Agwé came to land next to Anna.

“Hey, I’m A-”

“I know, Mermaid. They have a lot of fire power and we can’t make it close without getting stuck.” Mindy came into land and looked more pleased to see Agwé.

“Wow, your suit looks amazing!” she marvelled. “Glad you could join us.” Mindy flashed a smile and gave her friend a squeeze on the shoulder.

“So you need to get across the bridge?” Agwé asked.

“Yes, I could charge across no problem but their force is too strong and with Space Girl here, it’s not enough cover,” explained Tank.

“Leave it to the mermaid then,” Agwé said, turning away from the team talk and along the bridge.

Two giant fists of water rose out of The Thames, one either side of the bridge, and came hammering down onto the troops congregated in their defensive positions. The impact and sloshing water tore them from their spots and threw them all over the road.

Tank took her cue and started charging along the bridge, RPG hoisted over her shoulder. At half way, she took her shot, the grenade hurtling at speed, hungry for contact. Mindy had flanked around the right side of the bridge and was mopping up the Peacekeepers who had managed to compose themselves.

Agwé was yet to join in with some close quarter combat and instead was shaping water into thin vines that snaked out of the Thames and jabbed at the Peacekeepers and generally making the ground slippier.

From her position, she smiled. She did have this, and now she was going in to fight side by side with Mindy and the big girl.

After London Bridge, the next stop for Brad and Dylan was to join Terri and Stephanie clearing Oxford Circus. The four way junction of Oxford Street and Regent Street was clear and Terri and Stephanie had been able to push on to the remaining Peacekeepers a short distance ahead.

For the occasion, Flip had kitted up in his suit. The jump suit, a homage to his medal winning and to America, the mix of gold and Stars and Stripes clung to his body to allow for flexibility and protection. It looked very futuristic and had been designed by Adidas especially for him.

Proten was also in his kit and they ran down the street, between bodies, tossed vehicles and craters and protrusions of earth that Terri had evidently been playing with. Stephanie was in full beast mode and despite her inability to communicate in this state, she recognised the appearance of back up.

“How are we doing?” Brad asked, trying to establish an assessment of progress.

Terri answered, “We’ve secured Oxford Circus and are ready to push up. Their numbers are dwindling but they seem to be retreating temporarily.”

“I think I know why,” piped up Flip, pointing down Regent Street.

They were being flanked and efforts began again to push back on the Enhanceds, now from two sides. Stephanie didn’t hang around and was off, advancing on the Oxford Street mini battalion with a renewed vigour and hunger.

“She’s been out to prove something- I’ve never seen her this mad for it,” Terri commented, whilst she had time to.

“Grief. She’s still not processed what happened to her in Czechia. I’ll go and fight with her. You and Flip take the flankers up there.” And with that, Brad came out of his cover and ran after Stephanie, lashing out with own elasticated and elongated arms.

“It’s you and me kid, sti-” an explosion stopped Terri from finishing.

A building on the street tumbled, debris raining down and out onto the street ahead of them. Flip ran out, whilst Terri shaped the tarmac into dancing spikes that shot up from underneath the advancing forces. Flip was flipping and leaping, executing world class Produnovas and Tsukaharas off street furniture and vehicles in between delivering close quarter beatings.

Terri spotted something out of the corner of her eye which panicked her. A Peacekeeper had been able to fire off an RPG at a preoccupied Flip from behind some sneaky cover. And there was nothing she could do about it. It was too late. The grenade had been fired quite close to Flip so it didn’t have far to travel before it whizzed metres from him and into a shop front.

Terri watched, almost in slow motion as the explosion burst out of the shop, showering the young gymnast in glass, metal and brick. As quick as she could, she produced a tarmac barrier to shield Flip from the blast impact, but a surprise second RPG made impact with the ground, causing her new tarmac barrier to implode on itself, swallowing Flip up into what could have been the underground station tracks beneath. Terri’s tarmac barrier went down with Flip into the hole.

“Man down!” Terri yelled. She sprinted forwards, slowing to quickly slam her fists on the ground, sending snaking cracks shooting towards the remaining Peacekeepers.

They went up in the air when the cracks arrived, and then using all of her strength and determination, she lifted the entire width of the street, with the vehicles on it, up and back down as if she was beating out a rug. The whole road tore from its foundations and the release sent it careening back down, bowling over the Peacekeepers like bowling pins so that she could tend to Flip.

Canada’s Two Tone raced to The Shard and saw Holt racing up the side of the building. Two thirds up he watched as the alien wonder stopped abruptly and crashed through the glass panels into the building.

“What’s going on Holt?” Two Tone asked, readying his ship level with the Holt made hole.

“I’m going to cut them off from above!” he replied.

Two Tone swung his ship around and boosted, crashing right through the glass a few floors below Holt. In doing so, he was able to take out a group of Peacekeepers who were lagging behind in the twisted metal and glass that was generated in the crash.

A few floors up, Holt was fighting hand to hand with troops, utilising the narrow corridors and stairwells to his advantage. He fought hard and fast, using short bursts of his solar beam to subdue and take out his opponents.

“Do you see any equipment for boosting a signal?” Two Tone asked Holt from his position a few floors down.

“No I don’t. It’s just troops. Do you think they already made it up?”

“It took us a while to get round to coming up here,” Holt admitted, referring to the lapse in time where him and his brother were fighting down below before their back up arrived.

“I’ll head on up and join you and we can check it out,” decided Two Tone, heading up the stairwell to Holt. “If there’s any signal to disrupt, that’s my job.”

“I’ll just see to these few troops while I’ll wait for you.”

Their assumptions had been right. A group of ten Peacekeepers had made it to the roof and were tinkering with technology and the mast.

Two Tone was alone, but very capable. He came out from behind a generator, announcing his presence and causing the bemused invaders to look around. The intense rushing wind was disorientating and made the idea of taking them all on at once from this height daunting. So he didn’t.

Deep from within him he emitted a guttural sonic boom to disorientate the Peacekeepers, causing them to cower and protect their ears, and giving Two Tone his chance. Sweeping through the group he fought each one off consecutively, but mindful not to brutally throw them off from the top.

Beaten black and blue with acute deafness, the Peacekeepers lay writhing on the ground. Two Tone strode over to the alien technology being set up to boost a distress signal and tried to work out how to disable it. He looked out thoughtfully across the London skyline and it was then that he had his idea.

Yanking the box from its cabling, he tossed it over the edge.

“Flip! Flip! Are you there? Can you hear me?” Terri called out from the edge of the crater.

She jumped down, creating a clear path by removing the rubble cognitively. The ground had opened up into the underground line, a twisted heap of metal, brick, cable and pipes strewn about, concealing Flip from view. A now human Stephanie and Proten came running over and had also dropped down into the hole.

“Terri, what happened?! Proten called out.

“It just came out of the blue. I couldn’t stop it in time!” she cried out in response, heaving a boulder into the open.

“Can you hear him?” Proten asked, coming to Terri’s side.

“Not over you talking, I can’t!” she snapped back, tackling another pile of debris. Proten let it slide and helped out.

“Sssh,” hissed Stephanie. “Can you hear that?”

Proten and Terri froze. There was a tapping sound coming from some bricks and concrete boulders. Terri removed them with ease and Proten slipped his hands in from his extended, snaking arms. In no time, Flip was revealed and released from his prison. His face was bloody and caked in dust.

“Woah, don’t move him yet!” Terri warned.

“Holt, Holt- are you free? We need you here!” Proten requested over his communicator.

“A little busy at the moment up here, give us some time!” came the answer back. A groggy and achy Flip started to stir.

“It’s ok, it’s ok. It’s just my arm. I’m alright, really,” he sputtered.

“Ok well just slowly does it buddy,” Proten assured, helping his friend up.

“Thank God, Dyl. I’m sorry I didn’t s-”

“Terri, it’s cool. Don’t sweat it. Let’s just get out of here.”

“Do you think we’re done here?” Stephanie asked as they clambered up back to street level.

“God I hope so. I’ll check with the others,” Terri suggested.

***

Isaac suggested they all reconvened at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich Park- a beautiful wide space with sunset views overlooking a smokey and battered London. The group of fourteen made their various ways, leaving London’s authorities to pick up the pieces.

Holt had taken a look at Flip’s arm and healed the break. He still found it very sore so sat on the ground with it in a makeshift sling. They remained in a shared silence for a while, taking in their experiences and the what-could-have-beens.

“What did Madam Secretary say Terri?” Brad asked finally.

“She’s vexed, but that’s only really because she’s gettin’ it from the President who is gettin' it from the Prime Minister,” she explained, recalling the conversation she’d had with the Secretary.

“The impact of this will be huge,” Isaac warned. “A mysterious ship falls out of the sky crashing into London and its occupants fight with four new Enhanceds capable of flying and… then cosmic stuff. You can’t sweep that shit under the carpet. Not even Lucas can keep that off the internet. People are going to want to know answers.”

“I don’t think they’re ready for them,” quipped Blane.

“But we saved a lot of people and stopped more from getting hurt,” countered Mindy.

“I know that. Most of the world will know that. But countries like Russia and China and North Korea are going to be incredibly suspicious and wary of the fact the US has been harbouring aliens.”

“I hate us being referred to as aliens. Can I just throw that out there?” Blane interrupted, speaking up.

“He doesn’t mean it negatively, Blane. It’s just the term humans use for people or things not of this world,” Kimona gently reasoned, putting a soothing hand on his upper arm.

“We leave it to our leaders to sort out. We did what we had to do. There’s always a price to pay for it but there wasn’t another option,” explained Sandrine, turning away from the view and facing the group.

“But what if this happens again?” Isaac asked. “What’s to stop another, bigger ship from falling out of our skies? Earth doesn’t have the capability to defend itself. This Pact kept us as the universes’ dirty little secret- where does that leave us now, now that what’s out there... is now out there?” He was getting a bit worked up, but no one took it personally. Terri smiled at him sympathetically.

“That ship went rogue. They wouldn’t have wanted anyone knowing they were coming after us. I don’t think it’ll be suspected that they even came here. And hopefully their distress signal was stopped in time. I think we’re good from other attacks,” Do’Lânqwa explained.

Up until now he’d been silent, sat with the group but his mind elsewhere. He’d not really had the chance to process his own loss and betrayal, but he sure didn’t want to start doing it on this hill top. “I need to go back now.”

Terri saw the look behind Do’Lânqwa’s eyes and really felt for him. “Yes, let’s get going. This circus will still be here in the morning. And you need to rest, kiddo,” she said, turning to Dylan, helping him up.

The North Americans bid a goodbye to their European counterparts and divided themselves between the remaining jets. Ferris put his arm around Terri and she reciprocated with an arm around his waist. Anna and Stephanie hitched a lift with Sandrine but waited whilst Brad had a word with Stephanie.

“Can I call you tomorrow and check in with you?” he asked her, recognising that she had perhaps exerted herself too much too soon.

“I will need a lot of sleep first. I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”

“Promise me you will rest though Stephanie,” he urged.

“You’re very sweet to me,” and she kissed him on the cheek goodbye.

“Kimona, before you go,” Isaac called out. Kimona walked over to him and the other British woman known as The English Rose- Sally Campbell. “Well done out there today at London Bridge,” he told her.

“Thank you very much.”

“Look, we know the Americans are doing a good job of looking after you but if you want to come by for a trip, Sally and I will be happy to take you around your old stomping ground,” Isaac offered.

Kimona was made up. She had been dying to ask but was very aware that she didn’t know him well enough to ask such a thing. “I’d love to, that will be great. Thank you!” she gushed.

“There’s going to be a lot of interest around you after today, so once it’s calmed down, get in touch. Us Brits have got to stick together right?” Sally said. Kimona smiled, and left them to board Brad’s jet back.

The jets took off, zooming off in their different direction leaving Isaac and Sally to watch over a dusky London before going home themselves.

Next week in a more calmer Flip #3, ‘An Early Intervention’...

Dylan struggles after the events of London and makes a life changing decision.