I said goodbye and stepped through the portal, landing in the car park of the diner, the glowing lights amongst the clouds were waning in intensity and there were the sounds of moaning and yelling coming from all over the place. It was a busy Thursday evening and there were various nightclubs open I could see various people collapsed down the pavement, anyone who wasn’t had their attentions half distracted by the sky and by anyone close to them being affected by it. Then came a noise which sent shivers down my spine… a revving engine.

A black Range Rover was hurtling down the road. Most certainly going too quickly to make the corner ahead of it, my brain instantly flashes back to my near accident at the first Emergence, and to Šárka’s reaction when I talked about the cop crash. I made up my mind in that instance that I had to stop the car, it was never going to get stopped on the damp tarmac using its own brakes so I leapt into the road, putting my metal arm forward and hoping I can stop the car. All the muscles in my legs tense up as I face the metal beast bearing down on me and the crowd of people behind, its V8 engine roaring like a lion, and then it hit me.

The grinding of metal on metal. The dropping engine note. The rear end of the 4x4 lifted up in order to overtake the front which was currently grinding against the shield that my arm had become. I was shocked, not only could my arm take impacts it could also shift form! My feet were scraping against the rain sodden tarmac. I couldn’t hold it, the car was starting to flip and it slips beyond my grasp, gaining air and going end over end. I could only watch as it misses the cluster of people and instead ends up on the roof of a shop, bursting into flames.

I sink to my knees, the metal shield returning back to its original form. I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t stop it from killing anyone. Tears flow freely from my eyes, mingling with the puddles around me like the world’s saddest party. I punch the tarmac in anger and sadness, causing a small crater in the road. I can only watch and cry as the wreck of the Rangie burns like an emblem of my failure. Suddenly I hear a voice coming from the pavement.

“Put your hands up villain” A small town police officer had a taser drawn and pointed at me. My anger flared up.

“Fuck off, can’t you see I’m having a moment here” All my sadness and anger boiled over and now I wasn’t having any of this. I stand up and my shield forms just in time as he pulls the trigger, sending many volts coursing through it. It begins to glow an even brighter blue as my antenna grow to their full length and sparks dart in between them. For a few seconds the electricity builds up before it gets directed right back at him. He goes down like a sack of spuds and I feel no guilt at all. A couple of non-Emerged people who were watching us screamed and ran away. I felt a kind of rush from that, they’re...scared of me. It makes me feel powerful. I shake my head before gasping “I need to get home” I look around and see a Ford Focus with a door open. A man with horns lying prone half out of it, I march over to the car and drag him out onto the pavement before sitting in the driver's seat.

I turn the key hoping for it to start up and after a little coaxing it growls into life. I quickly speed off, my attempt to be heroic burning in the rear view mirror behind me. In that moment I felt like Mad Max, being alone behind the wheel. I take solace in that I will soon be reunited with my friends and my car. I eventually get to the edge of town and park the Focus in an alley where it won’t be discovered for some time and make my way into the woods. “I’m coming, I just hope nothing bad has happened…”

***

Elfwood was always a slightly eerie place, the trees are tall and blackened, covered in lichen. My Granddad used to take me out to collect them for his model railway. Lichen and other natural fawna is often used in that hobby, but never mind that. Those are old memories of someone else. I look around, being careful where I step. Theres nothing strictly dangerous about wildlife in the UK. There exists only one specific type of venomous snake after all, what we call the Adder. Elfwood has a small population of them that live in the rocky areas of the forest, the bite is known to be painful but very rarely fatal, nonetheless I was keeping an eye out for where I place my feet. I was tracing the road in order to not become lost and find my way back, but it was curvy and long so it was taking a long amount of time. Occasionally a set of headlights would flash past and I’d duck in the bushes, not wanting to be seen.

Half an hour into the journey I spot static lights through the undergrowth. I didn’t remember anything being built in this area to my knowledge. I push through the overgrown plants and come across another set of ruins, which have been surrounded by floodlights and a chain link fence, there is a line of plastic strung around the fence with a logo on it.

“Yelmorn Industries?” I was trying to rack my brain as to where I’d heard of that name from. Whoever they are, they’ve certainly got their dibs on this place, keeping to the bushes I walk around the exterior. The place seems to be unmanned, and from what I can sense. There are minimal CCTV cameras about. I twist them all in the opposite direction before scaling the fence, I jog over to the ruin entrance, by which sits a group of crates. Most of them are empty but in one I found a cube, similar in design to the Energy cube Bridget had. I quickly pocketed it and quickly made my escape. Back in the safety of the forest I got out the cube and inspected it.

Bridget hadn’t wanted me to fiddle around too much with her cubes so I was really curious about them. I knew her ones contained a lot of Energy of some kind but these I could tell were different. There was no energy signal that emitted from it, I suspect it has another purpose. I place it back in my pocket and carry on towards the bunker.

It was another hour and a half before I eventually make it to the gravel lot, and at the back I spy a familiar shape, breaking out in a sprint I run right over to my beautiful car. It was a little dirty so that would need to be sorted soon, but it was just as I remembered it. I patted the headlight cover “Good girl, I missed you”. Parked next to it was a white Volkswagen Amarok, of which I can only assume was Brad’s truck. After giving my car the once over I walked back into the forest towards the bunker.

***

Victora chips the black ball into a pocket and fist bumps the air, picking up a beer she chugs it down and settles back into a seat not far away, she was off duty after a long week of patrolling the roads, even since the raid on the diner which went so poorly there had been neither head nor tails seen of Eunos, there had been traces of odd supernatural activity detected in the diner where she had disappeared. They could only assume someone with a teleport or “rift” ability had managed to step in and rescue them. It was frustrating but there was little the police could do.

She throws the bottle at the bin in the corner of the room and admires her play-room., the extra money she was being paid as a fairly high profile hero meant she had managed to get herself a really nice home, and had immediately gone out and furnished it with a bunch of table games such as the pool table she’d been playing it. An old song from the 80’s was playing on the jukebox and her Triumph sat on the tarmac outside, lit by the streetlamp outside. The sun had faded a while ago, and she was looking forward to a night of playing to herself.

“I'll take my chances...I forgot how nice romance is… I haven't been there for the longest time…” she sings to herself, standing in preparation to change the song, then an odd light catches the corner of her sight, a purple flash glints off the black paint of her bike, and then an orange one. Immediately her phone goes off which she quickly answers, it was Colonel Goff.
“Victoria, another Emergence is happening. We need you out there, weapons free”

“I’ve gathered that, You better pay me overtime” Victoria sighs, she had hoped it would be a one-off situation, she remembers how painful the experience was, and how she nearly impaled herself with her newfound ability.

“If you had any morals you’d be out there doing this for free” The tinny voice rings out from her phone, sounding very annoyed.

“Fuck off” She hits disconnect and rushes over to the front door, quickly swiping her jacket and keys off of a hook on the wall. She hops onto the bike, turns on her police radio and sets off, waiting to go after the first big call that comes in. It doesn’t take long.

“We’ve got calls of an Emerged with steam and smoke powers raiding shops and setting fires in the street in downtown Hillchester” Victoria presses a button on the radio to transmit a response.

“Roger, this is Victory, I am en route”

***

I knock on the door of the bunker and sit on the step outside. I was really excited and anxious to see everyone, but I was also worried about the leak. I would have to talk to Sierra. The locks on the door slowly clunked open and the door cracked open. A big hand appeared from the game and pulled it open slightly wider. It was Brad.

“Cynthia? You’re back!” I give him a small smile “Sierra! Cynthia is here!” He calls back towards the interior of the bunker. I hear a yelp and the sound feet and hands skittering towards us. She bursts out of the door and glomps down on my shoulders.

“Had fun abroad? I saw the video!” She is preening and chirping with happiness. I give her a small pat on the head and I get to my feet.

“I did, Bridget was really fun to be around. She's so clever, I wish I had my designs with me…” my shoulders slump a bit. I was very proud of the advancements I made at the factory, to get no credit fucking sucks. I make a mental note to go fuck with the Production Plant at some point as revenge. “Um, Sierra, Brad. Lets go inside, I want to talk about something” I duck into the bunker and entered the kitchen-living area.

Being winter, the bunker was a pretty cold place to be, as there was little in the way of heating, just a few small radiators which were heated from the outside, as such Michael, the very cold blooded lizard man. He was pretty much attached to them. He pokes his head out of a pile of blankets when I enter.

“Oh, Cynthia...you’re back. Its good to see you”

“Its good to see you again, you know you should probably bask in the sunlight?” He snorts and ducks back under his soft fortress. Brad and Sierra step into the kitchen behind me.

“Ignore him, he's just cranky because nothing gets him warm anymore, not like being warm blooded eh?” Sierra curls her tail around her body and runs her hand down it.

“So Cynthia” Brad scratches his beard thoughtfully “What is it you want to talk to us about?”

“I was almost taken by the army a week ago, How do you all reckon that happened?”

“Miura” all three of them say in unison, including the muffled voice by the radiator. Sierra carries on: “I sent for your rescue and she was the only other person who knew about the date beforehand was her” I didn’t want to believe them but deep down, It was the only thing that makes sense. I start tearing up.

“I trusted her, she escaped with me. She seemed as surprised as I was!”
Brad shrugs his massive shoulders. “She is one hell of an actress then. I don’t know”

Sierra pipes in again. “Theres no way it could have been anyone else in the restaurant. It was definitely a sting operation” she looks tearful and sad as well.
I look between the two of them, Brad has a remorseful look on his face too. I sink to my knees, I was tired, upset and I just wanted affection. Sierra seems to catch on to that and crouches down with me, putting her arms around my shoulders and resting her tail around my ankle. Brad places one of his big hands over mine and Mike even shuffles his pile of softness closer. We stay like that until eventually sleep overwhelms me and I fall into unconsciousness, the pillow I rested my head on stained dark with my tears.