It was a cold and rainy night as we lurked outside the warehouse. An ominous night, reeking of potential events. This was a night where it was almost set into fate that something bad was going to happen to someone. On the plus side for us, we would at least have the chance to be that thing, rather than fall victim to it.

Taking a deep breath, I shifted my power back into the razor wind claws, tearing through the doors and ripping them off their hinges as I stepped into the warehouse that we had been told was the main Lords warehouse for drug distribution in the district. I smirked as I walked into the warehouse, a frozen tableu of depravity that had halted in an instant at my entrance. A room to the side swung open a minute later, another gangster backing out at the point of Eye's gun as Dream and Marsh pointed their weapons at the room. "This is your friendly neighborhood watch!" I shouted, grinning beneath my mask and tattered hood. "We're here to arrest people and set things on fire. Surrender, or we'll hit you in the face."

"That means you, in the back, with the assault rifle!" Eye shouted. I noticed a small puddle that had been ripped in the floor of the room that she was standing in. "Don't think we can't see you! You already saw what he can do to a wall. What do you think that'll do to you if he uses it?" I heard something clatter to the ground.

"Alright." Dream said, covering the main cluster of people with his pistol as he stepped further into the room. " Show us where you're keeping the drugs."

"And throw us your wallets!" Marsh added. Dream looked like he was resisting the urge to facepalm.

"They-they're in the back." The unlucky gangster who had had the rifle managed to stammer out. "I'll have to go get them."

"Fine" Dream said "Don't try anything, or we'll know. Keep the door open." I switched to the metallokinesis, and the wire settled loosely around his neck as he pushed his way into the back.

Things were quiet for half a minute or so, until Eye suddenly shouted. "Shit! There's Injectors in the back!" This news seemed to panic our captives almost as much as it did the rest of us, as they immediately broke for cover or dove behind couches and chairs. One stumbled to the ground and fell-Marsh's handiwork-as we did the same. I shifted back to the claws, and took a few haphazard swings at their side of the warehouse as I ran, ripping through some of their cover and scattering a fine white powder over several of the members.

The gangers began to open fire as the others did the same, Marsh tazing the one Eye had been holding at gunpoint as her and Dream began to trade fire with the others. The ones covered in what I could only presume was cocaine began to fire erratically from the small amount they had inhaled, except for one who had gotten an entire faceful, who collapsed to the ground, grinning at nothing and laughing to herself.

One asshole in the back threw a grenade, which I hastily swung at, slicing it apart and detonating it harmlessly in the air. One of the ones with assault rifles, staggered, falling on his ass as his foot fell into a deepening pit in the ground. Another couple of swings from me tore apart a large amount of the remaining gangsters' cover, and I winced as one fell, their leg having been caught in one of the swipes.

That was when the Injectors came out. Deformed, muscle-bound behemoths at least ten feet tall hurled themselves out of the back room, barreling rapidly in our direction. Most of the remaining gangsters fled as the monsters charged through their lines in a blind fury, bar a few who had decided to hide in a corner and wait the whole thing out. Serena vanished, taking the others to a puddle she had formed on the other side of the room as they opened fire on the creature.

It veered off as I switched back to metallokinesis, bringing up my wire to trip the one still barreling at me. It worked, the creature beginning to trip over it, but before the wire could do more than lightly cut into its skin, it hurled itself forward, launching itself into a powerful leap in my direction. Flight, I thought, propelling myself backwards and up into the rafters a second before the creature slammed down, shattering the ground in front of me.

Marsh, Dream, and Eye continued to teleport around the room, firing round after round into the creature's extremities as it charged them, apparently lacking the mental capacity to do more than blindly rush its foes. Mine seemed to retain a bit more mental capability, and I swiftly propelled myself backwards and to the ground as a shelving unit smashed into the roof where I had been. I switched to the air constructs, forming a large blunt construct in the air before slamming it downwards on the creature as hard as I could. It staggered, before roaring as it regained its footing as it charged me, hurling another shelf as it did. I shifted to a speed power, but was still hurled backwards as the shelving unit clipped me, sending me rolling over into the wall.

The creature slowed to a halt as it reached me, laughing insanely to itself as it balled its fist up to deliver a final blow. I readied the aerokinesis, throwing out a taunt as I did, "Hey, ugly, try punching yourself in the face a few times. It'd be an improvement."

Much to my surprise, the creature threw its head back and laughed, "Words will not protect you, weakling!"

I shrugged, floating back to my feet, "Yeah, but I just said that so she could get behind you." The creature's head snapped around to behind it, and I switched back to the claws in an instant, swiping them and leaving several long, bloody gashes in the creature's back as it roared in agony. I followed up with a switch back to the constructs, swinging a semi-blunt construct into the head of the creature, and it dropped to the ground, hopefully just unconscious.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the others staring warily at the other Injector, which had fallen to the ground under the weight of its injuries and bullet wounds. I stared in horror as the two of them began to shrink down, their wounds fading along with the muscles and deformities as they reverted to a human state. I looked at the others in shock, "These things are people?" I felt sick as I looked back to where the one I was fighting had fallen, and recalled what Distortion had looked like on the first day I arrived.

"Yeah." Marsh said, her voice tinged with barely-contained fury. "One of Steroid's serums. It makes you powerful, but it's horribly addictive. Most people die if they stop taking it after the first two or three times." She said, bitterly.

Suddenly, one of the Injectors-the one the others had defeated- snapped awake with a start, and looked around in confusion. "Where am I? Who are you people? Where's Jean? We were supposed to meet up after class." This guy was still in school? I thought. He has to be in his mid twenties at least.

"Brain damage." Dream said, answering my unasked question. "Most people sustain it from their first doses. Not Parahumans, though. He sounds like he's lost everything since either college or high school. Hopefully the former."

"How do they get people to agree to it?" I asked, almost dreading the answer.

"They don't." Serena snarled. "Injectors are usually captives, or the homeless living outside the barricades." I stared in horror. Reading about things like this, that was bad enough, but actually seeing it, seeing this man, broken and confused...no. This would not stand. I would put an end to it.

My thoughts were disrupted by the arrival of Plume, who startled us as she walked into the warehouse. "Looks like I missed the party." She said, laughing, before cutting off abruptly as she saw the mix of sadness and fury that covered our faces.

I walked over the over of the willing gangsters, who had been cowering in the corner. "Where are you assholes keeping the drugs here?" I snarled, glaring at him.

"In the crates" he said, eyes locked onto mine in terror as he gestured to the crates that lined the back wall and collapsed shelves of the room.

"Thanks for the help." I said, reaching into my power for pyrokinesis as I walked over to one of the crates. "You're all under arrest, by the way, so don't fucking try to run." I turned to the others, "Let's grab these assholes and get out of here."

As the four of us walked to one of Marsh's teleport pools outside the warehouse, I took a look back to examine my handiwork. Those we had fought were gone, taken away by a small PRT chopper. The warehouse burned, the smoke from the drugs I had ignited rising into the air. My thoughts echoed those I had burned into the street outside as we vanished through the portal. No more. An oath, a promise, and a threat. The Lords would fall.