Interlude

Andre

Andre let out a breath, as he got further from where Radha was trapped. What a fucking mess.

"What's next?" he asked.

Tameka's voice buzzed into his headset. "August says his people can pick up Artemis. They'll just need some time to... wait. What?"

That doesn't sound good. "What happened?"

"Fenrir went berserk," Tameka said. "After eating Inferno."

Andre felt his blood go cold. "She ate Inferno and didn't transform back?"

"Yeah," Tameka confirmed. "This is... You had a plan, right?"

"I do." Andre withdrew the revolver from an insulated pouch on his costume, and called back the power he'd sunk into the scaffolding. "At least, I can try. Tell Brian to get ready."

"On it," Tameka said. "Good luck."

Andre broke into a run, heading towards where he'd last seen Fenrir and Inferno. Before long, he stopped needing to go by memory - it was enough to follow the screams.

Fenrir loomed outside a restaurant, its pair of doors torn off their hinges. Blood dripped from her claws and mouth, and people were fleeing in all directions. Orange, vein-like lines had spread across her body. Fenrir pounced on a man who'd fallen behind, and devoured him in seconds.

Andre approached, fighting his instincts to run, as Fenrir roared and turned her attention back to the others. He took aim, sinking his power into the revolver, into the bullet in it, and pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The bullet struck Fenrir in the back - not piercing her fur, but carrying the power he'd sent to increase her gravity. She glanced back, confused, as she hunched over from the increased weight.

"Over here, asshole!" Andre called out.

Fenrir turned, seeming to identify him as the source of the attack. Whatever was going on in her head, she had enough reasoning left for that. Good news for the people Andre had wanted to distract her from killing, but it meant now he was in the line of fire.

No time to aim the next shot. Andre stowed the gun and decreased his own gravity, scrambling up a nearby building. His body ached - he'd just had to fight Radha, now this. Fenrir had visible injuries from her fight with Inferno, as well, but an injured Fenrir was still a terrifying werewolf.

Andre took a spot in the middle of the roof, readying the revolver. As Fenrir's claws appeared on the edge of the roof, he took aim at where her body would pop up, then fired as the spot became a blur of black fur.

BANG!

No time to see how it went. Andre turned and ran for the other side of the roof, then jumped and spread his arms to catch the air with his wingsuit. He glided away - but could hear Fenrir following.

A taller building stood ahead, with windows around his current height. If he timed this just right...

Andre banked right, throwing up his left hand to grab the top of the windowsill. Hanging there, he turned, sinking power into the gun he still held in his right hand. As Fenrir approached in the street below, he aimed for her legs, and fired.

BANG!

Fenrir tripped, dropping to her left knee as the leg's weight increased. Her movements seemed to be slowing down as more and more of Andre's power took hold, but not enough for him to relax. Three shots down, three to go.

Andre returned the gun to his pocket and turned back to the building, climbing higher as he heard Fenrir returning to her feet. But even with his power, there was no way he'd climb faster than her. About a story above where he'd started, Andre jumped, turned, and caught the air in another glide.

He was high enough to be safe from getting swatted out of the air, this time, but... wait. Had Fenrir's footsteps stopped? And why was there a car alar-

WHAM!

A car door slammed into Andre, knocking him out of the air. He crashed down to the street, landing on his left arm, and heard a snap. The door Fenrir had thrown landed nearby.

Andre struggled back to his feet, doing his best not to agitate his broken arm, and noted that his suit's wing below it had torn as well. Down the street, Fenrir was stomping towards him.

He sent his power into the gun, cocked the hammer, aimed, and fired.

BANG!

The bullet struck Fenrir in the chest. She hesitated as Andre's power took effect, then started moving again.

Andre prepared the next shot. As he fired, a jolt of pain went through his left arm, into the rest of his body, and he jerked to the side.

BANG!

The shot went wide. Fuck. He readied the last bullet, aimed, and begged his body to cooperate.

BANG!

A hit, to Fenrir's stomach. She dropped to all fours, now clawing her way up the street. She was moving a lot slower, now, but she was still moving.

Andre turned and sprinted a few hundred feet, putting a bit more distance between the two of them. When he was too tired to keep outrunning her, he put his power into the gun, one last time.

No more bullets, but there was one more use for it. He threw the gun, sending it in an arc towards Fenrir's head.

bonk

Fenrir roared. She still wasn't down, but Andre could see her taking increased strain to stay up. She started moving again, her eyes still fixed on him.

Hope this is good enough.

Andre drew his whip - now shorter than it had been before his fight with Radha, but still about seven feet long. He strode towards Fenrir, lashing out with the whip towards her arms.

With a burst of energy, Fenrir lunged forward, and Andre jumped back out of the reach of her claws. She crashed down onto her forearms as Andre continued striking, circling Fenrir to pour increased gravity into each section of her.

With a groan, Fenrir collapsed onto her stomach, her limbs splayed all around her. No change to the orange lines that seemed to mark her berserk state. Andre confirmed that she was still breathing, then stepped back, keeping an eye on her.

Andre spoke into his headset, huffing out his report to Tameka. "Send in... Brian. Caught him... a wolf."

---

Monica

Monica wracked her brain as Liz loaded the last box into the van. Was there anything else she needed? Hopefully not. Chroma had shot down her last drone, he'd be here soon.

She nodded to Liz. "Let's move."

Monica took the passenger seat, while Liz drove. They headed away from Labrys's headquarters, towards where Radha's tracker indicated.

No time to gather the rest of Liz's militia. They weren't as recognizable, hopefully they'd be able to figure things out for themselves.

If only we could at least get Camilla's body, too. But that ghoul didn't leave anything behind.

They reached the wreckage, and Monica got out. They weren't alone - two Cincinnati militia members stood by Radha, holding rifles.

"Halt!" a male voice called out from one of them. "You can't be here, this is... wait, shit. You're-"

Monica raised her ray gun. The two militia members opened fire, but their bullets fell harmlessly against her nemenon suit. She fired back twice, leaving smoking holes in the face of one and the chest of the other. The bodies fell to the ground.

"Monica?" Radha's voice called out from the wreckage.

"I'm here!" Monica called back. She drew the heat blade from her belt, and switched it on as she approached.

It didn't take long to find Radha. Monica examined the metal pinning her down, and started cutting away at it.

"Where's Camilla?" Radha asked. "Is she..."

Monica winced. She'd been too busy to tell Radha over the comms what her cameras had shown. "Camilla's dead. Fenrir pinned her down and cut her open."

"Fuck," Radha gasped. "She... she was just with us..."

"Yeah," Monica agreed. "And if we want to stay safe ourselves, we've gotta get out of here. Just a bit more..."

Another chunk of metal clattered away. Radha got her left arm free, Monica took her by both arms and dragged her out.

"Okay," Monica said. "Now let's go."

Radha was unsteady back on her feet. Monica put one of Radha's arms around her shoulders, and the two of them walked towards the van. As they passed the two corpses, Radha paused.

"You... killed them?" she asked.

"They shot first," Monica replied. "It's kill or be killed, now. Stay focused, we need to go."

Radha complied, and they walked the rest of the way. Monica helped Radha into the van's back seat, and joined her there.

"Where the hell do we go now?" Liz asked from the front.

"Dunno," Monica replied. "Anywhere. Away from here."

As Liz accelerated, a wave of drowsiness hit Monica. She leaned back in her seat, and closed her eyes.

She felt... something. A presence, reaching for her. Was this the thing Camilla had described? It seemed similar, but not quite the same.

Monica willed herself to accept the presence. The moment she did, she felt a jolt, like her whole body had been shocked.

"GAH!" she shouted.

"You okay back there?" Liz called to her.

"Think so," Monica said. "Hold on, let me see if..."

A voice reverberated through her mind, through her whole body. HELLO, CYBERMIND. THIS IS LELTI.

Monica's head pounded. "Um, hi. Could you... speak more softly?"

I CANNOT. YOU ARE ONLY PARTIALLY RECEPTIVE TO THE CONNECTION, SO I HAD TO BRUTE-FORCE IT. FOR YOUR SAFETY, WE MUST KEEP THIS BRIEF, AND I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO REPEAT THIS.

"Okay," Monica replied. She felt something running out of her nose, and she was pretty sure it was blood. "What's up?"

"Are you talking to someone?" Radha asked.

"Yes," Monica said. "It's Lelti."

"Wait, who's Lelti?" Liz asked.

Monica ignored her. She'd have time to explain later.

ONE OF OUR GROUP HAS SPOKEN WITH SNIPER, IN THE GUISE OF AN ANGEL. TELL HIM ANGELS HAVE SENT YOU TO BREAK THE SEAL, AND HE WILL HELP YOU.

"Wait. Sniper?" We have to work with him?

"Uh, what?" Radha asked.

YES. ROADRIPPER WILL ASSIST AS WELL. COLLABORATING WITH HIM WILL HELP YOU BUILD WHAT WE NEED.

"Ugh," Monica said. "Okay. It won't take long, right?"

IDEALLY, IT WILL NOT. WE WILL TELL HIM TO EXPECT YOU.

"Okay," Monica repeated. She took a breath. "Liz, we're heading to Hamilton."

---

Jasmine

Jasmine floated down, towards where Fenrir lay in the street. Cygnus stood nearby, gripping his left arm tight against his body.

"Hey, Seraph," Cygnus called out. "Could I get some of that healing?"

"Of course," Jasmine said. "Let go of the arm, first."

Cygnus complied, and Jasmine put a hand on his shoulder. She'd been doing this a lot, in the wake of Fenrir's attack. A blue glow spread into Cygnus's arm, into the rest of him, as her power accelerated his body's healing. His arm twitched as the broken bones knitted back together.

When it was done, Cygnus stretched the arm, and opened and closed his fingers. "That's a hell of a power. Wait, this isn't gonna give me cancer or anything, right?"

"Not that I know of," Jasmine replied. "Anyway, good work."

"Thanks," Cygnus said. "Fuck, that was scary. Did you get Artemis?"

Jasmine winced. "She vanished, and the militia members who were keeping an eye on her are dead. I think Cybermind got her out, we've lost track of her as well."

Cygnus's hands clenched into fists. "Dammit. At least they're out of our hair, for now. Gives us the chance to start cleaning up this mess."

Cleaning up, huh. Jasmine tried to think of how best to bring up the elephant in the room. Before she could come up with something, a truck pulled up, and a tall, tough-looking man emerged.

"Brian!" Cygnus called to him. "You ready to load her in?"

Jasmine put a hand out. "Wait. After all that, we need custody of Fenrir."

"Uh, what?" Cygnus's tone turned sour. "That is not what we agreed to!"

"Our agreement was based on the assumption that Fenrir would transform back if she ate someone," Jasmine said. "That if you captured her in wolf form, it would mean she hadn't eaten anyone. She's caused more damage than we expected, and that changes things. We need to be able to show the city that we have things under control, now."

"I have things under control," Cygnus argued. "This truck has restraints we can use to transport her safely, to a holding cell we prepared in case of something like this. You take care of your end, I'll take care of mine."

Jasmine stepped forward. "You may be used to working independently, but I'm the one responsible for running this city. I can't just hand this off to rogues."

"Well," Cygnus said, "I'm not handing over Fenrir. In case you forgot, my power is the only thing keeping her pinned to the ground."

"Is that a threat?" Jasmine asked. "You'd let her resume her rampage?"

"Not intentionally, no," Cygnus acknowledged. "But it's a reminder that you shouldn't try to stop me. You can't take her in without my help, and I'm not helping you."

"I'm not looking for a fight," Jasmine said. "Why do you have such a problem with this? We can find a way to contain her, as well."

Cygnus took a breath. "I don't trust you. Your team was happy to stand with Labrys for months, and you've been letting a whole lot of people slip through the cracks. We've been working well together, and once we get Fenrir settled, I can try to help with the PR around this. But right now, my subordinate is having a medical emergency, and my team is the one that's prepared to look after her. We're going to take her in, and then we're going to look for someone with a power that can fix her. Alright?"

"Fine," Jasmine conceded. "Take her."

I hope you know what you're doing, Cygnus.

---

Radha

Radha stretched, testing the feel of her repaired armor. Monica had replaced pieces of it with spare parts she'd had lying around, and it didn't feel quite right.

But it wasn't just the armor. Her eye, Camilla's absence, where they were, what they were trying to do... everything was different, now.

"You sure this is gonna work?" she asked Monica.

"I'm sure," Monica said. "Just play along with what Lelti told us, and it'll all be fine."

"What if they figure out we're lying?" Radha asked.

Monica shrugged. "We kill them and take Roadripper's stuff, I guess."

I'm not ready for another fight, Radha thought. We've lost so much already.

Cygnus's parting words replayed themselves in Radha's head. She'll hate me even more, when she finds out. But she could never understand.

When they were ready, the two of them headed back out to the streets of Hamilton. Political signs were all around them, reminders of the pieces of Radha's soul she could feel herself selling, to bring down their shared enemy. The signs seemed densest close to Sniper's headquarters - the heart of the conservative infestation.

Sniper and Roadripper were waiting in the lobby, fully clad in their own costumes as well. They stood as Radha and Monica entered.

"Cybermind, Artemis," Sniper greeted them. "So you, too, have been chosen by God."

"We have," Monica agreed. "We've fought for the protection of women from those who would pervert the meaning of womanhood to their own ends. My vision today has revealed that the path there lies with you."

"Glad to hear it," Sniper said. "Muriel told me the two of you would be of great help to us."

Based on what Lelti had told Monica, Muriel was the codename of another member of Lelti's group. Whatever the hell they were.

Sniper offered his hand to Monica, who shook it. He then turned to Radha, and she hesitated. Even through their costumes, touching him seemed... gross. He prompted her again with his hand, and she relented.

As they broke the handshake, she could still feel his presence on her gauntlet. Gotta wipe it off as soon as they aren't looking.

"We should continue this in my office," Sniper went on. "More privacy, there."

Radha winced. There were good reasons to have this discussion in private, but still... ugh.

They followed Sniper to his office, and the four of them each took a seat. Sniper and Roadripper removed their masks - Monica did the same, and Radha reluctantly followed.

"The Book of Revelations speaks of seven seals," Sniper began. "Opening them will bring forth the judgment of all in this world. We now know that one of those seals is below us. Our task is to open that seal, and in doing so, the two of you will demonstrate your redemption."

Radha swallowed. This was a side of Sniper she hadn't heard of, before. Guess he only lets it out around people he really trusts.

"The seal has become especially damaged here in Hamilton," Roadripper commented. "We can propagate the cracks to other areas, but interacting with it is difficult. According to Muriel, my talent for accessing pocket dimensions combined with Cybermind's skill with long-range signals should allow the two of us to build something that can blow it wide open."

"Adriel told me a bit about that, but he didn't have much time to explain," Monica said.

A false name for Lelti. According to Monica, for she and her companions to get Sniper's attention, they'd needed to portray themselves as angels - and therefore also as men. Continuing a long trend of women in patriarchal societies throughout history, no matter how much the modern transgender movement might want to claim that trend for itself.

"Then your first task will be working with Roadripper to develop a plan," Sniper declared. "I will pass on any further revelations from Muriel. As for Artemis..."

He locked eyes with her, and Radha fought the urge to recoil. "You are on board with this, right? I know most of you people are Hindus - or Muslims."

"You people"? I've been in America my whole life!

"I was raised Christian," Radha said. "And I agree with my partner. We've seen how broken this world is. The only way forward is to purge the evil from it."

"Good," Sniper said. "I look forward to having you ladies with us."

Of course this is all we'd be to him. Pretty trophies, trying to make up for the mistake of caring about feminism, with me as the weird exotic one.

This world does need to be purged, Sniper. But what it needs is to no longer have people like you.

Monica was right. Now, it's kill or be killed.

---

Madison

Madison glanced over the list of news articles. Huh, an update on the situation in Cincinnati?

Didn't sound like a great place to be, right now. Louisville had its own issues, but at least it had been relatively stable lately.

She clicked the headline - Cincinnati's Radical Feminist Uprising Ends in Werewolf Rampage. Apparently a cape with a werewolf power had killed the leader of the radfems there, then gone berserk and started attacking civilians. And Isaac hadn't been online all day, which didn't necessarily mean anything, they'd been busy a lot, but...

Madison continued reading, trying to steady her thoughts. The werewolf - Fenrir, apparently - had been captured by the rogue cape Cygnus, and... wait.

The werewolf was believed to be a person by the name of Isaac Edelman?

Might not be the same Isaac, she reminded herself. Those are both common Jewish names, and Cincinnati isn't a small place.

But the way Isaac had been acting... Could this be what they'd been cagey about? She wanted to say it didn't fit, but... it kind of did.

Madison could feel another headache starting as she pulled up her messenger. She wasn't dehydrated or anything, why was she getting so many headaches today?

madison (she/her): so, uh, guys?

madison (she/her): anyone been in touch with isaac?

---

Brian

Brian poked his head into Sirona's lab, and she looked up from her conversation with the technician there.

"Hey, Brian," Sirona said. "Everything go well?"

"Yeah, took care of a bunch of deliveries," he replied. "You?"

Sirona sighed. "With all the trouble Labrys caused, we're getting more calls than usual. We're trying to improve production to be able to reach more of them, but..."

"Ah," Brian said. "Well, good luck."

Sirona nodded. "Thanks."

He headed back towards the Alchemists' lobby. As he got close, he began to hear Cygnus and Tameka's voices.

"...not even sure what to look for," Tameka was saying. "No one's organized things into a database I could search through, and everyone talks about their powers differently. Maybe if we had some better idea of what the issue was..."

"Fenrir's powers are fucking confusing," Cygnus agreed. "I'll do some more asking around, I guess."

Brian exchanged nods with each of them as he passed. He had one more delivery to make.

He found the stairs to the facility's lowest level, and made his way towards the holding cell he'd helped build. The sound of growling filled the hall.

Thankfully, Fenrir hadn't moved. A dozen restraints bound them to the wall, keeping them from moving any of their limbs enough to break free. Safely getting them into those restraints had been quite a challenge.

"Hey, Fenrir," Brian said. "You hungry?"

Fenrir's only response was another growl.

Brian reached into his pack. "Yeah, I know. Stupid question."

He withdrew a roasted chicken and a pair of tongs, and used the tongs to raise the chicken to Fenrir's mouth. They bit down, keeping most of it in their mouth but dropping a few pieces to the floor. Once Fenrir had swallowed most of the meal, Brian repeated the process with the rest of it.

Meat was expensive, but it was the only thing Fenrir had shown interest in eating during their imprisonment. No one was sure how their wolf form worked, but if they couldn't transform back by eating people, they probably still needed to eat something.

"Well, hope you liked it," Brian said. "Gotta go, but I'll be back before long. Alright?"

Fenrir's eyes fixed on Brian, and they gave a curious expression. And... were the orange lines on their body thinner than before?

A moment later, the lines flared back to their full intensity, and Fenrir gave another roar.

Fenrir had eaten more than their body weight, by now. It didn't seem like any amount of food would fix their berserk state for real. But it looked like they weren't completely gone.

"Hang in there, Isaac," Brian said.