Twilight heralded our return to Domo.

A dreary mood filled the car as we turned into the street leading to our home. Metal barricades choked the path, manned by a large force of Combat suits. They came to attention as we passed, grim scowls betraying their moods. A quarter of them featured dents on their tactical armors, and a handful of that number sported bloodstained bandages.

Pro-now regarded the sight. “The base will be busy tonight. Ardent recalled all combat staff, regardless of schedule.”

“Medicine after death,” Odim lamented.

I agreed.

The path beyond the barricades bore the telltale of a recent battle. Scorch marks littered the ground, interspersed by corals of the giant, stony ilk. The latter towered over the Combat suits, leaving entire sections of asphalt sundered in their wake. A coral wall blocked off the gate, surrounded by Combat suits who maneuvered a wheelable device into position.

Odim parked the car off to the side, allowing us to alight. The group in front of the gate glanced our way. One of them came striding forward.

“Pro-now, sir,” Husseini said, inclining his head. Angry lobster skin peeked out of his combat armor, making him look like he was being pressure cooked. He removed his helmet and dabbed at his forehead with a kerchief. “My apologies. I should have anticipated this. We would have been more prepared.”

Pro-now shook his head. “This is not your fault, commander.”

“They came out of nowhere, sir,” Husseini said. “The power outage happened first, and we were dealing with that when Cnidarian tore through the gate. The Villains moved with a sense of purpose. They knew exactly where to go.”

The mole.

“We’ll get them for this,” Pro-now said.

“Where did all our Supers go?” Husseini asked. “We weren't given any information, and—”

“You will be debriefed later. For now, I need to speak with Ardent.”

Husseini frowned. He stepped back and nodded.

The double gates behind Cnidarian's makeshift blockade dangled from the tips of a second set of corals. The massive reef continued into the grounds, alternating in fits and starts. Deep grooves scoured the earth, and dark stains—illuminated by the floodlights—popped up at irregular intervals.

Two vortex cannon trucks lay in a heap on our path. One looked so decimated, it might as well have visited a shredder. A bunch of medics tended to the wounded in the ring circling the complex. And, sitting off to the side, narrating to a nurse . . .

“Neviecha,” I said, running toward my teammate.

Neviecha looked up, eyes brightening behind his aviator goggles. “Hey, Volley.”

The nurse next to him, a young woman in her twenties, finished taking his blood pressure. She murmured a hasty greeting and moved on to her next patient.

Ardent hovered next to Neviecha. The bear of a man had ditched his tie and jacket, but his rumpled shirtsleeves clung tightly to his frame. He looked less like a grizzly and more like a sloth. A change that spoke volumes about the level of his deflation.

“Pro-now, Odim, Volley,” Ardent rumbled, “it is good to have you back.”

“Are you okay, Neviecha?” I asked.

Neviecha shrugged “I don't even know. I remember hearing a lot of noise and explosions. Then I grabbed my gear and went after the enemy.” He poked at a large hole in his shirt. “Somewhere in between, I think I died.”

“Elixir,” Ardent said.

Pro-now’s respirator whirred. “How did this happen, Ardent?”

The big man grunted. “The transformers went out. Disabled the early warning systems.”

“That doesn't sound like a coincidence,” Odim said.

“It wasn't. Backup generators also failed. The Four-oh-Four attacked while we were working on a fix.”

“And the Automated defenses?” Pro-now asked.

“Didn't fire. By the time we got the power back on, the Four-oh-Four had breached our holding cells. They led No Light to a distribution board. You can imagine what followed after that.”

The complex bore a few new exits in its front and side. A fire had also broken out at some point. Emergency sirens blared over in the parking lot, accompanied by moans from the wounded. The outcome wasn't difficult to imagine.

Pro-now massaged his forehead.

“The men did what they could,” Ardent said. “But without our big guns, the battle was lost from the onset. I don't know how the syndicate succeeded in capturing our people. But by the time the dust settled, those three were missing.”

“The med bay,” Pro-now said. “AV mentioned Elixir was last spotted there.”

“Ava?” I asked.

“I paired up with her,” Neviecha said, “shortly after the lights went out. We ran into the Four-oh-Four . . . I don't remember how they took her. But she was defenseless. I should have done more to help.”

“You did what you could,” I said.

“Stop trying to make me feel better, Volley. I messed up.”

“No, you didn't,” Ardent said.

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Odim rubbed her fingers, mulling over her words. “You mentioned sabotage. Does that mean we have a traitor in our ranks?”

“We do,” Ardent said. “An information I learned of only two hours ago.” He stared pointedly at Pro-now, though the latter refused to bite.

“This makes no sense,” Odim said. “The acts of subversion you mentioned can't be pulled off by the rank and file. The turncoat would need to be a high-ranking official, either in Security or the office of the Director . . .” Her mechanical gaze strayed over to Pro-now. “You knew of this.”

“I did,” Pro-now answered.

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“You said it yourself. The mole was nestled deep in our ranks.”

Odim said nothing for a moment. She sucked in a breath. “I am still green as far as superheroism is concerned. But I’ve served a stint with the Civil Defense Corps, so I understand how counterintelligence works. I won’t fault you for keeping us in the dark. However, something about this situation baffles me.” She hooked her thumbs into her belt. “With a mole this powerful, the Four-oh-Four can cripple us at any moment down the line. Why did they reveal their hand this early? What tactical advantage does Evans represent?”

“He's a bigger fish than we thought,” Adom Kwarteng said, appearing out of the med camp. He hobbled up to us on crutches, sporting bindings around his legs. “The incident today proves it.”

“Adom,” Pro-now greeted. “I'm glad you made it out of this alive.”

“By the skin of my teeth,” Adom hissed. “They took my sister.”

“I heard.”

“Your hearing it isn't enough, Pro-now,” Adom said, adjusting his crutches. “I was wondering where our Supers wandered off to, only to realize after we'd been steamrolled that they disappeared on your command. You left us all in the dark.” He spat on the ground. “I don't care if your intentions were good. My sister paid a huge price for your games!”

“Pro-now had his reasons . . .” Odim started.

“What reasons?” Ardent muttered.

Odim wheeled on him. “He was vague about the details, yes. And he sprung today’s missions on us from out of nowhere. However, knowing what we do now, we can’t call his actions unjustified. He needed to protect the integrity of his plans.”

“He should have brought us into the know,” Adom said. “Good men lost their lives today, all because we were unprepared. If we knew our Hero teams were out in the field engaging the Four-oh-Four, we would have been more alert!”

“That's not a good excuse,” Odim said.

Adom sneered back. “Our Hero teams went out with minimal preparations and suffered devastating ambushes. You three managed to make it back in one piece.” He sobbed, leaning on his crutches. “Catherine, who should have been safe, wasn't so lucky.”

A sensation of dullness filled my chest.

“I'm sorry,” Pro-now said.

“No,” Odim cut in. “You shouldn't apologize.”

“Not that,” Pro-now continued. “I am sorry for not coming to this realization sooner.”

His baton whipped through the air, catching Adom in the chin. The man crumpled to the ground.

“What are you doing?” Odim shrieked.

A few heads turned our way. Alewo scampered away from Pro-now, eyes bulging out of his head.

“Something I should have done a week ago,” Pro-now said, replacing his baton. “Ardent, toss this man into a cell.”

Ardent smirked. “You're sure he's the mole?”

“Positive,” Pro-now said. “AV confirmed some information for me on the way here. In a sense, the dreadful attack today provided the final piece in the puzzle. Contrary to what we tell our staff, only one office—not three—has access to the power distribution network. And that office is Intelligence, not Security or Admin.”

Odim sputtered. “You can't just decide—”

“I’m not sentencing him. He will get a chance to defend himself at Headquarters. I would have ordered his arrest before arriving if I didn't feel the need to do it myself.”

“I presume I was also one of the suspects?” Ardent asked, scratching his chin.

“At some point, yes,” Pro-now said.

“You could have asked.”

“And risked you turning in your resignation? No can do.”

Ardent grinned. He glanced at the moaning, twitching Adom. “Guards!”

Three Combat suits jogged up to us.

“Chamber him,” Ardent instructed. “Any cell would do. Collar. Strip. Search for anomalies. Do not rough him up. Understood?”

“Sir!” they said.

“Where does this leave Ms. Catherine?” I asked as the Combat suits hauled Adom away. “Is she in on this?”

“I do not know,” Pro-now said. “The Four-oh-Four could still be playing games with us. Or they took her to keep Adom in line.”

Ardent made a face. “We save her first. Before asking these questions.”

“Agreed,” Pro-now said.

I cleared my throat. “Excuse me, sir, but I think Bazaar is also—”

“I know, Volley,” Pro-now said. “And I am incensed. This was her chance at redemption.”

“We don't know if she went willingly . . .”

“What do you think?”

Dammit, he was right. Bazaar would flee the first chance she got.

“Wait, what's wrong with Bazaar?” Neviecha asked, looking at each of us in turn. His eyes widened. “No way! You think she's one of them?”

“We found her collar,” Ardent gruffed. “Here on the premises. It's possible the Four-oh-Four got rid of it to ditch the tracker . . .”

“But that raises more questions than answers,” I finished. “Wait, didn’t Evans also have a collar?”

“Standard defense model,” Ardent said. “Was found sawn off in his cell. The Villains probably disarmed Ava’s with help from Adom, but Evans’ . . .”

“Standard models only need to be protected from one person,” Pro-now explained: “The person wearing them. They can be dismantled by an external force, so long as it is peculiar enough.”

Odim ran a hand through her top knot. “Ugh. I won't pretend to understand all of what is happening here. But if we intend to rescue our people, shouldn't we start moving out?”

“We should,” Pro-now said. “Ardent, you've spoken with AV. I presume he hasn’t found anything new?”

Ardent shook his head. “He's still piecing through footage. Doesn't help that he is also keeping an eye out for suspicious activity in traffic.”

“What about GPS devices?” I asked. “Elixir or Catherine should have one.”

Ardent crossed his arms. “Both their phones were found shattered near the gates, as was Catherine’s hidden anklet. The Four-oh-Four are thorough. We have nothing to track them with.”

“And the police?” I pressed. “They have better reach than we do.”

Pro-now hummed. “That’s great thinking, Volley. But we've engaged the police already. So far, nothing on their end.”

“If this drags on for longer,” Odim said, “we can lose the captives forever. Things go crazy when superpowers are involved.”

A commotion emanated from the southern gates. A Combat suit ran up to us, lugging a shotgun with him. I tightened my grip on my bandolier and waited for the man to reach us. The Four-oh-Four wouldn't come to finish the job, would they?

“What's going on, trooper?” Pro-now asked.

The Combat suit drew to a stop. “The SRA, sir. An entire platoon of them is parked outside the barricades.”

“Turn them back.”

“Yes, sir. Commander Husseini has given the order. However, Scythe . . . I mean, Colonel Tijani, insists on speaking to you.”

Pro-now quietened. “Tell the commander to let her in. And only her.”

Colonel Tijani met us at the gates. She drew her feet together as we approached and lowered her patrol cap. “Pro-now—”

“Cut to the chase, Colonel,” Pro-now said. “What do you want?”

The Colonel drew out a sigh. “Very well. My sources informed me that the Four-oh-Four abducted your people. I am here to help.”

“Declined. We will find them ourselves.”

Colonel Tijani frowned. “The circumstances might have changed, Pro-now, but the SRA still has a stake in the proceedings. The Four-oh-Four is our joint responsibility.”

“Was our joint responsibility,” Pro-now said, voice frosting over. “The coalition is over. That’s all I’m here to tell you. The SRA cannot be trusted.”

“You are being irrational—”

“Goodnight, Scythe.”

Colonel Tijani recoiled as if struck across the face.

The rest of us turned away, following after our leader.

“I have a way to find your people,” Colonel Tijani said.

No one answered her.

“Even if you don't care about the others. Surely, you realize what it means for Elixir to fall into enemy hands?”

Pro-now halted. His shoulders trembled with rage. “I'm sure you are pleased with your ability to snoop around, Scythe. But if this is your attempt at playing smart—”

“I am not playing here. I will not abide a crime gang wielding that kind of power within my jurisdiction. Let me help you. Your stubbornness will bring us to ruin.”

“And how exactly do you intend to track down the Four-oh-Four?”

Colonel Tijani squared her jaw. “Linked teleportation.”