I just can’t freaking catch a break, can I?

  Wake up Vicky Dallon from her coma? Got caught and was forced to escape, sharpish.

  Track down The Travelers and bring them in quietly? Botched that almost right away.

  Actually, talk to the heroes without causing a major incident? Well, I said stuff to Dragon, who then said it to others during an incident that I certainly did not start. Does that count?

  I realize that, at this point, people are probably not gonna believe me when I say that this wasn’t my fault. But, to be absolutely clear, this was not my fault. Noelle had already been losing her shit by the time I found the Ziz bombs. If that asshole, Trickster, had just kept calm, we wouldn’t be in this mess.

  He didn’t, though. And now, we’re here. Having to contend with a pissed-off proto-Endbringer who’d just gobbled up the strongest Blaster in Brockton Bay because the fucking Cornell Bomber just had to get involved!

  So now, I am beyond livid.

  Especially after I had to tank a shot from one of Purity’s clones. Fortunately, it’s ground-bound, so I only really needed to hit it with a lightning bolt, leaving charred meat on the highway. Using Violet for this fight made sense due to how accessible its magical attacks were. The only problem was the smell that had begun stinking up the air.

  Way too many cooked bodies down there, now.

  A few other clones of the Blaster tried harassing maneuvers or breaking through the perimeter, but Legend, Dragon, and Dauntless all pitched in to keep them corralled. My main focus was still on Echidna, who kept trying to skirt around and escape.

  Last I heard, many of the other local fliers and ranged capes were doing the same thing, but I’ve long lost track of who was where doing what.

  Going for another dive, I sent another bolt at Noelle, who was trying to run down Sundancer and Ballistic, knocking her back several meters. It almost felt like half the time I spent fighting was just to keep these two uneaten. Frustration was the main emotion of the day, mostly because the clones that kept popping up seemed to really want the free members of The Travelers to no longer be so.

  Now, I could have just flash-fried the monstrous cape with a truly massive bolt of lightning from the start. But two things stopped me, and were still stopping me even now.

  First, Taylor gave explicit instructions to avoid killing anyone. Second, going after these guys was intended to both remove threats set up by the Simurgh and to give the Protectorate and PRT a peace offering.

  From everything I knew about the group, events shouldn’t have devolved so quickly.

  Noelle was still supposed to have kept her mind. Trickster was supposed to be desperate for a cure. All of them should’ve been.

  Instead, I find them trying to escape Brockton Bay; the girl/fleshy monstrosity was already having a fit, and the rest of The Travelers were hellbent on getting away from me. Had this happened at any other point, I would’ve blamed Cauldron, but that didn’t make sense.

  Not after they, in their own fucked up way, actually put in the effort to avoid directly antagonizing me.

  So, what the hell was going on?

  Hovering over the duo of villains, I sent out a wave of highly-charged particles and made several approaching clones explode from the inside out. I then dropped down, grabbed both by the waist, and flew away at top speeds.

  An enraged scream from behind nearly scrambled my sense of balance from sheer volume, but I powered through and kept going. At the same time, I screamed in Dragon’s general direction, knowing her equipment would hear me.

  “Dragon! I’m taking Sundancer and Ballistic to safety. Maybe they can tell us what the fuck’s going on. Keep Echidna busy!”

  In lieu of an answer, one of her suits flew by and launched several missiles toward the direction I’m heading away from.

  Satisfied that I at least had a few minutes, I flew toward a cordon full of flashing lights, tents, and PRT personnel running around. My approach didn’t go unnoticed, and a few had gathered near the center, which I took as my landing zone.

  After touching down, one of them stepped forward.

  “Seraph?” he asked gruffly and, in my opinion, unnecessarily. Who else would I be?

  “That’s me! Sorry, in a bit of a rush,” I panted, while setting down my passengers. Once the two found their feet, I then grabbed their shoulders. “Look, I don’t have a lot of time. If you want to see your friends again, you’ll tell me why Noelle’s acting out of control.”

  The same PRT officer who addressed me cleared his throat, catching my attention. “Thinker support raised the probability of interference from Accord.” What the shit? “Ambassador sightings have been confirmed, and agents have been sent to intercept. We’ve been instructed to give you a comms unit,” he concluded by offering a black earpiece.

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  I had to shake the confusion muddying my thoughts, because there was way too much to unpack there. After taking the earpiece and thanking the officer, I put it on.

  Nothing happened.

  Looking at the agent, he told me that I needed to tap it. So, I did.

  “Seraph?” a voice came from the wireless earbud. It was a firm vibrato, no-nonsense, and sound absolutely done with the world.

  “Director Piggot, I presume?”

  “Yes. It’s good that we’re finally talking.”

  “Yeah, uh, likewise. But we’ll have to save the pleasantries later. Your agent just told me that Accord’s involved in this whole mess?”

  “That’s what our Thinkers have told us. We still don’t know why, exactly, but odds are good that the villain is after something in Brockton Bay.”

  Shit. I bet I knew what or who he was looking for. Unfortunately, I couldn’t just blurt that out. Time was running out.

  “Understood, ma’am. I’ll cooperate with your people to wrap things up here quickly. To that end, I’ll have to drop this call to speak with the surviving members of The Travelers.”

  Sundancers and Ballistic were off to the side, having a heated discussion in whispered hisses and wild gesticulations.

  “Copy that. My agents will be listening in.”

  Well, I had no objections to that and let her know. Soon, I was walking toward the arguing pair.

  “Right,” I loudly declared, letting them know of my presence. “I have even less time now than before, so I’ll make a few guesses, and you’ll confirm whether I’m right or wrong. Feel free to fill in the gaps, though, make it quick. Got it?”

  After getting nods, I started. “After losing contact with Coil, Trickster freaked out. Accord then got in touch with you somehow and made an offer. It’s either to cure Noelle or get you out of the city, or both. In exchange, he had you follow a particular set of instructions to the letter. How am I doing, so far?”

  “Partially right,” Ballistic scoffed. “It wasn’t so much an offer as an ultimatum. We did what he said, or we’ll have Kill Orders written up.”

  He didn’t elaborate on how a villain was supposed to make that happen, and I didn’t need him to. The Travelers tended to make a mess wherever they went.

  “And Noelle?” I pressed.

  “They gave us something,” Sundancer said in a voice so low that I had to lean forward just to catch her words. “Said it would help keep Noelle’s urges suppressed until we got out of the city. Accord promised safe passage until we reached a Wet Tinker who could supposedly give her a new body.”

  The poor girl was shivering in sobs by the time she stopped talking, and Ballistic ended up giving an awkward half-hug as a result.

  As for me? I was beyond enraged. Violet was absolutely clamoring for me to file a complaint directly to Accord, involving thunder and plasma. Red wasn’t far behind, and even White-Silver and Blue were expressing extreme dissatisfaction.

  Somewhere in the depths of my soul, an awareness stirred. Old, immense, and prideful.

  I had to get a handle on my emotions right quick, or I’d blow up on some undeserving folks nearby. Nodding in confirmation, I looked at the pair and said, “Thank you for the information.” I kept my voice as steady as I was able. “Stay here, for now, and tell the PRT everything you can. I’ll do my best to save your friends.”

  So saying, I turned, preparing to fly off. But, before I could, I heard Sundancer call out to me.

  “If – if you can’t fix her,” she said in a tremulous voice, “please – please end it. She’s been suffering for so long.” Falling on her knees, the girl fully let go and cried her heart out. Ballistic could only kneel beside her, offering what support he could. “Noelle doesn’t deserve this. She’s in so much pain. She never meant – she never meant to hurt anyone! Please, believe me!”

  Looking at the sobbing teen, I couldn’t help but think back to how the fans favored her with so much sympathy. She ended Noelle’s rampage in the story, choosing to incinerate her friend, rather than let her continue causing death and suffering.

  “I understand,” was all I could say before taking to the air.

  The echoes of heartbreak followed me as I coaxed as much speed out of Violet as I could. It was time to end this.

  “Dragon, are you there?” I asked, tapping the earpiece.

  “Seraph?” she answered.

  “It’s me. Listen, I just got some intel that Accord gave Noe – um – Echidna something. I bet that’s why she went berserk. I’m going to try something, but if it doesn’t work, we’ll need to put her down. Permanently.”

  There was a pause on the line, then someone else’s voice went through.

  “Do what you have to do, Seraph.”

  Legend. The Cauldron member I had the most complex feelings about.

  “Copy that.”

  I can deal with that sticky issue later. For now, I focused on my last hope of everyone coming out of this fine. Should this fail, I wasn’t sure how I could keep going.

  White-Silver, please, I mentally called out in desperation. Please tell me I can make a difference. That this world isn’t completely hopeless. Help me be a beacon of light in the darkness!

  At this point, I already knew that the Dragoon Spirits’ abilities didn’t work exactly as they did in the game. I got burned by my ignorance with Astral Drain. I was given hope when Rose took over and showed me how Darkness should really be used.

  Now, it was time for me to prove, if only to myself, that I wasn’t just in this world to make everything worse.

  The transformation came as smoothly as it always does. Purple organic armor was replaced by elegant, golden filigree and silver plates, as smooth as ivory. By the time the lightshow was done, I hovered over the recovering form of Noelle.

  My choice was Moon Light. The White-Silver Dragoon’s starting magic spell, capable of providing 100% HP recovery for living allies, or 50% after reviving them. It also removes harmful status effects.

  I wasn’t sure just what it considered harmful. But, after conveying my thoughts to White-Silver, I’m hoping that it knows exactly what to target.

  A bow appeared on my left hand, the same one that Shana and Miranda were shown to use in their artwork. It was an ornate piece of art, made of what looked like polished, silver-white metal or bone. Easily a third of my height in size.

  Pulling back the string, an arrow of light materialized. Instead of pointing it at Noelle, however, I flew higher into the sky and faced upward.

  There, right beside the first, a second moon appeared. One that I only ever saw in low-resolution graphics or in-game cutscenes. A celestial body that certainly should not exist in this world.

  But I couldn’t focus on that. The spell was reaching its crescendo, and I wasn’t sure what would happen if I stopped now.

  So, after drawing the bow to its fullest extent, I let go and watched the light arrow speed toward The Moon That Never Sets. It only took half a second, all things considered, but the effects were spectacular.

  After hitting the surface, the pale disk glowed with impossible brightness. Then, a beam of light came crashing down. Not at me, the user, as it happened in the game. Instead, it bathed Noelle in intense luminosity, drawing a howling shriek of pain from the monstrous cape.

  However, it wasn’t just her who started screeching. All over the surrounding landscape, a discordant choir of wails arose, followed by pinpricks of brightness suddenly lighting up within a radius of several hundred meters.

  I watched as one by one, the pinpricks were snuffed out in no particular order. Finally, only Noelle still stood. A singular player under the spotlight – all eyes were on her.

  Eventually, the beam began to sputter and die down. When it fully faded, I watched as Noelle Meinhardt lay on a puddle of melted flesh, half-naked from the waist down. Had it ended there, I would’ve been overjoyed.

  Here was a character I wasn’t sure I could save, and yet, I did.

  Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one to start wriggling around in a macabre soup of discarded meat. There were the recently devoured capes, of course. Trickster, Genesis, Purity, and, uh, there was a fourth. But, for the life of me, I couldn’t place him.

  Aside from the quartet, though, several dozen figures were also trying to get up. Screams began tearing through the silence left by the miraculous event, once more, and I could only stare at the scene in disbelief.

  “Seraph, what did you do?!” Dragon’s voice came on the comms.

  I subconsciously tapped the earpiece, but then realized I didn’t really know what to say. How the hell do you explain the revival of, from what I can count, over a hundred people?

  “Uh, whoops?”

  Eh, as good a response as any.