Many thanks to dwood15 for betareading.

Twinkle 2.5

Sophia and I separated as we jumped into the fray. I charged between Grue and the hostages, one of Hellhound's dogs on either side of me. Sophia entered her shadow state, flowing like a wisp of cloud, and made a beeline for Tattletale.

"Get us out of here!" Grue called to Hellhound as he moved to intercept Shadow Stalker. He raised his hands toward Shadow Stalker, and darkness billowed forth like oily smoke, streaming towards her.

Hellhound's dogs approached me, baring their fangs. A quick whistle from their mistress, however, and they turned from me and galloped in her direction without a backward glance.

That wouldn't do. They'd have a nonzero chance of getting away on their mounts. Not acceptable. With a raise of my hand the two monstrosities collided headfirst into a barrier, cutting them off from Hellhound. The impact left me slightly winded, Nenya's power draining away temporarily to power the barrier, but I shook it off and turned towards the hostages.

"Get to cover," I ordered them. "Be careful, and don't get involved."

A growling and a thudding alerted me to a charging dog. I turned and threw up another barrier to halt its assault on me. It mashed into the air before me and I exhaled sharply at the impact. These things hit like trucks.

In a cacophony of breaking glass the windows burst inward, and there were the others. Almost at the same time, a section of the roof caved in and a girl in a cape and tiara burst down into the lobby—Glory Girl.

Clockblocker—in Aegis' suit—rushed towards Hellhound. Aegis—in Clockblocker's—dove headfirst into the growing darkness containing Grue, Shadow Stalker, and Tattletale. Browbeat followed them in, but stayed near the outer door. Glory Girl moved to intercept the dog that was neither gnawing on my barrier nor carried Hellhound.

The darkness was still growing, still spreading outward. Sophia's body flew out, rolling in my direction. Tattletale followed after her, oily darkness trailing behind, pistol trained on the prone form.

I held up a hand. "You don't want to do that," I advised her.

The girl in purple laughed harshly. "No," she agreed. "I really don't. Trainwreck!"

A cape seemingly composed entirely of scrap-metal burst through the lobby wall. Plaster and tiling from the bathroom on the other side flew everywhere in an explosion of dust and debris. I hadn't heard of him before, but this must be Trainwreck. My eyes, enhanced by Nenya, sharpened to see into the cloud. Behind the armored villain was a woman in a jester's colorful outfit in red and purple. Another villain I didn't recognize.

Nenya was not the Ring I wanted to be wearing right now. The Ring of Protection was perfect for avoiding or stopping fights; it was less ideal for actually engaging in them. That didn't make it useless, however.

I charged, the Ring of Adamant lending wings to my steps. I crossed the room in a fraction of a second and struck Trainwreck like, well, a speeding train. I impacted him with a rugby check, my shoulder embedding itself in his armored chest, the mithril smacking into the rusted iron with a blunted clang. He staggered backwards and almost fell before his feet found purchase. He reached for me then, but I rolled out of his grip and struck at the clown cape with a punch.

She blocked it with—where the hell had she gotten a car door?

She winked at me through the window and then the door was gone, replaced by a sledgehammer, which struck me in the side like a ton of bricks. I fell sideways, away from the both of them and into Grue's darkness.

I heard little, saw less. I picked myself up, glancing around uselessly in the dark mists. Where was Grue? He hadn't jumped on me yet, but that didn't mean much.

I'd been rolling as I fell into the darkness, and no longer knew which way led out. With a sigh, I picked a direction, hoping it would lead me back into the fray. Allowing Nenya to enhance my speed, I turned about ninety degrees and ran.

I came out of the darkness going pretty fast. The first thing I saw? The head of a sledgehammer, streamers dangling behind it, accelerating towards my face.

It hit me in the center of my brow, and my helmet rang like a gong, my head rattling. I slipped and fell, my lower body still sliding forward under my inertia so that I slipped under the clown girl's arms like child playing limbo.

I fell on my back between the clown and Carlos, the back of my helmet striking the ground hard. Then the pain came. It was the worst headache I'd ever had and then some. A thick fog was descending over the world, clogging my sight and my thoughts alike.

I'm pretty sure I swore. I'm pretty sure I swore in at least three languages, actually, none of which were English. Which was probably fortunate, since I think some of what I said would have made Dad's most hardened dockworker blush.

I rolled onto my stomach, my mouth still running in a mixture of Sindarin, Quenya, and Khuzdul, and pushed myself up, trying in vain to blink the stars out of my eyes.

As I got to my knees, the world flared with red light. Even as I leaned back from the rush of light and heat, the fire twisted away from me and blew into Carlos' face.

As fast as it arrived, the torch was gone from the clown girl's hand and one of her legs was coming up. Suddenly there was a heavy combat boot on her foot. It rushed towards my face, and I was sent sprawling back again.

I think that was the first time I cursed in Valarin. The word itself was unprintable, and not just because Valarin, as a language, looks and sounds like what you might get if French and Arabic had sex with the Cyrillic alphabet in a bizarre orgy, with Cantonese getting in on the action about halfway through.

I leapt to my feet, trying to ignore the hazy film descending over my eyes. I was definitely concussed, but was finding it hard to worry about it. Probably because of the aforementioned concussion. What was important, at the moment, was the fucking clown who had hit me with a sledgehammer twice and then literally kicked me in the teeth.

I charged her. She fell back and again with the fucking car door.

Nenya flowed into me like water. I slipped around the shield faster than she could react and grabbed her by the back of the head. Then, before she could do more than blink, I brought her forehead into the door's window so hard that the glass cracked.

She went down.

"Who has a headache now?" I tried to say. It came out more like, "woosahdechnau."

"Are you okay, Annatar?" Carlos asked sharply. "Circus hit you pretty hard."

Circus. That was her name. A good name for a fucking battle-clown. But, seriously, a car door?

"Annatar?"

"Mfin."

"What?"

I ignored him and turned about, surveying the situation. Tattletale and Hellhound were nowhere to be seen. Grue was standing stock-still and alone on the outer edge of his own darkness as it began to dissipate. Trainwreck was running at me, deflecting punches by Glory Girl.

I charged at the armored tinker, meeting him halfway. I slipped inside his guard, flowing around his reaching arms like water, got a grip on his chestpiece, and lifted.

Even though I wasn't strong enough to hold him there, I could throw him. So I did. A moment later there was a loud crash as he slammed into the wall.

A shadow rushed past me, skirting around the edge of the cloud of darkness. I followed, putting the shadow cloud between me and Circus.

Then there was a giant dog in front of me, and I was knocked back on my butt. It had just dived into the shadow cloud. I blinked after it as I stood up, disoriented, and a moment later it dived back out, and this time Circus was in its mouth.

"Hey!" I shouted. "Notakinarpursnurs."

The dog didn't seem to care about my command and just loped away past me at a run. I ran after it, through the hole in the bank's wall it had come through. Had there been a hole there before it came in?

I didn't notice the dog had a long, lizardlike prehensile tail until it whipped around and struck me hard. I was thrown backwards by the impact against my stomach, tumbling several feet before coming to a halt.

By the time I could pick myself up, the hound was long gone.

"Annatar!" Carlos was beside me. "Are you all right?"

I took a deep breath and forced my mouth to obey. "Concussn," I said, slowly and as clearly as I could manage. "Circs got 'way."

"It's all right." Aegis' voice was firm. "We've got two captures, and that's not bad at all. The Undersiders have lost two members, and we've got Trainwreck. That's a good mission. Come on; let's get you out of here."

He took my arm and led me back inside. I followed, stumbling slightly. Grue's cloud of shadows still rested, slowly fading, in a space near the center of the room, close to the door. The villain was still frozen, Sophia standing beside him. A tranquilizer dart was in her hand, ready to dose him the moment he unfroze.

Vista and Kid win had come in from outside—I figured they must have been outside to deal with any who tried to escape. I didn't see anything of Tattletale, Hellhound, or Circus. Regent was leaning by a pillar, still out cold. Trainwreck, too, was sitting unconscious against a wall.

Dennis, in Aegis' costume, was talking to a few PRT troopers near the door. The hostages huddled in a corner, with another trio of PRT troopers debriefing them.

All except one, a mousy-haired girl in jeans and a hoodie, who was sitting in a chair and seemed to be staving off questions by Glory Girl.

Panacea, I realized.

"Cn shfix mahed?" I asked Carlos.

He shook his head. "Panacea can't do brains," he said. "Besides, Piggot wants us back at base ASAP. Getting healed in the field is apparently worse for PR then getting healed the moment Panacea gets to HQ. Don't worry, she'll be following us there."

"Ah cnt debrf likthes. Wun be eblta tak."

I tipped over. Carlos caught me and held me up. "Easy there," he said. "Come on, let's get you to a van."

He led me outside and into the parking lot. There were a few PRT vans present, parked in a ring around the bank. There were also a few flashing lights every so often from cameras. Each one set me reeling slightly, the light lancing into my concussed brain like fire.

"Annatar!" one PRT trooper came up to me. "Your spear is still in my van."

"Sosmbox," I said.

"What?"

"Box."

"Let's get her to your van," Carlos said to the trooper, and the two of them, each to one side of me, led me toward the guy's van.

When I was in the back, i scrabbled around in my backpack until I found the mithril box I'd left. "Edrdlnc," I mumbled at it.

The Jewelry Box didn't open.

"Edrodlenc."

Nothing.

"Fuck."

"Annatar?"

I glanced back at Carlos. Right; I was supposed to be keeping my Rings secret anyway. Probably for the best that I hadn't managed to get at Vilya, even if it would clear my head.

"'Sfin," I told him. "We goin' bakka headqurts?"

"Soon," he promised. Then, to the PRT trooper, "Don't let her fall asleep. I'll get a Ward to relieve you in a moment. Call a medic immediately if she worsens."

"All right, Clockblocker," said the driver evenly. "But shouldn't Aegis be in command?"

"Consider this to have his authority. Ask him if you want."

"Edro a adlunk." I almost managed the command phrase.

Carlos glanced back at me, then at the trooper. "Another Ward or two will be with you shortly. Don't leave until at least one of us is there to keep Annatar awake."

"Iwonslepp," I promised, but Carlos was already gone. I shrugged and returned to my attempts to get at Vilya.