“Who…” he started saying, seemingly to nothing. Was this the point where he started losing his sanity out of desperation?

‘Shade, follow Quillvoy, ‘kay? That's my pet flying over your head right now.’

Even assuming this was real, which meant he was under the influence of some psionic’s power, it was quite hard to focus on what it was saying while fleeing from Trooper.

He got the gist of it. They wanted him to follow that maybe-bird in the sky? He noticed it had switched from circling to heading south.

Either he listened to the voice and saw where it was leading him, or he could just ignore it and keep trying to delay the inevitable.

What did he really have to lose when the alternative was death? He followed.

‘Oh, so you can hear me, great. I was scared this wouldn’t work. I can’t hear what you’re thinking though. Eh… What I’m about to tell you is probably the last thing you want to hear, but I need you to hold out for a couple more minutes.’

Easier said than done. But he was attempting to do that anyway, so it made no difference.

Trooper reacted to the sudden shift in directions by launching tiny, homing rockets his way, which prompted him to find cover and get them to detonate. He used his staff to dislodge pieces of brick from a wall, then tossed those at the incoming projectiles one by one. It worked for the most part, but he was still forced to enter the next building over.

Crashing into the hallway of an apartment complex, he dashed into the stairwell and slammed the door behind him, making it trigger the detonation for him.

As soon as he heard Trooper enter the building behind him, he kicked through one of the windows and exited again.

Finn’s mind went back to the voice. Though he wasn’t an expert on thought projection, the person speaking to him “sounded” feminine. His best guess was that they were using the primebeast overhead to observe and communicate with him. That meant…

Explain. Finn wrote out with his power on one of the buildings ahead.

‘You know, I had no idea your range was that huge. And, yeah, of course I’ll tell you the details. First things first. As you might’ve already guessed, I’m Moonflower.’

He had not guessed that, but to his defense, he was preoccupied with something very pressing. It made sense it was her, though, considering she was the only psionic he’d ever worked with.

‘We’re sending help your way. I’m actually closer to your location, but there’s not much I can do against a top exec like Trooper.’

We? Who was Moonflower working with? Someone with a vested interest in helping Shade? He doubted she was doing this out of the kindness of her heart. Or maybe she was, no time to think about the nuances of her morality right now.

Trooper was making himself known again, hitting Finn with more shock waves to influence his escape path. He had to wonder, could the villain not see the bird in the sky? Moonflower hadn’t made any mention of that possibility.

‘You’re doing pretty well,’ the heroine was saying. Finn didn’t know if he should be offended at her surprised tone. ‘You’ll get more info if you can meet up with us, but for now just focus on not dying.’

He didn’t need to be told that. Finn sprinted through the twisting alleys and across rooftops, doing his best to evade Trooper's relentless pursuit. A blast here, some bullets there. The attacks kept piling on, making it harder and harder to keep up the evasion. He’d pulled out all his tricks, and it hadn’t been enough. What else could he do?

The Aegis store might be his solution. It sounded insane. And yet, in theory, he could make a purchase from there, then race to wherever he needed to pick it up and use whatever he needed to slow Trooper down.

Two problems with that approach came to mind. The first being, it would take too long to get the drop-off spot approved. The second? Even if he managed to get it approved immediately, there was no guarantee it would be on the same path he was following now. In all likelihood, he would have to run in a direction that wasn’t south.

Not to mention that wouldn’t even be a factor if he couldn’t shop for whatever item he needed one-handed while running for his life. Concentrating on the mental conversation was barely doable, let alone adding another task to the mix.

So that was out. Finn continued his mad dash through the urban labyrinth, dodging Trooper's attacks to the best of his ability. He continued to wrack his brain as Moonflower encouraged him.

‘Almost there. Keep going for a bit longer.’

Finn frowned, frustration bubbling beneath the surface. He needed more than words; he needed a plan, an advantage. His mind raced, considering the resources at his disposal. The Aegis store might be unavailable, but what about his environment?

Abruptly, he focused his power on all reflective surfaces in Trooper’s view, making them as reflective as possible. Given that it was still early in the afternoon, that meant the sunlight Trooper had to deal with was suddenly magnified to distracting levels, though it also helped that Finn used his last remaining makeshift flashbang. And since Finn had shattered that visor, he bet the man had lost his eye shielding.

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As it turned out, he won that bet because the next time Trooper landed, it was with a slight delay for him to let his vision adjust. Finn seized this momentary advantage. He darted into a narrow alley, hoping to lose Trooper momentarily. Moonflower's voice chimed in again.

‘Good thinking with the light. Try to steal a car if you can.’

What? Finn was absolutely not going to do that. And that wasn’t even because he found it so morally objectionable that he would never consider it in a life-or-death situation. It was simply because he knew he had better chances of getting himself killed if he drove a car than if he continued on foot.

Although this mode of travel was becoming less desirable by the second. His breathing had grown labored, sweat was pouring off him beneath the suit, and his injuries were beginning to make themselves known again.

Furthermore, he wasn’t even sure if going by car was faster than just using his grappling hook and running from building to building. Maybe Moonflower had made the suggestion because it would hide him better from Trooper’s detection. After all, he wasn’t carrying a tracker this time, like he had against Havoc.

He sprinted through a crowded area, the people blurring by. Compared to the high-velocity, irregularly shaped attacks Trooper used against him, moving around these civilians felt effortless, so much so that they hardly noticed his camouflaged form.

But he knew Trooper didn’t care about collateral damage, so he decided to move up high again. That was better for speed, anyway. His hook shot up and dragged him out of the masses, lifting him onto the roof of a post office and widening his view of the surroundings.

Behind him, Trooper was closing in again. The widened gap was rapidly shrinking, and there wasn’t much Finn could think to do that would prolong the chase and buy him more time. But there wasn’t nothing, either. After buying himself a bit of breathing room, he’d had time to think.

His staff was loaded up again, and he needed to find a way to get another hit off. Trooper made him reposition with another shock wave, trying to get him down low again. That was fine.

They were leaving the populated areas. He’d spotted an abandoned building not too far from here, all he needed was to get Trooper to follow him in. Without getting caught first. His running form was faltering from the mounting exhaustion. It was so bad, he was starting to become nauseous. He corrected his posture and kept going.

When he swung the door open, he knew Trooper wouldn’t blow the wall away to get to him. After all, the man wouldn’t want to give him more space to escape. He bolted inside and got in position.

Trooper came in a second later, looking around and quickly spotting him. Finn thrust his right arm forward, shooting the severed cable of his lost grappling hook. His opponent tried to snatch it. Finn let him, having already disconnected and rolled to the side.

Instead, he used that as a distraction to shoot his real grappling hook at the door and close it. Staff at the ready, he slowly began whitening the dim room. Trooper raised an arm to shield his eyes, expecting another light show.

That was what Finn had been counting on. The moment Trooper anticipated his flashbang, he pulled himself forward with the grappling hook while darkening the entire room. It might not truly render the guy blind, but he knew the second of disorientation would buy him an opening.

Finn smashed Trooper in the face again.

Not that he stopped there. This time, he turned on the electric shock feature at its highest setting. He realized that last time he tried this, it had been Trooper’s suit that rendered the attack ineffective, not his physicality. It wouldn’t put him down, far from it, but it would paralyze him for longer than before. It had to.

Two seconds later, he was out of there, rounding the corner and pumping his legs like his life depended on it. Because it did.

‘Couldn’t see what you did in there. Good job though. Go ar- watch out!’

In his fatigue, he sensed the grappling hook too late. It caught him in the side, and Trooper, who was back sooner than expected, used it to smash him straight into a wall, then another. Finn wildly bashed his staff against the thing to get free, coughing blood as he got ragdolled back and forth.

The last swing sent actual cracks through the wall. His vision was filled with stars. No, he refused to go down here. Gathering his strength, he brought the metal weapon down and freed himself. It had made a wound in his abdomen, he could see that. And feel it too. Black spots crept up in the periphery of his sight.

Keep going, he thought to himself. He got up from his slumped position, marshaling his mind to get his body back in line for each step. One step, two—

His body gave out.

Moonflower was talking to him, but he didn’t catch it. He tried for his grappling hook, wondering why it wouldn’t shoot, then realized he was lying on top of it. Lacking the strength to move his arms.

He flexed his power. Colors strobed around him chaotically, to no avail.

Trooper regarded him for a moment, then… nodded. Finn could barely even move, whereas the only damage this professional killer had taken were a few scorch marks and a broken visor. The purple blade flashed again, and the supervillain rushed at him to finish the job.

Was this it? Would he just be another statistic on a graph of teenagers who’d gotten in over their heads?

Finn looked at the building he wanted to reach. It seemed so far away now. And now that he was considering it, this was the same area he’d first met Lyra in that first night.

It was poetic, in a way. To have his career end in the same place where it started.

His eyes drifted back to face his death.

The only thing they saw was the radiant glow of the afterlife…

He blinked.

No, he wasn’t dead. Trooper was visible behind the glow, pressing his murder weapon against it with grim determination.

On Finn’s side stood a new figure. Tall, lean and garbed in a golden jester’s outfit with a sun emblazoned on his chest. His lustrous mask was made up of two dark circles for eyes and a curved, dotted line in place of a smile. Silver bells adorned his cap, jingling in unison.

Finn knew who this was. Who didn’t? This young man led an entire team of new heroes, and had been under Mistral’s tutelage for years. But his name reached beyond just this district. For good reason, too. Many people, including those at the top, expected him to become one of the strongest humans in the world, someday.

At this point, Finn knew he was done fighting. Why, it was obvious.

Nar had arrived.