The van's engine roared as it tore through the waterlogged streets of the downtown core. I sat in the back, alongside Weld, Clockblocker, Vista, and Kid Win. We were a little ragged, a little worse for wear. A call had gone out about fires across the city, presumably another attack by the villains. With our reinforcements still not forthcoming, and running low on heroes, they'd given me the okay for search and rescue once more.

  But things changed, as they had so often lately. While I was waiting for the 'go' order to head into the building, an apartment complex that had become an inferno, I'd been dragged away. Apparently, despite the state of the city, they were still really going ahead with a mayoral election. Insane, fucking bonkers. And now the final debate had been attacked.

  Clockblocker was still chattering back and forth with the officer on the console, trying to figure out who, what, and more. It had to be the Undersiders and Travelers again. First the mayor's house, then the PRT headquarters yesterday. They were waging war against the city, making sure everyone knew it was theirs.

  Kid Win slowly adjusted his new suit, checking again that everything was working. Vista poked at a bright red welt sticking through her face of makeup, a bug-bite that hadn't gone down yet. Weld was staring at his hands, flexing the alloy, subtly changing its shape. My foot bounced rapidly off the van's floor, my heart racing faster than we were driving.

  Everyone was on edge, had been for weeks now. I could see it in how lethargic Win was, in Weld's distraction, and Vista's focus anywhere else. I knew I wasn't any better, but felt I had to at least try. I knew things were different now, but I also remembered something about the debate. Probably just this attack by the Undersiders; I didn't remember the last one after all.

  “How much longer?” Clockblocker asked, looking at Kid Win.

  “Two minutes,” he snapped, staring at the roof of the van. Or more likely, something on his visor. “Only has a range of a couple blocks. Teleporting living matter is...weird, and I don--”

  “Spare me the gory details,” he said, shaking his head. “Just yell at the driver when you're good.”

  “Hey wait, is this like...safe?” I could hear my alarm ringing faintly in my ears.

  “Yeah, it's fine,” Kid Win said, not even looking. “PRT cleared it last week, just...stand still.”

  With that terrifying warning in mind, I settled back and tried not to panic. It was just the Undersiders, I'd fought them before, all of us had. Nothing to worry about besides the usual. I took a shuddering breath and let it out slowly, flinching as a hand clapped on my shoulder. I looked over and saw Weld giving me a confident nod. I nodded back as Kid Win yelled and the van screeched to a halt.

  “Weld, stand here, Vista...” Clockblocker arranged us with a hand from Kid Win. Once we were in position, Win threw a device on the ground that crackled with yellow energy. “Once we're in we need to move! Coil's inside,” Wait Coil? No, no time. “With Circus, Uber, and Leet. Probably a dozen soldiers too, and they have hostages. Kid Win, Amaranth, you hit the soldiers in the room. Vista, keep the rest out. Weld, close protection with me. Ready?”

  We shared a collective nod and I took a deep breath as the device glowed brighter. There was a blinding flash of light and then we were in the midst of chaos. I barely processed the shouts of surprise and fear as I whipped my head around, fixing on the soldier nearest to me. Kid Win took to the air as I ran towards the merc, grabbing the barrel of his gun and crushing it before he could react. Gunfire echoed around me and I felt rounds patter off my projection as I pulped the soldier's hands before whirling on the next.

  Kid Win was focusing on the far side of the room from me, compensating for my lack of reach. For once, my height was an advantage. I slipped under the guard of one soldier and destroyed his rifle and knee, then shoved him on top of the soldier behind. Both got a boot to the head as another unloaded a machine gun into my face, doing nothing but pissing me off and making my tinnitus that much worse. He screamed as I crushed the barrel, the rounds cooking in the chamber; his gun, and hands, became an ugly shrapnel.

  I cuffed the last member of the squad, a woman not much taller than me who decided to drop her gun and raise her hands; apparently someone wanted to keep their extremities intact. Weld began directing the evacuation as I cuffed the soldiers who hadn't passed out from their injuries. Almost as an afterthought, I cuffed the others too the shouted an 'all clear' to Weld.

  We regrouped near the stage, Weld and I up front; the ones who could take a punch. Without warning, the doors burst open and the villains flooded in. Uber blocked Kid Win's immediate fusillade with a pair of massive metal arms, and Coil said...something I couldn't hear over the gunfire. A sense of deja vu pressed on the back of my head as I saw him take a remote from Leet. I wasn't sure why, this was some timeline I'd fucked up but--

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  No, shit. I remembered Coil's plain as soon as I heard a high-pitched whine from Kid Win's rig. Bomb. Weld worked on tearing apart Win's armour as the villains advanced. I stepped to the side, blocking a shot aimed at Vista. The crowd screamed as they realized what was happening, stampeding to escape the room. The villains began to run, and I turned just in time to watch whatever the bomb was fail to teleport away.

  The device was in my hand and I dropped, curled tightly around it, shut my eyes and prayed.

  It wasn't enough. I could feel the heat through my projection, prickling my skin. Even though my eyes were shut, I saw white. The concussion rattled my bones badly enough that I thought I was being physically shaken apart. I screamed as white-hot agony seared my arm and I threw it up and away, falling on my side and breathing heavily.

  A something jostled my shoulder. I cracked my eyes and saw...someone standing over me. I couldn't really see too well, everything was blurry. It looked like whoever it was was saying something, but between my alarm and fresh tinnitus all I heard was a bassy rumble. Everything hurt, not that surprising since I'd been stupid enough to jump on a bomb. Whoever it was, Weld probably since his skin was hard, helped me sit up and lean against something. He spoke again and I shook my head, wincing. I pointed at my ears, then my eyes, then crossed my index fingers in front of me.

  Fucking dumbass. How the fuck had I forgotten the event that shocked me more than Leviathan? I suppressed a groan of pain as my arm throbbed. God, I didn't even want to look, not that I could see much right now. I watched indistinct figures milling around, gradually becoming less blurry. Well, at least I wasn't blind. Had to count the small blessings where I could, especially when they were so few and far between.

  My eyes tracked a lanky figure that approached the stage. They had a messy mane of dark hair, and a strangely stilted gait. As they passed me, I caught a pair of wide lips and bit the inside of my cheek. Skitter was here, right. Well, wouldn't out her in front of the heroes; that'd be insanely fucked when we just got bombed. As subtly as I could, I tracked her up the stage until she knelt over one of the people up there. A sigh escaped my lips. Right, wannabe hero.

  “Hey—hurt?” I turned my head and saw a paramedic standing there, waiting for an answer to a half-heard question. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, though it did nothing to clear my blurry vision.

  “Ears, eyes, arm.” I pointed at my aching arm and winced as they did. It was bad then. “Eyes and ears are getting better.” They nodded and I moved my projection as they got to work.

  What a fucking mess. Even though I couldn't see great, the gigantic hole that had been blasted in the building was pretty obvious. I figured I'd got most of it, but whatever the thing was I'd underestimated it. The villains were gone, dead or escaped, and I saw the crowd of civilians slowly getting smaller as they were taken outside.

  “Amaranth.” I looked up and saw Clockblocker. “You okay?”

  “Third-degree burns on her arm,” the paramedic explained in my place. “She's going to need surgery, probably.”

  “Oh, that's why I doesn't hurt so bad.” Wait, that was a bad thing. “Eyes aren't doing great, you're kinda hazy right now. Everything sounds like it's underwater too, probably should get my ears checked.”

  “What?”

  “Fuck off,” I snapped, then sighed. “Sorry, just...what the fuck were they thinking?”

  “Villains aren't usually the brightest bunch.” I saw Taylor react to the comment as she passed by, a slight turn of her head. Then she was gone, joining the crowd of civilians. “Whatever they planned, it went wrong. Bright side is there are a few less villains in town.”

  “Jesus.” I shook my head as the medic stood. I joined them, knees shaky. “Everyone else?”

  “Fine,” he said. “You gave me enough time to freeze them, put a blanket between me and the blast. Don't think many people died though, or were even hurt. You...” He sighed. “You gave me a fucking heart attack.”

  “Sorry,” I said automatically. “Just...what other option was there?”

  “I don't know,” Clockblocker admitted. “Not going to give you shit, you probably saved a lot of people.”

  “Not everyone.”

  “Not everyone.” He took a deep breath. “But a hell of a lot more than I could have. Come on, let's get out of here; regulars have this handled.”

  We passed a number of officers on our way out, joining the other Wards in the back of a van. I ignored the reporters pointing cameras and microphones until the doors mercifully shut. Then we were off, heading back to headquarters for the dressing down of a lifetime no doubt. We'd arrived too late, done too little. The only thing I had to look forward to was getting my arm fixed.

  The ride was silent, no one wanted to talk about it, it seemed. That was fair, I sure as hell didn't. I'd been blindsided by something that actually happened in canon, and I didn't know how to feel about that. Recalling stuff was getting harder and harder, more distance between me and reading, more bullshit.

  By the time we arrived, I could mostly see again. Some details were still fuzzy, and I couldn't read the screen when I checked my phone, but it was good enough to see what people looked like. I could hear too, at least better than before. My ears were still ringing, now just tinnitus; another little blessing.

  We were ushered upstairs by a harried-looking Battery. I wasn't too happy about that, but when I complained she just shook her head. Important, apparently more important than a barely-bandaged burn. The fact that it wasn't aching anymore didn't make me feel better. We were led into a conference room, where most of the other heroes were gathered around a table with Deputy Director Renick and a tall, black man I didn't recognize.

  “Wards,” Renick greeted us, frowning when he looked at me. “Amaranth, you're injured.”

  “Yes sir,” I replied flatly.

  “We'll make this brief then.” He sighed and gestured to the man beside him. “This is Thomas Calvert, former tactical officer and consultant for the PRT. As of right now, he's assuming command of the detachment here. Commander?”

  I missed the rest of the meeting. My alarm was ringing too loudly.