Sara looked up at the Dark dragon dropping down on her and the mountain of

muscles. She tightened her grip on the lion sword. Would that be enough to counter this new threat?

Superman appeared in the sky between them. He caught the dragon to slow it down. It backhanded him out of the way with a forearm. Then it poured flame down on his falling body.

“Not friendly at all,” said the muscle man. “I need you to look after yourself for a few minutes while I deal with this.”

He leaped into the sky with a wash of air trailing behind him. His fist began to glow as he headed right for the dragon’s head. It turned to face the leaping pest heading for it. It opened its mouth to spew flame at its helpless target. A fist struck its snout with enough power to send it hurling at the ground as it tried to right itself.

The muscle man fell on top of the dragon and punched again. That was enough to send it into the ground with an explosion of stone. It blocked the street with its body as it tried to pick itself up. The strong man landed on an unharmed patch of ground with a laugh.

Superman picked himself up, dusting off his shirt. He drew himself up. His eyes glowed as he glared at the dragon.

“You can leave,” said the mountain of muscle. “That’s what we want to do. There’s no need for this.”

“Freelancers are fuel,” said the dragon. It reared up above the two. “They can’t be allowed to go back to the living world. They’re needed here to keep us happy.”

“If they don’t want to stay?,” asked Superman.

“What they want doesn’t come into it,” said the dragon. “The Dark has decided that’s how it’s going to be.”

“No,” said Superman. His cape fluttered in the wind. “Sara and the others have asked me for help. The system needs to change. If the first thing that changes is you, I’m fine with that. Either way, the freelancers are going home. I’ve already given my word on that. Anything else will have to be negotiated.”

“You don’t have a say in this, fake human,” said the dragon. “Begone back where you belong.”

“You’re looking at the wrong guy,” said the mountain of muscles. He leaped and punched on impact. That drove the dragon back. “I’m the one you should be worried about.”

Superman leaped in with his own punch. That pushed the dragon away from the fighters on the wall. He started pummeling the king of the reptiles as fast as he could work his arms.

Wayne joined Sara with the dropping and scattering of shadowy bodies. They looked at the battle.

“We should do something, but I have no idea what to do,” said Sara.

“Let me borrow the pistol,” said Wayne. “I have an idea.”

Sara handed over the blaster. She didn’t know what he could do with it when

Superman was having problems. She decided that if things didn’t go the way they wanted, she would berate him then.

Wayne took aim at the dragon, holding still as the battle turned into images shuffling around like a magician’s card trick. He pulled the trigger as the winged lizard tried to right itself. A purple eye blew apart under the red package of energy. The dragon cried out from the pain.

He put out the other eye before the dragon thought to stop him. He handed the blaster back.

“I think that should give the fight to our guys,” said Wayne.

“I think you made it madder than it was before it started getting punched,” said Sara.

“A true force of the Dark should be able to heal themselves,” said Wayne. “I just wanted to buy time so we could get down to the gate before it moved by us and we would have to keep fighting on our own.”

Superman and the other freelancer landed double blows on the dragon. That sent it into a nearby building in an explosion of brick work and glass.

“We have to get to the gate,” said Wayne. “Then we can get out of here before it comes back with new eyes.”

“I’m for that,” admitted the muscle man. “Let’s go.”

The three freelancers didn’t have to worry about any of the Dark trying to stop them. The army of returners had massed up and made a fort in the opening to the inner hub. They picked off anything that tried to rush the walls.

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“It looks like we overachieved on what we set out to do,” said Wayne.

“I don’t know all those people,” said Sara. “The mummy squad showed up to help out, and I think they brought the rest.”

“The mummy squad?,” said Wayne. He looked at the buildings across the street from the fort wall. “It sounds like the Dark want to take their place back from us.”

“I can hear and see them in there,” said Superman. “They seem to be waiting on critical numbers. They lost a lot trying to stop us.”

“Nasser’s spell did most of the heavy lifting,” said Sara. “He wiped out most of the forces here on his own.”

“I agree with the young miss’s perception,” said the mountain of muscle. “Those multiplying rings took apart most of the Dark’s army while we tried to open things for our forces to rush the wall.”

“It looks like we can leave,” said Wayne. “What about the gate to the central hub?”

“Either the Dark will try to fix it to keep other freelancers from making it, or someone with authority will make a ruling,” said Sara. “I’m more worried they will demand something for the amount of damage we caused getting to this point.”

“The neutral forces might have to step in,” said Wayne. “There’s no telling how that will go.”

“There’s Nick and Cameron, I think,” said Sara. “I don’t see the rest. They were here helping us before I rushed the wall.”

“Hey, Sara,” said Nick. The Englishman in the beret nodded at her. They both held their long guns ready to use. “How’s things?”

“They’re fine since you came to my rescue,” said Sara. “Where’s the rest of your boys?”

“I asked Tyler and Dis to have the brigade get ready to repel the Dark until we were ready to go,” said Nick. “This Bob guy and his friends are helping with defensive positions. They won’t do any good after we withdraw, but there’s a chance we can keep the gate open for the others out on the rim.”

“Did you say a brigade?,” said Wayne. He and the mountain of muscle exchanged glances. Sara didn’t know anything about that. She supposed it showed.

“Sara freed a bunch of us before coming here,” said Nick. “The hospital worked on us and we decided to come in after her.”

“That was hours ago,” said Sara.

“Days ago,” said Nick.

“Days?,” said Sara.

“Time is a weebly wobbly time wimey mess in the afterlife, Lovey,” said Cameron. “It might take you hours to cross a certain piece of land, but it might take the hospital days to process a few hundred people, and release them in the wild. Luckily, we were next to the gate that we secured thanks to you making us mobile again.”

“I guess that makes sense,” said Sara. “Wait. Why does Ryan wear a watch if it’s useless?”

“It reminds him of home,” said Nick. “I thought someone would be here to get things moving to let people in the tower. They might be waiting to see how many people make it over the line and can be processed.”

“I think you should send those with hardly any powers that can help in this situation through while the rest of us hold the line,” said Superman. “I expect an orderly withdrawal will make things easier.”

“Who stays on the rearguard?,” said Nick.

“I have to because I am bringing Superman here,” said Sara. “If I cross over before the rest, he might go back to what he was.”

“I will be glad to hold the line,” said the muscle man. “I regret that I have no long distance powers, but I am incredibly strong.”

“I’ll stay,” said Wayne. “Matter of fact, I think our group as a whole will stay if

Sara’s staying.”

“What do you think, Cam?,” asked Nick.

“The boys will stay if that’s what you want,” said Cameron. “We picked up some more snipers to fight at long distance, but I reckon the new ones will shoot just as hard as the rest of us.”

“So the thirteen of us will have to hold the line here and let the rest go through and find out what’s on the other side,” said Nick. “I say we do it. Spread the word and start people moving.”

“We’re going to need another crowd killing spell from Nasser,” said Sara.

“I’ll let him know,” said Wayne. “We have to make sure he will stand with us. He and Sheira have been wanting to go back a long time. They might not like this speed bump.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” admitted Sara. “Either way, I have to make the stand to buy time.”

“I’ll talk it over with them,” said Wayne. He disappeared into the camp.

“Get our snipers ready to shoot, Cam,” said Nick. “The shifting gate is going to work in our favor for once.”

“Right-o, Nick,” said the other master sniper. “We’ll let them have a wall of lead and light if they run on us too hard.”

“Shifting gate?,” asked the muscle.

“What’s your name, bud?,” asked Nick.

“Don Tosh,” said the other man.

“This wall behind us moves one way,” said Nick. He pointed to the fake city. “Those buildings go the other way.”

“I understand that well enough,” said Tosh, the grin disappearing as he thought.

“Some of the freelancers we helped get here were able to build a stage for us with these fort walls,” said Nick. “When the wall moves, we’ll move too.”

“This is like Bob’s train idea,” said Sara. “They’ll have to get in front of us with no cover other than those stupid shields, come at us over open ground from the buildings, or chase us with the wall and the city moving in different directions.”

“They’ll still be able to snipe at us with their energy/projectile based powers,” said Nick. “And they control the skies. They can shoot down on us at any moment unless we can keep them away from us.”

“This is very much like Dunkirk, isn’t it?,” said Tosh. He rubbed his chin. “There is an excellent chance that whomever stays behind will be involved in heavy fighting.”

“Yeah,” said Nick.

“Excellent,” said Tosh. “That’s what I am here to do.”

Nick covered his face with his hand.

“Don’t worry, Nick,” said Sara. “We’ll let your snipers hold off as many as they can. Then we’ll go to work close range. It’s the best we can do.”

“And we’ll be evacuating any who can’t help in the fighting,” said Superman. “But I think most will want to fight to help out the rest.”

“We only have so much room on this train,” said Nick. “The more we can pass

through, the bigger a story it will be for freelancers who hear about it on the rim.”

“How will they hear about it?,” asked Sara. “We’ll all be gone.”

“The Light will pass the word around,” said Nick. “It’ll make the freelancers think they can do with skill what you did with your luck.”

“Congratulations,” said Tosh. “You’ll be a myth to everyone who comes after this.”

“Maybe even the living too,” said Nick. “Let’s get ready to fight.”