"Elaborate," Sixes demanded.

Passthrough shivered with terror and exhaustion as the two imposing figures stood over him. I was still sitting in the corner by my pile of vomit, just watching. I had done the work of breaking the villain's will, and I knew for a fact that he would answer any question they asked of him. My psychic push had settled deep into his aura, and I could almost see it like a blanket over his brain. It filtered everything he experienced through one question.

How can I make Headcase never come near me again?

Just as I had wanted, he feared me now more than he feared his bosses. Or anything, for that matter. I was the embodiment of his very worst nightmare, and he felt totally helpless in my presence. He couldn't stop cutting his eyes back at me then, as if to make sure I hadn't transformed into the bogeyman he saw me as.

The effect would lessen as the energetic field I had generated began to dissipate over time, but it was likely that this association would never go away for him. Until his death, there would always be someone walking around with a lingering thought of me in the back of their mind as the living incarnation of evil.

Strange to consider, I absently thought. It's a funny feeling to be feared. I can see why those pathetic supervillains get high on it. Feels like power.

Finally, Passthrough calmed down enough to give the answer to Sixes' question. It only took another slap. "Alright! Alright! What do you want to know?"

"You said the out-of-towners were demons. What did you mean by that?"

Passthrough went over some very dark memories trying to articulate his thoughts. "It's... They don't work like anybody I've ever met before. Not even any supers. They don't sleep. Or eat. They just watch us work. I never seen them use any powers, but I’ve seen them drain the fucking blood out of people. Hang them upside down and slit their throats."

Sixes' aura showed curiosity gnawing at him, but outwardly he was stoic. "Go on."

"There's three of them. Nobody told me where they came from, but they were the ones that set us up with Jayden. The rampager. They've got the connections with people like that."

"Shit," Sixes swore, looking back at me. I imagined that he was wishing right now that I hadn't killed the rampager. Maybe if they'd been able to interrogate him we could have nipped this whole thing in the bud before it began.

I was feeling a similar regret. Who knows what Jayden could have told us? It was a bitter source of guilt to consider. Nonetheless, I had a question of my own and a desire not to get caught up in the past. "They must be running the show then, right? These strangers."

"No! Rathole is the one in charge. He's calling the shots," Passthrough said, strangely insistent. "His power got stronger somehow. Like, a-a lot stronger. And ever since then, Liberosis won't even think about crossing him. None of us will. He's the one who came up with this whole idea, you gotta understand. He said he'd met these people who could help us create a territory for ourselves, and we'd all live like kings. That sounded nice and all, but we really didn't have a choice either. He killed Riotous just for saying he thought it wouldn't work. He had his pets eat him alive."

Rathole, I thought. Now that was a name I hadn't heard in a while. One of the city's scummier villains, if I recalled. Not the gentlemen variety like Torque, who focused on big acts of show to make a name for themselves, but the kind that would use their power to stop your car on a lonely road. Then they'd rape and kill you just for kicks. A demented creep who was given the unfortunate ability to get away with their cruelty; not interested in anything more complicated than that.

So, why the hell was he running a complex and dangerous takeover of a city? Usually, these were done for more political reasons. If you just wanted petty power, there were a dozen places you could run off to in this world for that. A person could live out the fantasies of a warlord if they had raw strength. It wasn’t hard to do outside of a first-world country, but it was practically suicide in the US. All of this assumed he wasn't just insane, however, and given our track record, I rated the chances of that at a mere coinflip.

Whatever the case, powers didn't just get stronger on their own. I could tell that my two friends were having a similar realization. Whoever these three out-of-towners were, and despite Passthrough's delusions to the contrary, they were the ones really pulling the strings here. If they had the potential to boost supers and even conjure up someone as terrifying as Jayden, then they were serious business.

I might not have believed in demons, but Rathole had certainly made some kind of deal with the devil in exchange for more power. Now the whole city of New Marion was at its knees.

"You still haven't told us everything,” Sixes reminded. "Tell us everything, Passthrough."

The villain shook his head. "You want me to tell you what I saw? I only saw glimpses of them. They wear plain clothes and white masks. They're, uh, two white guys and one girl! What else... uh, Overman and Dim Bulb disappeared! I haven't seen either of them since the strangers showed up, so you know you don’t have to deal with them. Industrial isn't a rogue anymore, though. He's in the Unmakers. Fuck that name. Rathole demanded that’s what we call ourselves. The guy smells like piss. He won't stop-"

Stolen novel; please report.

"Focus!" Sixes slapped him one last time.

At this point, Stumblebum interjected. "Who's up by the Hero HQ, guy? We gotta know who we're up against."

I spoke up at that. "Carrion's there. Chrysalism too, I think. And Skiddles.” I'd been giving a lot of thought to the auras I saw up ahead, and I believed that I had narrowed down exactly who it might be, given the evidence. Carrion was obvious, but the other two I had inferred from their dimensions and the effects I saw the building marred with. Acid. Impact damage.

Passthrough confirmed my estimations, though he refused to meet my eyes when looking my way. "That's right. They can't get through the electro-metal. That's why they wanted me."

"Figured that much." Stumblebum took a few steps back and leaned on a nearby tabletop. He still had his knife in hand, but he wasn't so concerned about Passthrough making a move anymore. "Gonna be a hard level to beat," he said to us. "Not a friendly lineup for our powers."

My plan accounted for this. "That's why we draw them out. I can use my power and it will give us an edge over the whole battlefield and our positioning on it. We can split them up. Pick them off."

Sixes actually seemed gung-ho for once. "We can play it safe, exactly. We'll keep the rogue's power in reserve in case we need to outrun Carrion. The other two won't be hard to navigate around. Killing any of them will be nearly impossible with the firepower I have left, but the least we can do is get them off the building. Electro-metal will only retain its rigidity for so long with the grid taken out."

Passthrough, eager now to help, added more. "That's why we had to knock out the power! But Liberosis said we needed the people in the basement for hostages if we could get them. He said we had to move fast to get ready for when the Saviors show up."

Ah, so he's running the logistics. That must have been why Stumblebum placed Liberosis first as a possible leader. This particular villain was smart.

Hell, I was kicking myself right now for having so little memorized. The only reason I had been able to figure out the identities of the three nearby villains was due to just how well-known they were. I would have to ask for more info later, when we had some time to breathe. Then I could use my power more effectively.

Right now, we were getting ready to move. Sixes checked all of his gear once again and made sure his ammunition was properly situated before giving Stumblebum and I our orders. "You two stay here with this one. Headcase will give you the signal if I need a quick escape. Only then do you kill Passthrough, if we have to flee."

Naturally, the rogue protested. "What?! Why not just kill him now?"

The villain's aura was flashing wildly. So much so that I couldn't really discern what he was thinking; but I knew by his frantic glances between the two of them that he was not liking this debate.

"He may know even more than he's letting on. We already learned this lesson the hard way," Sixes said, sternly pointed at me. "We can't just go around killing captured enemies. You never know how important they may become later on."

"Oh, stuff it! Headcase said this prick tried to fucking kill you already! There's nothing more we need to learn from this dipshit."

Unlike before, in this argument I was willing to take a side. "Yeah. Stumblebum is right. He killed your friend, Sixes. He deserves what he gets."

"Don't." the guard warned me. "Don't you try to manipulate me. I want him alive."

I raised my hands at that, startled by the strength of his reaction. "Whoa. That's not-"

"Just don't."

I guess when you're a psychic people can get jumpy if you start trying to change their minds. I needed to remember that I carried that perception with me, even if it felt unfair. Others worried about what I knew and what I could do to them.

The mind was a deeply intimate place, and to know someone was constantly peering inside… it was likely to breed paranoia. "I'm n-not trying to manipulate you. I promised that I wouldn't. I'm just speaking my mind here, okay? I just... I really hate this guy is all. No offense," I said. Finally, it was my turn to say it.

Passthrough's eyes simply lost focus as his gaze fell. I imagined that his life was flashing before them.

"I understand, but you have your orders," Sixes told us all, trying to end the conversation right then and there. "You stay here as well, Headcase, since you can do your job at a distance. Guide me on the ground."

"But I can help on the ground, too. I might be able to knock them out, like I did before in the neighborhood." There was no guarantee that it would work, though. Supers tended to have markedly strong willpower and pain tolerance. Not to mention the fact that everybody down there was physiologically borked in one way or another by their power. The guys I had knocked out were just regular mooks. They weren't even in particularly good shape.

Sixes headed for the stairs, looking back only to say, "You wanted to draw them out, right? Get them cornered? Well, this is how we do it. I shoot at them from a distance, they try to follow me, and then you fire at them." He pointed down to the streets outside the apartment. "This will be the kill box. If I can isolate one of them, I'll try to lead them back here. You can lend your power at that point."

There was no point in arguing with him, so I simply waved goodbye. As he left the room, I went to get a drink of water to clear the taste of vomit from my mouth. The water should have still run, even with the power out, but apparently, the villains went so far as to knock out the tower. Nothing flowed, and my disappointment settled in.

Only the sound of the rain on the windows remained.

After more time passed and Stumblebum was absolutely certain that Sixes was gone, he flipped his knife and began to approach the chair. It was exactly as I had expected. "Alrighty. GI-Joe may not want you dead, but I still haven't forgotten all the times you thought it would be funny to drown me in the aquifer beneath the city. So, yeah, I think we're gonna do this my way," he said.

I had been counting on this happening to get what I wanted, but I began to have second thoughts. What if Sixes was right? What if I would regret this later?

"Hold on a sec," I said, but it was already too late.

The rogue drew back his knife before I could stop him, manic glee filling his mind.