I pumped the metaphorical brakes hard enough they would have broken, had they been real. Despite my best efforts, we were still strictly speaking in motion when the wave hit, but luck proved to be on our side when only Heavensword and Delible fell limp. The younger of the Teeth bounced back first, barely a second after she went slack, and rather than stick around to fight whatever nightmares plagued two literal mass murderers, I immediately accelerated us again.

“That was clow-suh,” I muttered as I glanced over my shoulder, grimacing as I noticed the already distant shapes of the two nightmares rushing after some poor sod we had inadvertently saddled with likely death. It wasn’t a good feeling, leaving them to deal with that, but I was too worried about everyone at the safe house to double back.

“What… is going on?” Delible replied, her head abruptly beginning to whip back and forth. She quickly started to flail, seemingly trying to break out of my metal encasing her. “Who are— Where am I?”

Perhaps she took that harder than I thought, I wondered as I struggled to maintain control over the metal around her as she flexed her absurd strength against me. Damn Brute was going to have a rough encounter with the ground if she kept it up.

“Delible?” Elle spoke up, concern lacing her voice. “What wrong?”

“Sarah, dear…” Heavensword cut in, sounding haggard. Was the wave really draining energy from those affected? It would explain Elle’s condition after being hit a second time. That was concerning. Didn’t Endbringer fights take hours? Could that damned sword draining people dry fueling its nightmares? “You’ve reset… Must calm… down…”

Delible twisted sharply to look at Heavensword, and I winced as I tried to keep a hold of her, quickly shifting their positions so they were closer to each other in the hopes she would stop fighting against me so much. “You… Elena, I— What is going on?”

“Please spare me… a moment to recover…” was the older woman’s response as I quickly brought us to a stop in front of the safe house. The street immediately outside was clear—a small blessing.

“Here,” Elle spoke up, shooting the street around us a worried look. “Inside for safety.”

Delible looked askance at her for a moment before silently nodding, and with a sigh of relief, I set everyone down. Elle and I quickly moved to the entrance as I reclaimed my metal into a myriad spheres I set to floating around me, and she led the way inside through a worryingly clawed up door while Heavensword began to say something about memories to Delible.

My curiosity about what had caused the Teeth regenerator to behave so oddly was completely overwhelmed by a mixture of relief and worry when I caught sight of the main living area. The malformed corpses of two nightmares were rotting in the midst of congealing pools of blood, and the scorch marks, puddles of slime, blood spatter, and clawed up and battered walls and furniture all pointed to a fight. Elle and I quickly but cautiously checked everyone’s rooms, wary of an ambush, but we couldn’t find any sign of Melanie or Emily’s costumes or gear nor any blood trails leading to the rooms.

I sought out Elle’s hand and squeezed, shooting her an anxious look. She squeezed back. “Not dead.”

“A sound assessment.” If I hadn’t felt Heavensword’s approach behind us, I might have jumped out of my skin. The din of chaos outside had completely covered her footsteps… or else she was scarily silent when she wanted to be. There was weariness in her stance that hadn’t been there on the beach. More evidence the wave creating the nightmares was draining energy from those affected. “Even if all of that blood belonged to one person, it will be some time before they begin to properly feel the side effects of blood loss provided they receive quick medical attention. Is your crew familiar with basic first aid?”

I glared at her mulishly for the slight, but Elle quietly replied, “Yes. Important.”

“Indeed. Then that buys them time. From what I’ve read of Faultline, she is likely wise enough to keep her head on her shoulders in a predicament such as this. Were I her, I would be making my way to the closest shelter.”

I frowned at that assessment. “Why shell-tur? Nait-mares.”

“Medical attention is needed, but any hospital staff have doubtlessly fled their posts in the wake of the attack. Wherever the PRT is setting up their medical site is the best choice—staffed and protected by the capes present. The issue is finding it.”

Elle made an understanding noise. “Shelters no good because nightmares. But people would go. Need protection.”

Heavensword nodded, her expression pleased. “The PRT have a vested interest in keeping people out of the shelters and safeguarding anyone trying to go to them. They’ll send capes to defend the locations, and any capes in such a role would know where the medical site is and may even be able to summon transport.”

That… was surprisingly reasoned. Clearly her high brow way of speaking wasn’t all for show. More importantly, that was all I needed to hear. “Then that’s where we’re go-ing.”

“What? Absolutely not,” Heavensword promptly disagreed, her frown taut. “The shelter is the best choice for your crew because medical attention is required, but it is very unwise for us. With so many individuals converging on one point, there will undoubtedly be more nightmares. We need shelter that is not brimming with monsters. We should make for our facility in Far Rockaway.”

I shoved past her and noted with grim satisfaction that Elle was right behind me. “No.”

Unfortunately, Heavensword was right on our heels with Delible behind her. “Juniper, dear, you must see reason. This isn’t—”

“We aren’t lee-ving them bee-hind,” I interrupted, not even glancing at her as we entered mine and Elle’s room. I started tugging off my winter wear, tossing the completely ruined clothes on the floor without a care as I stripped down to pull on my costume.

“This is an Endbringer battle, not the paid gigs you’re used to doing. This is the most dangerous situation you’ve ever been in, you shouldn’t seek trouble.” I was down to my underwear and tugging on my body suit in record time. When I moved on to pulling on my boots without addressing her, Heavensword tried again. “Juniper, please—”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I whirled on her, my half-laced boot forgotten as I jabbed my finger in her face. “I tuh-old you to call me Meteor. You duh-n’t fuh-king know me, so duh-n’t fuh-king act like you do!”

That struck a nerve. I watched her expression contort—in anger or sadness, or both maybe—and felt a vindictive thrill. “All I’ve ever wanted was to know you. I’m your mother, and I—”

A cold laugh tore its way out of me. “My mom? She’s dead. And you know what? That bitch dying was the bay-st thing that ever hap-pun-duh to me!”

“Take that back,” Heavensword dangerously hissed. There was no mistaking it now. She was livid. “How dare you say such a thing. You say I do not know you, but you are the one who knows nothing. Those PRT scum tore you two away from me—forced your mom to raise you alone in squalor unbefitting a rat, much less my loved ones, and for what? To ‘protect’ you from your family? The very notion that I or your uncle would harm you is unthinkable.”

Uncle? Who…?

The sudden introduction of a new, unknown element threw me off my rhythm, and Elle took the chance to take my hand and tug. “Not worth it. Need go.”

I sagged, knowing she was right, but couldn’t resist one last jab as I turned away. “Worthless? Well, she is cuh-lay-ming to be my mom.”

I didn’t bother checking Heavensword’s reaction as I finished lacing up my boot before pulling on the next, quickly and systematically donning my costume. Someone in our crew… our family, who saved us from a living nightmare, was hurt and needed help. And I’d be damned if—

The air began to crackle, and I leapt to my feet, tensing along with Elle and the Teeth as we waited for the wave to—

Red light flashed in the corner of my eye, then my vision was swimming as the floor suddenly rose towards me. I landed on my knees with a pained grunt and would have fallen forward if hands hadn’t landed on my shoulders and held me up. Above me I heard a gasped, “Alexia…?” and I struggled to drag my head up, feeling like I’d been running for miles.

“You.”

I froze, my eyes not even halfway up from the floor, a whispered, “Mom…?” slipping out of me.

“Worthless!”

Like the wave of energy that brought it into existence, the nightmare lashed out at me too quickly to react. I flinched and felt rather than saw that my power had autonomously shoved the scarf around my neck into elsewhere to protect me.

“Useless!”

I hastily tugged my metal scarf back from immovability and scrambled backwards to put distance between me and the nightmare while the floor twisted up into chains around its legs. It ripped itself free before I could try to fuse the links together into a contiguous piece I could make immutable, dodging a lunge from Delible at the same time.

“You listen to your mom, you ungrateful shit, or I’ll command you to stop breathing,” it snarled at me as it lashed out at Delible, knocking her to the floor. Its voice shifted into Octavia’s mid-way through, making me freeze mid-scramble and loose hold of my metal, leaving it to fall. The wood of the floor that had been bulging up into the shape of a wolf likewise paused, caught in a halfway state where only its front half was animate.

It surged forward towards me, just barely avoiding Delible’s desperate grab, and Heavensword threw herself in its path, a dagger coming into existence mid-swipe as she slashed at its throat with her hand. The nightmare shifted, its body almost seeming to melt to the side and around the weapon as it continued its charge, screaming, “Do you want that? Huh?!”

It was practically on top of me when the floor exploded. Wood morphed in a flurry of thick white material that slammed into the nightmare, knocking it back and swarming it. The room around us was twisting, the walls bulged into white, blood and shit stained padding interspersed with barbed wire, dirty needles, and jagged pieces of glass. The window vanished, and the wood of the door changed into corroded metal, two small hatches for meals and viewing sealed shut with rust from disuse.

“Do you want that? Do you want that? Do you want that?”

A bad dream wrapped jacket to escape the cold. Squirm away, but held tight in indifferent warmth. A frigid talker still talks—hateful, monstrous truths. “Mama Melanie can’t even save herself, much less a disappointment like y—.”

The cavity lady looked down-set as she made a cutting remark with a sword. A punny pun, but no one was laughing. “That’s quite enough out of you,” she darkly remarked before looking around in confusion. “This is your power, Labyrinth? It’s certainly… evocative.”

“Yes,” my Elle quiet-talked, her eyes wide shut. Her temple was fallen.

“Juniper, are you— Juniper? What’s wrong?”

Flower? Beauty in a dark place. Fleeting. “Wanna go home, Elle.”

Old cavity looked to my Elle heart, but thump thump, she was laying bricks. Temples didn’t just build themselves! Peepers on me again. “Something is wrong. What’s happened to you?”

The cavity reached for me, but it was bad, so I pulled away. No! I brushed my chompers to keep the papa away, so why was she here to nom me down? I frantically looked to my Elle. “Scuh-air-duh!”

No mouth dance. Tick tock—she needed more sand in the hourglass. Closer, but walkers wouldn’t leg, but I was dressed to impress, and I moved. Hold the Elle, duvet-her. No. No, comforter. Comfort her. “S’gonna be okay, Ell-Bell. Cav-uh-tee lady mur-der stah-b’duh the bad druh-eem. Breh-kuh breh-kuh your temple, Junebug has you.”

The cavities peeped each other, but that made sense. Bad chompers conspired.

Feeler on my feeler, my Elle’s sight on me. Here but not here. There. “Sorry.”

“No sorries,” I insisted. I paused. Something was still wrong. “Crew.”

“Danger,” she agreed.

Mama. We will save you. I had a part in this dance—conductor. It hurt to remember, but they were counting on us.

My metal rose into the air, spinning violently as I yanked myself out my fugue with a muted whine. “Here,” I hissed through clenched teeth as reality cut through the fog.

Elle’s hand squeezed mine, but her gaze was still distant. As much as I hated to admit it, that was sort of a good thing. Right now we needed her power as strong as it could be. I quickly set about checking that her costume was in place—it was, a perk of hers being substantially simpler—then I resumed pulling on the last pieces of my own.

“So we’re just ignoring the elephant in the room?” Delible asked, sounding vaguely annoyed and not a little bit nonplussed.

I opened my mouth to tell her off as I pulled on my backpack, the last piece of my costume, but Heavensword beat me to the punch. “Arrayed against us are our darkest nightmares, Delible. If Juniper doesn’t wish to discuss it, then that is her right.”

I shot her a glare, albeit one with significantly less heat than earlier. She had, after all, been defending me. “I tuh-old you to call me Meteor.”

She winced before breathing out a sigh so minute I nearly missed it. “And so you have. I apologize. After searching for you for so long, I want so badly to call your name and have you answer… I fear my desires have gotten the best of me and stood in the way of your own.” Her expression shifted. Softer in places but harder in others. I couldn’t place the emotion behind it. “As you’ve asked, it won’t happen again… Meteor.”

We needed to get moving, but her words made me realize something I hadn’t thought to ask earlier in the rush of trying to escape them then in fighting and escaping the nightmares. “You say you’re my mom. But you never cahl-duh me… You know.”

“Your mother, not your mom,” she corrected, her voice gentle, almost reminiscent. “The plan was Alexia would be…” She paused, and this time I more readily recognized her pained expression. “I’m sorry. You asked why I never called you the name we gave you? In finding you I learned you were in fact my daughter, not son. I am doing my best to avoid the name you’ve cast off, and I apologize for my slip on the beach.”

Slip on the beach? I wasn’t sure what she was referring to, but that didn’t really matter right now. Heavensword’s story, none of it was adding up, but she spoke with confidence about all of it. Either she was the world’s best bullshiter, or I was missing pieces of the puzzle—or hell, maybe I had the wrong pieces altogether. Masuyo had said the Butcher was my dad, but how had she known that? The PRT were the likely candidates., and those assholes would absolutely lie if it suited them, but what did they stand to gain from lying? It could even be that nobody was lying but some people involved had the wrong idea. I had no way of knowing.

No time. The mystery would keep. “Our fruh-ends are in dayn-jer, and we’re going to say-vuh them,” I told her, my tone brooking no argument. “Help us or duh-n’t, your call.”

I took Elle’s—no, Labyrinth’s hand in mine and gently pulled her after me as I moved towards the door, carefully ignoring the mutilated nightmare corpse wearing my mom’s face. I thought there would be hesitation, but Heavensword’s steps fell right in behind us, and Delible trailed after as well, if a moment later.

I glanced back at her as we moved towards the building’s exit, and she quirked an eyebrow, replying, “If you must insist on rushing headlong towards danger, then I fear you must also endure your mother following in kind to safeguard you.”

It was frustrating to admit, but without the Teeth, Elle or I—fuck, maybe both—might be dead by now, so I was legitimately grateful for the backup, despite the reservations I would have in any other circumstances. “Okay. I know where a shell-tur is. Not sure if it’s the cloh-sist, but it’s close.”

“Then our course is set. Since we aren’t bound for the Jaw, I would appreciate a moment to fashion alternative masks.”

I frowned, pausing for a moment to shoot her a look she probably couldn’t decipher through my scarf and goggles. She bent over, and I stared as she ran her fingers through one of the congealed pools of blood on the floor then painted haphazard lines of red down her face.

“What…?” I couldn’t help asking as she placed her whole hand in this time then pressed her bloody palm against Delible’s face at an angle. Even Delible looked caught off guard by her actions, though she didn’t flinch away.

“Delible has worn something similar before, though she wouldn’t remember. As for me…” She smiled, the red streaks flexing with the movement. “I may mourn no longer, but I do have a known image, and now is not the time to reinvent myself once more.”

And with that decidedly unhelpful explanation… I disparagingly thought as I resumed moving towards the building’s exit.

We’re coming, everyone.