Dust Devil did his best not to puke his guts up as he handed her the extinguisher. A combination of nerves, stress from using too many instant runs, and the lingering smell trapped in his mask from the basement fueled the nauseated churn in his gut. The sudden influx of smoke in his lungs didn't help either.

"Shadow Stalker, two words: The Hell?! Seriously, this lone wolf shit ain't gonna fly. You're - we're a pack, we work together. There ain't anyone else in this but us!"

She ignored him, instead she fought the growing flames with long bursts of the powdery flame retardant. He resisted the urge to try to help with speed augmented hand movements not wanting to literally fan the flames.

In the background he made out the noise of water running. His chest seized for a long second as he found himself standing in the bathroom connected to the flaming office. He turned the knob for the sink and water ran freely into the sink.

"Think, think pendejo, how the hell am I getting this over there?"

He looked at the rusty towel rack bar hanging off the wall, and it dawned on him that water pipes also run through the building's walls. A plan formed as he took a second to call out, "Shadow, get away from the wall!"

"Clear!", she responded.

Dust Devil tore the metal bar free and used it to rapidly tear through old boards and sheetrock exposing the pipes. Another gut churning diffusion and he faced the wall the fire was growing against and jackhammered away at the wall carving a rough hole the flames licked through.

"They're coming up the stairs!"

The towel rack bar was a mangled mess in his hands, he adjusted his grip holding it like a set of brass knuckles, and eyed the water pipes.

"Buy me a couple seconds, Dulcinea. This is gonna hurt", his request garnered a loud growl from his partner.

He drew his fist back, hesitated a second, unsure what the impact of super fast punches was going to do to his hand let alone his arm, shoulder and spine of the metal striking pipe.

It was all sparks and then a spray of cold as the pipe breached, he diffused and the water passed through him hitting the wall and the hole. The sizzle of slow dying fire gave way to the swears and pained grunts of Shadow Stalker dealing with the gang's soldiers.

Ray stepped out of the bathroom and witnessed Shadow Stalker choking out one ginger mustached racist, two more were spasming near her in pain on the floor, and he saw the blonde scarred woman struggling to stand with a tranq dart sticking out of her thigh, her body blocking the small stairwell behind her.

"Miss me?" Like a switch flipped in his head, he wore a hidden smile on his face.

"Knock her ass out, Devil!"

A quick flip of an actual switch under his mask and Dust Devil charged the stairs. Hands of the other white supremacists were holding up the woman, desperate to push her out of the way. He decided to speed things along and kick the woman in the chest pushing her and the small mob behind her back down a floor.

Suddenly his nausea faded.

"Thank Christ, I hate vomiting", he swore to himself.

Shadow Stalker materialised next to him, she loaded a shiny metal bolt into her crossbow and drew out a second, this one much more compact and resembling a pistol.

"That one don't start fires, right?"

Wordless, she pushed passed with a shoulder check and he watched her shift into shadow as she flowed down the stairs. His shoulders sagged as he heard new cries of pain down below accompanied by the torrent of water still spraying from the wall behind him.

~~x

Several large trucks pulled away from the building, most held men, women, kids younger than Sophia, the hostages he'd discovered in the basement. A PRT transportation van had arrived for Cricket, the noisy blonde with the scars and sonic nausea thing.

A PRT medic held a bloody crossbow bolt in their hand, then passed it to Officer Innocenti.

"Cricket? Ain't a very tough sounding name, Noemi."

Noemi held it out to Dust Devil who shook their head and shrugged. She bagged it in an evidence zipper bag, "That's Officer Innocenti while I'm on duty, Hornhead. As well, Cricket there is an ex pit, cage, whatever fighter. She knows how to really make you bleed and get the crowd on her side. So - she's pretty dangerous, but luckily for you she was burnt out from inducting a large number of new soldiers for the Chosen."

"Any idea how the fire upstairs started, Officer Innocenti?"

"No idea, and the way the city is constantly busy and falling apart, fire marshal is a no go regarding an investigation. I image they might have been trying to cover up evidence of the human trafficking, some kinda paper trail maybe."

Ray eyed the evidence bag, "Hey, uhh, Officer Noemi, on second thought that little flechette is a part of my gear and was very useful. I'd appreciate having it back - as uhh, trophy of my second big fight."

"I would buuuuut it's already in an evidence bag", she made a show of pulling out a pen and writing information on the white label.

"Ya win some, you lose some."

Officer Innocenti removed her helmet and shook her head, "Hey, I'm sorry I got weird with the whole paperwork thing about your age."

Behind his mask his eyes widened, "Oh, no no, I - get that whole deal, no worries."

"Really? Most guys would be pissed or insulted."

"I can't say I'm not sensitive but uhh, they train us heroes to be tough all over. Just happy you still answer when I call."

She bumped his chest with her helmet, "I just happened to come back in from medical leave. Don't read into it."

"Uh huh, I can hear your brain counting down the months."

"Don't push your luck, I can only be so grateful for that save, Dogboy."

Ray shrugged, "So how - are the people going to be okay, it was super messed up down there?"

Noemi nodded and slipped on her helmet, "They're going to a trauma center for some counseling then after medical clears them they'll be released to their families. You spooked the hell out of them with those eyes."

"Thank the ABC package crew for putting this together. I just use it. But it's about time I'm heading out, Officer."

Ray turned to start his final burst of speed for the night.

"Hey, Dust Devil, you dropped this."

He caught the plastic baggie out of the air, "Aww, ya shouldn't have. It is evidence."

"Just keep saving the day, Hero", she saluted Dust Devil before he shifted to his breaker form and disappeared.

~~x

Ray pulled his mask off on the elevator ride to the barracks floor. Despite being a member of The Protectorate, he rarely if ever interacted with the local team. Tonight was no exception, he had patrolled 'alone' while Assault and Battery we're on assignment, Miss Militia was busy after Armsmaster went away, and Velocity had died. Everyone else was on the converted oil rig that sat in the city bay.

It was far too late to get yelled at by Piggot for patrolling with Sophia, so he slunk to the bathroom and stripped out of his new costume. Smoke, water, drywall, rust, and his own blood stained it, a testament to the things panic and mayhem would push someone to do. The hot water on his shoulders and back was practically a gift in the way his muscles slowly unknotted. He skipped the soaps and just ended the shower early to pay himself dry and turn the towel into a grimy kilt.

He'd hit the hospital in the morning after a proper shower then see if he can refresh his gear. Ray entered the barracks, still it's lone occupant, and sat on the edge of his bunk and looked the baggie over. On the label it had Ray's birthday and month with the current year listed. Below that was a phone number.

Carefully he let the bolt cut itself free of the baggie, he rolled the plastic up, and shuffled over to his pile of personal possessions on the floor, tucking it into his toiletry kit. With bolt in hand he turned back to bed only to find Shadow Stalker in her breaker form still phasing through the door.

"Got your bolt!" Ray held the bloody metal dart up but Sophia caught his wrist that held it. She reeked of smoke and sweat, her brown eyes shifted looking from each of Ray's eyes as her grip tightened.

"Who is she?" she growled.

"Who is who?"

She released his wrist and pulled her mask off, dark smudges of paint encircled each eye and sweat from the fire had made it turn into blackened streaks that ran down her face.

"Oh, Dulcinea is from Don Quixote. Since he thinks he'd make himself out to be the perfect, chivalrous knight, then any good knight would have a lady who curried her favor. Dulcinea is the perfect woman."

Ray smiled and stepped closer to Sophia, whose face read a mix of emotion, lips quirked in a half snarl of vulnerable anger.

"The perfect woman… for him."

She reached up to his face with both hands and held his head, thumbs pinning his smile in place, "Don't you ever call me that in front of anyone, and burn that fucking bag."

Ray stuck his tongue between his lips, her hands recoiled from the sudden sensation "Cuz it's evidence?"

Sophia unclasped her cape and gave her backside to Ray, the laces of her armored corset now exposed, "Trophies are for sentimental idiots, anyway. So yeah, destroy it."

With a shrug he dropped his towel and started undoing the laces, "You have no clue what I give up for you."

She dematerialised and her corset dropped to the floor. Her shadow form rotated in place, the outline of her skeleton was a fraction of a second faster than the rest of her body as she solidified and faced him, "It doesn't matter, Ray. Like you said, we're predators but we're not alone."

Sophia's eyes roved over the scarred features of his face. He didn't dare blink or turn his head away from the scrutiny, no this wasn't a challenge either. She brought her face close to his and kissed him hard. Their first, which she broke but kept her face close to his own.

"We're a pack now, and the pack is all that matters."

~~x