Levi took his time crossing the city. He looked around him as he went, gazing up at the sky. He hummed, unbothered.

Metal clattered behind him. Not even bothering with the usual pretense, he turned. “Hey, White Tooth.”

“White Fang,” the super growled back at him.

“Yeah, that.”

She glared at him from overhead. “You violated our agreement.”

“Did I? Do you have proof?”

“You were arrested.”

“Yeah, but the police arrest a lot of people. Innocent until proven guilty, and all that,” Levi pointed out.

Her eyes narrowed. “You should be in a police station.”

“Funny thing, that. Monsters just happened to attack the one I was in. No idea what happened there, but hey! Who am I to look an act of God in the mouth? So I figured, if He was telling me to get out on the street, I oughta.” Levi shot her a winning smile.

Metal flashed. She drew a pair of blades. “You’re going directly back into that jail cell.”

Levi turned serious. The smile vanished. “White Fang. Think. Just for a second. Is this really what you want?”

She paused. “What do you mean?”

“The ‘justice’ upheld by the police, which is no different from Alpha’s mandate. The same Alpha who ability hunts and steals away people’s children, people’s parents, their brothers and sisters and best friends. Are you okay with that?”

“We all sacrifice something for peace.”

“Sure. Everyone’s fine with it, until their friend gets ability-hunted,” Levi grumbled, throwing his arms at the air.

White Fang’s eyes narrowed. “You accuse me of hypocrisy?”

“She gets it! Yes. What else? You sit up there, on your high horse, and look down at all of us, who are struggling just to get by. Who sometimes have to make some hard choices to survive. There’s people you’ve arrested who were just trying to get their revenge on Alpha for ability hunting their children. Their children, White Fang. He killed children, and you think the right thing to do, is to deliver those people directly into Alpha’s hands?”

White Fang hesitated. Her mouth opened, then closed. “I—”

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“You ignored it, didn’t you. Pushed it to the back of your mind and pretended that you were enforcing justice. Pretended you were on the side of good. Because you aren’t. None of you are. Taking Alpha’s side, is the same as ability hunting. Even if you do it in this roundabout way of punishing those who dare fight back against Alpha.”

She fell silent. Those eyes glared down at him. At last, she spoke. “Then what should I do? Ignore the people who murder, as long as they do it in the name of getting back at Alpha? Allow the chain of vengeance to continue, unmitigated?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t come here to tell you what to do. That’s your problem. But man, White Fang. Think about it. What are you doing? What part do you play? You have a role in Alpha’s oppression. You can continue that. Or you can try doing something else.”

Silence again. She shifted. “You’re just saying this to distract from your own crimes.”

“Me? My crimes? I’m the number one Alpha fighter. I’m the one he wants. I’m literally his worst enemy. Of course I’m doing this to justify myself. But that’s the difference.” He stepped closer, looking her in the eye. “That’s the difference, between you and me. I know I’m justifying my own actions. I know I’m lying to myself, sometimes. You?”

He clicked his tongue and slowly shook his head. “Hook, line, sinker. You’ve swallowed your own bullshit so deep you don’t even taste the shit anymore.”

“You have no idea who you’re talking to. What I’ve been through—”

“No. I don’t,” Levi interrupted her. He waved his hand. “Did you actually lose someone to Alpha? Do you have some tragic sob story? The thing is, I don’t know that. I have no idea. All I can do, is judge the actions you’re taking right now. Judge the things you’re actually doing, without knowing a single thing about your excuses. About the stories you tell to excuse your actions.

“Think about that. If you really hate Alpha, think about that. Because right now, to me? You look like one of his cronies. No—more like the head of his secret police. How does that make you feel? That you look like the biggest asshole of all of them?”

Shaken, White Fang backed away. She stared at him. “You—”

“Anyways, I’m on my way to do something actually important, so maybe fuck off. Also, there’s a shit ton of Gates all over the city that are about to go supernova. Might, y’know, want to actually help people and save civilians instead of waste your time slowing down the people who are actually getting shit done.” Levi paused. He pointed at himself. “Me. In case you didn’t get it.”

White Fang startled. “You opened Gates—”

“Motherfucker—what the fuck? What part of anything that I’ve done at any point suggests to you that I, number one, have the ability to open Gates, and second, that I would do that? No! The fuckin’ Apostles of the End did that shit. Look at that! You aren’t even doing your detective job well. Or wait, is that the other guy?”

Levi waved his hand. “Not the point. The point is, I didn’t have shit to do with it. Stop trying to justify being an asshole, and go actually do something to help. If you can get your head out of your ass for ten whole fucking seconds, that is.” He stomped off without another glance backward.

Behind him, the metal didn’t clatter. Surreptitiously, Levi craned his neck as he passed an angled mirror, and caught a glimpse of White Fang sitting dead-still on the fire exit. He breathed a sigh of relief. Nice. Avoided a fight with my powers of bullshit! Or wait, should I describe it as fending a woman off with my tongue? So many options!

He turned the corner, and there it was, in all its enormous phallic glory. Alpha’s giant penis tower. Levi lifted his fists, pretending to fire punches at the tower. “Here we go. You and me, round two!”

“And…” He reached into his bag and waggled the passes at the tower. “Oopsie, I didn’t give back the passes I borrowed. Uh oh! Guess I’ll just have to saunter right on in!”