Don't you find it interesting that the majority of terrestrial beings in the universe are all mostly humanoid, or humanoid-like? I do. To me, it suggests that there is a preferred form of evolution, or a perfect form rather. Bi-pedal, upright, large-brained. Is it really any wonder why humanity has become such a big hit on the galactic stage? We clearly are the most evolved, our culture and arts speak to that better than I could. We need to keep Izanami for humans. Diluting that culture would only serve to weaken us as a species. Let the outer colonies mingle, but. Izanami. Needs. To. Stay. For. Humans.

-Secretly recorded during an ICG shareholders meeting.

The black plains stretched on forever. Wes Gibson had been walking them for so long it became impossible to tell just how much. His eyes were heavy and sunken in; he wasn’t sure if food or sleep even existed anymore. The black plains had no horizon, it had no barriers. In every direction, there was only nothing.

At his feet the dark ground writhed, shifted, and moved with his every step. He felt it move on either side of him like tiny bristles taking chunks out of his skin. Sometimes the dark parted to show him memories. Memories of Roxanne and the laughs they shared when he was younger; a connection that briefly sparked to life in that kitchen. Sometimes the black showed his parents in those few and far between moments when he felt loved by them. Happy memories he kept close to his heart were few but they were all he had.

She’s always been selfish. The voice narrated his memories, it was soft and tender like a hail storm. Wes ignored it and continued to move through the muck.

She’s never been one of you.

Your father put up with it because he said it built character; imagine taking character lessons from that bastard.

There was a light in the distance; Wes had to rub his eyes. He walked toward it. As it got closer he could make out a figure partially submerged in the darkness. It was Lady Steel; the light he had seen earlier was a vision playing out in front of her.

Black tendrils were attached to her eyelids and forced them open. Wes glanced at the vision and saw people running and screaming. An arm covered in inky veins reached out and broke someone's neck like tissue paper; Wes brought his hand to his mouth, was that really happening out there?

You like to watch? Wes shook his head. The darkness snapped to life and brought him inside. He partially re-emerged, black vines pulled on his skin and entered his eyes.

Let’s watch.

***

Roxanne detonated from the Gibson penthouse and immediately headed north. The reports stated that Lady Steel had started attacking party-goers without rhyme or reason. Roxanne had an idea why. Graphic footage hit the net showing not just Lady Steel, but others also engaged in violence; her heart sank. In the footage, Corina's eyes were sunken and black while dark veins had stretched across her face and body.

This was where Wes had gone but was it on purpose? Did he go to Lady Steel because of who she is or because of what she meant to Roxanne? She wasn’t sure it mattered, the problem was here and now and it was up to Roxanne to do something about it. If she even could do something about it. Down there was a practical demi-god; all she had were the most powerful weapons in the universe.

Roxanne arrived high above the penthouse and could see the front of it had been completely blown out. Down below, on the streets, sirens wailed while grav cars armed with spotlights shined all over the exterior. Panicked orders being shouted and anguished cries greeted Roxanne when she tuned into the police band. No one had prepared for something like this.

Sure, the police had ways to deal with OverHumans, they excelled at it. The standard issue for cops were ability-dampening collars that went on every OH who broke the law. Whether they pulled off the takedown themselves, or they were simply cleaning up what someone like Lady Steel had left them, everyone got the collar. But this wasn't just some OH, this was Lady Steel. Roxanne wouldn't bet against the fact that she may be the most powerful living being in the entire galaxy, even though such a metric had never been tested.

Roxanne stared at her rings and sighed; Time to put up or shut up, she told them as much as she told herself. She lowered herself closer to the building and had Azonne relay to the authorities that she was friendly and to take a proverbial step back. She landed softly on the edge of the busted-out windows and nearly lost her footing when she came across the carnage.

Blood and broken bodies were scattered everywhere, it was the type of scene she'd only seen in the worst horror movies out there. Some were so broken they hardly resembled humans, while others were still so clearly human you could not help but feel every wound and broken bone. Various piles of ashes were scattered about as well, no doubt disintegrated by her plasma vision. Remnants of black crud were splattered all over the walls and floors and became congealed with all the blood.

Roxanne wanted to throw up.

In the center of the room, Wes sat atop a pile of bodies grinning at Roxanne. His hands were clasped together in front of him while he was being flanked on his right by Corina. Lady Steel stood perfectly still, staring blankly ahead of her as if nothing else had gone on in the room. From within Wes, a black mass oozed out of him and consumed the bodies. It grew larger and rose him up, spreading out tendrils in every direction until he was suspended in mid-air as if he were caught in a spider’s web.

It sobered Roxanne up, she shot a beam of energy at him and hoped to take him out of the picture so she could deal with Lady Steel. However, Corina came to life suddenly and lept into the path of the beam. Her fist cut through the air and split molecules in two as she punched it away with such concussive force behind it that it redirected the beam away from her and toward a wall. The entire wall collapsed to powder as the beam pierced it and the building shuddered under the strain of further property damage. Dust and debris spilled in briefly before a sudden gust of wind sent them right back out.

Roxanne took a step back, eyes wide. She can just punch energy? Just like that, every inkling of a plan she had to possibly deal with her just went up like that wall. Corina floated in the air, back to the blank expression. The black gunk holding Wes up made unnatural sounds as it brought him in closer to Corina; he popped his head up from behind her, grinning still.

"Funfunfun worldworldworld," it said. “Looklooklook atatat thethethe kindkindkind ofofof toystoystoys wewewe getgetget tototo playplayplay withwithwith..." Wes took a finger and ran it down Corina's cheek before he said, "Goinggoinggoing tototo taketaketake mymymy timetimetime."

Roxanne didn't answer, she was weighing her options. Priority one should probably be Lady Steel, someone like that under its thrall made a terrible situation that much worse. In theory, she knew how to handle this…thing. Again, in theory. Getting a wild card like Lady Steel off the board was just smart.

However, before Roxanne could finish her thought, Corina again came to life. She rushed Roxanne who barely had enough time to bring up her aura before she was rocked by another concussive punch that sent her flying up and out of the building like a home run ball. Roxanne let out a small pulse of energy to slow herself down when she noticed a streak zoom out of the building and down toward the city proper. Her aura still echoed from the force of the punch but she pushed it out of her mind to follow. After what Roxanne had seen in the ballroom, she shuddered at the idea of what Corina could do out there.

Lady Steel glided low, just above the buildings, and made her way south. Two men stood on a roof nearby drinking together and seemed to be enjoying each other’s company when she swooped in and grabbed them both by the collars of their shirts. She then changed course and rose higher into the sky before she dropped one, casually. Roxanne mentally shifted into another gear and bolted toward the dropped man who was screaming bloody murder as he fell. Roxanne strained as she reached out only to barely catch him by his wrist. She could hear the snap as she caught him, the awkwardness of the move forcing the break, but at least he wasn't dead.

Out of her peripheral vision, she caught a glimpse of Corina dropping the second person and shook her head. She expanded her aura into a bubble and let the man drop onto the 'floor’ as Azonne helped her make some quick calculations within half a micro-second. She wouldn't be able to fly there in time, but maybe...

Roxanne extended her arm and shot out a beam of hard light that the man collided with painfully. Roxanne winced on his behalf and, upon contact, she immediately softened the light which caused it to snap down akin to a rubber band. At the apex of this, she pulled her hand back like she were pulling a ripcord and sent the other man flying upwards. This allowed her the time to fly over there and capture him in her expanded bubble. The man cursed as he landed yet elated that he was, in fact, not dead.

"Sit tight, okay?" She shouted down at them both while she lowered down onto the street. They were in the Slums proper now; the street was completely deserted. This was simply a function of the neighborhood, as most people who were smart would not allow themselves to be caught on these streets after dark. Roxanne found the irony amusing. After she landed she opened the bubble and helped both men up.

"You broke my wrist!" One shouted.

"You're welcome," Roxanne replied with the slightest bit of sarcasm, just slight.

The other man elbowed his friend and said, "At least we're alive!" Before returning an apologetic gaze toward Roxanne. As she smiled, a loud boom could be heard behind her. The buildings and the street shuddered while the two men cowered behind tiny Roxanne as she turned around. Lady Steel stood half-buried in the crater she had just produced.

Roxanne glanced behind her and said, "You guys should probably get the hell out of here."

They looked around themselves and the one with the broken wrist meekly offered: "I think we're safer here?"

"GET OUT OF HERE!" She shouted back, not having any of it. Both men scrambled away. Lady Steel was unmoving in her crater even as Roxanne took a cautious step forward. She had cycled through her visions; the corruption within her was deep.

"If you're really the most powerful person in the universe," Roxanne shouted. "You'd fight this!" Not that she believed that. At most, she was testing her to see how she'd react. It was instant.

Lady Steel pounced out of the hole and was near Roxanne in seconds. She swung hard and Roxanne surprised herself by how effortlessly she dodged it. The entire fistfight, such as it was, had all but played out in literal slow motion. Roxanne could tell what was coming and where to move just by looking at Lady Steel's body language. She telegraphed everything; Roxanne assumed it was probably due to the fact she never needed to care. When you outclass everything short of god itself did technical skill even matter?

Still, things did not stay slow for long. Lady Steel was going incredibly fast and the longer this went on the faster she got. Thrown fists and tossed kicks miss by millimeters but Roxanne could tell she was primed to be overwhelmed. This came to stark relief when she had no choice but to block her first punch. Shock registered on Corina's face when this had been pulled off while Roxanne’s aura cracked under the immense pressure.

Roxanne used this moment to push the punch aside and strike with one of her own; a plasma-packed blow with the force of an atomic bomb. The air between them thundered after she connected and sent Corina flying backward, but only marginally. Lady Steel dug the heels of her bare feet into the ground to slow herself, creating parallel grooves in the concrete that led away from Roxanne. Lady Steel's eyes pulsated and burned with purple light; the air grew still as she drew in energy and primed her devastating plasma vision.

A silent explosion from her eyes pushed the air aside followed by an intense beam of purple plasma energy that made a bee-line directly to Roxanne. Roxanne fired off a beam of her own; the two energies collided. The intense heat caused the street below the conjoined beams to buckle and crack. Roxanne raised her other fist and poured it on, surmising that she could last longer than Corina could. She was right, as her massive beam engulfed Corina's, pushed it back along its path, and slammed into her whole face heavily.

Lady Steel let out a scream that broke every nearby window as she crashed through two buildings and hit five more cars before finally rolling to a slow stop. When Roxanne finally found her, she was down on one knee and attempting to stand with little success. Her eye sockets were scorched from her plasma vision being pushed back in, to say nothing of the impact Roxanne’s blast had done on her entire body. Roxanne pointed a fist at her; the ring sparked.

"This might hurt," she said. "But I hope it doesn't."

Roxanne bathed Corina in intense light. She clenched her jaw and tightened her fist; she could feel what she needed to do just right at the edge of her mind. Burning out corruption was brute force; blast now, ask later. This required finesse, and she couldn't call on the past experiences of her successors either since it had never been attempted. She was essentially out on a limb.

That being said, it was thought about. Sometimes as just a thought experiment but never beyond that. It was within that framework that Roxanne worked and Lady Steel started to scream. She collapsed flat onto the ground writhing while her body sizzled and her dress burned away. Black ethereal smoke poured out of Lady Steel’s skin.

Roxanne tried to visualize the literal act of separating the darkness from her body; she pictured it as something like melted cheese on a sandwich you pulled apart. Central One suddenly appeared in her HUD and informed her that emergency services were on their way but she mentally swiped that away. No more distractions, she thought to herself. I can do this.

As if she had willed her mental image to life, black gunk escaped from Corina's body. Bit by bit, little globules pooled above Lady Steel and swirled together into a singular mass. Roxanne gritted her teeth and let out a guttural scream; sweat poured profusely from her brow. More goop joined the swirling mass until no more was forthcoming and Roxanne focused her beam on just that. She pulled her fist back and, with a yell, she swiped her hand forward and the entire blob disintegrated in a flash of light. She dropped to one knee, breathing heavily.

She's still alive Roxanne...you did it!

Roxanne gave a half-hearted thumbs up while she slowly stood. Lady Steel groaned on the floor catching Roxanne's attention so she rushed over. "You might wanna stay down," she told her.

"W-huh?"

"You're kind of naked," Roxanne said and put a hand on her shoulder. Behind her, the wailing sirens of police grav cars grew larger as they approached. Dust and debris kicked up as one hovered just behind them and lowered itself to the ground. The machine whipped Roxanne's hair everywhere and she was thankful when it finally landed with a clunk. Two armor-clad officers jumped out of the vehicle. One approached carrying a large blanket and Roxanne snatched it out of his hands.

"Thanks, I got it," she told him and draped it over Corina's body. Finally covered up, Corina lifted herself off the ground via her powers. She suspended herself a few inches off the ground for a moment and adjusted the blanket before settling both feet on the ground. Her knees buckled, however, and Roxanne kept her steady by pressing her hands under her armpits.

"Um, little help?" She uttered behind her. Roxanne was only 5-foot-nothing; she lifted herself a foot off the ground so she wouldn't be crushed. The whole thing was awkward and difficult. The two soldiers rushed to Corina's side and helped support her and keep her upright.

"Thank Gresh they brought something big enough," she said weakly. Corina resented how this felt and had to swallow something down hard. After a moment she uttered, "I remember everything," and a look of horror momentarily plastered her face.

Roxanne was sympathetic, "I'm sorry."

Lady Steel waved her off, "You've nothing to be sorry about." Then, after a moment, "You did good out there. Impressive, actually."

Roxanne wanted to blush—praise from her idol—but the present circumstances nipped that in the bud. "It's not over yet," she said.

Corina nodded. "Just give me a moment to get my bearings, I want some payback after what he made me do." She was seething as she said this; venom dripped from every last word.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Roxanne told her. "We can't take the chance you get corrupted again; I may have beat you but that's not something I'm confident I can repeat."

That made Corina smirk a bit but that quickly faded. "I can't stand on the sidelines, not again."

Roxanne put her hands up. "Look at you," she told her. "You can barely stand right now." And she was right, Corina was teetering and she would have fallen over again were it not for the two soldiers flanking her on either side for support. "I think this is something I'll have to do alone."

Roxanne backed up, smirked, and then gave a little peace sign. She hoped it gave off an aloof vibe because if they could tell how scared she actually was they'd probably protest a little harder. Her heart had felt tight in her chest like an invisible hand had grabbed a hold of it but only wanted to give out gentle squeezes. Suddenly she felt very laid bare, emotionally. To Roxanne, it felt as if literal waves of anxiety were pulsating off her obnoxiously. At that moment she no longer had a pure energy aura, it was a heavy coat of insecurity instead.

She rocketed off straight into the sky, past all girders and smog and buildings; then further beyond that to just below the cloud cover. She 'sat' cross-legged and looked down at the city below her. She found the sudden bout of insecurity baffling. She wields the most powerful weapons in the universe and she just got done proving it. She took down Lady Steel. She removed corruption without killing the host; what was the issue? She felt like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

A small voice kept asking her if all that was beginner’s luck. Nothing ever went perfectly right for her; Okay so you were right, the voice—her voice—said. You think it’s always going to be that easy? Roxanne couldn’t escape how much of this was her fault. That, if she hadn’t acted like a child, maybe things would be different.

“What should I do?” She asked out loud, hoping to shut the doubt up. The city was beautiful from up here, it was almost hard to believe that a whole lot of carnage just happened.

Focus.

"On?"

No. Just focus. Try and see all wavelengths simultaneously. This is the Sight.

Roxanne breathed heavily from out her nose. "...Okay," and she closed her eyes. She needed to calm her heart first. That voice spoke up again: You really screwed up. You threw a fit, as you do, and got your best friend infected. Roxanne had to face it, all of that was true. But what good did focusing on the past do, anyway? She breathed out her nose again; bit by bit her heart slowed. Roxanne chose to look forward, and gently her heart hit a normal rhythm.

It hit her all at once, but she braced for it. Finally, she could visualize the Sight; it was an explosion of different colors. They swirled around each other; they shattered; they spread all across the spectrum. It resembled chaotic space vistas, the kind seen via specialized telescopes. It was every color imaginable, while simultaneously being no color at all. Roxanne opened her eyes and she furrowed her brow. There, she could see it; pulsating radiation in the distance.

What do you see?

"He's at the museum."