Wow, I am on fire with this story. I think it's because I'm so interested in it right now, got some really good ideas that I want to get written down before I forget them. Or maybe it's because this all flows together so well. Point is, you guys get yet another chapter to read. And depending on where you live, a Christmas present from me.

(Not in a literal sense. I mean this chapter as a present. Not rich enough to give everyone a real present.)

Now, some people said some interesting things for the last chapter. Thanks to everyone for that. Now, first off is the amount of powers he can have at once. I agree with people who think that he technically doesn't have an upper limit on how many he can hold at once. But I also think that would be ludicrous to have him using every power he has all at the same time. Since Worm likes the use of threes, I think I will too. Alex will only use three powers at once, mainly because they could… I dunno, cross streams or something like that. Maybe they don't mesh well with a hive mind. It'll definitely be that he doesn't want to put all his powers into one body, just in case someone completely destroys it. Have to think some more about that.

One guest said that Alex could theoretically convert anything into biomass. Now, that sounds awesome, but I'm going to have to nix that. I'm going to stick with the idea that anything organic based can be converted into biomass. It makes a bit more sense to me that way. Yes, he could eat metal. But would you really expect him to turn metal into biomass? Great idea though.

Cauldron supplied powers will be even easier for Alex to take, since he doesn't need a Trigger Event to lock them in. They'd probably latch onto his brain quickly and easily, instead of fighting to break free.

Thank you jrbless for the numbers. That's going to be really useful later on. You'll have to wait and see why, but it will be worth it. BSDude, thank you for pointing out the Striker power. I completely forgot about that.

Ok then. Let's get into the story itself.


Chapter 4: Step 4 – Steal Someone's Power… Without Asking First

Being asked to arrive at a specific time only to end up waiting is a big pet peeve of mine.

Being left sitting with an incredibly violent kid is another.

Yet here I was, sitting outside the principal's office with my dad, Alex Ragland sitting next to me, as we waited for over thirty minutes for the teachers to get prepared.

Coming back home from the meeting, only to find out that my dad and I had been asked to attend a meeting about Alex, had been a pretty nasty shock. I mean, why did they even want me there? Was it because I was the only other person still standing after the fighting (if you could even call it that)? Was it because Alex acted like a dark knight saving a damsel in distress? Or did someone finally notice that they had all been bullying me, and the fight just made it too public to avoid any longer?

I didn't know. And I didn't like it.

As soon as they asked, I had told them that Sophia, Emma, and Madison were the ringleaders of the group. They couldn't fit all the girls he had smashed into the same room, so they simply decided to select the most important ones instead. Madison and Emma were already waiting, Emma's dad talking to Madison's parents. I think he was trying to placate them, ease their fears. But I noticed them glancing in our direction, fear evident in their eyes.

Dad coughed loudly. "So, Dana." He said, trying to ease the tension in our little area. "I take it your brother isn't joining us?"

She gave him a thin smile. "Alex has even worse anger problems than Ragland, if that's actually possible. I made him stay home because if he was here, we'd have to have him restrained." She sighed. "I love the guy, but he's way too quick to beat the living shit out of anything he sees as a problem."

Dad nodded, understanding. "Not exactly helpful in this situation."

"No. It isn't." She looked up at the clock before rolling her eyes again. Alexander's leg was shaking. I get the feeling that he doesn't like being kept waiting for anything. She turned to look at me. "Don't worry, Taylor. Those bitches aren't going to get away with this."

I gave her a wary look in return. "Did… Do you have any idea what they have done?" I asked.

"Kinda. I know about the… the locker incident." She shook her head. "That was beyond fucking insane." She was about to say more, but Sophia had finally shown up. With someone who clearly wasn't her mother. White skin, blond hair, blue eyes. A guardian maybe? A councilor or something?

Whatever. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I won't have to deal with any of them anymore.

The lot of us – me, dad, Dana, Alexander, Emma and her dad, Madison and her parents, and Sophia and her guardian – all followed the principal to the guidance counselor's offices. Insider one room was an oval table, shaped a lot like an egg. Dad and I sat at the tip of the egg; the teachers and the trio sat at the other end. Dana and Alex sat next to me, the boy glowering at the girls. They in turn wilted under his gaze. Except for Sophia. She seemed to be daring him to try again.

I was still feeling nervous. I had admitted to Dad that I missed some classes; I didn't want a repeat of what happened with Bitch, where we dropped the ball because I didn't say something. But I was still worried. Worried that this would go wrong. Worried that they'd get away with what they've done. And that all I did was piss them off.

"Thank you, everyone, for coming on such short notice." The principal said. "We are here to discuss the circumstances and the lead up to the events that resulted in Alexander Ragland attacking and injuring several of our students. Are also here because we've been lead to believe that a different incident with another student led to the fight breaking out. She had named Miss Emma Banes, Madison Clements, and Sophia Hess as the 'ringleaders' of these incidents." She looked down at her papers. "Miss Herbert, you are the initial victim?"

"That's me." I said.

"And the initial individuals accused of bullying are the three girls I just mentioned?"

"Yes."

"And the perpetrator of the frankly vicious attack… Alexander Ragland?"

"You call it an attack. I call it justice." He said. Dana placed a hand on his shoulder, and he took a deep breath.

"Very well then. Perhaps it might be best to gain an understanding of the events that happened. From the eye witnesses we've already talked to, it sounds as though Alexander walked up to the girls and started attacking them without provocation. Is this true?"

Emma, Madison, and Sophia all said yes, right as Alex said no. The teachers looked between them, as if almost puzzled. But I could see the smirk on Emma's face. She already felt like she won. And no wonder. She was a good student, part of a rich family, and beautiful. Alexander was a moody and violent new kid. I knew who they'd believe first.

Dana cleared her throat. "Alexander takes to recording conversations he believes are worth fighting over, due to incidents like this. Maybe it might help clear up matters if he plays them?" Recorder? No one mentioned a recorder before. The trio certainly were surprised by this. The principal nodded, and Alex pulled out an old recorder from his jacket. It looked like it had been well-used. He pressed play, and it started making a jumble of sounds before clearing up.

"I'm surprised that you actually showed your face, Taylor." Emma's voice came through perfectly. There was some chatter in the background, but it wasn't distracting or anything. How had he been close enough to record any of it? "Honestly, you could've crawled under a rock and died, and no one would even notice."

"Yeah." Madison said meanly. "Everyone would probably be happy that you're gone. Start up a public holiday. Ding dong, the loser is dead." I saw Madison and Emma glance at each other. They were worried. This was the perfect evidence. More voices joined in. I could remember each and every insult.

"She's probably been off whoring her body to get a boyfriend. Can't imagine any guy willing to pay to sleep with her." Another voice said. One of the girls that had joined in afterwards.

Another laughed. "Probably got lice and STDs everywhere. She's so disgusting."

"I know of a few boys who'd sleep with the garbage before going anywhere near her."

"What a waste of space. Why don't you eat some glass and drink some acid, do everyone a favour?"

"I don't know. I'd think she'd be better off dunking her head in acid. It'll make her better looking at least." Alex hit stop on it. The room was completely silent. But then he remembered something, and pressed play again. More insults started playing, and then there was the sound of flesh hitting flesh. In the playback, I grunted. And then you could hear something hitting the ground.

The moment when Sophia slapped me down.

"My god." Dad whispered. I felt guilty, for making him feel so much pain. But telling him at the time wouldn't have done any good. It would've just made him explode. And I didn't want to see that happen again. "Taylor, this is what you've been dealing with?"

I nodded, stomach churning. But a niggling thought came to mind. Those voices in the background… They were all wrong. They didn't sound like students walking through the halls after class. They sounded more like people walking through a mall. But then that would imply that Alex somehow perfectly recreated the insults in their voices, all on his own.

Then I remembered a Changer I knew of.

"…Inconclusive." Alan Banes said shakily. "That could've been faked." I saw Alex clenching his seat.

I could sympathise. I felt my blood boiling. Insects pressed against the edges of my mind.

"Alan, this isn't one of your court rooms." Dad said angrily. "This isn't a place where you can try and twist the situation with your words. We have hard evidence that those three have been tormenting my daughter." He crossed his arms. "And frankly, I'm disgusted that this had apparently been going on for so long."

"Excuse me, but I thought we were here to discuss his actions." Mr. Clements said, shooting a glare at Alexander. "Madison was sent to the hospital thanks to his attack. All her ribs on her left side were broken. She's been forced to wear a cast since then, and she's been in constant pain."

"We get that." Dana spoke. "But Alex attacked your daughter because she had been bullying someone else. He had a f… damn good reason for hurting her. He'll get some punishment for his vigilante justice. But I think that right now, we need to discuss these three." She glared at the trio. Madison looked away. Emma went pale – or maybe she was still pale. Only Sophia was glaring back. Always her.

The principal spoke now. "I'm afraid that I don't see any evidence that this is part of an ongoing incident. It sounds more as though this was a one-time event. Perhaps Miss Herbert could…"

"It has been ongoing." I interrupted her. With that evidence, with how damning it was? I wasn't going to let this slip me by. "It's been happening since last year." The trio were now glaring at me, as though daring me to continue. But they didn't scare me. I had seen a man eat someone alive. Compared to that, they weren't anywhere near as scary. "I even made a list of everything they had done."

And so I read them out. Every event that happened on September the eighth. Yes; I had a whole list for a single day. The principal tried to speak over me when I moved onto the next day. I ignored her and spoke louder. I got up to September the tenth before I was stopped.

By the sound of cracking wood.

Alex was gripping his arm rests so tightly that they were splintering under his hands. His teeth were bared, and he was shaking with rage. He was now partially out of his chair. The only thing I could see stopping him from jumping at the trio was Dana holding him down with both hands.

I knew it. It was him. Alexander Ragland was Blacklight.

I had the biggest monster (literally) in Brockton Bay sitting next to me.

"Alex." Dana said reproachfully. She leaned in and whispered something to him. He visibly forced himself to calm down, before sitting back down on the chair.

But not before turning to the trio and growling. "You sick fucks." He hissed angrily.

Alan was quaking slightly. Perhaps it was the accusations, and how damning they were. Or maybe it was that Blacklight had terrified him so much. "H-H-How many of these incidents can you actually prove happened? Are there witnesses, alibis even? This could simply be minor events blown out of proportion."

"Blown out of proportion!?" Great. Now Dad was shouting too. "Alan, are you even listening to yourself? Even if – if – Taylor is seeing more to these events that there is, even if one in ten of these events have been happening, this is still clearly a long campaign of severe abuse."

"Can we please get back on track?" Mr. Clements asked.

"We are on track." Dana said testily. "It's just that we've moved to the heart of the problem here. And I am disgusted that no one bothered to look into this. That in an entire school, no one had the balls to actually say something."

"Please, enough!" The principal shouted. That all got us to be quiet. She took a deep breath. "We could argue about this all day and not come to a proper conclusion. Perhaps it would be easier to just cut to the chase. What exactly would we all like to see happening to make sure everyone left satisfied?"

I turned to my dad, and we both nodded. He told me that whenever he was going to discuss things as spokesperson, he always entered with a clear goal in mind.

"Transfer me to Arcadia High." I said.

"See that this boy is expelled." Mr. Clements said around the same time.

Blacklight waited until we were finished speaking. "I want those three to be punished. Severely."

We all looked at each other. Their side was obviously confused by my choice.

"I'd have thought you'd want them expelled." The principal said. "Most would suggest that."

"No." I said firmly. "Expelling them is a reward. They'd get to go to Arcadia instead. And since they're not enrolled, they'd get past the waiting list to ensure they have an education. And in the meantime, they get to be on holiday. They'd get to come here and bully me even more."

"You think going to Arcadia is a reward." The principal said. I'm certain she was insulted.

"Yes. Arcadia's got standards. They don't have drugs, or gangs, or violence. They have a budget; they have a reputation to uphold. If I got bullied there, I could at least go to the faculty for help."

"And is that all you want?" Alan asked me.

I shook my head. "Alex's right. They need to be punished."

"Exactly." Dana said. "Alex and I would want to see them with an in-school suspension. No privileges. No going to the dance, no computers, no sport teams."

"But Sophia is our best runner in field and track." The principal argued.

"So you're admitting that you care more about sports than about being fair to all students?"

"That's not what I'm saying."

"Sounds like it to me."

"In-school suspension would cost resources we just don't have." Mr. Gladly said. "And it would also mean that they'd have to take remedial classes as well. I think that's a bit much."

"I agree." That was Sophia's guardian. "Track gives Sophia structure in her life. Taking it away from her would only see a decline in her behaviour."

"What behaviour?" Blacklight asked. "It's not like she can get any worse."

"Let's draw this to a close." The principal said quickly. "Now, given the evidence provided, I can tell that there has been some bullying going on. But your suggestion would cost resources we don't have; impact their education. It seems far too much for what's happened. I propose a two week suspension instead."

"No." I said firmly. "I already told you. That just means that they'd get to go on holiday and come back here to ruin my life again."

"And you believe that it is perfectly fine to ruin their education instead? As the saying goes, 'an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind'."

I saw Dana glancing at Blacklight. I could tell that his teeth are longer now. He was shaking violently.

How much longer can his self-control last before he started killing them?

I stood up instead. "Whatever. Fine. Reward them for making my life hell. Just send me to Arcadia instead."

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I don't have the clearance…"

"You can try." I was almost pleading now, on top of pushing my bugs away.

"I don't like making promises I can't keep." She replied. Classic double speak for 'no'.

Mr. Madison cleared his throat. "As for the boy?"

"Yes. Thank you." She seemed relieved to be talking about something else. "Now, I understand that he had a reason for his attack. But this school does not tolerate violence against anybody. If you felt that you had a good reason, you should've come up to a member of the faculty, and…"

"Fuck the faculty." He growled, standing up. "You bastards wouldn't have lifted a finger to help her. Fine then. Kick me out. Expel me already. I don't want shit to do with this school and its self-serving bureaucracy anyway." He booted his chair into the wall hard enough to crack it, before stomping out through the door. He slammed it hard enough that I could hear it break free of the hinges, falling the floor. Dana glared at all of them before she moved to follow him out.

That just left me, Dad, and them.

Well fuck it. If I wasn't going to get anything in compensation, then what's the point of staying? I got up and followed them out.


Dana found Alex in the carpark, pacing round and round while clenching his hands. She was glad that he didn't lose control, but he needed an outlet soon or he was going to butcher the next thing he came across. He sighted Bane's care – a pretty flash Mercedes – and stalked towards it. His right arm bulged outward, his skin turning as hard a stone. When he had reached it and lashed out, he had practically a hammer for a hand. The car crumpled under the blow, the ends bulging outwards as the middle flattened. He then walked around and booted it, sending the mess skidding across the carpark and hitting a low wall. It crumpled even more under the collision.

She walked towards him. "Feeling a bit better?" She asked him. He was still panting, his hand still huge. But he took a deep breath, and it returned to normal.

"Not really." He admitted. "Can't believe how fucking one-sided that was. Is that what being a hero gets you here? People willing to turn a blind eye to anything you do?"

"Sounds like it." She answered bitterly. She turned to see Taylor and Danny walking out. They were talking, she was nearly crying, and they didn't seem to notice either of them there. She clenched her hand in response. "So all that really did was make a whole pile of bullshit and let those bitches know that Taylor's willing to stand up for herself. Go team 'Get Fucked'."

Alex growled. "If I see Shadow Stalker, I am going to send her to the intensive care ward."

"Please do." She was interrupted by the sound of a ringing phone. Alex's. Guess Kaiser wanted Blacklight now. He turned away and answered it, while Taylor was walking away from her dad, also talking on a phone. So something big was happening tonight then.

She turned back to Alex as he hung up. "Kaiser wants me on the offensive tonight. He's got everyone into teams and attacking strongholds. We're to do whatever we can against any ABB we run into."

"I'll watch out for blood splatter in the morning." She replied. "While you're doing that, I'm gonna start writing up about this. Maybe if the public knew about this they might force the school to change their mind."

"I won't hold my breath." He said in response, already running a normal speed down the road. Only when he was away from the school did he pick up the pace.

She turned away, saw Danny approaching her. She gave him a tired smile. "Well… That sucked balls."

He sighed. "I know what you mean. They got everything they wanted and we got nothing. Can't believe this actually happened." He sat down on the curb. She sat down beside him. He was holding his head in his hands, rubbing at his eyes. "Honestly, I… I don't know what to do. I just feel so helpless. I feel like I'm a terrible parent."

"Don't say that. You're a great dad."

"Am I? My daughter has been getting bullied for over a year. The first I ever knew of it was when she ended up in the psychiatric ward. Maybe there had… Maybe there had always been signs, and I just never noticed them."

"It sounds more like she had been worried that something like this would've happened. And I don't blame her." When that didn't seem to help, she tried changing tactics. "At least you're there for her. You're a shoulder she can cry on when she needs to. I only had Alex, and he wasn't exactly the warmest shoulder to lean against." That was only partially true. The original Alex wasn't as nice as she thought; not if he was willing to help create a bioweapon and then try to release it when he thought he was getting screwed. But even current Alex wasn't someone she'd go to about her problems. He'd just murder them.

Danny looked at her. "What do you mean? Weren't your parents there to help?"

She shook her head. "Mom was crook. And I never knew my dad. All I really know about either of them was that Mom got knocked up by a stranger, had Alex, got sent to prison, got out in time to get knocked up with me, and then as soon as I was born she ended up getting sent back. Died in there, last I heard. It had always just been me and Alex."

"I… I'm sorry."

She waved a hand. "Don't be. It's ancient history now. But the point is, you're as bad as you seem to think you are. Taylor… She's just a quiet girl. I don't think she's used to talking to people about her problems."

"What makes you think that?"

"She reminds me of Alex. They both just seem… I don't know, uncomfortable around others. Like they don't know what to do. Alex won't normally come to me about his problems either." Because usually, they've stopped being problems by that time. "My advice? Don't push her too hard. Don't try to force her to talk to you. Let her choose to talk. Otherwise, she's just gonna close up on you. Act all stubborn."

"But what if she still doesn't want to talk?"

She shrugged. "Then… You keep trying. Or maybe you accept that there are some things she just doesn't want to say, doesn't want you hearing about." He looked at her, not understanding. Maybe it was time to tell another story. Just… cleaned up for his sake. "Last place we stayed at? Some gang members were stalking me. Probably because I'm a white girl and all that. Alex, went to confront them, but he never spoke about them. They just simply vanished. Then some of their friends showed up. Alex went to talk to them, wouldn't say what happened. It kept happening over and over again. The final time, I followed him. He…" She sighed. There was no avoiding this part. "He killed them. They tried to attack him, and he killed them to defend me. I was pretty shocked when I found out. He was embarrassed. We never really mentioned it again. Just moved out, and started over."

"God."

"I'm not saying that Taylor's getting involved in anything like that. Just… sometimes, people have a good reason to keep quiet." She stood up. "I should get going. That article on the corruption of schools isn't going to write itself."

"Yeah. Yeah, you do that." Danny said quietly. "I'll… I'll see you later. Need to drop off Taylor's list for you."

She looked back at him, smiling. "Thanks. I'd like that."


Alex arrived at his destination far sooner than everyone else. Understandable, really. People always underestimated you when you don't rely on normal transportation to get places. Of course, that just meant that he was forced to wait there, with a lot of rage demanding to be unleashed.

That fiasco was complete bullshit. Dana had already warned him that the system would be against them since Sophia is a 'hero', but he still completely underestimated how bad it was going to be. Two weeks suspension. Two. Weeks. Suspension. He usually considered dismemberment or death to be a fitting punishment and even he could tell that was completely unfair. His hands were itching to wrap around their fragile throats, crushing them as his tendrils started digging into their…

He felt several tendrils waving around his body. He pulled them back in and thought of something else. He had to think of something else until he could cause some violence.

Taylor. She figured something out about him. He heard her breath catch during the meeting, caught her staring at him with wide eyes. The kind of expression he imagined her having under mask when he ate Bakuda. Shit. Well, it wasn't like she was gonna spill or anything.

He grunted as his biomass twitched again. It hungered for something, anything to feed or kill. Maybe he should break this weird tower he was waiting at, vent some anger that way.

He was just pondering where the weak points were on this thing when he heard someone approaching. The sound of metal on metal, metal on concrete, reached his ears. Kaiser.

About fucking time.

"You're early, Blacklight." Kaiser said, his voice calm. Beside him were the Valkyries, Fenja and Menja.

Alex shrugged. "When you called me, I assumed you wanted me here as soon as possible." He looked away. "So when do we get to the killing? I'm itching for some violence.

"In good time, Blacklight. We're simply waiting for the rest of our group to arrive."

"Who else is there? I figured that you, me, and your eye candy would be enough for this place."

"True, but there's always surprises. And besides, it was Coil's suggestion. Have us in groups made up of members from different gangs. That way, one can't betray the other without risking their own men being taken hostage."

"Not that useful if you consider them expendable." But he started pacing again. "So which members are still coming?"

"Trickster informed me that he was sending his most powerful member to fight alongside us. Sundancer. A pretty thing with the power to…"

"Create suns?"

"Indeed. Don't stray too close to her attacks. Faultline is sending in Newter and Labyrinth to play distraction. Coil's sent two snipers to help out. And the Undersiders have informed me that Bitch and Swarm will be joining us soon."

Swarm. Taylor. It would take her about twenty minutes to get from the school to the docks. Five minutes maybe to get in costume. And then another five to get close to here. All in all, about thirty minutes in total.

And he had been waiting here for ten.

This was gonna be hell.


They only just made it. Swarm and Bitch were the last members to arrive. About damn time. Alex had almost worn a hole into the ground. Several grooves were now in the wall, where he had lashed out with his claws. The others were all keeping a good distance from him, letting him vent. Kaiser nodded to the Undersiders as they approached.

"A minute to spare. Cutting things a bit close, aren't we?" But he didn't let them respond. "Everyone, watches out." There was rustling as everyone pulled out something that kept track of time. Alex's phone appeared in his hand. "Set them to four-forty in three, two, one… set. Good. We'll begin our attack in five minutes. That should give us time to move out and come up with a plan of attack." Everyone started moving away. Bitch smirked as she used her powers, her dogs growing even bigger. Their skins split open, and they shook off the excess blood and gore from their growth. Everyone aside from the Undersiders, Labyrinth, and himself, shouted and backed away. Even Kaiser was startled by the mutts.

He wasn't complaining. He didn't like Kaiser's ideology. Probably because he was about 1/40th the people he didn't like. And free biomass is free biomass. That said, if Kaiser asked him to punch Bitch in the face, he wouldn't exactly object.

"The building we're after is a two story warehouse used for drug-packing." Kaiser said to the others. Alex already knew this. It was his knowledge that Kaiser was parroting now, after all. "It's one of their major bases, and hitting it will do a lot of damage to the ABB. Because of that, however, Bakuda had placed bombs in the ground around it before she was killed in action."

"Four bombs, basic explosives. Motion detectors set up on them. Swarm, have a pile of your bugs set them off from a distance." Alex said. "This place mostly focused on having armed guards."

"Newter, you can sweep the upper floors." Kaiser continued saying. "I'm sure Swarm can spare some bugs to help distract your attackers. Sundancer, Labyrinth, you two will be our backup. We'll call you if we need help or assistance." Kaiser glanced at Bitch. "Bitch, you'll be dealing with the ones on the ground floor. My group will be circling round to attack from the rear." He ignored Swarm's complaints, and looked at Alex. "Blacklight…"

"Just charge in there and kill everything in my general area." He finished. "Planning on doing just that."

Kaiser nodded. "Good. Move out."

Finally. Words Alex wanted to hear.

He dashed forward before everyone else, aiming to jump over the building. He easily cleared it from the ground, sailing high overhead. Below him, two patrols moved without knowing he was there.

That changed when he landed.

His feet squashed someone flat, while he lashed out at another gang member. Severed flesh fell in chunks as he moved to the next one, bullets pinging harmlessly off his body. He lashed out with a whipfist, slamming the poor guy over and over again. There was shouting and screaming as the ABB tried to figure out what was happening. Behind him, things started exploding. Swarm had triggered the bombs then. He ignored her as he slammed his fists into the next guy. His arms had been muscled up at the time. The guy was turned into mist on the first hit. More soldiers came rushing out to fight him, but Alex slammed his heel against the ground. They toppled over, and as they tried to get up he twirled his whipfist around himself. Those who weren't sliced apart by the blades were killed on impact.

By the time Kaiser and his girls had made it round to him, there was nothing but bodies and a lot of blood.

"Impressive, Blacklight." He said, sounding amused. "It appears that you've been holding back on me."

"Just haven't met anything worth the effort yet."

The doors just before them suddenly blew wide open. As in 'blown off their hinges' wide. Alex deflected one door with his arm, while Fenja grew in size and grabbed the other one. Out of the doors and the inferno strode a man wearing only jeans. His chest was covered in tattoos, and he wore a metal mask shaped like a dragon face. Already there were scales growing over his body, and his neck was longer than a normal human

"Then you have not faced me before, killer." Lung said, almost growling his words out.

Kaiser didn't react to this display, though he did take a couple of steps back. "Blacklight, if you will."

"Sure." He replied, and charged in to fight Lung.

He had already considered that he might end up fighting the gang leader. And he already knew a way to deal with him. Lung's power allowed him to become tougher, stronger, and more dragon-like the longer he fought for. According to data Dana had found, there is no upper limit to his power, and he once managed to fight an Endbringer to a standstill.

The only way around his monstrous strength is to hit him hard enough before he could shrug it off.

Unfortunately for Alex, Lung appeared to have been preparing for this fight.

Unfortunately for Lung, Alex was far tougher and stronger than he looked.

Lung moved to intercept Alex, only for the bioweapon to bulk up his muscles and slam both his hands into his stomach. Lung gagged from the force, the bottom of his mask dripping with saliva. Before he could recover, Alex pushed some biomass through his hands to create a 'beam' of it. It started tearing through Lung and at the same time pushing him back through the building. Alex followed him in.

Lung was coughing on the floor when Alex landed. He started rising again, fire now covering his body. Alex ignored the flames and created his hammerfists, slamming them down on Lung's back. The larger man fell back to the ground with a loud bang. Alex then uncurled his claws and stabbed them through one arm, his biomass tunneling underneath to burst out through the other arm. Lung yelled in pain. As he looked up, Alex pulled his claws free and booted him in the face. The mask, already crumpled, shattered on impact as Lung went flying back again. Alex rushed after him again, not giving him a moment to fight back.

Sadly, Lung only really needed a moment. He exploded with flames again, the heat pushing back at Alex. He let the outer layers of his armour burn away, pushing through the slam into Lung. This time though, the larger man managed to slam his hands down on his back. Alex stood his ground, and flipped him over. As Lung got back up, he turned just in time for Alex to strike again.

This time though, Alex went for something more lethal.

There was a thud as Lung's arm landed, several feet away from the rest of him. He yelled in pain and lashed out, but Alex blocked it with a shield. Two spikes skewered Lung's feet, trapping him in place. Alex's blade flashed as he spun his upper body around. Lung toppled to the ground, his legs still standing. He held out his remaining arm in self-defence.

Shink. His last arm went flying into the air. Alex finished off by grabbing his head and slamming it repeatedly against the ground. He only desisted when Lung stopped struggling. A quick check of his pulse confirmed that he was still alive. And as long as he was alive, he'll heal from this. Eventually.

Someone once said that violence solves nothing. That's stupid. Violence solves everything.

Kaiser was watching him with interest. "Hmm. Very impressive. At this rate, I might have to offer you a bonus."

"Pay me twice my usual fee, and I'll consider us even." There was a crashing sound overhead, and he saw Bitch and her dogs racing outside. She had cornered a man in a black ninja garb and a demon mask, when another one appeared right behind her. He got sniped in the head and fell down, turning to ash a few seconds later.

Oni Lee.

Kaiser looked in the same direction. "Blacklight, perhaps you could help our allies with their little problem. They seem to be underequipped to handle things."

"Everyone's underequipped compared to me." He replied, charging out the building. But his mind was on other things than killing.

Namely, how he was gonna keep Lee alive during all this.

Lung and Oni Lee were two powers he wanted the most. One had the power to become stronger and stronger; the other had the power to teleport and leave behind a copy. It could fight or do actions after he had gone. Those two combined…

Well, they were on the top of his list for a damn good reason.

First problem would be tagging him. Making sure he could find him later. If he lashed out at Lee, he could very well end up tagging a copy. The cells he'd leave behind would be wasted. So as soon as he got outside, he switched to thermal vision.

Everything changed to shades of blue and red. The walls became indistinct. He couldn't tell where they were anymore. There could be one right in his face, and he wouldn't know. But the people around him, they lit up different shades of red. He could see Swarm standing next to Sundancer and Labyrinth. Coil's men were on top of the building. Newter was lying on the ground, not moving. His heat meant he was either still alive, or hadn't died too long ago. Bitch and her dogs were fighting in the middle, a shape moving to avoid them. One dog got their jaws around him.

He looked up to see a signature above him.

Got him.

Alex jumped straight up, ignoring anything in his way. The roof above shattered as he smashed through it, as he surprised Oni Lee. He lashed out with a whipfist at him, the tip slicing through him. Then the shape before him turned blue, disappearing. Quickly, he shifted to his Infected Vision. It allowed him to connect to the Hive Mind, allowed him to see the virus inside others. He turned to look at the battlefield again.

Only one person lit up in his vision.

Got him.

Now he just needed to scare him off before he got himself killed.


Oni Lee was proving to be a problem.

He had surprised us all, taking out Newter. He nearly killed Bitch with his powers. Only an attack from Coil's men saved her life. Bitch in turn tried to use her dogs to box him in, take him down.

He turned to ash, right as part of the roof exploded.

Blacklight had somehow spotted Lee on the roof, had managed to hurt him before he ran. Now he was jumping towards the snipers, ignoring everything else. He landed before them, and said something. The men didn't like it, but they handed him their sniper rifle. Blacklight immediately had it in his hands, firing a shell without scoping it out. I saw something stumble, and then Oni Lee was standing near us. Blood was flowing down his arm.

Blacklight had hurt him. Without even truly looking, he managed to hit him.

Was there anything Alex couldn't do?

A second shot rang out, and Lee exploded. A third one, and a shape stumbled again. A fourth, and Lee fell to the ground. He vanished into ash, and there were no more shots. I looked up to see him handing the rifle back, and dropping down to the ground. Kaiser was walking out the warehouse, one of his girls following him. The other was bigger, and lugging Lung in her arms.

I noticed that he was missing all his limbs.

Kaiser was clapping as he walked towards us. A slow clap that echoed. "Well done, well done. Normally I'd be addressing everyone… if it weren't for the fact that Blacklight did the lion's share of the work tonight. Half the men here, Lung, and he even scared off Oni Lee." He glanced his way. "From now on, I'll be assigning you your own places. You could probably clear them out in less time than the rest of us."

Blacklight shrugged. "I won't have to hold back at least." He said. I saw him glance at Lung, saw his hands twitch.

But instead of doing anything, he merely said, "If it's all the same to you, I think I'll hit another ABB stronghold before the night is over."

Kaiser nodded. "Of course. Hit as many as you want. At this rate, the ABB will be finished by the end of the week." Blacklight nodded, and then he was jumping away. The rest of us backed away slightly, shaken by the shockwave. I saw him somehow propel himself forward, towards the warehouse. He landed, and then jumped off again as soon as he landed. He moved far away with an ease I couldn't really imagine.

Part of me wondered though; why was he interested in Lung?


Kaiser's estimation of a week wasn't too far off; it wasn't too optimistic at any rate.

It only took the combined might of the heroes, villains, and military two more days to wipe out the ABB.

With the loss of Bakuda before it all really started, many of their conscripts had already left to find shelter. With Lung's defeat and Oni Lee's injuries, they lost all their parahuman might. Only the most loyal really stayed, bullying anyone they could find into staying and fighting. But it was an uphill battle. The men in charge were killed or captured, the ones below panicked, and those forced to stay ran as soon as they could. Many were running as soon as the capes showed up.

Normally, this kind of speed would please Alex. But right now, he desperately wished he could find some way of making it last longer.

The thing is, he was running out of time to research the possible ways he could harvest the powers. Whenever he wasn't earning his keep with Kaiser, he was busy researching everything he could find about powers. The slightest scraps, the most obscure facts, the most unlikely rumours. Anything that could help him come up with a plan was found, processed, and stored in his mind. When he was busy fighting, a part of him was putting all those facts into plans. So far, he only had bits and pieces. Hardly enough to call a foolproof idea.

But he didn't have any more time. Tonight, the ABB were unofficially written off. Everyone had either left, been captured, or killed. Lung was already being tried, his fate evident to everyone. The Birdcage. The Maximum security prison in America. Once someone ended up in there, they were off limits to any outside help. He might be able to work a way in. Or it might really be as impossible as everyone says. He couldn't take that risk. Lung's power was too great to let it slip through his fingers.

As much as he didn't want to, it was time to risk some powers on his best plan. Luckily for him, he knew just who to try out on.


Andrew – aka, Leet - sighed as he looked up from his work. No, no, no. He had seen those parts before. They would create a rebound effect, make it so that any pieces from the explosion would return to the centre. Effectively hitting the same target twice over. That was for the… For one of their first jobs. The serious ones, before the video game theme. He tossed it aside, knowing that he'd have to start from scratch again.

His career was on a time limit. He had known that ever since he first figured out why his devices explode in his face. There's only so many ways you can build things before you're just repeating yourself. And every device he made gave him less to work with next time. He didn't even know how precise this distinction was. If he build a bomb identical to another, but they both had different levels of explosions, would one just go up in his face? Which one then? He sighed, and rubbed his tired eyes.

The last gig – the Bomberman one with Bakuda – that had been a colossal failure. Swarm had screwed with their camera, so most people didn't see anything. That new guy, Blacklight – he shivered as he realised they went up against a guy who took down most of the Wards alone – had kicked their asses with ease. Bakuda's bomb threats scared everyone. The chat was filled with threats against them, or people talking about Blacklight. And his helmet came off the wrong colour on camera.

Where did his life go so wrong, so out of control? If he had to guess, it was probably when he had his Trigger Event, if not earlier. He was a geek, he was proud of it, and he liked video games. In the feral world of high school, he might as well dressed up in steaks and jumped in a lion pit.

Everyone started picking on him. The jocks, the cheerleaders, the actors, the fashionistas, even the bookworms all targeted him. Countless days of being stuck in lockers, shoved headfirst into trash bins, his clothes stolen during gym and he was tossed out with nothing but a towel… He flushed as he remembered those events.

His only solace was Cole – aka, Uber – and video games. And then he just couldn't get past a difficult level. He tried again and again, but it just wasn't enough. Days he spent, going to school and getting bullied, coming back home for the game, only to never make it past that point.

So one day, it just got too much. And then he could start building things.

Cole had been a good friend, and a closet video gamer. He had tried every different activity he could think of, trying to find something he was good at. But every time, every single time, he always came second. Even against Andrew, he kept losing. It was no surprise that his power ended up being good at everything he tried. Together, they had first tried a serious job. Steal some money, buy all the things they wanted. Maybe get some revenge afterwards, some harmless pranks. They ran into Clockblocker and Aegis, and that was the end of that. The second try, Cole had suggested a theme. Something to make them stand out. They had tried different ideas, different themes, always losing. The next time they tried, Andrew had immediately suggested video games, right after he learned that his inventions could only be made once. At least by going by themes for a job, he could keep track of things he had built. And they found that they made a lot of fans from videos of them at work.

So they created their own channel to capitalise on that. Tattletale had been right about one thing. They did make more money from their videos than their jobs.

He was about to get back to work – try to come up with a different design for a machine, see if that worked – when something smashed further in the house. And not like 'I dropped a plate and it broke'. This was more like 'Behemoth just came through our front lounge'. Loud, prolonged, and hard enough to shake his desk.

"Shit." He screeched, grabbing his mask and a semi-complete device. Anything that tough was way out of their league. What the hell was this all about? Was it about Bakuda? Because they had just been hired for a job. That was all. He was going over that over and over as he raced into the living room. He came to stop, horrified.

A huge monster was crouched in there, all red flesh and black claws. One hand was digging into Cole, his blood dripping. Tendrils wormed from its skin into him, drinking him up. Within seconds, he was gone. The beast groaned as it clutched its head, tendrils roaming up and down its body. It shrunk down, its skin changing colour and shape. Within seconds, Cole was crouching before him, hands clutching his head. It made strange noises as its features shifted. But then it stopped. It changed into a taller man in a hoodie. He looked up at Andrew, eyes glowing.

He pulled the trigger on his device, hoping it was complete enough. When it merely sparked and started smoking, he settled for throwing it at the attacker. He batted it away with one arm, the device shattering as it hit the wall.

He settled for running, screaming shrilly as he went.

"HELP!" He screamed as he bounced off the walls, racing for the back door. "SOMEONE HELP ME!" He didn't get very far before he felt something strike him from behind. Pain blossomed from his chest as he coughed up blood. He looked down, and saw black spikes sticking out of his chest. He couldn't feel his arms, couldn't move them. He turned slightly to see the man behind him, at the end of the hall. One arm was a writhing mass of tentacles, twitching as they pulled him in. Everything hurts so much.

And then the world went black.


Alex grunted as he fell to the floor, his body shifting through the memories he was gaining. Leet, real name Andrew Finch. Parents are divorced, he turned to gaming to help him ignore it all. Grew to love them, got ridiculed at school for being a geek. Met Cole, aka Uber, when they both attended a game convention outside Brockton Bay. He ignored that. It wasn't helpful, wasn't important. He already lost Uber's power because he was rushing. He had to do this right. He could already feel the shard slipping away. Trigger, trigger… Terrible day at school. Got pantsed by the football team. Came home, played some Call of Duty. Kept being killed. The shard was breaking free. Kept losing, kept getting killed by cheap-ass tactics. Got angry. Got upset.

Saw… Something. Afterwards, found that he could build anything he could think of.

The shard stopped resisting.

He found it.

He dived into the memory, linking all the others that were with it. Felt the rage, the sadness, the despair he felt when he triggered. The shard was pulled in, locked into place. He could feel it now, a different presence in his head. He tentatively released the memory.

The shard stayed where it was.

He started laughing. He had done it. He found a way to keep the powers. He discarded the power, not really needing it. He wasn't interested in building something once.

But now he had a way to get what he really was after.

Time to hunt down a dragon.


Paige Mcabee, formerly a parahuman singer by the name of Canary – a rogue, if you will – came to with a start. Her mind was fuzzy, the last memories a complete blur. She had been… what had she been doing? There was something about her mouth, some pain or discomfort. She couldn't close it for some reason. She was getting wet, but she couldn't tell why. Was it raining? Did she fall asleep in a… birdcage? Why did she think of that?

Then she remembered the courtroom. Where she was found guilty, sent on a one-way trip to the Birdcage. Panic gripped her. That pressure in her mouth was the mask, meant to stop her from singing. She wanted to struggle, to scream, to beg for mercy. But she couldn't move. Well, that wasn't completely true. She could move a bit. She could move a bit to the sides, pushing through something. But after a certain distance, or speed, she was forced to a stop. She opened her eyes, blinking the water and hair out of them. She was encased in foam, the foam the PRT used. She wanted to give a bitter laugh. This was beyond extreme. She didn't have super strength, or intangibility, or anything that would help her escape. She just had her singing. Hell, that was all she had. It was her only power, her only call to fame. They could've just left the mask on and that would've been enough.

All this because of one mistake. One fuck-up she didn't even realise she made. It just wasn't fair.

She looked up, wanted to see if there was some way she could possibly escape. And she froze when she saw her fellow passenger.

A large man covered in tattoos, from what little she could see through the absolute mountain of foam around him. A metal bar cage was wrapped around him, further restricting his movement. He seemed to be glowering at the floor, ignoring the fine mist of water from the sprinklers.

She had heard of him. One of the heavy hitters in the parahuman society. She may have kept out of the game, but she still heard things. Lung. The leader of the Azn' Bad Boys. Someone (probably a whole lot of someones) must've managed to finally bring him down. Send him with her to the Birdcage.

She quailed. This was the kind of people she was being locked up with. Powerful capes with no compunction against killing. They were going to eat her alive. If she was lucky. She was under no illusion about her beauty, how delicate she was. Maybe it would be better to latch onto a single powerful villain. Sure, he would probably treat her like trash, make her do things that would make her skin crawl. But it had to be better than having hordes of men looming over her. Ready to…

The truck lurched wildly as something slammed into it, the room sagging alarmingly near the middle. She would've shrieked, but she couldn't with her mask on. There was a shearing sound from behind her, and then the truck bucked again. The sound of metal screeching filled the air, left her eardrums ringing.

But they had stopped.

Was this… Was this a breakout? Had someone arrived to free Lung before he was locked away? She felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe they could free her too. She could… She could offer her services somehow. Join up with them. She didn't want to be a villain of course. But what choice did the law leave her? Stay here and be locked away again, maybe worse? It was hardly her fault being upset about how unfair this was. If she were a regular human instead of a parahuman, she doubted they would've thrown her under the bus so easily.

There was a tearing sound, as several sharp shapes stabbed through the roof. They all pulled away, and the roof was torn open with frightening ease. A black spiked figure loomed over them, face hidden behind a featureless mask. Lung looked up at him as he jumped down. The floor dented as he landed.

"You." Lung said. His voice was filled with fury. And fear.

"Yeah. Me." The other villain said, his voice distorted.

"Come to gloat? Or have you switched sides now that the fighting's over?"

"Neither. I'm here for your power." And the stranger stabbed his claws into Lung's face. The skin around them turned black, and he almost seemed to be drinking him. Lung shrank in size, his body disappearing into nothing. Paige trembled in her restraints. He was going to kill her. Once he was done with… whatever he was doing to Lung, he was going to kill her next. The man stumbled back, hands clutching his head. He grew in size, his suit changing. It grew lighter in the upper areas, tattoos appearing on him. Within seconds, Lung was standing before her. He was shaking, hands pressed against his skull like he was trying to break it.

But then he stopped. He gasped for breath, and there was a satisfied look to him. He changed back, his body still looking inhuman. He gave her a quick glance, turning away for the door.

And then he stopped. He turned to face her head on. His head tilted as he stared at her. He came closer to her, forcing her to try and lean back. But she hit the wall instead. There was nowhere to escape.

Funny how the things meant to stop her from escaping also meant she couldn't escape being killed.

He held his clawed hand in her face, the edge shining in the light. "If you're wearing a mask, then your power must have something to do with your face." He said. "Attempt to use it on me, and I will rip your head clean off." She nodded quickly, the only motion allowed to her. Not that she could use her powers anyway. Not with her collar on. It would inject her if she started singing or even so much as raised her voice. His claws shrank down into regular fingers, and he reached for the strap keeping this thing on. Despite his appearance, he was surprisingly gentle while doing it. And quick. He pulled off the mask within moments, the frame inside meant to keep her tongue pressed down dripping with saliva. She spat out a mouthful and worked her jaw muscles. "Who are you, and what is your power?"

She had to work her mouth a bit more before she could respond. "M-M-My name is Paige. I… I went by the stage name Canary. I can sing. Really well."

He tilted his head again. "You can sing? That's your power?" He looked at the mask dangling from his hand. Even with the mask on, she could tell he was confused.

"I… I can affect people's moods with it. Make them feel good. When I really get going, it can even make them susceptible to instructions."

"You can command people." He summed up. "But it sounds as though you need some time to work your ability." He looked at the mask again. "Why were you heading to the Birdcage?"

She shook her head. "It's… It's stupid, really. I told my ex to go fuck himself."

"You what?"

I had just done a gig, one of my biggest shows yet. I work as a professional singer." Now that she was more certain he wasn't going to immediately kill her, she felt calmer. "My ex came up to me after the show. He was going on about how since he was the one that got me to go out on stage, he deserved a cut of my profits. Half of it, even." She snorted. "He seemed to completely forget that I divorced him when I found out he was cheating on me with someone half his age and told me that I wasn't going to cut it in show business."

"And you told him to go fuck himself."

She nodded sheepishly. "Yeah. I don't know if my powers were stronger then, or if he had been in the crowd listening to me, or whatever. But he basically went home and tried to do exactly that. When he realised that it was… anatomically impossible, he settled for…" She blushed.

"Castration."

"Yeah. So next thing I know, the police are at my door, and charging me for 'sexual assault and murder with a super power'. The mask meant that I couldn't argue my case, and the judge and jury found me guilty. That's why I was on this one-way trip to the Birdcage."

The man stared at her for several seconds before he moved again. His left arm stabbed into the foam, before changing shape again. Turned into some kind of stinger. The foam around it started to harden, and he shattered it as he worked. But he managed to get her out of it. Ripped open her cuffs, broke her restraints. She looked up at him in surprise.

"You… You're freeing me?" She asked in surprise. "But… why?"

"Because that is the shittiest reason I've ever heard of to throw someone in any kind of prison." He replied, turning away. He booted the back doors, and they were blown off like paper. "Find somewhere to lay low. I doubt they'll realise the stupidity of their actions anytime soon. Stay out of the spotlight for a good long while."

And then he was running away, leaving her alone to find a way to safety. She would have to try and hitchhike, without anyone reporting her and her orange jumpsuit.

But she was free. She wasn't going to the Birdcage just yet. That was enough for her right now.


Alex found them easily enough. The Judge, Peter Regan. He had begged and pleaded when he saw him standing in his office. Through him, he found the jury members. Everyone who had voted and sentenced Paige to the Birdcage.

He didn't settle with just consuming them. He bled them dry first. He splashed their blood all over their walls. He had pushed past everyone in his way, leaving them in pieces. He didn't stop until they all paid for what they did.

When he arrived back home, Dana was already waiting for him. And she didn't look happy.

How the hell does she hear about his actions so quickly?

"Why did you kill them?" She asked him, confirming his thoughts. She already knew about the jury members. She didn't like that. She didn't like that he killed them. But she might, if she understood.

He walked towards her. "Have you heard anything about the court case against Canary? She was a rogue, only interested in becoming a singer. Her asshole of an ex tried to get some money out of her, and she told him to go fuck himself. One sentence, something she didn't know he would obey, and she's getting sent to the Birdcage. It's fucking retarded."

She frowned, the feelings of anger transferring to others. Good. He knew she would come round. They may not always see eye-to-eye on justified punishment, but they had the same general idea of justice. His was just more violent. "Really? Shit, those fuckers chose the Birdcage?"

He nodded. "They were afraid. Scared that she might control them with her voice. That if they let her go, she would bend everyone to her will. Stupid, really. Regular people can do that easily enough. They ruined someone's life just to make themselves feel safer." Dana turned to her laptop, tapping away at it. She was likely looking up about the case itself, everything attached to it. She was like him in that regard. They both preferred to have as much data as they could."

"Hmm. Wow." She muttered. "Looks like Dragon thought the same thing." He looked at her quizzically. He didn't have that name memorised. "She's a Tinker, works with the Guild over in Canada. In her spare time, she's the warden of the Birdcage. Found a letter attached to the case from her, basically saying that she think's Canary is innocent of all charges."

He frowned. "She should've just said no. Barred the doors or something. Stop them from dropping her off. Refused."

Dana shrugged. "She can't Alex. She has to do what the law says. Otherwise people are going to get worried that the biggest prison in the world is in the hands of a rogue element." She shook her head. "Anyway, there I need to talk to you about. Got some calls while you were out." She raised a hand as he started." Don't worry, I didn't give them my name or anything. Just said that I was taking your calls for you. You got calls from Kaiser offering more money to stick around and help. But Tattletale called too, said that there was a job on the line if you were interested. Said it could very well pay more than even Kaiser."

"This mysterious employer of theirs." He guessed. Only way that a minor group like them could hope to match the leader of a massive gang. "Who do you think it is?"

"Hell if I know. Maybe it's someone outside of Brockton Bay, trying to worm their way in. But before you shrug it off and go find Kaiser, there was something else she mentioned."

"What?"

"She said that you could probably end up in control of your own area of the city."

"I could do that whenever I want. It's just too much hassle for little reward. I'll go and keep Kaiser in business, make sure the PRT are more focused on him than me." He turned to leave, to go and join Kaiser. He may not like him, but the pay was good.

"She also said the there's definitely more money involved." That stopped him. He turned back to her.

"How much?"

"She didn't give a definite number. But she did mention that it could be into the six digits, if we played our cards right."

Six digit numbers. At least a hundred thousand cash. Maybe once a month, maybe per job. With that kind of money, they could afford a better house. They could afford to 'persuade' certain people to look the other way. Or suddenly remember that some details had always been in the system.

With that kind of money, they could find out who brought them here. If they still wanted to learn.

He rolled his shoulders. "Guess I've got enough reason to drop on by for a bit." He said.


"You did what?" Brian asked Lisa. Even though he didn't show as much emotions as the rest of us, you could see the fear in his face.

Not surprising though. I'd feel worried if I learnt that someone invited Blacklight to my place.

Lisa raised a hand defensively. "Calm down, Brian. The boss was the one who okayed it. He's got a big job for us planned, and he wants Blacklight as a part of it."

"I'm surprised that we managed to poach him from Kaiser in the first place." Alec said from the couch. He was reading a comic book, not at all concerned.

"Blacklight is a mercenary. And like Faultline, the only way to stay in business is to not tie yourself down with one group. Kaiser had him for the strike against the ABB. Now that the job's over, he's back on the market again."

"But why have him come to us?" I asked." Why can't our boss hire him directly? I somehow doubt he's going to care about who's employing him."

"Deniability. As long as Blacklight doesn't meet him directly, he doesn't have to worry about being outed or something if he pisses him off."

"Instead, it's us on the chopping block." Brian said. He shook his head. "Sorry Lisa, but I'm not keen on working with this guy. Call him back and tell him not to come, or that our boss will call him soon."

"I can't do that." Lisa said in a small voice.

"Why not?" I asked.

Alec looked up over the couch. "Because he's already here." He said. I turned, only to find Blacklight literally two steps behind us. He was leaning against the railing, his pose at odds with his costume. How did he even get up here? I would've noticed something with my bugs when he arrived.

But here he was. He somehow got up to us without anyone noticing until it was too late.

"You gave him our address?" Brian asked her, his voice tight.

Lisa shrugged. "I didn't want to talk this over out in public. And it's probably in his best interests to not tell anyone about this place, right?"

Blacklight nodded. "You've got issues with me." He said.

"It's nothing really personal. We've just got two different styles. We prefer getting in and out without killing anyone, whereas you…"

"Violence and murder are my first, second, and third choices." He said. "I killed people because that was what Kaiser paid me to do. I can be non-lethal if that's what's needed." He tilted his head towards Lisa. "She called me to say that there was a job on offer. I'm here to find out if it's worth my time."

"Great." Lisa said, all smiles again. "But first, we'll need you to take off your mask." She mimed removing it. "It's only fair after all. You know our faces. We should know yours in response."

"I know who he is." I interrupted. Everyone turned to look at me. "He's Alex Mercer. He's my next door neighbour." I glared at him. "And he's also gone as Alex Ragland, a teen who attacked some of my classmates."

The room went silent. I watched Blacklight carefully, my bugs at the ready. I doubted they could do anything, but they could mean the difference between life and death. But Blacklight merely nodded, tendrils writhing up and down his body. His armour and mask vanished, leaving Alex Mercer leaning against the railing.

"Guess you can only meet so many violent anti-social people before things get odd." He said in his normal, raspy voice. He pushed off from the railing. I noticed the sizable dent he left in it.

Alec looked a lot more interested in the conversation. "You've been living next door to this guy?" But I ignored him. My focus was all on Alex.

I leveled my gaze at him. "You had no right." I said evenly. But I could feel the bugs reacting to my anger.

He looked at me in confusion. "To what? Come into your place? Tattletale invited me."

"Not this." I replied, waving a hand at the building. "My school."

"I'm even more confused. You're saying that I had no right to come along and defend you from those bullies?"

"You could've killed them."

"Could've. Would've." He agreed. He didn't seem the slightest bit concerned about that. "If it were up to me, I would've ripped the lot of them to shreds. But Dana calmed me down, made me promise not to. So I settled for kicking the crap out of them." He gave me a look. "But I'm still confused. Why are you upset that I stopped them?"

"She's a masochist." Alec said 'helpfully'. I turned my glare to him.

"My cape life and my regular life are to be kept separate. My school doesn't get involved in the cape business. That's my golden rule." I glared Alex now, trying to look bigger and meaner than I really was. "And you broke it."

Alex gave me a calculating look. "You don't know, do you?" He almost said to himself. "That rule was already broken. I didn't know that at the time, but I do now."

"What do mean?"

"That black girl, one of the ringleaders? Sophia Hess? She's a cape. Shadow Stalker."

Wait.

What?

What?!

"Are you kidding me?" Alec asked at the same time as Brian asking, "How do you know?"

"She used a move on me that she tried on you. Her body structure and muscle density matches. It's her alright. And I bet that's why she's getting off with only a two week suspension. Make me wonder how long the school has been letting her get away with hurting you for."

Now that I knew, I wondered that too. How many times did the teachers notice my bullying, went to report it, only to have it all swept under the rug to keep Sophia out there fighting the good fight. Had some of them been in on it already?

When the principal was listening to my list back at the meeting, was she already thinking of how to spin things to serve her resident superhero?

I spent time pushing the bugs away, trying not to tell them to go after Sophia, so that when I focused on the conversation again, it had apparently turned to the job Alex was here for. Lisa was the one explaining. Something about how the boss wanted us to embarrass the PRT and the Protectorate. Make them look even weaker than they did after we did most of the work for them.

"…To that end, the mayor's organised a fundraiser to boost morale. Most of the heroes in town will be there, along with the upper crust and basically anyone who can afford the tickets."

"He wants us to hit it in full view of everyone." Alex understood. I looked up in shock, saw everyone's expressions. Alec and Rachel looked like they already had heard this. But they didn't look that keen this time.

Brian started laughing. A slow, weak laugh that built up over time.

"Are you insane!?" I nearly shouted at her. "You really want us to bust into this big fancy dinner, fuck over rich guy inside and all the heroes, before escaping before we get arrested by… by… by half the fucking city?"

"Basically." At least she had the decency to look embarrassed. "But there's more to this than the embarrassment. The boss is testing us. He wants to see how well we do on this job."

"Seems more like he wants to see if we're smart enough to say no." Brian said, still chuckling.

"Fuck that." Alex said, turning away. "I don't mind becoming known for some cash around here. But there's no way I'm going to thrust myself into the spotlight like this. I think I'll go and see Kaiser about his…"

"Two hundred and fifty!" Lisa interrupted him. Alex came to a halt. Tendrils flowed as he faced her without turning around.

Whatever Alex's powers did to him, he wasn't human anymore.

"What did you just say?" He asked her.

"Two hundred and fifty thousand. Each. If we do this job." She shook her head. "I should've started with that. But I didn't want to sound desperate."

Alex stepped closer again. "And according to my secretary, your boss is willing to offer me even more money if I work for him."

"Yes." She replied.

Alec got up off the couch. "Just so we're clear, the boss is willing to pay us one million, five hundred thousand… to do this job?"

"There's more. If we pull this off – which Alex here will make more likely – then we'll move on up in the world. We'll get more money, better equipment, information, and we'd get a voice in what he does. All of which gets us more respect in the supervillain community."

Hold up. A voice? "Does that mean we might actually meet this benefactor of ours?" I asked.

"Meet him, discuss what we're doing next, and why. No more just getting told that 'this is important' and expecting to deal with it."

Meeting the boss. That was the final piece I needed to get before I brought the whole package to the Protectorate. I had been holding off to get this last piece. And it could very well be within my grasp.

"Changing my vote." Alec said. "That kind of money is a pretty good reason to do something this crazy."

Alex shrugged. "I'm willing to get all sorts of the wrong attention for that kind of cash. And the promise of more."

The biggest hurdle was him. If I betrayed Alex, I doubted I was walking away alive. He was like having Slaughterhouse Nine on call. And since he knew my identity so well, he would easily go after my dad.

Was getting this information really worth angering him?

"I… I change my vote too." I heard myself say. Everyone aside from Alex looked surprised by this. I tried to find a way to explain it. "It bugs me that we don't know who we're working for. He could be a serial killer or something. We might have to do worse things than we've already been doing."

"I'm in." Rachel said. "If the scrawny kid's up for it then there's no way I'm backing out."

It was a majority vote. I could always hang onto the info about the boss. At least until I come up with a way to hand it over without getting killed.

"But we'll need a solid plan." I said firmly.


No! Not Uber and Leet! They died so young!

Oh well. The only other people I could see Alex risking powers would be the Merchants, and I have a much better plan in store for them. I made up their history and names though. I'm sure Wildbow had something different for them, but I just decided to make up my own stuff.

Now, I think I've read somewhere on Worm or the wiki that powers sometimes have a correlation to what caused the Trigger Event. Aisha (Brian's little sister: Spoilers) was probably ignored during the Leviathan attack. She gained the power to make people forget about her. Rachel watched the dog she liked being drowned and neither of them had the power to stop it. She now has the power to make dogs bigger and stronger. Eidolon (maybe) didn't get things he wanted. He got the power to have whatever power he desired. So I figured that Leet would have always losing when doing the same thing in a game, and Uber had always coming in second. Made sense to me.

Ok, now that we've seen Alex consume Lung and take his power, there's a couple of questions I want to ask.

Does Lung's power make some grow in proportion to their original size? So if say Lung and Taylor both had the same power, would Lung at full power still be bigger than Taylor at full power? Or would they both just reach a max size?

And how automatous do you guys think Oni Lee's copies are? Are they following the last few seconds of his actions, or is he giving commands before he teleports? Yes, Alex ate Oni Lee too. That kind of power in his hands would be devastating.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Edit: Just got another review as I was finishing this off. Greatazuredragon, you had a good idea. It would make it more fair if the powers deteriorate over time. Well, fairer. But I don't want to have these powers vanish forever. So I've got a better idea.

Something I've got planned for when Alex gains a lair is that he'd make heads to store the powers in. Whenever he wants a certain power, he pulls it out through his hive mind or something, and then uses it. Maybe we could have it that multiple shards in the same head (at least more than three) causes them to deteriorate or something, and they regenerate when he stores them separately. Of course, Glaistig Uaine has several powers from dead people and they don't deteriorate. Just saying, since I like my idea.