Christ fuck it, but she needed a raise, thought Bright Knight. She had been outside Trifanny's apartment for hours, and it even started raining while she was waiting for her to come out.

 

She was wearing an old, gray hoodie with Lodestar (an ex-member of The Paragon 9 and her idol growing up) depicted in it; black jeans with some paint stains on them; and a pair of running shoes, good ones with robotics in them to help the runner go slightly faster. The rain had soaked into them before she found cover under a roof, giving her the look of a stalker, or a shady drug dealer.

 

When she wore the makeup and that tarty, humiliating outfit that she was contractually obligated to wear by the company, people struggled to take their eyes from her. But now, like this, no one gave her a spare glance. She was no one. Invisible.

 

Bright Knight tapped her foot impatiently as she waited. She’d be so pissed if this all turned out to be paranoia. Yet, there were too many things that rankled, too many questions.

 

After Noah had called her and she finished questioning Trifanny, she assembled the rest of the team, except Caleb of course. The three of them had had a serious talk regarding their newest member and the possibility that he was blackmailing his girlfriend or abusing her.

 

After much back and forth, they all decided to use Jared’s power to surveil the situation and gather evidence. Bright Knight was opposed to this, but both Jared and Zara refused to be in a team with someone that could potentially be a rapist or sexual abuser. She had to help them, since that’s how the team operated: by democracy. Well, except when out in the field whereupon as team leader, Bright Knight would be responsible for making fast decisions, but this wasn’t one of those times. 

 

Jared’s power infiltrated an object and gave him perfect vision and hearing over a large area centered around said object. Bright Knight traveled to both Caleb’s and Trifanny’s homes and stuck several pieces of chewed gum containing his power out into the outer walls of both apartments. Thankfully, both homes were on the small side, so they had almost perfect surveillance.

 

Then, it was just a matter of waiting. The team parted ways, with Jared agreeing to call both her and Zara if something incriminating came up. They all sort of thought that this was going to be a long process taking several days, so Bright Knight went back to the one bedroom studio she shared with her boyfriend (everyone wanted to go to college since it was a way to dodge the draft, causing tuition prices to be sky high. So, she couldn’t afford to live somewhere nicer, even with her decent hero salary).

 

She had been getting comfortable, cuddling with her boyfriend, Mark, and watching a comedy-superhero series when she got an urgent call from Jared. 

 

Her teammate told her that Caleb’s girlfriend had been acting strange after she got home. Apparently, she had bought a pregnancy test and it came out positive. But, what was strange was what came next. Jared said that she rushed to make a phone call, informing someone that she was “finally” with child and that she was ready for her “ascension”. Then, Trifanny was congratulated and instructed to come to “the church” at midnight.

 

Needless to say, things had gotten serious, so Bright Knight had to leave everything in a hurry to go meet up with her team and stage this whole operation.

 

“B.K., she exited the apartment and is moving down,” came Jared’s voice from her VRisor, interrupting her thoughts.

 

“Acknowledged, Scout,” she replied, “Codeword: periwinkle blue. As we discussed, I will try to gather evidence we can present to the higher ups. If you don’t hear from me again or I don’t say the next codeword, assume the worst has happened and report everything.”

 

“Alright, will do,” he said, serious.

 

Zara was on the comms as well and she complained once again, “This is bullshit, cap’! We should be there with you! As a team!”

 

“We went over this already,” sighed Bright Knight, “If things go south, I am the only one with a power that helps me escape. As team leader, I won’t put your lives at risk unnecessarily. And this decision is final, so stop bringing it up, Kinetic!”

 

It looked like the argument was going to continue, but then Triffany finally stepped out into the street.

 

Zara was saying something, but Bright Knight shut her up, “Shhhh!” she hissed, as she began tailing her mark, walking on the street opposite to her and a respectable distance behind. “I’m following her now, and I need to concentrate. Only use comms to update me with important information from now on.”

 

With every moment that passed, with every time Trifanny turned her head even a little, Bright Knight feared she’d be discovered. It was nerve wracking to follow someone for such a long period of time right behind them, hoping they wouldn’t turn around.

 

After walking eight blocks, Triffany reached the upway stop for the B train, and called for the elevator. Bright Knight cursed when she saw this and began running so she could close the distance and get in as well. She didn’t want to risk waiting for another elevator and missing her mark.

 

The lift was packed with people, and she had to push her way inside to fit. She was close to the doors, while Triffany was on the back, so she was safe. Out of vision.

 

When the doors opened, she moved to the side and waited for Caleb’s girlfriend to exit. Once she did, she kept tailing her. And, when the train came, Bright Knight made sure to get on the same car as her.

 

The upway was much like the subway, but instead of being down in the ground, it was high above. Floating tracks created by some Mental with superintelligence followed the streets, weaving around the buildings like roots around rocks. She usually liked to gaze at the view on the windows, but now her sole attention was on the girl she was following, as if the moment she looked away, she’d disappear.

 

After six stops, they both got off. There was another elevator, going down this time. Then it was more walking. 

 

Eventually, they reached a massive and grand megachurch. It was packed with people and even had what looked like security guards. Trifanny walked up to them and they scanned her face with a device, identifying her.

 

Bright Knight followed behind her, trying to slip in. She acted confidently, as if she belonged there.

 

A strong arm blocked her way. “Whoa there, hold on a sec!” exclaimed one of the security guys, a big, jolly man. “Don’t think I’ve veen you before, Sisna. Is this your first time comin’ to our church?”

 

“Yeah, that’s right,” she answered, “Can I go in?”

 

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” said the man, overflowing with affection, “Please allow me to be the first to welcome you to our family! You can’t begin to imagine how happy w’all are to have you here! The God sure is great for guiding you here!”

 

Hearing the man's words, others began to flock to her, welcoming her, asking to hug her, and simply showering her with affection. 

 

The guard gave her a quick scan with the handheld device, “to create an I.D.”. Although, Bright Knight suspected they might have scanned her face to check her across some database of theirs.

 

They gave her a light up badge and then let her inside. 

 

Inside there were even more people than she had thought previously, and, seeing she was new, they all came to welcome her. They all told her how great their “Holy Christian Church of Salvation and Truth” was. They spoke of how great their god was and all the wonderful things that being part of the church would bring her.

 

The superheroine did her best to keep an eye on Caleb’s girlfriend, all the while pretending to be interested.

 

The place was built like a coliseum, like a stadium. It was massive, with over forty two thousand seats, all of them aimed and looking towards a lavish platform with an orator’s stand. The platform was made of marble or some other rich material that she couldn’t identify. Several enormous holographic TV screens hovered above, showing a closeup of the platform for those far away. A huge, golden statue of Jesus Christ was behind the orator’s stand, flanked by trees, streams of water, and other decorations.

 

After some time had passed, allowing for people to mingle and socialize, a handsome, well dressed, older man came out from behind the rich blue curtains that framed the stage. He smiled and waved and greeted everyone cheerfully, heading straight for the podium. He grabbed the thing with both hands like a politician.

 

All the people in the stadium cheered and roared as if their favorite celebrity had shown up. It was deafening.

 

“Alright, alright, come on,” said the preacher with a rueful smile, as if embarrassed by all the attention and praise. “Settle down, y’all, please settle down.”

 

The sounds of the feverish crowd died down slowly, and once it was possible to speak, he began his sermon. “As always, I’ll begin with a prayer for the newcomers. Mike said we had one hundred and forty seven join our flock. One hundred and forty seven! Isn’t that amazing? It truly warms my heart that so many of y’all heard the call of The God and decided to let Their holy light into your lives. I’d like to pray for you, so that you don’t stray from the path you’ve just found. The True Path. And I’ll pray that you’ll stick around with us and be saved by the grace and love of The One True God!”

 

More cheers, more roars.

 

The preacher’s smile died down, turning into a somber expression. “Now, I know, in light of recent events, some of you might be wavering in your faith. First we had that terrible Eater attack that caused so much suffering, and now, as if that wasn’t enough, we have the diabolical Genocide 6 wrecking havoc in our city. How could The God let this happen?!, some of you might say. How can he sit by when there is so much suffering, you might also say. How, when I caught the superplague, when my child died?” 

 

The preacher paused to intake breath.

 

“Some of the churches might have given you some bullshit, pardon my Chinese, about how The God has a plan or that he is taking a hands off approach to let us have free will, but this is all false!” He hit the podium with his hand, hard, “Absolutely false! The truth is that The One True God was betrayed and injured. It all started when the devil tricked us into eating the forbidden fruit in The Garden of Eden. But he didn’t stop there, oh no. Our corrupt politicians and government became The Devil’s disciples. With time and the help of The Devil, they built ever deadlier weapons, until, in secret, these Devil Followers built a heretical weapon capable of hurting our dear God. They hurt our heavenly creator! After all he did for us! After he sent his son to die for us! 

 

“But, I digress. The God shattered, splitting his power into fragments. Now superhumans go around using these fragments, led by tyrannical and corrupt leaders. They follow the False Bibles. They follow the path of heresy!”

 

The preacher took in a big breath and then began ranting in earnest, putting fire into his words, “We live in an age of Sin, a modern Sodom and Gomorrah! Heretics and Blasphemers corrupt the holy words of The God, writing false bibles! The trillionaires of the .1% live in excess while the rest of us starve on minimum wage! The Government corrals us like cattle inside the barrier, telling us we can’t leave, because an alien that doesn’t exist lays in wait outside! We need our God! We need him more than ever! Only by helping him can we save ourselves! We must gather all the power fragments for Them! We must spread the real words of The God far and wide and enlighten people to the true will of The One True God!”

 

The crowd began howling and shouting, frenzied. Bright Knight didn’t at first and she got some bad looks until she followed suit.

 

The preacher then continued ranting like that for a long time, spewing his vile blasphemy and conspiracy theories. Bright Knight could scarcely believe that they were doing this out in the open with dozens of thousands of people listening. Usually cults did things in secret, in the shadows out of fear of being persecuted. 

 

The more she thought about this, the more nervous she got. This didn’t seem like one of the harmless cults. This looked to be the real deal. She had to make it out and report it to someone.

 

Once the sermon ended, the “ascension ceremony” began. One by one they began calling people in the crowd up into the platform for all to see. First came a lawyer who had helped them settle a court case, then someone who had managed to recruit over a thousand new people, and then came Trifanny.

 

She looked overjoyed, nothing like the battered and depressed girl Bright Knight had met earlier that day. Tears of happiness fell from her eyes as she climbed up the steps. 

 

“Congratulations, Trifanny,” said the preacher, placing a warm hand on her shoulder, “We have confirmed that the child your womb possesses a divine shard. You have done well in reclaiming part of the body of The God and as such, The Prophet would love to meet you, sister. He is very proud of you and wants to personally congratulate you.”

 

Trifanny squealed with joy and hugged him, “Thank you, thank you, thank you! It was hard, so hard. You have no idea what I had to put up with… that disgusting, dirty, fat… but it was all worth if it will help heal our God. It is the way to salvation and I- I did my part for the cause!”

 

The preacher brushed her hair, calming her down. “Shhhh, I know it’s tough, but we must all fight the toughest of battles to repent for humanity’s sins. God was betrayed by us and now we must all help him.”

 

After that Trifanny disappeared behind the curtains at the back of the platform along with all others who were to be “ascended”.

 

Bright Knight wanted to use her powers and maybe get into the ventilation shaft using her light form, but people would notice her disappearance and her secret identity would be busted, and they probably had cameras too. She had to be very careful; she didn’t want her family or her boyfriend paying the consequences of her reckless actions. Besides, what she had already recorded thus far was more than enough to call for an intensive investigation of the cult. All cults were subject to intense scrutiny due to them being a hotbed of villainy, and this one here had already checked off many of the items in the checklist needed for an investigation. Her job here was done.

 

She waited for people to begin leaving so as to not draw attention to herself and then blended into the crowd. People were filling out in a long line, passing beneath some scanning device. According to the person behind her, it was supposed to detect “devil followers”.

 

Bright Knight was among the first in the line, and it wasn’t long before it was her turn to step under the machine. 

 

It produced an alarm sound and flashed an angry red, startling her.

 

A security guard with a dark expression grabbed her arm, “You‘re gonna have to come with me, Miss.” his voice brokered no argument.

 

Bright Knight pulled her arm away from his grip harshly, “No, I don’t think so. I’m not a devil follower or whatever-” she smiled confidently “-I’m leaving and you aren’t gonna stop me.”

 

“The device says otherwise, Miss,” he answered, placing a hand on the gun at his hip, “We aren’t villains here. You’ll just have to attend reeducation and have the sin expelled from you. Believe me, we’re doin’ this for you.”

 

Her mind raced. She could use her power to turn to light and blink away, but then her identity would be revealed. How would she get out of this?

 

“Seems like you are in a shit of a situation, B.K.” came Jared’s smug voice on her VRisor. “But you really do have the best teammates ever. For real.”

 

“We ignored your order,” said Zara in her no-nonsense voice, “We used the live recordings you’ve been sharing with us to find the place and we came in case you needed backup. I’m going to create a distraction.”

 

A moment after she said that, an incredibly strong blast hit the right wall of the megachurch, causing the whole place to shake. There was dust all over the wall and it was difficult to see what had happened.

 

Bright Knight was a veteran and knew a thing or two, so she took action the moment everyone was distracted.

 

She grabbed the gun of the guard and opened fire on his knee. 

 

The man cried out and fell to the floor, holding his leg.

 

She then took off in the direction of the blast, running at full speed. 

 

A few people tried to grab her, but after she opened fire on them, most lost their courage and backed off.

 

Once she made it out of the line, there were virtually no people and she kept running, stepping over the seats as she made a mad dash for that wall.

 

It was all pure chaos. She ran as people fired upon her, using her power under her clothes to make hard light armor to stop the bullets. All the while the building kept rumbling and crumbling as Zara’s kinetic explosions periodically hit it. The civies screamed and stampeded towards the main exit, stepping over the unfortunates who fell on the floor in their panic.

 

When she made it to the wall, she wasted no time exiting through the hole her teammates had made. The moment she made it through, she called off the armor beneath her clothes, since the heat was burning them off.

 

Outside Kinetic and Scout were waiting for her in their supersuits. 

 

“Idiots!” yelled Bright Knight, annoyed, “You shouldn’t have come! How are you going to get out now?!”

 

Jared gave her his signature cocky smile, “As…well whoever the hell said it: One for all, and all for one. You needed help, and we saved your ass.”

 

“Yeah,” said Zara, “Now, let’s get the fuck out of here.”

 

Bright Knight sighed. These two were teenagers and rash, their brains full of hero propaganda and the cartoons they watched when they were children. They hadn’t been in the trenches for long. “Alright, start running. I’ll find a secluded place to put on my suit.” She then grinned mischievously “And even though I’m pissed at you for disobeying my order…thanks for caring about me, you stubborn bastards!”

 

They grinned back and then the three of them split off, Kinetic and Scout running in the opposite direction of Bright Knight.

 

Bright Knight looked for a place to change as she ran. And after a few streets she found a secluded alley. It was cliche but if something works, why change it.

 

She used her power to manifest her hard light armor over whatever was left of her clothes. Her armor was much thicker this time, and thus the heat it emanated was harsher, causing all of her clothes to burn off at a rapid pace until there was nothing left. She was naked as the day she was born under the armor and found herself wishing for the slutty outfit the company gave her, since at least it was heat resistant.

 

Now that she was all suited up, she had no reason not to use her power, so she blinked up into the sky. 

 

As she fell, she took in the lay of the land and where her two teammates were located. She then turned into light again, and blinked down to their location.

 

Most people became startled when she appeared out of nowhere, but they were used to it.

 

They continued making their escape, now as a group.

 

But it wasn’t long until they encountered resistance. A fast, wolf-like Mutator caught up to the group. It was gray and transparent, with its organs and skeleton showing through. It ran on all fours and had some cybernetic device welded to its head, covering its eyes.

 

The villain was fast and nimble. It sidestepped Zara’s blast and then jumped above the spear of light Bright Knight hurled at it.

 

That wasn’t the worst of it. Another cyborg villain was flying above with a jetpack fused to its back; they made the ground and surrounding building’s warp, turning into tendrils that seeked the heroes and limited their movements. The ground also began swallowing the heroes’ feet.

 

Bright Knight tried to hurl a spear at the flying one, but the wolf dashed to her and rammed into her, throwing off her aim.

 

Zara fired a blast at the same time and towards the same target as her, but it missed. 

 

While Bright Knight fought against the wolf, Zara kept firing blasts trying to hit the flier. She began charging the fourth one, but there was a loud gunshot and her throat erupted with blood.

 

Bright Knight looked on in horror as Zara fell down, struggling to breath and choking on her blood. 

 

Another muzzle flash erupted from a tall building and then Zara’s brains and symbiote were splattered all over the pavement.

 

Bright Knight didn’t know what to do. Her teammate was dead—just like that—in the blink of an eye. She struggled to control her emotions and keep her mind clear.

 

More and more villains kept arriving too, also flying on high-tech jetpacks or other cybernetic enhancements that allowed for rapid mobility. 

 

They weren’t going to win this.

 

She hated to leave Jared here, but someone had to make it out of here. Someone had to tell everyone about this dangerous cult growing under their noses.

 

“I’m sorry,” she said, even as Jared’s eyes begged her to stay. 

 

With that she used her power and blinked away.

 

---

 

A haggard and shaken Bright Knight arrived at the Heroic Solutions headquarters. She entered the Director of Operations’ office as a ray of light which then turned into her human form.

 

“Fuuuu…dge! You scared me!” said the balding middle aged man on a suit that was the Director. He was human. All the people in high positions were. People were fond of having heroes leashed to unpowered humans.

 

“I’m sorry for startling you, Director.” she said, her voice traumatized and hollow after losing her teammates. “As I said on the phone, one of my teammates, Scout, was alive when I left the scene. Please help me stage a rescue operation asap. Every second could make the difference on if he makes it or not.”

 

“Yes, yes, I know,” he answered, dismissive, “But I need to see those recordings first. I can’t call on so many resources just at your word, you understand. Sit down-” he pulled out a metal chair for her “-and show me what you got.”

 

Bright Knight grit her teeth. This bureaucratic fool was going to waste precious time that Jared didn’t have. Every second could be the difference between life or death. Still, there was no other option. She sat down and began sending a copy of what she recorded to his VRisor.

 

“I got it, thank you,” the Director said. “While I watch, here’s some water. You look like hell, Bella, relax and freshen up. I want you on the rescue team since you are the best of the best. Just let me take a quick look at this.”

 

Bright Knight was extremely thirsty, after all that running and fighting. She thanked him and took the water bottle, unfastening the cap and drinking greedily. 

 

She watched him as he reviewed the video at 2x speed, tapping her foot on the ground and her index finger on her bicep.

 

But after a dozen or so minutes she began feeling weird. Her powers began fading and she also couldn’t seem to keep her eyes open.

 

What the hell was happening here?! 

 

She tried to stand up but all she managed was a shaky stumble, falling down naked onto the ground.

 

The Director pausing the video calmly and approached her.

 

It was clear now. He drugged her.

 

Desperate, she tried to raise her arm, spit flying out of her mouth from the effort. She’d use her power and-

 

He stepped on her naked arm with his foot, pressing it to the floor, rendering her efforts futile. “I’m sorry but they’ll kill my daughter if I don’t do this.” He said something else, but her drug-addled mind couldn’t process it.

 

Despite her best efforts, her eyelids fell down a final time, and she passed out.

 

---

 

When she woke up, she was in an unfamiliar place. A windowless, cavernous room.

 

She was shaking from how cold it was and utterly hangovered. Her bed seemed to be moving and there were sounds of machinery all around, which she found very odd.

 

How did she get here? What was happening? Her sleepy, drugged brain struggled to find answers.

 

Bright Knight yawned and tried to stand up, but it was impossible: she was strapped down to a medical surgery table. She looked around and what she saw shook the sleep right of her in one fell swoop.

 

She saw others in the same position as her. Many others. They all seemed to be in some kind of hellish assembly line, hundreds of people, maybe thousands, all strapped to surgery tables and gagged, their screams muffled. Further down the assembly line, nightmarish cyborgs and robots were operating on their helpless victims, digging into their brains, fusing cybernetics into their flesh, and performing other hellish procedures. 

 

She was panicking now and tried to activate her powers. Nothing. The Director, that son of a bitch, must have mixed Null and sleeping drugs together in that bottle. 

 

Bella began crying, despair taking root in her heart. IShe was a strong person. She had been through a lot, but this…this was too much. It was all for nothing. Her teammates had died for nothing. Nobody would get the information they recorded. They knew her secret identity now too. For the first time in a long time, she broke down.