Today marked the second time in Finn’s life where he was standing on top of Mistral’s signature stormcloud, soaring over the district with Lyra at his side. However, unlike last time, there were more than three people on the cloud.

Though the number may have been dwindling, a lot of the other independents from the meeting spot had tagged along with them. And Radi, Mountpin, and three of the Junior Aces.

Three, not five, because in addition to Nar being on solo patrol, Aquiveil had already disembarked with his own group. That left Damsel and Scalestrike, the ones with whom they were in a squad, and Warp, who was playing a key role in making this all happen.

Warp’s task in this raid was to create portals to create his portals to pick up and drop off his allies while Mistral made good time getting them from point A to point B. The transport formation was set up in advance in order to make the most efficient possible use of the boy’s power and provide the opportunity for quick escapes and reinforcements. Finn imagined he himself would be frustrated if he were put in a position like that, playing taxi and being kept on the sidelines, but if Warp took issue with his current station, he didn’t show it.

The way he used his ability was quick and efficient; clearly this wasn’t the first time he and Mistral were using their powers in concert in such a manner, with Mistral listening to console and indicating where to place portals and Warp channeling the gateways exactly in those locations.

Of course, that did not mean his power came without limitations. For example, there was the one person per portal rule, or the fact that distance did actually matter. At close range, the portals opened more or less instantly, whereas if one end was placed at the edge of his range, which was over a kilometer away, it would take time to charge.

In Finn’s senses, the swirling portal was more like the mouth of a twisting tunnel distortion in space, so maybe they were wormholes, and beyond it… he couldn’t sense beyond it. Shouldn’t he be able to? His passive perception wasn’t being forthcoming, and active probing wasn’t leading anywhere either, perhaps because he couldn’t define a real boundary between whatever lay behind the opening and everything else. He just couldn’t figure out how it worked.

It grated on him to just give up on trying to understand it, but he wasn’t getting a lot of opportunities to do more scans, as the second to last group had been dropped off a few seconds ago, leaving Finn and Lyra standing with only the government heroes.

For a long moment, he focused on his image of the city below, but they were farther from the ground, far enough that there weren’t many people in his range. This sensation of flying, of defying gravity, was impressive. He wouldn’t lie and say he never dreamed about flying in his childhood, or play-acted with other kids. The fantasy of spreading your wings and enjoying the freedom of being in the air, unhindered, was understandable. For the current version of him, however, aerial mobility was a means to an end that he was going to get his hands on.

Whenever he visualized what it was like being at the top, it was just difficult to picture himself being stymied by something as simple as his opponent hovering a few meters in the air. Ranged attacks and stealthy ambushes were the only counters he had as he was now. Never mind that he would prefer not to have to put himself in positions where someone could drop him from lethal heights.

Sensing less of roads and buildings and people with his power also made him rely on his eyes more, which made him assess the state of the city. This district didn’t look much worse than before the Venin leader had started drug pushing in the extreme, getting tons of people addicted to her product.

It had apparently resulted in a notable number of overdoses. Finn knew little about it, since he didn’t interact with ordinary people much in his career. The other heroes did that, he was more prone to staying invisible and doing what he needed to do.

That meant he also didn’t have firsthand experience of Viperia’s wrongdoings to the general public aside from those thugs who tried to kill Lyra on his first night in costume. His neighborhood was clear of those things, and he hadn’t seen any real instance outside of it, since he hadn’t strayed into Venin territory recently. Ironic, though, since they were the first gang he’d ever tangled with.

Mistral’s hand went to his communicator again, showing the man was listening to whatever was being said on the other end of the line. Lyra could tell him if he asked, but he knew she’d report it to him if it were important anyway. And Finn knew what the older hero’s priority was; he was supposed to be on standby to wait for the moment Viperia showed herself.

To Finn, it was odd. How could it be that the Venin wasn’t getting steamrolled in an instant with this many gathered superhumans to destroy them coordinating? He knew the other gangs hadn’t made any moves to intervene, and they were strong, yes, but so were many of the other independents. The powered Venin villains couldn’t fight every one of the strike forces at once, meaning some assets had to be manned solely by unpowered members. It was a losing battle no matter how he sliced it, especially when the Junior Ace captain was leaking the coordinates on relocated assets. Sometimes even assets in transport, which would get hit again and again.

As a matter of fact, why go through the trouble of gathering so many independents in the first place? Receiving backup from other districts was a possibility for the DHD. A likelihood, when a supervillain gang leader was running around starting drug epidemics with new, untested narcotics and the local hero scene was having trouble dealing with them.

Had they not asked for it? Unlikely, at least one person would have suggested it and kicked it up the chain. So then the people up high had denied the request? Why? What was the point in denying the district extra heroes to work with, who could the government possibly… His eyes narrowed. Cyrus.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

If Cyrus’ comments about the Apexian government were to be believed, it was possible they thought sending more heroes to this place would make those new arrivals susceptible to the Wardell head’s influence, seeing as they knew his son was one of the top prospects for the next generation, and didn’t want him gaining any more power even if they didn’t know about his secret organization. Finn could also be onto nothing here, but this suspicion was hard to shake, now that he’d come up with it. Just politics and power games causing normal people to suffer, as usual.

Yet that didn’t answer the question of why the Venin hadn’t made some explosive counterstroke. Thus far, only one villain had been sighted, and that was a guy no one had heard of before. It wasn’t a problem since he had been arrested soon after, but could the reason for the delayed response be because they had new hires that needed to be thrown to the wolves?

Or Viperia simply knew Mistral was lying in wait, and wasn’t going to make the first move even as her criminal empire burned around her.

In any case, they should be approaching their own target, making him turn his thoughts back to the companions that had been grouped up with them. Mountpin stood near the front of the cloud, close to her leader, arms crossed. He estimated her to be in her mid twenties. Wearing a form-fitting, two-piece wheat gold colored tactical suit and argent gauntlets and armored boots with wheat palms and soles, her outfit matched what he had seen of her on television, complete with the utility belt and needle-covered mask, hair styled in a long black ponytail.

She didn’t pay them much attention, only glancing Damsel’s way every few questions the knightly girl fired off at Lyra.

“I was wondering what your opinions are on Homeland, Calliope. I happened to be present when they attacked Apexia Properties, and Shade came alone that day. Was that because of some potential reservations you have about engaging in hostilities against that movement?” she inquired, the curiosity on her face plain to Finn despite her helmet.

Lyra shifted on her feet, uncomfortable being reminded of the day she was bedridden after sustaining a grievous injury. He spoke up in her stead. “Calliope wasn’t available at the time.”

The armored girl turned to him. “Oh, I see. My apologies. It seems I forgot some of you have lives outside of being a hero. Not that I think that makes you any less of one, by the way. It’s just so surprising to hear that you two find the time for anything else with how in-sync you are. You must be putting in a lot of extra hours together. Are there any special routines you're practicing?”

“She wants to know if you’re fucking,” Warp threw in from the side.

Damsel rounded on the white-clad hero, fists clenched at her sides. “Warp!”

“Hey, I wasn’t judging, just making sure our new friends know what it is you actually mean.”

As the other two bickered, Scalestrike turned to Finn. The massive pangolin shifter was physically incapable of human speech in this form, but he managed to look apologetic on his team’s behalf somehow.

A couple of paces ahead, he heard Mistral say, “Looks like Grimoire’s shown up. Valken and her people are having trouble holding him off. The regular members are armed with unknown tools as well. Warp, get to the next drop-off point and then circle back the way we came.”

“Got it,” the portal maker said, cutting off his antics with Damsel.

“I’m capable of providing backup, Mistral,” Mountpin said. It was immediately obvious to Finn how she only included herself in that assertion.

She was shot down, though. “No, I need you watching over the kids. The other strikes are still proceeding as planned—it’s not numbers we’re lacking.”

Her expression briefly soured before she schooled it again, but the frustration was unmistakable. Finn wouldn’t pay it any mind unless it started affecting them in the field.

It didn’t take long before they began to slow, and Warp was using his power again. Mountpin was the first to walk through, taking deliberate steps to the other side. Damsel was next, turning and disappearing through her portal like her senior. Scalestrike, too, entered as if it was no more dangerous than a doorway, which it wasn’t. Finn had seen normal civilians, his mother included, use these portals after all.

Lyra cast a glance his way, trepidation pulsing around her for a moment, then braved the portal herself.

When she was gone, it was his turn, and he started walking over the cloud, weird as that sensation was. Like walking over a soft pillow but not being encumbered by it in the least. With a deep breath, he stepped to the other side of this breach in space.

The transition was instant. He didn’t get time to wonder what his senses registered in between, because the answer was nothing. One moment he was higher than the tallest buildings in the city, and the next, he was standing in a room with the others.

Due to Nar vetting every building for traps and continued observation from the DHD, they didn’t have to bother coming in from the outside and storming the building that way. Instead, they could come from within and ambush the criminal gang, allowing them no time to prepare. As he was thinking this, he concentrated on his environment to see if there was anything worth noting.

And that was when he noticed it, on the top floor.

A geometrical crystal, more rectangular than cuboid, refracting light off its translucent surface. Inside, an iridescent mix of blue, purple and pink. On the whole, it would fit easily in the palm of his hand.

But something was off. An anomaly. It contained… more than it was supposed to. He used his power on it, wanting to know more.

What was this? He couldn’t find the center of it. It was similar to Warp’s portals to his senses, yet at the same time not at all. The commonality between the two was his inability to probe past a certain point with his colors, but they had different types of spatial alignment, if that was the right way of putting it. Where the portal power he just experienced had a logical beginning and endpoint, the dimensions this shape contained should have been impossible. He had no idea what this thing was, why the Venin had acquired it, or how it was supposed to work. If it had any function to begin with. Where would anyone even find this?

He put the questions out of his mind. That could all be answered once he acquired this strange object.

If it was going to help him discover more about his abilities, he would get his hands on it, no matter how many villains he had to defeat to do so.