Laserdream took off when Clark finished his explanation of where he saw Night. She did not ask how he came by this knowledge. She did not ask why he told her. She just took to the sky. Going to save people and fight evil. Some shame at his earlier thoughts of this city's heroes crept into Clark's heart. Despite their odd confrontation, despite the animosity she had shown him, Laserdream thought nothing of abandoning her obvious investigation to save lives.
Clark had a strange feeling of admiration that he shoved away as he started to sprint. He kept his eyes trained on Night, even though it made it harder for him to run. His ears would have to guide him as much as his sigh. He did not know what he could do against a supervillain like that, but he knew he had to try. He had to warn the Shusters. He had to get everyone in the building to safety.
The street itself lay deserted. No wind, no obstructions from the pure moonlight above. Two of the buildings to the side of the red brick apartment complex had fallen into such disrepair that no one dared live inside their ruins. The structure across the street - the Golden Grotto - had been luxury once, many years ago. Now, it just remained a place that charged slightly more than Tevye and his family could afford. In contrast to the faded elegance of the Golden Grotto, Tevye's home lay in 'Little Warsaw', though few Polish immigrants still stayed in the complex. Night traced her hand across the lettering that displayed the apartment's name. She knocked on the apartment's front door, though no one approached. The villain stepped back from the entrance, by the dumpsters and refuse that littered the street.
A blast from Laserdream took Night almost by surprise. The Empire cape managed to dodge the hit, disappearing behind a nearby large pile of old trash. Laserdream gasped as Night disappeared from her view, and a smoke bomb hit the ground where Night hid. Clark kept eyes on her through it all, the strange villain still not understanding why her power did not work. A flashbang sailed out from the cloud of smoke. Laserdream incinerated it with a blast from her fingertips, causing the explosion to happen in midair. Dazed, she flew back and up a bit in an attempt to keep her distance.
Despite the clear night and the lack of clouds, a fog began to roll in on the other side of the street. The rats who made their homes among the refuse had their skin peeled away by contact, until nothing but small skeletons remained. Laserdream saw the deadly mist and threw up one of her red forcefields to contain it.
Clark ran towards the fight.
The fog congealed in certain spots, forming human fists and arms. The appendages floated in the mist. Disconnected from any torso or form. Made from the fog of death itself. They struck the forcefield. Shattered it. The arms moved with the cloud of fog itself, upwards and onwards. Towards the New Wave cape. Arms reaching out, grasping, grabbing. Another field formed by Laserdream. Another strike from the arms to break through it. Again and again. Laserdream continued to back away, but her abilities could only do so much. A stream of light emerged from her fingertip. Where it should have collided with one of the disembodied arms, it found only empty air instead. The limb formed once more, wagging a finger in a mocking motion, as if to chastise the teen for her attempt.
Clark tore his long vision from the doom that approached Laserdream, back to Night. The woman fell in the air, before she hooked herself onto a window's ledge. She had transformed in the brief moment he had been distracted. The bodies of two ABB thugs slumped against an open window, their weapons on the ground. A hole had been torn through the torso of one, continued on through the floor and into the apartment below. The other lay in two parts, ripped asunder by Night's other form.
The building was waking up, shouts and cries of distress throughout. Clark could hear Tziporrah grabbing a kitchen knife, Tevye searching for his old service pistol, Chava grabbing a bat. Some members of the building began to run outside at the commotion. Night shouted in German. Some quick sentence that Clark did not understand, but the sentient mist did. A tendril of fog snaked through the air like a tentacle from some eldritch beast. The tendril pierced through the mouths of those who fled through the door. One after another as they pushed and shoved and tried to live. The tendril of fog wove through open mouth after open mouth. Screams turned to gasps, a howls of fear into quiet sighs, as those the fog touched collapsed like puppets with their strings cut.
More German words from Night. Whispered into a phone. No hint of urgency, no pleas. A casual conversation, if stilted.
A few more attempted to run, a few more added to the pile of bodies the fog had created. Laserdream tried to fight it, but attacks with flashbangs and thrown weapons from Night made the heroic cape divide her attention.
Clark ran on. Too far away. Despite the fear of the situation sapping any exhaustion he should feel, he was still too far away.
The glass on the entrance door shattered, destroyed by debris from one of Night's weapons being struck by Laserdream's blast. Screams grew louder. No one besides Clark could see Night, as the villain threw down another smoke bomb. She look visibly frustrated that she could not shift into her more monstrous form, whirling about, searching for the one who watched her.
A shout from Tevye made Clark look away for a moment. The Shusters stood in the hallway with the surviving population of the building. One of them had taken a rifle from the dead ABB thug upstairs, others armed with tools and whatever they could find. Conventional weapons that could do nothing against the deadly mist.
A cry from Laserdream brought Clark's attention back to the blonde - blood streamed from her shoulder. Night had landed on top of a dumpster, and rolled over it to hide. The transforming cape must have managed some glancing blow in her other form while Clark was distracted. Laserdream whirled mid-air and fired off light at Night's hiding spot, none of the shots hitting the other cape.
The fog curled behind her, a tendril reaching up.
He could hear the dying.
He could hear the pain.
He could only watch as one of the few decent heroes he had met would die.
Watch out!
He felt muscles ripple in his throat even as his lips stayed still. Laserdream whipped back to the fog as if she had heard, a hasty shield thrown against it. She flew higher still, looking about in confusion.
Behind the dumpster!
She did not react for a few moments - yet she flew to the other side of the dumpster and sent a blast at Night. The Nazi dodged with less than a second to spare, her cloak now spotting a burnt hole.
Fog at the door!
Laserdream moved faster than the last time, a shield thrown up before the apartment door. The mist changed course and moved directly toward her instead, the heroine floating higher than it as she pushed more of her weak shields against it. Once more, the arms would break through each red forcewall without much effort.
Super-ventriloquism. The words leapt to his mind, unbidden. Taken from the deepest recesses of memories he had. He remembered some certain friend, older and wiser, speaking to him from far away. Teaching him how to communicate over long distances with loud forces between them. Telling him not to hang out like.. Like a lump? Memories of helping people, of trying to be a hero, memories of a girl, memories of -
Just as quickly as the past flashed through Clark's mind, it disappeared. He remembered no more. What weak and fragmented memories he had clung on to allowed him enough knowledge to use this ability, as little as he knew of it.
Right behind you.
He spoke into Night's ear. She threw another flashbang behind her - she was running low.
Missed me.
A thrown trash can lid that impacted the dumpster where he had projected his voice from. Clark still heard the desperate battle of Laserdream and the mist, but he had to trust the more experienced hero to keep it contained. Maybe Oni Lee or Lung would arrive to help. Maybe New Wave, or the Protectorate. He just had to keep Night occupied.
I can see you. Oh, well I guess you already knew.
Night pirouetted in her heels, blades and objects thrown in a circle around her.
You'll have to try better than that.
Night stood in place. Her cloak flowed about from her former movements. She screwed her eyes shut, and put an arm over her face. Before Clark could puzzle out the change in tactics, an explosion of light rocked the street. Screams and wails filled his ears, Laserdream's cry among them. Clark could hear each and every person on the street that had been affected by the burst. Sobs, exclamations of confusion, the thuds as people fell or missed a step. Dozens of eyes burned blind.
Purity had arrived.
Laserdream slammed against the ground, clawing at her face. Clark was still a few minutes away, no matter how fast he ran. He could hear the sounds of sirens. The tell-tale rev of Armsmaster's bike, it's vibrations different from any of the other vehicles in the city. Radio chatter from the Wards, some heroes named Gallant and Glory Girl on their way. He even heard someone rousing Lung from his slumber, the gang boss grumbling as he awoke. None of them would be there fast enough.
Tevye would die.
Chava would die.
Tziporrah would die.
Crystal would die.
Clark hoped that his stupid and lame ventriloquism could help, and made a guess.
I know where your family is.
The words were whispered into Purity's ear. She flipped around with a cry, beams of pure, intersecting light fired into the distance. Night looked up, the deadly mist paused in it's inexorable flow towards in incapacitated Laserdream.
I can see them right now. Sleeping peacefully, missing 'Mom'.
Clark saw Purity's true face beneath her light, though he could not recognize it. She looked like dozens of women he had seen on the streets. All of this was guesswork he prayed would pay off.
Tick. Tick. Tick. How much time do you have?
Purity turned around again, another one of her blasts barely missing the mist. The fog condensed rapidly, forming a strange man. He called up to Purity, once more speaking in German.
Oni Lee made it too quick with Rune. But he can enjoy himself now. Dull the blade. Extend the suffering.
A barely human screech of pure rage erupted from Purity, another massive beam pointed to where Clark had projected his voice. He was close to the street now, only a few blocks away. His eyes went back to Night, the woman dropping out of her inhuman form as she sprinted towards the other unknown cape. No, not towards him. Towards Laserdream.
A beast like you, and you cannot protect a single child
Another guess. One that seemingly failed, as Night continued her run towards Crystal. The heroine scrubbed at her eyes, another yelp of pain as she tried to look about.
A failure at your job. A failure of all your duties. They'd be disappointed in you, y'know.
That finally got Night to stop and try to find the source of the voice. Night, the strange mist man, and Purity all were yelling at each other now, Purity in English, the others mostly in German. Clark was close now. He started down an alleyway, and up a fire escape adjacent to the street.
He brought his voice back to Purity's ear.
Tick tock, tick tock. Oh, the wonderful screams they make.
Another incandescent scream of rage from the incandescent cape. Purity ignored the two beneath her and flew off into the distance. One down. Two to go. Night and the stranger exchanged glances, a quick conversation taking place between them. Clark had reached the top of the fire escape - only two stories up, but high enough to have a vantage point. The PRT and police sirens wailed, growing closer by the minute. A bit longer. Only a bit longer, he had to distract them. The strange man turned to fog once more, floating away at a speed too fast for any natural mist. Night approached Laserdream. She pulled one of the remaining items from her bandoleer. A knife. A knife in her hands, raised high.
Wasting time, are we?
She ignored his voice. He had used it too much as a distraction without payoff, and she had figured out he could do nothing.
Right behind you!
Clark felt like a ghost. He had used his ventriloquism too much, and now the villain understood his weakness. She drew closer still to Laserdream. He could not move his eyes away, or she'd just transform and kill Crystal quicker.
Night plunged the knife down towards the cape.
Clark scrabbled about with his hands, trying to find something on the roof to throw at her.
A gunshot rang out.
Tzipporah stood in the doorway of the building, smoking gun in her hand. Tevye's old service pistol. Her arms were steady, as she pulled the trigger again and again. Bullets slamming into Night. The cape threw her cloak up in an attempt to be hidden once more, but Clark kept his gaze steady. Tzipporah emptied the pistol, the gun clicking as she continued to pull the trigger. She held it up, unsteady. Some of the bullets had hit the wall behind Night, but most had hit the cape. Clark watched as she twitched in place. The PRT would be here soon, he had to disguise himself, or come up with an excuse. He couldn't be caught twice coming back in the nick of time for a cape attack on his family. Too suspicious, too coincidental. Eyes still trained on Night's convulsing form, Clark peeled off his jacket and hat, unwrapping his face. Tossing his 'costume' under a pile of trash on the roof, he sped down the fire escape as fast as he could move without looking away from the dying Night.
Tzipporah fell to her knees, dropping the gun. Sirens grew louder and louder still. Clark moved, running in the darker areas, the street lit by little more than candles still in apartments and the moon itself. Those in the building themselves were either blinded, hiding in fear, or trying to make sense of what had happened. A confusion Clark took advantage of, coming in from a direction he hoped no one could see. Coming close to Tzipporah, helping her up, seeing the cuts from broken glass that covered her arms and legs. She welcomed the aid, staggering to her feet. Clark realized he had looked away from Night, and whipped his head towards where she had fallen.
The villain had disappeared.
A loud noise from outside, as Glory Girl landed with a thud against the street. She looked about for the villains, before her gaze landed on Laserdream. Glory Girl zipped over to the fallen heroine, who still rubbed her eyes, moaning in pain from her bent position on the ground. She must have been injured from the impact of being thrown by Purity's blast.
Another hero touched down outside, the man in knightly armor raising a hand towards Clark, Tzipporah, and the others in the building. Saying something about how they were safe now, how everything was under control. Clark couldn't parse out the words, his ears filled with the voices of all who had been injured in the attack. He had not done enough. He had to do more. His voice projection trick would only do so much.
Tzipporah gestured back towards the crowd of people on the floor, her mouth moving, but Clark still struggling to isolate what she said. He followed where she pointed, finding Chava and Tevye on the floor. Chava rocking back and forth, hands over her face. Tevye's eyes staring sightlessly against the wall.
Sirens grew louder still, the authorities stopping outside. Armsmaster and the PRT. The other hero - Gallant - speaking to them. Glory Girl jetting off into the sky, Laserdream in her arms.
A victory. A weak, pathetic victory. Corpses from the fog still littered the apartment entrance. The building had sustained damage from both Purity and Night's other form, not to mention stray shots by Laserdream.
Clark sat by Tevye and Chava, embracing them. Telling them that it would be alright. He felt his worry and fear weaken in strength, Tzipporah joining them. He should feel rage, he should feel shame at his weakness and failures.
Yet as he hugged the Shusters, all he could feel was relief. They had survived. They had lived. That small victory was all he could have hoped for.
They lived.