Chapter 9: Step 9 – Find a Good Neighbourhood

The next day, I woke up to quiet.

I lay back on my bed, just watching the dust filtering through the sunlight streaming through the gaps in my curtains. I wasn't sure what time of day it was; some point after dawn, obviously. There wasn't the normal ticking a clock, no sounds of animals fighting over some scraps, no sound of people crying, arguing, or snoring.

It took me a couple of seconds to remember where I was.

Not home; not at the shelter; I was inside my own lair.

I yawned widely, my jaw almost breaking in two. The room I was in right now didn't look like it belonged to a supervillain; some of my clothes were strewn on the floor, my costume was hanging off a coat rack, bed sheets tossed around. The night had been stuffy, and I ended up in just a t-shirt and knickers and slept on top of my covers. The world appeared blurry to me right now, my glasses on the bed table next to me.

I ignored them, and headed towards the bathroom.

I always hated wearing contacts. They never felt right, they were so finicky to get on, and half the time I ended up flipping them over somehow. But if Slaughterhouse Nine was coming to Brockton Bay, then that meant Shatterbird. A member with power over silicon. She could affect an entire city, shattering every pane of glass through the silicon in it. She could also blow out every electronic device, and scour people with sand. She would usually arrive first, announce their arrival with her powers. Hundreds, even hundreds of thousands, injured or killed through her power.

Until she was dealt with, I couldn't wear my glasses again.

After prying the extra lenses out of my costume glasses, I headed downstairs. The next floor down was the actual lair itself; my villain headquarters. Swarm's office. I pressed at a switch, had a better look at it now that it was morning. Multiple terrariums were lit up, skitter shadows moving against the walls as the bugs inside moved about. Another switch opened the lids on them; I had the bugs stream out and cover the floor before returning to their cages. At some point, Coil's special effect man was going to arrive, install some set-up inside the terrariums. That way, I could have some of my bigger bugs press a button inside, make the lights turn on and the terrariums open up seemingly on their own. Be dramatic and stuff.

I went down to the bottom floor. This place held the kitchen, extra bunks, and all other necessities inside. I could provide a rest stop for other people, maybe a barracks for my lieutenants. Over in one corner of the room was Dana. She was tapping away at her computer, wearing just shorts and a grungy vest. Nor far from her, Alex was sitting in a biomass chair; his weight was too much for normal furniture now. He glanced at me, and I felt myself blush in embarrassment as I pulled my t-shirt down.

This was not how I wanted him to see me.

But Alex just looked away, watching two small creatures fighting each other. Lots of blood and guts went flying as they attacked each other. I kept clear and headed towards the kitchen counter. Dana looked up as I got closer.

"Hey Taylor." She said warmly in a tired voice. "Slept well?"

"Sort of." I replied, pouring out some cereal before heading for the fridge. "You?"

She shrugged, tilted a hand. "A little. Woke up early, couldn't go back to sleep, figured I'd check on the decryption. Little bugger worked through it all night." She grabbed a sandwich nearby. Instead of taking a bite, she held it down near the hard drive. Tendrils snaked out and turned into a hand, grabbing it from her.

I still found that creepy. I mean, sure I deal with bugs. But bugs are normal living things; a living hard drive was just weird.

Next to Dana was a black case, sitting on top of the bed. The biomass that made up her suit. She caught me eyeballing it.

"Last night was fun." She said. She got up and headed towards me, grabbing a glass of water to drink. "I always wanted to fight with some awesome powers."

"Easy for you to say. You didn't spend half the mission in the back of a truck pretending to be tranquilised." I shot back. "All you had to do was hack into their systems, dress up, and then steal some data."

Dana shrugged. "Them the breaks, kid. Some of us get the dirty jobs; others get the fun jobs. Plus it helps when your bother loans you an awesome suit." She finished her drink, and then started stretching. I started digging into my breakfast.

"I've gotta ask; why Athena?" It had been bugging me for a while now. I mean, it sort of made sense. But it didn't really match up with Alex's villain name. Was she trying to prove she was her own woman?

"Huh? Oh, the name choice." She shrugged. "I liked the name. Athena's the goddess of wisdom; hacking gets you knowledge. Same thing. Besides, it fits in the theme."

"What theme?"

"Right; we haven't told you yet. Back home, the military gave Alex the codename Zeus."

"King of the gods." Fitting I suppose, considering he 'dethroned' Leviathan in his own territory, sending him running.

"Yeah. It kinda fitted him, with all he could do. When we got here and I convinced him to use his skills for villainy, we both figured that it didn't fit him here. Too many people would think he's got lightning powers or something." She mused. "But you know, I think he should claim it. After all, he's proven himself enough that people are going to know what he means by it."

"Sounds pointless." Alex responded, still watching the creatures fight. One of them stabbed the other, before looking up at Alex. He nodded, and it started eating the loser. After that, it crawled back towards his form.

Evolution, on a more noticeable scale.

So, what's the plan for today?" Dana asked me. "Me and Alex have some time to kill while we wait for him to man up and deal with the Merchants."

"Don't hold your breath." He replied.

"There's some people near us." I said. I sensed them through my bugs, had them crawling over them as they slept. "I'll need to call Coil, get some supplies sent over. Maybe you two could act as… muscle for me."

"Cool. Always wanted to be considered 'muscle'." Dana smiled as she said that, only to frown at me. "Hey, how come you're not wearing your glasses?"

"We don't know when or if the Nine are going to arrive. I'd figure I'd wear contacts from now on instead of risking having glass on me when Shatterbird arrives." That was usually one of the main reasons people died when she used her power; having their glasses suddenly several inches into their faces. Alex stood up and walked over to me, gently placing his hand against my face. My face suddenly felt wet.

When he pulled his hand away, everything seemed blurry.

"What did you just…?" I started asking, rubbing at my eyes.

"Fixed your sight. You won't need glasses anymore." He replied. And when I managed to get those damn contacts out, I found he was right. My sight wasn't blurry anymore; I could see completely clearly.

Healing. He had healing powers too. Just like Amy Dallon.

Made me wonder what either of them could do if they felt like hurting someone. Like blinding someone, or making their organs fail, or just putting their bodies back together wrong.

And that made me think of Bonesaw and Slaughterhouse Nine, so I thought of other things.

Dana grabbed her case, wrapping her hand around the handle and tapping at the 'keypad' on it. The surface of the case turned watery as tendrils spread out from it. They wrapped around her leg and arm, turning into goo that spread up and down her body. The goo covered her whole body, gathering into extra layers around the most vulnerable areas. As the case drained away to nothing, she was completely kitted out in her costume. The process only took her about ten seconds, and she hadn't needed to wear any special gear to allow it.

I'd have killed for my costume being so easy to put on and off.

"You might've gotten ready too soon." I told her. "I haven't even had time to call Coil for some men, let alone have them arrive."

"Yeah, I know. I just…" She stretched. "Want to get used to the suit. Alex explained some of the things it can do, but I want to get comfortable wearing it."

"Because it's made of something organic?"

"Kinda. Hey Alex. I need a training partner. Need to get used to using a spear and shield."

Alex nodded as he got up. "Sure. But you don't need to train. I've loaded the suit with knowledge of spear fighting. It'll fight for you."

"Still want to test it myself, Alex. It's cool and all, but I'm still not comfortable with just letting something else fight for me." Alex shrugged his shoulders, but moved to the center of the room, arms covered by shields. Dana stood opposite him, a blunt spear and a shield in hand. They both stared at each other for several long seconds.

Then Dana surged forward.

I turned away as they clashed, tapping away at my phone. Sure, it was early. But part of me felt annoyed that any time Coil was spending sleeping was time he wasn't helping Noelle, and by extension Dinah.

If I was up at the crack of dawn, then so should he.

He answered after the fourth ring. "Yes?" he said curtly. Maybe I had woken him up.

"It's Skitter. I need a loan of guys to help hand out supplies." I replied.

"How many do you require?"

I looked at the room, trying to guess. "Eight maybe? And a truck to cart everything, if it can get here."

"It can. I trust there's no rush?"

"No."

"In that case, they should be here in an hour." And he hung up on me. Yep. I had woken him up.

I didn't really care.

Of course, that did still leave me an hour to kill. Made wonder what I should do. I could practise fighting with Dana and Alex, but I felt more nervous fighting them than fighting Brian. Probably because the only person here who could teach me could also rip me in half with a simple tap. I got the feeling that Alex didn't know how to hold back to avoid causing injuries. Even now, he wasn't really hitting back. He was mostly blocking, letting her spear bounce off his shields. Besides, Dana was wearing his own creation; it could handle most things he could throw at it.

I could maybe leave them to their training and go for a run, but the area around here was filled with construction sites, fenced off areas, and flooded streets. Even if I could find my way through the winding streets, a young white girl might get the wrong kind of attention. Even if I went with Dana and Alex, they both look normal enough that someone would be dumb enough to accost us.

All that left me to do was talk to Dana and Alex.

"Hey, Dana." I called out to her. Dana turned to glance at me, but her body continued pushing towards Alex, her spear jabbing to find a gap in his shields. "Why is Alex so obsessed with money?"

"He's not obsessed." She replied, sounding slightly out of breath. "Alex doesn't actually give a shit about cash. I mean, when you don't need anything to actually survive, why worry about making sure you can afford food, or water, or finding a bathroom or a roof over your head? He only wanted the cash for me. We were living inside the abandoned homes around here when we first arrived."

"The homes? Wasn't that dangerous?" I hadn't ever been in that situation myself, but I had heard stories about how bad it was. About how you couldn't sleep with both eyes closed, especially when you're female.

She shrugged, and her suit adjusted to her motions. "Kind of. But I had Alex to guard me. I'd go to sleep on a desk, wake up in the morning, and Alex would tell me that he dealt with some problems." She pulled away from Alex, and rolled her shoulders. "But you can sleep on furniture only so many times before you want a real bed."

I could understand what she meant. I enjoyed a real bed after spending time at the shelters too. "Sounds like you had a good system. Have you done this before?"

"Well, not always being homeless. But yeah, we've done this a few times." She and Alex clashed again. "Back home, Alex was still the most wanted man in America. We had to move and run a lot. Coming here, this is the longest we've stayed in one place."

"Most wanted?"

"Blackwatch ordered it. They weren't too happy that their little 'creation' was running around." She stopped again, panting. "And… The media was sort of right."

"The old me was an ass." Alex continued. I gave him a look; as far as I was concerned, he's still sort of an ass. "The old me was a sociopath, unconcerned with anything. Made a bioweapon because he was getting paid for it. Hadn't seen Dana for years until he found a use for her. Was willing to take the entire fucking world with him when he went down." Tendrils roiled up and down his body, emphasising his power. "Strange as it sounds, turning into a monster made me a better man."

Shivering, I turned back to Dana. Alex could be very intense at times. Most of the time. It left me feeling strange about him. Part of me wanted to learn more about his past, see if it could tell me what made him the way he is.

But at the same time, another part didn't want to learn what had made him so vicious and brutal.

"Who exactly is this 'Blackwatch' group? Some kind of mercenary group?"

"Military. Bioweapon defence and response. Fights against viruses and shit, supposedly." She shrugged. "The first the world ever learnt of them was when they were cleaning up their own shit. Seeing some of them in town is a sure sign that things are going to get fucking sick soon."

"What do you mean?"

"Blackwatch are what you could call…" She sighed. "Shit. Unfettered, maybe? They're willing to do anything to contain threats. You name a law or Geneva convention or any kind of fucking human decency? They've raped it up the ass and put a bullet through it. I swear, you wouldn't believe the kind of horror stories people were posting online about things they had seen. Blackwatch goons burning crowds alive; turning streets into firing lines; blowing up inhabited buildings… Their final plan was to drop a bomb on New York City, killing everyone living there."

"Holy shit." I gasped. I… I couldn't imagine the kind of people willing to go that far. Yes, the Government had dropped a few nukes on the Endbringers, but that was because the nukes didn't make things any worse.

"Yeah. The terrifying thing though? The virus they made, it was so powerful and nasty that everything Blackwatch did was just that fucking justified. We're talking a melting pot of every goddamn bioweapon ever imagined. The way things were going though, I doubt even Blackwatch knew what the fuck they made." She looked up at the ceiling, as though she was still troubled by things she had seen.

On second thought, going for a run didn't sound too bad.

I stood up suddenly. "I'm going for a run. Hopefully I'll be back before Coil's men get here. Text me if they arrive before I do."


Dana watched as the crowd kept growing. There weren't as many people as there might've been, thanks to Alex stopping Leviathan before he did too much damage. But there were still lots of them. Dozens upon dozens. It would've been depressing, if she hadn't already seen worse. The civilians watched her and Alex warily, keeping a fair distance from either of them. Coil's men were unloading the truck, stacking them on top of a platform Alex had made from biomass to keep them out of the water.

He had wanted to speed things up by bringing the supplies out personally, but Dana and Taylor had convinced him otherwise. He was a villain; he was meant to stand there and look intimidating. Taylor herself was still in the truck, planning on making a dramatic entrance.

Looking at how skittish the crowd was, Dana was kinda worried that Taylor might scare them off instead.

On the plus side, no one had tried to take the supplies early.

Once about two hundred or more arrived, Taylor made her move.

People gasped as a black buzzing figure moved through them towards the truck. Bugs made to swarm in the shape of a person. In the shape of Swarm. The insects separated and reformed at the entrance to the truck, taking on a cloud-like shape. Blocking people's sight. Stopping them from seeing her yet.

Then the bugs scattered, startling those nearest, and Swarm was standing on the very edge of the truck. A platform, all ready and waiting for her.

She had to admit, with the bugs nearly blotting out the sun, it was definitely dramatic and impressive.

"Some of you know of me!" She called out, the bugs buzzing in time with her words to create an echo effect. "I… am Swarm!"

"We've got company." Alex said, his voice carrying through a bud of biomass in her ear.

"I see her." Dana replied, eyes locked on their target. Battery, from the Protectorate, was watching the three of them from afar. But she hadn't moved closer yet. "Don't start a fight with her just yet."

"Alright. But only until she attacks first."

"I am laying claim to this area!" Swarm continued. "From now on, this territory belongs to me!" No one cheered or booed at this, but Dana saw Battery press a finger to her ear.

Time to see what the Protectorate are saying.

She tapped at her wrist. "Identify radio frequency." She ordered. Her bud made a lot of muted noise, until she heard an official sounding voice coming out of it.

"…Say again, Battery. For a moment, it sounded like you just said that Swarm's taking territory." The PRT officer said. He didn't sound worried; more like this was some kind of joke.

Asshole. Let's see him keep joking when Taylor keeps hold of this place.

"I did. Swarm has just announced her sovereign rule over this area." Battery answered. "She's going on about how she's going to be acting in the people's interests instead of her own. Talking about how she's not offering 'protection', tribute, or anything these villains usually want." Her voice lowered, as though she was worried that someone might hear her. "And Blacklight's here as her enforcer. Along with an unknown."

Unknown, my ass. I'm the girl who hacked your entire server, bitch.

"Blacklight? Oh shit. What's he doing?" Control asked.

"I already told you. He's Swarm's muscle. Here to intimidate people. Make them listen." Battery stopped talking, likely to listen to Taylor. "Hold on. Swarm's offering supplies to these people, telling everyone that she'll protect them as long as she's around."

"That's uh… That's not good. You think they might fight to keep her out of jail?"

"I don't know. I don't think they will yet. She'll have to prove that she means it. But they might if we give her time." Another pause. "Maybe we should let her."

"What?!"

"We're having enough trouble getting resources to people, thanks to the Merchants and the Chosen. These people are in need of help, and she's offering them. And she's planning on getting either group out of her area, stop them from preying on people."

"Of course she wants them gone. So then they can't challenge her rule."

"Well unless the PRT wants me to try and fight Blacklight again, there's not much I can do here."

Dana looked at Alex, saw him slightly tensed. He was probably listening in too. Hopefully Battery or command weren't stupid enough to send her against him.

But then they were distracted by someone shouting.

One of the scruffier men, the ones obviously carrying weapons and probably from the Merchants, was scaring people away, waving a large jagged knife. Behind him, his buddies were smirking, like this was a fucking show.

Alex didn't shout out a warning. He just stepped towards the man, his left arm shifting into a giant blade. The Merchant paled as he realised the vast difference between the size of their weapons.

He wasn't dumb enough to pick a fight with Alex. He dropped the knife and turned tail… and crashed right through a cloud of bugs. He screamed in a panic as they started stinging him, causing him to topple over. Dana stepped forward too, her spear growing spikes and sparking with electricity. The other Merchants backed away, leaving their fallen comrade alone.

Real honour among thieves right there.

Swarm hopped down from the truck, walked over to the Merchant. She placed one foot on top of his hand, pressed it down hard. The man howled until she hopped off, clutching his hand as she gave him space. Battery was standing right above him now.

"I can't let any of you kill this man." She said, not betraying the slightest tremor in her voice. Her costume was already glowing as she charged herself.

Tough girl. She knew she couldn't take on Alex alone, and she was still ready to fight him to save a life. Dana felt a modicum of respect for her.

Of course, she could've used her time saving someone besides this scum fucker.

"Wasn't planning on it." Swarm replied, holding a hand up. Alex and Dana backed away slightly, their weapons shrinking in size. Just enough to make it clear they were backing off. Battery grabbed the fallen knife, likely to for symbolic reasons.

She glared at Swarm. "What's your angle? First the PRT and now this? What are you up to?" She asked.

"Exactly what I just said. I'm claiming territory and protecting the people living in them. Information provides money, and money buys more supplies." Taylor folded her arms. "We all know you won't try to bring us in. Not just because you'd lose, but because we're the lesser threat right now. You've got too much else to deal with to bother with us, not when we're helping too."

"I wouldn't call Blacklight a 'lesser threat'. But you're partly right. 'The enemy of my enemy' and all that." She glowered at them. "But the moment you guys cross a line, the moment you go too far? We'll bring the full might of the PRT and Protectorate, and we'll bring all of you in. Even you, Blacklight."

Alex shrugged. "You can try. You'll fail, obviously. But I'll be ready for when you're dumb enough to disturb me."

Battery didn't have a reply for that. She just ran off, heading back to the PRT. Taylor turned back to the crowd, and addressed them again. There weren't enough supplies for everyone. So she was sorting something out; a way to make sure those who missed out now could still get something.

Dana was impressed and concerned by how organised Taylor was. She was pushing herself pretty hard, like it would help Noelle and Dinah if she moved faster and harder than everyone else. Alex was grabbing the Merchant, pulling him up and pushing him away, sending him stumbling back home. Hopefully, the knowledge that he was here might scare off the Merchants.

But what she really wanted was for Alex to take over and clean them up. Get rid of the Merchants and make their turf a safe place. But she wasn't sure how to convince him.

The crowd dispersed, both of those who had supplies and those who didn't. Alex and Dana stepped closer to the walls, letting the people pass. This continued until only one other person remained. She had red dreadlocks and pale skin, eyes twitching like she was high or something.

Dana frowned, and engaged her vision. Nope, no signs of drugs. Probably just nervous as fuck.

"Yes?" Taylor asked her. "You've already gotten your ladybugs. I'll bring you something as soon as I get more in."

"It's… It's not that." The girl said nervously. "I… You said that you would protect us, right? Did you… Did you mean it? You'll protect us?"

"Of course I did. I meant every word."

"So… Does that mean that you'll go up against the other groups too?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I… I need your help."


The girl – Sierra – told us how her brother had been kidnapped by the Merchants. They had been taking shelter at a church, and then the Merchants attacked one night. They had thrown a Molotov in, started burning the place down, attacking people they found. Grabbed a few people, Bryce one of them. They didn't grab many supplies; I think they just attacked the church because they could.

Apparently, it was enough for Alex. He agreed instantly to go to the Merchants and find Bryce. I wondered if he would take over, like Dana and Coil wanted him to. I suppose that I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

I contacted Lisa for help. She agreed to join us, bringing some mercenaries with her.

Dana wasn't allowed to join. Alex's direct orders. And we needed someone keeping an eye out on my territory. She had begrudgingly agreed.

So now here we were, not far from the Merchants' base of operations. Two girls and five guys. We were an odd looking group, thanks to Alex.

"So what's our cover?" I asked Lisa. It felt odd, going out of costume. I had been so used to heading into trouble with my suit on that I didn't know what to do without it. It made me feel a bit… vulnerable. Naked.

And of course Alex didn't really need his uniform to be unstoppable.

"Simple. We blend in." Lisa said, wrapping an arm around one of her men's waist. He was a head taller than her, looked a lot older too. "Couples. Nobody's going to look twice at us. You'll be partnered up with Senegal."

One of her men, Brooks the medic, frowned. "Unless you two are going to have multiple boyfriends, this isn't going to work out."

He barely finished before Alex started changing. His body turned into a large human-shaped blob, startling the mercenaries. Then the blob separated, pulling away until two human-shaped blobs stood before us. Tendrils moved along the surface, and two beautiful women stood in their place. One had dark skin and black hair, bright green eyes staring at us. The other was white, yellow hair hanging low and the tips blue. Both were curvy, and both were dressed in tattered clothes.

"Quit your bitching." The blond one said, grabbing Jaw and wrapping his arm around her waist. The other girl grabbed hold of Brooks. I noticed how he squirmed, trying to pull away from her.

I'd be doing the same if I had to have Alex near me after that display.

"Stow it, Brooks." The team captain, Minor, ordered. "At least now we'll blend in. Just shut up and deal with it."

"But…" Minor glared. "Yes captain." Brooks answered. He stopped pulling away, and placed a hand against Alex's ass.

"We'll need names." Lisa said. "We can't call you both Alex now, can we?"

"Trace." The blond one said.

"Samantha." The dark one said one second after.

See, that? That just felt wrong. If someone asked me to explain it, I don't think I could. But I could just tell that there was something… off about the two of them. Just like if you looked at a computer-generated image. It looks right, but there's just something about it that didn't feel right.

Funny, how Alex felt more normal-like when he was one person.

I wanted to talk to him about trying something else – maybe one girl with two boyfriends – but we had reached the Merchant's base.

Weymouth shopping centre. To think that somewhere I used to go all the time had fallen so far. A massive crowd was standing near the entrance, pushing and shoving each other as they went inside.

It took a while for us to finally get to the door. A large, tattooed, muscular and very mean doorman was standing guard. Most he let in without a hassle. Some he groped their girls before letting them pass. One – probably a Chosen or undercover PRT – he smashed in the face and kicked away. I felt nervous, seeing the casual violence.

Yes, Alex was all about casual violence. But there was something different seeing it in a normal person.

The man glanced at Lisa and Minor, saw the coloured armbands they were wearing. According to her, those bands represented different events. The more you have, the more events you've been to, and therefore how loyal you are to the Merchants.

"They're all with us." Lisa said to him, pointing a thumb back at the rest of us. The man waved me and Senegal through, waved Jaw and Trace through, but leered as he spotted Sam and Brooks.

"Hold on." He said, holding his arm before them. "Doorman toll. Need just a few minutes with ya girl." He reached out for her, only for Brooks to get in front of her.

"Fuck off, asshole. You ain't touching her." He said fiercely. The doorman just laughed at him. I'm not surprised. Brooks was a slender, wiry thing. The doorman was a head taller, and twice as wide. Without special training, Brooks wouldn't even be able to hurt him.

The man opened his eyes again just in time to see Sam throw a punch.

From what I've already seen of Alex, he can hit far harder than normal people. Maybe not on Alexandria's levels, or Behemoth. Maybe. But still hard enough to kill a man with a single blow.

And as expected, the doorman was felled with that single punch. He didn't even have time to make a noise before he fell to the ground. The other doorman kept far away from her.

Any fears Lisa might've had of people thinking we might be easy targets went out the window at that.

Inside was a goddamn nightmare. Everyone was so pressed together than it was almost suffocating. The air was thick with the smell of sweat, urine, and garbage. Lice were spreading through the crowd, moving like wildfire as everyone bumped shoulders. On a stand not far from us, men and women were stuck inside a cage, guarded by a Merchant. I wasn't sure if they were whores, or slaves. A big part of me hoped they were the latter. Someone tried to sell us some 'product', but a glare from Sam made him back off. Everyone was selling something in here; selling drugs, selling guns, selling their bodies or others… One big swirling mess, sucking everyone and everything in like a whirlpool.

"No wonder Dana wants me to clean this place up." Trace said to me. We weren't in any danger of being overheard; I could barely hear her in the noisy crowd, speakers clashing. "It's fucking disgusting. The worst of humanity all shoved into a room and left to fester. I hate it." She pointed her head towards the far end of the mall. "And I fucking hate that shithead."

Skidmark. Standing on top of a rickety stand held aloft more by Tinker powers than any sound structural support. He was watching everyone party, a nasty smirk on his face. This was all his work. He found these people, gave them the drugs they wanted to end the pain. And then he used them to build more power, find more people, menace more innocents.

I wasn't going to shed tears when Alex got close to him.

But then we had to stop, as a brawl started up before us. And past them, we spotted an exhibition.

A clothing store window, now shattered and ruined. Three women and a girl were standing there, acting provocatively. The men below would throw clothes at them, and they would openly dress and undress for them, trying on the clothes. Well, the women were moving provocatively; the girl seemed almost paralysed with fear.

I wasn't surprised. There was no sign that she was here willingly. These men had abducted her just to for her to strip for their amusement. And it would only be a matter of time before someone decided to go the next step.

I was coming up with a plan to help her, when I saw Trace walk towards her. Someone passed between them, and a large grubby man took her place.

"You just can't wait until you take over to help her, can you?" Lisa said to Sam.

"No." She replied simply. Then she turned to Minor. "Trace will grab the girl and head back towards us. I want you to punch her in the face and grab the girl."

"That'll just make them go after us instead of her." Lisa pointed out. "You can't… punching the guy who took her isn't going to make everyone leave us alone." Sam frowned. Guess she hadn't thought further ahead. Alex was too used to just fighting his way to whatever he wants.

"I've got an idea." Minor said. The crowd grew louder, and the girl screamed as Trace grabbed her. They tried to stop them, but Trace just pounded everyone who got close. People were backing away, but I could tell that Trace wasn't getting back to us without everyone wanting to still pound his face in.

Minor surged forward and punched Trace in the head, grabbing the girl with his other hand. Trace fell to the ground, and everyone started wailing in on him. Minor moved to throw something, but he didn't need to. Everyone was focused on Trace, on pounding him to death. We quietly backed away before anyone remembered about us.

We made some distance from there, the girl still fighting to break free. Any Merchants we passed just laughed, made some lewd comments. We made it over to some bathrooms when Trace appeared next to us again. I'm not sure how she managed to get away.

"You're safe." Trace and Sam said at once. "Stay near us, and you'll be safe."

The girl shivered in fear. "But… But that… that man…"

"A disguise. Now shut up. We're looking for someone."

Lisa nodded. "Guys, go and look for him. Sam and Trace can keep watch for us." The mercs nodded, headed out of the bathroom. The girl looked at the four of us, face frozen in shock and puzzlement.

"But… but… why… Why did you…?" Poor girl couldn't get the words out properly. Trace rolled her eyes.

"You were in trouble, and I helped you. Now either you can stay and shut up, or leave. As long as you don't run right back into their arms, I don't care anymore."

Lisa grinned. "Someone's getting embarrassed." She said in a sing-song voice. Trace flushed red, and looked away.

The girl gave a nervous smile, and looked away from trace. Her eyes locked on me. And she froze.

"You." She said softly. "I… I know you."

I stared at her in shock. "What?"

"Yeah. I remember you. You went to Winslow High. You were that locker girl. The one who got shut up with all that nasty stuff they had to cart with biohazard bags. You went all mental, and they had to bring in cops to get you out, and then…"

I wanted to tell her to shut up. I wanted to scream at her, to get her to stop talking about the incident. She was probably one of the people in the crowd. The people who saw it happen and didn't do shit about it. But her rambling was interrupted by Trace slamming a fist into the wall. It went through it, and I saw spikes sticking out of places. A grimace was marring her face.

"You knew about that, did you?" she hissed. Her voice didn't even sound human anymore. "You heard about her 'episode'? Then why the fucking hell didn't you do anything about it?" She was almost shouting now, teeth lengthening into fangs. The girl backed away, shaking like a leaf. A small puddle formed between her legs.

As pissed as I was at her, at how she didn't do shit to help me, I couldn't let her die. I moved between her and Alex.

"Remember what I said at school?" I said evenly to him, looking him in the eye. "You were to stay out of my life. Let me deal with my shit." Alex hissed, but backed off. Trace's features returned back to normal. She looked like a normal pissed of lady now.

We would've been left in awkward silence if Brooks and Minor hadn't returned.

"We found him." Minor said. Lisa nodded, and we moved to follow him. I looked back though, and the girl was still pressed up against the wall.

"Come on." I said to her. She didn't respond. She didn't move. Now I understood what people meant by 'frozen in fear'. "Come on." I said more firmly. Still she didn't move. "If you don't come with us, you'll just get captured again."

That worked. She jolted forward and hurried after me, nearly stepping on my heels in an effort to keep close.

I damn well hoped that Bryce was going to be easier than this.


He was, and he wasn't.

The good news: there weren't any guards to deal with. Just Bryce, and some girl with bleached hair.

The bad news; no guards. So Bryce wasn't being held here against his will.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Sam and Trace said as one. I think I understood them a little better now. When they were thinking the same thing, when they were both Alex, they acted as one. Otherwise, they were two different people. "This little shit is one of them?"

Lisa turned to me. "Want me to do that talking?"

"Please." I didn't want Sierra or Bryce linking me to Swarm. And I think Alex was more interested in beating the shit out of him than talking.

Lisa smiled as turned towards Bryce. "So, looking good for someone who's being held against their will. What happened, Brycie? You joined the Merchants while your sister was trying to look after you? Told them of some juicy place so you could get into their little gang?"

"Not what happened." Bryce replied, looking at our group angrily. "Now how about you lot all just piss off?"

He stopped being so macho and angry when Sam and Trace leaned in. they both broke a part of the wood bench he was sitting on with their hands. Bryce's girlfriend decided quickly to find somewhere else to be.

"You little fucker. Your sister's worried sick about you, and here you are slumming it up with the biggest shitheads in Brockton Bay?" they said as one. I watched as Bryce tried to choose who to glare at. But his anger was tempered by fear.

"Alex. Let the people person do the talking." Lisa said, tugging on their shoulders. I doubted even Jaw would have the strength to budge Alex, but they both moved away and settled for glaring from a distance. I watched as some idiot tried to cop a feel, and Sam ripped his hand clean off.

Bryce saw it too. "Look, my life has sucked ever since Leviathan showed up. My house got flattened by that Endbringer Killer thing, I'm stuck living with two families in a tight hole, and I've been given more chores than I've ever had to deal with in my life. Then I get sick, Sierra finds some lame-ass church, and I'm still stuck doing chores and shit, like it's a good thing. So I thought 'fuck that', and when the Merchants showed up I left with them. Gotta be fucking better than doing what other people tell you to do, like you should be fucking honoured that they're looking after you."

"…Right. If Sierra asks, the Merchants killed him for fun." Sam and Trace said, moving forward.

"No." I said firmly. "I told her I'd bring her brother back, and you swore you'd help. Are you going back on your fucking word? How would Dana feel if she learnt about this?"

Sam and Trace groaned. "You use the Dana card way too many fucking times. Fine. We'll bring the little shit back. But only after I fuck this place over."

"Deal." I knew the moment we got here that he would do that. "But we've also got to find the man who led the attack. Sierra wants him to pay."

Sam nodded. "Then lead the way." Just then though, a microphone squealed. Skidmark stepped forward on his 'stage', drawing everyone's attention. Behind him was about half a dozen other capes.

More than he had before Leviathan. More than I thought were still unaffiliated.

"Alright, sisterfuckers!" He shouted into the microphone. "Time to get down and dirty! It's Blood Night!" He pointed his hand at the centre of the mall, the ground changing colour as he focused and layered his power. Those who were stuck in the middle of the edges were trapped inside the circle; those outside it jeered at them and threw things at them. I saw someone fall as they were struck by a large stone, blood flowing from a head wound. Someone near him started stomping him into the ground. "The rules are simple; there are no fucking rules. Pile on someone, betray your friends, wait until the last moment, I don't fucking care. All I care about is that we have five people still standing when we're done. Go nuts. Fuck someone over." He gave a toothy grin; even from where I was, I could see how bad his teeth still were. "And speaking of fucking, those five are going to get some choice cuts. The girls they want and all the time in the world with them; the purest shit we've got. And a special bonus I've got just for tonight." He lifted up a case sitting near him, holding it aloft for everyone to see. He opened it, and pulled out a canister of some kind. A strange liquid sloshed about inside of it. "Here's the greatest fucking prize this shit ball of a city ever gave us."

"Powers in a can!"


"What did he just say?" Taylor asked in surprise. "Did he just say powers in a can? Is he actually serious?"

"Sounds like it." Trace said. Alex was very intrigued. Both by what the contents of those cans were, and how some shithead like Skidmark got his hands on them. Probably found them, the way he was talking.

Of course, the left the question of who made the powers.

He was already thinking of just jumping up to Skidmark and killing him when spotted familiar faces in the melee. He had to stop and see where he knew them from. He hadn't seen them before, but they still were familiar… Someone had described them to him?

Sierra. Sierra had described them to him. They were the people who had attacked the church, gave the priest a new asshole.

"Found our secondary targets." Trace said, closer to the centre of the group. Closer to Taylor. "Moving in to fight them. Keep a hand on the kid, and move well back from me. Things are going to get messy."

Taylor nodded. Minor and Jaws adjusted their grip on Bryce – the little shit – and held him close. Trace pushed out of the group towards Sam, both of them melding back together again into Alex. He didn't have to worry about someone watching him; there was too much going on for anyone to see anything.

With every step he took further into the crowd, the more disgusted he was by humanity.

Sure, it wasn't perfect to begin with. Too much lying, too much backstabbing and greed and bigotry. People always trying to find some reason to hate others, to discriminate and hurt them. Willing to screw others over for just about anything. But there were good people too; people who wanted to fix the world, get rid of the bad. Get rid of things like him.

The only reason these people would want to be rid of things like him is because they'd stop their rampage for power. Or they'd try and use him for their own fucking desires.

When he reached the ring, when he was pushed by Skidmark's power into the center, he didn't bother with any grand plan or showmanship. He just wanted to make those assholes hurt before they die. He walked up to them and shoved his hand through the first guy's chest, his fingers extending into the others. They all screamed in pain and agony as he lifted them up, his finger spikes jutting high above. People backed away in fear and surprise as he armoured up, the feelers on his spikes ripping into them and splattering blood. All he'd have to do now was…

The shard in his head stabbed him like a railroad spike.

He was somewhere else, seeing a million different things at once. Broken images, something big, something wrong. So many of them, layered upon each other, doing similar things. But they weren't similar. Just different enough to be out of sync.

And then they vanished. All of them. All he could see now was worlds. Worlds stained red, worlds that were grey. A world hidden behind red clouds, something tugging at him. Worlds with different shapes and continents, worlds that hurt his head.

And then it was all over. He felt his body again, felt how it had started falling apart on him. Reaching out for nourishment. He pulled it back in, lowered his empty hand. He had consumed the assholes he had been killing.

The crowd backed away from him, leaving a frightened boy behind. His hands were glowing, and he'd jump when they fired white circles around him.

Son of a bitch. That's how he had so many capes. Skidmark was forcing Trigger Events with these 'events'. Sacrificing people until someone broke and gained powers. Alex looked up at Skidmark in anger, only to see him stumbling over and laughing. Confused, Alex looked back at Taylor and Lisa, saw them stumbling too. Brooks and the girl had to hold them up.

Huh. Guess he wasn't the only one affected. The only one to have seen that… whatever the fuck it was.

"Well, well." Skidmark said into his microphone. Alex turned back to see him leering at him. "Look at who was brain fucked enough to think he could come into my place like he fucking owns it. Blacklight him-fucking-self. I've been looking forward to this for a long while, you maggot-breath shitlover."

Alex resisted the urge to groan in exasperation. Skidmark's rise in power had given him an inflated ego, made him think he was the toughest thing around. Add in the fact that he was probably picking away at the memory of Alex humiliating him like a scab, and he was likely determined to try and kill Alex.

Well, he was already planning on killing him. But it would be tedious fighting through whatever the dickhead threw at him.

"That's right, Blacklight. I still remember how you humiliated me during that meeting. How you and Kaiser talked down to me like I was nobody. Well look around you, assfuck. Kaiser is dead. His 'Empire' is a fucking crater now. And I'm on top of the world." He loomed over the bannister before him. "I'm going to break you, pal. I'm going to turn you into my fucking bitch." He turned to the crowd now. "Change of plans, folks. I'm offering these powers, the best of the best, and a hundred thousand bucks to whoever takes this fucker down."

Wait. What?

Does… Does he seriously think that the crowd could beat him?

Alex didn't fight the urge this time. He just started laughing, even as the crowd charged for him. They smashed their weapons and fists against him, dogpiling him and trying to pull him down. He heard their weapons break, their hand shatter against his armour, their bullets pinging off.

He let them try for another second before slamming both fists into the ground. Everyone within three feet of him was thrown upwards, landing in a ragdoll heap. All dead from the concussive force. He then lashed out with his whipfist, swinging it around himself and extending it as it moved. The blades slashed through everyone in range; the body smashed those it missed. He cleared about five metres of space around himself.

Only took him two attacks to clear some space. The crowd was smart enough to back away. Alex took the time to consume the fallen, drawing them inwards. He saw the look of fear on everyone's face.

He didn't bother giving Skidmark time to humiliate himself again, as fun as it was. He lashed out with several large tendrils, each with enough biomass to lift themselves and whatever they held. Each of them drove a spike into Skidmark, lifting him screaming into the air. Then they pulled away from each other, pulling at Skidmark as they did so.

In only a few tugs, they ripped him apart. His blood splattered all over his girlfriend. Alex drew him in, adding his disgusting memories to his mind.

The circle around him faded, its creator dead.

Squealer dabbed at the blood, and screamed.

"Kill him!" She shrieked at the other capes. "Fuck him over, make him bleed, rip him to shreds! I want his fucking corpse!" She was probably going to say more, but Alex got tired of her. He teleported up to her, and ripped her head off.

And then the other capes converged on him, and all hell broke loose.

Mush – a shifter who can gain size and mass from debris around him – charged in first, almost twice his normal size. Idiot probably thought that bigger meant better. Alex fired a Devastator through his chest, leaving a sizable hole in him. He fell apart, blood splattering the ground. The next cape to approach, a girl Skidmark had called Whirlygig, had all kind of junk orbiting her. The remains of Mush's form joined the tornado around her. On the other side of him was Trainwreck. Alex had seen him in Coil's base before. Coil liked to think of himself as a chessmaster; Trainwreck was probably a spy or something.

He muscled up his arms and slammed them into Trainwreck, firing a blast of air through them as he landed the blow. Trainwreck went sailing. Enough to likely get him out of the fight, to give him an excuse to just run back to Coil. Meanwhile, the girl had gotten closer. Close enough that her storm was buffeting Alex, smacking him over and over with debris. Annoying, but hardly a threat. Alex created two shields and pushed through the storm, smacking Whirlygig aside with them. She hit the railing, her back breaking on impact. He grabbed her and consumed her.

His head started aching. Too many shards, gaining them too quickly. Will have to fix that after this. In the meantime, he moved the shards to heads he formed around his waist. Should allow him to hold them without worrying about losing them.

Three more capes still remained. The first was some idiot with a huge rubber belt on. Looked like a goddamned clown. Bumper. That was his name. His power… Alex punched him as he got close. When he struck the railing, he just bounced off back towards Alex. Right. Kinetic absorption. Someone hits him, he simply bounces around, absorbing kinetic energy until he released it.

Bumper rebounded towards Alex, and Alex created a spike from his chest. Bumper skewered himself against it, but knocked Alex flying.

Well, he did hit him pretty hard.

Alex smashed feet first against a wall, pushed off from it back towards the centre stage. The crowd below watched them all. The Merchants to see their bosses win; the victims to see them all die.

Alex aimed for the second remaining Merchant. A large, tough looking guy. Pitfall. His power was creating a hole on any surface, and filling it back up. Have someone stumble into his hole, and then bury them alive. Useful, but Alex doubted he'd be fighting people who would die from something like that. The man swerved at the last second like a matador baiting a bull, a hole appearing in the wall behind him. Everything went dark as Alex was buried inside of it.

I'll take it under advisement. Alex thought as he smashed through the sealed wall, claws ripping into Pitfall. That just left Roly Poly. Powers…

Roll up into a hardened ball. And bounce. That was it.

Alex smashed him flat with his hammerfists. Blood exploded outwards. He looked up, having spotted people on the roof as he had been sailing towards Pitfall. Faultline and her crew. Were they here to kill Skidmark? Or something else?

Down below, the Merchants decided to run.

Alex teleported to the exits, creating a wall of hardened biomass when he got there. He managed to pen everyone else in before they could all escape.

Skidmark's memories told him all about the kind of scum he had living here.

He teleported back to the stage, and grabbed the fallen microphone. "Attention, Merchants." He called out, his voice booming through the mic. "In case it isn't brutally obvious, I'm taking over your territory."

The crowd was silent below. They were afraid. After all, he killed all their capes and now had them locked in. They probably saw him consume people.

They're probably thinking he's turning them into a buffet.

"Everyone brought here against their will? You're free to leave. Go home, or go to the shelters. I don't fucking care." He spotted Taylor in the crowd. She was giving him a reproachful look. "to those of you staying, let me make this clear; all this shit ends now. You live in my territory? You obey my rules. You don't prey on others, you don't sell drugs, you don't steal from others. Don't like it? Leave. I'll kill anyone I find breaking my rules. But know this; there's no place for you shitheads anymore. Most of the city belongs to the Undersiders and Coil. They won't take this shit either. The Protectorate? They'll arrest you on sight. The Chosen? If you're not white, you're fucked. Get it? There's no territory left in the city for you to do whatever the fuck you want." He glanced at Taylor. She was nodding. "For those of you who want to stay and be under my protection, group up near the center of the building. Everyone else?" The biomass walls opened, changing into gates. "Out. Now."

People kept standing still. Some of the crowd was glaring at him, angry that he had spoiled their fun. But then a lot of people – over half of them – turned towards the gates. They streamed out in droves, a mass flood of people, slaves, and degenerates. While they did that, he created little beasts of biomass. Scurrying things with pincers and stingers and fangs. Simple creatures with only one objective.

Find the people on the list he had given them. Hunt them down. Kill them.

"And those of you who were real scumbags? The worst of the worst, the fucking psychos and monsters?" People turned back towards him, those he listed gripping weapons. He glared back at them. "There's no fucking way I'm letting you lot leave. Not after what you'd done."

And then his beasts found them, and people started screaming.

Those on the list were overwhelmed, screaming in pain as they tried to fight back. Those around them backed away, screaming in fear as they tried to get away from the killings. The beasts were quick and brutal. Slashed throats and stabbed hearts, before scurrying after the next one. Plenty made it outside; they chased after their scent, moving faster than any human.

There will be survivors, of course. Not all of them had been here. But he was certain that he got most of them.

He heard Newter drop down not far from him. The floor near him bulged upwards into poles, the rest of Faultline's crew sliding down them. But instead of Spitfire, a red-haired woman was with them. He didn't recognise her. And he didn't care right now.

He turned to face them. "Faultline. The fact that you're sticking around means that you've still got a job to do."

She nodded. "The powers. I want them." She said.

Ah. The powers in a can. He shook his head. "I want those powers myself. I'm interested in where they came from, and what they can do for me." He saw Faultline tense under her costume. Not surprising. She just saw him kill of an entire crew of capes. He doubted that their odds were any better. Newter might be a problem – he didn't know how his physiology would handle his narcotics – but a ranged attack would take him out easily enough.

Faultline glanced at the case. "What about the paperwork?" she asked. "If we let you keep the vials, will you let us have the papers that came with it?"

He stopped, before reaching out for the case. Opening it, he found the vials resting on top of some documents. He looked through Skidmark's memories for them. The man had glanced at them, long enough to remember them, but he hadn't paid any attention to them.

But Alex could learn a lot from those memories.

"Is this what your client's interested in? Just seeing who made them?"

"I'm interested in them." She said firmly.

"Personal interest." He glanced at Newter and Gregor. He understood now. "You think these vials are what made the Case 53s?"

"We know they did."

Alex shrugged, pulled out the vials and handed the case over. "Alright then. They're all yours."

Faultline nodded as she grabbed the case off him. "Pleasure doing business, Blacklight." And then they walked out the front doors, Newter moving back to the roof. Likely grabbing Labyrinth. He had detected her on the rooftop. The changes she made vanished, leaving him with a ruined mall and a large crowd of people.

He cricked his neck. He was going to be busy tonight.


When Petra woke up to her alarm blaring, it felt like she had barely gotten to sleep.

And yet, at the same time, it felt like she had slept for hours.

She was still getting used to the duality. The gene had given them incredible levels of stamina and endurance. The computers had clocked them going nearly seventy miles an hour, completing one hundred laps, without any signs of fatigue. Because of that, she could sleep for only two hours, and wake up feeling completely refreshed.

She wasn't sure if they actually needed sleep. Maybe they could stay awake forever, just keep on working.

That said, some old habits still lingered. When she pulled away at the sheets, she stretched out her muscles before heading to the bathroom. There was no shower or bath in there, or even so much as a toilet. The gene dealt with all the nasty business for them. All she had was a sink to wash up in. She grabbed a flannelette and started washing her face. Getting rid of dirt, grime, sleeping dust. It was the closest she could get to a shower. Her hand blindly reached out for her toothbrush, only to find nothing. Right. The gene kept her teeth healthy and clean. She sighed. Another old habit biting the dust. She threw aside the cloth and headed back into her room, moving to the dresser they gave her.

Yes, she was stuck wearing a skintight uniform so tight it was almost indecent. But she refused to walk around base without something else over it.

She headed out of her room wearing some gym shorts and a singlet, the lighter material standing out against the black suit. She and her team had this part of the PRT headquarters all to themselves; a quarantine, to keep them away from others. Multiple defences and security measures in case of an outbreak.

It hurt, on some level. To be considered nothing more than an outbreak waiting to happen. It made her wonder what would happen to her team if or when they kill Blacklight.

She headed towards the terminal, logged in the latest thing she had noticed. Things like whether her breathing had changed, if she could see better or worse, if there were any aches or pains. Anything they noticed was logged in, a way for people like Ragland and Dragon to get a better understanding on how the gene was integrating into their bodies. Once she did that, she checked up on the files of her team. How they were coping.

Damian was doing alright. Still making jokes, still cracking wiseass remarks. The lack of any sex though, combined with her and Kim's suits, led to him making more dirty remarks. Kim had already bashed him for things he had said. She made a note to ask him to tone things down a little. With their new kind of power, a bit of roughhousing could be worse than normal.

Kim herself was… well, a bitch at times. She got that she was trying to act tough to make up for the fact that she looked like she was still in school, but she went way too far. Any comment made to her was like walking on egg shells, trying to find something to say without pissing her off in the process. And she kept trying to be the first one in, ignoring defence over speed and ferocity. They had to work on controlling that; someone like Blacklight wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of any slip-up.

Francis was doing alright. Had gotten closer to Damian, joined him in a comedy routine. She liked the guy; he was a good soldier. Always followed orders, but wasn't afraid to improvise when it was needed. Easy on the eyes too. She wouldn't have minded jumping into bed with him if they were prohibited from doing so.

Grey though… He was a tough one. His file looked normal enough. Was stationed in New York once. Had a somewhat quiet time there. Then got transferred to Project Blacklight. Nothing out of the ordinary.

But she had been watching him work. The single-mindedness, the drive, the lack of concern about his own safety… she's seen that before. In officers who saw something that broke them.

And those kinds of guys only lasted so long before they crashed and burned. Sometimes, they took the team with them.

She tapped at the mic button. "Computer. Locate Grey." The screen showed a map of the complex, the different agents in different places. Kim was still in her room; Damian and Fort were in the entertainment room. Grey was in training room Alpha.

Just like always.

She found him in the middle of a training session, surrounded by holographic targets. His fists and feet flew like bullets, smashing through the targets one after another. He spun round on the spot, limbs still moving quickly. An entire row of targets flashed red as they registered the blows. Then the quickly moved after the final ones, all moving erratically away from him. It took several more seconds to chase them all down.

When the clock stopped, he had clocked in at thirty-three seconds. Most officers would've been pleased with a time like that.

Grey simply started up the program again, and tried again.

She let him finish it before she stopped the whole thing. He looked around in confusion, before turning towards her.

"Captain." He said, saluting her.

"We're not on duty, Grey. You don't need to use my rank." She said to him, walking into the room. Grey didn't relax though.

"We're always on duty, Captain. Project Blacklight doesn't have off duty times." He responded. "We could be called on at any time to engage Blacklight in battle. Any time spent not training is time wasted." He engaged the training again, and started working again.

She stopped it again, and he turned back to her.

"We need to talk, Grey." She said firmly. She moved to the bench along the wall, and signalled for him to sit near her. He kept standing though, so she just got into it. "I'm been reading the notes about your time here, and I'm starting to get worried about you."

"No need, Captain. My body is at peak capabilities, even before the gene. I will be ready to fight Blacklight when called for."

"I know that. It's not your physical health I'm worried about." The gene meant that they would always be at peak physical capability. "I'm worried about what's going on up there." She tapped her own head.

He tensed up. "There's nothing to worry about, Captain…"

"Bullshit." She interrupted. "I've seen guys like you before. You act like you're some tool because you've seen some scary shit. You don't give a damn about your team, or yourself. Only completing the mission." She gave him a hard look. "And considering that a big enough slash to our suits will kill us, I don't like that kind of thinking."

"So what, you're going to assign me a therapist? I'm not broken, Captain." She sighed. Damn macho ass. He wouldn't admit that he's weak, that he needs help. Guys like him never did. They were so damn certain that they were the toughest thing…

An idea came to her.

"Alright then, Grey. How about this? We have ourselves a match. You beat me, I'll do whatever you want for the next twenty-four hours we spend in our base. But I win, then we talk. You explain what the hell happened to you; and we try to help you through it."

Grey just glowered at her. "Not interested, Captain. Fraternisation between teammates is frowned upon." And he turned to walk away.

She shrugged. "Alright then. I guess you're just too chicken-shit to think you could beat a little girl. I'm sure nobody would think bad of you if they heard you ran from a fight." Grey stopped walking away. Turned back to her. She had taken off her outer clothes, leaving her standing in her suit.

Grey moved into a fighting stance.

They watched each other carefully, waiting to see who would attack first.

Then they charged each other.

She had to admit, Grey was good. She had a few black belt wins, and he was still matching up to her. They both traded blows at blinding speed, their limbs moving fast enough that normally they would've broken the tendons. They went through choke holds, grapples, breaks, and moved back to trading blows again. Grey grabbed her in a bear hug, but she slammed her fists together on his head, forcing him to drop her. She then lashed out with her leg, driving it into his side. He twisted with the blow, using the force and momentum to drive his fist into her side. She went flying, and by the time she bounced back to her feet he was right in her face again.

She was stuck on the defensive now.

She blocked his next blows, the force behind them causing her to step back. The longer she let him continue unabated, the further he could push her. So she ducked under his next blow, ploughing into his midsection. He didn't budge as much as she liked, but she spun around him until she was pressed up against his back. She drove her elbow into his spine, sent him stumbling. While he did that, she turned and started pummelling him. When he turned around, arms held up defensively, she kicked out at his leg before punching him in the midsection again.

She stumbled back as he punched her in the face, her nose cracking audibly. He slugged her in the chest three times, pushing her back and cracking some ribs. She fell to a heap before him. He stood over her, silent and glowering.

Before he went for the final blow, she kicked out at his leg, aiming for the knee. She heard it break, saw him fall. She rolled over onto it, and started wailing on him. She only stopped when the suit started beeping.

She fell off him, lying down next to him. Already she could feel the gene healing her body. It took a few more seconds, but she could get back up without something throbbing. She headed over to a stand with a wet towel, and wiped at her face. It came away red.

Grey sat down on the seat next to her, his suit glowing orange. "You did good, Captain." He rumbled. "I can see why Piggot and Armsmaster put you in charge of us."

She groaned as she stretched. Even with advanced healing, the kind of training they went through could still be painful. "Yeah. Figured that was one of the reasons." She sat down, pressing her hands against her back. "Well, we had a deal. I won, you talk. So talk."

Grey looked away from her. "You've seen my record?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. I saw everyone's. Looked pretty normal to me." She paused. "Too normal. Even I wouldn't say that I had a quiet time on the force."

"Not surprising. Things… Things weren't as good as my branch wanted others to think."

"The New York branch lied? What the hell happened?"

Grey seemed to be chewing at something, face getting tight. "Slaughterhouse Nine." He answered.

Oh.

Oh god.

"My team was the first ones on sight. We didn't know it was all of them when we arrived; all we had heard was that some sick bastards were killing people. They weren't kidding; when we arrived, the walls were covered in blood. Had to walk through half a dozen bodies before we sighted our first target." He paused. "Bonesaw."

Bonesaw. She had heard of her. Everyone's heard of the Nine by now. Bonesaw looked like a cute little kid. She actually could've been one too. But she had the mind of a goddamn psycho. A real mad scientist type. A biological Tinker, she loved taking people apart and putting them back together again, usually with something horribly wrong with them. Stuff that made it clear they weren't human anymore.

"She was standing over a body, stabbing it over and over again with her knife. Well, my team wasn't taking any chances. Not with how much blood covered her. We opened fire; live rounds. Blew enough holes in her to make her fall apart. Another pause. "Then we got ambushed. The little sick freak had been hiding in the bodies, wearing one of the bodies like a suit. Stabbed one of my guys before we even knew what was happening. Then Crimson came smashing through the wall with his massive sword. Killed two more before the rubble finished falling. And then Siberian came along, Jack Slash, Winter…" he paused again, face tense. "Well, we knew we were fucked. Those of us still alive, we ran like hell. I was the only one to make it out. Everyone else got grabbed by something." He took a deep breath. "Alexandria showed up with the Protectorate. When they saw Siberian stepping out, most of them only stuck around long enough to grab me and get the hell out of there."

Shit. Way to bring up all those bad memories, Petra.

He turned to look at her. "I'll admit that I focus on only the mission because it helps calm me. But I'm not going to act suicidal. I'll protect my own. You don't have to worry about that."

She nodded dumbly. "I… Good. That's… that's all I wanted to hear." There was an awkward silence between them now.

She was so thankful when the intercom tone filled the room. "Captain Sanderson and Lieutenant Grey. Please report to the mission room. Repeat, please report to the mission room. Thank you."

She sighed in relief. "Come on, Grey. Looks like Piggot has something for us. Better go and see what's going on."

Grey stood up. "I hope it's fighting Blacklight. The sooner we deal with him, the sooner Piggot will let us go after bigger targets. I heard that the Nine are heading this way."

She gave him a look. "Don't act stupid around them."

"I won't. I've seen what that looks like."

They moved double time to make it to the mission room quickly. Inside, Piggot was already glowering. Armsmaster was pacing as he waited. Damian saw her and Grey come in, and made little kissing motions to his wrist.

She replied with the finger.

"Captain." Piggot reprimanded her. "This is not the time for jokes. We have important intel that we've only just received."

"Yes, Director." She said hurriedly, sitting down. "Is it about Blacklight, ma'am?"

"What else would it be about? Of course it's Blacklight." She seemed shorter than normal, more temperamental. Whatever she was telling them, it probably wasn't good. "We tried to get one of our agents inside the Merchants, inform us on their plans and what they've been doing in there. He got turned away, but he came back in time to see everything going to hell in there."

Petra cleared her throat. "With all due respect, Director, but from the intel we've already received, I thought it had always gone to hell."

"Not like this. Blacklight got in somehow, and he killed Skidmark and his capes. Then he declared his takeover of all Merchant territory."

The room went silent.

"But… That's good, right?" Fort asked. Piggot and Armsmaster glared at him. "I mean, the Merchants were real nasty. Top of our list and everything. And now Blacklight's wiped them out for us. Doesn't that make things easier?"

"It means that he's gained control of part of the city. And he's got followers now." Armsmaster said. "We're running out of time. At this rate, he'll have enough power to challenge us directly. We can't wait any longer. We don't have time for more training. We have to strike him as soon as possible."

Piggot nodded. "We'll lure him out into the open, away from anything he can use to heal himself. We'll hit him with everything we've got, and take him down. Not all of you will make it out of this alive, but by taking him out in the process you'll make your sacrifice meaningful."

Funny how the people who speak the most about sacrifice are the ones least likely to end up in dangerous situations.

"Fireteam Prometheus. Replenish your suits and armour up. I want you ready by ten hundred hours tomorrow. We are ending this now."


Yep. Now we're getting to something big.

First off, I want to apologise for sticking so close to what started in the Merchant area.

On the plus side, I totally changed the ending. And gave Alex some territory of his own. Got some big plans for that place. For those worried that Alex is already OP, then you're probably gonna be annoyed that he'll get even more OP. Also, you can now understand why I went with Uber and Leet first for testing. So I can keep Skidmark alive long enough for this.

Can't think of anything else to say right now. Leave me some constructive criticism and reviews. Hope you enjoy this chapter.