The other Outcasts were somewhat suspicious about Prometheus’ desire for privacy, but after a little explanation and a reminder that someone should check in with the injured Synapse, they agreed to leave Prometheus in Whisper’s care.

After a short trek, the trio arrived at Serpent’s Lair and stopped at the bar to order drinks; a hard cider for Whisper, a Shirley Temple for Shudder, but Prometheus had some difficulty deciding.

“I can’t get drunk from regular alcohol. Do you have something that can make a colony of nanites feel drunk since I’m that instead of a person?”

“I believe I can come up with something,” Euryale replied, as she set Whisper’s drink before him. She stepped into the kitchen to find whatever she was going to get for Prometheus.

Shudder tried to find some words of comfort, but Prometheus spoke first. “Did you order a Shirley Temple?”

“Yeah,” Shudder replied. “They’re delicious.”

“So, kidnapping’s fine, but underage drinking is a step too far?”

Normally Shudder twisted the fear of those who questioned her drink preferences a little, but she decided to go easy on Prometheus.

“I don’t care about underage drinking. Alcohol’s just gross. And being drunk is no fun. I don’t understand what’s supposed to be appealing about it.”

Whisper let out a short laugh. Shudder raised her eyebrows. She was seeing many sides to him that she’d never seen before. “You really are still a kid in some ways.”

“I don’t see how aging could make me like something so gross,” Shudder replied.

Prometheus furrowed his brow. “How old are you? Nineteen? Twenty?”

“Seventeen,” Shudder replied.

Prometheus nodded. “Okay. I guess I’m confused, because when did that Dr. Clon stuff happen?”

“About two years ago,” Whisper said.

Prometheus gaped at Shudder. “You started doing this at fifteen?”

“Of course not,” Shudder replied.

“Oh, that’s a—”

“Two years ago was when we tried to activate Orbis Tertius. I started working for Doc two years before that.”

“You became a supervillain at thirteen!?”

“Doc saw something special in me,” Shudder said.

“She saw someone vulnerable she could manipulate,” Whisper countered.

Shudder was about to object when Euryale returned with the other drinks. Prometheus’ was a tall glass filled with an intimidating silver liquid.

“No promises,” she said, “but I think this will do the trick. Just don’t let anyone else taste it.”

They found a comfortable place to sit along one of the walls, though Prometheus chose to stand to avoid testing the structural integrity of the chairs. When they were settled, Prometheus gave Whisper a smirk.

“You made the same mistake Synapse did earlier. How are you going to drink that through—”

Whisper phased the bottle through his helmet as he took a drink.

“—Oh.” He glanced between his companions. “Anyway, I’m Adam Steel.”

There was silence.

“Come on, you can at least give me your first names. We’re all friends now, aren’t we? I’m not going to try to turn you into STRIX anymore.”

“Elise,” Whisper said.

“Oh, I didn’t even…” Prometheus trailed off. “Anyway, what about you?”

“Shudder,” Shudder replied.

“Oh, come on, you have to have another name.”

Shudder glared at him. “Any name I used to be called has nothing to do with me.”

Prometheus held up his hands appeasingly. “Not that name! I shouldn’t even know about that name, obviously. The only reason I heard it was because my doctor said it. I didn’t even know she was a transphobe until last night.”

Shudder was furious. “How the hell does your doctor know my deadname?”

“Shudder,” Whisper said. “The world was at stake. When we realized the scope of Orbis, we weren’t shy about sharing information. I’m guessing Adam is talking about a doctor at STRIX.”

Shudder sat back in her chair, trying not to show how frustrated she felt.

“In the supervillain community, civilian names don’t matter,” Whisper explained. “Shudder wasn’t living a double life. She didn’t have a job or go to school or have a family. Dr. Tlön didn’t see a reason to give her another name.”

“She understood,” Shudder added, staring at her drink as she reminisced. “I was Shudder and she was Doc. We didn’t need any other names for each other. Before she thought of Shudder she just called me ‘young lady.’ No one had ever understood like that.”

Everyone was silent for a moment while Shudder quietly missed her friend.

“Can I ask you a question?” Prometheus asked, his tone delicate.

A list of possible questions scrolled through Shudder’s mind. None of them were fun to answer. “Yeah, fine. What is it?”

“This Dr…Tuh-lon, is how you say it?”

“Tlön.”

“Okay, so it is Clon. This Dr. Clon, she was going to brainwash the whole world, right?”

“It wasn’t really brainwashing,” Shudder muttered.

“Yes, she was,” Whisper said.

“What made you go along with that?” Prometheus asked.

Shudder had tried to explain this countless times, usually to other small fry, occasionally to minions or other acquaintances. No one seemed to be able to wrap their heads around how Orbis would work.

“It was supposed to make everything better. Orbis Tertius was going to filter away selfishness and cruelty, get people to take care of each other.”

“Except you, right?” Prometheus said. “You would have been the exception.”

To Shudder’s surprise, Whisper snorted out a laugh. “You really don’t get it, do you? When she says it was going to make everyone better, she means it. Tlön taught her that people would embrace Orbis if they understood what it was. Of course she was no exception.”

“I used to have nightmares about that,” Shudder added. “Being the only person immune to Orbis. I would have become the worst person in the world overnight.”

“Do you still feel like it was the right thing to do?” Usually when people asked that, their tone was accusing, but Prometheus’ was a mixture of curiosity and concern.

“I don’t know,” Shudder admitted. “The people who would have been most helped by it—poor people, low level criminals, anyone who has to struggle to survive—they’re the ones who were the most angry when everything went public. Some of them, like Bodkin and Gremlin, still want nothing to do with me. But people who would have been most changed, monsters like the Arachne higher-ups or any of the high profile supervillains who hire me, hardly seem to care at all. They just care about what I can do for them now.”

Shudder fidgeted with her cloak, unable to look either of her companions in the eyes. “But when I think about what we could have achieved; there would have been no more wars, no more starvation, no more parents kicking out their kids to live on the street. I can’t bring myself to say that’s a bad thing.”

“I think I see where you’re coming from,” Prometheus said.

“Shudder’s a selfless person at heart,” Whisper said. “That’s why she protected Stray earlier. Tlön took advantage of her desire to help others.”

Shudder didn’t believe that. Tlön hadn’t taken advantage of her. She had genuinely cared about her. But she said nothing.

“That’s right, you did protect Stray, didn’t you?” Prometheus said. He winced at the memory and took another drink. “And then someone named Valkyrie took the Seraphinite? Any idea what she’s going to do with it?”

“There’s a rumor that she’s planning to start a war with the criminals of Fairfield,” Shudder explained. “Between the Seraphinite and capturing Mindbreaker’s victims, she’s definitely planning something big.”

“Wait, who’s Mindbreaker?” Prometheus asked.

“Another unlicensed superhero,” Shudder said. “Whatever they do leaves criminals in a catatonic state.”

“Again, that sounds more like a supervillain to me,” Prometheus said. “Er, blackcape, I guess.”

“What’s a blackcape?” Shudder asked.

Prometheus looked between Shudder and Whisper. “It’s supposed to be a more polite term than supervillain, isn’t it? You’re a blackcape, I’m a whitecape, Whisper’s a greycape. They told us that in STRIX’s superhero orientation. Though I guess no one on my team uses those words.”

Shudder shrugged. “I’ve never heard it before.”

“Then what do you call yourself?”

“A supervillain. Specifically a small fry.”

“That’s a term low-level supervillains use among themselves,” Whisper explained.

“Oh,” Prometheus said. “So, anyway, Valkyrie stole the Seraphinite and captured a bunch of catatonic criminals. Has she done anything else we know of?”

Shudder glanced at Whisper. “Do you think she could be the one trying to recreate Doc’s tech?”

“It’s possible,” Whisper agreed. “She might have the resources to make that cognicrystal disappear.”

Prometheus’ mouth dropped open. “Wait, someone’s recreating Dr. whatever’s tech?”

“It’s why we started working together,” Whisper explained. “We believe someone’s recreated one of Tlön’s weapons and are investigating to find out if they’re trying to build their own Orbis.”

“But that’s huge, right?” Prometheus asked. “I mean, that’s an all-hands-on-deck situation. We need to tell STRIX. And Nova Legion.”

“STRIX isn’t going to listen to a supervillain and a vigilante,” Whisper said. “And I’m not going to bother Nova Legion with this until I’m sure of my suspicions. I don’t want to distract them from their other work on a ‘maybe.’”

“Then the Outcasts should look into it. In fact, maybe you could join.”

Shudder stiffened, surprised by the unexpected offer. “You threw me in a cell yesterday. Now you want to trust me?”

“You tried to kidnap my friend,” Prometheus explained. “But you only did that because you needed to to survive. If you became a licensed superhero you’d get a stipend from STRIX, so you wouldn’t need to do that stuff anymore. That means it would stop you from committing more crimes and it would mean someone else out there fighting the supervillains who actually are malevolent.”

It generally went unspoken among small fry, but getting an opportunity to switch sides and become a superhero was a common dream. STRIX didn’t have a formal process for it, but Stray was far from the first criminal to become a licensed hero. That didn’t mean that it was easy, however. Generally, STRIX only accepted villains who had an established hero as a sponsor. And negotiating terms could be dangerous, since they might simply decide to arrest any prospective turncoats instead of recruiting them. Still, the safety of being on the law’s side remained a tempting lure.

Somehow the exasperation was clear even through Whisper’s helmet. “You aren’t really considering this, are you?”

“It sounds better than threatening debtors,” Shudder replied.

“You’d be making the mistake you always make; allowing someone else to control you. You think STRIX is going to be any nicer than Arachne? You know what they do to people.”

Prometheus frowned “Do you think licensed heroes are bad people?”

“Of course not,” Whisper explained. “But I think they’re making a big mistake in letting an overgrown police force like STRIX put a leash on them.”

“Stray said something similar to me about STRIX, but I don’t really get it. I mean, aren’t superheroes basically police themselves?”

“Not in the least!” Whisper said, offended.

“Why would you even say that about yourself?” Shudder asked.

“A lot of superheroes are assholes, yeah, but groups like Nova Legion only target criminals who are actually a danger to the community—or the world, sometimes,” Whisper explained. “And Heaven focuses almost entirely on non-human threats like demons and ancient curses.

“Plus,” Shudder continued, “they’re way better about keeping each other in check. They have a whole inquest system for looking into ethical breaches.”

“Eh, that can depend on the area,” Whisper said. “Fairfield is lucky because the Aerialist has been around forever and he’s hardcore when it comes to ethics. The point is, it’s at least possible to be a superhero—even a licensed one—and still be a good person.”

“Then why not give it a try?” Prometheus asked. He looked at Shudder. “Maybe just come meet with the Outcasts. That way you can tell everyone about Valkyrie and Mindbreaker and get a feel for what working with us would be like.”

Shudder looked at Whisper.

“I suppose it would be good for you to see what other paths your life can take,” Whisper said grudgingly. “Just don’t forget that powerful people will keep using you until you refuse to allow it.”

Shudder’s instincts told her that this was a bad idea. Good things didn’t just happen out of nowhere like that. However, it didn’t make sense for this to be a trick to try to capture her again. If Prometheus had wanted to do that, he wouldn’t have avoided the Outcasts. She couldn’t imagine any other sort of ulterior motive, either, so she was left to conclude that his offer was genuine. Plus, Stray would be there.

“Yeah, alright, I guess there couldn’t be any harm in seeing what you’re all about.”

Prometheus grinned. “Awesome! That’s good enough news that it almost manages to distract me from the memory of how badly I wanted to kill my friends.”

Shudder’s heart sank. “That’s what it felt like?”

The metal man’s smile turned sour. “I should probably start seeing a therapist, huh?”

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group until Prometheus redirected the conversation to his companions’ personal interests and after another hour of chatting, the group parted ways with Prometheus promising to text Shudder with meeting plans.

 

---

 

It would be a few days before Shudder heard back from Prometheus. She spent that time adjusting to living with Elise, which proved difficult. When she learned that Shudder had been working for Arachne when she’d found the Seraphinite, Elise had firmly forbidden Shudder from committing any more crimes, and barely allowed her to go outside, reminding her that she  needed to remain in hiding. Thankfully, she allowed Shudder to use her computer, giving her something to occupy the long hours while Elise worked.

Despite Elise’s protests, Shudder made her report to the Widow Council in the form of a voicemail left at a number White Tail gave her. She left out the details about Prometheus, explaining only that she and the Scrounger had worked out the theory that Valkyrie was looking for the Seraphinite and that she’d attempted and failed to recover it. The only response she received arrived in the form of a text. Well done. It seemed that they weren’t upset at her failure. There was, however, no word about her payment.

By the time Prometheus’ text arrived, Shudder had taken to impatiently pacing Elise’s living room, desperate to release all of her pent up energy. He gave her the location of the team’s next meeting—a house way out in the suburbs that would take ages to reach—and told her she was welcome to join. She didn’t hesitate to pack up her backpack and make her way to the meeting place.

It was strange that she was instructed to come in costume, especially since she discovered that the meeting location was a split-level house in a wealthy-looking neighborhood, but any doubts about the competence of her new allies were eased by the for-sale sign in the yard. The houses of more than half of the Outcasts were publicly available information, but they were generally safe as long as they didn’t telegraph the fact that they were doing superhero work at those locations. Holding in-costume meetings would invite spies, or potentially other dangers.

Lucas answered her knock with an appraising expression that suggested he was undecided about allowing her to join. He led her into an unfurnished living room where the other Outcasts were currently trying to herd a collection of cats through one of Lucas’ portals.

“Oh, be careful with Dottie, she has arthritis,” Stray was saying to Synapse, who was attempting to hold three cats at once.

“Hey, Shudder,” Prometheus said as he delicately guided a tabby back through the portal.

“Stray arrived just before you,” Lucas explained. “We’ll get started as soon as his cats have been wrangled.”

Shudder decided not to question why the cat-eared man had so many cats. Once they were all through the portal, Lucas quickly closed it and the group arranged themselves in the center of the room.

“Anyway, Synapse,” Lucas began. “I see that your leg is looking very unbroken.”

“Oh, yeah. I guess I heal fast?” Synapse said. It was more of a question than an explanation.

“So you just have random powers that even you don’t know about?”

Synapse shrugged. “Apparently.”

“Great, great, not troubling at all,” Lucas said, nodding. “Moving on, Shudder. Adam told us you have some information about a couple of supervillains?”

It was a little awkward, being immediately put on the spot, but Shudder quickly summarized everything she knew about Valkyrie, Mindbreaker, and the disappearance of the psionic wave detector.

“It sounds like Valkyrie is the biggest threat, especially if she is the one stealing psionic tech,” Lucas said when Shudder had finished.

Stray cocked his head. “I must be out of the loop because I haven’t even heard of Valkyrie. Fake police cars?”

“And real ones, it seems,” Shudder replied.

“I don’t suppose she left anything behind either of the times you encountered her?” Lucas asked.

Shudder shook her head. But then something occurred to her and she pulled the crushed camera out of her backpack. “I got some footage of her with this when she took the Seraphinite, but she broke it. Whisper said the data isn’t recoverable, but I kept it because…I don’t know, I was hoping he was wrong?”

“That could work. The data may be destroyed, but I think I can get something else out of it.” Lucas held out his hand. Shudder hesitated a moment, reluctant to part with her only clue about Valkyrie, but she relinquished it.

Lucas held the camera delicately in his hand, examining it carefully. “I’ll need to get a friend’s help, but I’m pretty sure I can work with this. That leaves us with the issue of Mindbreaker.”

“I’ve at least heard of them,” Stray said. “I thought they were an urban legend at first until I saw one of their victims.” He shivered. “Unsettling.”

“If you could find out where their victims have been discovered, we could get a sense of where they operate,” Lucas said. “That’s at least a start.”

“Should we really be focusing on Mindbreaker?” Prometheus asked. “They’re bad, but it sounds like Valkyrie is leagues worse.”

“I have a lead to follow up on Valkyrie,” Lucas explained, waving the broken camera. “And Shudder and Whisper can continue to investigate whether other psionic stuff is going missing. In the meantime, the rest of you might as well investigate Mindbreaker instead of letting them put anyone they want into a catatonic state.”

“But are we even sure Mindbreaker is that bad?” Synapse asked. Everyone paused to stare at her in surprise. Her expression was unreadable under the mask, but from the way her head moved, her eyes must have been darting from person to person. “I just mean, from what Shudder said, it sounds like they’re just targeting criminals, right?”

“Just because someone’s a criminal doesn’t mean they deserve a psychic lobotomy,” Stray replied, his tone casual, but firm.

“But what if these criminals do?” Synapse pressed. “What if they’re all murderers or something?”

“That’s actually a good point,” Lucas said thoughtfully. He looked at Shudder. “Do you know much about the victims?”

Shudder fidgeted with her cloak. “The ones I saw were all tied to the supervillain community. Mostly minions—”

“That’s nonpowered people hired by supervillains,” Stray interpreted for the others.

“Thanks. There were a couple of small fry, too,” Shudder continued.

“Freelance supervillains, like Shudder here.”

“And a handful of Arachne agents.”

“Agents of—well, that’s self-explanatory.”

Shudder thought for a moment. “Oh, and they all were men. Not sure if that’s relevant.”

“Could be,” Lucas replied. “Synapse, work with Stray and try to look into the backgrounds of the victims, see what kind of criminals they were. Meanwhile, Prometheus and Sila can—”

A loud beeping interrupted Lucas.

A look of terror crossed Sila’s face. “Oh, that’s not good.”

They crossed the room to dig through a satchel which they’d deposited by the wall when Lucas had begun the meeting. From it, they pulled out a brick-sized plastic device with several rows of buttons and a screen. It looked like an old video game handheld or an oversized calculator. It was emitting the beep.

“Someone’s found me. They’re trying to call me on my communicator,” Sila explained. “I’ve kept it with me since the Yamosians appeared, just in case.”

“Why does your cell phone look so clunky?” Prometheus asked.

“I don’t know,” Sila replied dryly. “Why does yours require giant spikes all over your planet?”

“Okay, fair,” Prometheus admitted. “So who’s calling?”

Sila gulped before pressing a button on the communicator. A familiar-looking blue face with tentacle hair appeared.

“Ah, it worked! I was afraid we’d picked up the wrong signal again,” Theras Dorne said.

“Uh, hello,” Sila said.

“Got some news for you, Prince,” Theras announced cheerfully. “Your cousin has just arrived on Earth.”

“You’re working for Meerak now?” Sila said weakly. Synapse stepped in behind them and placed a supportive hand on their shoulder.

“Oh, no, not at all,” Theras said. “We’re still working for Prince Khu’zhaan.”

“But you both have the same goal. You want to make me come home.”

Theras bobbed her head from side to side. “Eh, not exactly. They’re more looking to take your place in the line of succession.”

“Oh no, oh no,” Sila muttered. Synapse hugged their shoulder. “Why can’t they just have it? I don’t want to be emperor anyway.”

“Well, you would know better than me,” Theras replied, “but from what I understand Nanzaran law doesn’t really allow for abdication. Either you take your position, or you die and the next in line takes it. I did try to warn you. But it’s okay because we’re here to help. Since obviously your fiance wants you alive, we’re happy to help you deal with Duke Meerak. And they don’t know that we told you about them, or that we’re here at all, or that we know they're hiding their ship on the roof of the Silverwing News building. So we have the perfect opportunity to ambush them.”

“Not Silverwing News,” Prometheus moaned. “They’ve decided that I’m good for ratings. They play up everything I do for their reports and it’s kind of embarrassing.”

“I have to say, this puts you in a nice position, doesn’t it?” Stray said. “We’re forced to rely on you for help with Meerak, and you get plenty of opportunity to whisk Sila away.”

“We are in a nice position,” Theras agreed, “but circumstances have changed somewhat. It seems that Prince Khu’zhaan now believes he can talk Prince Sila into returning to Tok’zar with him. As such, he is breaking the Tok’zar ban on travel to Earth in order to negotiate with you in person. He should arrive in around a week, so for now our job is to keep an eye on you and make sure you stay alive long enough to speak with him.”

“But we only have your word to go on for that,” Lucas replied. He looked at Shudder. “What do you think? Could she be lying?”

“I doubt it,” Shudder replied. “Everything I’ve seen of Theras has given me the impression that she’s very straightforward. When we fought you before, she said it was in Sila’s best interest to come with her, and I think she believed that because she knew that if she didn’t catch Sila, someone like Meerak might. If her mission hadn’t changed, she wouldn’t lie about it. She would just remind Sila that the easiest way to escape Meerak is to go with her.”

Theras leaned close to the camera. “Is that Shudder back there? Did the Outcasts hire you?”

“Not exactly,” Shudder replied, suddenly nervous to be talking to the beautiful alien again. “It’s a long story, but I’m with them for the moment. I’m excited to work with you again.”

“Oh, this’ll be fun,” Theras said, excited. “I like Shudder.”

Shudder felt a little dizzy from the giddiness of hearing those words from Theras.

“Anyway, when do you want to do this?” Theras asked.

Everyone looked at Lucas, who looked at Sila.

“Let’s do it now,” said Sila. “I want to get this over with.”

“Agreed,” said Lucas. “I can’t deal with another thing on top of everything else.”

“Great!” Theras said. “We have signal masking, but no cloaking, so we’ll have to time our arrival to match yours. But what Yamosian tech lacks in stealth, we make up for in other ways. Our disruptors will shut down their ship, disabling their cloaking and weapons, while you take care of their guards and kill Meerak.”

“I don’t want to kill my cousin,” Sila said timidly. “Stuff like that is why I left home.”

Theras shrugged. “Well, I suppose we could capture them and turn them in to Tok’zar. That would humiliate the Nanzaran royal family and probably make our employer happy, so I guess that’s fine.”

“Yeah, I guess that works,” Sila said.

“Uh, if this is a rooftop fight…” Prometheus said.

Lucas nodded. “Right, we’ll be down our muscle, putting us at a disadvantage. Plus, if they’re throwing fire everywhere, there’s a risk of them burning down the building.”

Sila shook their head. “Only Nanzaran royalty can form plasma. The guards will just have dispersers. They’re designed for Tok’zar biology, but they’re effective on organics, too. Meerak prefers weapons, too. They were never very good at plasma.”

“So we’re still up against lethal, ranged weapons,” Lucas concluded. “Which means it’s Synapse’s job to protect us while we fight the guards.”

“Are we not going to talk about the fact that the Tok’zar apparently aren’t organic?” Stray interjected.

Lucas ignored him. “Is there anything else we should know about Meerak?”

“They’re a brilliant strategist and a merciless fighter. Exactly the Nanzaran warrior ideal that I never was.” They paused to heave a deep sigh. “They were badly wounded by a Tok’zar acid bomb and much of their body had to be replaced with cybernetic enhancements. So they can’t shapeshift anymore, but I’ve heard that the enhancements make them more dangerous than ever.”

Synapse gave Sila a hug, which Stray quickly joined. Shudder was impressed with how quickly the group formed a plan while emotionally supporting each other.

“One more thing before we leave,” Lucas said. “Stray.”

He tossed something to Stray, which the cat-eared man caught in one hand. 

“A ring?” Stray asked, holding up the item. It was a simple bronze-colored ring. “Why, Lucas, are you proposing? I do hope you talked to Krisztina about polyamory first.”

Lucas’ face quickly turned bright red. “I…that’s…I’ve been practicing protection spells. Here, I have one for you, too.”

He held one out and it took Shudder a moment to realize it was for her.

“You’re sure you don’t want someone else to have it?” Shudder asked.

“I can protect myself with portals, Synapse can make shields, and Sila heals quickly. So you and Stray are the most vulnerable.”

She tried not to let herself be touched by the gesture. It was, after all, the practical choice.

“Everyone ready?” Lucas asked. There was a chorus of affirmations.

Sunlight poured into the room as, with a wave, Lucas opened a portal leading downtown. It was on street level, and a passerby paused to look through the hole in the wall leading to a house which had suddenly appeared near her. The Outcasts and Shudder filed through and Lucas closed the portal behind them.

Looking around, Shudder saw that they were just outside of the Silverwing News building.

“I’m not feeling great about being stuck waiting while you all fight them,” Prometheus said, staring up at the building.

“Sorry, big guy,” Lucas said. “I thought about trying to portal the whole group of them, but the Yamosians can’t be in two places at once.”

“That we know of,” said Synapse. Over the communicator, Theras could be heard laughing.

Lucas led the group minus Prometheus into the building. It had a large lobby complete with a coffee shop, but no reception desk. There was, however, a security guard standing near the elevators.

“We need to get to the roof,” Stray said. “Hero stuff.”

The security guard nodded, fear sparking in him, and he scanned his badge in the elevator, hitting the button for the roof. Shudder couldn’t help but feel jealous. Superheroes could get anywhere just by saying it was for “hero stuff”?

During the long elevator ride, Stray began to chat with Synapse. “So, after this we’re working on Mindbreaker stuff, eh. Want to head to my place to start with? Make some plans and cuddle a bit?”

“Cuddle while we discuss catching a vicious psychic supervillain?” Synapse asked with a giggle. “Why, Stray, I never knew you were such a romantic.”

“Are they dating?” Shudder asked Lucas.

“Hmm?” Lucas looked up from leaning over Sila’s shoulder. “Oh, no. Stray just likes to flirt.”

Shudder tried to find the words to express her confusion. “But how did he just ask her to cuddle?”

“I…what do you mean? I think he just asked her,” Lucas replied.

“You can just do that?” Shudder asked.

Stray chuckled. “Of course you can, Shudder. As long as you aren’t pushy or overbearing and you don’t make anyone uncomfortable, there’s nothing wrong with asking.”

“Oh,” Shudder replied. She had never cuddled with anyone before.

The elevator door opened into a small staircase which led to the roof door. Lucas leaned over Sila’s shoulder again. “We’re in position. Let us know when you’re ready.”

After a few moments, Theras replied. “We’re just outside of visual.”

“We’ll move in first,” Lucas said, “and make sure the roof is clear.”

Synapse pushed the door open and led the group out onto the rooftop. It looked like an ordinary skyscraper rooftop. Mostly flat, but with a maze of vents covering one section. A man was smoking as he looked over the edge. There was no sign of a spaceship.

“Do you think he’s one of them?” Lucas asked.

“Hey, clear the roof,” Synapse called to the man. He looked back at them in surprise. “Hero stuff.”

He seemed to pick up the need for haste from Synapse’s tone, but he took too long for Shudder’s taste to drop his cigarette and stamp it out, so she tugged at his fear a little to encourage him.

Once he’d trotted past the Outcasts and the elevator doors had closed behind him, Synapse turned to Lucas. “Looks like he wasn’t.”

Everyone clung close to the door, looking in every direction, too unsettled by the thought of a huge invisible ship hiding somewhere nearby to separate.

“I guess we just wait for the Yamosians?” Stray asked.

Suddenly, Synapse broke away from the group, first walking briskly then running towards the air vents, a purple baseball bat forming in her hand. The vent began to twist and reform, two ribbons of metal separating to become arms, one holding a gun. Soon it had the familiar blue skin and three eyes of a Nanzaran just as Synapse’s bat came slamming into their stomach, dropping them to their knees.

More of the vents began to reform. So did pieces of the roof’s railing, an oddly jutting section of the wall near the door, a pile of bricks discarded towards one side. All of these reshaped into a cadre of black-clothed Nanzarans holding guns. How did their clothes and weapons shape with them? Were they hidden within their bodies, or did Nanzaran materials allow them to shift with those who wore and carried them?

In a flash, Shudder had her baton in hand and was swinging it at the Nanzaran from the wall, striking their hand hard and forcing them to drop their gun. She followed up with a blow to their face and another to their shoulder, unwilling to break off the attack while they could still retaliate, but as a result unable to deal with any of the others. Lucas opened a portal beneath another Nanzaran, sending them dropping into some far away location that made a splashing sound.

The other Nanzarans were too far away, and were already firing their weapons before anyone could reach them. Beams of light slammed into a purple barrier created by Synapse. Things quickly became chaotic. Shudder’s opponent had hardened one of their hands and blocked her blow and soon they had Shudder backing away as they retaliated. While the two exchanged blows, Shudder caught sight of Stray ducking beneath a Nanzaran’s gun before slamming his fist into their stomach, Sila in some wolf-like form tackling another, Lucas opening a portal which dropped a deluge of water and a soaked Nanzaran onto still another another. A beam of light came very close to hitting Shudder, moving far too fast for her to react, but it changed trajectory at the last moment and hit the wall. She silently thanked Lucas for his ring.

A shadow dropped over the scene as a blue T-shaped Yamosian ship appeared. It was made out of metal, and full of corners and ridges which struck Shudder as a little overdesigned. It showed no sign of what it was doing, but the results were obvious in an instant when another ship appeared hovering just over the most open part of the rooftop. This one was red and orange, and shaped like a pillbug with a flat bottom and a rounded, though slightly oblong top. Several lasers which extended from its top were glowing with a light that quickly faded. The Yamosians must have stopped them at the last second.

With a final decisive blow to their face, Shudder’s opponent dropped to their knees. All of the other action ground to a halt as everyone looked up at the Nanzaran ship.

The bottom section lowered and extended into a ramp and the unmistakable form of Meerak appeared. Half of their face bore a striking resemblance to Sila, but the other half—including two of their eyes—was entirely cybernetic. Meerak’s enhancements lacked the aesthetic considerations of Valkyrie’s. They were all harsh metal, covering the better part of their body, and asymmetrical, including a cybernetic arm much longer than their organic one.

“I have to say, Sila, I’m surprised,” Meerak said. Their voice, too, resembled Sila’s but dripped with a superior arrogance that Shudder could never imagine from the timid alien. “I expected you to grovel to some of these mutations.” They spat the word with disgust. “But I never imagined you would hire mercenaries from off-planet. I suppose that idea must have come from one of your new friends. You always were a terrible strategist.”

Sila stared down their cousin, their usual nervousness gone. “Just leave, Meerak. Tell my parents you killed me. I don’t care. I just want to be left alone.”

“Do you think you have the advantage?” Meerak asked. “Your Yamosian friends haven’t fired on me yet. I imagine you’ve instructed them not to harm the humans in this building. And I’ve seen what your friends can do. Sticks and tricks, nothing more. You’re the only one worth calling an opponent and…” They chuckled. “Well, you know how our sparring matches go.”

They raised their cybernetic arm, which opened into a cannon, firing a blast of energy that sent Synapse diving for cover and left one of the vents a mangled piece of garbage. Sila responded by forming a ball of plasma and hurling it at Meerak. It exploded just before the cyborg’s face, impacting with a forcefield that briefly flickered. Sila was already forming another ball of plasma, and was soon hurling fireball after fireball at Meerak, who just stared unblinking at their cousin, a smirk on their face.

Shudder tried to imagine how she could help, but she was far out of her depth. They all were. Even if anyone could get through Meerak’s forcefield, Sila’s barrage was too intense for anyone else to assist.

“Meerak’s going to wear them out without even lifting a finger,” Lucas muttered next to Shudder. “Could make a portal, but Meerak might just go on a rampage.”

Shudder thought back to what Dr. Tlön had taught her about forcefields. Repulse’s forcefields were psionic. They were difficult to breach, but it was possible with enough force. However, Meerak’s forcefield was almost certainly technology. Those were extremely difficult to break with sheer power. Except for the weak spot at their point of origin.

Shudder’s eyes darted across Meerak’s body, looking for a forcefield generator. Unfortunately, the technology that covered them was too alien. Shudder couldn’t begin to guess what most of it was. So she tried watching the forcefield itself, paid attention to which way the flickers traveled each time one of Sila’s balls of plasma hit it.

“Lucas, get one of Sila’s fireballs behind them,” Shudder said. “Hit them from the back!”

Lucas glanced at Shudder with wide eyes, but opened a portal in front of Sila, sending a fireball exploding into Meerak’s back. Meerak shouted with pain and stumbled forward. Sila paused, confused.

That was when Stray leapt forward, tackling Meerak and pinning them to the ground.

“Oh, sorry,” Stray said. “Is that stuff wired into your brain? Yeah, turns out that’s enough for me to lock you out.”

“You’re a coward, Sila,” Meerak shouted. “You can’t do anything on your own. You’ve never been able to.”

Sila said nothing, just stared at the struggling Meerak.

The Yamosian ship hovered closer until it was just a few yards above the roof’s surface. An elevator disengaged from the bottom, lowering a group of Yamosians led by Theras Dorne, who was holding what looked like a knife sharpener that was curved on the end.

“That was a delightful show,” Theras said cheerfully. “Well done, everyone.”

While the other Yamosians rounded up the guards. She hurried to Meerak and Stray where she knelt down. Her tool sparked, and a bolt of electricity connected the curved end of the tip to a point at the top of the handguard. It writhed unpredictably, but Theras sliced it across Meerak’s back anyway, messily severing the forcefield generator as the Nanzaran screamed in pain.

Shudder winced. “That is gruesome.”

“Is this really necessary?” Stray asked.

“Well, I can’t exactly leave them armed, can I?” Theras asked as she sliced off Meerak’s cybernetic arm. “Don’t worry, I’ll leave everything necessary for survival. Hopefully.”

“Do you need to go inside?” Synapse asked Sila, who shook their head and continued to stare.

“By the way, thanks for the tip, Shudder,” Lucas said. “You kept things from taking a bad turn.”

Shudder wasn’t sure about that. She imagined the Outcasts would have pulled through one way or another.

“Oh, I heard that!” Synapse said. “Lucas, I think Adam was right. We should invite Shudder to join.”

“Yeah, I think so, too,” Sila agreed.

Lucas gave them a troubled look. “Okay, I guess I can’t say that she hasn’t proven herself. Maybe we can talk to STRIX about it.”

“That’ll be a tough sell,” Stray said, still wrapped around Meerak and nearly drowned out by their cries of pain. “I was easy, since I was a blip of a criminal and STRIX was interested in my power. But Shudder is a former Omega who just escaped from STRIX custody. I doubt we’ll stand a chance of convincing them not to arrest her unless we can get Heaven or Nova Legion to vouch for her.”

They were talking as if she was already planning to sign up. Of course…wasn’t she? Today had been as fun as the fight against the Outcasts and if she were a licensed hero she could actually get paid for it. Everything about the idea pointed towards it working to her advantage. However, she groaned when she realized what she would have to do.

“There may be someone I can call for help,” she said.

As Theras wrapped up, Stray untangled himself from Meerak and Shudder noticed something odd. There was a pool of reddish black around the Nanzaran that was slowly growing. Just as Theras stood and deactivated her tool, Meerak sank into the pool, vanishing into the darkness, which flowed back into itself until it, too, was gone.

“What the hell was that?” Lucas asked.

Theras was staring, perplexed. “I’ve never seen Nanzaran tech that does that.”

“Neither have I,” Sila added.

“So…where did Meerak go?” Synapse asked.

There was a moment of silence.

“Well, we’ve captured their guards and their scout ship,” Theras said cheerfully. “Their yacht is stuck in orbit with a skeleton crew and their tech is so badly damaged that they’re as helpless as a baby. They won’t be able to retaliate before the two princes can meet, so I think we can call this a job well done and chalk the rest up to a mystery.”

“Thanks,” Sila said, looking up from the spot where Meerak had disappeared. “You’ve helped me more than you know.”

“No prob. We’ll be in touch.” Theras started walking towards the elevator.

“Wait!” Shudder said suddenly.

Theras turned to look at her. “Yes?”

She looked at the elevator past Theras, unable to look directly at her. “Would you be interested in cuddling sometime?”

There was a tense moment of silence, broken only by Stray’s barely-restrained snicker.

Theras grinned slyly. “I have to say, you humans are even stranger-looking than Nanzarans, but there’s something intriguing about you, Shudder. Plus, I want to know what that hair feels like. Why don’t you give me your communication code?”

“She means your phone number,” Sila interpreted.

Shudder blushed furiously as she recited it.