I was eight when Hurricane Isabel hit New York. I lived through more major storms that hit the city, but that’s the first one I remember. We lost power, and while most of the city had it back the next day, we didn’t get it back for another two days. A ‘perk’ of being poor—politicians might profess to care about you, but they didn't actually give a shit. The loss of power and the damage to the city that lingered for months after made the event stick in my head. My first natural disaster in memory.

Whoever it was that first compared Endbringers to natural disasters had never stared down a sword taller than a skyscraper before.

A crackling hum filled the air, and the sword’s eye, which bore more than a passing resemblance to congealed blood, began to glow with ominous red light that promptly flared out in a wave of energy. I’d barely had time to notice it was happening before it was already upon Elle and me, rushing past us.

I was choking on salty water, and all the light in the world had fled. Elle was screaming, and I tried to call her name as I felt myself sinking into the abyss.

No, not sinking—falling.

I reached for her and pushed. Why? Couldn’t think, couldn’t—

“William!”

Something slammed into me and clutched at me, causing everything to lurch sideways. A moment later I grunted as I slammed into the sand and rolled to a stop in a tangle of limbs with whatever was holding me. The feeling of choking and darkness left as swiftly as it came, and I sluggishly opened my eyes, feeling drained. Blond hair was splayed everywhere, but the shade was off—not Elle’s.

A hand slipped out from under my arm and came up to push back the blond strands, revealing an older, strained face. “Are you okay?” she asked, her voice thick with emotion—with desperation. Why…?

I tensed as my memory caught up with me, pushing past the fatigue. This woman was a member of the Teeth. I scrambled backwards across the sand, desperate to put distance between us, and hurt flashed in her eyes.

“Look out!”

The sound of Elle's voice made my head snap in her direction, and I had just enough time to notice her hanging in the air in a suit of metal before my eyes bulged when I saw a hunched creature made of black liquid racing towards me, bounding over the sands on four limbs. I had only just begun to reach for nearby metal to defend myself when a blond blur intercepted, batting it out of the way with a punch. Some of the oily substance making up the creature’s body burst out of it from the force of the blow, but the woman had already moved on to strike another creature lunging towards her flank.

I nearly revisited the pretzel I’d had earlier that evening when she grabbed hold of its jaw and tried to wrestle it to the ground, leaving it still long enough I got a good look at it. Like something straight out of a nightmare, it was a grotesquerie of amalgamated human flesh and hair with gnashing mouths, all of which were constantly wailing about a dead son and ungrateful daughter.

Something moved in the corner of my eye, and I swiftly moved to block it with the coins I’d thankfully already mustered. The oily creature smashed into the hastily assembled barrier and promptly broke apart, quickly flowing around and through it. I had yet to pull myself to my feet, so panic flared up in me as I tried to scramble to my feet. The jaws were already reforming—I wasn’t going to make it in time.

I felt rather than saw the sword that formed out of thin air beside me, and the woman who had caught me surged forward and swept it up in an arc that bisected the beast into two. More metal was already forming in the form of a shield, and she barked, “Take the other half!”

She didn’t need to tell me twice. Something about this abomination pained me to even look at, but I didn’t need to see it to turn my coins into blades and turn it into pulp in a makeshift blender. I didn’t know what the fuck these things were, but considering they didn’t show up until that wave of energy from the Endbringer hit us, I felt it pretty safe in thinking the best course of action was pureeing it.

I just wish its oily guts hadn’t splattered all over my winter jacket.

“Are you okay?”

I turned to face the woman behind me, who messily ripped her sword out of the creature’s head. It didn’t stir. I tried to get my breathing under control, which was coming out in heavy pants as the adrenaline didn’t so much recede as it did level out, but I didn’t have much luck. There was no relaxing when you were in the middle of an Endbringer attack.

“Okay. You?”

I winced as the words slipped off my tongue. She was a member of the Teeth. You didn’t just talk to Teeth like they were anything other than the savages they were.

“Thank God,” she murmured, and my eyes widened at the sight of tears trailing down her cheeks. “When you fell, I feared… Thank God you’re alright.”

This was a nightmare. An actual, honest-to-god nightmare. Elle and I were trapped in the middle of an Endbringer attack, horrifying creatures were attacking us from who the fuck knew where, I could hear the screams of people in the city and further down the beach being attacked by more of these god-forsaken monsters… and a monster of the human variety was crying because she was convinced I was her child—which if she wasn’t the Butcher was Wrong with a capital ‘W’—and was worried about me falling. How could this get any—

“Pictures didn’t do you justice… You really are the spitting image of my Alexia.”

Oh come on.

“No,” I emphatically denied as I stepped backwards and away, my coins-turned-knives already turning to point her way. “No. You’re n-not my Fah-thuh-er.”

She frowned, the downward tilt of her lips and the pinch of her brow only just barely visible in the moonlight. “Well, no, of course not. I’m your mother. I can understand your confu—”

“Shut up!” I yelled, cutting her off. “You’re not my any-thuh-ing! I’m not your kid!”

The woman’s companion walked over, rubbing bloody hands off on her jeans. Not that she was doing much damage to her clothes—she was already absolutely covered in dark splatters that glistened in the silvery light.

“The other one is taken care of?” the woman claiming to be my mother of all things asked.

“Yeah. Tore it in half,” the other one responded, and I belatedly realized she wasn’t as old as I had thought. She might not even be that much older than me.

“Really? I’m sure that was entertaining.”

The younger blond shrugged. “Yours split on its own. I didn’t want mine to feel left out.”

The sand nearby twisted up into swordsmen and creatures, and in the corner of my eyes, I saw Elle descending a spiraling staircase down to the beach from where she had been up in the air. With a start I realized some of my metal was still up there, and it was in elsewhere. Had I done that unconsciously when I fell? And how had she gotten out?

“Leave Meteor alone,” Elle darkly warned as she stepped over to me, her hand wrapping around my arm. “Won’t let hurt.”

The older blond’s lips turned up into a smile. “I wouldn’t dream of it. This obviously isn’t quite the setting for our reunion that I had envisioned, but I assure you I would sooner cut off my hand than hurt my child.”

My mouth was halfway open, another ardent denial that I was related to this murderer on the tip of my tongue, when two things happened. First, it hit me that I was sitting around arguing when Elle and I ought to be getting out of here and tracking down everyone else. Second, a shrill scream that cut out abruptly pierced through the din of chaos in the nearby city, heralding the arrival of three more of the creatures, each different from the rest in all but a passing resemblance in form, that rushed out of the nearby park towards us.

The Teeth were already moving to put themselves between us and them, and the older one remarked, “Might I propose an alliance? More powers to ward off these nightmare spawn, and an opportunity for me to answer the questions you no doubt have while we seek shelter.”

The younger one rushed forward and slammed her fist straight into the tooth filled maw of one, abruptly reversing its momentum but resulting in her forearm and hand being bitten off. Not that it seemed to bother her much if her mild hiss of pain was any indication. The loss of limb proved very temporary when blood, flesh, and bone burst out of the creature’s mouth in a nauseating display before snapping into place over the stump end of her arm and reforming so that only her torn shirt was left as proof that anything had happened at all.

The other two monsters, one with bulging muscles and thick veins and the other with golden, gleaming skin, lurched past her in search of easier prey. What they got instead was a slash to the throat in the case of the muscle-bound one, a shield to the face for the other, and the abrupt sound of whistling in the air that ended when a multitude of spears slammed into them at speed from above, skewering them to the ground.

“Well? Does that sound agreeable?” the older woman asked as the younger one grabbed the remaining monster’s jaw and ripped it off before kicking it towards the three of us. She thrust her sword down through what remained of the creature’s head, leaving it twitching in agony as another formed in the air before her that she used to behead it.

Elle’s head turned minutely towards me without her eyes straying away from the woman’s bloody sword and shield and the girl, who was absolutely drenched in blood. “Meteor? Hate say, but Endbringer. Strength in numbers.”

She wasn’t wrong… but even still, I almost rejected the idea on principle. If fighting fire with fire was a bad idea, then fighting monsters with monsters didn’t seem too promising either, and that was without opening the whole ‘I’m your mother’ can of worms.

Operative word being ‘almost.’ Because as much as I hated to admit it, Elle was right—we needed all the help we could get right now. “We’ll fly, so I’ll have to cuh-ver you in metal. Make a wruh-ong move, and I’ll hap-pull-ee skah-ew-er you.”

She didn’t even hesitate. “That sounds perfectly agreeable.”

#

“Any answer?” I asked Elle as I gazed out over the horizon from where we hung in the air over the beach. Wherever the Endbringer’s tip was buried, it was far enough away I couldn’t see it clearly… which implied some frankly fucking terrifying things about the range and speed of that wave of energy it sent out earlier.

“Shit,” she swore as she hung up her cell phone and tucked it in her pocket. That was answer enough all on its own, considering I rarely heard her swear. “No. Fly there?”

“We’ll have to,” I affirmed.

“That’s unwise,” the older of the Teeth remarked. “You’re familiar with the city, right? If you fly towards Far Rockaway, then I can direct you to a safe location.”

“Fuck off,” I bit out, angrily swiping my hand at her. “We’re aren’t uh-band-on-ing our friends! If you’ve got a prah-blem, then I can drop you!”

She shrugged, the picture of nonchalance. “I would catch myself, and if you dropped Sarah… well, it would certainly be quite painful, but she would be fine after a spell. In any case, your threats are unnecessary. I still think it imprudent to not immediately seek shelter, but if that is what you wish, then we will stay with you until the task is done then guide you after.”

I hadn’t quite managed to pick my metaphorical jaw up off the floor from my surprise at her so easily agreeing when the crackling hum from earlier filled the air again. My eyes snapped towards the Endbringer just in time to see a second burst of energy surge out of it. It blew past in practically an instant, and while the feeling of choking and darkness didn’t overtake me, Elle abruptly slumped. I watched in horror as the energy seeped into her before ripping itself back out in the form of a creature with teeth and claws like needles, a body wrapped in a straight jacket with impressions of hands pressing out against it from underneath, and a multitude of gossamer like wings that unfurled and flapped to keep it aloft. It opened its mouth, and a sound like nails on a chalkboard came out that set me on edge and had me flinching away as I tried to muster up a response.

Fucking hell… Was the Endbringer taking our nightmares and making them real and worse?!

The creature’s voice died as a literal hail of spears I could feel but not touch with my power rained down on it from above, sending it careening through the air to a rooftop below.

“Charming. It seems my description of ‘nightmare spawn’ earlier was more apt than I realized at the time,” the older woman drawled, sounding almost bored.

I barely paid her any mind as I worried over Elle, who was still slumped in the metal I had encasing her and was panting for breath. “Labs? What’s wrong?”

“Asylum… So tired…”

Tired? I had felt the same earlier at the beach when the first wave hit. I’d almost forgotten after everything that happened immediately after. “Me too when the wuh-ave hit me earlier.”

“Hmm… Delible, did you feel the same at the time?”

“I think so. Passed quickly though.”

“Yes, I would imagine so with your constitution. June, dear, I think you had best put us down. Your friend would be in serious trouble if you were to— Is something the matter?”

I stared at her, mouth agape. What. The. Fuck. “Y-You know m-my name?”

She frowned minutely, her brow pinching again. “Ordinarily I would be offended you doubted your mother knew your name, but circumstances being what they are… Still, a more apt point is we located you in the middle of New York. Surely you had to suspect we knew your name? But I’m afraid I must repeat myself. You should put us down promptly. If another wave happens and you’re impacted again, I’m afraid I cannot guarantee I would be able to catch your friend in time.”

She wasn’t wrong, but still, walking all the way back to the safe house through nightmare infested streets was not happening. So I compromised and quickly brought us down to speeding along just over the roofs of the abandoned cars as the nightmares below attacked the people who were fleeing in droves towards where I vaguely recalled the nearest Endbringer shelter was. I would have to bring us to an immediate halt if I heard the crackling again.

“Incidentally, I have to imagine ‘June’ is an informal nickname,” the older of the Teeth spoke up again. “Might I know your proper name?”

“My name is June,” I snarled, offended that she was disparaging my name.

“I fear I’ve come across poorly,” she replied, her tone placating. “‘June’ is shorthand for a longer name, no? I’m asking for your full name. Oh, but where are my manners! Please forgive me, dear. I’ve completely forgotten introductions. I am Elena Anders, also known as Heavensword, and my companion is Sarah Livsey, also known as Delible.”

I brought us around the next turn and shot her an incredulous look. “In-truh-duck-shuns now?! We’re in an End-bruh-ing-er attack!”

She gave me a disapproving look that completely matched up with what I’d gathered of her personality so far—which was to say, bat shit crazy. “Surely giving your names is not such a distraction at this precise instant? It isn’t as though the beasts are upon us at this very moment.”

“Labyrinth,” Elle spoke up, and when I looked at her in disbelief, she added, “If attacked, want to know.”

Ugh. I could see her point—better to say, “watch out, Labs!” than “watch out, you!” and have no idea if that actually meant you—but that still left me the last one out, and I actually felt vaguely ridiculous not giving my name at this point. She clearly already knew who the fuck I was, so I might as well just lean into it.

“Juniper Foo-gee-wah-rah,” I ground out, stumbling over my last name, since I’d never actually bothered to practice it since Victor had stolen my ‘voice.’ “Call me Meteor.”

“Juniper,” Heavensword—I refused to humanize the monster by thinking of her with a mundane name like Elena—said slowly, like she was tasting the name. “Ah… A beautiful choice, dear. Juniper Anderson.” She chuckled, then added, “Though I suppose the family name is somewhat ill fitting now.”

I shot her a sharp look as we rounded the last corner, having made excellent time since all of the nightmares had been focused on the easier to slaughter prey on the ground. Heavensword noticed and misinterpreted my expression as confusion, saying, “I apologize. If you were not aware, Anderson was the family name Alexia and I gave you when you were born.”

Of course, I wasn’t confused, at least not by the name. Masuyo had already told me witness protection had given me the last name Fujiwara instead of Anderson, but this was further proof of just how much this woman knew about me. When this was all said and done, what was I supposed to do about that? I was fairly confident the Teeth, despite being savage murderers, did not have kill orders. At a guess, the PRT didn’t want people shooting to kill when targeting people affiliated with the Butcher—the last thing anyone wanted was for that cycle of crazy to continue.

“Here,” Elle pointed out as the safe house came into sight.

I put on a burst of extra speed to cross the last of the gap between us and our destination, and of course no sooner than I did so, the air began to crackle.

Shit.