"Beloved Citizens!" The false Angel bellowed in her regal voice. "Rejoice, for I hast returned from the edge of oblivion. These are trying times marry, where we might not but live in fear that valueless knaves shall decide to disrupt our lives for nary a reason at all safe for the fun of it. I hast watched the events of Bright Christmas unfold from within mine home just as many of thou hast, and I was stricken by a great sadness."

She reached above her and created an effigy of Ray, smiling and giving a thumbs-up. After a few seconds, it dissolved.

"It is troubling tidings marry to find out that the creature whom wounded me so gravely was not master of his own mind. Marry he was puppeteered by another, one whom also took it upon herself to help defile the grave of our nation's greatest hero. And we were not the only ones brutalized by this stealer of wills. The Yellowbrick Society's Scarescholar hath had his privacy ripped aroint, torn from him on a whim for the pettiest of reasons. Our valiant Heroine Army Ant hath lost permanent connection to one of her corporal agents, a traumatic experience the depth of which we can not even grasp as it would take another hive mind to forsooth conceive of the loss. Yet, never worry, citizens!"

Once again, she created a ball of light behind her for effect.

"We shall doth our utmost to bring this charlatan to justice! I am also fortunate to announce the return of a favorite Hero to her cape. After I hast spoken with her personally, I hast fared to convince the beloved former leader of the Yellowbrick Society, the wonderful Mage Queen Ozma, to take a leave from her offices at the Magic Castle to return to the game as long as Scarescholar is on his break! With a Mage of that caliber back patrolling our streets, blackguards like the master controller shall hast to regard twice ere showing their diseased visages again. The society shall bear their own press conference once she is content to return to her place, so please look forward to that."

Something came over me at that point. Something I couldn't quite place, but it was strong. I looked around for an inconspicuous spot and quickly found one.

Of course. The Sunshine Caffee. I made my way over to one of the tables and sat down, my eyes never leaving Angelica for a second. With a deep breath, I cleared my mind and began to concentrate, my mind reaching out to hers, and very soon the connection was formed.

I could feel the hope she had for the future, the lingering anger and resentment about the loss of her halo, even a small amount of shame for having killed Leotigris while he was not himself.

I could've gone deeper, but I didn't let the moment linger. Instead I focused on pushing her mind, her consciousness, down, out of the way. I hadn't done this in a bit, so it took me longer than it usually would have, but less than two minutes later I could feel myself being pulled from my body.

When I came to, I was standing on the stage, the crowd of bleating, mindless Idiots in front of me.

Sickening.

"Everything okay?" I heard from my left, a hand on my shoulder. I pushed Luisa's paw off me without looking in her direction. I had to be quick.

"Before we end today's announcement, let me say one thing." I said, stretching my wings. It felt weird having them, like two additional arms protruding from my back. "I am so sick and tired. Sick and tired of the hypocrisy of it all. I am sick of Heroes pretending they're the answer to all of our problems while contributing to them behind our backs. I am tired of deals being struck in the background that tell me which areas to focus my attention toward and which to neglect."

Clover leaned in. "Hey, Angie. What the fuck? Stay on topic, please."

"But I am also tired of pretending I care. Daylighter was a monster. He got what he deserved. Back when he died, and when his vile, disgusting head was cut off."

The crowd began to murmur and Luisa tried to grab the microphone, but I took to the air before she could get to it.

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"And I am not much better. Let me show you my true face." I let the mic fall and raised my arm. Angelica's powers were perfect for this. Widespread non-lethal devastation. I could do some damage without actually hurting anyone.

It was strange, using her Power. I always imagined it as her creating the light the constructs are made from, sort of like Ray, but instead, it was more of a process of gathering the light around me and changing its properties. I thought about being creative for a second but felt it was best to stick to the tried and true Herald Queen Angelica classics.

Using the rays of the sun I created 3 spears above my head. And with a flick of my finger, they careened down into the crowd. I sent the first near the front of the stage, where the security guards were. Gotta take care of them right away. The second I sent close enough to the Sunshine Caffee that no one would question an unconscious woman sitting at one of the tables, but far enough away that the blast wouldn't actually hit my body. And the third was sent straight into a small gap in the crowd.

It took a few seconds for everything to set in.

What just hhappened?

What was going to?

Then the panic.

But by then it was too late. One after another the spears exploded, covering the hysteric people with their knock-out Aura or whatever it was that made the people it hit fall unconscious.

The response was swift. As civilians were falling to the floor, Animator opened his sketchbook hastily, a beautifully drawn creature emerging from it. It reminded me of a mix of a bear, a lion ,and an eagle. "Subdue her." he said, and the thing flew up to greet me properly.

King Clover had caught the microphone, of fucking course. "Have you lost your mind, Angie?!"

He couldn't do much, as a groundlocked Hero, but he was following procedure. If a Hero went Rogue unexpectedly, those who can engage, do. Those who can't, help civilians. And, if enough other Heroes are present, those who are too emotionally compromised to think rationally stay back.

I could see Luisa and Bright Knight scramble to the piles of unconscious Civvies, fighting through the wave of fleeing ones. Sidebinder had slithered over to Future Guardian and was whispering something to him, while Animator was watching his creature. And I should do too.

I swerved and created a shield in front of me as the paws of the beast swiped at my wings.

"Nice try."

It opened its mouth, hissing at me, its snake tongue ill-fitting with the rest of its bulk.

Careful to create some distance, I flew backward and sent an array of light arrows its way. The projectiles hit their target as it chased after me, exploding in its carefully penciled fur.

Nothing. Great.

It let out an earth-shattering roar and sped up.

This wasn't good.

I raised my head and flew upwards as fast as I could, my lither frame allowing me to outpace my furred pursuer for now.

Once I gained enough of a distance I stopped and stretched out my arms to gather light. I had to think fast. In front of me ,I materialized the first thing I thought of.

A screw.

A long, huge screw, twice as tall as Angelica and as thick as a telephone pole. I could feel the limits of her Power, exhaustion creeping its way into me as I tried to create a construct of this size as quickly as possible.

When it was done, I simply held on to it to give it more weight and.....let us fall.

The speed at which it cascaded coupled with the momentum of the abomination racing upwards was enough to pierce through its impressive mass. The head of the screw impacted its jaw, ripping it straight off, as the oversized luminous fastener tore through the rest of its body.

A black liquid poured from the mangled mess, until the chimera dissolved into fine particles.

I dissipated the construct and took a second to recover some breath when something hit me from below. At first ,it just felt like someone applied a lot of sudden pressure, but as I turned to look my body started seizing up, the muscles clenching painfully. Unable to move my wings, I dropped from the sky.

As I neared the ground I saw Avenir, the robot man's arm smoking lightly. Of course. That's why he didn't meet me in the air. He rarely used this weapon, too long a charge-up time for too little impact. I hadn't even thought about it.

I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the hard impact but instead ,I was caught in something wet and sticky. I tried to move my arms, but they were glued in place as a black liquid started to engulf me. Sidebinder.

"Let me go!" I yelled until only my face was uncovered.

"Angie!" Clover ran over and kneeled down. "What has gotten into you....?" His voice was soft, tinged with fear. He reached out to cup my fade and I spit on his cheek.

"Don't touch me!" I growled.

"I cannot detect any undue biological or magical influence." Future Guardian muttered. "That leaves Powers that addle the mind."

"Oh, my mind is clear as fucking day. All I wanted was to demonstrate what we Enlightened really are. Can't fault a girl for being honest."

I tried to wrestle myself free from the goop, but It was no use.

"Tell me then, Angie...if that's really you in there..," I heard Luisa, her voice strangely wavey and uneven. "What are we?"

"Deceivers. Backstabbers. Hypocrites."

"Murderers?" she interrupted. "Is that what you think we are?"

It was then that she stepped into my line of sight and everything froze.

Her hands, feet ,and legs....they.....they were covered in blood.

"No...." I breathed and strained my head. Sidebinder must have realized my thought process, because he pulled back from my neck, allowing me to look around.

The area in front of the stage was a veritable bloodbath. There were no open wounds anywhere, but the red liquid was flowing from the ears, eyes mouths ,and noses of the People lying on the ground.

Bright Knight was still running around, checking every....every corpse for signs of life. It was now that the other Heroes realized what was going on as well, but I paid them no mind. I just stared at the field of bodies.

My handiwork.

No. No! This wasn't supposed to happen! Angelica's explosions are non-lethal! They always have been!

Was....was she holding back all this time? Why....why did she never tell us? Why.....

My head began to swim, and as I saw the police drive up I could feel my mind decoupling from Angie's.

With a last whimpered "No....", my world turned black.