5 YEARS EARLIER

"S-stop! Don't come any closer!" the masked thug stuttered and lifted his burning hand in my direction. The flames hissed excitedly and pushed and pulled forward, eager to get a hold of me, yearning to consume.

Sentient Fire was a fascinating and potentially devastating Power, but in the hands of a rookie, it didn't pose much of a threat. I lifted my arms in the air and stopped, a few feet away from him. His nervous thoughts flittered through my brain and I could feel the soothing warmth of his incandescent companion, softly wrapped around his arm.

"You....you're from the Enlightened! Fuck! No! Why?! Does that mean....?!"

I could feel the adrenaline rushing through his body. I chuckled lightly. "Is he here? Maybe. I'd rather not ruin the surprise. That's just impolite." His resolve was faltering. New thoughts rushed into his mind. The perfect ones for me to use. "What's your name?"

He looked at me, sweat pouring down his forehead. "W-what?" was all he said, but I didn't need him to give me the answer verbally.

"What are you doing here, Robert? I know you need the money, but if we book you here you're not the only one who will suffer. It doesn't have to be this way."

He grit his teeth and took a step back. No confusion or bewilderment. So his familiarity with me was more than passing. He already knew what I could do. Using Thought on deeply stressed or mentally unwell people was always quite the experience. Sometimes almost too much to handle.

"The fuck it doesn't! Where the hell am I going to get 15k in less than 3 months?! Goddamn mages!"

I nodded. His situation, while not a common one, was definitely not unheard of. From what I could make out from his scattered thoughts, his sister had been the victim of a curse. A complex one at that. One that would make her die miserably and painfully in just a few months. The only people who can break curses are Warlocks, and unlike doctors in hospitals, they can legally refuse to save someone's life for any reason. So buying a dispelling is the only option. And the more complex the curse, the more expensive the service.

"I agree with you, friend. That kind of greed makes my stomach turn. But there are always alternatives." I slowly lowered one of my hands. "Don't freak out. I'm not going for a weapon. If I grab anything remotely threatening, go ahead and sizzle me."

He said nothing, but I felt his hesitant agreement.

I don't know how I would've acted in his situation.

If he just let me go his friends in Midgardsummer would roast him alive.

If he attacked me and didn't succeed he'd be taken in, and even though he's a rookie, Midgardsummer didn't let people with no criminal history join. If potential members didn't have one already they made them do something jailworthy as some sort of sick initiation right. Their rivals, Fimbulwinter, were a lot more chill in that regard, pun intended.

Lastly, if he attacked me and actually managed to seriously injure or even kill me he'd have America's top hero team itching to take him down personally. Tough spot. I felt for him, I did, but a criminal is a criminal.

I gently opened a clasp on my belt and pulled out a large roll of cash. Ransom packages were something our Boss insisted on. There were a lot of situations that could be resolved or at least greatly helped along with a bit of money. Of course, only very wealthy teams could afford to use them. "That's almost twice what you need. Take it, and go." I said and threw it to him.

"Wha.....s-seriously?" He caught it and looked back at me, still suspicious but with a faint glimmer of hope growing in his chest. That's what I liked to feel. Way more comfortable than stress and exhaustion.

"I'm rich. I don't care about 25000 dollars. You need it more than I do."

I felt the tears in his eyes before I got to see them. The flames on his arm died down as he lowered it. I took this chance to make a quick step forward and socked him right in the nose. An audible crunch echoed through the room as he fell backward and his whole body lit up, the inferno lashing out around him.

"Goddamn, you....!"

"That's to prove to your gang mates that you didn't just turn tail without a fight. The money is useless if you end up a pile of ash and bones in a warehouse somewhere." I offered him my hand. The fire around him calmed down and pulled back as he took it.

"Thanks....I.....I'm sorry. I never should've..." He was genuinely remorseful. I smiled as I pulled him back to his feet.

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"Don't worry about it. Just go. Your sister needs you." He nodded and I gave him a pat on the back before he hurried down the stairs.

.

I would have my money back before long. The tracker I attached to his back would guarantee it. I enjoyed resolving situations non-violently, it was my specialty. But that also meant I had grown into quite the liar over the course of my career. A professional liar, you could say. But still, I hated cases like his. Probing for an enemy's fear or greed or convoluted honor code and exploiting that was much less ethically challenging for me.

I let out a sigh and shook my head. Once he was booked I would personally pay for his sister's treatment. Just because he threw his life away didn't mean she should have to suffer. And 15000 bucks...well, it was basically chump change.

Anyway, I still had a job to do. I carefully opened the door in front of me and dashed through, up the stairs. I could hear the sound of raging fire slowly approaching the higher I went, and soon enough the heat started to build up. The door at the top was practically glowing. If my gloves hadn't been heat resistant, this would've been as far as I could've gone. I wasted no time in opening it.

The room beyond looked about how I expected it would. Nearly everything that wasn't made of metal was burning furiously. Furniture, crates neatly stacked in a corner, the curtains...the smell of melted plastic permeated the room. Both windows had been smashed open, allowing the smoke to escape and two doors stood wide open. The main entrance was to the west, so I turned toward the east-facing door and rushed through.

After running through a small corridor I came across a steel door and ripped it open.

"Took you long enough." the woman on the other side said with a sly grin. She was sitting on a large pile of unconscious bodies all wearing orange-red clothing.

"Yeah, well, unlike you I like to avoid violence when possible." I said, returning the smile. "We can't all be dumb brutes like you."

She laughed. Despite sporting a good bit of fur, her black-and-white costume seemed remarkably intact for just having fought through a building of fire-wielding thugs. But then again, I didn't expect anything less from her.

"Hey, I graduated junior high. I'm a smart." I couldn't help but laugh back. We have had this exact exchange countless times, yet it still never failed to crack me up. I offered my hand and Honeybadger gladly took it to get up on her feet again.

This morning we had gotten two tips from our informants. One was about the hiding place of notorious high-ranking Midgardsummer admin Combustion, the other was the location of someone who claimed to know where the Society of Power had one of their bases. The boss sent me and Honey to arrest Combustion while he, Angelica, and Helios verified the SOP info and made sure it wasn't a trap. If it checked out, we'd be hitting the base in the evening. The rest of the team was to stand by in the Tower of Light in case of emergency.

"Big C is supposed to be on the basement floor." She pointed towards an elevator in the back. "According to these jokers..." She pointed at the bodies. "...there is just one room down there. It's where they store most of their "merch"."

"Then what are we waiting for? If we can get this over with before noon I'll treat you to a nice sweet ice cream breakfast." I said and moved towards the elevator.

"How do you always know just what to say?"

"I can read minds, remember?"

The elevator opened into a small corridor with a singular door at the end. There was no way for me to sneak in ahead of time without being detected, so we had to wing it. Honeybadger lifted 3 fingers and started silently counting down. The instant she reached 0 she drew back and kicked it open.

Without hesitation she went through, me following behind her in a crouched position. Just a few steps in I split off from her to the side, behind a stack of crates. Her theatrical entrance should've been distraction enough for me to slip by unnoticed.

"We have you, Combustion. Surrender now and we can avoid any unnecessary injuries, on both sides. And hey, if you tell us where your leader is holed up you may be able to avoid jail time entirely."'

I snuck around the crates while Honeybadger was talking and managed to get a glimpse of our target. Like most gang members she forewent a costume, preferring to wear casual clothes in her gang's colors instead. The orange hoodie and red bandana were accentuated by her similarly colored and uniquely flame-patterned makeup.

I started the process of connecting our minds when she stood up.

"I'd rather die than sell out my brothers and sisters! Eat this, freak!" she pointed at the small red emergency light above the door. Honeybadger cursed and dove to the side just before it violently exploded. Where the door stood a few seconds ago there was now only a large hole connecting this room to the corridor. Honey got more powerful the more hurt she was, but no boost in strength could compensate for missing limbs or a giant hole in your chest, so face-tanking Combustion's explosions wasn't really an option.

"Damn, talk about stubborn." she grunted and kept moving as the red-haired villain pointed at the chair next to her. "If you're not careful you're going to bury us all in here."

Combustion chuckled. "That's fine by me."

"It really is." I whispered into my helmet. Honeybadger gave me a slight nod to signal she could hear me. I had wasted no time in establishing Thought. Combustion's emotions were swirling, but one thing was clear. She was more than willing to sacrifice herself to take us both down with her. "She has C4 strapped to her belly. If you come in close she will use her Power to blow it and both of you to hell."

Unlike me she was not able to talk without Combustion noticing, so she once again gave me a subtle nod. "What's the matter, ferret? Scared of a little heat?" She slowly moved past Honeybadger and toward the hole in the wall.

We had no choice but to let her. If we were outside it would be a different story, but in a confined space like this, her Power combined with her disregard for her own life was too dangerous. "I'll be going then, friends. Tell the big guy I said hi."

"Why don't you tell me yourself?" a soft but firm voice came from behind her. She turned around and in a split second, I was overwhelmed with the raging wave of fear that ravaged her mind. She quickly stumbled backwards all the way against the back wall and another figure slowly floated into the room after her. His blinding white costume and cape illuminated the dim environment. His blonde hair and ghostly pale eyes were unmistakable, as were the intricate sun emblem on the back of his cape as well as the large yellow 1 emblazoned on his chest.

I smiled to myself and stood up straight, no longer caring to hide my presence. It was over. We won.

"Now then..." he said and lowered himself to the ground. "Shall we begin?"