Radha

Radha groaned as Monica dabbed at the right side of her face. Where Fenrir had... fuck.

"I'm gonna kill him," Radha gasped. "For real, this time."

Camilla spoke up, from the left side of Radha's bed. "We don't need you losing another eye. Leave Fenrir to me."

Radha flinched. Wonderful, another blow to my pride. "Fine. Ugh, can I even shoot like this?"

"You don't need to stay like this," Monica said. Her hand withdrew, then reappeared holding a small metal ball, with a lens on one side. "You know how I've been looking into medical tech? I put this thing together a couple weeks ago. Should solve your problem."

Radha fixed her eye on the prosthetic. "Does it... work?"

Monica pulled back the metal eye. "Dr. Lee says it should, and she told me she could install it if we needed. Want me to call her?"

Radha scowled. Not very convincing, but... "I need to get back in action as soon as I can. Let's do it."

"Great," Monica said. She'd taken off her gloves, and now held her phone. "BRB."

As Monica exited the room, Radha's eye settled back on Camilla.

"Wasn't a total loss, at least," Camilla remarked. "Flashstep couldn't keep dodging quick enough. Blew off his left leg."

"Is that how we're doing this?" Radha growled. "Trading parts of our bodies for theirs? We need to do better than that!"

"You think I don't know that?" Camilla retorted. "I'm doing fine, don't blame me for you screwing up."

Radha looked away, glaring up at the ceiling. I know, I just... ugh.

Before long, Monica was back. "Lee's getting her stuff. Says she can start in an hour."

"Good," Radha said. Anything to get this fixed up already.

---

Radha's vision swam, the world returning to focus. Or... half the world, anyway. The right side of her vision was a blinding mess of overwhelming colors - Radha tried to squeeze her eyes shut, but it only blocked out the left half. Whatever was left of her right eyelid wasn't enough for her to close it, wasn't enough to block the piercing light.

"Are you okay?" A voice, concerned. Not one of her partners. The light was too distracting for her to hear properly, but it must have been Dr. Lee's.

"It's so bright..." Radha groaned. "How do I..."

She tried to lift her hand to cover her face, but it felt sluggish. Dr. Lee put a hand on her wrist, guiding it back down.

"Don't touch," Dr. Lee said. "Cybermind, you can adjust it, right?"

"On it," Monica replied. The sound of tapping followed, and...

The light dimmed, no longer unbearable. Shapes slid into view. Did that fix it? Radha opened her left eye, then felt a wave of vertigo as the two halves of her vision stood mismatched, the right still bright in comparison to the left.

She shut the eye again. "Better, but still too bright."

The light dimmed more. "How's this?"

Opening her left eye showed a room that was now brighter than the right side. "Too dim, now. Go back a bit."

It took a few more rounds to get the sides as closely matched as they could, which gave Radha the chance to finish waking up. The right side was still a bit dimmer, but she could deal with that, she decided.

"I'd really rather be able to adjust it myself, you know," Radha said. "And to, you know, be able to close the eye."

"I'll try to put something together next chance I get," Monica replied. "We're working with what I had on hand, it's lucky you've gotten this much so fast. Unfortunately, now is... not the easiest time for me to take new projects."

"Speaking of which," Dr. Lee added, "you're not done healing. I've left instructions with Cybermind on how to safely remove the prosthetic and clean under it. You'll also want to be careful not to reopen the wounds."

"I have a job to do," Radha hissed. "I can't just sit around while those fuckwads come after us."

Dr. Lee put up her hands in surrender. "I know, and I'm glad you're doing it. Lord knows my husband could stand to listen better to the things you girls are saying. I'm just saying, do what you can."

Radha nodded. "I'll try. Thanks, Doctor."

Dr. Lee stepped back from the bed, and Radha's attention returned to Monica.

"So," Monica began, "about our next steps..."

---

Isaac

I stood awkwardly by the door. What was even an appropriate thing to say in this situation? Sorry your leg got blown off while I was busy fighting Artemis? I'd been doing what I was supposed to, but it still felt weird.

"I'll be fine," Flashstep was saying. "I can teleport, remember? Just need a good prosthetic and I'll be back in action."

"What you need right now is rest," Seraph replied. "I'm sure you'll be fine soon, but even with my healing, your body's been through a lot."

"I know, I know," Flashstep said. "Just sucks, is all."

I'd told the others about my fight with Artemis - there was no hiding my new body - but hadn't mentioned the specifics of how I'd transformed. Seemed rude to talk about regenerating limbs right now.

I wasn't sure what had been the name of the idiot I was wearing now, and I hadn't tried to find out. Guess I'll need to help Seraph identify the body at some point, I owe him that much. Too many identities to juggle, I was starting to forget my old face.

Eventually, Seraph declared that we should give Flashstep a chance to sleep. I followed the others in wishing him a fast recovery, and we filed out to reconvene in the bluecapes' usual meeting room.

"So," Seraph announced, "baiting Inferno didn't work. Flashstep's power wasn't enough to stay safe from her, and now he's out of commission. We can't leave things as they are for as long as he'll need to recover."

"At least Artemis should be down, too," Chroma remarked.

"I doubt it," Cygnus said. "She's gotta be itching to get back into battle, no matter how dumb it'd be. Especially since she has fewer teammates to pick up the slack."

"Either way," August added, "what the hell do we do about Inferno? If you want me to send the militia after her, I can tell you now, most of them are just gonna run."

"Inferno is a problem," Seraph agreed. "After talking more with Cygnus, I believe our best option is to have Fenrir engage her directly."

"Is that... safe?" Chroma asked. He glanced at me. "No offense, Fenrir, but..."

"No, it isn't," Seraph replied. "But it's the best option we've got. We cannot have a repeat of today. Next time, we need to win."

Not that I disagree, but what the hell did Cygnus say to her?

"I'll do it," I said.

---

Once again, the plan was one night to rest, then fight again the following day. We won't be in our best shape, but Labrys won't, either.

Back at the Alchemists' base, Cygnus spent a while pacing around, before joining Sirona on the couch and putting on his usual video game.

Tameka was at her computer, setting up communications for tomorrow's battle. Brian was nowhere to be seen.

"He's running errands," Cygnus vaguely replied when I asked, before turning his attention back to the game.

On the screen, his character sidestepped a ball of psychic thunder, then ran to the spot Sirona's character was falling towards. He slashed up once, twice, three times, and Sirona's character flew off the screen.

Like the two of them, I didn't have much I needed to do to prepare. I wouldn't even be fighting in a human body, this time. Which meant no nemenon, if Seraph would even have offered more after seeing how easily I could lose it.

When I went to bed, I felt a presence, reaching out towards me. An image of Pandora, a sour look on her cosmic face. I could have taken hold of the connection, opened my mind to hearing more from her.

I didn't.

Just one more day.

---

Andre

Another day, another fight. Andre took his place in the new formation as they set out, now just himself, Fenrir, Chroma, and Seraph.

Fenrir was in the lead, in the body of the man she'd eaten yesterday. She didn't seem to think highly of the guy, but Andre was hesitant to judge. No way to know what the contents of the box might have meant to him.

Hopefully Labrys would also have less to throw at them. Between Fenrir and Chroma, they should have lost three drones, but they might have spares to bring out. And then there was the question of Radha, which... ugh.

In spite of everything, he hadn't wanted her to get hurt. But keeping her from hurting others was more important than that. He could only hope it had been enough.

The end of the previous fight replayed in Andre's head, over and over. Flashstep getting him out of the way of Inferno's blast, and taking the hit in the process. He didn't doubt Flashstep's assurance that he'd be fine eventually, but even so...

And what about the rest of us?

The group entered the occupied area, taking a different route to avoid being too obvious. A voice from a speaker suggested it hadn't helped.

"You don't know when to quit, do you?" Inferno snarled, her voice booming down from somewhere above the group. "We will fix this city. Stop throwing yourselves away just to slow us down."

Chroma raised a hand, firing three beams of red light at the sides of the buildings above. One of the objects he'd hit sputtered out a static noise, then went quiet.

"Fuck off!" Chroma called out to the sky.

"Get ready," Seraph said, floating a few feet above Andre and the others. "Won't be long now before-"

FZZT! FZZT! FZZSSSH!

A storm of lasers swept across the group, from above and ahead. A flash of silver from further down the street showed who'd fired one of the beams. As Chroma and Seraph searched the sky for drones, Andre drew his whip, and he and Fenrir dashed forward towards Radha.

She really is still fighting. And even still using her lasers?

Even with armor, the burns weren't exactly pleasant. Fenrir had it worse, but she seemed increasingly unconcerned about getting hurt. Which, admittedly, had good reason.

Radha backed up as they approached, and Inferno appeared by her side. At that cue, Fenrir bit down. She'd been keeping a pill in her mouth - something Labrys wouldn't be able to stop.

Andre fell back, watching as Fenrir collapsed. Her body crumbled into a pile of dust, and her werewolf form burst out with a roar.

Letting out a furious scream, Radha fired at Fenrir, sliver light slamming into the wolf's face. Or whatever Radha had fired, given that light wasn't supposed to work like that.

Fenrir slashed towards Inferno, as Andre closed in on Radha. Inferno dodged Fenrir's swing, then sent a burst of flame back at her. As the two of them turned their attention towards each other, Andre struck with his whip, and Radha jumped out of the way.

Inferno backed up, shooting flames at Fenrir as she evaded each of her strikes. As the two fights separated, Andre ducked behind a truck to take cover from Radha's lasers.

"You don't want to do this, Keisha!" Radha called out.

Andre felt himself tense, then took a breath to steady himself.

"No," he replied. "I really do."

---

Isaac

A wave of fire washed over me. I roared in reply, then slashed down towards Inferno.

She hopped back, and pointed a hand at the ground between us. Small explosions erupted below her hand and foot, propelling her into a flip that carried her the rest of the way out of my reach. It reminded me of Nitroforce's power, but much more controlled.

As I closed in again, the glove on Inferno's hand began to hiss, glowing the same way it had before she'd killed Rudianos. I can't risk getting hit by that.

I turned my right foot as it hit the ground and kicked down, redirecting my lunge to the left - away from that glove. Inferno turned as well, using her power to jet herself forward as she reached for me. I swung back with my right hand to intercept, deflecting her hand away as the fiery BOOM erupted.

Most of my body was fine, but my hand stung - the claw on my middle finger had snapped off in the blast. First blood to her.

I wasn't used to facing opponents this fast, this good at keeping up with me on their own. It was exhilarating, but I couldn't afford to treat it like a game. Too much at stake, both my own life and anyone else Inferno might hurt.

The nice thing about all this moving around was that we were getting further and further from the others. Meant I didn't have to worry about Artemis shooting at my back, and could focus on my real prey.

It also kept Inferno from having to worry about Cygnus, but I didn't think he could cause as much trouble for her as Artemis could for me, so the exchange seemed to work out in my favor.

Inferno's biggest moves always took time to recharge. Before she could do it again, I went on the offensive, driving her further back and drawing a red line across her right leg. I swung again with my left hand, and Inferno deflected it with an explosive punch, throwing it back with enough force to feel in my shoulder.

She can't keep this up forever. But neither can I.

---

Radha

Radha advanced carefully towards the truck Cygnus was hiding behind. Gotta set up a clean shot, without getting in range of his whip. HER whip.

That range was about ten feet, Radha was pretty sure. The whip wouldn't hurt her, not directly, but even one hit from Cygnus's gravity power could be trouble.

As Radha reached the back of the truck, a whump came from the other side, and the truck skidded towards her. She put out a hand, stopping it. Shouldn't it be too heavy to... oh. Right.

The sound of footsteps pulled Radha's focus back from the truck, just in time to duck away from the whip hurtling towards her. It cracked uselessly against air, but Cygnus jumped back to cover as Radha returned fire.

This is a waste of time, and ammo. Radha grabbed the hood of the truck and vaulted up to it, denting it with the weight of her armor. Cygnus came into view, running along the side of the truck, closing the distance between them. Cygnus swung the whip as Radha fired, and the closest few feet of the whip disintegrated.

Cygnus pulled back what was left of the whip, turned, and bolted. Radha fired again, this time grazing Cygnus's side. Damn eye. Not used to it yet.

Radha gave chase, following Cygnus onto another street. Cygnus approached the scaffolding of a construction project that had been stalled for months, then jumped weightlessly into it.

Too much cover to aim properly from outside. Radha aimed the grappling hook mounted on her left arm and fired, latching onto the scaffolding about a floor above Cygnus, and pulling herself up. It creaked under her weight, but didn't give way.

You think this will help? It won't.

---

Isaac

Inferno's glove let out another hiss. As I backed off, she lowered her hand, aiming at the ground between us, and jumped backward.

The blast launched her into another flip, this time with the force of whatever the glove did to concentrate her power. Inferno soared upward, high enough to stick the landing on a nearby one-story roof.

My eyes scanned the building, looking for the best way up. Was she trying to get away? No, she was just standing there, waiting.

"Well?" Inferno called down to me, spreading her hands to her sides. "You wanted to hit a feminist, didn't you? You gonna back off, just like that?"

That's not what's going on here, you asshole!

Maybe I wouldn't need to climb after her. I grabbed a sign - "Speed Limit 25" - and turned back to throw it at her. She casually ducked to the side, and the sign crashed against something on the other side of the building.

"Now you're just causing property damage," Inferno taunted. "And you'd call yourself different from other men?"

As if you haven't done worse.

Still, trying that again would only serve to make more trouble for people living here, and waste time I couldn't afford to lose. I got a running start, then jumped, catching hold of the edge of the roof and digging my claws into it.

Another hiss, as her glove glowed again. She bought enough time to reuse it. I scrambled up and dived out of the way as Inferno reached for me. The roof's slant throw off my footing, and I ended up closer than I'd planned.

BOOM! A searing pain bit into my left side. I swung at Inferno, forcing her to fall back, and glanced down. A chunk of fur and skin had been blasted away, and blood dripped down to my leg. Not a direct enough hit to cause serious damage, but it still fucking hurt, and further hits to the spot could get a lot worse.

I lunged forward again. Inferno jumped back to the edge of the roof, then did another flip off it, using her flames to propel herself to the next building. Her jumps looked a bit off, ever since I'd cut her leg, but not enough to keep her from getting where she wanted.

I paused, gauging the distance, the way I'd need to move on the sloped roof to follow her. Why is she fighting like this? With all this running, she can't be confident that she'll chip away at me fast enough to win before I go berserk.

...Because she WANTS to run out the clock. To hell with everyone else here, if it'll give her a better shot at me.

I didn't know how much time I had left, but if she wanted to waste it, I couldn't let her. I dove forward, across the gap.

---

Andre

Andre walked across his level of the scaffolding, noting the movements and sounds of the metal around him. He imagined it as a collection of diagrams, showing the forces on different parts of the structure, the shear and bending moments of the beams.

He didn't have long to make his estimates. Radha was already moving.

Andre ducked below the stairs to the level above, just as silver light began to shine down. The first beam missed, melting a hole in the floor where he'd been. He could hear Radha clanking around, moving to a better vantage point. No point in sticking around for that.

He darted forward, away from where she'd be able to reach from the hole between the levels. As Radha descended, Andre lowered his own gravity again, then jumped onto the bars to the side and started climbing up the outside of the structure.

Two levels up, he came back inside. Radha had started moving back up, and Andre wasn't interested in getting shot at while climbing.

As he'd hoped, the scaffolding didn't look especially well secured to the attached building. Cutting corners had become increasingly common, and it looked like some beams had weakened or loosened while construction had stood incomplete for longer than it was supposed to.

Bad place to make mistakes. Someone could get hurt.

Andre started taking the stairs, using his decreased weight to bound up several at a time. He kept an eye out for weak points, places where the structure didn't look as well supported. Radha's clanking followed, at about the same pace.

After a couple more levels, he spotted supports that looked worse off than the others. Probably not gonna get better than this.

He sent his power out through his feet, increasing the weight of the floor to two, three, four times what it had been before. As Radha emerged from the stairs, he dove back out through the bars to the side, then put a hand out to grab back on to the bars two levels below.

It wouldn't be enough to just increase the weight of the upper floors, the scaffolding was built to distribute their weight evenly. The real trick was to pull it off balance.

Andre sent more of his power into the outer bars of the scaffolding. When Radha's feet came back into view, he dropped again, and repeated the process. As he approached the limit of how much of his power he could use at once, he heard the structure beginning to creak, felt it starting to bend towards him.

Time to get out of here. Andre kicked away from the scaffolding, putting out his arms to catch himself with his wingsuit. He glided down with the help of his reduced gravity, curving his path to the right to get to the side of where the structure would fall. A silver ray passed over him - he felt heat from it, but thankfully nothing more.

From behind, Andre heard a cascade of groans and snaps. A roar of metal crashing to the ground, then silence.

---

Isaac

Inferno ducked away from my claws, and her glove began to glow again.

I can't keep running every time she does that. No more playing it safe.

I stood my ground, slashing towards the glove as she reached for me. Inferno jumped back, but not far enough, and my claws cut across the glove.

The glove sparked, then exploded, sending Inferno stumbling towards the edge of the roof. Blood dripped from her hand, where I'd hit skin below the armor.

Inferno glanced behind herself and prepared to jump again, but a spasm in the leg I'd slashed made her hesitate. As she jumped, I struck again, cutting into the other leg. The leg buckled, and she tumbled down to the ground below.

With a WHACK, Inferno crashed into the pavement, her back and head taking the brunt of the blow. She didn't get up.

No sense jumping to conclusions. I jumped down to the parking lot, landing next to Inferno.

A familiar voice spoke into my head. Isaac. Wait.

---

Radha

Not again. Not like this. Not to HER.

A tangled pile of metal pinned Radha in place, too much for her to move enough to do anything about it. Her head and right arm stuck out of the wreckage, giving her the chance to see just how screwed she was. Blood dripped down her face from stitches that had come open, some of it running into her mouth.

She... she hadn't realized Cygnus could do that. She'd been trying to keep Cygnus moving, wait for her to get tired, and then...

Through her headset, she could hear Monica shouting frantically, begging her to get up. No, begging her and Camilla to get up. What the hell happened to Camilla?

"Radha?" Cygnus's voice called out. "You awake?"

"Fuck you," Radha spat back.

Cygnus appeared in her field of view, standing a distance away. A hand rested on the whip at Cygnus's side.

"I am glad you're still alive, you know," Cygnus said. "I'd rather have you in custody than dead."

"Does that go for Camilla, too?" Radha growled. "You were happy to send Fenrir after her."

"Not happy, no," Cygnus replied. "But she forced the issue, left us no better choice."

"So that's how it is," Radha said. "You'll act all high and mighty when we take measures to protect our interests, but when you do it-"

"God dammit, Radha!" Cygnus shouted. "You still can't fucking see the differences here? The three of you attacked us, unprovoked, and murdered Rudianos! Inferno blew up a street in the territory you claimed, and killed a bystander! Without being under any mind-affecting powers!"

Radha felt her fight-or-flight instincts going off at the sound of an angry man. But she couldn't fight, she couldn't flee, and this wasn't a man, it was something worse.

"Bullshit," she hissed. "Camilla didn't fucking kill a bystander, she told me herself that she was careful to avoid hurting them."

Cygnus hesitated, looking away for a moment before speaking up again. "I promise, she did. Whatever sort of heroes she has you thinking the three of you are, that's NOT what's going on here. You're just the next set of bigots trying to blame your problems on the easiest targets."

How DARE you?

"Your promises are worthless," Radha countered. "You've betrayed me enough already. If you want me to give a shit what you think, stop taking that poison, first."

Cygnus exhaled, letting out a long breath. "I thought you were better than this, Radha. Maybe I was wrong. But either way, I have more of your mess to clean up. And before that..."

Cygnus stepped onto the wreckage, then stomped down onto Radha's wrist laser, shattering it. Radha felt her stomach tighten - a second key part of herself stolen, in just two days.

"Seraph's people will dig you out soon," Cygnus said. "I hope they find more to you than this."

Cygnus turned, and walked out of view.

---

Isaac

Inferno was breathing, but that was all. After taking a hit to the head hard enough to knock her out, she couldn't be in good shape.

What the hell do you mean, wait? I demanded. I need to eat her, before I run out of time!

Artemis is incapacitated, not far from here, Pandora replied. Eat her instead. You'll have time to reach her.

And leave Inferno alive? She's the more dangerous one, I was assigned to kill her! Why do you have a problem with that?

She is important to our mission. We need her to stay alive.

HER? Fucking WHY? You said you weren't working with anyone else around here!

I said I hadn't spoken with anyone else in this area. Nonetheless, she has a role to play.

WHAT ROLE? Was all of THIS part of her role?

No. We tried to direct her to focus on the mission, but she insisted on getting sidetracked. Much as you did.

So you're a "we", now? God, you weren't trying to protect me from her, were you? You were trying to protect HER from ME!

I leaned over Inferno, pressing the tip of my right index claw to her throat.

Isaac, calm down. My intention was to protect both of you. If you do this, it could jeopardize-

Jeopardize WHAT? She's one of the capes who abuses powers to push everyone else around, there's no way she agreed to get rid of them! What the HELL did you offer her?

We had to mislead her, in order to secure her assistance. Our work on the seal will take more abilities than yours.

My claw dug into Inferno's costume, and blood welled up where it broke her skin beneath. All it would take was one more push.

You expect me to believe you? If you lied to Inferno to get her help, how am I supposed to trust anything you're telling ME? When I killed Carapace in Hamilton, what ACTUALLY happened?

Everything I've told you is the truth. Isaac, cease this nonsense and-

I pulled downward, ripping through Inferno's throat and ribs, down to her stomach. Her body gurgled, then fell still.

A figure appeared next to us. Pandora's cosmic form, flickering into view. I tried to shove her out of my mind like I'd done before, but nothing happened.

Her usual calm expression was gone, discarded like a mask as her face twisted in fury. Determined to throw a tantrum, are you? So be it. We'll do the rest of this without you, then.

Pandora reached forward, her hand passing through my fur like a ghost, but with a chill in the space it occupied. She grabbed something in my abdomen, and pulled.

Something tore inside me. My hunger magnified, roaring louder than ever. I swiped at Pandora, but her form dissipated like smoke. I looked around - no sign of her, or any of the allies she'd apparently had this whole time. Fuck, how many inconvenient details had she avoided mentioning?

But that was a question for later. I grabbed Inferno's corpse, tearing into it as fast as I could. But the hunger, the emptiness, it wasn't going away. It felt like I was tossing scraps into a bottomless pit - a stomach Pandora had broken, somehow.

And something worse was bubbling up, that same deeper wrongness I'd felt back in Hamilton. And just like then, orange lines began to spread down my body.

No. Not here, not now. Nononononono-

The world spun around me. I felt myself moving, my body ignoring every command to stay still, and everything began to fade.