"Soo, Alice… what's on the cosmic bullshit schedule today?" I asked as I strolled through the house. It'd been a few days since Kessler left. I heard that he was training Ash but otherwise not much happened.

"Nothing, and hopefully it'll stay that way." She was still a little salty that I had stolen the book that contained nuclear explosions. Hell, I was salty. I probably could've killed Kessler with that thing but instead I was sitting in a kitchen watching a bibliokinetic eat cereal. Fuck me, right?

"Yeah, for some reason I don't believe that." I lazily sent out a tendril of metal to grab me a whole box of poptarts that I began systematically devouring. "What's really up?"

"Nothing yet, but Ash and Edward are out on a date." I rolled my eyes as she looked up at me. "It's not idle gossip, Vincent. Those two are magnets for trouble, and leaving them unsupervised will probably be a mistake."

"Sure, spy on them then. Like I didn't have enough of that with Abstergo." I tossed an empty wrapper away and started on the next two tarts. I don't think conduits need to eat balanced food… I usually just eat whatever tastes good.

"You should count yourself lucky that organization is no longer around." She smiled creepily, "I enjoyed using my book to blow up their central hq."

"Oh, you nuked them? Wow." Something soft mashed up against my back and a head rested up against mine.

"Morning," Andi said with a smile I could feel. "I see you're still eating like a six year old."

"It's the food of the gods," I protested in futility as my girlfriend removed the pop-tarts from my grasp and put them in the cupboard, tossing me an apple instead. I chowed down and decided not to argue, she was in a really good mood today. Plus, I was enjoying her new haircut.

Yep. She'd dragged me to a salon and I had to sit there for an hour while resisting the urge to blow the damn place up just for something to do. My phone could only amuse me for so long before I got all twitchy… after three days of fighting for your life, sitting around doesn't keep your attention for long.

Her hair was now just shorter than shoulder length, and it was all curly instead of just straight. Remember Scarlett Johansson in the first avengers movie? Yeah, it was cut like that, except it was violet with streaks of blue instead of red. I'd gotten my cut done in the first three minutes: a simple buzz, leaving my hair at about half an inch long.

That was a damn good movie. Anyways, I didn't get to make more snarky comments because Alice banged her head against the table hard enough to crack the granite. I winced and tugged on the collar of my shirt… that had to hurt like a bitch. "Dear god they're fighting GOLIATH. It's like I can't get a break," the woman mumbled as she got up. "Rally the troops, Vincent, Andi. We're going to war."

"Should I wear my fatigues?" Two icy cold glares in my direction signified that I had given the wrong answer, so I slunk off to go get dressed, grumbling about the unfairness of life. Some people can't take jokes, you know?

I ended up stealing one of Delsin's many vests to match my usual black jeans and Jordans.

Oh hell yeah, I bought Jordans. Just in case fools wanna mess around and get dunked on in the name of conduit-kind. Anyways, they were yellow and black, so Delsin loaned me his DUP vest to match. It was spraypainted yellow across the front and Andi had edited the back so a bright purple chinese dragon was choking the life out of the standard white DUP dove while a silver wolf clawed at it from below, forming an almost yin-yang with the dove in the middle. It looked hella sick. I'd even put on a white beanie and had a chain wrapped around my wrist instead of my hammer… I'd pass for an okay Delsin, I thought to myself as we leapt across the rooftops.

"You look a little too much like me," the smoke conduit said with a raised eyebrow as we got closer to the sounds of explosions. "Wanna sub out next time Fetch starts getting weird cravings?"

"Ha… nope." I patted him on the shoulder and grinned, "You're on your own pal. If the lady demands artichokes at three in the morning, you'd better find some damned artichokes. Also you're not getting the vest back. It's my new look."

"Damn," the man said with an eye roll as he opened fire on some GOLIATH goons that came into view. A huge cinder rocket all but obliterated a group of four, leaving them down for the count as I fired off a sand rocket, crushing even more. "I really loved wearing the jacket made by the people who tried to kill me."
"You'd better have," Celia said sweetly. "I made that for you, smoke boy." Delsin just chuckled nervously as the femme fatale unleashed a barrage of paper bits so sharp they drew blood.

"Oh man," Delsin muttered as Celia dashed away. "I don't care how many powers I get, she's still scary."

"You think that's scary?" I pointed to Andi, who'd gotten her finished hidden blades from Zeke after what had felt like an eternity. She wasn't even bothering to use her powers for offense, just gliding around the battlefield and dealing out death with a blow that seemed almost gentle. "I just slept with her. You sleep with a girl that shoots lasers out of her hands, eyes and presumably other places. I noticed that late at night when everyone else is trying to sleep, the house lights up like a goddamn disco… sometimes five times in one night."

"We really don't have any self-preservation instincts," Delsin agreed with a wry grin as he neatly dodged my not-so hidden inquiry about his and Fetch's nighttime activities. "But you have to admit… girls who can fight are totally hot."

I nodded as I whipped my chain around in a flurry of destruction, knocking the fuck out of anyone dumb enough to get close. "Big time."

"This is why liking guys is easier," Ed interrupted with a snort as he discharged some molten glass that entombed several soldiers. "We understand each other. No hidden meanings, no 'yes is no', no mood swings every month."

"Am bi, can confirm," I said with a laugh as we spun around each other, taking potshots at anything that wore the standard GOLIATH white and orange. "Still, you forgot to mention that guys don't have tits."

"Definitely a plus," Delsin said with a grin as his whip lashed back and forth, hitting GOLIATH soldier with explosive bursts of smoke. He teleported, presumably using napalm, and knocked them all out with blasts of the viscous liquid.

"Pillowy clouds of softness," I added with a grin as a soldier met his death at the hands of my chain. "Dude, everyone likes boobs, even gay people."
"I don't," Edward grumbled. Delsin and I just stared at him until her cracked like one of his mirrors. "Alright, alright. I like them… but not in a sexual manner!" His face was already turning red and I laughed.

"It doesn't have to be sexual. They are literally god's gift to the world, the first pillows."

"Before man crashed on couches," Delsin intoned in a deep voice, "he rested on breasts." The two of us burst out laughing which made Ed blush even harder, which in turn unnerved our enemies. Who the hell just laughs while getting shot at with all sorts of projectiles? I didn't worry about it as I delivered a swift knee to a soldier's helmet, hearing the visor crack and feeling his body go limp. "Dude, you guys ever think we're crazy? Like we go around doing the type of shit that belongs in comics and we've gotten to the point where we just laugh it off."

"Nah," Delsin said calmly as he pinned a soldier to the ground with gurgling bonds of steaming napalm. "It's all good in the hood." Ed nodded and that was probably what saved him from getting decapitated as a invisible blade drew a line across his neck.

"BLESSED!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I cast my mag sense around. Holding it for an extended period of time hurt like a bitch and took a lot of concentration, but at least I could see the blessed move in real time. Alice had disappeared, presumably to get more re-enforcements, and a ball of fire (Yeah, you read that right. I thought I was tripping the first time I saw it too) bounced around, randomly killing a Blessed that Andi had impaled on the end of her sword. I launched over to her, wrapping the chain around my fist, and the two of us spun around, fighting off the invisible foes that weren't so invisible. My fist crashed into the blessed's face as Andi swung her sword back into its sheath and followed up with a flurry of strikes with her hidden blades, cutting open the Blessed's chest with gashed that oozed a sickly shade of rose. The Blessed swung its sword down and we both split. I leapt to the right and fired a rocket just as Andi did the same.

The poor bastard tried surrounding itself in a cage of glass but it was too late. We blew it to shreds and didn't pause, moving onto the next duo. "Hey, I can see these guys 'cause of my mag sense-" which was giving me a killer headache at the moment, "-but how can you see them?"

"I see their color," Andi said with a shrug. "It's like they're not even invisible."

"Did I mention I really love you?" I said with a grin as I fired a blast of razor-sharp sand, catching the blessed duo's attention by way of drawing blood. "Because I totally do. I love you more than the idea of Ravey in a skirt and thigh-high socks."

"Someone call the devil?" A familiar voice said as spikes of shadow impaled the two Blessed. "I mean, he's not in right now so I thought I'd answer for him." A shadow wrapped around me in comforting warmth for a split second before leaving me and forming into a solid body right next to me.

"Ah, second bae." I patted Raven on the head and he practically purred, leaning into the gesture like a cat would. "Sup, dude?"

"Nothin' much," he rumbled. "But damn if that doesn't feel good." His eyes snapped open and he dashed away in a dark blur. A second later, Opal's fist crashed into a blessed and dented it's skull in. No, really. She smiled at me, now covered in a dark aura.

"Hey."
"Yo." I snapped a salute and Andi just whacked me good-naturedly with the hilt of her sword. My sand actually sprung up to catch it. Finally. "I'm surprised you're not trying to cave my skull in," I said with a laugh as I impaled the other blessed on spikes of my own. The damn thing stopped moving… I swear those guys used to be harder to kill.

And then the evil Kessler dropped from nowhere… shit.

"Okay, nope," Raven said from his place wrapped around Opal. "Noooope. We should nope the fuck out right the fuck now because fuck trying to fight that guy."

"I second that," nearly everyone said. I raised my eyebrow as the Converted agreed wholeheartedly with us. Huh, guess they knew how scary the Kessler bastard was. He'd killed me once. I was still slightly salty about that.

"Working on noping the fuck out," Alice said with gritted teeth as she flipped a book open. Kessler laughed.

"Sorry dear." A flick of his hand and the world spun around us, Alice dropping the book in surprise. We stood in what looked like a prison… a prison island. People milling about on tour paused to look at the strange group of individuals who had just popped out of nowhere onto the slate gray isle.

Oh no way in hell. One of my favorite zombies maps, ever.

We were standing in the middle of Alcatraz.

I fistpumped victoriously. "Aw yissss-" My fanboying was interrupted by the screams as civvies started running away from the GOLIATH soldiers who were trying to kill them to distract us… oh, damn. Civilians. See, usually in Seattle people were smart enough to clear the fuck out when shit went down regarding conduits. We had the odd injury but nothing much.

And now we were stuck with a crowd who thought the appropriate thing to do was taking selfies while running for their lives.

Suddenly I remembered all of the reasons I hated California. "Right, so we should start getting people out and away… Del, Ravey, Andi, start teleporting/flying people out. Ed, Ash, Kuo with me so we can stall Kessler and kill his goons. Converted, crowd control. Funnel them towards boats or something, I dunno. Alice, Coraline… whatever you guys do it better be good."

"And you're the leader why?" Delsin asked with an amused expression on his face. I shrugged.

"I was a guild leader in Heaven's Hellfire. This kinda reminded me of one of the boss raids." I flicked both hands outwards and generated shields that protected some people from getting shot. "Can I get a team on three?"

Various glares told me that no, I could not get a team on three. I winced and went back to dodging bullets and ended up fighting alongside Ash. "So we're probably gonna die today," I pointed out in all seriousness. "Anything you wanna get off your chest?"

"Not really…" Ash gave me a weird look as he fired ice bolts at a Blessed. "If you're still on about the other world stuff I'm telling you right now that you're insane."

"Raven is from another dimension," I pointed out with a shit-eating grin. "It's totally possible."

"Ugh!" A blast of pure cryo energy snapped forward, freezing out opponent in place. "Do you ever give up?!"

"Sooo, how was your date?" I teased, swinging my chain forward to shatter the blessed. Another took its place, this one female. It really didn't matter at this point because between fighting her, her look-alikes and trying to save these damn civilians I was getting stretched a bit thin so I just cut loose with my sand, crushing her under a giant claw and pulling a sand burial type move that sent her down through the concrete. "Did you guys kiss again?"

"They kissed?!" Celia screamed from across the way, pausing in her deliberate murdering of fools to fangirl. "Do you have a picture?"

"Yeah but it's gonna cost a shit-ton," I said with a laugh. A knife whizzed by so fast that is cut the skin on my neck and made me bleed before the cut closed again. I gulped and looked over to see a furious Celia.

"I. Will. Pay. Everything." She said, slowly dragging out each syllable. "Everything." Well that scared the shit outta me so I nodded dumbly and told her my bank account number in the middle of a goddamn firefight that, oh, by the way, we were losing.

"It's been fun," Kessler said, catching all of our attention, "But I really do need to get going, so…" he whistled a sharp tune and all of a sudden things went even more to shit.

Remember all those Blessed we killed? Yeah, they came back to life. Kessler himself punched Delsin in the face and grabbed Ash's head, squeezing like a motherfucker. "I'm going to enjoy this," he said with a laugh as some weird energy was pulled from Ash's forehead and blasted at Alice, who went down like Monica Lewinsky on Bill Clinton.

No, she didn't blow Kessler you idiot. She hit the ground, immobile. What the hell is the point of being so powerful if you get taken out in one shot? I thought at her.

I didn't expect him to do that, she admitted, gritting her teeth. I didn't know he could do that.

Well fuck me, I swore at her before sending three claws at Kessler. Yeah, they did jack shit, the bastard just took them like a champ and laughed off the non-noticeable damage. I readied myself to unleash hell but was interrupted by a claw in my side.

Ah, fuck.

"HUMAN! I WASN'T FINISHED WITH YOU!" My favorite non-trip spirit bear was back. How, I had no idea, and I wasn't about to ask as I called up sand to block his incoming punch.

"Dude, CHILL THE FUCK OUT! HOW DID YOU EVEN GET HERE?" I fired two rockets, one of which was a hit and the other he sliced in half.

"DIDN'T KNOW I COULD FLY, HUH!?" He charged forward and swiped at me with his sharp claws. The claws themselves were glowing red with that weird power he uses.

"BUT WE'VE HARDLY BEEN HERE FIVE MINUTES!" I lashed out with my chain, forgetting about Kessler to try and beat this guy. I snapped and smashed him in the face with the length of vibranium.

Oh, I know what I said. There's a good explanation, and it involves everyone's favorite book conduit.

That seemed to knock his head to the side but he tackled me in the stomach, knocking me back. I managed to dig my feet into the ground to stop myself and got ready for another head-on charge since this guy only seemed to want to get physical. Man, was I wrong in the next few seconds. I was forced to dodge a red laser beam, a big one mind you, that grazed my left side. It burn like a total bitch and exploded violently behind me. I could feel the wind pressure from the blast.

"I COULD SENSE YOU! I COULD SENSE EVERYONE HERE! YOU WANNA GET AWAY FROM ME YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO WORK FOR IT!"

He opened his mouth and began to spit multiple laser beams fully intent on blasting the hell out of me. I launched up, dodging where I could and returning fire with a torrent of sharp, destructive sand that cut a swath through the concrete, a cocky smile flitting across my face. "Bring it, polar bear. I got a new power I've been itching to try." Well, not that I could control my molten metal. Still, if he got close enough to killing me I figured it'd bust out.

He glared at me while visible gritting his fangs. Even from here I think I could see some veins bulging against his head. "I'm going...to shred you to ribbons." His body was once again shrouded in a red aura like before. The ground beneath him cracked violently before he seriously shot off like a canon, heading right for me. The ground broke from the force of his launch and I swear he looked like some sorta comet sailing through the air. For the second time he crashed right into me but didn't stop there. As I tumbled in the air trying to regain my balance with more of my sand his paws were pointed at my direction. He fired blast after blast with too much precision to my liking.

I took serious hits, and there was a hole in my shoulder… more like a dent. Point is, it hurt like hell and I unleashed two massive claws, pinning Dekker to the ground before the claws exploded into razor-sharp spikes. I couldn't help but smirk at seeing my attack go through. I know for sure no one could'a dodge that. But I didn't completely celebrate yet. A conduit animal is one thing. A conduit animal with instant, never-ending rage is another. And then Dekker just had to be something else entirely, so I wasn't gonna put all my hope into that attack. I was right when I heard a buzzing-hum from where he landed. When all the dust cleared from the explosion and shards of metal were everywhere he was completely unharmed. His body covered in a dome of red power.

He looked up to me. "What? Was that supposed to do something?" He stood on his hind legs and resumed chucking energy balls. I got my iron sand ready to block, counter or to help dodge but none of that was needed when the blasts were seriously off their mark and flew everywhere else.

"Ha! What the hell are you aiming at!? Think that last attack got you brain damaged!"

"Says you, human!" He held his arms out once he stopped firing. It only took me a second to realize that a mass of red orbs were floating all around me on all sides. And fuck. There were a BUNCH of them. "Hellzone Grenade!" He clapped his paws together and all of the blasts began to converge on me at once.

"You stole this from Piccolo-" I managed before the explosion rocked my body and I fell from the sky, sand springing up to catch me as I shook off the burns. The vest Delsin had given me and Andi had edited was full of holes. I growled louder than the actual bear and lunged at him in a fit of rage, swinging twin claws and blasting metal filings that sliced across his fur, leaving tracks of red.

Dekker just growled right back. Now his eyes were flashing red. He took a deep breath and roared right in my face. A shockwave of power blasted from him and struck dead on; sending me flying back. Now I tumbled against the ground before crashing into a big boulder.

"No matter WHAT you're feeling, you anger is NOTHING COMPARED TO MINE!" He roared releasing more shockwaves. This time not just at me but all around him, breaking the ground as even lifting stone into the air which broke away and disintegrated. He stalked over towards me, each step giving a small boom as the ground cave under his hind paws. I just yelled at him, an angry yell.

"NO ONE FUCKS WITH MY CLOTHES!" My sand burned bright and melted into a fiery orange liquid as I sent a veritable torrent of lava at his face. "THE VEST WAS A GIFT!" Okay, not gonna lie. I felt pretty badass as the molten metal split into three flows and drilled towards Dekker.

"YOU'RE WHAT!?" He screamed right back, not caring that he was going to get burned alive. My molten metal actually managed to make contact and wash over his entire body, along with burning anything else it touched. Part of me was wondering if I had seriously just killed that guy off. If so I had a distinct feeling Cipher would come for my ass about that. And not in the way I go after Raven's. But I was so mad right now that I didn't give two fucks about any of that. I could feel liquid trickling down my face and faintly registered it as the tar. Remember that? That's why I was pissed beyond belief. Bye-bye mind blocks ala Kristil and her freaky tar powers. Latent trauma coming to the surface was never a good thing.

A blast of red erupted from the molten metal and soared into the sky. Shit. I should'a known it was too good to be true.

"YOU INTERRUPT MY QUALITY TIME WITH MY MATE AND YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO SAY YOU'RE ANGRY!? BECAUSE OF A FUCKING JACKET!? HOW DARE YOU! I HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE PISSED!"

"I'm done." I said with a hollow laugh. "Just die already." I swung my hand together, clamping them as twin streams of fiery metal slammed into Dekker. I doubted he'd be dead, but it bought me time to rip out all the metal in the area and drain it into my veins. It reconstituted as floating, glowing blades, like Eugene used to make. Rest in peace, buddy. I unloaded what felt like hundreds of blades in Dekker's direction, and they exploded on contact, devastating the landscape around and behind. He was surrounded in a sphere-like whirlwind of lava swords… now that was badass.

"Hrrrraaaaaaaaaaa….." Wait….what? No way. That had to be on the verge of impossible. I could see red lights beginning to flash through the mass of lava-like metal in small beams. "GGRAAAAAAAHHHH!" There was basically an explosion of the stuff and all of the molten metal surrounding him wasn't just blown away but it seriously evaporated. Dekker was still floating in the same spot with a much bigger energy field surrounding him. Is that how other's feel when my iron sand protects me from damage? If so I think I can understand why they get so pissed.

"I've had enough of these games, boy! You're MANY years too early to lock horns with me!" More veins popped over his head as his aura surged. "I've grown tired of you! I'LL BLAST YOU TO HEAVEN, HELL AND BACK AGAIN!" With his energy field still up he turned his body to the right a little and placed his paws near his right hip. Swirls of red gathered between them. Oh...hell no! He's not seriously gonna do what I think he'll do, right? Aw man, I was gonna make the DBZ joke with a Special Beam Cannon…

"Kaaaa….meeeee…..haaaaa…..meeeeeee…."

I didn't' wait for him to finish because I wasn't an idiot… it was time to try something new. I forced metal to solidify as a shell around my body and stepped backwards, out of it. It looked nearly as lifelike as one of my dad's marionnettes, and I was proud. I fell back, using metal to drill a hole into the ground and fall down into the layers below. I heard Dekker scream the final word for Goku's signature move and braced myself the for blast too seriously rock the hell out of the ground. Except something else happened entirely. If I knew one thing it would've taken a good few seconds for that to slam into the earth. Instead I see a mass of red shooting right down the hole I made!

Great. My metal sprung up and practically entombed me as I leapt to the side. Nope. Drilled straight into my chest and went boom. The explosion vaporized everything in a good ten feet radius. A hole was in my chest and my skin was burned right off. It hurt.

Pain, pain, pain. I was honestly tired of all the stupid pain, and now my stupid issues with my dad were at the forefront of my mind, and I just really wanted to kill something, specifically a spirit bear. The metal responded to my will, flowing into me instead of out. The hole in my chest was fixed and I got some glowing lines up and down my arms, horizontal bands around my wrist and just below my shoulder that were intersected by two lines on top and two on bottom. I could feel the lines burning on my freshly healed torso and my legs as well.

Oh. Apex. Well, if anything was going to kill me it would be this: over-extending my energy. I turned my palms up and noted that there was a thin circle that the bottom lines touched on. The top of my palm had an identical circle that the top lines touched. With a roar, I jumped up and swung my hand straight down, a liquid blade forming and slicing into Dekker's left shoulder.

Dekker gave a loud roared of pain as the blade cut, burned and seared his wound all at once. He snapped his jaws closed and was now drooling, while his lips quivered in anger. He glared at me again and got on all fours. His mouth opened and he shot 10 energy beams at me all at once. Dodging those was a laugh, I just leapt right over his head and ran him through with the other arm, my second blade poking straight out his stomach. "That hurt, bitch?"

He gasped as had his mouth open wide in a silent yell. I'd assume that was because he was in too much pain to speak. Just like how I wanted.

"Grrr! Now you've...done it, pest!" Still having strength he sent a pulse of power through his body. Apex or not I still didn't have a way of blocking something like that yet. I was flung right off, the arm blades flying with me. Now his snow white fur had two patches of black and red on it. If anything I could at least claim two marks.

Sadly, my Apex faded and suddenly the feeling of 'yeah I can kick anyone's ass to hell and back' became 'wow I really feel like coughing up blood all of a sudden'. And I did, splattering crimson onto the grey concrete. Man, we did a number on this place… holes in the ground, swaths of the prison turned to rubble, burns and explosions and more than a few bodies lying around… and that was just me and Dekker. Some of those GOLIATH guys got in the way. Still, I was in no position to do anything other than kneel and clear my lungs of blood.

I heard heavy footsteps and even heavier breathing. Didn't take a genius to know who that was. I felt a harsh tug on my ruined shirt and was lifted into the air by a beyond pissed spirit bear.

"That hurt. That actually hurt. I guess you're not just a one-trick pony after all.".

A savage, bloodthirsty grin split my face. "I take pride in being a two-trick pony." I kicked him in the throat and slapped a page stolen from Alice's book onto his forehead, causing him to vanish in a flash of white light. I was aiming for somewhere far, far away… preferably the south pole.

Falling on my back sucked. I was barely able to fold the paper up and shove it back in my pocket with trembling fingers. The fact that I could smell burnt flesh and my own blood didn't help. I just kinda laying there, hoping to god that even if the stupid bear stole Goku's moveset he didn't have Instant-

"Transmission? In case your pea-sized brain hasn't picked up on this, I can use ki. That's my power, meat."

Aaaaaaaand once again I was being held up in the air. Of course he had Instant Transmission. Fuck it, next time I'm sending him to Mars. I mean, if there is a next time. The tar still rolled down my cheeks in thick, viscous lines. "Dude, that's so lame-" I coughed blood and splattered his white fur into red, "-you couldn't come up with original moves so you copy-pasted Goku's… I should totally Destructo-Disk you for that."

"The ideas weren't mine. They were Ryle's. So if you have a problem with that then take it up with him. His words 'if it ain't broke then use it.' And I have to admit. They're quite handy. But since you have such a problem with how I use energy…"

The next thing he did wasn't anything that I had seen from DBZ. His eyes flashed again before turning green. The wounds that he had were giving pulses of green energy before they healed right up. "I can use that for one."

"Not really original, is it?" A flash of one familiar purple blade and a thick red line was drawn across Dekker's arm. He dropped me and I landed with a thump as Andi stabbed the bear through the back, piercing his spine, and splattering him with ink from her free hand.

Wait, splattering. Oh, shit. I tried crawling away as fast as I could because next, there was gonna be a really big boom. My girlfriend kicked Dekker in the chest and sent him crashing into one of the few walls that was still standing.

"Heal this." Her eyes flashed solid violet… Boom. Bye-bye water tower, lighthouse, and docks. I love her but damn if she doesn't scare me. She almost never used the whole 'blow up whatever my ink touches' gimmick because 'I'm an assassin, Vince. I have to be stealthy. And no, Willie filling your locker with glitter is not a good enough reason for me to trash his car. You're the one with metal, do it yourself… and don't get caught. Neither of us have enough money to pay for that, and we can't be outed as conduits'. I could practically see her rubbing her forehead in frustration… oh wait, she was.

"You had to pick a fight with animal Goku," she said, sitting down next to me with an eye roll. "I love you to death but sometimes I wonder if you're capable of thinking before you act. He was in the right, after all. You should've knocked." My head was pulled into her lap and she began rubbing my scalp in a soothing massage.

"To be fair," I said, trying my best to ignore the battle raging in the background as her fingers worked magic on my poor, pounding head. "It's a teleport. I can't exactly knock." She laughed and I couldn't help the idiotic smile that graced my face. Still got it, I thought to myself. Wow. Reading this back makes me wonder about my priorities… girlfriend before dying.

With that my thoughts wandered to if I should bust out a ring if that was how I really felt. No hurry, obviously, we were only eighteen. Oh, wait. My birthday was coming up in like, a week. Timing.

Her eyebrow quirked up in sync with the corners of her lips. She never really wore makeup, which was cool because I'm not really into having lipstick all over everywhere after a makeout sesh. "Maybe you should've not teleported?"

"When have I ever not done something because of common sense?"

"You did jump in front of a bus doing sixty on the freeway to prove you'd live." A shake of her head as he hair flounced around her shoulders. "Remind me why we date again?"

"Circumstances, good chemistry, and mind-blowing sex." My face went deadpan as I could possibly make it with all the aches and pains wracking my body. "Also, good luck on my part. Maybe that's why bad things always happen to me."

"You think meeting me used it up?" Another laugh as she calmly deflected chunks of rubble with her ink. "If anything, I used mine up meeting you."

"Awwww." I clasped my hands together and placed them against my cheek, tilting my forehead. "You do care." Andi flicked my nose for in answer, a smile still on her face as she looked over to all the rubble. The smile became a frown. "That's just ridiculous."

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

A very large explosion of red, larger than the ink explosion Andi just made, erupted with you-know-who being the source. I was surprised that there wasn't a spot of ink on him and no blood from the slashes and stabs. But I quickly remembered the bastard had healing powers too. Geez, doesn't he know when to call it quits? His shoulders shooks with intensity and the ground kept rumbling from the surge of red ki. Man. I never thought I use that word in real-world terms. Scratch that. Not real world. More like just not in DBZ ones.

"You irritating...little…!" Wow. So upset he had no insult? Now you know that's serious.

Andi sighed and stretched her wings, unsheathing her sword. "What I wouldn't give to have the twin blade right now. Vince, don't die…" she froze and gave me a look that was a mix between quirky and curious. "Actually go ahead. You've died… three times, now? And no repercussions except for getting stronger… I feel like we're in a bad shounen manga sometimes."

I would've rolled my eyes but it hurt too much to move them. Really? My eyeballs were hurting… I was never going to use Apex again. Ever.

Dekker looked over to me and took a long gaze at the sorry condition I was in. Shit. I have confidence that Andi could hold her own, of course. But Dekker's kinda been taking everything I've thrown, eaten it all up and threw it back up in my face even harder. He did so even with my new molten metal powers. Not to mention Dekker jumped right out of Dragon Ball Z with extra powers, so who knows what he could do. I had a sinking feeling in my gut that Andi might not be up to this either. And if he were to get his hands on me again… shit. I just hope Andi's right about me coming back a fourth time. More power as a bonus would be a nice touch.

"Don't even think about it." Andi said, ink swirling around her a bit, while she gripped her sword tighter. Dekker looked between me and her and grumbled something I couldn't hear. He looked at me again.

"You're weak, human. I haven't even been fighting you at full power. Under 50 percent at the most. Next time you won't get off so easy."

He roared once more with an explosion of red aura and blasted from the ground, flying off into the sky. Wherever he was going I was glad that it was away from here… but at the same time I was going to get stronger and kick his ass. Stupid polar bear.

My revenge schemes were cut short as the world shifted around us and I got thrown to the concrete back in Seattle. I groaned and tried standing, failing miserably. Andi sheathed her sword and gave me a hand up, tossing me over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"This is demeaning," I complained as her arm pinned my legs to her left shoulder. "C'mon, cut me some slack."

"Nope. You've proven that I can't leave for more than five minutes or you almost die," she deadpanned. "Plus, you've done this at least twice."
I facepalmed. "But it was cute when I did it. Now it's just awkward."

"You did it in front of my dad," she said with a headshake, sporting an exasperated look as I tried wiggling free. "Stop that."

"Vince, the hell?" Delsin was in my face all of a sudden, arms folded across his chest and a slightly pissed expression on his face. Huh. It didn't suit him. "What was with the polar bear, man? You left us to get our asses kicked."

"Technically a spirit bear," I said in the most helpful manner I could muster. "And I would've just gotten my ass kicked too. Seriously, Kessler op. Please nerf next patch. I also had a mental snap mid-battle which let me unlock a new power through pure rage… hmmm." I scratched my head while wondering if I could still toss around the molten stuff. A flick of my hand revealed that I could, but after a few seconds it turned into solid metal. Huh, a combo of old and new powers. I'd have to work on that later, but first I needed to explain. Besides, Eddie was looming behind Delsin and looking like he wanted a go.

"You. Idiot." He spat those words with enough venom to kill a cobra. It didn't really help my attitude at this point… that rage was still there.

"Not in the mood for your shit," I replied while twisting free from Andi and landing on my feet. "I might be beat to hell but unless you got an upgrade I'm about to snap your damn neck, scotty boy." Molten metal swirled around my hands. "Beam up while you can, before I go Apex on you."

I've made some pretty big bluffs…. one time I managed to lie my way onto Leonardo Di Caprio's personal yacht. At that point Ed could've knocked me over by blowing on me and using Apex would kill me… I don't think I could use it if I wanted to.

"Forget this," he said, crossing his arms and look away. "You're not worth it." I snapped, getting right up in his face, coating my arm in solid metal and turning it into a blade.

"Not worth it? Not WORTH IT?! I'm tired of hearing that shit! I've heard that shit ever since I was twelve and my dad started beating the shit outta me to try and teach me my powers! Ever since I was framed for stealing a goddamn car by my so called friends in the ninth grade! Since the school got graffitied and everyone fucking blamed me, because why the fuck not?! I'm just the worthless kid who got his mom killed in a car accident, right? My mom's parents disowned her because she wouldn't fucking abort me: according to them I WASN'T WORTH THE DAMN TROUBLE! So you best back the fuck up, scotty boy, before I decide you're not fucking worth it and rip your intestines out through your THROAT!"

Looking back that was seriously not cool. Still, gimme a break. I snapped the damn mental barriers, had my ass kicked at what I thought was my strongest by a bear, and on top of that I'd been killed three times over the six month period we'd been in seattle. I can't be chill all the time. Something's got to give and at that point I'd had enough.

Still… fuck man, I kinda wanna go apologize to Ed for being an asshole. He didn't need my own shit dumped on him after our whole squad just got the asskicking of our lives.

No one said anything. Delsin looked towards the sky, Ed down at the ground. Ash was rubbing his eyes and Kuo looked like she was having some bad flashbacks. Celia's face was impassive as she gently leaned against Jace, who looked more pale and gaunt than usual. Andi was the one who had it most together, but then again… she was good at pretending to be okay. Everyone just looked old and tired, to sum it up in a few words. Alice was nowhere to be seen. I guess she was off doing Alice things.

I was just done. My blade dropped from Ed's neck and the metal flowed back into me, molten for a brief period. "Fuck this," I said as I took a few steps back with a shake of my head. "I don't have the energy for this…" I reached into my pocket and unfolded the stolen page. With a thought, I was gone.

When I was this down and out, there was really only one place to go.

Well this chapter got heavy as fuck... Damn. Didn't see that coming, really.

Oh, since I love you guys so much, you're getting an Omake in Andi's POV about less depressing shit. It takes place one day before this one and is full of shenanigans. Don't forget to read and review.

~Kole (Zeta)