The park was a long, narrow strip of land bordered on one side by the deserted highway and on the other by a row of brick buildings, short, and seeming to cower below the majesty of the proper New York skyline far in the distance behind them. Trees green with spring foliage rustled, serene set dressing contrasting the pile of bloody bodies.

The murderess leapt at us, giving me time to think only damn, she’s fast before she was on us. I’d only barely started moving before she was there. Her hands in front of her like they were daggers, they flickered with the barrier, disorienting flashes of green light pulsing around them a hundred times a second.

In two strides, she was in my face, and I’d only taken a single step. Her hand lashed out, but before she could close the final distance, Tower was there, clubbing her invincible body with two entwined fists.

He might not have been able to penetrate the barrier or hurt her, but if it moved, it had kinetic energy, and that meant he could move it right back. She went flying like a spiked volleyball, crashing into the ground and sliding on her back for more distance than seemed probable.

“The barriers are frictionless,” Jack reminded us. “It’ll be hard for her to get back up, or arrest her own momentum.”

His observation seemed accurate. From the looks of it, only the soles of her feet and palms of her hands had any traction, and she had to push herself up into a crouch to rise to her feet. She seemed utterly unphased by the inconvenience though, just buying us a second or two before she’d charge again.

“But we won’t accomplish anything just banging her around,” Tower complained.

“We might wear her down,” Jack said.

“I think it’s more likely she chops off my arms first.”

She dashed again, even faster this time. I brought my arms up defensively, and tower moved to intercept her again, but he had to sidestep at the last second when her arm lashed out towards him, slicing a perfect line off of the side of a tree branch instead of him. Her momentum carried her forward towards me, and I had no idea what to do.

I wound up to punch her, but she was already sidestepping. My suit had the longer reach, but if she swung her blades around she could just chop off its arms…and if she struck deeply enough, mine as well.

That wasn’t a real concern right now though, because from the look of it, she was going for my face. My arms moved reflexively to block, and she cleaved one of my hands in half, not even slowing her blade. I fell backwards, my legs and arms scuttling on the ground to try to put whatever inches between us I could.

“She’s in range!” Moon shouted at me. “Get her now!”

“R-right!”

But at Moon’s outburst, the girl had kicked off and bounced away with a backflip which carried her ten feet in the air and a dozen back. She shook her head at me.

“Tsk, I won’t let you catch me with your lightning this time,” she said.

“She thinks she’s faster than lightning,” Tower mocked.

“Shut up!” she barked, and then charged him.

Which honestly, was a relief to me. They were clashing, mostly her chasing and mostly him dodging while Moon grew out of him in unexpected spots to swing with kinetic-laden punches, and I’d barely regained my feet.

Before the P-Force, I’d never been in a fight before. I’d watched some holovids on the ‘net for basics and the things they taught seemed basic, practical, the kinds of things I could do which would give me a real edge. How to stand, how to hold yourself, vulnerable spots, that kind of thing.

And then I’d fought my first Exhuman and learned that there weren’t moves you could pull off in a fight. It wasn’t some video game where people took turns. If you got knocked down, they’d keep coming after you, and coming, and coming, while you were doing nothing but trying to get your feet under you while getting stabbed at. Or stabbed.

I had my powers, and they were strong, but they were the only thing about me which were. Aside from serving as a disguise, the exosuit was here to give me some strength and resilience I just didn’t have. Honestly, without it, the jog here would have defeated me. As much as I wanted to pretend I was, I wasn’t some hidden badass — I was a girl who never left her house and lived off salty noodles and fried stuff.

If I could give myself anything, it was that at least I didn’t panic. Freeze up, maybe, but I kept my head.

Moon succeeded in punting the Exhuman in the side of the head with a purple leg, sending the girl spinning sideways in a choice cartwheel which ended with her crashing into a tree. As she tried to right herself, one of her blades cleaved through the tree, sending the whole thing toppling.

“We need to pin her down!” Moon shouted. “She’s too fast, we’re only barely keeping up. We won’t be able to do that the second one of us gets hurt.”

“Ohh, and you’ll get hurt,” she crooned, her blades flashing ominously as she stalked towards Tower again. “One touch and it’s all over.”

“As much as I hate to agree…” Jack said.

“We have to go with my plan,” Moon said. “Nothing else will work.”

“Moon, that’s stupi–” Tower said, and then grunted as he threw himself sideways to avoid a swipe.

“I only wanted you to leave me in peace!” the Exhuman hissed at them. “Just leave me alone so I could do what I wanted without hurting anyone and without being hurt. Was that too much to ask?” When nobody answered her, she charged the two again, both arms swiping, left, right, left, right, like she was tearing at them rather than cutting, while Tower just backpedaled for all he was worth. “It sucks when someone won’t leave you alone, doesn’t it!”

“Oh my God, shut up,” he said, suddenly planting and lashing out with a leg under her blows, connecting at the shin and sending her sliding back a few feet, but still standing.

“It’s too late to silence me,” she cackled. “I’m going to show you what you deserve for coming after me, for destroying my work, for burying me under a ton of rock, without light or food for a week!”

“That might explain why she’s a little more unhinged,” Jack said.

“No kidding,” Tower grunted, as she came after him again.

“Tower watch–” Moon said, but it was too late as he backpedaled right over a knee-high warning sign and stumbled onto his backside.

“Gotcha!” she shrieked, her blades sweeping down horizontally at him. But when he’d crashed onto the pavement, he bounced off it and floated up into the air. “–uhh?” she added as her blades sliced right under him.

“Gotcha,” he said, kicking his leg straight out into her face and sending her spinning back once more.

“We’re not doing anything,” Moon said.

“We’re not getting dismembered,” Tower argued.

I felt like I should do something. I could…fill the park with ball lightning? But that would just make maneuvering as hard for the others as for her. I could magnetize? I didn’t know if that would pull her through her barriers or not, or if she even had magnetic anything in her slim exosuit. Most of it looked like fiberglass and aluminum.

Probably tired of being kicked around, she went for the easy target this time, which was me. She faced me again, and this time, I was ready for her. I hoped. I’d better have been, because Tower and Moon were still landing from their bout of anti-gravity.

“Disable external comms!” I shouted as she started her charge.

The AI chimed. “External comms di–“

“Enable proximity countermeasures, no safety!”

“Enabling–deploying proximity counter measures,” the AI corrected herself as it detected the exhuman’s approach.

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My hands moved on their own, carried by the suit as it lashed out with two iron punches, throwing one and a half closed fists right into her angle of attack, way faster than I could. The girl, carried by inertia and gravity, had no say over whether the punches would catch her or not, and one of them slammed brutally into her chin.

But it did nothing but snap her backwards, and as she went she swiped at me, carving off my suit’s left forearm, inches away from me inside. I felt cold air prickle the back of my hand, and looked down to see it exposed, still gripping the yoke in the remains of the arm. Damage warnings lit up all across the faceplate while I just stared at my hand and how close I’d been to losing it.

This is suicide, I thought. She can cut through me like nothing.

I looked up and found her about to do exactly that. Her arm was pointed square at my chest and was rearing back to strike.

Something clanged on the top of my suit and both of us looked up. In the peripheral display, I could see Jack crouched on my exosuit’s back with a grenade primed in his hand.

“Disable proximity countermeasures!” I screamed as the suit began to move on its own. It seized to a halt, inches from throwing him off, and the grenade bounced at our feet.

She bounced away only moments before white adhesive exploded from the device and coated my legs. Jack made an irritated noise and then vanished without a trace.

“Nice try,” Tower said. “The goo would have been good.”

I struggled to pull myself free, finding it difficult but doable, the immense strength of the legs tearing themselves free while the goo stretched like melted cheese. She watched me work at it for a moment before apparently deciding not to get involved with that mess and turned back to Tower and Moon.

Which was, again, kind of bad, but really good for me. It took me most of ten seconds to get one foot free, but the other was having trouble as the compound set around me. There was another clang as Jack appeared atop me again.

“My apologies,” he said. “I’ll have you out in a moment.”

I tried to respond but forgot to enable external comms. Probably better that way in a fight anyway, if I needed to keep switching the auto-defenses on and off.

While Jack focused, the girl engaged with the two again, Moon doing her best to hang off of Tower at unexpected angles to make the exhuman’s job as hard as possible. At the moment she was defying gravity and hanging off the tip of his head with one toe, an upside-down ‘L’ shape with her utterly horizontal and swinging at the confused woman with both fists.

The Exhuman, maybe thinking that she could get both above tower and behind moon, launched herself straight above the two of them. At once, like they were reading each other’s minds, the two of them acted as one.

He launched them straight up after her while she twisted around, whipping a backbreaking display of flexibility as she turned to snatch the Exhuman’s legs from the air. The Exhuman kicked at them, flailing her blades downwards, but unable to slice through Moon who was hidden behind the Exhuman’s own legs, which were, of course, impossible for the barrier-blades to cut. She kicked away Moon’s grasping fingertips once, twice…

And just as she began to pivot at the peak of her jump, just as her blades were getting a clear shot on her pursuers, Moon grabbed hold of one ankle. And suddenly gravity gripped the three of them tenfold, crashing them brutally into the ground with a cloud of leaves and grass.

“Let-let go!” the Exhuman shouted, unphased by the crash and thrashing at the two.

“I’ve got her!” Moon shouted. “Chariot, now!”

“She’s gonna–Moon!” Tower shouted.

And then my ears filled with a scream as one of Moon’s arms went flying with a crescent of blood describing its arc. I was stunned, and stood there, watching it fly through the air, as though in slow motion.

With a sudden jerk, I didn’t see it anymore. All I saw was the Exhuman, right in front of me, struggling to sever Moon’s other arm, still gripping her ankle for all the girl was worth.

“Do it now!” Jack shouted from behind me.

“Hit her, Athan!” Tower yelled.

“F-Finish…it!” Moon grit out.

I would. I was trying. I had my hands in front of me, focused and ready and willing my blade into existence inside the field of her armor as I knew I could. There were openings in her defenses at the palms and feet, I could sneak my power in through there as I’d done in the tunnels before. I just needed to focus–

The Exhuman looked up at me, her eyes wide at my sudden appearance. I saw the end of the fight reflected in her fear.

Just…needed to focus…

She took a breath. One single breath.

I focused for all I was worth. I bent every single fiber of will I possessed into making that blade.

“Chariot, what are you waiting for?” Jack yelled from behind me.

My head buzzed so loudly I thought I was going to black out. Nothing was happening. Absolutely nothing. I had no idea what was happening. I’d had problems with getting my powers to do what I wanted, but never like this.

The Exhuman blinked at me, swung her blades at my legs, just out of her reach, and then again towards the girl holding her down.

“Athan!” Tower screamed, and then screamed double as one of the blades swept through his outstretched arm, cutting a long gash down it lengthwise.

“I-” I shouted, forgetting my external comms entirely. “I…it’s not…”

Moon got clipped in the shoulder and fell backwards. The Exhuman kicked her in the face and rolled free. Jack swore.

And then he and I were ten feet away while the Exhuman kicked off from the ground and bounded away from the injured duo like a cat.

“Goddamn it, Athan!” Tower yelled. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“I couldn’t do it! It wouldn’t work!” I screamed helplessly at the inside of my faceplate. “My powers wouldn’t go!”

Jack disappeared from behind me, and just as swiftly, the Exhuman appeared in front of me, her face a triumphant, malevolent grin. She spun, her blades flashing out once, twice, three times. Cutting deeper into my exosuit with every slash.

On the third I felt a hot burning in my chest and gasped. The suit screamed at me, and informed me it deployed medical gel and structure foam to try to hold together, but Athan and I had rushed the final chest assembly, and neither of them were in place to go.

She was laughing now. Full-on laughing as she walked towards me at the same pace I stumbled backwards. Jack appeared again, throwing a handful of devices on the ground which crackled and sparked, but she just leapt over them, and he disappeared when she turned to swipe at him.

Moon and Tower were both holding themselves, a mirror in damage suffered. His entire right arm was split in half, and her entire left arm below the elbow was gone. Neither seemed able to stand.

And me? I was just crawling backwards, willing with every ounce of my being for lightning to appear in front of me, to cut her open, to burn her, to make her go away. Anything. But I had nothing but pain, and blinking lights telling me the suit was falling apart around me, and more and more of my body was being cut to pieces.

I was helpless. Entirely. Just a fish in a barrel, while she levelled a shotgun right at me.

“Are you sorry?” she asked, taking another step. “Do you wish you’d left well enough alone?”

I screamed at her. I told her how it was never my idea in the first place, how I wasn’t even supposed to be here, how I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want anyone to die.

She reacted like she heard none of it. Just matching me step for step, driving her blades deeper and deeper.

“I thought I could live without hurting anyone. I thought…I could just hide away, live in my own filth, in the dark, like a rat. And nobody would bother me. All that effort, trying to fit in the cracks, wasted. Thank you for showing me just how wrong I was.”

I gasped as she carved off the back of my calf. Spots of red in my vision were beginning to mingle with the flashing red inside the faceplate. My sight began to swim as the suit warned me of internal flooding damage. It wasn’t water.

“I bet this is all very tragic for you,” she sneered. “A horrible thing that’s happened to you. Some relentless monster tearing you apart. But tell me, do you ever think of all the people you’ve killed? How every single mission you go on, they have to endure this torture? How you just show up and ruin people’s lives? Like mine!?”

I pleaded apologies. I told her again and again how I never meant for it to be like this. I only wanted to protect people. I wanted to be an Exhuman who was different. Who helped others, who gave little girls hope instead of fear. I just wanted to do one damn thing with my entire stupid, wasted life that meant anything for a change, even if it was through these horrible, awful powers. Even if it was through killing and hunting and hurting people. Even if it was through this curse that turned people into things like her, things like me.

I only realized at the end of it all, when I’d finished pleading with the remains of my arms protecting my face that she hadn’t heard a word of it, that my comms weren’t broadcasting.

And I just felt stupid and ashamed. I was going to die, begging pathetically, and to nobody.

“I suppose not. You’re just a remorseless XPCA killing machine,” she said bitterly. “Killing you is doing the world a favor.”

I closed my eyes and willed myself to do anything. To magnetically levitate myself away. To drop a wave of ball lightning in her face. To summon a blade right through her heart.

“I want you to know, I’m better than you. This isn’t for me. This is for everyone you’ve killed. Die, you bastard.”

I heard the grass under her feet shift. I heard her move. I could almost feel the blade going through my heart.

And then she screamed.

I opened my eyes and saw…saw…something. I couldn’t tell, it was too close for my eyes to focus on, and my eyes were having a hard time focusing anyway.

But as I looked through whatever it was, I saw I could see the world, and realized there was a gash torn right in the middle of my faceplate. She hadn’t gone for the heart at all. My HUD was freaking out, a combination of displaying every possible warning and being torn in half and dying all at once, with a small crack to the outside torn right in the middle of it.

And through that window, I laid there and watched as she writhed on her feet, electricity coating the ground like a fluttering spiderweb, arcing across my resistive suit without effect, but going right up through the soles of her feet and making her shudder and shake on the spot.

I’d…I’d done it, I realized. In my end, in my pants-shitting desperation, I’d done what I should have done five minutes ago and made the lightning I needed to live.

The Exhuman writhed for another moment before getting the coordination to fall over…or jump…or some combination, and slid backwards a distance from the tendrils. I couldn’t see, with my display broken and my suit only facing a window of tree and sky.

Something stepped over my body, facing away from me, towards her. I saw their back, a person, with short brown hair, sticking up in all directions.

And in that hair, in their one hand I could see, electricity arced all over, lightning coursing across his body without so much as singeing him, like he was the world’s most perfect conduit.

“Sorry I’m late,” I heard Athan say. “I accidentally fried my phone this morning. I also blew up your bathroom when the door locked me in.”

I sighed and relaxed, my head clanging against the back of the exosuit’s helmet, nothing visible through the faceplate’s tear but the blue New York sky. I felt tired, sleepy. Exhausted all the sudden, really. I took a deep breath and felt my wounds.

“It’s okay,” I said, not sure if he could hear me. “You’re just in time.”