The moment I was outside the apartment and sure I was alone, I pulled on my mask, wrapped myself in the coins needed for flight, and took off. I wasn’t in the air for long though—my mask had all but flown off. I quickly descended, grabbed the domino mask from where it had fallen, and pressed it into my face. The problem was easy to identify but left me unsure how to proceed. The adhesive was almost entirely spent, so without something to tie it on securely enough to not fall off mid-flight, it was a wash. That meant I needed to replace it.

The thought of finding Tammi and robbing her for another was humorous to think about but quickly discarded. Tracking her down would be damn near impossible, and if I was being honest with myself, my victory last time had relied more than a bit on surprise and luck. I should really figure out what her cape name is when I can… Wouldn’t want to blurt it out by accident, else I’ll have nothing to hold over her and keep mine secret.

Most capes I knew of wore some variety of mask that covered the eyes and had a variety of shapes and sizes, but where would I get one that would fit and stay on? I knew a few capes from back home who used full face helmets, like what a motorcyclist wore, but the thought of wearing something like that reminded me too much of the feeling of being unable to escape the trunk and sent a shiver up my spine.

I suppose I could just not wear a mask? I mockingly thought. Just kidding. That’s fucking stupid. Nobody sane would do that.

No, it seemed to me that the best choice was a mask that covered the lower half of my face. Something like what Miss Militia, the cape I’d seen earlier at the Boardwalk, or Butcher used. Not the recently killed one, Butcher XIII—he wore a mask that covered the eyes, I think. The new one, Butcher XIV, wore a mask that left everything from the eyes up exposed, or so I’d heard. Something like that would work well and would hide the freckles dusting my cheeks, which were probably one of the main distinctive features I had. I knew exactly where to go to get the perfect mask too. Holding my soon-to-be-replaced mask to my face, I took off into the air.

Darkness had started to descend over the city, but it hadn’t quite taken hold yet. The twilit sky provided some degree of illumination over the buildings below, leaving one half of each stained red and the other side in shadows. The sounds of city life had dwindled as well but were still present as cars crawled across the pavement and people walked to and fro, resembling ants more than humans from up here. Yeesh, hello newfound feelings of superiority. Careful you don’t get your head stuck in the clouds while you’re up there, eh? I started moving roughly north toward the Boardwalk, where Aisha and I had passed a store earlier that specialized in accessories like hats, jewelry, and scarves. The mannequin in the window there had been sporting, among other things, an attractive silver, metallic looking scarf that had practically shone in the afternoon sun. My new mask.

I was surprised when I quite quickly passed a bubble of light and sound I recognized as Palanquin. I hadn’t realized Masuyo lived so close to the club. Which actually meant if I had searched a bit further west last night, then I might not have met the capes at Palanquin. I ground to a halt mid-air in surprise when my thoughts about masks and Palanquin collided. Gregor and Newter hadn’t worn masks, which made sense when you were so distinctive you made them pointless, but Faultline had met me without her mask on. Did that mean something? It seemed like it had to, but I couldn’t figure out what. I pondered that while continuing towards the Boardwalk, but by the time I reached my destination, I was no closer to an answer than I’d been when I started, so I set the matter aside. I’d just have to hope it didn’t come back to bite me in the ass.

The sun had completely retreated behind the hills by that point, leaving the street lamps and shop lights to illuminate the still somewhat busy looking Boardwalk. Out over the dark, ominous waters of the bay, the glowing oil rig the local Protectorate heroes had emerged from earlier shone brightly. I hadn’t given the place much thought earlier, distracted by good company, but that place had to be the headquarters for the local Protectorate and Wards. It didn’t make sense for it to be anything else with the forcefield and light bridge alone much less with how pretty it looked, all imposing towers, elegant arches, and colorful spotlights. Brockton Bay knew how to give its heroes fancy digs—I had to give it that much. I idly considered flying closer to check it out with my power in addition to my eyes, since I couldn’t feel anything from so far out, but I could all too easily see myself getting shot out of the air or—shudder—given a recruitment pitch.

Sorry, Brockton Bay, but the only way I’d go hero was if Legend himself personally asked me to, and even then, I’d have to think about it.

Still, the proximity of the heroes meant I needed to play smart, not go in guns blazing or to show myself before I was ready. A good thief controlled any interaction with the mark from start to finish. I kept myself high enough up that I figured I would be difficult to see against the dark sky but low enough I could still see each store’s sign, then I began searching for the shop I had in mind. I found it before long, but rather than going straight for it, I backed away a block into the somewhat more dimly lit street a block away before bringing myself lower. Instead of going all the way down into the closest alley, I brought myself down to the roof of the shop across the street from the boutique and perched on the ledge facing the store. This side of it faced into the city instead of the wooden boardwalk and the bay, but I figured it might have mannequins with the same accessories on this side too. No dice, unfortunately, and I didn’t detect anything with my power that resembled a scarf in shape either. I hadn’t actually expected the scarf to be made of metal, but I was glad I had checked. I would have felt very foolish later if I had realized I could have just used my power to directly retrieve the scarf instead of indirectly.

I glanced at the people below to verify nobody was looking up, then I quickly crossed the distance over to the store. I made my way to the other side of the roof and peeked over to check for any Enforcers, finding only two in sight. More importantly, they had metal on them. The usual stuff like pant buttons were a given, but each also had metal bars of some kind and steel toed boots. It was hard to tell exactly, but the bars felt roughly two feet long and didn’t seem to be… full, I guess was the best way to put it. It felt like multiple pieces of metal stacked, so I tentatively identified them as collapsible batons, given who I was dealing with. Below me I sensed some much, much smaller metal rings collected together in a way that indicated they were the hand displays showing off rings, which meant the scarf was just a bit to my left. Wait, no—my right. I’m facing away from the window instead of towards it.

Conveniently this store was on the end of a strip, so I took some of the coins I had left in my backpack because I wasn’t using them and shunted them over the roof towards the alley between this strip of stores and the one adjacent. I was all set to plow through the glass with a barrage of coins, when some other metal objects in the store gained my attention. Namely, a couple pieces that kept periodically ejecting a part of themselves out once every other minute or so before that part was pushed back into the whole—cash registers were the only thing that made sense. They were roughly against the side of the shop that was the exterior of the strip, and underneath them was something heavy that had a separate but connected circle on its front.

A safe. I had heard tale of a few safe cracker jobs back home, but I’d never been on one myself. Those kinds of jobs weren’t the kind of work that you got in on as a fifteen-year-old unless somebody you knew was already on the job, and even then, you had to be good. A safe was either a goldmine or a fool’s errand, depending on when and how often it got emptied. It was a gamble.

It would be easy pickings with my power.

So the safe, the cash registers, and the scarf, I reviewed, reevaluating my approach. I tentatively reached out with my power and tried to gauge how heavy the safe was. It was definitely far heavier than anything else in the store, I decided, but compared to a shipping container, it was nothing. I’d had trouble in the Boat Graveyard when I tried to control that second container, but I had no trouble controlling all my coins. It had to be a weight issue of some kind, but it wasn’t clicking exactly how it worked. That meant I would try to move the safe and cash registers first and, if that failed, I would settle for the scarf. It was my original purpose in coming here, anyway.

I spared one last glance towards the luminous oil rig in the distance and, seeing no bridge, I struck. I grabbed the safe and registers with my power and lifted them into the air, drawing a crunching sound I could just barely hear through the roof below me and a couple of screams that I could hear much better. The Enforcers I’d been keeping my eyes on started to move towards the store, and I tugged on their boots, causing them both to fall face first into the wooden boardwalk. Beneath me, I had my coins burst through the glass, drawing even more screams, and had them wrap around the mannequin that should have a single earring and the scarf around its neck before yanking it clear along with any coins I managed to identify. I could have gone for jewelry too, but I had no idea what might be in people’s ears or around their necks, so that was too hazardous. The people who had been running the registers seemed to be frozen in fear if their wobbly but stationary metal was any indication, so with the way clear, I sent the safe hurtling through the nearby wall.

Or I tried to, anyway.

The safe seemed to sink into the wall a bit, but a bit wasn’t, as you might imagine, through the wall. The Enforcers were trying to get up below, so I tugged their feet out from under them again, directed my coins into the alley and up to me, then grit my teeth and slammed the safe into wall again. Then again. It finally went through after the fourth try, which was good, because I had to put the Enforcers down a third time, and I was about ready to give up on the safe and registers. The coins had reached the roof by this point, and I grabbed the scarf off the mannequin as I pulled the registers through the hole in the wall below. With my bounty in tow, I took off into the air, ignoring the couple shouts of “Cape!” from the people below as they noticed me—or maybe just the safe and cash registers—cutting through the air away from the Boardwalk. Behind me, the Protectorate’s HQ hadn’t stirred. Perhaps a minute flat, and I was out.

Perfect.

So I had a minor problem. An oversight, really, in the planning phase of my robbery. I hadn’t considered what to do with the money in the safe and registers.

I couldn’t really add the coins to my growing collection, since my bag was mostly full as it was, and there was a respectable amount of bills between the registers and the safe, once I’d ripped them all open with my power. There was no way I could store the money at Masuyo’s apartment. Even if I’d had my own room, there was no way I could explain where I had acquired this much money if Masuyo found it. That meant I needed to find somewhere else to put it that nobody was likely to stumble upon.

My thoughts initially went to Palanquin. Faultline had referred to her team as being mercenaries, so they probably wouldn’t blink if I showed up with cash looking for somewhere to stash it. Might demand a portion of it, since I was a… prospective member, I guess. I didn’t mind that so much, especially if she was actually going to deliver on the signing bonus she’d mentioned. Problem was she reminded me of some of the people I’d worked with back home who were strict about when and where ‘business’ was performed. She might have specified tomorrow as the meet-up because that was the next day she’d cleared Palanquin for dubious activities. It was a risk, and I would rather risk losing this money than losing ten grand. That meant Palanquin was out.

I considered the abandoned docks where Tammi and I had fought but, yeah… no. If I never saw that place again, it’d be too soon. Still, thinking of the abandoned docks reminded me that when I’d been examining that map a few days back I had also seen train tracks extending out of the north and northwest ends of the city. I didn’t know for sure if they were still in use, but given how close they were to the docks, I was willing to bet they’d fallen out of use when the shipping industry had dried up as well. It was a possibility, anyway, so I decided to head up that way to check.

I tossed Tammi’s mask with its spent adhesive into my backpack and tied my new mask—This is my mask!—securely around my face, leaving only my eyes and my still unfortunately short hair visible. At least it’s long enough to be considered a pixie cut. Where’s a cape with hair growing powers when you need one?

While flying north looking for the train tracks, I noticed something crazy—or rather, three somethings. Three monstrous hell-beasts as large as vans came into sight below me, tearing down the street at speed. For a moment, I thought they were racing at me, and I tensed, already reaching out to what metal I could find in the area. Thankfully, the creatures pivoted and started heading vaguely west, seeming to not see me at all. It was hard to tell from as high up as I was, but now that they weren’t at the edge of my sight, I got a better look and found they were lizard-like. They kinda seemed like crazy muscular and agile versions of those Australian whatever-they’re-called dragons. Well, whatever they were, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with them and whatever cape—because a cape was obviously involved—made them. Or are they the capes? I mean, I’ve already run into two capes who aren’t totally human… Regardless, I climbed a bit higher into the sky as I continued along my way, doing my best to make note of the area in case the cape—or capes—frequented this place.

Eventually I spotted the tracks up ahead and began to descend. It was impossible to say for sure with the darkness and how far away from the docks I was, but they did seem to run that way. I decided to mark ‘railroad runs to docks’ as a ‘maybe’ and began trying to search for a good place to make a cache. Unfortunately, this area was leaps and bounds worse than any part of the city I’d seen so far, spare the docks. Though there were a few lights on here and there, vast swaths were shrouded in blankets of darkness that made it difficult at best to distinguish any details about the various buildings. What little I could see was mostly boarded up haphazardly, in complete disrepair, or both. It was disorienting. I barely felt like I was still in Brockton Bay. Not that what I had seen up until now was in good shape—principal among them the dumpster that was Winslow—but if Winslow was a dumpster, then this place was a dumpster fire.

That was of course the moment a literal burst of fire shot into the sky a block away.

This goddamn city, man.

When I turned to face the source, I found I could just barely see a crowd of people over there. One deep, booming voice was yelling furiously at the rest of them, but I couldn’t actually understand what was being said from this far away—just that he was real pissed off.

It wasn’t a huge gout of flames, barely visible from over here and only because of how dim it was, but my curiosity was stoked regardless. I almost started flying over straight away, but then I remembered I was still holding onto the safe in which I had piled all the contents of the registers before abandoning them. I glanced around. This place looks so abandoned, that I could probably stash it on any old roof… I quickly examined the area, but found that none of the nearby roofs looked like they might actually be able to support the weight of it. Shrugging, I took off towards the area where I’d seen the flame, bringing it with me. I can always stash it later.

As I grew closer, I didn’t find any active fires, but I did find a tall, shirtless dude with a deep, accented voice and dragon tattoos covering most of his exposed skin who was yelling furiously at some other guys, all of whom were all wearing various combinations of red and green and cowering before him. And with good reason—he was clearly a cape of some kind. I could feel the metal mask he was wearing, even if I couldn’t see it, but more importantly, metal scales were slowly emanating out from the middle of his back.

“I don’t care about your excuses! They are less than worthless!”

The red and green flagged the men as ABB, the one gang I focused on in my limited research time before moving to Brockton Bay. Flames lighting up the sky near here? A tall guy with scales? There was only one person this could be.

“Thieves have stolen from us, and you don’t even know how many there were or what they look like! Failures, all of you!”

This was Lung. I needed to get out of here now, before this could get worse.

No sooner had the thought entered my mind, a man appeared next to Lung wearing a red demon mask and tight, black outfit that had oblong metal spheres strung along its front that I couldn’t make out. Literally appeared. One moment he wasn’t there, the next he was kneeling at the leader of the ABB’s side, his head bowed in deference and his arm up and pointing—at me.

Lung whipped around in an instant to face me, the two glowing orange eyes set in his full face metal mask locking onto me.

Oh fuck me.

I immediately turned to fly away, but then something was on me what the fuck. Metal spheres—the teleporter?

“Stop running and submit.”

“Fuck you!” I adjusted for the added weight even as the weight increased and I felt more spheres on top of me.

I felt Lung jump into the air, and I chucked the safe at where I guessed he would land based on the arc of his jump. More metal spheres appeared above me, the weight increasing, then something was in my eyes. Shitfuck why?!

I would have missed with my initial toss of the safe, but even blind, I could feel where Lung was based on his scales and mask. Ditto for—for fuck’s sake, what is going on with this teleporter? More of the smoke. Or is it ash? I keep feeling metal appearing and disappearing, but what does that mean? The second burst of whatever the shit blinding me was nearly made me lose my concentration, but I managed to course correct the safe. Not that it mattered, since Lung dodged at the last second, even though it had been coming from behind. Does he have boosted perception or something too? For fuck’s sake, is turning into a healing metal rage lizard that can shoot fire not enough for you, you overpowered prick?

“Give up. You cannot win,” the teleporter said directly into my ear.

“Get off of me!” I shrieked. Just like at school, I could tell the ABB members on the ground had weapons, so I grabbed them and pulled them up towards me as fast as I could, ignoring the shouts of the unpowered mooks. Lung leapt again, this time towards me, and I pushed myself sideways in an attempt to dodge. Another cloud of smoke-ash burst, and I regrettably inhaled some of it, causing me to start hacking and coughing. One of the weapons felt like a gun while the rest appeared to be knives, so I tugged the gun to me while flinging the knives at Lung. He dodged most of them, but I forcefully redirected one to an area that, based on what I could feel, I presumed was the an area of his body not covered in scales yet. He howled with fury, and I wasn’t honestly sure if that meant I had hit him or if he was pissed that I had tried to. The gun slapped into my hand, and an arm wrapped around my neck in sync with another weight settling on me. Already oxygen deprived from coughing up the smoke-ash, I gasped for air, which just resulted in yet more of the mystery substance getting into my lungs when another set of the metal spheres vanished.

I weakly aimed the gun and pulled the trigger. Nothing—the safety was still on. I had no time to find it, so I reached out blindly. I grabbed the safe and sent it hurtling at me. The spheres reappeared a roof over this time, and I was still being choked. That’s it, I dimly noted. He not just a teleporter—he’s cloning himself.

Lung leapt at me instead this time, apparently not daunted by the safe. I felt his scales flex and swipe at the safe as if to strike it out of the way, then I sprung my trap with a cry of, “Joke’s on you, asshole!”

I had figured he would be the sort to try and brute force his way through a problem and had already merged the coins into the body of the safe to give me more material to work with. Once he was on top of it, I tore it asunder and wrapped it around him in an globe. The teleporter on top of me vanished, blessedly freeing me from the choke hold but unfortunately shrouding me in smoke-ash again. I shoved myself down towards the roof and away from the two of them but kept my attention on Lung, knowing I wouldn’t get a second chance at this—he wouldn’t be fooled a second time. Lung roared, though the sound was muffled by the metal I had almost completely enclosed him in, then suddenly there was heat. Finally out of the cloud, I could breath and see once more, and I watched as the orb I was making changed color to orange in seconds, my work being reduced to liquid.

I can still control it! C’mon, it’s not over yet!

I finished the globe with the molten metal, then pushed it elsewhere.

I felt the metal spheres appear behind me before I heard him—the teleporter was striking again. I wouldn’t know for precious seconds if Lung was really trapped or not, but there was no rest for the wicked. I shoved the spheres into the teleporter as forcefully as I could, drawing a grunt from him as I felt another of him appear to my left. The instant I felt the spheres, I was shoving him again, but this time I pushed down as well as away, smashing him into the roof. The first hurled a knife at me, which I diverted towards the second instead, only for a third to appear to my right. The first vanished in a cloud of ash—definitely ash—and I turned my attention to the second while shoving the third to the ground like the second. The knife sank into the second’s leg as he reached up to his chest and pulled something metal out of one of the spheres. What was…?

Oh shit.

I clamped down on the goddamn frag grenade with my power and yanked the third up from the ground by his costume and held him between us even as a fourth appeared behind me. I felt the grenade explode, but thankfully my power was apparently proof against the most of the effect of a frag grenade. The internal explosion still happened, if the force I felt push against me holding it in place was any indication, but other than a grunt of pain from the second, there was no huge, painful explosion. The third tried to pull two pins from the grenades strapped to his chest, but I was able to hold the pins in place this time, now that I knew what he was doing. I felt the fourth try to lunge at me from behind while a fifth appeared high above me—maybe fifteen feet?—and a sixth appeared a moment later a bit further away this time. I pushed away the fourth and fifth, and tugged the pins out of the sixth’s grenades. He must have noticed because he hurriedly began to rip the bandolier from his costume while the third disappeared, and feeling no new clones appear, I took the brief reprieve to find the safety on the gun still in my hand. I flicked it off as he tossed away the bandolier and when I felt the seventh appear, identifying him by his knives this time, I whipped the gun around and shot.

I hadn’t had time to brace like people did in movies, and I quickly realized why they did it. Pulling the trigger resulted in a powerful kickback that threw my aim wildly off course and sent pain lancing up my unprepared arm, but even though the bullet missed by a mile—and I could feel it while it moved!—the teleporter apparently decided he wasn’t going to win this fight and bailed, clones appearing in a pattern moving away from the area by rooftop. The ones near me collapsed into ash, and the sphere around Lung was still in place, the glow of molten metal lighting up the area.

I actually did it… I flew over to the edge of the roof and tossed the gaping ABB members a big, shit eating grin—not that they could see it, I realized in hindsight. “Can the ABB capes beat me in a two-on-one fight? Magic Lung ball says: ‘Outlook not so good.’ Catch you later, losers!”

I flew off into the sky, giggling at their indignation. Totally not maniacally because I’d gotten by on the skin of my teeth. Definitely not that.