My eye twitched as the burning sensation in my nerves intensified. I dismissed the plan I’d been considering that had prompted the warning and continued to glare down at the short, lithe man and his Teeth cronies on the street, currently brutalizing a group of victims. DZ wrestled down the urge to just jump in. Yes, they were literally tearing apart their victims, but even from here, I could see the tattoos and colors that marked the men as Empire. There was no one worth saving, and that meant I should be using their distraction to make and evaluate a plan of attack.

Easier said than done, unfortunately. This was hardly the first time I had done exactly that, but never before had I been made so cognizant of how much danger I would be in from one misstep.

Ugh. I could practically hear the joke Corbel would blurt, had he heard that. “Of course you are, Alarm Area!” Actually, now that I thought about it, I was all but certain the older Ward had used that moniker in reference to me. It was hard to say for certain, since it had been happening too often and for too long to actually keep track of without a spreadsheet… and once I had that thought, I realized I wouldn’t be surprised if Corbel actually went to the effort of using a godforsaken spreadsheet to keep his own jokes straight.

I was getting distracted. Now wasn’t the time for fooling around—not when Belial still needed to be stopped.

Perhaps if I—

My power flared again, and I only just barely stifled a groan. I quickly abandoned the mostly nebulous plan, settling my nerves. I liked his power—I really did—but sometimes it made me want to scream in frustration. I now knew that sneaking down into the alley behind the building and flanking the group would result in him being thrown into danger within the next minute, but I still didn’t know how .

Clearly I had bitten off more than I could chew. There was a reason people avoided fucking with Belial. Despite his disarmingly petite size, the other cape was a nightmare to face off against, and that wasn’t even accounting for the rest of the Teeth who were present. An elusive serial killer when he first entered the scene, Belial had been believed by many—myself included—to be a myth. A bogeyman made up by others to shift the blame to for their own crimes.

But myths didn’t slaughter three Empire capes and three dozen foot soldiers in a single night with the Teeth at their back.

The soles of my feet were throbbing, and my legs were starting to cramp, but the moment I decided to move, my power screamed in deadly portent. I froze, not daring to move a muscle, cursing the mess I had gotten myself into. I couldn’t safely attack, and now my escape routes weren’t safe either? This was ridiculous!

No. No, I was being ridiculous. Had I really just considered allowing a mass murderer to go free? I’d snuck up here for a reason when I saw the cluster of Teeth—Belial needed to be stopped. I would not just stand by again, helpless to intervene! There had to be something I could—

Wait… Could it really be that simple?

I checked, then double checked, but my nerves didn’t sing in warning. So with painstakingly slow care, I shrugged off the backpack of supplies I had confiscated from the PRT armory for tonight’s excursion and retrieved what I needed. If this didn’t work…

Well. One chance. That was all I had.

I pulled first one pin then a second later the other. The former I threw over the Teeth assembled below, and the latter I threw at them. I then wasted no time in twisting my upper body away and burying my eyes in my arm. I had to hope I had aimed right and my timing was perfect. If I’d screwed up—

The flashbang I threw struck what sounded like one of the vehicles parked across the street with a metallic clang that echoed through the empty street. It exploded scarcely a second later—just long enough to focus their attention where I needed it to be without leaving them time to react.

There was no way Belial or his cronies would see the fragmentation grenade falling into their midst.

The explosion came just as I jumped onto the fire escape to descend, and I didn’t stop to look. Either I got Belial or I didn’t. What I knew was there was no way I had gotten them all , and that meant I needed to—

[Butcher: Oh good, you killed him. It’s about fucking time someone knocked the insufferable prick down a notch.] [Belial: I live…? Then it’s the same. Interesting .]

I tripped in surprise halfway down the fire escape but caught my balance on the rusted metal before forcing myself to keep running. What is this? One of the Teeth’s powers? [Butcher: Heh. You’re not wrong .] [Belial: An ignominious end, but there was nothing I could do to work around it…]

My power screamed in warning, and a second later, I heard the Teeth who still lived spreading out on the street. The sensation dimmed without leaving entirely when I abandoned the fire escape in favor of vaunting over the railing to skip the last flight down, and a quick roll on the ground turned my fall into forward momentum. What fire still filled my nerves gave me the strength to haul ass away from the danger behind me. [Butcher: That’s it? You’re going to just run away ?]

It’s just the Teeth taunting you, I reassured myself as I doggedly focused on putting one foot in front of the other. The voices had to be because of a surviving Teeth cape—there was no other reasonable explanation—and that meant the effect would likely stop once I got far enough away from the effect’s origin. [Belial: Oh, I rather doubt that, young man. Given my experience, I’m afraid you’re stuck with us.]

My power eventually signaled I was no longer in danger, but the voices remained. I must not be far enough away , I reassured myself as I continued on to the PRT headquarters in Downtown. [Butcher: Ran away like a wuss. Fucking pitiful.]

The jog back. The lecture when I was caught. Waking up the morning after.

The voices were still there .