“I'm sorry to ask,” I said, staring at the table. “I know how stuff is right now, and I don't want to pressure you. I promised I'd ask, and I told her that no was a possible answer. No pressure if you don't feel comfortable doing it.” I glanced and saw Amy's hands ball into fists.

  “Bonesaw did it?” Her voice shook and I nodded. “Fuck...fuck I...will you come if I...”

  “I guess,” I replied with a sigh. “Not sure they'd let me out though.”

  “Could they come here?”

  “No sweet clue,” I answered, rubbing my eyes. It was barely the afternoon and I already felt wiped. “Can I bring Flechette by sometime to talk about it? She knows more than I do.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Amy sighed and rubbed her arm. “Sorry.”

  “For what, offering to heal people?” I asked, making her frown. “Setting conditions doesn't make you a bad person, that's basically what rules are.”

  “It's not the same,” she complained.

  “Rules protect other people,” I said. “And conditions protect you. Rules too, laws and shit, but you get what I mean.”

  “I...guess.” She shifted in place. “Doesn't feel right.”

  “Maybe not, but it isn't wrong.” I rose from the couch with a grunt, pulling up my hood and mask. “I know that's confusing but...yeah, it's not wrong to look out for yourself too.”

  “So why don't you?”

  “Room temperature IQ,” I said simply, getting a snort of laughter. “And because I'm shit at it. I'm...trying.” Not hard, but I was.

  “Okay.” I stopped by the door when I heard her get up and quietly pad over. I turned and found her...not quite looming, but everyone seemed to these days. “Can I?”

  I wrapped my arms around her and gave a brief hug before saying goodbye and heading out. Well, it was nice that she was okay with maybe healing those people. Flechette had gone to Parian, told her about the offer. Apparently it was good enough for a delay in her taking Skitter's, so great, fantastic. So nice that Flechette may get to have a girlfriend and remain a hero. Better that the Undersiders didn't get another pair of heavy-hitters...

  A sigh escaped my lips as I slumped against the wall of the elevator. And while all that shit was going on, the Protectorate had made good on Assault's desire for a strike. With Dragon's help, they'd hit every villain under Coil's command, had even cornered some of them. It was weird, I remembered this failed but...here it was working. That was honestly great, for me at least being on this side of things. What it meant for the future god only knew, but if the Undersiders got effectively annihilated now...

  Well for one I wouldn't have to deal with Tattletale anymore. More worrying was what would happen to the girl who eventually killed Scion. Skitter could be turned, had been in the story, but was that viable if things ended here? Not with Coil still in charge of shit. I sighed and strode through the quarters, heading into my room and sitting on the bed.

  Nothing I could do but let it play out, unfortunately. I was still grounded, so I wouldn't even get to cuff one of the villains myself. Then again, I felt a little weird about fighting someone like Skitter. We had been on the same side, even if just an for an emergency. But they were the ones tightening their grip on the city while it was still bleeding. The Nine were gone, the Truce was over, turnabout was fair play. They squeezed, we squeezed harder.

  A slight rumble started, then quickly stopped, leaving me in silence. Silence...total silence, no humming of lights or whirring of ventilation fans. I stood up and left my room, stumbling into the near-blacked out quarters. The power had gone out, a pair of lonely emergency lamps lit near the staircase. I felt my heart thumping, my alarm rang faintly, and my mouth was a desert.

  It couldn't be Echidna, surely; no way Skitter and company worked that fast. I felt a tickling on my neck and scratched at it, grimacing as I felt something squish. I slapped at another tickle on my shoulder. The bugs had been pretty bad around lately, with the warm weather and stagnant water everywhere. Usually they didn't bother me though, a side-effect of my projection was my guess but I wasn't looking too hard at the gift horse of no mosquito bites. So why were they...

  I dove back into my room and grabbed my belt from my closet. Once it was on, I pulled up my mask and hood, then sprinted to the staircase. When I opened the door, I could hear the sounds of a fight far above. Fuck! When the fuck had the Undersiders decided to attack us? Why?! They had lost some of theirs, and we had more than ever. Stupid.

  Emerging into the lobby, I saw a number of officers laying on the ground, most covered in bugs, some not. I ran over and pressed my fingers to each of their necks, flinching at a loud, electric crackling from outside. I shook my head and focused on making sure these idiots hadn't killed someone. A sigh escaped my lips as I checked the last casualty. All alive, though probably in pretty bad shape.

  I rose and rolled my shoulders, looking around. There was nobody here I could really help, but I knew where I could. I ran out the front doors, pausing at the sight. The building was surrounded by a ring of Grue's darkness, the PRT officers and cops out front nervously shifting and staring at it. Beyond it, I heard fighting, saw the glow of Sundancer's star reflecting on the steel of neighbouring skyscrapers. Once of Dragon's mechs was fighting on the ground, I saw a spiked wheel sticking over the clouds of pitch black.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  I charged, a straight line towards the last place I saw Dragon's mech. I shoved troopers and cops alike out of my way and plunged head first into Grue's darkness. I slowed down, taking steady paces forward and making sure my projection was wrapped tightly around me. The silence around made the rumbling of battle an eerie sensation, but I was able to navigate it.

  A moment later, I emerged and shielded my eyes against the sudden light. They adjusted quickly, and I scrambled out of the way as Dragon dodged the slowly rotating star moving towards her mech. If I got hit by that...no, fuck that. I saw Grue back off from the mech, and beside him was Regent's pet murderer.

  They were focused, hadn't noticed me yet it seemed. I felt my heart thumping as I stared at Shatterbird, the monster, the monster puppeteering her. I reached to my belt, then paused. No, knife wouldn't work, Bonesaw had made sure of that. What then? Hands, had to be, the only thing that couldn't be stopped. A shiver ran up my spine, but I out the tension in a long sigh. It wouldn't be hard, I'd done it to people who hadn't deserved it after all.

  I sprinted as Shatterbird's cloud of glass battered Dragon's mech. Distracted as they were by the gigantic, fuck-off robot currently trying to electrocute them or something, they didn't notice me til it was far too late. Grue shouted a warning to Regent just before vanishing and being replaced by a PRT officer. It gave him enough time to turn Shatterbird's head and raise her a few inches off the ground. Not enough time to get away.

  My fingers closed around her throat as I leaped towards her. She took off, but barely cleared twenty feet before I felt a visceral 'crunch' under my fingers. We plummeted to earth, hitting the ground hard enough to jostle my teeth. Darkness covered me, and through it I could hear the ringing of my alarm. I held absolutely still, barely daring to breathe, praying to a god I knew wasn't there I wouldn't wake up at home.

  After a brief eternity, I could see again and immediately shut my eyes. The grisly image of the ruin I'd made Shatterbird's throat still stuck in my head, made me queasy. I pushed myself up onto my elbows, then slowly to my feet. Dragon's mech, or mechs as reinforcements had arrived, were still. The fight was over, it seemed.

  I jogged over to a pile of confoam where I saw Miss Militia, half-buried and slumped over. I checked that she was breathing, then swore under my breath as I caught sight of Kid Win almost entirely covered. He was okay too, or at least wasn't actively dying. I waved an officer over and demanded solvent, which she ran off to presumably get.

  Medics came over with the anti-foam solution and got straight to work. I let them be, walking the perimeter of the battlefield and looking around. An intersection was gone, Sundancer's work judging by the spherical hole and melted asphalt. More than a dozen officers and cops were down, being tended to by their fellows. I didn't go far before I spotted a gleam of metal on someone lying on the ground. Jogging over, I found Gallant, unconscious but alive at least.

  “Amaranth?” he groaned as I rolled him over. “What's--”

  “Easy, you got hurt,” I said quietly, carefully looking him over. “Can't see any blood, but you're not exactly easy to examine. What hurts?”

  “Everything,” he replied with a groan.

  “Well we'll get you an everything transplant STAT,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Seriously Gallant, I don't want to try and help you inside only to accidentally collapse your lungs. What hurts?” He sighed.

  “Fell bad, broke my ankle I think,” Gallant said after a moment. “Ribs hurt, but not when I inhale so probably no breaks there.”

  “Thank god Amy's on hand,” I commented, slipping my arm around his back. “On three?”:

  “You're not taking me to her.”

  “Hey that's cool,” I said. “You're welcome to a six-week vacation, Gallant, but maybe we get you inside first?”

  Fortunately, he cooperated despite my bitchiness. I helped him back to the main line where PRT medics were still treating the other heroes. I left him in their care before returning to my impromptu patrol. It was...weird, being the only one of the heroes left standing. At least, of the people that had been out here during the fight. Not something I was used to. I shook my head to clear it and saw Clockblocker, still frozen in time and covered in spider-silk lines. Seemed my work wasn't done...

  It was slow going, with the shitty push-dagger I had, but I managed to free him a minute before he was unfrozen. He gave me a terse 'thank you' before limping into the PRT building. I sighed and kept going, my eyes flicking all across the streets, looking for anything. The Undersiders retreated and we let them go, I wasn't sure why but I didn't know if they'd be coming back for round two soon.

  The key issue was, I didn't remember this at all. I remembered Dragon coming to the city to help, perching her mechs outside the Undersiders' and Travelers' individual lairs for days on end to kettle them. I remembered it hadn't worked. Was that not going to happen now, with this attack? Surely the Protectorate would escalate this further, especially with the villains taking casualties. And what the hell would that look like?

  All I could do was wait and see, bide my time and warn them of the real threat when I could be sure I wouldn't get stuck in the basement with her. I finished my loop of the building and saw Assault out front, speaking quietly with a PRT trooper. I walked over to them, trying to look like I wasn't scared of the future I'd possibly fucked up.

  “Amaranth,” Assault said as I approached. “Are you okay?”

  “Peachy,” I said with a shrug. “Got here late, I'd ask what happened but I assume the Undersiders didn't like Dragon's no-knock?”

  “Apparently not,” he replied grimly. “We're still trying to figure out what they wanted. Leading theory is a smash and grab, like a couple weeks back, but no clues as to the target.”

  “Maybe just trying to weaken us?” I asked.

  “Could be, but if that was the case then it was a massive failure.” He turned his head slightly. I followed his gaze and flinched.

  “She had a kill order,” I explained, my cheeks warming. “Regent was mind-controlling her, she was a prisoner inside her own body. I...”

  “You killed her.” I nodded and lowered my head.

  “I had to,” I said. “She was dangerous to everyone, whether under Regent's control or not. What else was I supposed to do? I couldn't stop her from flying away, couldn't disable Regent, Grue would have blinded me if I went after him, Dragon was dealing with Sundancer and I--”

  “Easy, Amaranth,” Assault said gently. “Slow down, you're not in trouble. Just trying to understand what happened.”

  “I...” I felt sick, but squashed the feeling down. I took a long, slow breath in through my nose. I'd done nothing wrong, Shatterbird was a monster, and if anything her death was a mercy. “I only had a few seconds to go after either Grue or Shatterbird. She was closer, and the more dangerous one. I'm not sorry about it.” I couldn't afford to be.

  “Well, alright,” Assault said after a quiet minute. “Are you injured?”

  “No I'm okay,” I replied. “Hey uhh...does this mean I get to collect her bounty?” The glare I got told me my joke wasn't appreciated. “Sorry, forget it, I'll...head back to my quarters.”

  “We'll debrief shortly,” he said. “Don't go too far.” I nodded and began walking away, then paused as I heard cursing and charging footsteps behind me. “Come with me!” Assault snapped as he passed me. “Director's been kidnapped.” I felt the blood drain from my face.

  What the fuck was happening in this city?