Grace walked through the halls of the headquarters. A few minutes earlier, she'd heard several doors open and close in rapid succession, far faster than she'd thought possible. She'd poked about the medical area until she found a tablet computer set up to monitor patients. With the tablet in hand showing her the angel's sleeping form, she explored the building looking for the source of the sounds.

Her sense of hearing, always excellent, seemed to have improved. As she tried every door she came to, she recognized the distinct sounds of each and every one. In a matter of minutes, she'd sorted out the trail. It led from a door marked 'private quarters', which opened into a hallway straight out of a hotel, to an exit.

She stood there in the doorway, the breeze blowing her hair back from her face. Of its own accord her hand slipped into her pocket, pressed a button on the keychain lurking there. Across the parking lot a powerful engine coughed to life, then settled into a quiet growl. She could drive away now, never think about this place again.

She held the tablet in one hand, the keys in the other. The angel still slept, although as Grace watched she stirred a bit. The big ring of keys weighed her arm down. She pressed buttons until the truck's engine shut down. Once she'd satisfied herself she hadn't done the vehicle any mischief, she took one long breath of evening air, then headed back to the infirmary.

***

Angie rolled to a stop; the half-naked, really cute boy cradled in her arms. The big, ugly bear screamed and shook its paw, trying to dislodge the shards of metal and glass.

"That's what you get for ruining my car!"

She leapt to her feet, shaking one fist at the bear. With her other hand she pulled the boy to his feet. He gaped at her; eyes wide. "Who the hell are you?"

She shouldn't tell people her real name. She remembered that much. After a moment listening to the grumpy old woman in the back of her head, she smiled at the boy again. "Me? I'm Widget! I'm a medic! Are you hurt?"

The boy blinked, no doubt taken aback by her maturity and poise. He stammered out, "uh, no. I don't think so."

"Oh. Then you should run!" She grabbed his shoulder, spun him around, and gave him a little push to get him started. He landed in the bushes beside one of the boathouses. That put him out of the bear's line of sight, at least. She turned around, the boy forgotten, and faced the bear.

She faced the bear's knees. She looked up, and up, and up, into the roaring maw of the bear as it screamed at the stars. Its mouth got bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Just before it could swallow her whole, she leapt in the only direction she could, her lab coat flapping behind her like a cape. Beneath the bear stank of wet bear fur, rotting river mud, and cheap spilled beer. Spilled beer smelled like old pee.

Before she could think why the spilled beer smelled so much like pee, the bear realized where she'd gone. Holding itself up on three paws, it swiped at her. She rolled away, slamming her shoulder into the remains of the poor Skycar as she did.

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That made her mad. She liked the Skycar. Zooming around in a flying SUV was cool, but the bear smashed it. Now Charlie would yell at her, and she wouldn't be able to fly until she fixed it. Furious, she ran over to the bear's braced forepaw and kicked it hard.

"Stupid smelly bear! I hate you!"

The bear roared, a solid wall of sound swatting Widget away like a beach ball lifted by an ocean wave. She landed, rolling to her feet and staring at the bear as it stood again. Before it could take another step toward her, a giant fist speared out of the water near the shoreline, slamming right in between the bear's back legs. Before the bear could react, Flex twisted between its legs, ending up on her hands and knees pressed up behind it. A rock the size of the bear's head flew out of the darkness behind the boathouses, missing the bear by inches.

Stumbling backwards, blinded by pain and rage, the bear tripped over Flex. She couldn't hold the bear up, but she pushed at its knees just enough to send it falling butt first into the water. It rolled over, scrambling to get its feet under it, roaring so loud the air between Widget and it wobbled like the air above a hot road on a sunny day.

An instant later, the only sounds on the river were the fading echoes of the bear's roar and the steady rush of water back into the river from where the big beast had displaced it. Widget stood, looking around to see if anyone needed help. She found Jack first, limping out from behind one of the boathouses, a boulder bigger than him held above his head. He pulled it back to throw, but she hollered at him before he could.

"Jackhammer! Wait!" She remembered his code name! Code names were really cool. She ran over to him, stopped and stood, arms akimbo, smiling for the cameras that must be watching. "I think it's done for. It hasn't been roaring, and I think I see someone on top of it."

Jackhammer squinted at the bear, frowning and shaking his head, but he dropped the boulder to one side with a crash. "My eyes aren't as good as they used to be. I can't see for... I can't see well after dark anymore."

"That's okay. I'll tell you what I see. Oh, right! You really scared the bear good with the other rock!" She knew she ought to be nice to Jackhammer, because you were supposed to be nice to old people, and nobody she knew was older than Jackhammer.

"Uh, yeah. I was aiming for its head. Still, if it's stupid and it works, it ain't stupid. Flex! You around?"

A few quiet seconds later, a dripping Flex dragged herself out of the water. She looked exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes and everything sagging. She crawled over to them, pulled herself up using Jack for leverage. When Widget could see her face and Jackhammer couldn't, she winked.

"I'm bushed. You gonna carry me over to the island to check on Kronos?"

He frowned. "How am I gonna get over there?"

Flex smiled and melted. She pooled under Jackhammer's feet, which hovered an inch off the ground.

"Oh. Sure. C'mon up here, both of you."

The old woman in her head kept shouting louder and louder about Charlie. Widget didn't need the old baggage telling her something that obvious. She scrambled up onto Jack's shoulders for a piggyback ride to the bear. Flex just stood up, grinned again, and stepped across the river to the bear.

Jackhammer shook his head again and floated them across to the back of the bear, where Kronos lay flat on his back. His head shifted marginally when they got close.

"How'd you get yourself out here, anyhow?" Jackhammer asked.

"You gotta run... really fast..." Kronos wheezed. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he fainted.

Widget wrung her hands, wishing she could do something. She knew the old woman could help, but that meant going away. Widget didn't want to go away. She wanted to help so badly she couldn't keep it all bottled up.

"I wish I had a way to help Kronos get better."