I always knew that Exhuman events were a big deal. It was drilled into us from birth. It was the pinnacle of an Exhuman's existence, and almost always, the end of it. It was calamitous, apocalyptic, like a natural disaster, capable of taking thousands of lives and simply sweeping them away with all the effort and compassion of a toddler smashing his toys.

Only very rarely had there been a double event, when two Exhumans ran into each other and both decided to go off at once, either choosing to work together or fighting it out with the world under them a mere backdrop to the havoc they unleashed.

The most recent double event was mine and the Terrapath's. And while I had shown restraint in using my powers to obliterate everything in my path, she hadn't, and there still remained hundred-foot ravines that still pocked Newbruck, where we'd fought.

A triple event was completely unheard of, and was the subject of much schoolyard debate, whether such a thing would just spell the end of the world, or would just be a hundred times bigger than a regular event.

In a way, we'd jumped right past it. Though we were official, and none of our actions would be considered an event, having Tem, Jack, Tower, Steffie, Mage, Soran, and myself all trying to protect or kill each other was sort of a septuple event, though officially it was only a double, since we came as XPCA to intervene, and barely that since Steffie wasn't exactly the world's most dangerous Exhuman.

I wasn't acting as an XPCA this time, and neither were the two guys in red trying to kill me. I was reasonably certain that they had relatively little interest in collateral damage destroying the city they lived in and harming...or worse, involving the other Exhumans who resided there, so they were certainly holding back to a degree, as was I.

But the fact was, quite possibly, for the first time in history, there was a triple event going on as the three of us clashed.

The historical significance was lost on me as I fought for my life against the two, each arguably more powerful than I was.

One, just a damn kid with greasy hair, was apparently capable of twisting my perception. He'd thrust his hands in the air at me, and suddenly, straight lines wouldn't be straight anymore, the ground on which I stood felt uneven under my feet, or it buckled like I was standing at the top of a hill, ready to fall off.

The other was more straightforward, and had huge apparently glass fists covering his actual fists. He'd taken a few swipes at me, and I chose not to discover exactly what they did by allowing them to touch me, which turned out to be a great idea, because when he clipped a wall on swinging wide, his magnified fist went through it like it wasn't there, leaving a gash like the wall had simply evaporated at his touch.

It was more frustrating because if he blocked my swords, they too evaporated, and for the second fight with an Exhuman in a row, I found myself spending a lot more time evading and making new swords than I did actually swinging them. This made all the worse by the fact that every so often, when greasy-kid felt like it, I was suddenly fighting from the ceiling, or hanging by the soles of my feet on the side of the Earth, which was bucking wildly to throw me off.

Thankfully, I had the advantage of reach, and I'd knocked out the flippin' ninja of their team, the guy who effortlessly jumped up and down the wall, dodging gunfire on his way out. I could only just barely hold off glass-knuckles there with all the spinning the world was doing, there was no way I'd be able to handle someone faster than me through it.

Knuckles came in at me with his arms up like a boxer, charging in recklessly this time. I tried to slow him down by swinging at his legs, but a sudden inversion in perception made my blades go over his head instead while he closed within fisting range. He pelted a quick set of jabs at me while I ran, creating a set of perfectly fist-shaped holes in the wall I'd had at my back, before darting after me.

Another abrupt shift caught me trying to use my left leg twice in a row to sprint away, and I went falling what felt like sideways. Knuckles would be on me any second, and a single touch would end it...and me. Out of desperation, I threw lightning in his direction, just throwing together power as quickly as I could channel it. What resulted was a field of shocking ground which I doubted would actually hurt him if he stepped on it, but he skidded short, eying the arcs of electricity dancing across the concrete rather than run straight into what might be a trap.

It gave me time to get my feet under me and conjure back up to my soft cap of six blades for the moment. I didn't want to run, that was almost suicide while Greasy was in the picture, but I couldn't fight toe-to-toe with Knuckles with him able to dissolve my swords at a touch. With the mobility of their third guy, whoever had put together this team seemed to have really considered their powers for maximum annoyance when he did.

It was time to step it up or I'd be dead very soon. I kept darting in and out of streets and alleys, hurtling my way through and past Exhumans who were beginning to emerge from their homes at the sudden shockwave and blowout, most of whom shut themselves right back in when they saw the resistance running around. I thumbed my dead mobile in my pocket, feeling the cold, comforting touch of the charm strapped to it and splitting my attention as evenly between it and running as I could.

Now if I could just keep alive. And find a suitable place to do a little more damage. I needed something wood, I thought, and everything here was just damn concrete.

I stumbled and caught myself again, arms pinwheeling like an idiot as I swerved down another alley, and in front of me saw the main road, not too far from Steffie's place now. I grinned and knew where I could find what I needed now, turning again and veering towards her place.

The world lurched again, but I was unexpectedly caught off-guard by nothing changing. Enough to stumble, even. Was that his plan? Get me accustomed to falling all over the place so that I'd start doing it on my own?

Suddenly, ahead of me I saw AEGIS. She smiled and waved as she saw me coming, and my heart filled with relief. She and Karu had to be far, far away from the blast, and I had just needed to hold off the resistance from killing any more XPCA until they showed up. Once it was the three of us reunited, we could turn the tables, subdue one or more of these guys, and get what information about the resistance from them we could.

Elegant plan? Not really, which was probably why AEGIS was so opposed to it. It also included the dubious merit of picking a fight with the resistance and XPCA both, but we needed answers and fast.

I kept up running towards AEGIS and she waved me ever closer, beaming and cheering for me as I went. She seemed so damn lovely but...this wasn't the plan. Why would she be here? And not helping? And smiling so much at me being chased?

I turned and looked back only to see my pursuers nowhere in sight. What? Had they gone back to the wall to work on their mission? I hadn't possibly gained that much ground on them, I'd been stumbling just a few feet back, and still couldn't run full-tilt. Something was wrong. Very wrong. The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up even as I saw AEGIS standing ten feet away, beckoning for me to come to her, pleading with her gorgeous eyes.

If I'd been running still, I would have missed it, the subtle sense of another person around me, how I kept track of Jack and Tem when they were within range of my powers. Their bio-electric current, as Lia'd figured out. I looked and saw nothing, but I was on edge. I lashed out with all my swords in the area I sensed it, cleaving cleanly through whatever invisible adversary might be there.

He screamed and the world rippled and broke, I could feel illusion falling from my eyes like scales. Where I'd swiped my swords, Greasy was rolling on the ground, clutching at his chest where he was criss-crossed with angry red burns, and where AEGIS had been standing, nothing but an alleyway.

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I only had an second to dodge before Knuckles burst his way out of the alley, still trying to salvage their ambush. He came at me swinging, and I could only throw my swords in his face, having them explode into blinding sparks against his glassy hands before he was on me. In the instant I'd bought myself with the loss of my swords, I pushed myself off a wall only instants before he gouged a hole clean through it with a left cross.

And then we were off again. I still couldn't take him in a fight, but now that Greasy and his ability to fuck with my perceptions was out of the picture, I could run properly, and I was slowly putting distance between us as I continued bolting towards Steffie's place.

When I got there, I muttered her a mental apology and smashed the shit out of one of the many planters of sad, dead flowers she used to keep outside her door. I had a couple seconds to really kick the thing apart until it was a mess of splinters and nails and dirt, and then kept moving.

I couldn't hit Kunckles from the front with anything. No bulbs, no swords, no nothing, and the range of my powers was good, but not so good that I could hit him from the back without him also being in my face. I needed an ally to flank him, and with AEGIS and Karu still not in the picture yet...maybe they'd lost me with all the running off-course I'd done…

Well, I'd have to be my own backup.

I slowed and caught my breath and let him catch up. I think he was happy to take a breather as well, as once I wasn't running anymore, he advanced on me at a slow, guarded walk, breathing heavily through his mouth.

"Just tell me where the resistance is," I said, finding it hard to breathe and talk at the same time "and nobody has to get hurt."

I thought about the last two guys I had incapacitated and added "well, you don't have to get hurt, I guess."

"We're telling you nothing," he spat, continuing his steady advance.

With a flourish, I drew my mobile and held it in front of me, clenched in one hand, with the metal chain and the charm of a football held between the fingers of my other. My nineteenth birthday present from Lia. I treasured it always. Such a thoughtful girl.

His advance halted for a moment. "What are you gonna do, call me?" he said. "I already know you're an electropath. The hell are you gonna do with a phone?"

"Not the phone," I said, and couldn't help but to smirk. "The charm."

He squinted. "Football?"

It didn't matter what he said. I'd bought myself enough time to fire off the electromagnet I'd been winding around the chain of the charm while I ran. I dumped as much power into it as I could, elated with my earlier decision to never wear anything magnetic on my person after seeing what it did to Saga's wardrobe the one time.

He stumbled forward, pulled by something he was wearing, but retained his footing. From all around, metal things lurched and clanged as they jumped at the sudden pull.

And then he screamed as a dozen metal nails and wooden splinters flew down the street straight into his back. Waiting for that moment, I jumped on him, my swords flashing out and cutting high and low at once, one slicing straight at his face.

Instinctively he raised both arms to his face to protect it, and the one at knee-level got him, dropping him with another scream. If he'd been more cognizant or less distracted, he could have easily blocked his whole body...but that was what the nails were there for.

His glassy hands disappeared as he clutched at his own leg, which I'd hoped would happen. Someone with a power like that would almost certainly accidentally touch themselves with it during their window, so he'd either be immune to it or it would turn itself off if he tried. Fortunately for me it was the latter, as he was now completely exposed, and I flicked a handful of tiny bulbs into him, small enough to make him seize up but not to do any real damage.

I felt bad as he screamed yet again but reminded myself this was all for Steffie. We had our pick of prisoners now, surely one of them could tell us a thing or two about the resistance. I thought Knuckles here might be the hardest to get talking, though that might just be bias because he seemed the most jock-like, and therefore most similar to me at a glance. If his powers were restricted to his fists, he'd be the easiest to keep captive. Maybe the first guy, the ninja who jumped all over the place, but I'd completely lost him in the chase, and he might even be back up by now.

Funny, no sooner did I have that thought than I felt a presence falling out of the sky at me, and turning to look, saw a sword pass through where I'd just been standing, and then got clocked in the head with a fist.

I crumpled and swung my swords by reflex blindly, but nothing screamed so I had to assume I missed. I kept them slashing wildly around me as I held my head and tried to get my eyes working properly again but fuck did that hurt. Where my cheek had slammed the pavement didn't feel so great either, and I had an irrational moment of panic where I had to run my tongue over my teeth to make sure the blood in my mouth didn't mean they'd all broken off.

Wasn't really the time for that, but I'd just gotten punched in the head, I wasn't doing so great.

Presumably the acrobatic ninja douchebag took advantage of me lying there like a sack of potatoes and slid into a gap in my swords, because there was suddenly a blinding pain in my extended leg and I looked up to see a dark shape bouncing back away from me, weaving through my defense.

I winced and touched my leg, feeling it burn. My hand was smeared with red, and the dark shape prowled at the extent of my barrier, as though looking for another gap to dance in and stab me again.

Actually, that was exactly what he was doing. Seeing something I didn't, he exploded into motion, feinting one way, and then running just the opposite, straight up a wall and diving off the vertical surface to fly at me like a missle. I had exactly enough time to grab my leg and fall over sideways, my head spinning and the peripheral of my vision fading to colorlessness as I moved, but even so, he still nicked me in the shoulder, only missing my torso by inches.

Jesus, he was quick. And apparently totally unafraid of murdering me flat-out. Keeping my swords out horizontally did no good because he could go up or down at will it seemed. If I held them in close, he'd just poke me through the gaps with the range of his weapon, and if I kept them further out, he'd have gaps to slide between.

I couldn't run with my leg, and I didn't have time to use any of my flashier moves. It was just the swords and bulbs and this fucker with his own sword, which wasn't even shiny.

He came at me again, but this time I called his feint, and when he went to charge in, found his way blocked by a pair of blades. He reacted well, keeping his momentum to avoid those two, and then fucking high-jump vaulted straight over them, his back clearing the upper sword by inches.

In a panic, I threw all my swords in his general direction and forced him back, but goddamn. What was his power? Track and field events?

I needed more swords and I needed them now, but the crack on my head made it hard to focus, and what focus I did have was spent trying to read his feints and get my swords in place before he got his in me. If I could just get a few more out, I'd buy myself more time, and with that I could make more...but I still had to make that first step, and it didn't seem like he was interested in leaving me alone for even a second.

Which was smart. He'd just injured me pretty bad twice, my combat effectiveness was crippled until I could recover, so his only job now to win this fight is to make sure I couldn't recover. It's what I'd do. And I hated him for doing it so damn well.

Another series of feints led to a dramatic flourish which turned out to be another feint as he got me focused on stopping his sword swing, but then he just fucking stomped on my leg instead, and skittered away as I writhed and swore, feeling the crushing pain magnify the stab he'd already given me.

My eyes watered and my head spun and he knew it. He wasted no time in setting up his next attack, and I couldn't even see him coming through the tears. I relied entirely on my sense to barely get my blades in place, and even when I did ward him off somewhat, he still managed to nick me in the fucking nose.

Which, superficial an injury as it was, hurt like a motherfucker, and just compounded my pain and pushed my brain ever closer to just shutting the fuck down. I really couldn't take much more of this. I was lightheaded from the pain, and my body felt like molten lead, both in the burning and the weight. Meanwhile he danced around like a fucking feather on the breeze.

I had a weird moment where I wondered if this was what it was like to be a lineman trying to sack a quarterback. Seeing the spry, cocky jerk slipping through your fingers again and again, knowing that if you caught him, you'd crush him in an instant...but never...quite...catching him…

My sixth sense jolted me back and I realized I was about to die again. I went completely prone, my last possible refuge of moving and fended him off as best I could, getting sliced in the same arm yet again.

I was losing it, absolutely. I wasn't here anymore, and the less I was, the more I'd get hurt, and the less I'd be here. I needed...I needed stims, really. The patches Karu was wearing, if I only had asked for a couple in case I got myself buried deep. If I only had a little...a little more focus…

He moved in again and this time I knew it was the end. My swords looked like blurry cracks in the sky far in the distance, shafts of light opening the gate to heaven. He was just a dark figure, slipping in and out of my sight. A devil, maybe?

If that were the case, that meant the white figure hanging in the sky on threads of blue had to be an angel.