall as the doorway, in the doorway. I turned my attention to Glitter Bomb.

“The flail?”

“It’s still in there!”

I looked up, Wayvern was above us. Totally still and watching like a gargoyle. “No more fighting, we lost tonight.”

“Works for me.” The Beastmaster shrugged.

“Get that flail back to the Heroes of Yesterday if you can. It’s a fucking danger anywhere else.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Lock, the window!” Glitter Bomb interrupted urgently.

I looked at the building. “Which one?”

“Urrm…” She floundered, at a complete loss of how to point since she was carrying Forsaken.

“Doesn’t matter.” I decided. “We’re retreating. You have to get the flail back another time.”

“But-” Glitter Bomb floundered again. “But we’re so close. It’s so easy to reach.”

I leaned closer and whispered so Wayvern wouldn’t hear. “Fairy, Forsaken is wounded. I have two more wounded in my pocket. We need to leave, now.”

As if to punctuate my point, a window, probably the one Glitter Bomb was trying to point out, spontaneously shattered. The heroine with a wounded hero in her arms gulped visibly.

“You didn’t leave any weapons behind?” I checked. Glitter Bomb shook her head. “Then let’s go. To the van. Which way?”

Glitter Bomb looked past me and I started us moving. I erected a pillar in front of the window for good measure.

“Thanks!” I shouted back at Wayvern. If she responded, I didn’t stick around to hear it.

Glitter Bomb lead us down the business street back onto the road proper. We quickly approached the white and yellow van, I opened the door, unlocking it with my power and making sure there was room so the spike in Forsaken wasn’t disturbed.

But Glitter Bomb didn’t move, she just stared into the van. I looked inside to see a man in a tight fitting costume that was literally on fire. The fire was a pale gold colour and it wasn’t burning or spreading to anything. There was another guy in costume in the driver’s seat. His costume was white. It was Sacred and Toil. That’s when it hit me, this van was parked right outside the Beastmaster hideout. The van Forsaken and Glitter Bomb had used was around another corner.

Toil turned to face us around the headrest. “Fairy, you were told to wait.”