"Their dream can't save you."

The voice echoed through the corridors, and Angel tightened his grip on his blasters, listening carefully. He was standing directly above something that could blow up and kill him at any second...but it didn't bother him all that much, for some reason. Angel was developing a tolerance for this kind of stuff. He'd already dealt with wings popping out of his back, and the terrifying prospect of being a mutant. Then, he'd been trying to figure out how to be a costumed hero, which included being punched in the face and having guns pointed at him. After that, one of those "I think it's a good idea to end the world" super-villains that you read about in the papers had become obsessed with him and tried to kill him a few times. A few minutes ago, he'd been fighting dozens of soldiers armed with beam weapons, and a government assassin might be coming after him, too. A potential atomic blast was just one more thing that he had to deal with.

"I believed in it, too. They talked a lot about the future, and how they were building a new kind of world, one where I'd fit in. But they were just using me. Okay, let's say you really are a mutant. You think you can put on a mask, be a hero, and then they'll accept you? Forget it. If they ever stop needing you, or they decide you're a threat, they'll turn on you in a second. That's what they did to me!"

He was a superhero, now. Not a scared kid playing dress-up, not a freak that was desperate to fit in, but an honest-to-god superhero who actually had some idea of what he was doing. It felt like Warren Worthington III was a million miles away. In this moment, there was just Angel, and he only had one problem to solve. He was sure that Daredevil had a plan to deal with the big machine downstairs, so all he needed to do was keep Halo Knight off his back. Daredevil was an unbelievable fighter, and Angel was sure that he could beat the General's goons and deal with the machine, but taking on the soldiers and Halo Knight might be too much, even for him. (And even with Angel helping him.)

Angel didn't like it-he felt like he was abandoning him-but there were only two of them, and one of them had to distract Halo Knight. He knew that he couldn't possibly take out all those soldiers singlehandedly, so he needed to do this job, instead.

"Human beings have been ruining things and hurting each other for as long as we've been around. And now we can blow up millions of people at a time, and it won't be long before they find out about mutants. Can you even imagine? We have weapons that are more lethal than ever, and threats that are more terrifying than ever. It's a recipe for disaster."

"I don't care if they find out about mutants," Angel heard himself saying. "Come on, let's get it over with, let's get it out there. I think that people will eventually be okay with mutants, and you know why? Because going through this has made me better. I was just coasting through life, man. The wings pushed me to my limits and forced me to find out what I was really capable of. Dealing with all this crazy, far-out stuff has made me think, and I bet it'll make regular people think, too. They can learn to live with it, just like I did. And so can you."

He was sounding less like Warren Worthington III all the time: not only was he using the sort of modern, casual slang that his teachers and grandparents hated, but he didn't sound as arrogant, either. Warren had always been snobby and condescending. And Warren never would have admitted any sort of weakness-telling Halo Knight that he might be a mutant, too. But he needed to try everything.

"You're dreaming," Halo Knight shouted. "You're all dreaming!"

Yeah, keep talking, buddy. Waste some more time, and give Daredevil a chance to beat up those guys downstairs. But...as good as he is, he might need my help. I'm playing it too safe. Halo Knight has to be dead on his feet, by now. Find him, zap him, and go help Daredevil!

Angel quietly glided down a corridor. It was like a maze-a lot of twists and turns. Halo Knight kept ranting, but Angel wasn't listening to the words, anymore. He was trying to follow the sound of his voice. The echoes made it impossible, unfortunately. But his eyes were as strong as an eagle's, and when he was going through a four-way "intersection," he caught a gleam of light in the distance. A reflection off of Halo Knight's helmet. By the time he turned to look, Halo Knight was gone, but it gave him a rough idea of where he was.

He glided to the corner and landed. Halo Knight was down the hall to his right, his back turned to him. The blasters were practically begging him to use them. For one moment, the part of him that was Warren broke through; he'd been raised to be a gentleman, and it wasn't very gentlemanly to shoot someone in the back. But he thought about some of the modern-day aristocrats that he knew, and others that his father had told him about. In public, sure, they were gentlemen. But in private-in board meetings and other private gatherings-they could be as vicious as leather-jacket-wearing hoods. Deep down, New Yorkers were New Yorkers.

"Welcome to New York, punk," Angel whispered, firing both blasters.

The beams hit Halo Knight in the shoulder blades. He was thrown forward, sprawling out on the metal floor. Angel heard his head/helmet bounce off of it. Halo Knight seemed to be able to sense motion, now, but Angel had been a good distance away, and the beams weren't physically solid. They'd taken him completely by surprise. Halo Knight shook his head, tried to crawl, and turned onto his back.

Angel flew forward, strafing beams at him. He definitely hit him in the ankle, hip, and stomach, and maybe some other places, as well. But they didn't fully burn through his suit, so there was no way to tell how much he was hurting him. (His silvery suit was looking rougher all the time; there were patches where the fabric had burnt away, revealing deformed, partially-melted padding.) Halo Knight didn't even bother trying to stand up. He simply formed an anti-gravity ring in one hand, letting it whisk him away. Angel chased him, fired, and screamed.

Stupid-you should have shot him in the lower back, where his wound is-

This dogfight was horizontal and contained. Instead of soaring up and down, they flew evenly, shooting through the corridors. Angel pursued him, but Halo Knight was simply faster. He still wasn't the most natural flier, though, and he had more straight-line speed than agility. When he took corners, he missed them by inches. Halo Knight stuck his other hand out behind him, firing blind, and Angel spun to dodge the gravity rings. Now that panic wasn't freezing him up, his reflexes were lightning-fast. As a kid, he'd noticed how birds could quickly alter course in mid-flight, and if they needed to, they could stop on a dime. It looked as if he had a little of that, as well.

Halo Knight gained speed, pulling away from him...and when Halo Knight suddenly turned right, Angel knew exactly what he was up to. He was trying to loop around behind him. Angel could have turned left and flown clear, but he was sick of playing cat-and-mouse. For whatever reason, Halo Knight wanted to fight him, right now, and not "the darkness." It didn't make much sense, but Angel didn't care. He wanted to finish this. Angel stopped in his tracks, flying in the opposite direction. He couldn't see Halo Knight, yet, but he was charging him head-on.

They swerved around a corner, rocketing toward each other. Halo Knight fired some gravity rings at him, but Angel dropped a few feet, passed underneath them, and then passed underneath Halo Knight himself. Angel wing-swatted him into the ceiling. He then barrel-rolled so that he was facing up and hit the brakes, firing both blasters back (and up) at Halo Knight, who'd just hit the metal ceiling. Some of the beams hit, and some missed. Halo Knight screamed, started to fall, and caught himself in midair. Instead of fleeing, he flew straight at Angel.

"I'M DONE! RUNNING! AWAY!"

Halo Knight let loose with a stream of gravity rings, too many to dodge up-close, and Angel was forced to retreat. He raced through the winding corridors, trying to keep ahead of the faster Halo Knight. Whenever Angel turned, he did it at the last second, making it harder for Halo Knight to follow him. He heard him bounce off of a wall or two. It didn't seem to deter him, though.

This is insane. He's taken a bunch of beatings, he looks like a half-melted wax figure, he's wounded, he's probably drugged...and he's still going strong. Father always said that there's no substitute for drive, but this is ridiculous. Halo Knight must really, really, really want this.

Without knowing why, Angel headed for a stairwell. When he got there, he flew in a tight spiral, going up. He emerged on the floor that was one giant training area. It had free weights, gym mats, all kinds of stuff. His wings suddenly felt better, and he realized that he'd been "cramped" during this latest fight. For an underground facility, the base had a surprising amount of breathing room, but its corridors were still too tight for his full wingspan. This level was like the one on top of the atomic generator: it was wide-open from wall to wall, and it had a high ceiling, as well. Plenty of room to stretch out his wings, and plenty of room to engage in aerial acrobatics.

Well, you lured him to a place where you'll have the advantage, and it's further away from the fight downstairs, which will make it harder for him to hassle Daredevil. But don't pat yourself on the back just yet, Warren-you still have to beat him.

Halo Knight was right on his heels. Some of his gravity rings must have accidentally hit the stairs, because chunks of the stairwell came loose and shattered against the ceiling. Angel turned and aimed his blasters at the top of the stairs. Halo Knight came flashing through, and Angel shot at him, but he was too quick. He maybe clipped one of his feet.

Angel looped around him, firing nonstop, and Halo Knight returned the favor. Halo Knight had to be worn down and a little out of it, so Angel decided to go back to his dizziness strategy. He'd make him go in circles, wait for vertigo to set in, and finish him off. Angel scored more hits on him, but Halo Knight didn't seem to feel them. Halo Knight's aim was getting worse, though; earlier, his gravity rings had been missing Angel by inches, but they were missing him by feet, now.

It's working, he's getting disoriented! All I have to do now is-no, wait-his gravity rings aren't really hitting the walls or ceiling, they're mainly hitting the fl-

Flat, circular free weights whispered past him and cratered into the ceiling. They were practically the size of tires; they had to be fifty pounds each. Angel pulled in his arms and tucked up his legs, trying to become a smaller target...but, unless he wanted to fall, he had to keep his wings spread out. One of the weights introduced itself to the middle of his right wing. It hurt, but his wings were always stronger than he thought, and he remained in the air. Halo Knight had tricked him. He was now firing straight down, and Angel saw more weights coming at him. And car-length gym mats.

Use the blasters, genius!

Angel dodged the weights and shot at the gym mats. The beams cut right through the mats (creating clouds of whatever they were stuffed with), dividing them into oddly-shaped and somewhat "deflated" halves, but they kept coming. They were easier to avoid when they were smaller, though. Angel took off flying. He was primarily worried about the weights-they'd hurt more if they hit him, and if he shot them, he'd probably just turn them from cold metal into red-hot goop. That was why he let one of the gym mats get a little too close. He fired at the last second, thinking that he'd cut it in half and slip between the two pieces, but the blaster clicked empty. The gym mat smacked into his entire body and pinned him against the ceiling.

No escaping from high school, huh?

He tried to push himself free, but the gym mat only became "heavier," and he realized that Halo Knight was shooting more anti-gravity rings into it. The stupid thing was smothering him. Angel let go of the empty blaster, clutched the good one with both hands, and twisted the blaster until it was aimed at the mat. He fired. Since it was point-blank, he couldn't cut the whole thing in half; he had to settle for making a hole that was big enough for him to squeeze through. Angel got an up-close-and-personal look at what the mats were stuffed with: namely, shredded newspaper. (When he saw the little pieces of paper fluttering around, it reminded him of his first fight with Halo Knight, but he didn't know why.)

Angel pushed through the mat, liberating himself. But, once he was clear of the cloud of paper-shreds, he was promptly shot with an anti-gravity ring. Angel slammed into the ceiling and cried out in pain. Halo Knight pumped a few gravity rings into him, and he hurtled toward the floor, crashing against it violently.

GOD-

He tried to stand up, but Halo Knight wasn't taking any chances, this time. Halo Knight immediately descended and shot him with more gravity rings. Angel crumpled against the floor; he felt like he weighed a million pounds, he could barely even move his head.

"From now on...I'm fighting you...my way," Halo Knight said. His breathing was erratic.

Angel strained one arm, aiming his remaining blaster, but Halo Knight shot it. It flew out of his hand and shattered against the ceiling.

"No more dogfights...no more chasing each other around," Halo Knight gasped. "It's yo-yo time. I'm gonna bounce you between the ceiling and the floor until you're dead, false light."

Angel simply looked at him. He didn't beg, and he didn't curse him. In the end, he adopted a casual tone of voice and said, "It's hard to take you seriously-you know, as a super-villain-when you use the word 'yo-yo.' I bet that Dr. Doom has never said 'yo-yo' in his life."

Halo Knight made a sort of angry snorting noise, and he fired at him, but Angel was already off the floor and hurtling toward him. His shoulder hit Halo Knight in the stomach, and he wrapped his arms around his waist. Angel grabbed him as hard as he could. He was flying, but his wings weren't moving at all.

"OH, SORRY," Angel screamed, ramming Halo Knight into a wall, "DID I FORGET TO TELL YOU ABOUT MY MAGIC CAPE!?"

Dr. Halloway, the original Angel, had given him what he called the Cape of Mercury. It was long and red and billowing. He claimed that it was mystic in nature, and that he'd used it to travel overseas during the War. Angel had stuffed it into a "pouch" between his wings-a flap of fabric that had been left over when he cut his wing-holes. The original Angel had never used the cape much, but Warren remembered it from the history books. Dr. Halloway told him that it responded to mental commands. When he'd been able to fly on his own, he hadn't noticed anything strange...but, once he hit the floor, the bundled-up cape had started to feel like an extension of his own body. It was now unfurling itself, wrapping around his neck and partially covering his wings. His body was still heavy, without a doubt, but the cape was more than capable of lifting him.

Angel had Halo Knight up against a wall. He used his wings to pin his wrists and started body-punching him, screaming the entire time. "WHAT'S WRONG? DID THE CAPE SURPRISE YOU, BUDDY? MAYBE YOU SHOULD'VE SPENT...LESS TIME THINKING ABOUT...REALLY DEPRESSING STUFF...AND MORE TIME...THINKING ABOUT SUPERHEROES!"

Deformed or not, Halo Knight's padding was still hard, and Angel's hands hurt from punching him. He pulled out his own guns, using them as blunt objects. Angel brought them down again and again and again.

Halo Knight tried to shoot him with gravity rings, but his hands were pointed the wrong way, and all he could do was fire to either side. Angel thought that he finally had him trapped...but Halo Knight head-butted him with his helmet, making him stagger back. Halo Knight slumped against the wall for a second and then used an anti-gravity ring to yank himself away.

Yeah, I should've seen that coming-

Angel holstered his guns and took off, chasing him, and he immediately realized that the cape made him faster. But the "controls" were different, and they took a little getting used to. He felt like he was trying to steer a comet.

It looks like the cape can overcome the heavy-gravity effect...but if you get shot too much, it might overload the crazy thing. Be careful!

"Tricked me again, tricked me again," Halo Knight was muttering. If not for his helmet magnifying his voice, Angel never would have heard the words. "Wasting my time-distracting me-have to find the darkness-"

Well, rats.

Halo Knight flew down the damaged stairwell, and Angel followed, his mind racing. He needed to buy Daredevil more time. Angel focused on Halo Knight, and the cape shot him forward, to the point that he was flying even with him. Halo Knight's entire body seemed to jerk in surprise. Angel once again grabbed him, pulling him away from the stairs. Halo Knight's free hand flailed, trying to aim at him, but Angel used his wings to bat it away.

They wrestled with each other as they shot through corridors. The two of them were back on the second level, now, between the training area and the atomic generator. A lot of corridors and small rooms, and those weird movie sets. Angel pushed Halo Knight into a wall, slamming his back against it, and Halo Knight returned the favor. They ricocheted back and forth like that for a while. Angel was afraid that his cape would get snagged on something and either tear or jerk him back by his neck, but it never happened. At one point, it seemed to catch on something behind him, but he felt the cape tug in the opposite direction, as if it were pulling itself free of the obstacle.

When they emerged into the movie set area, Angel happened to be looking up. He saw something, was struck by a memory from their first fight, and smiled. Angel then forced a hard U-turn, though it took a good thirty feet to complete it. He let go of Halo Knight, and they both skipped like stones, crashing into the restaurant set's tables and chairs.

Halo Knight started shooting gravity rings at him; Angel grabbed chairs and flung them in his direction. They were actually anti-gravity rings: the chairs flew straight up, and he heard them splinter against the ceiling. But they made a muffled noise, first, though Halo Knight didn't seem to notice.

No longer dependent on his wings, Angel rapidly hovered from side to side. He was almost a red blur. Halo Knight kept shooting, clearly frustrated that he couldn't hit him, and he finally touched down on the floor, so he could fire with both hands. Angel circled around him...and then the confetti hit.

There'd been a net attached to the ceiling, hanging directly over the fake restaurant. It had been full of green and red confetti. God only knew what a psychopath like the General had planned on celebrating, but it had given Angel an idea. When the chairs flew up and broke, crashing into the ceiling, they'd torn the net.

Angel landed and started walking toward Halo Knight.

Halo Knight looked at him, looked at the confetti, and cocked his head in confusion. He then shrugged, resuming his attacks. But his gravity rings didn't get far. Whenever one of them hit a piece of confetti, the tiny scrap of paper would shoot up or fall to the floor, and the ring would immediately break up. He made an infuriated noise and shot more of them, but the confetti was falling like snow and getting in the way.

Angel strode right up to Halo Knight and wing-swatted him. Halo Knight flipped head over heels, and while he caught himself by creating an anti-gravity ring, Angel continued to wing-swat him. Every time he did it, he stirred up the falling confetti and sent it swirling through the air. Halo Knight couldn't fight back. He tried to fly clear of the "confetti storm," but Angel quickly angled above him and wing-swatted him into the floor.

In Angel's very first fight with Halo Knight, he'd lost more feathers than he usually did (he'd been frantically fighting for his life), and one of them had blocked a gravity ring. His feathers were small, and the gravity ring had just barely touched it...but the ring still broke up and vanished as soon as it affected it. It was the same with the confetti. Once a gravity ring came in contact with something physical, it made it heavier or lighter and promptly disappeared. So, if you could fill the air with objects, no matter how tiny...

There'd really been a lot of confetti in that netting; it was still falling. Halo Knight used a ring to pull himself to his feet, but Angel kept slamming his wings into him, pressing the advantage for all it was worth. In another thirty seconds, the confetti would all be on the floor. Yeah, his wings could still kick some of it up, but not enough to block all of Halo Knight's gravity rings. Angel needed to finish this now.

Come on, come on...go down, already...

The last of the confetti was falling. Angel was completely focused on Halo Knight, and he didn't feel the thing that was bumping into his ankle. His cape twitched in a defensive way. Then, a series of point-blank electric jolts coursed through him, and his entire body tensed up. Angel must have been hallucinating, because there was a toy tank attacking him. Halo Knight threw a wild, desperate punch with his left hand-or rather, with his left glove, which had partially melted and hardened into a club-like stump. The deformed glove smacked him right in the chops. It wasn't enough to knock Angel down, but it created some distance between the two of them. Halo Knight used the opportunity to turn and fly off.

For somebody that's supposedly willing to die, he sure does run away a lot.

Angel snarled, kicked the tank away, and pursued Halo Knight. His body was getting lighter, but it still felt heavier than normal. The electrical jolt was making his body tingle with pain, one of his wings still ached from getting hit by that weight, his back and front hurt from slamming against the ceiling and the floor, and the helmet head-butt had given him a headache. But at least he was in better shape than Halo Knight.

Unsurprisingly, Halo Knight headed for the nearest stairwell, going down to the lowest level. He didn't have that much of a head-start, and Angel was faster with the cape on...but he still too fast for Angel to catch. Angel cursed himself. He'd only had one job, and he'd screwed up. Now, Daredevil would have to fight the soldiers and Halo Knight, and Angel would have to find a way to make up for it.

Angel felt the noise of the generator wash over him. Amazingly, about half of the soldiers were down, while the other half were trying to either swarm Daredevil or shoot him. The vigilante seemed to have a sixth sense: he knew exactly when to dodge the beams, even the ones he couldn't possibly have seen. Daredevil was holding his own, but Angel could tell that he was wearing down. He wasn't as quick as he normally was. Also, though there were fewer soldiers, they seemed to be more effective, somehow. With only half of them left, you'd think that they'd be less formidable...but Angel hadn't been there to distract them or shoot at them, so they were able to focus completely on Daredevil. And the smaller numbers meant that they weren't getting in each other's way as much.

Halo Knight made a beeline for Daredevil, aiming his free hand. Daredevil's back was to Halo Knight, but he immediately turned around, somehow able to sense that he was there. He casually flipped away from the gravity rings. A few of the soldiers got hit instead, and they crumpled to the floor.

Come on, Warren, clean up your mess.

Angel swooped down, scooped up a pair of blasters (they must have been dropped by some of the injured-or-unconscious soldiers that were lying around), and angled toward Halo Knight, firing. One beam missed, and one hit. Halo Knight jerked and kept going. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Daredevil gesturing, and he immediately knew what he wanted him to do. Angel strafed the soldiers with both blasters, hitting some and scattering the rest. Meanwhile, Daredevil did something unusual: he got one soldier in a headlock, wrapped his legs around another, and fired his billy club's grappling cord at Halo Knight. It wrapped around one of his ankles. With the two soldiers weighing him down, he had Halo Knight caught. Halo Knight twisted around awkwardly, firing gravity rings, but Daredevil was literally jerking him around, so his aim was off.

While Daredevil did that, Angel kept shooting at the soldiers. It wasn't working well enough, though-there were still too many of them. The soldiers were starting to close in around Daredevil, who was struggling with Halo Knight, and Angel was having to dodge beams, himself. He wanted to shoot at the sitting-duck Halo Knight, but he was afraid to turn his back on the soldiers for even just a second.

No, no...we'll never even get the chance to deal with the generator, we'll be killed before it comes to that. God. Naturally, the one time I actually want a miracle, it's nowhere in si-

A flurry of green beams was launched from elsewhere in the room, but they weren't aimed at Daredevil or Angel. The General's troops suddenly found themselves under attack from the rear. Whoever it was, they were an incredible shot, picking off soldiers left and right. Angel scanned the room and found him immediately: some tough-looking man in civilian clothes had grabbed a pair of blasters and was fighting his way through soldiers. When the green-clad goons tried to converge on him, he engaged in some Captain-America-style moves to defeat them. The man didn't seem as naturally acrobatic as Daredevil, but he was strong and fast, and he looked like an out-of-this-world fighter, too.

Oh, great, the CIA assassin is here. But I guess miracles are miracles, even if they aren't quite what you hoped for.