=== SHAY ===

I was parked outside the hospital, waiting. One of my mirrors had been crushed when the not-quite-werewolf had thrown it on its side, and I hadn’t had the chance to get it fixed yet. But that’s okay. Most cars have enough electronics to trigger my electric sense anyway. And right now, it didn’t really matter. I was just parked, listening to music, the bass vibrating my rearview harshly. I was nodding along when I saw her. I turned down the music and pulled up in front of Jenny, who was wheeling herself out of the sliding doors. I hit the hazards, jumped out, and made my way to the other side, opening the door.

  “Harry, sugar. You really didn’t have to. I could’ve called an Uber.”

  “That sounds less fun. Besides, would an Uber take you to your werewolf?”

  “You found him?” She asked eagerly as she lifted herself from her wheelchair up into the passenger seat. I watched her strong arms flex and whistled. She grinned at me. “Down, boy. You’re not hairy enough to handle me, Harry.”

  “Please,” I said, snickering as I folded her chair and put it in the back seat. Once I was in the driver’s seat and pulling out of the pickup lane, I turned to her, keeping my eyes on the road. “Hey, call me Shay. Only teachers ever called me Harry.”

  “I think I could pull off the strict headmistress look, right?”

  “No doubt about that.”

  “So, what did you learn about my new puppy?”

  “Not much. The lady who took him claimed she was with animal control. But the cops said they didn’t call them, and I checked with the local control, and they confirmed no one was sent out. Also, there’s no meta animal taskforce.”

  “Probably should be.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” I said noncommittally. “So, anyway, I tapped into the grid. Boosted my electric sense as much as I could.”

  “And?”

  “And it knocked me the fuck out. Way too much for me to handle right now.”

  “So, what’s the plan then?”

  “I figure wherever your dog came from had to be close. Whoever that lady was, she acted quick. Showed up within ten minutes of the dog being out and about, right? So, we go pick your hover car up, check out the damage, and I’ll check the area and see if I can find his signal again.”

  “Sounds like a party,” Jenny said. She leaned back into the chair, closing her eyes for a moment. They’d kept her for most of the day and wrapped her head in gauze. I frowned.

  “I can also just take you home. Let you get some rest.”

  “Nope,” she said, opening an eye and pointing at me. “You promised me a puppy. So, we either find the werewolf or we go to the Dumb Friends League.”

  We drove back to the scene. The cops had put police tape around Jenny’s hover car, but that didn’t stop anyone from posing with it. We parked and rolled up on the machine. She circled it. It was still partially embedded in the building. I asked, “Think it’s salvageable?”

  “Of course. He’s the Cannonball. A little elbow grease, and he’ll be good as new.”

  “He?”

  “Yeah. Cars and ships are normally feminine, but this bad boy? He’s exactly that. A bad boy. And I’m the only one who can control him.” I shook my head, laughing, and she just grinned at me. “Looks like I’ll need him towed to my mechanic. Battery’s dead, and he’ll need the repairs anyway.”

  “What kind of mechanic works on a bumper car with a jet attached to it?”

  “The kind that works on jets. He’s an ex-engineer for WanEn. Helped design the first few Marks for Bion’s super suits.”

  “I always thought Wan designed those himself.”

  “Yeah, that’s what the WanEn press team would like you to believe. But no. Not even Wan is that good. Though, Esvanir might be.”

  “Nah, that guy’s a bitch. I took him down with an EMP. No way Bion goes down that easy.”

  “And yet, Esvanir did take him down.”

  “With stolen files. I could’ve done that.”

  “But you didn’t.” Jenny sobered some. “Be careful if you fight him again.”

  “Esvanir?” I puffed out my chest and waved a hand. “He ain’t shit.”

  “Yeah, that’s what Kari thought too.” Jenny shook her head and took out her phone. She got on the line with the tow company, and we waited in my SUV. While we did, I got a call. I answered it through Bluetooth in the car.

  “Hey, Kar. How’s my favorite Barbie?”

  “Ha ha, Thundy. Heard you’ve been fighting dogs. Did you get your rabies shot?”

  “Ay, Kar. Jenny’s with me.”

  “Oh. Hey, Jay. Sorry. I was going to check in with you at the hospital, but I got wrapped up in that meeting with Kevin and . . . some other stuff. How are you doing?”

  “That’s okay, Barbie,” Jenny said mockingly. “I’m doing good. How’d it go?”

  “That’s what I’m calling about. Kevin wanted to see if Thundy wanted to get in on the action?”

  “And he went through you instead of me. Men. Tsk tsk.”

  “What action am I getting in on?”

  “A Metas are Human charity campaign. We met with the head publicist, and he asked about you. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.”

  “I don’t know, Kar. I already got my other charity work.”

  “Oh, yeah. The kids at the hospital.”

  “Yeah, but what’re these guys like?”

  “They are a meta-advocacy group. They seem to want to help and do a test campaign with Chu- PM and me.”

  “Okay. But what’d you think of them, Smashy? You think they’re good people or what?”

  “Well, I brought PM, and he got a good look at Kevin and seemed to like what he saw.” Kari put extra weight on good in some way I didn’t understand. I met eyes with Jenny, who just shrugged.

  “Well, I might show up to see for myself. Meta rights are good. But I won’t abandon my other charity work.”

  “Of course not!” Kari exclaimed. “Those kids adore you.”

  “You should come back in. They missed you the last few times.”

  “Oh, def. I’ll see when I can and text you.”

=== CURT ===

Cindi and I were sitting in Crowley’s de facto office. I was sitting on the couch, and my wife was sitting on the desk, letting her long legs drape over gracefully. I couldn’t help but compare her to the other Cindi. She smiled reassuringly at me. Crowley was watching both of us warily. Finally, a group of Acolytes, including our fan, Bill, populated the room. They were all nervously looking around as Cindi examined them. She was wearing clothes, dress pants, and a thin white blouse, which was her way of showing that we weren’t here for a fight. We had been sitting in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. I was about to break the silence when she spoke up. “Alright, we have a few matters to take care of, as you’re all under new management.” She emphasized those words with a dangerous, sultry whisper. I did my best not to shiver. “As you can see, we’re keeping your dear Mister Crowley on the payroll, but our goals are now yours. Have any of you ever stolen anything before?”

  A few members shook their heads; a few nodded and murmured soft agreement. Cindi straightened her back and held her chin up high. “Come now. Use your words.” The group spoke their answers louder. She smiled at this and said, “Good. Esvanir, thoughts?”

  “Uh,” I stood up and looked at them. I didn’t really like it when Cindi used my moniker. Essy is fine. But Esvanir sounds . . . so formal coming from her. I glanced at her, trying to get a reading of what she expected of all of this. Recruiting a bunch of kids and weirdos who liked my rants on Twitter? It’s insane. My mind shifted back to Esvanir, Inc. briefly. The company that the other me built up. The parallels between this and that were not lost on me. I cleared my throat. “Right, I’m Curtis Drei. Um . . . Esvanir. You all know that. Firstly, I want to make a couple of things clear. Things are going to be different. I have spoken to Mister Crowley, and we have come to an understanding about what I think of what you were previously doing. No more bombs. No more blowing up buildings. We are going to be a humanitarian organization. Anyone who’s not here for that is free to leave.”

  A young woman with brown hair and a fierce expression stepped up and squared her hips. “And what makes you think we’ll just listen to you? You aren’t even a part of the Acolytes of Esvanir! You don’t know us. You don’t care about us.” I stared at her, but she didn’t back down.

  “You have a point. I never intended for this group to exist. I was content to do my own thing. Then you people co-opted my name and started blowing things up and killing people. I don’t want that to happen. Even if you hadn’t used my moniker, I would still disapprove of your actions. But in using my name, you got my attention. And there are only really two options here for your organization. Mister Crowley has been apprised of my position and has agreed to it, albeit under duress.”

  “And what two options are those?” The woman demanded. Others were murmuring behind her.

  “Either you agree to these changes, or I disband you all. Forcefully if necessary.”

  “What gives you the right to do that?”

  “Right?” I laughed and stepped up to this woman. She was about as tall as I was, so it was easy to meet her eye. “I am a thief. I don’t do right; I do what’s necessary to get the job done. And if you think I’m going to back down from you when you’re bombing people after I stood up to Bion and Smash Gal, you’re a fucking idiot.” I watched her expression. She was fuming, clenching her jaw. But she looked away first. “Great. So, let’s get a list of everyone’s skills.”

  The Acolytes of Esvanir were made up of everyday people, for the most part. People who were pushed to the brink of poverty and wanted a way to fight back. They were primarily self-taught, and Crowley had organized them well. Guess he doesn’t want to go back to prison. I had taken down everyone’s pseudonyms and the skills they thought they were best at, cross-confirming them with Crowley’s perception of them. He didn’t know them all by name but did by face. I could create a database and a reference document. I paused at that thought. Curt, they’re terrorists. That’s just making a Most Wanted shopping list. Cindi walked up and wrapped an arm around me. “So, what’s the plan, Essy?”

  “I don’t know. I still think this is a bad idea.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Surely you can figure something to do with them.”

  “Yeah. I’m thinking about it. I’m not used to all of this management.”

  “Obviously,” Crowley drolled. “That’s why you should leave it to me. Go on and be a fake activist. It’s all you’re good for.”

  “Yeah, and all you’re good for is blowing shit up and getting arrested,” I shot back. Crowley narrowed his eyes at me, but I didn’t blink. He’s not a threat, not like Kari. I sighed and went back to the document. “That aside, what if we broke them up into splinter groups and sent those groups to steal prototypes . . . No, that won’t work. Some have a little skill, but wouldn’t know what’s actually useful.”

  “I didn’t train them to be petty thieves.”

  “Yeah, just murderers. That’s so much better.” I frowned at the paper. “Looks like some of them have some technical experience. Maybe we can use that to dismantle and rebuild some things. And there is an Ocean Alkalinizer I wanted to build. Some of the materials were at EnGin. Suppose we could take some of them and see how they do in the field.”

  “That’s a good idea, Essy. You do that. I’ll stay here.”

  “You’re not coming?”

  “You’ll have a team, and there are things around here that I’d like to get done.” I searched my wife’s face, trying to understand her. Then I just shrugged. I got up and gathered the team.

  It consisted of Bill, the woman who had tried to stand up to me during the orientation, who was called Ruth, and two others. One of the older men, Jim, said he’d been a mechanic before joining, and another woman, Debbie, who was in IT, before everything was downsized to hell. Which I had helped cause. Wan’s arrest caused their stock to fall, and they had layoffs in a response, and when a major tech company starts laying people off, it almost always has a ripple effect in the industry. They all hung rifles off their shoulders, and I tried not to frown. Getting shot so often had soured my opinion of the weapons. Should be fine as long as they’re not attacking me. I opened the portal, and we stepped to the other side of the country. The Acolytes had posted on the west coast, though Crowley said there were cells all across the country. That’s a terrifying thought. But maybe Cin’s right. Perhaps we can use them.

  It was after hours on the east coast, which was for the best. We might have to deal with security, but at least we won’t have to worry about any civilians. We entered their labs, and the abrasive woman, Ruth, approached me and demanded, “What are we doing here?”

  “Stealing materials to make a machine to combat ocean acidification.” I gestured over to a table that had some materials on it. “Grab those filters. They should be in that drawer.”

  “And why are we here? Can’t you do that on your own?” Sandy asked testily. She was glaring at me and hadn’t moved.

  “I could, but then I’d be leaving you guys alone to blow things up.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my voice. I took a deep breath and tried to push down my nerves. They’re amateurs. They don’t know what they’re doing. As if to confirm my point, Billy picked up on a piece of technology, something with a thousand wires attached to it, and stumbled back, tearing them out. Whatever it was started making a loud noise, and he panicked and threw it at the wall. Alarms started going off. God damn it! This is why I work alone! I don’t need this!

  “What now!?” Ruth asked. She still sounded pissed, but fear was overtaking that. I shut my eyes and clenched my fists, trying to will myself into being calm. It didn’t work. Especially as she shouted at me, “What are you doing? What are we going to do?”

  “I told you to grab those filters!” I barked. “Billy! Get up. We gotta go fast.” Billy crawled to his feet, his face red. He wouldn’t meet my eye. “Alright. Let’s take what we can, and we’ll sort it out later.” They burst into motion, just grabbing things and throwing them in bags. I also started gathering things. I didn’t have an inventory of what was here or what could be helpful. I’d come primarily for a few things, but I didn’t know what else might be helpful. I had been planning on taking some time to see what else might be helpful. But these damn kids ruined that. There was a rush of air, and a voice called out.

  “Stop right there!” I glanced up, and it was Kari. I sighed. “Wh-who are these people?”

  “That’s really hard to explain,” I said, snapping my fingers, thinking, Gotta get them out first. Four portals opened underneath their feet, and they fell through with their pilfered materials. I closed those, opened an ingress under my feet, and started to fall through, but I was too slow. Gravity was too slow. Kari burst forward and grabbed me. She hefted me away from the gateway into another part of the world and threw me. I tumbled a few times and slammed into the opposite wall, struggling to keep my eyes open. I was dizzy and discombobulated. When I came back to myself, Kari was charging forward. I dived out of the way, but she caught me, bashing me into the wall again. It cracked. And so did parts of me. I groaned in pain. She pinned me there, a few feet off the ground.

  “Give up, Curt. You couldn’t get out of my pins when we were kids, and I’m much stronger than that now.” She reached up and took my glasses off. “And without these, you can’t do your little trick. You going to give up?”

  “I-” I coughed miserably. “I think you broke some of my ribs.” Her grip loosened some. Not enough for me to escape, but it did ease the pressure on my body some. I took a few deep breaths and forced my eyes to focus. My UI came up, my eyes flicking over menus quickly. I found the one that I wanted. “You’re wrong, Kar. I still have a few tricks.”

  “Curt, stop bluffing-” Smash Gal began. But another ingress opened up next to her head. She looked over at it. On the other side was my railgun, which sprang to life, automatically aiming for her. “Wh-what? How?”

  “Put me down, Smash Gal. Or we do an experiment. And you might die.”

  “Y-you can’t hurt me!” She stuttered.

  “We both know that’s not true. And that was when I didn’t have any time to plan. Any time to prepare.”

  “Wh-what is it?” She asked. “How are you doing this without your glasses?” Her grip had loosened on me enough to let me slip down. I rubbed my shoulder. The railgun made minor adjustments to keep her squarely in its sights.

  “Cherry doesn’t like glasses. So, I made contact versions, and I’ve been wearing them as backups in case some meddling superhero comes and breaks mine again. Only took me three times to learn that particular lesson.”

  “You always have to be so smart,” she shot back petulantly. “What about this? What is it?”

  “A railgun. Shoots a titanium rod faster than your top speed. Can’t be sure yet, but I think it could pierce your thick skull.” She glared down at me. “Can I have my glasses back, please?”

  “Why? You don’t need them.”

  “I like them.” I paused, taking in her face fully for the first time. Her face was red, and her hair wasn’t her usual, perfectly even blonde Karen style. Some of the ends were singed and uneven. And . . . “What happened to your eyebrows?”

  “Shut up! A sword exploded on me.”

  “A sword- That lady’s sword? The one that was stolen a few weeks ago?”

  “Yeah.” I laughed, and her glare got sharper. I held up a hand, smiling. She glanced down at the glasses clutched in her fingers. The portal closed, and I held out my hand.

  “Kari, I’m tired. I don’t feel like fighting you. So, either we can talk this out, or I go nuclear.” She slapped the glasses down in my hand.

  “You want to talk? You never wanted to talk before.”

  “Yeah, well. Maybe your boyfriend has finally gotten through to me. Maybe I went to a different world and saw a different life. One where we get along. And we had a somewhat successful dinner. I can’t forgive you for what you’ve done for me yet. I don’t know that I ever will. But I can at least not murder you on sight.”

=== KARI ===

I stared down at Curt. He looked tired. I mentally compared him to when I first met him when I got to Avalare. Since he’d been on the run, he had bulked up considerably. He was a lot stronger. His face was all hard angles. He had been shaving the side of his head and leaving the top long. He put on the glasses and blinked a few times, adjusting to them again. He honestly looks more like a barista at some hipster cafe than someone on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, I thought bitterly. The thief snapped, and a portal opened up. I don’t know where the other side opened to. It was either dawn or dusk there. He stepped through it, but it didn’t close. He glanced back at me, waiting. What is his game? Was he telling the truth about that rail thing? I thought about it. He wouldn’t lie. But faster than my top speed? How does he even know what my top speed is? I floated through the portal. We were on a rooftop somewhere. The portal closed behind me. “So? What do you want to talk about?”

  “I want you to stop, Kari. I have never asked you to before. But I’m going to try it now. Communication. Tell you what my goals are. Upfront and in the open. Then we have a decision to make.”

  “A decision?”

  “We can either be enemies, or you can just be somebody I used to know.” There was a slight smile on his lips. I groaned as my brain tried to complete the song in my head. Whenever I heard something related to a song, my mind would jump to it, filling in the music. It drove me mad.

  “You did that on purpose.”

  “Yeah, I did.” He’d made a joke. He was trying. His arms were crossed, and he was still wary, ready to jump at the first sign of trouble. But he wasn’t yelling, and he wasn’t attacking.

  “Do you really think that a titanium arrow can hurt me?”

  “I think it’s my best shot right now. You’re too dangerous not to have contingency plans against.”

  “Do you really think I’m that dangerous?”

  “You are, without a doubt, the most dangerous person on the planet. More dangerous than Bion, than that prick Thunderblast, than Professor Mind, and I know firsthand what it’s like to fight him with the kid’s gloves off now. You are a walking weapon of mass destruction.” There wasn’t heat in his voice. I watched him. He was trying to keep his tone even. I knew he wanted to yell. His hands were shaking with rage. But he managed his voice better than I’d seen him do in a long time. “You’ve tried to kill me and my wife.”

  “I wasn’t trying to kill anyone!” I exclaimed, stepping forward. He raised his hand, his little metal bracelet wrapped around the back of his hand. I stopped and took a deep breath. “You just wouldn’t stop. And I was angry and hurt. You’re a criminal. I never thought . . . I never once thought you’d be a bad guy, Curt. Never.”

  “Yeah, well. You don’t know me anymore, Kari. I’m not that same weak kid I was.” He started off at a distance, the sun slowly crawling up. “I don’t need your protection anymore. I learned how to protect myself.”

  “You think you’ve become strong? That stealing gives you power?”

  “No!” He roared, taking a step closer. I didn’t back down. “I think that the world forced me to be strong. This terrible fucking society that we’ve crafted for ourselves, where billionaires like Wan can just kill tens of thousands of people, and the only way he’s even tacitly brought to justice is because someone worked outside of the system and leaked it. I am not weak anymore because I don’t have any option but to be this way.”

  “You don’t have to be a criminal.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. All I’d have to do to stop is watch the rich and powerful step on everyone beneath them. I’d have to give up on making the world better.”

  “Do you really think you can do that? You’re just one thief. You and Buck Cherry can steal everything from everyone, but it’s not changing anything.” Curt clenched his jaw, and his eyes flicked about, trying to find a counter-argument.

  “You’re right,” he said finally, deflating. Then he met my eye. “I can’t change the world alone. But that doesn’t mean I can just let things be how they are. Could you?”

  “Wh-what do you mean?” I wanted to look away. A thousand thoughts raced through my head. About how the police were treating me. How they’d treated Thundy. Bellemere. How the media was constantly tearing into me.

  “The world’s a bad place. That’s why you’re Smash Gal, right?” This was the first time I’d ever heard him use that name without hatred. “You see people getting attacked or in danger, and you step in. But you can’t change the world either. Not really. You can inspire people. But that’s not really the same thing as change, is it?”

  “No, it’s not,” I agreed. I laughed. “You know what’s funny? The other day, a bridge collapsed, and I was trying to save people. And I couldn’t. And I thought to myself . . . If you were there, you’d bitch the entire time. But you would save people. You’d do a better job in that situation than I did.”

  “I don’t know about all that. I hate to admit it, but you’re really good at too many things. You always have been. I think it’s part of what makes this so frustrating for me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I-if you could just see things my way, you could do a lot of good. You could stand up to the military. You could push for police reform. You could use your platform in a lot of ways. In honest ways. In the light of day. Not hiding behind a mask.”

  “You don’t have a mask anymore.”

  “Yeah,” he laughed bitterly. “Don’t know that that’s a good thing, though. I inspired bombings.”

  “You can’t control what your fans are going to do. Not really.”

  “But I can do better. Kari, here’s my offer. I can’t be your friend. Not after . . . everything. But I’m not going to get in your way. I’ll never seek you out. I’ll never target you.”

  “But you’re not going to stop stealing.”

  “Not until the world’s a better place.”

  “Do you really think stealing will improve the world?”

  “Not on its own. But I’m working on the rest of it. I think . . . I think it’s time I brought the community to my communism.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It’s. . . complicated.”

  “I have to try to stop you. You know that, right.”

  “You shouldn’t.”

  “Curt, stealing is wrong.”

  “And what exactly are Bion or EnGin doing? Wan is a trillionaire. Not his company. Him. Alone. You don’t get to be a trillionaire without stealing that. He just did it legally. And that doesn’t make it better. That’s a sign that the whole fucking system needs to be razed and rebuilt.” I chewed on his words.

  “You have a point. I hate that you do. But you’re right. It’s not that simple.” A thought occurred to me. My jaw tensed as I stared at the man who had been my best friend. The man who had become my greatest enemy. “I have a counter-offer.”

  “I’m not turning myself in. I’m not turning Cindi in, either. And I’m not stopping.”

  “I get that. But . . . What if you become a hero?”

  “What?” He laughed at me, uncrossing his arms. “I just said I’m not stopping.”

  “I know!” I shouted. “But . . . What if . . . you helped people. What if I ask for help? Would you help me?”

  “You? No. You don’t need my help. But if another bridge collapses, you can reach out. I’ll see what I can do.”

  “I guess that’s better than nothing.”