Isaac

We had little time to spare. I called on Lelti's myriad of abilities to tear down the anti-teleportation zone she'd created, allowing Flashstep to unite the group, then did what I could to heal him and the other wounded as they arrived. A half-conscious Cygnus fished a tracker out of his pocket and handed it to me, so Tameka could keep an eye on my position.

Pandora and Muriel were getting close. I flew towards them, and Flashstep warped the others away. They'd all helped get us this far, but this fight would require a different strategy.

I reached my mind out to Tameka's. Are we good to go?

We're ready when you are, she replied.

My focus returned to the powers woven together to craft the storm clouds above us. An impressive piece of work. But as we'd learned all too many ways, destruction was far easier.

DISPERSE, I commanded.

The clouds complied. As the power left them, they began to fade - starting close to me, and spreading outward.

Given a bit of downtime, the immortals would have no trouble fixing it. But for the moment, their shields were down.

The clouds had blocked approach from the sky, but Seraph had managed to get a few bombers from better-armed cities on standby, just in case. August and Tameka were coordinating with the pilots.

I flew up, gaining height as the sky cleared around me. Now, I reported. Clouds are fading.

From my higher vantage point, the other two came into view. Pandora, in the same cosmic form she'd taken in my dreams, and Muriel, as the glowing multi-winged angel Madison had described. A wave of psychic animosity washed over me.

You little shit, Muriel growled. Who do you think you are?

I grinned back at him. I'm Fenrir. The wolf that eats gods.

Stoking your ego was a mistake, Pandora replied.

Without another word, columns of flame and lightning shot out from the two immortals, too fast to evade. I braced myself, calling on Lelti's instincts first to resist the assault, then to reach into the energy they'd shaped into the blasts and shatter it.

I fired back a beam of light - like the ones Lelti had used, even though it didn't fit my aesthetic as well. They responded with the same tactic - except there were two of them. Muriel dispersed the beam, while Pandora hurled another stream of lightning.

We were tossing around power that could easily kill mortals, but it wasn't doing much to each other. And if we did keep this up, I'd get worn down faster. I was going to need that backup.

Extending my senses, I felt the first of the bombers. Could I hide its presence from Pandora and Muriel? I focused on the signals of its presence, and did my best to blur them.

As the bombers continued approaching, I flew towards Pandora and Muriel to try to hold their attention. I directed my power towards defense as the two of them fired again, then retaliated with a burst of light.

From closer range, I could sense Pandora beginning to send out more energy - not towards me, but to the sky above. I reached out, and willed the blast to fizzle.

It worked. A moment later, something screeched through the air.

With a deafening BOOM, the air around us turned into a series of explosions. I was hurled away from the other two immortals, my ears ringing as I crashed into the ground.

Tameka's voice called out, reaching back through the psychic connection I'd formed. You okay over there?

Peachy, I said. Keep 'em coming.

We're already on it, Tameka confirmed.

I flew back up, my power cleaning up whatever surface damage my body had taken. Pandora and Muriel came back into view, doing the same thing.

Cute, Pandora snarled. Humans and your fancy fucking toys.

I didn't reply, or try to strike. Instead, I spent a split second trying to feel what she and Muriel were doing. Pandora's power was reaching upward, scanning the sky and gathering energy above her, while Muriel took aim at me.

One of those things was fine. The other wasn't.

HEY, ASSHOLES. I flew towards them, reaching for their energy and trying to draw it towards myself. EYES ON ME.

It worked, and flame and lightning washed over me. Thankfully, pain barely registered at this point.

I continued flying, shifting my hands into long claws as I closed in on Pandora. I slashed at her, leaving deep gouges in her right arm, gouges tainted by my power. I called on that power to sink into her, to burn her.

Pandora grabbed my left wrist. Her own power reached into it, trying to rip me apart. No need for that. I commanded the wrist to weaken, to become the weak link her power would break first.

The wrist and hand crumbled, and I flew back, out of reach. That was fine - I could keep remaking my body as long as I had enough power. Moments later, the next wave of bombs struck.

Everything spun, and I crashed back down to the ground. Fuck, this strategy was unpleasant.

As my focus wavered, my mind went back to the capes I'd left behind. I felt Cygnus calling for me, and opened my mind to him.

Fenrir? Cygnus asked. Is it working?

Kind of. I tried to get a feel for how much power each of us had been burning. The bombs were taking about the same amount out of each of us, but the rest of the time, I was faring a lot worse. They're getting hurt, but I'm getting hurt faster.

Damn, Cygnus muttered. Find a workaround. You gotta make the math work out.

He was right, I needed to improve my situation. But how?

I flew back up, thinking through the possibilities as my hand regrew. I was outnumbered, less experienced, using a weaker body constructed by my power, and had to worry about protecting the bombers. I could abandon the plan and fall back to get support from the other capes, but that would be as good as condemning them all to die in the crossfire. There had to be a better way - what else did I have going for me?

You have experience picking electronic arguments to make yourself feel smart, a familiar voice drawled.

Yes, of course, my charming personality. Thanks, Lelti.

I charged at the pair again, enduring another salvo of magic and sinking my claws into Muriel's leg. Explosions hurled us to the ground once more.

Something to even the odds... hmm.

I breathed in, feeling power swirling around me, spilling out from the holes I'd unwittingly helped to create. The immortals could take in huge amounts of it, but they had limits to what they could handle without risking destabilization, and with my counterfeit body, those limits would be lower.

Or... wait. Was I thinking about it backwards? The immortals wanted to stay intact for a long time, but that wasn't an option for me. I could afford risks they couldn't.

Risks like how Seraph's healing power had flipped out, forcing Madison to destroy it. But it wasn't like I had good options here.

You don't want to do this, Lelti protested.

No, you don't want ME to do this.

I inhaled again, this time taking in as much power as I could, more than it felt safe to handle. Down in my guts, something bubbled, like it was trying to dissolve me from the inside out. Excess energy started to radiate out of me, and I let it take the form of a purple glow.

This wouldn't work for long. I was on a timer again, but I was always on a timer. And the fight was moving fast. If I could keep it together for a few minutes, maybe that would be enough.

I flew back up, towards Pandora and Muriel, and called on my increased power to bolster my speed and resilience. They'd noticed the change - I could sense concern wafting off them, but not fear.

The two of them moved in unison this time, reaching out towards me together. I could feel their powers surrounding me, trying to seize me. With the strength I'd gained, I shoved back, ripping their bindings apart.

I let out a ray of purple light at Muriel. I needed to deal with him first, so I could focus on Pandora. Especially since he'd be more willing to try the same trick, if they got desperate enough.

Pandora released a wave of lightning into the sky. I reached for the lightning, trying to disrupt or redirect as much as possible, but couldn't catch all of it. Above us, a bomber exploded.

Another screech suggested the bomber had at least dropped part of its payload. Another series of explosions erupted around us, as I focused on resisting the impacts as well as I could.

I hit the ground again, not feeling as physically hurt as after the previous bombings, but my brain was spinning. Voices whispered around me, and after a moment, I recognized them.

Good, good, Nitroforce laughed. Blow everything up. Bury them in the ruins of this city.

Kill them while wearing a friendly face, Bladewhirl urged. Then do the same to everyone else.

Now do you get it? Inferno asked. All that matters is power. Crush anyone too weak to keep up.

Ugh, why did she have to be here. Fuck off, Inferno! I never even turned into you!

I rose back into the air, doing my best to ignore them. Another presence reached out to me, and I was pretty sure this one was real.

Fenrir? Artemis asked. Are you having some sort of hallucination?

Guess I'd slipped back into broadcasting to everyone else. Whoops.

Little bit, I admitted. It's fine, I think. Probably.

Ahead of me, the cosmic lights inside Pandora's body changed color, turning a furious red. Energy whipped around her like a hurricane, vibrating through me as it struck. Not an attack on my physical body, but one meant to accelerate my power's degradation.

It's fine that your brain is going haywire after you turned into a god?

All of me is going haywire. I focused on the energy Pandora was sending out and bent it around me, sparing me from her assault. I'm overclocking Lelti's body to keep up with her evil polycule. Just gotta win before it falls apart.

A torrent of flame slammed into my back, heralding Muriel's presence. Without even needing to turn, I fired another beam of purple light at him.

An evil polycule? Huh, you think what's what they're... ugh, that's not important, Artemis admitted. I shouldn't distract you.

If anything, this is helping to keep me grounded. My thoughts were moving faster than ever before, and it felt like this was keeping my brain from eating itself. And I think so? That's the vibe I'm getting from Lelti's impulses.

I braced myself as the air around us erupted into explosions yet again. As I crashed to the ground, another voice spoke up.

Stay out of my memories, Lelti hissed. Our lives are none of your business.

Ooh, now I'd touched a nerve. You all shoved your way into our heads. You don't get to complain.

Do not compare your insignificant lives to ours.

Are you hallucinating the immortals, too? Artemis asked, as I took to the air once more.

One of these minutes, I'd get the hang of controlling who I was talking to. That's the actual Lelti, I'm pretty sure. She was in my head even before I overloaded.

I felt for the presences of Pandora and Muriel, and fired purple light at each of them. It was harder to compare my condition to theirs, now, but I was pretty sure I was faring better than Muriel.

She what? That's worse!

Huh. Now that you mention it, I guess it is.

Pandora hurtled towards me, her stars shifting to an icy blue. She felt like a magnet, drawing my power and attention towards her. It was the same trick I'd used - which meant Muriel had to be going after the bombers. I tried to sense his position, but everything except Pandora felt blurry.

Only way out was through. I charged at Pandora head-on, swinging a fist towards her face. She raised a palm to catch my swing, and a violent impact resounded through both of us. I fell back, my body shaking as it corroded further, but Pandora's magnet effect had broken. Before she could reactivate it, I felt back out for Muriel.

Muriel's flames struck one of the bombers. I repeated the magnet trick, drawing his flames down towards me, but not before they connected with a second plane. Both of them began to drop.

How many bombers had we gotten a hold of, anyway? I was pretty sure it was more than three, but probably not that many more.

I dispersed Muriel's flames, then hurled another burst of purple light at him. To my relief, our surroundings exploded yet again.

As I shook off the impact, my mind began to wander again, and I anchored it to Artemis. Say, do you know how mourning works in Judaism?

I know the Christian and Hindu takes, she replied. Never heard the Jewish one.

I continued talking as I returned to the air. So, the mourning period's supposed to last for eleven months. Enough time for the person's soul to get cleaned up and move on.

Why eleven? Artemis asked.

This time, Pandora and Muriel didn't approach me. Instead, I felt them moving away, splitting off in opposite directions. Trying to run down my timer? That wouldn't do.

I reached for the power I'd left in each of them when I'd slashed them earlier in the fight, and pulled. I felt my body strain, but they weren't going any further away. And if they stayed this far from me, the remaining bombers could target them directly.

The idea is, I continued, someone could need up to twelve months. But no one wants to say their loved ones were bad enough to need that long.

I felt a wry smile from Artemis as she picked up on where I was going. You think we'd need the full twelve?

Oh, definitely.

I called on the magnet trick once more, running it along the ephemeral tethers I'd formed. As long as they remained taut, I could keep them from targeting the bombers.

Pandora and Muriel changed course, heading back towards me. And I could feel them communicating.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

You're sure? Muriel asked. I didn't know the language he was speaking, but Lelti did.

Yes, Pandora commanded. Do it.

I felt a snap from Muriel's direction, and a sharp swell of power. He'd overloaded, I could tell. Which meant I had to deal with him now.

I rocketed towards him, feeling Pandora in pursuit. Muriel was glowing even brighter than ever, and heat radiated away from him. He raised a hand, and white-hot flames rushed out.

I didn't try to evade, instead focusing on resisting the searing heat as I closed in. If he was anything like Lelti, I'd need to cut him open to do real damage, and that meant getting close.

Calling on Lelti's shapeshifting power, I commanded my right hand to spin, then melt into a drill of bone and steel. I drove the drill forward, towards Muriel's chest. A wall of heat and force erupted from him, pushing back against my strike.

Behind me, Pandora's lightning crackled. It wasn't aimed at me - instead, two more bombers exploded. I couldn't sense any more of them. Looked like I was on my own.

I drew on more power, pushing further into Muriel's barrier. It would cost me, but he couldn't hold me for long.

After about a second, I broke through. My drill slammed into his chest, digging through flesh and bone - but not a heart. No matter. I'd find it.

As Muriel's power burned into me, I willed bony growths to emerge from the drill, rooting around inside him. They searched up, down, to the sides... there it was. Right around where his stomach should have been - a heart, or something close to it.

Pandora's hand seized the back of my neck. No time to try to eat Muriel. I squeezed, and his heart burst like a ripe fruit.

Muriel's body exploded into flames, scattering ash to the ground below. I could feel cinders of his power in the ashes - he wasn't really dead, not any more than Lelti was. But he'd be out of action for the moment.

Impressive showing, Pandora growled, her voice rumbling out towards everyone in the vicinity. But it's over.

Pandora's power rippled into my body. The touch of ruin, Lelti's instincts called it. Trying to disintegrate me from the outside in, and resisting it meant continuing to disintegrate from the inside out. I screamed in agony, trying to hold myself together for just a bit longer.

Isaac? Madison called out. What's going on?

I couldn't answer. If this was going to work, it would take every bit of focus I had. I could feel the wolf rising to the surface, reaching to take over as I approached death. It wouldn't be enough.

I reached for my wolf form and poured every drop of power I had into it. Everything I could scavenge from Lelti. It wouldn't be able to recover from this kind of damage, I could tell. I'd just have to deal with that.

Thanks, Fenrir, I murmured to the wolf. Not for everything. But for most of it.

Seraph's voice shouted for me. Fenrir, what the hell are you-

The connection dropped as I plunged into the space between life and death one last time. The wolf's form exploded out of me, throwing Pandora back. And then it kept growing, swelling with the power I'd pumped in.

I guided the transformation as it took shape. An extra pair of arms, just in case, and eyes too. And I'd need to be able to fly to keep up. A pair of leathery wings burst from my back, joined by a levitation power. The remaining power I had, I put towards making sure I'd hit as hard as possible, and be able to take a few hits in the process. My flight kicked in a moment before I would have hit the ground, and I roared, bellowing out a stream of flame.

Above me, the sky darkened once more. Storm clouds rolled out from where Pandora hung in the sky, and she flew up further, disappearing into them.

I flew after her, in the dragon-werewolf form I'd cobbled together. Lightning struck down at me, spreading burns across my fur. I didn't have the kind of flexibility I'd had in Lelti's body, so I'd have to make up for it with raw strength.

Grey, billowing arms emerged from the clouds, reaching for me as I closed in. I caught two of them with my lower pair of arms, then squeezed as my upper pair slashed at their wrists. The cloud-arms dissolved into mist, and others took their places.

Lightning erupted from the clouds once again. My head spun, and I begged my brain not to give me more hallucinations. I didn't have anyone to talk to, this time - even Lelti's voice was gone.

JUST. FUCKING. STAY. DEAD.

She didn't count.

I opened my mouth and breathed flames into the mass of arms ahead, then pushed forward, carving my way deeper. She was in there - I could smell her. After another blast of lightning, I broke through, into the clouds themselves.

Pandora was above me, her form faintly visible through the grey haze. It looked like she'd melded herself into the clouds, her arms and legs fading into them.

Bold, but foolish.

The air around me erupted with the burning feeling of Pandora's ruinous touch. I shut all four of my eyes, then reopened the upper left one, getting a blurry view as Pandora's power tore at it. I inhaled, then immediately regretted it as my lungs caught fire. Apparently, in here, that was enough to count as touching her. I forced the air out of my lungs, then held my breath as I pushed my way up towards her.

My upper left eye went dark, so I switched to my upper right, then lower left. I slashed through more of the gel-like clouds, digging further in with crumbling limbs. Pandora roared, and lightning coursed through the clouds, piling agony on top of agony.

A third eye winked out as I closed in. I opened my mouth, enduring the burning sensation rushing in, then reached for Pandora's torso and bit down.

Warm, metallic liquid flowed into my mouth. I swallowed, and felt power fill me once more.

The clouds around me began to fade, and my flight gave out as well. I began to drop back down towards the ground.

My monster form didn't shrink back down like it had in the past. Instead, it continued crumbling. I wouldn't be getting the wolf back, not after pushing it that far.

And from its ashes I emerged, in the last form it had gifted me. Back to being human - or something close to it.

I was in Pandora's body, now.

I'd won.

Maybe.

Hrrrrrrrrgh... don't expect... this to last...

Yeah, yeah. Your buddies will just keep coming back and trying to kick my ass until they finally win. I know the drill.

I reached again for the web of powers. Finally, I was at its center.

Wh- NO! Pandora's voice was panicked, this time. You wouldn't DARE!

Oh, we'd both dare to do all sorts of things.

You're just as dependent on your powers as we are!

Maybe. Maybe not.

I turned my mind away from her, reaching instead for Cygnus and Seraph.

It's me. Fenrir. I've taken Pandora's form. I can go ahead, if we're ready.

----------------------------------------

Hours earlier

"Absolutely not!" Seraph shouted. "People misuse powers, but you're talking about throwing away all the good we can achieve with them!"

"Not necessarily," I pointed out. "Not if we can spread them out more, rather than getting rid of them entirely. Make it so everyone gets powers, but they're weaker. So a handful of people can't just break everything on their own."

"Collective ownership," Cygnus mused. "We'd still be able to use powers to improve society, but it would require larger numbers of people working together."

"Yes!" I called out. "Exactly!"

"Thing is..." Cygnus looked down. "In the short term, it'd be... disruptive. We built everything around Sirona, and when... But, fuck, that was always the risk, wasn't it? You rely on one person, something might happen to them. This way, maybe we could build systems that use powers in ways that are more... stable."

"Hmph," Seraph grunted. "And you plan to get the other cities' capes on board, when they get here?"

"I, uh..." I gave a nervous smile. "I wasn't gonna bring it up."

Seraph glared at me. "You don't think they should get a say in what happens to their powers?"

"I think everyone should get a say in what happens to the powers!" I fired back. "And not just the people who were lucky enough to already have them! Over ninety-nine percent of the world doesn't have powers, and being one of the people getting jerked around by cape business fucking sucks! I didn't just forget that when I became part of the problem! If we could have the whole world vote on it, I'd say we should do that, but we can't! So no, I don't particularly care about getting the approval of some random additional capes, who haven't seen the shit we've seen!"

Everyone was silent for a few seconds, as I caught my breath.

"If I may..." August began, "I don't think my soldiers would be opposed to this course of action. Nor would I. But if the other capes take issue with it, it could jeopardize our entire mission."

Seraph sighed. "Ugh. Even raising the topic would cost time we can't spare, wouldn't it. Fine, we'll decide it in this room. If you have any thoughts, speak up."

"Fine by me," Chroma said. "Fuck all of this."

"I started fighting because we needed all the capes we could get," Neodym noted. "But this isn't what I wanted to do with my life."

"Fenrir..." Artemis looked at me. "You talked about how Hercules tried to be the big hero and ruined everything. Are you sure this isn't more of that?"

"No," I admitted. "But I hope we have better judgment than he did."

Artemis flinched away. "I don't think I do. Or at least... I didn't. Fuck, we thought we could beat everyone else into submission, just because we had the strength to try. That shouldn't... that kind of power shouldn't exist."

"I like my powers," Mirage said. "But... it makes sense, that sharing them would make the world a better place."

"I wouldn't mind getting powers," Tameka murmured, her eyes still glued to her laptop.

Flashstep rested his hand on his right knee. "Powers have been helping me get around, ever since I got hurt. I don't want to lose that, but even more than that, I don't want to keep others from getting that chance."

Madison met my eyes. "If you do this... you'll be okay, right? You won't have to transform anymore?"

"Absolutely," I lied.

----------------------------------------

Now

I floated up, rising above the devastated city. The streets still had plenty of monsters, but I didn't have time to deal with them. My work would take careful attention, and already, I could feel Lelti and Muriel on the verge of regenerating.

And I couldn't just jump in. The whole point was to look out for everyone.

I felt the web stretching throughout the planet, to everyone with powers, then reached beyond it, to the billions without. Calling on Pandora's power, I translated my words into feelings and concepts, to communicate regardless of language.

Hi everyone. This is Fenrir.

I felt billions of minds turn their attention to me. I tried to speak as simply as I could, to minimize the risk that anything wouldn't translate well.

In about a minute, I'm going to redistribute all the powers. If it works right, everyone will end up with weak powers.

You're going to die! We all will!

If you're using powers right now, stop. Powered tech too, if you can. Even if you don't have powers, this might get weird. If you're driving a car, pull over, in case you get knocked out or something.

I felt the number of people in motion start to decrease. Some kept moving. Probably some were stubborn, while others were in other vehicles like planes.

Hopefully things would work out for them. Planes were supposed to have co-pilots, right?

This is such a waste! You're holding the power of a god!

Gods aren't above humanity's judgment, I said, speaking just to Pandora this time. I saw a movie about that, once.

A surge of power from below rippled through me. Lelti had regenerated. I flew higher into the sky - I couldn't delay it much longer.

I'm doing it in ten seconds, I told the world. Nine... eight... seven...

A burst of light from Lelti slammed into my back, and I changed course to evade. Another surge signaled Muriel's revival.

Six... five... four...

As I spoke, Muriel's voice bellowed into my head. I could feel it resonating along the connections I'd built, calling out to the rest of the world.

GIVE. HER. BACK.

Three, I continued. Two... one...

I raised a hand towards my chest, and willed flesh and bone to part below it. I reached inside, and grabbed hold of my heart.

Now.

I ripped the heart out. Holding it, I concentrated on the web, on tearing it down and scattering the powers throughout the world, and squeezed.

A wave of something rippled out, and I felt very, very cold.

Cold, and heavy. My levitation was fading. I started to drop, trailing blood behind me.

I can't... believe you...

Pandora's voice was fading. Or it was getting harder for me to hear her. Probably both.

I looked at the ground looming below. Hitting it wouldn't matter, really. I'd been a walking corpse for weeks, surviving on borrowed time that had run out.

And this was nice and convenient, wasn't it. Get rid of the big, bad wolf, and if anyone doesn't like what she did to the world, give her all the blame.

...

When did I ever care about being convenient?

I... I wasn't completely out of power yet. Maybe I could put together one more miracle.

What are you going on about now?

I shut my eyes and concentrated, weaving together the remaining scraps of Pandora's power. It was working, I was pretty sure. And... maybe I had more than enough?

What are you... No. Don't you dare-

----------------------------------------

Jasmine

Jasmine ran towards where the impact had been, past the crumbling corpses of monsters. Fenrir’s gambit seemed to have killed them all - and taken away her ability to fly.

Four people lay collapsed in the street, three women and one man. None of them had any clothes, and they didn't look injured.

Jasmine approached cautiously. What the hell is this?

One woman, with the darkest skin and hair of the four, groaned and started to sit up. "Me ya faru?" she asked. "Me yasa muke raye?"

Another woman pulled herself up to a sitting position. She had short hair, and olive skin. "Einai epeidi..." Her eyes fell on the third woman. "AFTIN!"

The second woman jumped to her feet and lunged forward. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed back down to the ground.

The third woman stood up, with a cunning smile. She was taller than the others, and her hair and face gave Jasmine the impression that she was Jewish. Which gave a pretty good suggestion of who everyone here was.

"I didn't make your bodies very strong," the third woman said. "And our only powers are a second chance at life. Or... tenth or so? How many was I up to, by the end?"

It was definitely more than ten.

"Uth jao!" the second woman shouted at the other two. "Voithiste me na ti skotoso!"

The man was sitting up too, by now, but he made no effort to stand. "Pelaagiya, main thak gaya hoon. Ina tsammanin... an gama."

The first woman - Jasmine supposed she was probably Lelti - looked just as resigned. "Why did you do that?" she asked.

"I’ve killed enough people," Fenrir replied. "This time, I had a chance to… not do that."

Muriel laughed bitterly. "So your people can execute us properly?"

"I’m not interested in reinstating the death penalty," Jasmine said. "But I expect all three of you will be locked up for the rest of your lives."

She glanced over her shoulder. Good, plenty of her capes had followed.

"Detain all of them," she declared. "And for fuck’s sake, someone get them some clothes."

As the others stepped forward, Jasmine’s eyes landed on the suit of silver armor. "Artemis," she continued. "You will return to our custody as well. After we deal with the immortals, you and Fenrir will get your own trials."

"What?" Artemis hissed. "We're doing this now?"

"Just roll with it." Fenrir raised her hands to her sides, standing to face Jasmine. "We knew this was coming, didn't we?"

"I... but... ugh!" Artemis sputtered. "Fine… fine, I won’t resist."

Jasmine nodded. "Thank you. This will be our first step towards restoring order."

----------------------------------------

Madison

Madison sat in the gallery, watching as Isaac’s trial concluded. Isaac looked calmer than she was, and Madison couldn’t tell if it was a facade. It had always been difficult to tell.

"The court recognizes the defendant’s intentions and complicated circumstances," the judge acknowledged. "However, this does not negate the charge of collaboration with hostile forces or the partial responsibility in the deaths that resulted. In light of all factors, the defendant is sentenced to five years imprisonment."

Five years, the same sentence Artemis had received. They didn’t… they didn’t deserve that.

The three ex-immortals had gotten life sentences, as everyone had expected. But this…

Isaac turned, meeting her eyes, and smiled. "I’ll be fine, Mads. I’ve been through worse."

They probably had. And the sentence could have been much longer. Even so… it wasn’t how she had wanted this to go.

Madison nodded, then looked away as the guards led Isaac out of the room. Her eyes fell on another familiar face - someone who looked not only satisfied with the outcome, but proud of it.

Seraph, her face still bearing branching scars from the lightning that had struck her. Or was she still Seraph, anymore? Half the time people just called her Jasmine, now, or Mayor Ellens. Not that anyone had voted for her.

"This doesn’t feel right," Madison murmured, to no one in particular.

"No, it doesn’t," said a voice from her left. Cygnus. "But it’s what these people do. Focusing on punishing inconvenient people over helping anyone."

They had won, in the most critical ways. But the world was still a mess.

----------------------------------------

One year later

Radha

Radha dragged herself out of bed. It was too fucking loud outside, like every other goddamn morning.

She glanced around the cell with an eye that had once seen far sharper than normal, now only mildly sharper. Her strength was in the same boat: no longer what it had been, as Artemis, but still substantial, and she'd been working to maintain it. It had taken some getting used to.

Pieces of paper hung on one of the walls, bearing the drawings she'd made in colored pencil throughout the past year. Her favorites were the pair of flags. The rainbow one, she'd made at her first opportunity. The other one had come later, bearing four stripes: black, grey, white, and purple. The result of a lot of talks with Fenrir and Cygnus, sorting out complicated feelings around her former partners in Labrys.

Fenrir and Andre, she reminded herself. Both of them had said they were fine with using their cape names around people they'd shared that part of their lives with, but Radha had seen the appreciation in Andre's eyes when she used his civilian name.

Radha stepped out to wait in line for the bathroom, then headed down to get breakfast. After getting a tray of shitty food, she looked around for the one friendly face in the facility.

It didn't take long to find Fenrir. The other woman looked up from her bowl of cereal to wave, then swallowed as Radha sat down across from her.

"Morning," Radha said. "Any new troubles?"

"Nah," Fenrir replied. "I think people have finally chilled out around me, for now."

Radha nodded. "Hope it lasts. If not, I'll deal with them."

Neither of them were well liked, but they'd been looking out for each other. Radha had been doing most of the looking out - Fenrir wasn't particularly tough without her powers.

Radha took a bite out of her biscuit, then looked around. "In the meantime, guess it's just... more of the rest of this."

Fenrir gave a shrug. "At least it'll be over eventually. We get the rest of our lives back, minus five years, and that's more than I thought I'd..."

She trailed off, glancing over her shoulder, then turned back with a frown. "Did someone call for me?"

"No," Radha replied. Nothing had sounded like that.

"Ugh," Fenrir groaned. "Gotta love this brain. Won't stop trying to trip me up."

Swallowing another piece of biscuit, Radha gestured with her fork. "To be fair, that didn't exactly start when you fried your nervous system."

Fenrir snorted. "True. Still could do without the hallucinations, though. But, well..."

She paused, taking a swig of water. "I'll manage. I think we both will."

Radha raised her cup, tapping it against Fenrir's. "Amen to that."

----------------------------------------

Andre

Andre glanced around the street as he walked. It looked a lot better than it had last year - things were finally getting fixed faster than they were breaking. The changes came at other costs, but... still, this mattered.

He reached the college building the Alchemists had managed to win ownership of, after the months they'd spent commandeering it. They weren't doing much alchemy anymore, but they'd continued distributing enough substances for the name to stick, and negotiated certain agreements with Seraph about the matter. They even upheld some of them.

Inside, he tossed off his sweatshirt, then headed upstairs. Tameka and Brian were talking, over a table that still showed signs of lunch.

In the wake of the reorganization, Brian had gained a resistance to simple injuries, while Tameka's memory had improved to near-perfect recollection. Andre's gravity power had weakened, but it was still enough for a few tricks.

"You think they'll pull it off?" Brian was asking. "Oh, hey, Andre."

Andre nodded in acknowledgement. "Pull what off?"

"The Southern Ohio Federation," Brian said. "There's been more talk about it."

A proposal for reuniting a number of the city-states in the region. Or more accurately, a group of competing proposals.

"I'm not making any bets before I see how the elections go," Tameka replied. "Speaking of which, there's a new poll out. You're up to about 40 percent."

Andre grinned. "Good to hear. Seraph's still got the other 60?"

"Pretty much," Tameka said. "No one else has significant support."

"Well, we can make that up," Andre noted. "But the lack of others is unfortunate. Guess apocalypse veterans are the only ones who can keep up."

It didn't feel particularly fair. Go from having the power in the hands of cape warlords, to former capes who called on the role's clout. But war hero status was worth a lot of public favor, and if no one else was prepared to challenge Seraph, he would.

"Those three haven't been up to anything, have they?" Brian asked.

Tameka scowled. "Just two of them, now."

"Shit," Andre said. "What happened?"

"Pandora," Tameka replied. "She hung herself last night."

Andre blinked, trying to process the information. It... didn't not fit, but at the same time it felt almost incomprehensible. How was he supposed to respond to that?

"I... see," he finally said. "That's... unfortunate."

"Yeah," Brian murmured. "Sucks, even for someone that awful."

"Sounds like they're keeping a closer eye on the other two, now," Tameka continued. "Always embarrassing for the prisons when this happens."

A minor embarrassment. That was how they'd see it, wasn't it. So many things had changed, but unfortunately, carceral practices had not.

Andre found himself wandering over to a window, looking back out at the world outside. It was a complicated place, as it always had been.

Just meant they all had to keep working at it. There would always be more to do, enough to last a lifetime.

The End