Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Columbia Pictures and to the writers and producers and whoever else I may have forgotten to mention. The only things I claim to own are my own characters and the plot of this story.

Author's Note: Please note that this chapter has depictions of violence and some language. May be sensitive for some viewers.


Finish her.

The words echoed through Concussion's mind as he advanced on Allie. With every step he took toward her, she inched farther back into the cell. She was shaking, though from fear or the antidote he couldn't tell. He paused for a moment, wondering why he'd even bothered to save her.

He finally stopped when he was even with the bars of the cell. Allie went to take another step, but instead, the heel of her foot thumped against the cinder block wall. Her eyes went wider than he'd ever seen before. "What are you doing? This isn't you." Though her voice had started out trembling, it grew stronger with every word she spoke.

"You used me," he finally responded, letting all the anger he'd kept inside tumble out. "From the moment you stepped foot on that damn bus, you used me. To keep your own precious Ag Society safe. It's a stupid club anyway. No one will remember it when I raze the place."

Allie shook her head. "I never used you. At least not like she is."

"No!" he shouted, cutting her off. "Charm freed me! From you. From the Zenith Team. From everybody that has tried to hold me back since I arrived home!"

"Is it really freedom? She just wants someone to do the dirty work she can't do herself. As soon as she finds the next big Super, she won't keep you around anymore. Why do you think she didn't protect her team?" Allie was slowly edging to her right.

She was going to make a run for it. It wouldn't work. His power buddled just under his fingertips, itching to be released. So he did.

The concussive blast shattered the air between Concussion and Allie. It should have killed her. He smiled in satisfaction until he saw a black figure slip through the dust in the air and disappear. Darting forward, Concussion realized that she must have jumped out of the way of the main shockwave at the last moment. The old cinderblocks had merely crumbled under his power, leaving a new hole into the dark hallway beyond. But he wouldn't let her escape. He stepped over the rubble, bits and pieces still raining down to cover the shoulders of his training suit.

The hallway was dark, illuminated only by the occasional flash of lightning from the raging storm outside. The area backing up to the cell block was a narrow hallway. It must have led to more offices, or classrooms, or interrogation rooms. It didn't matter now. Each corner he rounded only revealed more darkness than before, but all the doors he'd tried had been locked. This was the only way his opponent could have gone.

Suddenly, footsteps echoed down the hallway in front of him. He matched their frantic pace with his own, not wanting to lose his enemy in the maze-like building. A flash of lightning illuminated a figure running a few feet ahead. But in the next flash she was gone, and the building fell silent again except for the thunder that seemed to rumble more in his head than outside.

Concussion hesitated. There was no way she could have disappeared that fast. Anger coursed through him again, but he forced himself to slow his steps and focus. He'd never had mindsight like his brother, but he was certain he could find Allie in the inky darkness that surrounded him. He held his breath.

But in the silence, there was nothing. No ragged breathing, no denim catching on rusty desks as it slipped by, no soft squelching of boots in the muck. It was like she had disappeared into thin air.

Concussion stalked forward. How could this powerless girl slip his detection so easily? The dim light his communicator provided wasn't enough to illuminate the hallway ahead of him. There were a few darker spots, which the occasional lightning strike revealed to be open doors branching off, but they were far apart and nowhere near where he heard Allie's footsteps stop. He passed the first door and suddenly heard something skitter down the hallway in front of him. He smirked. She couldn't hide from him for long.

It took a moment before he registered that the sound had stopped, and it wasn't footsteps at all. He was already passing the second door off to his right and still moving at a decent pace.

He wasn't prepared for the foot that met his chest suddenly. The force of the hit knocked him off his feet, and he felt backwards onto the moss-covered floor. There was a sharp release of breath to his right, through the door he'd just passed. Immediately, he was back on his feet. Beyond the door, he saw a shadow move into what he recognized as a defensive position.

"Connor, I don't want to hurt you," came Allie's soft voice. The way the crumbling walls distorted the sentence made her sound much smaller than she was.

"You hurt me?" he laughed as he stepped into the room. It was larger than he'd expected it to be, maybe some sort of processing area. "Don't think that's going to happen."

His opponent stiffened for a shadow of a second, and he almost thought he'd imagined it. Before she could respond, he was already moving and sent a short blast her direction. Allie avoided it by dodging to the left and vaulting over a sill upright table. Anticipating the move, he whirled and kicked the table, sure the move would knock her off her feet.

She didn't fall. The table hadn't even hit her, she'd avoided it. Before he realized it, she was close enough to land a hit, a fist to his left shoulder. When he blindly swung to retaliate, he felt something connect with his right knee. It buckled from the force of her kick. She didn't turn fast enough to avoid his own fist connecting with her side, which, coupled with a blast, sent her flying a few feet back.

It took a moment for both fighters to get back to their feet, but as he stood, Concussion realized his opponent wasn't even breathing heavily. She's also slipped back into her earlier defensive stance. As he glared at her, the red tinge that had at first started on the edge of his vision was creeping in ever closer.

At the far end of the room flickered a lone fluorescent light. Whatever powered the rest of the building must have connected with this light as well. The dim light silhouetted Allie as she dropped her stance and reached behind her head. Concussion watched as she gathered her hair up and pulled the tangled mess into a ponytail, all without taking her own gaze from his. "Hope you don't mind if I put this up," she said quietly. "I don't like to fight with it lose. Tends to get in the way."

He sneered. "Doesn't make you a better fighter."

His anger propelled him forward. She must have anticipated the move, though, because she easily sidestepped his body. But she hadn't anticipated his outstretched arm. The move essentially clotheslined her, knocking her back into the light and sending sparks flying. He heard her hit the floor and skid through across the debris covered floor with a grunt. His boots crunched over shattered glass from the light, using the dying sparks of light to pinpoint his opponent's location.

One moment she was on the floor, and the next he was hearing her own boots crunch through the same glass toward him. Something sliced through the air beside him and he struck out, hoping to make contact. Instead, he rammed his fist into hard concrete. His hand throbbed, probably broken. He stumbled back, not realizing how close he'd gotten to the wall. Silently cursing himself, he turned to blast in what he thought was the opposite direction, only to be met with a shower of sparks as the sputtering light was hit in his direction.

He almost avoided it, but the sharp metal of the housing caught his shoulder. It ripped through his shirt, cutting deep. Concussion clamped his injured hand over the cut. Hissing in pain, he listened as Allie's footsteps faded on into the hallway.

Much more slowly, he exited the room. She'd headed back the way they came, back toward the main cellblock. The door leaving the other side was blocked from the earlier fight, so she would be trapped. Charm would make sure her cousin didn't make it out before he got there. She'd been such a help in opening his eyes that she'd probably want to see how it all ended anyway.

He took his time, knowing there was nowhere for Allie to go. But as he approached the cell block, he could hear shouting instead of fighting.

"-Even though you're fucking powerless! Grandpa always gave you everything!" Charm was screaming. "The coolest toys, private science lessons in his lab, the best martial arts teachers. What did I get? Nothing!"

A gunshot echoed through the facility, pinging off metal and concrete. "You were the runt!" Charm continued her tirade. "I was the first one with a power, a strong but subtle one. I got mine before your brother got his. I should have been Grandpa's protégé, but no, he gave that position to some fuckin' powerless bitch!"

Another gunshot shattered a cinder block a few feet behind Concussion. He paused just shy of the door, curious as to what Allie's response would be. Obviously, she was spoiled by Dr. Ellis, while Charm was ignored.

"You have terrible aim, Dahlia. The Commander would have loved to have you stay, you know that?" Allie was much calmer when she spoke. "But I guess Grandpa saw something in you that he didn't trust even before your parents pulled you from training."

"He saw how strong I was, and he was afraid! That's why he related more to you- no powers. You're the only one of the grandkids that doesn't have any, Allie. Just a small, sad mortal," Charm mocked.

Satisfied that he finally understood why Charm hated Allie so much, and finding it justified, Concussion entered the cell block. Charm was standing on a table in the middle of the room. In one hand, she held the particle accelerator and in the other, she pointed a gun at the only other conscious figure. Allie had her back to him. It was a perfect time to strike.

Charm's eyes widened as her gaze found Concussion. At the same moment, he lunged forward. Allie started to sidestep, but he reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist, dragging her with him as his momentum carried them forward. He'd prepared for the roll. She hadn't. As they made contact with the floor, he pushed her away and followed through with a concussive blast that made the windows above rattle.

Allie rolled across the floor, smashing into a pile of chairs. She laid there for a moment, completely still. But from what he'd seen earlier, he knew that, somehow, she would get up. And he was right. His opponent pulled herself up on one of the chairs until she was standing.

Concussion sent another blast in her direction before she was all the way up. He'd figured she would be too worn down to avoid it. Instead, she used the chair as a step, vaulting over the blast and using her momentum to kick a broken piece of concrete at him when she landed. A gunshot cracked through the room at the same time he blasted the concrete to bits, making his ears ring. Charm screamed as she realized her shot hadn't hit her target.

"Oh, come on, Dahlia. You should be a better shot than that!" Allie called teasingly as she slipped behind an overturned table near where the Zenith team lay unconscious.

Her laughing tone made Concussion furious. She was treating this as a game! He watched her slide across the floor to another table, using it as a shield against the gunfire. The fury built until he couldn't hold it in anymore. Allie's head appeared over a different table, her smirk quickly disappearing as a massive concussive wave slammed into the table.

Anything in the path went flying. Concussion heard the metal table slam into his opponent with a satisfying thud, then scraping across the floor with a metallic squeal.

And then it stopped. It hadn't hit the wall or any concrete debris. It just froze mid-slide. From the other side came a strained grunt and then the table inched back the way it came. This time, Allie wasn't so cheery as she stood up. A line of red dripped off her eyebrow from a new cut on her forehead, giving the illusion that she was wearing war paint. Her lip was cracked, and a red spot was already swelling on her left cheek. It wouldn't be too long before an ugly bruise marred her fair face.

She spit off to the side but didn't bother to wipe the blood away. Instead, she cast a glance at Charm. "I don't go down that easy," she said.

Charm screamed in frustration. Concussion lunged forward, heart pounding behind his eyes. His right fist made contact with Allie a moment before her own fist slammed into his right ear. The pounding grew fiercer as his ear rang.

As he dodged away from his opponent, he sent a concussive blast at her feet. She stumbled but stayed upright. A wild punch to her knees. She fell, cursing in pain. Concussion turned his head to find Charm, but something tangled in his shaggy hair and yanked him backwards. He twisted in the grip, coming face to face with Allie as she tucked her good knee and slammed it into his stomach at the same moment she released his hair.

He fell back into a table. It should have hurt, but through his anger, he felt little pain. It burned brightly in his veins. And it felt good. But he was ready to end this fight and move on to greater things. Like Area 52, where they punished power. Or the rest of the Zenith Team, who had fought so hard to keep his power in check. None of them realized his true potential. Only Charm had.

Turning, he gripped the table and picked it up. He swung it around, enjoying the sudden terror in Allie's eyes when she realized what he was doing. She had no time to brace from the sideways impact as the metal connected with a satisfying thump! The momentum from the swing threw her into the same cell they'd started in, landing hard on the concrete floor. There, she lay still and quiet.

As Concussion stood there, shoulders heaving from exertion, a cold hand touched his shoulder. Charm stood next to him. Her once perfect curls hung in a tangled, dirty mess. Makeup smeared across her face, making her eyes look all too wild above her wide red smile.

"This is it, Concussion. Do you know how long I've waited to be rid of her?" Charm said, her voice growing more hysterical as she spoke. "Bring her out. I want to watch."

He could feel the emotions rolling off her. Excitement, anger, frustration, and perhaps a hint of fear. Eager to obey, he stepped forward until he was in the cell. To his surprise, Allie was still breathing. The cut on her forehead was wider now. Blood trickled from it over her swollen left eye and matted in her hair. Her breaths were gasping, but when she caught sight of Concussion, she still tried to sit up.

He knelt down beside her, enjoying her struggle. "Let's see how this feels for you," he said after a moment, gripping her long hair in his hand and using it to drag her out of the cell. But still she didn't scream. Perhaps she couldn't.

Charm jumped up and down with giddiness as she watched Concussion drag her cousin closer. "There, that's far enough," she finally said when he was close. Charm laughed after she said that. Her laughter echoed through Concussion's pounding head as he released Allie. He walked a few feet closer to Charm, and when he turned back, she'd managed to sit up on her elbow. Her endurance impressed him.

The storm outside was settling, disappearing into a waking sunrise. Sometime during the last bit of fighting, the lights had gone out. Even through the red tint covering the scene in front of him, he could see a pale light creeping down the western wall until half the room was light and the other half was shadow.

There was a strange tension in the air. It broke when Charm finally spoke.

"End her."

It was the command he'd been waiting for. He stepped toward where Allie half-lay on the floor. Even as she faced her own death, she didn't cry or wail or beg. Instead, as he reached down to place a hard hand around her throat, she uttered softly. "Connor, you're better than this."

A single tear slipped out of her good eye, sliding down to mix with the blood crusting over her pale face. And there, in the back of his mind, the little voice Concussion had been ignoring grew stronger. Or rather, voices.

There was Jack, messing up his hair in the morning before putting a plate of pancakes on the table. And Cindy, beaming at him as she bounced up and down on the bus seat in the morning. Marsha, as she proudly handed him his placement test score and told him he was going to school. Dylan grinning ear to ear covered in muck, but still as cheerful as always. The memories came faster and faster, voices reminding Connor of who he was.

And this? The vengeful, gamma-filled monster? This wasn't him. Not anymore.

With a sudden shudder, Connor pulled back from Allie. She gazed up at him, her good eye filled with hope. He'd almost killed her. The first person outside of the base that had called him a friend. And despite everything he'd done to her over the past few days, she still said he was better than this. The red tint, now at the edges of his vision, pulsed as the golden light from the sunrise filled the room. The Gamma was fighting for control, but he wouldn't let the monster take over again. He'd almost killed his team, the people who believed in him most. His heart pounded as his chest constricted. Pain throbbed up from his right hand and left shoulder. For the first time, he could feel the aches in his body from the fight.

He turned to face Dahlia. She still held the accelerator, waiting eagerly to see the fight finished. Her wide grin slowly turned to a thin line as the realization crossed her face. Connor took a step toward her. "How did you break it?" the villain was suddenly shouting. "How did you break my charm?!"

Her wild eyes flitted behind him, where he knew Allie would be trying to stand up, then back to Connor. "That bitch!" she screamed. "She ruins everything! But since you won't kill her, maybe an extra dose of Gamma will finally solve the problem."

Dahlia hefted the accelerator on her hip and aimed it at Connor. He took another step toward her. This was one fight he wouldn't back down from again. Connor was back to stay, and Gamma Concussion could stay in the other dimension forever.

Connor raised his hands as Dahlia pressed a finger to the trigger. The particle accelerator began to buzz even as Connor sent out as large a blast as he could manage. His wounds and sheer exhaustion prevented him from making it big enough to do anything more than knock Dahlia off the table. He hoped it would be enough to stop her from firing.

Suddenly, the entire room was filled with buzzing and a bright blue light. Hot air blasted over his face, bringing with it bits of concrete and dirt and rubble. The explosion slid him backwards, but somehow, he remained standing. Distantly, he heard a scream. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! Then his ears were ringing, and he couldn't tell where the voice came from.

The light faded. Dahlia was no longer on the table above him. He finally found her slumped against the far wall, unconscious. The particle accelerator was a mangled mess of metal sitting in the center of a crater where Dahlia had been only moments before. The core still held a faint blue blow through the mashed lump of lead that had been the containment module. And still the air buzzed with energy.

Connor stepped backward; legs suddenly unable to keep him standing. He faintly heard a grunt from behind him. Two arms caught him as he fell, but under his weight, his savior collapsed too. Now there were other voices and something shrill was screaming ever closer. Footsteps pounded across the room.

"He's radioactive, come on!" The soft warmth of the body under him was pulled away. For a brief moment, Connor could make out the swimming face of Dylan pulled a battered Allie away before everything around him went dark.


Author's Note: Here it is! Hot off the presses! This chapter has been hanging around on my hard drive since probably late April. A lot has happened in the in between though that have prevented me from finishing this chapter until now.

Now, the main villain has been revealed, the big fight has happened, and, as always, good prevails over evil. We've still got a few loose ends to wrap up in the next chapter and then this 8-year journey for Hero will be over. I hope to have this last chapter out within the next month or so, so please keep an eye out for that!

As always, feel free to message me or leave a review if you have any thoughts/ideas/concerns/etc. I love reading comments and they really give me encouragement to continue writing. Also, thanks again to everyone who has reviewed and followed! Every email that I get saying the story has a new follower or review or favorite motivates me to finish another chapter! ~NightRider