Natalie

Natalie frowned, shifting her grip on the phone she was speaking into. "You're sure it's because of the medicine?"

"I'm sure," the man replied. Jim - one of Natalie's newer patients. "I tried going off it for a a few days, when the migraines got really bad, and they stopped. But I know I can't keep doing that."

"That... yeah, I can't recommend that," Natalie agreed. "I can look for alternatives, but..."

"I told you about the thing I used to be on, right?" Jim asked. "Until the pharmacies ran out of it."

"Yeah, that would be the cleanest option, but..." Natalie sighed. "I still haven't found a way to make it properly in my lab. I'll give it another shot, but I don't know if it'll work. In the meantime, I can get you something for the migraines. No extra charge."

"Okay," Jim said. "That's something, at least. Thanks, Sirona."

"We can save the thanks for when it works," Natalie replied. "Good luck with everything."

Natalie sighed again as the call ended. She wasn't trained for this, not really, she'd just been a pharmacy technician, not an actual doctor. She made the best guesses she could, and it seemed to be going well for most of them, but...

Regardless, she was all they had. And she was determined to do whatever she could.

From another room, Tameka cursed - then a second time, more emphatically. That doesn't sound good.

Natalie pocketed her phone and followed Tameka's voice. "What now?" she asked.

Tameka was staring at her computer, her face grim. "Labrys is in open rebellion. They picked a fight with Cygnus and the bluecapes, and killed Rudianos."

Natalie's eyes widened. "Rudianos? You're sure?"

Tameka nodded. "There's photos of the body, it's pretty gnarly. I can pull one back up, let's see..."

Natalie put a hand out in a stop gesture. "No, I'll... take your word for it. Are the others okay?"

"For the most part," Tameka said. “Cygnus says he’s on his way to the bluecapes’ HQ with Fenrir, Seraph, and Flashstep. Fenrir has an arm transformed, somehow.”

Natalie blinked. “Is… is there a risk of her going berserk again?”

“Fenrir doesn’t think so,” Tameka replied. “But Rudianos said he could keep control of the meeting with Labrys, and look how that turned out. Sometimes assumptions are wrong.”

Natalie groaned in agreement. She adjusted her lab coat, and sat down across from Tameka.

“I have patients in Labrys's area,” Natalie said. “We need to keep contact with them.”

"Absolutely," Tameka agreed. "Hopefully the others can stop Labrys soon. If not, we can step up our relocation efforts."

It’s not ideal. But maybe it’s the best we’ve got.

It was frustrating. Natalie didn’t fight, her role as Sirona was to keep civilians healthy. But the fighting always complicated her work.

Footsteps came from down the hall. Natalie turned to face them, as Brian arrived.

“Special delivery!” Brian called out. He opened his jacket to show the revolver holstered at his hip, then took off the gun and holster and held them out.

Natalie took them. “Glad it worked out. I can hold onto these.”

“Is it for you, or…” Brian’s voice trailed off.

Natalie shook her head. “Cygnus. These things are awful, but he thinks he might need it. Speaking of which, how’s the other project going?”

“Almost finished,” Brian replied. “At least, according to the specs Cygnus gave. Dunno if it’s sturdy enough, but he’s the physics guy.”

“Good,” Natalie said. “Hopefully we won’t have to find out.”

---

Isaac

We'd gathered in the bluecapes' HQ. I was uneasy with the arrangement, and Cygnus seemed to feel the same way - but they needed our help, and we needed theirs.

My oversized wolf arm ached, like something was constantly gnawing at it from inside. I shifted around in my seat, trying to find a comfortable way to position it. There didn't seem to be one, and my attempts just got me wary looks from the others.

Seraph stood in front of a wall showing the map of the city. She wore most of her costume, but had removed her mask, like everyone else who'd shown up with one. Flashstep pointed his phone's camera at her.

"Labrys has betrayed our city," Seraph announced to the camera. "During a conference today that aimed to address their recent acts of harassment against Cincinnati's trans community, they launched an attack, and murdered Captain Rudianos. This will not go unpunished."

Seraph took a breath, then continued. "As Rudianos's second in command, I, Seraph, now oversee Cincinnati's protection. I assure you that despite what Labrys will claim, we have been working to fight misogyny and homophobia, and we will continue to do so. Labrys's philosophy is not about fighting bigotry, it is about perpetuating it, and that has no place in our city. Nor do their direct acts of violence against the city itself."

You know their philosophy was always like this, right?

"Labrys operates primarily out of the Third District," Seraph said. "Anyone living on the west side of the city should be especially careful until we have resolved this matter, and I promise you, we will. We will bring Inferno to justice, along with anyone continuing to help her in endangering our city." She paused, looking like she was trying to figure out how to end the message. "In the meantime, stay safe, wherever you are."

Seraph nodded to Flashstep, who lowered his phone and started typing on it. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

"Now that that's taken care of," Seraph said, addressing the group this time, "any news?"

Alongside Seraph, Flashstep, Cygnus, and myself, four others had joined us. Three of them were capes: Chroma, who could shoot lasers with a variety of colors and effects, Neodym, who could apply magnetic charges to metal near him, and Mirage, who could create illusionary duplicates of herself or others. The fourth, a man named August, oversaw Cincinnati's militia, minus Labrys's now-rogue subset of it.

"There's reports of at least five of Cybermind's drones," Cygnus reported. He'd been relaying info from Tameka. "Sounds like they're spread around the west district, like you said."

Chroma spoke up. His outfit had a rainbow of colors, in tie-dye-like spirals. "Five? Can she control that many at once?"

"I doubt she could do it manually," Cygnus said. "But she could have some flying on autopilot, or in the hands of militia members. Either way, they might be even more trigger-happy than normal."

"We'll have to stay ready for that, then," Seraph noted. "Fuck, what a mess."

"It was inevitable," Cygnus remarked. "Not to insult the dead, but Rudianos tried to play the good cop keeping the bad cops in line. That never works."

Seraph scowled. It wasn't the most polite thing to say, but it didn't look like she could argue with it.

"However it happened," she said, "now we need to deal with it. They were already powerful, and with their new tech, they're even worse. We don't have a lot of ways to deal with fire, my power sure can't hit her if I can't get close."

"My wolf form can handle heat," I pointed out. "I could go after her."

Glances went around the room. No one seemed to like that idea.

"That's a big risk," Cygnus said, glancing at my arm. "We've seen what can happen if you transform in a fight you can't win. And we still don't fully understand your power."

"Can we afford to not take that risk?" I asked.

"If we send Fenrir untransformed," Flashstep suggested, "we can still use the threat of her transforming to help back them into a corner."

Because they'll definitely back down rather than take a stupid risk. Sure.

A frown formed on Seraph's face. "That's... not safe, but it could be an improvement, at least. We can keep the option in mind, at least. As for the rest of us... We'll still need people hanging back in case Hamilton shows up again. Neodym and Mirage can cover that."

Nods all around.

"We'll need rest first," she continued, "but I want us to make our move tomorrow. In the meantime..."

---

Once the planning finished, we went our separate ways for the night. Seraph offered to let us stay at the bluecapes' HQ in case something came up, but we declined. We had our own team to get back to, and while we'd ended up on better terms with the remaining bluecapes than previously, that still had limits.

As Cygnus went off to talk to Sirona about something, I used my one working hand to return to my messages.

carlos: they could just be held up with something

carlos: hopefully theyll be back soon

madison (she/her): hope youre right :/

Isaac (she/they): ywah i'm alive

Isaac (she/they): just been bust

Isaac (she/they): busy

madison (she/her): everything ok?

Isaac (she/they): big pocture no

Isaac (she/they): but i'm ok personally

Isaac (she/they): for now atleast

madison (she/her): thats good

Isaac (she/they): anyway what;ve y'all been up to

Could slow down and try to type like normal, but... ugh, why even bother. I stretched my wolfish right arm out to the side, then let it drop back down to the floor. I was exhausted, too exhausted to even care about the questions that might come up. Would it even be that bad if they found out?

carlos: had another long day at the hospital

carlos: so thats been fun

Isaac (she/they): nurse's gring, huh?

carlos: yeeeep

madison (she/her): i havent had much going on

madison (she/her): just catching up on some shows i guess lol

Isaac (she/they): guess that doesn't take s long now

madison (she/her): not really, theres some good stuff still going though

carlos: people always gonna make art, huh

madison (she/her): thats for sure

Eventually, the exhaustion won out, and I let sleep claim me.

---

I stood in a desert, open far in all directions. I was in the same body as I'd fallen asleep in - Joan's, with the werewolf arm that had left me struggling to find a comfortable way to position myself on my cot. And if I was able to think about all that without breaking the dream, that meant...

"Isaac, I cannot recommend this course of action."

Pandora's voice, from behind me. I turned around to face her.

"I have to do this," I said. "I can't just let them keep hurting people, not when I can help stop it."

"We can stop this by dealing with the seal," Pandora argued. "There's another crack across the river, near the city you know as Lexington. Go there, don't get yourself killed here."

What, NOW you want me to be careful?

"I'm not going to abandon Cincinnati to vigilante TERFs," I hissed. "I'm not gonna get myself killed, not for real. I'll deal with this, then go to Lexington."

"Do not underestimate Inferno!" Pandora snapped. "You saw what she did to Rudianos, didn't you? She can hit hard enough to kill your wolf form, and you won't come back from that. Don't jeopardize everything over the fate of one city!"

I glared at her. This was getting a lot less pleasant than our previous talks. "Maybe this looks small to you, but it still matters. I promise, I'll finish helping you with the seal, but I'm not going to drop everything else that might get in the way!"

Pandora reached for my shoulder - the left one, the one that was still human. "Isaac, listen to me. I see where you're coming from, but-"

I shut my eyes and willed the dream to end. Pandora's voice grew distorted, the feeling of her touch faded. I reopened my eyes in time to see everything dissolving into static.

A moment later, I was back in my cot. I felt around for my phone, checked the time. 4:07 am. Ugh. I groaned, flopping back down and begging my brain for a normal rest.

---

The next morning, Cygnus and I returned to the bluecapes' HQ. Seraph was waiting there, joined by Flashstep and Chroma.

"Looks like everything's in order," Seraph said. She glanced to a nearby bench. "The suit you wanted is over there, it should match the specs you gave."

The suit in question was nemenon in my current size, with the right arm cut off. Putting it on proved to be a challenge, but I managed to fit into it without causing much damage. Like when I'd fought as Sonicboom, I put my regular clothes back on over it. Not like anyone's gonna think I'm a normal cape this time.

When we were all ready, the five of us moved out. The militia followed, but at a distance - no one expected that they'd be more than cannon fodder if they were dragged into a cape fight.

Cygnus, Flashstep, Chroma, and I moved on foot, while Seraph flew above us. We reached the edge of the area the drones had been patrolling, making our way through one street, then another. Our target was their headquarters - Cybermind's lab was there, and probably also whatever computers she was using to pilot her drones. Either we'd get to trash it, or they'd have to fight to stop us.

Seraph spoke through her headset to the rest of us. "Drones incoming. At least two of them."

We slowed down, sticking closer together as we'd planned. We waited, and...

ZZZT! FWOOSH! Noises rained down towards us as the drones opened fire. Seraph flew towards one of them, as Chroma raised his palm and sent a red beam towards the other visible one. The same moment, Flashstep's hand grabbed my shoulder, and the world disappeared in yellow light.

We reappeared about a block away, Cygnus in tow. Flashstep had limited range and he couldn't use his power too many times in a row, so we couldn't do that forever, but there wasn't much point in having us stick around against drones we couldn't counterattack.

Now to see how far we can get before more trouble shows up.

Cape alarms were going off around us, now, and the few people outside started fleeing indoors even before we got close. Ahead of us, a car pulled over and a man jumped out, then headed to the trunk to try to drag a heavy-looking box out of it.

Dude, just leave the box and-

KRA-BOOM!

Something crashed down from above us, exploding into a wave of flame. Secondary explosions followed, as the flames reached the fuel tanks of the cars nearby.

I staggered back, away from the heat. A hand grabbed for me, missed, and disappeared in a burst of light. Flashstep, I realized, and he'd taken Cygnus with him. Whoops.

The two of them reappeared a ways down the street. A figure emerged from the middle of the initial explosion - Inferno. She chased after the pair, as they rounded the corner.

Hopefully they can stay out of trouble. In the meantime, that just leaves...

With a thump, Artemis dropped down from the building net to me. She met my eyes, or as close as she could through her usual silver helmet.

Artemis leveled her right arm at me, aiming the energy cannon strapped to it. "You," she spat.

I charged forward, raising my wolf arm as I approached its slashing range. Silver light burst from her wrist laser, striking me in the chest, and I stumbled as scorching pain radiated through my whole body.

"Fuck," I huffed out. It's fine. I can handle pain. I can handle anything.

As I hesitated, Artemis leapt into action. Before I could blink, she was in front of me, swinging an armored fist at my face.

WHAM! My neck turned to the left as metal slammed into my nose and cheek, and I tasted blood. I felt blood, dripping down my chin. This isn't going we-

Her other hand grabbed my left shoulder and shoved downward, knocking me off my feet. I crashed to the ground, my ass and back joining the rest of my body in agony.

Artemis's armored boot came down on my stomach, and she stared down at me. "Consider yourself under arrest for invasion of Labrys's territory. You gonna make this easy from here?"

Fuck no.

I slashed upward with my wolf arm, but the angle was poor. Artemis leaned back out of the way, and caught my wrist with an armored hand.

"Of course not," she growled. "Fine, then."

Her other hand joined the first on my massive arm, and she stepped off my stomach. She pulled up, lifting me off the ground, then swung me over her. I crashed back down to the ground on the other side, on my stomach this time. The boot came back down onto my back, pinning me as she held my arm behind me.

I could hear sounds of fighting, but they weren't close. Whatever the others were up to, it was a ways away from us.

"Had to..." I gasped. "Had to try."

"You try all sorts of bullshit," Artemis hissed. "I've been a cape for months, you know. Been a woman my whole fucking life. But you're determined to make a mockery of all that."

"Wholly by... by accident, I assure you," I grunted out. "But I'll take it."

A sound of disgust was her only reply. I felt one of her hands leave my wolf arm, then grab at the shoulder of my bodysuit, where it had been cut away to fit my partial transformation. My head was craned in the wrong direction to see what she was actually doing. After she withdrew her hand, there was a scraping sound above me, then the hand returned to my wolf arm.

The other hand let go, and-

SCHKT! Something stabbed into my shoulder, right where my human flesh met the wolf's fur, and I screamed in pain. Sickening ripping sounds followed as the blade moved back and forth, cutting away more and more.

After a few agonizing cuts, the blade withdrew. Artemis tossed something to the ground in front of me - a huge, furry arm, blood pouring out of the shoulder. It didn't feel like it could be mine, I could still feel pain radiating down every inch of where my arm should have been, but there was no mistaking it. Moments later, it began to crumble into ash.

I started to feel light-headed, as blood poured out of my shoulder. And as my body grew weak, something stirred within me once again.

With Artemis's boot still on my back, still forcing the breath out of me, my voice was barely above a whisper.

"Bad... idea."

My body was holding itself together by scraps, and I let go.

The wolf burst out of me, leaving more ash behind. As I regained my bearings, I noticed that Artemis's foot was no longer on me - she must have gotten thrown off when I transformed. But I was still lying on my stomach. I put my arms under me, and...

Huh, only one arm. My right arm was missing, although at least my shoulder was no longer bleeding. Guess injuries carry over from the partial transformation. My other werewolf transformations never seemed to retain any injuries from previous ones, so hopefully I'd get the arm back next time I took the form.

For now, one arm would be enough. I got back to my feet, and my eyes found Artemis, standing a few yards away. A blade extended from the back of her left wrist, blood dripping from it. She raised her energy cannon once again.

Now I have an excuse to kill you.

I charged forward, this time barely even noticing the pain of her silver laser. Compared to what I'd just been through, it was nothing. I drew back my arm, and slashed towards her face.

Artemis pulled back, but not far enough. My claws dug into her helmet, cutting through metal, glass, and flesh.

"AAAAAAAAUGH!" Artemis howled.

Lacking another arm to follow up with, I kicked instead, sending her sprawling along the sidewalk. The claws on my feet were shorter than my hands, but still enough to pierce her stomach armor and draw blood.

As I advanced, Artemis staggered back to her feet. She slapped a hand down over the part of her face I'd slashed - over the spot where her right eye had been.

But while she was freaking out over that, she wasn't defending herself. I raised my arm again, and-

A flash, from behind her. Something exploded in my face.

I spent a few moments reeling from the hit, then regained my sight enough to identify the source. A drone.

Cybermind's voice boomed out of the drone's speakers. "GET AWAY FROM HER!"

I dashed forward, through the spot where Artemis had been, and leaped towards the drone as it fired again. My claws caught one of its wings, and it fluttered off course. With another jump, I caught it in my palm, and shattered it against the ground.

Now I just need to... wait, where's Artemis?

She'd bolted, while I was busy with the drone. I ran to the end of the street, looked around... nothing. The sounds of fighting had faded, leaving me with no idea where to find the others.

I needed to transform back, and I didn't know how much time I had. Gotta be something I can...

My eyes fell on the cars Inferno had torched earlier. There was something near one of them, I crept closer to check.

The idiot who'd tried to get the box out of his car. And looking him over... yeah, he was dead. Sucks to be him, but lucky me.

I didn't really want to go back to a masculine body, though. Maybe if I looked around more, I'd find others?

No, that would be fucking creepy, not to mention the time limit. Better to keep my cannibalism relatively equal-opportunity.

I bit into the guy's charred corpse. Different flavor from the uncooked people I'd eaten, I couldn't help but notice. Maybe with the right seasonings... no, I did not want to think about this. Hope he at least signed up to be an organ donor.

When I finished, I shrunk back down into the guy's body, then looked back around. The sirens had stopped, I realized. Most likely, the others had retreated, which suggested I should do the same.

I began to retrace my steps, heading back the way I'd come.