=== CINDI ===

I woke up staring into bright fluorescent lights. I blinked slowly and looked around. I was in Des’ practice. I leaned up and groaned. My head was pounding. My ribs hurt. I looked down. I was covered in fading bruises. The office was quiet. I got to my feet and took a few shaky steps around. “Curt? Des? Are you here?”

  There was no answer. I walked out into the waiting room. The lights were off. I frowned and stretched. I had obviously been in bed for a few days. But that doesn’t explain where Curt is. I walked back into the room where I had been kept. There was a broken window and glass on the floor. The ceiling tiles were askew. There was a struggle. But Curt wouldn’t just leave me here unless something happened. I found his glasses laying on the floor. Oh god. Is he still alive? I looked around the offices and no one was there. I found Des’ apartment. The door was locked, but it’s not like that could stop me. I could hear some sound coming from the other side. I stuck my head through and saw Tierra laying on the couch, watching something on her phone. I unlocked the door and came in. Tierra jumped up. “Cindi! You’re awake! Thank God!”

She ran up and hugged me and I hugged her back. “Where is everyone?”

  “Do you not remember?”

  “I remember fighting Smash Gal at my wedding. I remember losing. I don’t know why I’m here or what happened after that.”

  “Cin, you’ve been out for days. Almost a week.”

  “Where’s Curt?”

  “He, Smash Gal, Des, and Professor Mind got into a scuffle. She broke his little snapper thing and they started teleporting in and out and then just disappeared.

  “Disappeared?” I felt my stomach sink.

  “Hey, he’s a pretty good thief. Maybe third-best in the world. I’m sure he can get out of a scrape.”

  “Third best?”

  “Well, there’s me, then there’s you, then him.” I smiled at her little sleight against us. I knew who would come out on top if it came down to that. I don’t lose.

  “Is my stuff here?”

  “Yeah. Curt retrieved your phone and other stuff while Des was diagnosing you. Said you may need to make a quick exit.”

  “He’s always thinking ahead,” I said as Tierra handed me a purse full of stuff. I opened it and took out my phone. I called Curt. It went straight to voicemail. I frowned at the phone and tried again. “His phone is off.”

  “Well, he was fighting Smash Gal and Professor Mind. I might be able to take one of them, but both? No chance. And he doesn’t even have powers.” I frowned at her and she just shrugged. I thought about what I could do. I have to find him! And that bitch Smash Gal! She will fucking pay for this! I sat on the couch and considered my options. I checked for news of Smash Gal, Professor Mind, or Esvanir and there was nothing. No sightings. So, wherever he is, they probably are too. Smash Gal might’ve killed him. He doesn’t know when to shut his mouth and she’s completely off her rocker. I thought for a moment. Curt always has so many backup plans. What would he do?

  “What are you planning?”

  “Trying to come up with one. First step: Figure out where he is.”

  “How are you going to do that?” Tierra asked. She sat next to me. “Shame his phone is off. Might be able to just track it that way.”

  “Tierra, you’re a genius!”

  “Of course I am,” she readily agreed. “So, what’s the plan then?”

  “I can turn his phone back on.”

  “You can do that?”

  “Yeah. Curt showed me how to do it. He said something about how phones never really fully turn off anymore.”

  “What if his phone is just dead? Or broken? Or out of service?”

  “Then I’ll have to think of something else. But this is a good Plan A.” I navigated to an app that Curt had put onto my phone. Now, Cindi, I remembered Curt tell me. Pay attention. This may save my life. Or yours. Or it may never come up. Just put in the phone number, select the profile and you can send a signal to the phone to power on. I selected the app, put in his phone number, and selected the profile “Curtis Reese''. A map came up and it started narrowing down. It got to Avalare. So he’s back in town too. Or . . . at least his phone is. The app narrowed it down a little further. While it was working, I grabbed my bag and looked through it, and took out two cases. There was the specialized set of glasses Curt had given me and the bracelet. I snapped on the glasses and put the thin overlay on my hand. It was smaller than Curt’s. He had tried to make it with some sense of fashion in mind. I smiled at it. He’s such a stupid man. The phone pinged and I picked it up. I stared down at the screen. The last location was at some warehouse downtown. I got up and stretched.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To rescue my husband.”

  “I don’t think you ever finished the ceremony.”

  “Oh, we’ve basically been married since we solved the Marcelli problem. The wedding was just icing. And it was perfect. Even being interrupted. Nothing less would suit us.”

  “You’re ridiculous.”

  “Yes. Now, are you coming?”

  “What’s my cut?”

  “Cut? To rescue my beloved?” I pouted for a moment. “Do you still want that one piece I stole?”

  “I thought you sold it.”

  “I did. But that’s no trouble. If I stole it once, I can steal it again.”

  “It’s such a shame you fell for that man,” Tierra said with a grin. “Deal.”

  “Well, I think we’ll also be rescuing Des if that helps,” I said, watching her from the corner of my eye, as I put the glasses on. She blushed and started to grin brightly. I knew it! I chose my destination. We looped arms and I raised my other arm and snapped.

=== KARI ===

What are we going to do? I thought, knowing that Chuck, a few rooms away, would hear. Do you really think he plans on trapping us here forever? I mean, he can’t, right? Even if he wants to, he can’t. I’m mother fucking Smash Gal and you’re Professor God Damn Mind!

I don’t know what his intentions actually are. Chuck’s voice echoed through my head. But he was anxious talking to us and relieved when you agreed. And we already know that he’s not reporting Reese to the police. He’s just keeping us here.

  Maybe he’s telling the truth. I mean, he is Bion, arguably the world’s greatest superhero. Do you really think he would just trap us down here?

  I . . . I don’t know. I don’t want to think so, but . . . His voice trailed off in my head. I frowned.

  Can’t you find out? Just read his mind?

  That’s really invasive! And dangerous. I might be able to do it without him realizing it. But minds are fragile.

  You’re literally reading my mind right now.

  Because you’re letting me. You always let me.

  I don’t understand. We need to know! If I’m about to pick a fight with Bion I want to know that I’m doing it for the right reasons. There was an extended silence. My head felt kind of empty without him there. I sighed and curled up on the little bed they had given us. It was for some employees who apparently lived here. God, that sounds depressing. I got up and started walking around. Guards patrolling around the little complex. I got down to the room with a portal. It was completely inactive. They hadn’t sent anyone on the other side to my knowledge. I listened for any signs of danger and I heard crying. I flew down and found a hallway separated behind a wall of bars. A guard was sitting near there. The crying was beyond the door. I think . . . It’s Curt. Why would Curt be crying? I sighed. I didn’t want to hurt the guard. He was just doing his job.

=== FLASHBACK ===

Curt never cried often. Not back when I knew him. Really knew him. I remember when he was a kid, he’d do everything he could to avoid crying or admitting he was crying. There was a day when he came to school with a black eye. Even outside of that, he looked ragged, like he hadn’t slept. His dark hair was messier than usual and his unswollen eye was constantly on a swivel. When I asked him what had happened, all he would say was “It doesn’t matter. Don’t worry about me, Kar.”

  “How can I not worry, Curt? Tell me who did this to you!” I demanded. The teacher hemmed and hawed but she saw Curt and pulled him aside after class. When he came out, I could see tears in his eyes. He didn’t stick around. He just sped away as fast as he could. I caught up with him later. “Curt, what happened?”

  “Nothing happened,” he responded. He wouldn’t look at me. I lifted his chin and met his eyes. Well, eye, really. It was worse than I thought. His lip was split and he still looked absolutely exhausted.

  “Curt, come on. We’re friends. Tell me,” I insisted. He shifted uncomfortably.

  “There’s nothing you can do, Kari. Just leave me alone.”

  “I don’t want to! I’m worried about you.”

  “There’s nothing to worry about. It’s not important,” he said, trying to force an air of finality. I just sat next to him. We missed the next few classes. He ended up resting on my shoulder. Eventually, we were found out. The principal called our parents. Mom and dad were pretty mad, but I brought Curt home with me and they understood. That was the first time we had a sleepover. He slept in the guest room. I slept in the same room. I wasn’t planning to, but when I checked in on him that night, he was so jumpy and he couldn’t seem to relax at all. He calmed down a little when I was next to him. We fell asleep at some point.

  Mom and dad were also not thrilled about us being in the same bed, but nothing happened. We were eleven, for God’s sake. Nothing could have happened. But after a while, they just kind of accepted that this is how it would have to be. Curt would spend a night or two with us a week. We would’ve had him there every night, but Curt refused. “I don’t want to be a burden.”

  “You’re not a burden. You’re my best friend,” I insisted every time we spoke about it. He just shook his head. He never came to school with a black eye again, but sometimes he would limp and he would sometimes act out. He would talk back to teachers and to other students. I would save his butt when he did. He couldn’t really fight. Not yet. Guess he had to learn when I wasn’t around anymore.

=== PRESENT DAY ===

I wanted to go to him. I wanted to see what was wrong. Despite everything he’s done, despite all of the hateful, hurtful words, I still care about him. We’ll never recapture what we had, we can’t. We’re just not the same people . . . But hearing him in pain, hearing him rage against me and Bion and Professor Mind, hearing him cry . . . It still hurts so much. I thought. I took a step forward and stopped. I . . . I don’t think he would want to hear from me right now. He . . . He thinks I’m a threat. A monster coming to hurt him.

  Kari! Chuck’s voice called out in my head. I snapped back to reality and looked around.

  Chuck? What’s going on? What did you figure out?

  I was right, Kari. He’s worried about his actions on the Grignau planet being leaked. He’s terrified of it and he’s trying to think of some way to convince us to not leak it.

  That’s insane! I thought. The people need to know . . . Curt is right about this. Mister Wan is up to something and it wouldn’t be okay to let him endanger people.

  Yeah, but what can we really do?

  We can tell people! We can tell the public what he’s doing.

  We don’t have any evidence, Kari. It’d be our word against his.

  Yeah . . . But . . . We have to. And . . . Curt downloaded the files! We can use those! We can leak them to the media.

  Reese’s phone was confiscated and we have no idea where it is, Kari. Chuck sounded defeated. The most we can do is just escape and try to let people know. But without evidence . . . I don’t know how far it’ll get.

  There’s another way. I thought, determination building in my chest. I shrugged my shoulders and stretched out my neck.

  Kari, what are you thinking?

  “I’m going to make Bion reveal everything,” I said out loud. I clenched my fists and started floating in the air. I sped off and looked around. Chuck met me a few minutes later. He looked nervous but with a wave of his hand, he was Professor Mind, the mentalist superhero once more. I landed in front of one of the guards. “Where are my clothes?”

  “I-I don’t know. Why do you need them?” He stuttered. He looked afraid. I hated seeing fear on other people’s faces. But right now I accepted it. I had to. There was nothing to be done except realize that I am scary and use it. I loomed over him. He wasn’t that much shorter than I was, but I was stronger. And not just because I’m Smash Gal. I was bigger than he was. He shrank away.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “I need them because they’re mine. Right now, I am Smash Gal.”

  “I . . . I think they’re being kept in the storage center. I’m not sure. D-don’t hurt me!” He cried out, cowering.

  “Thank you,” I said before speeding off again. Chuck was on my tail. I got to the area labeled as storage and landed, walking in. People watched us as we went through. I walked up to one of them. “Where is my super-suit?”

  “Why do you need it?”

  “Because I am super. Take me to it.” The man did so. He was slightly less afraid of me than the other, but he also was smart enough to not fight me. I heard someone texting, the little taps on a phone far away. It could be nothing, I thought. Or . . .

  Or it could be them contacting Bion.

  It was always going to come down to a fight, Chuck. You knew that. If you don’t want to do this, I get it. But I have to.

  I’m with you, Kari. I always will be. I smiled at him. The way that felt for me meant so much right now.

  He really always has been. Ever since I met him, he’s been so supportive. I couldn’t help but conjure images of us together. Of us in the future. What might be? He started to blush and I realized that I must have projected my little fantasies directly to him. Sorry, I thought at him.

It’s fine . . . But I want to talk to you about . . . that.

  Fear spread out in my stomach. What if he doesn’t feel the same way? Oh, God! I hadn’t considered that. Too late, I tried to block my thoughts from getting to him. He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed.

  It’s not like that . . . It’s more complicated and there are things you need to know before we . . . Before anything happens between us. I nodded. The man had led us to a little cubby and I found my clothes. Torn and singed from the fight. But my emblem had survived. In a spin, I was wearing them, the borrowed clothes neatly folded in the cubby. I flew out of the storage center and Bion flew down, in his full mech suit, a gleaming navy blue metal monstrosity with a jetpack on the back. It was painted to look like a casual suit. A sports jacket, slacks, shiny black shoes with matching gloves, and what might have been a cashmere sweater underneath. It was huge and made him look too small, which was only exacerbated by his thin features. But it was supposed to make him seem approachable. Just a businessman trying to live his life. Just like the rest of us. But the expression he wore destroyed the illusion. He looked furious.

  “SMASH GAL! PROFESSOR MIND! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!?” He demanded. The tinny voice coming from his suit only made his rage sound worse. I braced myself.

  “We’re leaving, Bion. We’re going to tell everyone what you did.”

  “YOU’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE, GIRL!”

  “You don’t want to fight me, Bion. I might be a rookie compared to you, but I’m stronger,” I commented before flying straight in front of him, raising a fist. “I’m faster. I am mother fucking Smash Gal.”

  “YOU’RE NOTHING!” He said, blasting back and firing a rocket. For anyone else, it would have been terrifying. But again, I’m Smash Gal. I caught it and crushed it. It exploded in my hands, but I just dust them off. I had protected my clothes and contained the blast in a small psychic field. I blasted off of a panel of hardened air and grabbed his suit. The metal crunched under my fingers. He tried to get away, blasting his jetpack as hard as it would go and we started to move. Until I stopped that. The metal screeched loudly and started to tear under my fingers. I pushed him into the wall. He fired a rocket directly into my stomach and I was blasted away.

  I caught myself, smoke crawling over my body. He started firing at me with everything he had. Rockets, bullets, waves of plasma, lasers. My clothes were in shreds, but compared to Lady Blade’s sword or Curt’s portals, this was nothing. I caught the missiles and tore them apart, bursting through the waves of plasma. I didn’t bother dodging the bullets or the lasers. Why would I? And just as I raised my fist to slam him through the wall, a wall of blue energy interceded. More rockets and bullets bounced off of Bion’s side. I looked down and saw that Chuck had projected the wall between us.

  “Stop it, both of you!” He shouted, flying up. “Bion! Andrew . . . We’re leaving. You can’t stop us. Your suit is proof of this. Kari, what are you going to do? Kill him?”

  “He needs to go to jail!”

  “YOU THINK I’LL JUST SURRENDER? NEVER!” Bion shouted. I clenched my fist tighter, the muscles and ligaments in it popping. I started to fly over the wall but I felt something wash over me. The rage cleared from my mind. I still felt my breathing, heavier and faster than it should have been. I felt my pulse pounding in my chest. But without all of the rage. I looked down to Chuck, who had his hand extended. I searched my mind and I felt his presence there. He was doing this to me. He . . . He was scared I was going to do something I’d regret. I dropped my fists and sighed.

  “Let’s go,” I said. I flew off. Chuck dropped the wall. I heard a rocket launch from behind me and turned. It was flying straight towards Chuck. I charged back but I wasn’t fast enough. Somehow, I wasn’t fast enough. It exploded into him. He fell, smoking, to the ground and I caught him. I glared up at Bion. Chuck coughed in my arms and stared up blankly. It looks like he had protected himself somewhat, but it burst through those defenses. His chest was visible. I held him to my chest and soared up. Bion raised his fist and another rocket shot out, but I kicked it into a wall, which started crumbling. Then I flew forth and found an elevator. I burst through the doors and flew up. We were underground, it seems. I burst through the elevator car and then through another set of doors. Chuck groaned and I flew off into the night.

=== CINDI ===

Tierra and I appeared in the compound. We were on a floor somewhere. The building itself was only three stories tall. But I think we were underground. Not too far. We appeared in a storage facility. People were around us but they seemed to be paying attention to something else. I looked around and I saw Smash Gal and Bion tangling in the air. She was ripping apart his armor. “Well, that’s just incredibly convenient.”

   I looked around and called Curt’s phone. It started ringing. I followed the sound and found his stuff. His tuxedo pants and vest and phone. His rig wasn’t here. I cursed.

  “What?” Tierra asked.

  “They have his little toy. Until we find it, we won’t be able to leave.”

  “No, they don’t. It was broken, remember?”

  “Oh. Well, that’s also good news.” One of the people around us finally noticed us and started to point and say something but I gripped his fingers and sent the convulsions through him and he went down.

  “What'd you do to him?” Tierra asked as I handed her Curt’s things. I wasn’t going to have pockets. So, she’d have to be my mule for the moment.

  “Oh, yeah. I forgot. We’ve never really worked together outside of Venice. I don’t know. I can just take people down like that. Curt has a couple of theories, but we’ve never really tested any of them.”

  “What does he think you’re doing?” She asked as we headed out. Her eyes were on Bion and Smash Gal.

  “He thinks I’m phasing their nerves out of sync with the rest of their body and that causes their brain to panic and they just kind of go down, jelly-legged.”

  “Does that sound right?”

  “Honestly, I can’t be bothered to care. It works. That’s all that matters.”

  “Okay. Next question,” she began. “How are we going to find him?”

  “Hmm. That is a good question.” I looked around. I met Professor Mind’s eyes and he gestured down to the bottom floor. I smiled at him. This doesn’t mean we’re even, I thought. If I ever see either of you again, I’ll find a way to take you both down for what you did to me and Curt.

I know, a voice responded in my head. I stared at him.

  How dare he read my mind! I thought. I grabbed Tierra and she clung to me. I lifted us in the air and dropped off the side of the little walkway we were on. I slowed our descent as we got to the floor and we landed carefully. Some guards were watching the fight. Some of them were shooting at Professor Mind and Smash Gal, but the man was just blocking most of it with a wall he projected from his hand. Smash Gal didn’t seem to notice at all.

  A few of the guards turned and raised their guns towards Tierra and me. I started to phase out, but the woman next to me just raised her hand and they froze. Not literally. But they went kind of limp. They didn’t fall over. They just look kind of glazed. I walked down a hall and looked around. There was a metal gate separating two halves of the hall. If I was running an off-the-books prison for my superpowered enemies, I’d have at least that much, I thought. I walked forward. There was a guard, but Tierra waved a hand and he looked just as dazed as the other guards. I started to phase through the bars but I was shocked and fell back. It was just a quick pulse, so I didn’t end up entirely disabled. But it did hurt. I frowned. Tierra just rolled her eyes.

  “C’mon, Cind. You didn’t expect anti-meta protections?” She asked, holding up the keys. She tossed them to me. I caught them and slipped one that seemed to match into the door and turned it. I went to pull it, but nothing happened.

  “Well, that didn’t work,” I muttered. I looked down at the lock. “Seems to be an electronic lock.”

  Tierra lifted the guard’s hand and pressed it to the table. There was a beep and then the door unlocked. I pulled it open and sighed. “Heroes are so paranoid.”

  “Makes it more fun,” Tierra said, joining me. “Why didn’t you just teleport to the other side of the gate?”

  “Oh,” I mouthed. “Fuck. I forgot. I’ve only had it for a few weeks and haven’t had much time to get used to it.”

  Tierra laughed at me. I rolled my eyes. “You have two of the greatest powers available to you as a thief and you forget that you have one of them. That’s ridiculous. Maybe I should seduce Curt and get one for myself. Or . . . I could just steal yours.”

  “Good luck,” I replied coolly. “On both fronts. I usually keep it hidden and it took me years to get Curt to trust me with so much as a popper.”

  “But he gave one to Des.”

  “Des is his best friend and I’m his wife. And Des has earned it.”

  “Have they?” Tierra said, a smirk spreading across her face. “Are they really that good of a person?”

  “Incredibly reliable. I think they might also be one of my best friends.” We walked down the corridor, past several doors. I didn’t see any lights behind them and assumed they were empty. I heard whimpering behind one of the doors and gripped the little shutter on it and pulled it back. I had to lean on my tiptoes to see through it, but Curt was there. He looked up. I grinned and leaned into the door and started to phase through it, only to be thrown back again. Shakily, I got up and shook my head. “Ow. Damn. I left the keys behi-”

  Tierra raised a brow at me and I grinned, embarrassed. “Right. Sorry. Forgot again.”

  I snapped and appeared in the room. Curt shot up and assumed one of his little fighting stances. He was so cute. Though it was marred slightly by the fact that he couldn’t close one of his hands. He looked tired like he hadn’t been sleeping. And like he had been crying. “Cind? Is that you?”

  “Come here, husband,” I said, arms open. He pulled me into a hug. A tight hug. I felt my ribs creak and I hugged him back.

  “Thank god. You’re alright. I was so worried.”

  “You were worried?” I asked. “I wake up and you’re nowhere to be found. I had to spend almost three hours trying to figure out where you were.”

  “Yeah. Sorry about that. Uh . . . Lots of things happened. But never mind that. You’re awake! You’re not in a coma! You have no idea how happy I am to see you. Did you get Des?”

  “Are they in a cell like this?”

  “I . . . I’m not sure, to be honest.”

  “And what was your plan to get out of here?”

  “I was still working on it. But I probably would have taken much longer than a few days to do it.”

  “And you were just going to leave me in bed the entire time?” I asked. He frowned and squeezed my shoulder. He probably was trying to squeeze both of them, but only one of his hands worked. “This marriage is off to a rocky start.”

  “Well, technically we never got to finish the ceremony. I don’t think we technically count as married yet,” he said.

  “Like I said,” I smiled at him, squeezing his hand. Then I teleported us back out into the hall. “A rocky start.”

  “Are you two always this insufferable when on the job.”

  “Yes,” Curt and I said simultaneously.

  “Good to know.”

  “Des?” Curt called out.

  “Curt?” They asked from somewhere down the hall. He darted down the hall, slid to a stop, slipped, and crashed to the ground. I laughed and rolled my eyes, following him. I opened the shutter and looked in. Des’ face was right there as well. “Cindi? How’d you get here?”

  “I am the world’s greatest thief. Think I can’t track down my husband and my friend?” I asked, feigning an insulted tone.

  “I don’t think he’s technically your hus-”

  “All of you are caught up on the details,” I said, appearing behind them, grabbing them by the shoulder and popping back out. They shifted uncomfortably and leaned against the wall. “We had a ceremony. We were intended to be married. For all intents and purposes, he’s legally mine now.”

  “I don’t like the way you worded that,” Curt muttered, getting up and dusting himself off.

  “They didn’t even give you a cast? Those fucking assholes!” Des exclaimed, grabbing his hand. “Curt . . . We have to do something about this. The splint isn’t meant to be a permanent solution.”

  “Yeah, hurts like a bitch too. But first thing’s first, we need to get the hell out of here. Cind, you ready.” They all gathered around me, pressing into me. I started trying to choose a place, but the GPS program couldn’t find my location.

  “Uh . . . No signal? Curt, dear. Why do you let such a weakness stand? It’s a real limitation.”

  “Hmm. Are we underground?”

  “Yes. But we teleported in just fine. And my signal got to your phone just fine.”

  “Was that on a higher floor?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Then that’s it. Signal was probably just barely strong enough to get there.”

  “So, we’re going to have to fight our way out?” Des asked, gulping.

  “I can protect you, little dove,” Tierra said.

  “Little dove?” Curt mouthed at me. I shrugged, but couldn’t hide my grin.

  “We better get going,” I interjected before Des caught on. We walked out to the gate, which was closed. We crowded in together again and I popped us on the other side. The guard jolted up in his chair, out of his daze and he started to go for a button on the control panel, but Tierra waved a hand. He stared up at her a little slack-jawed before falling back into his seat.

  “World’s greatest thief,” she said, grinning.

  “Uh-huh,” I responded. “Come on.”

  We got out to the main room. Most of the guards had been scattered around. “Can’t we just fly up?”

  “Not with all of you,” I said. “I’m not that strong.”

  “It’d be too conspicuous too,” Curt added. “Someone might see us. Better to just sneak out.”

  We continued on our way and we got to an area with some stairs going up. We rushed up until we got to the storage area. There was an elevator directly in front of us, but the doors had been smashed in. Smash Gal and Professor Mind were nowhere to be seen. Neither was Bion. Maybe they took their fight outside? I thought, hopefully.

  “Any reception?” Curt asked. I checked and shook my head.

  “This is pretty much where we teleported in,” Tierra muttered.

  “Where were you exactly?” He was looking all around. Both Tierra and I gestured into the storage room. Curt ushered us in there. Then something slammed down heavily behind us. Curt pushed us all forward and Des fell to the ground. Tierra grabbed and bodily pulled them up and started dashing. I turned to see Bion looming tall over Curt.

  “MISTER REESE, TWO OF MY GUESTS HAVE ALREADY ESCAPED. I WON’T ALLOW YOU TO AS WELL.” He looked past him and saw me. “AH, SO THAT’S HOW YOU GOT OUT. YOU BROUGHT ME YOUR OTHER ACCOMPLICE!”

  He charged forward but Curt dived out of the way. Bion tried to grab me, but I just phased through him and landed on his jetpack. He reached back and tried to grab him. I gripped his head and sent a jolt through him. He convulsed and lost control over his suit for a moment. I backflipped on him and landed next to Curt. He took my hand and I pulled him up. Bion spun around and shot at us, but I just went insubstantial. That’s when I noticed that the glasses and popper bracelet Curt had made for me had fallen off the last time I had done it. Curt let go and became substantial again. He started running and then slid between Bion’s legs and scooped both of them up in one motion. I flew through bullets and a wave of plasma that made my body tingle violently. I solidified again and landed in a dead run. Bion kept track of me, but I jumped through him and met with Curt again. He turned and fired a small missile. This time Curt shoved me out of the way and dove the other way. The blast exploded between us, sending rocks and debris everywhere. Tierra came up from behind him and stretched out her hand. Bion shook his head and he lost focus for a moment. This was enough time for Curt to launch himself off of a shelf. He landed on Bion’s shoulders and kicked the man in the head several times. The man rocked back and forth and Curt stole my move, the little trickster, doing a flip off of the man. He didn’t land as gracefully as I did, but I’d give him an A for the effort. Bion slammed down on the floor and Curt pulled me up to my feet. Or, more accurately, I let him pull me to my feet. He does need to learn to be a gentleman like this more often, after all.

  “Signal?” He asked, looking around. I checked. We had a few bars.

  “Yeah. Why would there be one here but nowhere else?”

  “Someone is probably using a signal booster here,” Curt said with a shrug. He looked up and grabbed a lab coat and some slacks. And a phone. “Des, found your stuff.”

  “Oh, thanks.” They gathered it to their chest. Curt handed me my popper rig and I fit it on my hand. The four of us gathered in. The world dissolved.