1.18

"This is a terrible idea." Krieg said.

We hit a stoplight and he turned around in his seat to glare at us. I was reminded uncomfortably of getting yelled at by Dad when I was a little kid. As it was, being sandwiched between Michael and Runechild in the backseat was awkward enough.

"We'll be fine." I said through Michael. "We're going to look for a few hours, and then we'll head back."

Krieg's frown deepened. "Now is not the time, Taylor. I'm trying to put together a game plan for tonight, and you're running off to chase Chinese ghosts."

"I'm Japanese, jerk." Runechild muttered. "And my sister is not dead."

"You don't know that." He said. "You don't know a damn thing. This is a wild goose chase and I don't appreciate it."

The light turned green and Krieg stopped talking for a moment. Once we were safely through the busy intersection, he continued.

"My life is on the line here, Taylor." The leather of the steering wheel creaked as he tightened his grip on it. "You understand that, right? If anyone finds out that I'm backing Allfather, I'm dead."

"I promised Noriko that I'd help her look. We can afford to spend a few hours on that. I mean- it's not like you need me until later, right?" I said.

"Yeah," Runechild seconded. "We were just going to lay around all day anyway. I want to find Setsu."

Krieg grumbled what sounded like curses under his breath as he wove through a thick line of traffic. We were headed into the Docks, and I could already see the buildings changing. They got older, but also less nice as we went. Krieg's neighborhood was on a whole different social layer than these homes.

"It's not like I have better things to do than play carpool. I'm only about to stage a takeover of the most prominent white supremacist group in America, no big deal." Krieg said sarcastically.

"How much work could it be for you?" I countered. "Allfather is doing all the work. It's not like you're the one who has to fight Kaiser."

"I'm the one who's got to pick up the pieces afterwards. Do you have any idea of what the average cape is like? They're lunatics. I've got to keep the gang together and stop them from going berserk when Kaiser dies."

An uneasy silence fell over the car as Krieg navigated through a construction zone. It was something to wonder about though. With the exception of Michael, all the capes I'd met so far had been a little cracked. It was going to be a strange run as a ghost if everyone I met was as unbalanced as Skidmark or Allfather. Granted, I liked Allfather a lot, but he was still a nutjob.

Where did that leave me? I was a cape too. Was my revenge complex really any different from Allfather's? Was I just as crazy; just as damaged as my ghosts were?

"Turn right here and it's a couple blocks down." Runechild said. She motioned toward a side street and Krieg turned.

Michael tugged on my sleeve. When I looked over, he pointed excitedly out the window at a woman walking her dogs. Even after we passed her, Michael turned in his seat to watch.

"Maybe if you're lucky, there's a dog ghost out there." I said.

He smiled at me, and I was suddenly glad that he was mine.

"Please, Taylor. Just try to be back as soon as you can." Krieg said. "Allfather would agree with me. We can't have anything go wrong-"

His phone rang. The tinny little jingle filled the car. Krieg steered briefly with his knees while he fished around in his pocket for the phone.

Runechild and I sat quietly as he talked. After a bit, she nudged me and pointed at a restaurant as we passed it. I could tell that we were getting into the Docks proper now. The restaurant's sign was written all in Hangul, and there were a couple old men playing Go at the table out front.

"Setsu worked there for a month before she joined the ABB. They've got great chicken." Her smile faded slightly. "Or… they did."

"We could stop there later." I said. "It might be fun."

Runechild shook her head. "Too many memories. Just being on this side of town is weird. Like… it was like I was just here yesterday, and everything has changed."

She pointed at the burnt out husk of another building. "Mr. Kenta lived there. Setsu invited him over for dinner a couple times, so he had us over too. And… there- that's the park where I practiced teleporting at night. Hee Young lived on that street. She was my first friend here and-"

Krieg swore explosively, and we both jumped.

"What the fuck do you mean 'all of them?!' Who? The Protectorate? No- not the Protectorate, moron. You think they'd kill everyone? Christ. You- just- just get everything you can carry, and head over to the storehouse on 15th and Maple. You know where that is? No- I don't care, just do it!"

He hung up and tossed the phone into the passenger seat. Then he pulled into an empty lot. It looked like we were behind an abandoned store.
"You need to get out here. I've got to go clean up a mess."

"What happened?" I said.

Krieg rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I don't even know. That was one of my lieutenants. Apparently someone hit one of our storehouses. Said it was a bloodbath." He snorted. "Right. The ABB haven't made their move yet, and word is that they're still not ready, the Merchants are gone, and this isn't the Protectorate's style. Unless the Slaughterhouse Nine are in town, the stupid bastard is probably just high. But I've still got to go see. My cover depends on it."

"You want us to take a bus back?"

"I could teleport us." Runechild suggested. "I need to set up cards to this part of town anyway."

"That works." Krieg opened his glove box. "Take this just in case."

He handed me a cell phone. It was an odd weight in my hand. I hadn't used a cell phone in years, and nothing like this little smart phone.

"That's a burner. My number is in there. Call me if you need a ride."

Runechild took the phone from me and slipped it into a pocket on her utility belt. We got out of the car and waited as Krieg turned the car around. As he passed us, he rolled down the window.

"Taylor, if anything- anything happens to delay you, call me." He looked coolly at Runechild. "You… don't ruin this for me."

Runechild glared back.

"What a shame that would be. Because I'm so worried about your Empire."

Krieg sneered at her. The expression turned his paternal features into something ugly; almost vicious.

"Then let me make this clear to you, chink. Blow my shot at the top, and we'll see if you can't die again."

With that, he tore out of the parking lot and down the street. Runechild scowled at the car until it was out of sight. There were spots of color high in her cheeks and her usual smile was nowhere to be seen.

"Sorry." I said. "He shouldn't have said that."

"Don't. Just don't, Taylor." Runechild snapped. "It's the same stupid crap I put up with when I was alive. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of them!"

She turned and stomped off across the parking lot, and I hurried to catch up. I let Michael fade away. Two ghosts at once was a little tiring, and I didn't need him at the moment.

"What did you expect, Taylor? He's Empire. They're not all gonna be your knight in shining armor like Allfather. And he's no better to begin with."

I didn't have an answer to that. I couldn't answer, because the meaning behind my words would always come back to me choosing the Empire over her. My greed over what was right.

"Sorry." I said anyway.

"Sorry doesn't make it okay." Runechild snapped. She hoisted herself over a short chainlink fence in our way.

"Where are we going anyway?"

The fence was short enough that I could vault it easily, but some of the fabric on my costume hooked on the top and I got stuck.

Runechild looked back, sighed, and came to help me.

"Our apartment is over there." She said. "The one Setsu and I lived in."

We pulled my sleeve free and set off again. Runechild was so fired up that she managed to outstrip me, even with her shorter legs. She talked rapidly as she walked.

"Okay look, I didn't tell you because I forgot. But you need to know before we get there."

Runechild took a deep breath.

"My sister had powers."

I helped her climb over a fallen tree as I thought about it.

Her sister had powers. I hadn't expected it, but it wasn't really unbelievable. After all, didn't powers run in families? Allfather's kids both had powers, and I recalled Krieg saying something about his niece being a cape. I wanted to ask her which cape Setsuna was, but it seemed like a sensitive subject so I settled for something else.

"You're worried that I might have to have her as a ghost?"

Runechild glanced back, and then slowed her pace to match mine.

"Valk, that's not it at all. I'm worried because we might have to fight her. She was… at the end… I didn't tell you about her powers because I didn't think of it. I only found out right before it happened."

I hesitated. "Runechild, did she… use her powers on you?"

She was quiet for a long moment, before nodding.

"People were getting hurt, and I wanted to stop the person responsible. So, Detective Wickman and I went looking and… we found Setsu." Runechild sniffled, but gathered herself. "I couldn't believe it. It was like… it was like she was someone else. Like the Setsu I knew was just a fake."

"You feel like she betrayed you."

"I just- I want some answers, Valkyrie. I need to know why."

We made our way through a couple of backyards before cutting through a small grove of trees. Sunlight shone down through the leaves, dappling our clothes with patterns. The bright morning sun felt almost inappropriate when we were talking about such things.

The path through the grove came out on a narrow side street. It was deserted; the sidewalks and yards empty. I was privately glad for the solitude. Runechild's insistence on us doing this in costume had been that it would attract attention, and Setsuna might notice. But frankly, walking around in costume was embarrassing.

"There." Runechild pointed to an apartment complex across the street from us. It was a towering brick building wrapped around a courtyard. I knew at a glance that it was low income; there were dozens of similar buildings scattered across town, all in sketchy areas. It wasn't a kind observation to make, but I noticed all the same.

We crossed the street in silence.

Inside, the lobby was dimly lit; the desk empty. A single elevator faced us from across the lobby. There were a couple of ABB gang tags on the wall, and it looked like more had been painted over.

"I know it's not very nice." Runechild said. "But it wasn't really that bad. Better than most of the places Setsu and I stayed."

"You moved around a lot?"

"Before Brockton Bay, we just bummed around across Asia. Lots of people did it after Leviathan."

There was an uneasy twist in my throat as I thought of that. Runechild couldn't have been more than a young girl when Leviathan struck. I didn't think she'd lived in Brockton Bay that long; meaning that she'd probably spent years traveling around with Setsuna.

"That sounds hard." I said lamely.

She shrugged. "It was lonely. Setsu was always working, and a lot of times there weren't any other kids around, so I was alone a lot." Her voice dropped a little. "I'd make up all sorts of pretend games to play."

I hit the elevator button, still digesting what Runechild had said. She'd gone through Leviathan, and then lived for years as a refugee, only to be murdered by the one person she cared about. She deserved better. It wasn't fair for her to die so early. It wasn't right.

The elevator rumbled, and then dinged over to 'Out-of-Service.'

We both groaned.

"Stairs?" I asked.

"Here." Runechild opened a door adjacent to the elevator. It was dark, barely lit by orange safety lights. Flight after flight of stairs spiraled endlessly upward.

"We're at the top." She said.

Of course they were.

We plodded up two floors before she spoke.

"This'd be easier if my runes were still active. I used to have one at the top and one at the bottom because the elevator broke down a lot."

I glanced up the stairwell. The ceiling was lost in the gloom, far above.

"Too bad neither of us can fly." I mused.

"Maybe your next ghost will. And if you're really lucky, you'll get someone who's not a Nazi or… whatever Skidmark is. Somebody nice like Michael. Because I… oh."

She seemed to realize what she'd said and fell silent.

Runechild had just implied that I should be excited that someone had died. My power relied on death. Getting a nice ghost only meant that someone nice had died. Runechild was 'somebody nice.' She knew exactly what it was like to be on the receiving end of my powers.

I wanted to collect more ghosts. I did. I really did. But I had to remember that I was collecting people. No matter how many blissful thoughts I had of "more ghosts, always more more more," I had to keep my perspective on what that meant.

"Sorry." Runechild said very quietly.

"It's okay."

The conversation died after that. We marched along through the orange glow of the lights, alone with our thoughts.

By the time we reached the sixth floor, I was glad that I couldn't get tired. I stopped to check, and groaned when I saw we weren't even halfway there. Why was there only one elevator in this stupid place?

The swish of a cloak brought me back to reality. Runechild had kept walking while I stopped, and was now a full flight of stairs ahead. I sped up to catch up to her. She looked back, and then sped up.

What was she doing?

I went a little faster. She sped up.

This went on for two more flights, with her steadily pulling away from me.

What the hell was her rush? She'd been alright with walking until now.

A giggle sailed down the stairs to me, and I looked up to see her leaning over the railing, looking down at me.

"You're looking pretty gloomy back there, Valk." She grinned. "So… Race ya!"

Oh, she couldn't be serious.

She bolted up the stairs, gleeful laughter echoing behind her.

"If you win, you have to take me to meet Mouse Protector!" She shouted.

"I don't even know where we're going!" I yelled back.

I couldn't help smiling, though. She'd probably gotten tired of all the seriousness and decided to have fun. What an unrelentingly optimistic little brat.

I pounded up the stairs, my cloak whipping behind me. She was quick, but I had the advantage of longer legs. I took the stairs two at a time. Ahead, I caught a glimpse of Runechild, her legs working like pistons as she ran.

"If I win, you have to…" I couldn't think of anything. "Do something- uh- dye your… costume red and be Little Red Riding Hood!"

Fuck. That was a terrible penalty.

"Doesn't matter cuz I'm winnning! She called back.

I ran harder. Neither of us got tired, but I wasn't all that fit to begin with and she was downright nimble. Also, she was cheating. I managed to get within a flight of her, only for her to toss a runecard across the stairwell to the next level. With a pop, she was an entire landing and flight of stairs away from me.

Two could play at that game. I called Michael and Skidmark to me. Skidmark looked confused, but Michael broke into a run at once.

"The fuck is this? Are you chasing little girls now?" Skidmark said. He started up the stairs behind me.

"Beat Runechild up the stairs and I'll give you something!" I yelled back at them.

Skidmark grinned his tombstone smile. "I want a gold-plated Hummer, and you change your name to Skinny Bitch."

I was about to reply in the negative when Michael blew past me. He was older than I was, taller, and probably in better shape, but I hadn't realized how big a gulf that was. He left Skidmark and I far behind in no time. Above, I heard Runechild squeal with fright. From what I could feel from them, Michael had caught up with her.

A door slammed, and I dashed the last stretch as quick as I could. We'd run all the way to the top floor. There was nowhere to go but into the hallway.

I opened the door to find a very disappointed little girl. Michael was his usual blank self, but I could tell that he'd won.

"Cheater!" Runechild shouted. "No fair!"

She said it with a smile, and I knew that she was joking.

"What does he win?" I said. "Michael?"

He pointed down the hall. There was a tabby cat pawing at one of the apartment doors.

"Go ahead." I said.

Michael hurried over and scooped up the cat. It squirmed in his arms, but he whispered something to it, and it settled. Within seconds, it was purring happily in his arms, its eyes closed.

Huh. That was twice now that Michael had reacted to animals without my control. I guess that he liked animals enough to keep doing it even as a shade. It was kind of odd that he retained little traces of himself, rather than just being an extension of me.

"Valk, can I?" Runechild said, dancing a little as she looked at the cat.
"Michael?" I asked.

Michael moved forward so Runechild could pet the cat also. Skidmark limped up the stairs behind me, panting.

"How are you tired?" I said incredulously. "You can't get tired."

"I can do whatever the oozing fuck I want, whitebread." Skidmark grumbled. "And personally? Fuck that noise."

"That doesn't make sense. Maybe you should-"

I staggered; suddenly aware of how cold I felt. Weak. Insubstantial. Michael pushed the cat into Runechild's arms and caught me.

"Valk?!" Runechild cried.

The ghosts gathered around me and…

The ghosts.

I unsummoned Michael and Skidmark, leaving Runechild to hover over me.

"Are you okay?!"

"Hold… on."

Slowly, the cold receded, and the room stilled. Everything became clearer. Less confusing. More real.

"Valk?" Runechild said again.

"That was stupid. So, so stupid."

I'd channeled three at once and drained too much energy. Stupid. I'd gotten so caught up in our game that I hadn't even been paying attention. My stocks were replenishing, but the process was slow. Like waiting for a trickle to fill a bathtub.

"Okay, I'm good. Let's keep going." I lied.

Runechild frowned, but I steadied myself. I wasn't going to embarrass myself by delaying her just because I couldn't keep a handle on my powers.

"Really. I'm okay. It just made me a little dizzy. See- I'm not even transparent."

I pulled aside the wrappings on my fingers so she could see. I still felt less real, but I wasn't so weak as to go transparent.

"Okay… I lived over there." Runechild said slowly.

She kept watching me, and I shooed her on.

The hallway ran twenty feet and then turned a corner, a small window illuminating the hall. It wasn't overly filthy, but it wasn't well-kept either. The whole place held the air of casual neglect.

"There." Runechild whispered, her hands trembling. "36-B."

It was just around the corner.

And the door was ajar.

We moved forward silently. She crept along the wall, holding her cloak up so it didn't drag. I followed close behind, doing likewise. I don't know why, but we'd both started sneaking.

Just a feeling, maybe.

Runechild reached the door, and peeked around the frame. She drew back instantly with a gasp.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"Oni Lee!" She hissed.

What?! Why would Oni Lee be here?

I slid past her and peered into the apartment.
It was dark; lit mostly by the light coming through the open door. There was a kitchen in an alcove, and a small hallway leading to what I assumed was the bedroom. The main living room was small and sparsely furnished. Old food wrappers and empty bottles littered the surfaces and floor, and the whole place smelled vaguely like sour wine.

And standing dead center was Oni Lee. Our only saving grace was that he was half-turned away, using his cellphone. There was no mistaking him. His costume was unremarkable - black pants, combat vest, lots of knives, but his mask… No one else would dare wear a Hannya mask in Brockton Bay.

"We need to go." I whispered at Runechild.

"Setsu might be in danger."

"That's Oni Lee! He'll kill…" I trailed off.

He couldn't kill us. We were already dead.

Runechild smirked at me. "So there's nothing to worry about."

"I'm still kinda shaky. I think we should fall back and-"

She stepped into the doorway and kicked the door open.

"Halt, villain!"

"Dammit Runechild!"

Now I had to back her up. I stepped up behind her.

Oni Lee reacted instantly. With one hand, he slid the phone into a pocket on his vest; with the other, he drew a combat knife. He stepped back, dropping into a half-crouch.

"Runechild, how are you going to fight him?"

She had no weapons at all. All I had was my knife, and that felt very small compared to Oni Lee's vicious looking combat knife.

Runechild clenched her fists. "What did you do with the woman who lived here?"

Oni Lee stayed silent.

"Answer me!" Runechild yelled.

Something blocked the light behind me, and I dodged without thinking. Another Oni Lee embedded his knife in the doorframe just as the one in the room crumbled into ash. The new Lee let go of the knife and backhanded me. His fist hit the cloth-covered part of my face, and I felt it.

It didn't hurt, but I felt the force of the blow all the same. I bounced off the wall, reeling.

"Valk!" Runechild cried. She kicked Oni Lee in the kneecap. He ignored it and decked her in the face. She cried out as her mask spun away across the floor. Another Oni Lee appeared behind her and grabbed her. The first Lee pulled his knife from the doorframe and advanced on me.

I scrambled away, the wall the only thing keeping me from falling.

Holy shit, I was in a cape fight. A cape fight with Oni fucking Lee. It might have only been some weird, imaginary sensation caused by my powers, but in that moment, my heart was pounding, and my hands shook with the adrenaline rush.

"Help!" Runechild gasped from where Oni Lee held her. The Lee menacing me forced me a dozen feet down the hall before it disintegrated.

I was in a cape fight with Oni Lee, and he had Runechild as a hostage. He couldn't technically hurt her, but if she got injured, I'd probably go down from the energy loss. What was I supposed to do here? I couldn't fight Oni Lee on my own.

I needed help.

"Allfather, to me!"

The edged shard erupted from my power. His armor glinted in the sunlight as he faded in, standing at my side. The apartment hallway was suddenly much more crowded.

"I'll be your opponent." Allfather said.

Space rippled in front of him, swords appearing from nowhere.

"Don't move." Oni Lee said, pressing his knife against Runechild's throat. She squeaked with terror.

Allfather laughed. "Oh no, a hostage."

He shot a sword at Lee. It pierced through Lee's shoulder, barely missing Runechild. The duplicate Lee disintegrated instantly. The burst of ash left Runechild coughing, moving blindly into the hall. Another Lee lunged out of the apartment at Allfather. Sparks flew as the Lee's knife hit Allfather's armor.

Another Lee came at me. He was agile and I was clumsy, and he easily dodged my wild haymaker. His attack was almost too fast to register. I felt the knife's edge for the barest second as it hit my costume. But as soon as the blade cut through, it passed through me harmlessly. Lee glanced at the bloodless knife and my ripped sleeve, and then crumbled into ash. A new Lee immediately stabbed at me from the side; swinging more cautiously, probing with his attacks.

Ghost powers or no, I didn't want to risk Oni Lee suddenly figuring a way to stab me. I scrambled away down the hall. Behind him, Allfather was dealing with two more clone Lees. A fourth Lee appeared down the hall, raising a pistol.

"Look out!" I shouted.

The gunshot were deafening in the narrow hallway. The Lee fired again and again, blue smoke hazing over his end of the hall; each shot like a thunderclap. The gun clicked empty, and the gunman Oni Lee disintegrated. The rest of the Lees fell apart one by one.

Allfather snarled angrily, holding his chest. Two little chunks of metal fell to the floor in front of him, but I could see holes in his armor.

Before I could stop it, energy rushed down our connection, filling Allfather. His shard pulsed, and then began to repair itself. The holes in his breastplate filled in and the bullets in his chest ejected, falling through him to hit the floor. I could feel the repairs; his heart and lungs returning to normal, his skin sliding back together.

No blood flowed in his veins though. His insides were just imitations; given form mindlessly by my powers. It didn't matter if they didn't do anything, my power still repaired them.

Allfather coughed once, and then nodded to me.

"Hell of an ability." He said.

I staggered, and he caught me. Repairing him had taken a lot of energy. It was like all the fatigue I hadn't had from running the stairs had hit me all at once.

"Easy, Valkyrie." Allfather said.

"Where's Runechild?" I gasped.

"Here!" She cried.

We looked, to find Oni Lee standing down the hallway, his knife at Runechild's throat again.

"Again? She's not much use, is she?" Allfather said dryly.

Oni Lee ignored our attention. He was looking intently at Runechild, holding her face up so he could see her.

"You… you're... Aida-san." Oni Lee said. His voice was flat, affectless behind his mask.

Runechild went white. "No! You're wrong! I'm not her."

How did Oni Lee know Runechild? Her mask wasn't much of a disguise to begin with, and she'd lost it during the fight. And Lee knew her well enough to recognize her immediately.

"No," Oni Lee said firmly. "You are Aida Noriko, Setsuna's sister. She's been looking for you."

She stared up at him. Her lip was quivering, and her short pixie cut was a mess with ash and dust. It struck me then how young she was. Too young for any of this.

"Let go of her!" I yelled at Oni Lee. I didn't care if he couldn't hear me.

Allfather relayed it in his own words. "Let go of the girl, Chinaman."

He raised a fist, and more swords split the air. Oni Lee didn't seem perturbed by having an entire armory pointed at his face.

"Aida-san will accompany me to see her sister." Lee said. "Valkyrie will come as well."

Like hell I would.

"Ask him why I have to go." I said to Allfather. He repeated the question to Oni Lee.

"Valkyrie will come because Black Kaze has business with her concerning Aida-san." Lee said.

Black Kaze? Nobody was talking about Black Kaze though. If-

Oh.

Oh shit.

Runechild's sister was Black Kaze. The Black Kaze. Runechild had withheld the last piece of the puzzle, but I should have figured it out. Runechild was a teleporter. Her sister was ABB. Once I'd known her sister had powers- it should have been obvious! Black Kaze was the only female cape in the ABB, and a teleporter to boot.

"Who?" Allfather said. He sounded as confused as Runechild looked.

"A supervillain." I said. Hysteria edged into my voice. "Runechild's sister is a supervillain. Why didn't you tell me, Runechild!? Black Kaze is a psycho!"

'Psycho' was putting it lightly. The last couple years had been marked by a long series of headlines about Black Kaze. It was never 'Lung did this,' or 'the ABB did that.' No. It was always Black Kaze, center stage for some new atrocity. Oni Lee was almost as bad, but Black Kaze was flashy. Cape-killings, assassinations, wanton, brutal murders. She did them all, and she did them bold.

The way I guessed it, the only reason she hadn't been Birdcaged yet was because of how infrequent those headlines had gotten recently. She'd just stopped showing up, and had largely slipped out of the public eye. Maybe she'd just gotten tired of it, or maybe Lung had made her tone it down, I didn't know. But she was still out there.

Runechild sagged, and Oni Lee pulled the knife away from her throat. He eyed it for a moment before sheathing it.

"I didn't know her cape name. It figures though…" Runechild said. "I'd hoped so badly that she would have moved on."

"She has not." Oni Lee said flatly. "Black Kaze evidently decided that finding you was important enough to slaughter her way across Empire 88."

"What?!" Allfather snarled, his voice tight with anger.

Lee turned to address him. "Yes. She went missing last night. I came here to search for her, only to receive a phone call with her location shortly before Aida-san interrupted me."

"Setsu," Runechild moaned. "Oh Setsu. How could you?"

Oni Lee took Runechild by the arm.

"We will go now." He said.

"Not a chance!" I shouted.

Runechild might not be able to teleport free, but I could do the next best thing. I severed my connection to her. Runechild vanished instantly; her shard returning to my power. Oni Lee stepped back in surprise as I resummoned Runechild beside me.

Allfather raised a fist, ready to fire, when Oni Lee put his hands up in surrender.

"I'm no longer interested in fighting. It would be in your best interests as members of the Empire to come along. Black Kaze is erratic at the best of times, and her sister has always been a point of contention for her."

"Explain." Allfather growled.

The web of swords surrounding him vibrated with suppressed rage. He was seconds away from just cutting Lee to ribbons, regardless of what Lee said.

"Yours and Aida-san's presence may be the only thing that keeps Black Kaze from destroying your Empire. She will keep killing until she gets what she wants."

Lee said it in the same monotone he said everything in. It was almost eerie. I expected him to be excited about someone defeating the Empire, but he said it like he was discussing the weather.

"Valk, I… I want to go see Setsu." Runechild said.

"This is probably a trap." I said.

"Maybe." She shook her head. "I have to go anyway. Not just because I want to see her, but because I can't let her hurt anyone."

"This is definitely a trap." Allfather interjected. He turned to me. "We're going anyway, aren't we?"

I nodded. "Runechild's right. We can't let Black Kaze hurt anyone."

Allfather huffed exasperatedly. "Heroes."

Runechild sniffed, and wiped her eyes with her cloak.

"It's not fair, Valk. Setsu was a good person, but we're going out there like she's a mad dog!"

"We'll… we'll help her get back to normal." I said consolingly. "That's what we do right? That's my role as a hero. I've got to help you help Setsuna."

My reassurances sounded hollow. I didn't want to help Black Kaze. She was a monster. Not just for what she'd done to Noriko, but for all the things she'd done as a supervillain. I didn't want to help her at all- I wanted her dead. The world would be better off without her.

"Valk, I- I just hate it. I hate this whole damn thing." Runechild said. Her mouth twisted bitterly. "She suffered her whole life, and for what?"

Allfather cleared his throat, interrupting her. "People are dying. We need to wrap this up."

"Let's roll." I said. "We can-"

Direction. Force. Flight.

The words died on my lips.

I felt it. A touch against my power.

Pulse. Reaction.

Like hearing a once familiar voice that was now half-forgotten.

The song rose high and sweet, ringing across the city.