Jumping down the elevator shaft hadn’t been my brightest moment in retrospect. This one was fairly sleek, not at all like the ones I was used to seeing in movies. There were no weird power boxes or steel girders running up and down the length of the thing like you’d expect from a normal one. No there was nothing but what appeared to be two magnetic rails built into each wall. It kind of made sense in a way. You didn’t want anything that would need a whole lot of maintenance inside your secret elevator shaft, otherwise the repairman body count would get pretty high.

The only thing I had going for me was how damn deep the shaft went. I’d been falling for a second or two and yet I couldn’t see a bottom even with my enhanced fox eyesight. Above me I heard Bastion let out a surprised curse as he followed me down into this death trap. This was going to be interesting.

How in the hells was I going to find a way out of this? The walls were sheer so there wasn’t much I could do with them, and the magnetic rails didn’t look like something I could hold on to for longer than a second or two. It seemed hopeless.

Except… what about my powers? I’d just punted the golden feather ball out a window with a chunk of metal I’d summoned myself… what if I could make something else? Something real that might save me? That was a thought worth exploring.

Maybe I could give myself wings somehow? No, better not go messing with my body while I didn’t understand this weird new ability of mine. So the next best thing was something mechanical… which is what I was good at! I was an engineer after all… what could I imagine in this time that would allow me to stay intact when I reached the bottom of this thing?

Now this is going to seem totally random, but I watched this compilation video on youtube of a guy using a particular execute animation in one of the halo games. It was really cool, the character used the retro thrusters on the power armour to hover in midair above the downed target, then drove their knife in using the same thrusters. So what if my suit had thrusters too?

I’d probably just use compressed air. With the power source in my suit I should be able to set some ultra fast compressors up that drew from the air around me. Next I’d need the thrusters themselves, which might be a little rudimentary right now. Two big ones running along the back of my calves to provide the force I’d need to stop. Next was to hook it all up to the power source. Time to see if I could alter something that already existed.

I formed what I wanted in my mind and willed it into existence, not just as an illusion, but as a reality… and it worked! I looked around my body and saw the little nubs of the thrusters around me. The things were totally unrealistic by conventional standards on so many counts, but I’d cheated by literally willing them into existence out of the best materials I could think of. The control method was currently only a series of buttons of my palms that I pressed with my fingers. I’d probably fix that later.

When the elevator at the bottom finally came into view, I was ready. My thrusters all activated according to the buttons I pressed, and I wobbled to a stop a foot above the roof of the elevator car. Luckily for me, there was still a hatch on the top of the thing, and I rushed to get it open.

Bastion wasn’t far behind me, I could tell by his screaming. Shit… I couldn’t let him just hit the ground like this. I sighed and willed a huge block of foam into existence above me as I hopped through the hatch. I heard a muffled wump as he hit, and couldn’t help but giggle at a mental image of him plowing into the foam face first.

I turned to the doors and was about to try hauling them open, when I realised I could slow the dumbass above me down a little by teleporting through it. I just hoped there wasn’t anyone on the other side with a gun trained at the entrance.

I tired to go through it, and found myself… blocked? The teleport went off, but I appeared right where I’d left from. Okay, that was odd. Plan B… I hauled the door open. It was tough, and I had to stop and wedge a bar between the doors to hold them open, but eventually there was a gap just big enough for me to get through. I wonder what they had lined this place with in order to stop teleporters like me?

I found myself in a foyer when I squeezed through the gap I’d made. There was no reception desk, but they had a few fake plants and a couch. The place was dark, only emergency lights were running and that meant at first I didn’t see them. Maybe a dozen or so people were huddled in the middle of the room staring at me with wide eyes. Most of them wore business casual clothing, but I could tell who they were. The “Scientists” in charge of studying the people they had locked up here. Approaching me and older man in nicer clothing, squinted into the darkness.

“Who are you? You don’t look like a rescue team?” he demanded, his posture arrogant to the extreme.

I didn’t bother answering him, instead ramming a fist into his stomach. He went straight to the ground with a gurgle.

“I’m the chick who’s going to ruin you sadistic fucks,” I growled.

Time to take a metaphorical feather out of Nightbinder’s wing. What colour would look good with my setup? Nevermind, I’d figure the colour out later.

The man I’d gut punched scrambled back across the floor towards his coworkers, then turned to one of the scientists near him.

“Stop her! You’re emerged after all, so do something!” he frantically urged.

“Doctor Celdon I can’t! I just have… I can only clap to make a spark! I’m class zero!” the man squeaked.

Ignoring their argument, I extended my hand and summoned a mace made of pure lightning that I powered with the generators in my suit.. It lit up the room like a halogen lamp and suddenly I could see everything in stark bluish white light.

“Where are the people being held?” I glared.

“You can’t just take the subjects!” Dr Celdon exclaimed.

Oh fuck him. They have real people down here, poor tortured souls that these fucks had been experimenting on. I was not going to have that.

Casually I stepped forward and backhanded him with the mace, breaking his jaw and sending teeth flying. He landed in a heap a few feet from where he started, his lower face a bloody burned ruin.

“Make no mistake,” I said coldly to the rest of the scientists, “You are all fucking monsters, and I will break you all one by one until I get my answers.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Bastion piped up from behind me in a stereotypical heroic voice.

“Oh for fucks sake dude, they’ve been experimenting on emerged down here and you’re taking their side?” I said angrily.

“You don’t know that,” he frowned.

“Yeah I fucking do! We researched and planned this rescue! Do you think we just rucked up with the intention to do evil. We’re not storybook villains who do evil because it’s fun!” I exclaimed, pointing my lightning mace at him.

“You’ve attacked a-” he started, but I interrupted him.

“Oh fuck you, I’m going to smash things until I find what I want.”

He narrowed his eyes and charged at me, which I wasn’t expecting to happen right then, and his shoulder connected with me, sending me skidding back across the floor. Fuck that hurt.

My lightning mace was still in my hand since it was technically a part of what I was wearing, so I was able to block his follow up strike with it. He jerked back with a yelp as he took a jolt from the lightning, and I was able to get up. Alright, so the dude was dumb as bricks, maybe he’d believe it if he saw it?

Choosing a random door, I rushed through using my new thrusters to improve my movement further. He shouted from behind and rushed after me, only to get the swinging door back into his face after I’d passed through it. I couldn’t help but laugh at the second yelp of pain I got out of him.

I ran down the corridor I found myself in, glancing through the windows in the doors as I ran. It seemed that I’d taken the route into the office area, because I saw cubicles and private offices all the way down. They seemed to be the same as the foyer and corridor, plaster walls and fake plants around the place, emergency lighting giving the place a red glow that seemed somewhere between a horror film and a strip club.

I heard a tearing noise behind me as metal was torn apart. I had just enough presence of mind to throw myself to the ground before I saw a door fly over me. It seemed bastion was finally done with doors hitting him, and was instead going to use the door to hit me. My way was blocked by the door as it landed against the doorway in front of me.

I turned around to see him rushing determinedly at me, and decided to go back to the basics for a second. I backed up in a rush until I was against the blocked doorway, then teleported behind Bastion, leaving an illusion of myself behind me. Was it even really an illusion? I had no idea anymore about what my powers really meant. Is anything real? Regardless, my plan worked, because he crashed through my fake Vulptrix and into the door he’d thrown at me.

The plastic and metal doors dented and cracked under the impact and I watched Bastion stumble around for a second as he recovered. I wasn’t going to let that happen, so I rushed him with my fist raised. I didn’t connect however, instead meeting one of his damn energy shields. Those things were so annoying!

His return strike knocked me swiftly onto my back when his leg took mine out from under me. I stared up at him with wide eyes as he readied a fist and looked down at me with victory in his eyes.

“Give up Vulptrix!” he grunted, his chest heaving.

My eyes flicked behind him as I saw the door he had thrown at me teetering on the edge of falling.

“Nope,” I grinned, and nudged it with my foot.

The thing fell slowly at first, and he had just enough time to turn and catch it full in the face, bouncing his helmet off his head. I rolled to the side to avoid the falling man and door, then rushed through the broken doorway that had previously been blocked. I couldn’t help but laugh at the number of times he’d taken a door to the face recently. It was almost comical. No... actually it was definitely comical.

The next hallway curved slightly and the doors had no windows. I figured it was a good idea to start checking them, and kicked the nearest one open while I still had time before the fool behind me got up. The room on the other side of the door was decidedly clinical, with white walls and no decoration. In the center was a steel table like you’d find in a morgue, only it had restraints for holding someone down. Thankfully there was no one on it right now, but there were several awful looking implements on other tables. The corner held a sink in it that looked to be stained slightly brown.

I was starting to get scared of what I’d find when I got to Kelly… I had realised on an intellectual level what these sadistic fucks had been doing, but now it was starting to register on a more emotional level. My imagination was filling in the blanks about what that room had been used for. I hoped I wasn't going to see it for myself. Especially considering the fact that Kelly had intense regeneration abilities.

I rushed to the next room and kicked that one open too and I saw my hopes had been in vain. This one was similar to the last room, except that it held someone on the table this time. Or rather, they had been a person at one point… probably. I backed away from the door and vomited onto the floor before I could hold my gorge back. Holy shit that was nightmarish.

I heard Bastion coming at me, his footfalls weren’t exactly subtle and they were coming fast.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his voice confused and oddly a little sympathetic.

I couldn’t reply straight away, the heaving was still going on and I was still processing what I’d seen.

When I finally stopped, I motioned towards the door and croaked, “Look in there.”

I heard him move to the doorway and look inside, only to recoil moments later with a gasp, “Oh fuck.”

Yeah, that’s right. Realise how wrong you are you absolute moron.

“I fucking told you,” I rasped, standing up from heaving my last meal onto the ground.

He looked white as a sheet beneath his mask as he nodded, “Yeah you did.”

“I fucking told you,” I repeated, approaching him.

He didn’t stop me when I punched him in the chest, “I fucking told you.”

“I know. I know. Shit, I know,” he said softly.

“You put my friend in here you know,” I told him, my voice raw from emotion and disgorged stomach acid.

“What?”

Time to finally let him know the awful shit he did and what he inadvertently put Kelly through.

“Kelly Newhall. You killed her during one of your fights with Titanic. Crushed her beneath a car you threw. But she didn’t really die… she’s emerged, she regenerates. She’s been with these cunts ever since!” I exclaimed, my voice rising in pitch with every word.

“I wha… I did that?” he asked, his voice slow as he processed my words.

“Yeah you fucking did,” I cried, emotions spilling over inside me.

“I’m… shit. I’m sorry? That’s not enough though. I… damn,” he mumbled in a daze.

Hell no it’s not enough. Sorry doesn’t fix this shit. What could I do with him? I had Kelly to save… I couldn’t babysit the dumbass through his crisis. I had my own crisis going on inside me right this moment. Wait… maybe we could start with repentance?

“Help me get them out of here,” I told him as tears still trailed down my cheeks, “and for fucks sake learn a thing or two about collateral damage! I can’t even begin to explain how much dumb shit you’ve done.”

… or potentially how many more people he could have killed since then. I really did not envy him the journey I had just thrust upon him. He was in for a long climb.

“Yes. Okay, I’ll help you,” he nodded, latching on to my offer of a small step towards redemption, “What do we do?”

“Follow me… I’m trying to find where they keep the ones that are still alive,” I said, straightening myself up and wiping the tears away.

“Okay… um, lead the way,” he gulped, nodding again.

I did so, directing him to help me check the doors down the long curving corridor. We found more with half dissected bodies in them, but none held living people. I saw some horrible stuff as we made our way from door to door.

When we made it to the next set of doors we were both unable to speak, so I simply led the way into the next area. This part was different. It was a wide circular concrete chamber with a shaft of concrete rising up into the darkness above. Around the edges of the space were many doors, most were made of metal, but some were made of other strange materials. This was our place. It looked designed to contain people with Emerged powers, I was certain of it.

“This is probably it,” I said in a hushed tone.

“They were really doing this…” Bastion breathed.

“I know… it’s fucking awful,” I said, shaking my head as I loved to the nearest door.

There was a screen next to the door, which I poked with a finger, bringing it to life. The screen displayed an image of the interior of the cell, a bare concrete room with a bundle in the corner. Time to see what sort of condition these people were in.

“Bastion, get behind me and be ready if whoever is inside doesn’t recognise us as saviors. I don’t want to imagine what sort of mental state these people will be in,” I ordered.

“Right.”

Carefully I selected the option on the screen to unlock the bolts in the door, and heard them thud back. The door then had a handle which I turned, slowly opening the door outwards. The bundle in the corner shifted and I saw a pair of eyes reflect the red emergency lights as they stared back at me.

“H-hi?” I asked softly.

“You’re not one of them,” a vaguely masculine croak stated.

“Yeah... I’m here to try and get everyone out of here,” I nodded.

“I know,” he told me, shifting slightly.

“You know?” I asked.

“I am a telepath,” he said.

“Oh wow. Please don’t go poking too deep thanks… that’s private,” I frowned.

“Not a problem. I only skimmed your uppermost thoughts,” he said, rising shakily to his feet.

He looked malnourished, still in some sort of formal business suit, although it was soiled and stained by his stay here.

“Can you help us figure out which of these cells is safe to open?” I asked tentatively.

“Definitely. They lined the walls of my cell with something that inhibits my abilities, but not absolutely. I will show you which hold people who will be receptive to your attempts to save them,” he said, a weak but pleasant smile on his face.

“Oh and the idiot behind me is Bastion. He’s here to help but you’ll have to explain things very slowly to him, otherwise he’s liable to break everything,” I said snarkily.

“Hey that’s… okay that’s fair,” he said with a sigh.

“Good boy,” I said, patting his arm.

“I’ve only been here a week.. So I am aware of both of you and your reputations, although I was under the impression you normally have a different hero at your side Vulptrix,” the man remarked mildly.

“Yeah, I’m doing my best to turn them all to the dark side of actually giving a shit about people,” I said just as mildly.

“I see,” the man said with a rasping laugh.

He proceeded to take us around the chamber one by one and help us open each, telling us a little of what to expect. Each cell held a malnourished and terrified Emerged person, many of whom were disbelieving at first of our attempts to rescue them. It took far too long in some cases to reassure them and I was starting to get anxious about our time.

“Hey dude, what’s your name?” I asked the man at one point.

“Derrick Parsons at your service,” he smiled, this one less rusty than the first. He already seemed to be regaining himself as we worked with the emerged.

Breathing in the cold air I asked, “Alright Derrick, can I get you to show me which of these holds a girl who can regenerate even from death?”

He paused for a moment, his eyes flicking to one of the far cells we hadn’t gotten to. He seemed to be apprehensive about telling me, but I saw which one he was looking at.

“She’s been here the longest,” he said simply, and pointed the cell out.

“I know…” I replied, already moving.

Bastion and Derrick continued to work with the huddled shivering prisoners as approached the cell. There was nothing to indicate it had been built to house anyone strong or powerful. Just a simple cell to hold someone who was of no threat to anyone. God I hoped she was… no she wasn’t going to be okay. I hoped we could fix her after we got her out. My heart clenched. Shit…

Stepping up to the screen that corresponded to her cell, I reached to press the button but hesitated. I was so scared of what I would find in there. What would I do if she was a broken husk? What would I do if the endless torture had ruined her mind beyond repair? I couldn’t bear it…

I stood there trying to breathe while I warred with my anxiety, but finally I was able to press my finger to the screen and activate it. The image of the inside came up immediately and I was able to see her. She was sitting on the floor with her knees pulled up tight against her. She was staring at the door, I guess she might have heard the racket we’d been making as we freed everyone.

Carefully I pressed the button to open the door and allow me access. I eased it open… and there she was. In the flesh. The little goth girl who had been so kind to be at the start of all this. She stared up at me with wide eyes and shuffled away from me.

“W-who are you?” she asked in the smallest voice I’d ever heard.

“I’m… Vulptrix, and Kalia... but I’m also… I’m also your friend remember?” I asked softly.

“You don’t look like Kalia,” she gulped, shaking her head.

As gently as I could I stepped forward a little and asked, “Here, I’m going to step in and show you okay?”

“O-okay,” she nodded.

Moving further in, I told my suit quietly to deactivate, and the whole thing flowed back under the exercise clothing I had worn before I used my suit. Kelly’s eyes widened as she took in my new appearance.

“N-no… they’re messing with me again I’m… you’re not…” she whimpered.

“Hey it’s really me okay? Not many people know I’m also the villain called Vulptrix, especially not those bastards back there,” I smiled, easing myself down to sit against a wall nearby.

“Villain?” she asked in confusion.

“Yeah… after you um… after what happened to you I got angry and um. Well I stole a whole lot of shit and was generally a pest to anyone in power,” I grinned.

“You stole stuff?” she blinked.

“Yeah, needed a way to pay for that apartment you helped me find after all,” I winked.

I got a little giggle out of her, “You turned into a kleptomaniac after I um.. Left?”

“Definitely. Swiper did all the swiping,” I laughed.

“You just… you really just made a Dora joke?” she snorted.

“Hey, it’s the truth!” I laughed.

“So it’s really you?” she asked, her smile a little brighter.

“Yuppers, definitely the ol cheeky fox right here,” I smiled.

I wasn’t prepared for the attack that came next. She launched herself into my arms with speed that rivalled Nightbinder. I suddenly had a bundle of admittedly smelly girl in my lap, but I didn’t mind it. She was finally going to be safe.

“Oh my god it’s… oh my god,” she sobbed, her body beginning to shake.

“Yeah hey… I’m getting you out of here,” I shushed softly, placing my tail over her and holding her tight.

She shook and cried into my chest for many long minutes while I held her, and even though we were on the clock, I didn’t have the heart to hurry her.

“It’s okay girl, it’s okay. I’m here now,” I whispered as I stroked her matted hair. Oddly, the roots were still well dyed, the same as the day I’d seen her die.

“Kalia,” she whimpered.

“Yeah Kelly?” I asked.

“I had a friend… in the other prison. She was called Robin and she was… I want… she was… Did you find her here? I remember she had sparkling eyes but I couldn’t see her otherwise...” she mumbled, trailing off into another round of sniffles.

“She got out a while back, she’s outside the building now actually,” I smiled, “Chick blew the power in the whole building with her badass powers. She’s probably pretty damn keen to see you too.”

“Really?” she asked, looking up at me with her tear streaked face.

“Damn straight, girl went through a lot to try and help get you out of here,” I reassured her.

“Robin got out of there?” she hiccuped.

“Oh yeah. Some crazy rich milkdad dude broke her out, she’s been working with me to get you out of here ever since!” I nodded enthusiastically.

“Y-yay!” she grinned, then looked confused, “Wait… milkdad?”

She seemed to be in an awfully stable state for someone who had been tortured for months on end… how was she smiling already? It couldn’t just be my attempts to cheer her up. I wasn’t going to mention it yet in case she broke down for real. We could all sort out what state her mind was really in after we got her out of here.

“You’ll understand if a dude in a helmet ever orders you milk in a bar. For a Supervillain he’s very disapproving of underage drinking,” I laughed.

“I missed a lot didn’t I?” she asked with a little lopsided sad smile.

“Yup, but there’s plenty more to come that you can be a part of,” I reassured her.

Smiling a little now she asked, “So do we leave now?”

“Yeah… although I have to warn you. Bastion is outside helping rescue you and all the other prisoners,” I said, readying for her to be scared.

“Bastion? Why what’s wrong with him?” she frowned in confusion.

“He’s the one… you know, who threw the car? The one that landed on you?” I said, equally confused by her reaction.

“Oh… right. I um, didn’t really know how I died. One second I was… there and the next I was confused and… I was hurting but not much. You seemed really upset and then I was… somewhere else,” she rambled, looking down at her feet.

“Oh… I didn’t realise you didn’t know who… never mind. He’s out there and he’s trying to help but he’s a bit thick so yeah. I don’t know,” I shrugged.

“Alright.”

She eased up off me and I followed as we stepped out together. I reformed my suit as we went, winking at Kelly’s surprised look.

“Can’t have them knowing my secret identity now can we,” I giggled.

Kelly giggled in return and we moved over towards the group of scared ex-prisoners.

“Hey Bastion,” I called, “Can you go and tell the assholes in the foyer to move somewhere else so these people don’t see them? I don’t want them being scared by them.”

“Yes boss,” he saluted, trotting off to do what I’d told him.

“We’re going to rift out of here, but we need to get to the lift first where they don’t have that weird shielding in place,” I explained to both Derrick and Kelly, “Then I’ll come back down once everyone is safe and unlock the rest of the doors.”

“Rift?” my little freed friend asked.

“Yeah, the Emergence created a lot of people who could create rifts in space that let you move from one place to another. Really helpful for transport, but apparently Yelmorn have figured out how to block it,” I explained.

Kelly nodded in understanding and I got to work helping Derrick corral the rest of the prisoners towards the exit. As we passed the torture rooms, several of the people we’d freed burst into terrified tears and had to be comforted. Kelly however just stared blankly. Her emotionless lack of reaction was somehow even more worrying than the other reactions. Damn, what a bunch of evil bastards these Yelmorn people had been. This was far worse than I’d thought. I vowed then and there that we were going to bring this company down. Laith and I would burn them to the fucking ground.