AEGIS hadn’t detected any new Characters for weeks, despite Kennedy’s insistence that her Father was in the city. Unfortunately, this made people less comfortable, instead of more. The citizens of Des Moines were used to constant action, and the city had been eerily quiet, especially so soon after two almost concurrent Waves. Excellent at adaptation or not, it was difficult for humans as a whole not to think that meant something big was coming.

  Unfortunately, when enough people started to think like that, it typically became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Guardians were meant to deal with massive Altered threats, and to be an inspiration. They were considerably less adept at dealing with civil unrest.

  Over a few patrols, Cait had watched the looks her team received change from exclusively adoration and awe to being sprinkled with resentment and fear. It was actually difficult not to sympathize. Plenty of people had lost loved ones to Character attacks, which were well within the Guardians’ purview to stop, or had found a missing friend return, only to turn out to be a Character themselves, which was almost worse.

  She knew it was weighing on Director Swan.

  The obvious move would be to separate the city's Altereds, sequestering them all in the AEGIS compound following screening. The lodging was there now, and while it wasn’t the Palace, it would hardly be a downgrade for most people. But the woman, a fierce individualist herself, couldn’t bring herself to force the issue and so there were still plenty of holdouts in the city not taking AEGIS up on their offer.

  To be fair, that had gone fine for most people. Some simply weren’t visibly Altered, others were non-threatening enough or well-integrated enough it was something of a non-issue. The problems were the people who had always been problems.

  Cait had been told she might be called on to assist in raids when she’d joined up. She hadn’t expected one to come so soon, or be on this scale.

  The Elevated Race had been on the Director’s radar for a long time, and had gotten plenty of news coverage over the years. The group professed to want to extend the hand of benevolent rule to humanity, to codify what they believed AEGIS already tacitly indicated, that the Altered were above humanity in every sense and as such should be afforded the privileges of the ruling class, along with it’s duties.

  Cait had been surprised how much support it had gotten among humans when she was one, and disgusted by how much it got from Altereds now that she was among their ranks. The issue, as it was so often with radical movements, was that it was not actually illegal to have ideas, even if they were fucked up.

  Combined with not-insignificant public support, that meant AEGIS had never been able to move against them. That had all changed yesterday.

  While they may have some public support, most humans were sane, and saw their ideas as an insult. For the vast majority of people, that was as far as it went. For a foolish few however, recent tensions had pushed things over the edge.

  On his way back from an ‘inspirational’ speaking engagement, which seemed intended to ‘inspire’ people to take their rightful place beneath Altereds, the leader of the Elevated Race’s vehicle had been attacked. Actually, attacked was a strong word. It had been egged.

  Of the teens that had done it, there had been no survivors.

  Andrew Fait, leader of the Elevated Race, had actually been offered Guardian status upon being Altered. He had declined, on the basis that he would have been the strongest Altered in the city and saw no reason to bow to ‘some bitch’. How the fuck he’d survived saying that to Director Swan, Cait had no idea, especially given that, while Freeflow was alive, he’d been wrong.

  Apparently, with the unfortunately true rumors of the speedster’s death and AEGIS’ ineffectiveness at dealing with Bookkeeper, he’d decided now was the time to force their hand.

  So, now, Cait found herself in the back of an armored van, sitting across from Qi while Kennedy rested her head in her lap.

  “Run me through, one more time, why the fuck we didn’t kill this guy years ago?” Cait asked, and both women groaned.

  “You don’t make a guy like this a martyr until they really fuck up, Cait. Right now he sounds like a radical insane person, albeit one with a concerning amount of support,” Kennedy conceded. “If we’d killed him as soon as he’d gotten big, he’d be a radical insane person that the government, or whatever we are, silenced. That’s how you really get a movement started.”

  “Insurgent math,” agreed Qi. The expression on her face whenever she looked at Cait and Kennedy was decidedly unhappy.

  “Yeah?” challenged Cait, absently playing with Kennedy’s belly button piercing until the goth slapped her hand away. She hated that, but Cait was gonna fidget. It was who she was. “So, the hundred dudes we tear through tonight isn’t going to enter that equation?”

  “We don’t have to tear through a hundred dudes, Cait,” Kennedy opened her eyes to glare up at her. Linked with Qi, their gold hue changed to a fiery orange. “Put the first guy to step to you down hard. The other guys with guns will back off.”

  “I’ve never once seen that happen in a movie. John Wick kills like 400 guys, and no-one ever just runs away.”

  “She’s got a point, Kennedy,” conceded Qi.

  “No she fucking doesn’t! This isn’t a movie!”

  “Oh yeah?” countered Cait. “Three superheroes set to assault the tallest skyscraper in the city, packed to the fucking brim with bad guys and a literal supervillain at the top doesn’t sound like a movie to you?”

  Kennedy scowled at her, then sighed.

  “Yeah, I mean, shit. I’d watch that. Fuck, gonna miss B-man on this one when things get messy.”

  “Miss him more if he was dead,” Cait shrugged, but internally agreed. “With the kinda pin-point damage this shitbird can put out, your mom is right to only send in the hyper toughs. And that’s us!”

  She held up a hand to Qi, who slapped it with her tail, returning Cait’s predatory grin.

  The van pulled to a stop.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Okay, I’m heading out first and I’ll deal with the doorman. Any big traps won’t kill me, and you guys can hopefully get me out of them,” Cait said. Kennedy and Qi nodded, and Cait unlatched the door, stepping outside. 801 Grand stretched into the sky above, windows dark, turning the pleasant building into a foreboding monolith.

  Could do worse for lairs.

  The van had backed up to an ARMOR perimeter, but somehow, before a single officer was able to approach her, an impeccably sexy woman with tv static eyes filled Cait’s vison.

  “Amaranthine!” Sharon Smart cried, like she was greeting an old friend. “Care to comment on AEGIS’ military action against a civilian target?”

  Cait gave her the universal look for ‘really?’, but Sharon just shrugged, smiling expectantly.

  “No, I don’t, Sharon. Just let the public know The Dawn Posse will handle this.”

  One of those perfectly plucked eyebrows rose nearly to the reporters hairline.

  “The Dawn Posse?” she asked, the incredulity in her voice making Cait wince.

  “I was outvoted,” Cait offered by way of explanation, pushing past the reporter. A familiar mustachioed face ushered the woman out.

  “How the hell do you always get past the cordon?” muttered Officer Davis, as Sharon disappeared into the crowd. The aging officer winked at the Amazon. “Good to see you, Cait. Give these fuckers hell.”

  Cait saluted with a grin, and approached the building.

  A skeletally thin man stood in the entryway, wearing a loud suit and a polite smile.

  “What am I dealing with here, Lira?” Cait whispered as she approached.

  “Lloyd Tremp, a.k.a., holy shit, MassHole,” Lira answered over time, taking time to giggle at the man’s Elevated moniker. Their leader preached that Guardians took these names to assert their separation from the common people, and so he encouraged his own Altered followers to do the same. “Stupid fucking name aside, dude’s bad news. He’s dense, and unfortunately I mean physically. Should be nearly as tough as you, and strong to boot.”

  Cait looked at the man’s feet, where, despite his emaciated frame, the concrete actually cracked under his feet.

  RIP Fingerguns, could use you here buddy.

  Cait approached the man, meeting his polite smile with her own genial grin.

  “Evening, Lloyd!” she greeted him, drawing a frown. The briefing had included the info that these dickheads hated to be called by their ‘cattle’ names, which, honestly, why give people such an easy target?

  “Good evening, Amaranthine,” the man replied. It sounded like he had to physically force each word out of his throat. “What business do you have with the Elevated?”

  “Well, I came here to kick names and eat ass, and… wait, I fucked that up. Anyway, fuck you.” Cait poured power into her legs, shooting forward at the speed of sound. Briefing had said to take things inside the building quickly as possible, so she didn’t see much point in drawing this out.

  She did, however, get a new experience. As she slammed into Lloyd, fist extended, hit as clean as it could be on his chest, the motherfucker didn’t even move. The shockwave from the impact actually blew off his terrible suit, along with what had apparently been a toupee. That should have been funny, but something about the barely-fleshed skeleton standing there naked with a cock nearly as big as Cait’s was actually really fucking unsettling.

  He sighed as he extended a hand to wrap around Cait’s throat.

  Unfortunately for him, he was in for a surprise as well. His fingers tried to tighten, but all he got from Cait was a cocked eyebrow.

  Huh. Actually gonna have to fight for once. Hope a fucking week with Freeflow was enough to teach me something.

  She lashed out with her left leg, catching the back of Lloyd’s knee with her shin.

  Please god don’t let him be able to do my joint thing.

  He couldn’t, and his knee buckled, hitting the ground with a sound like an earthquake, and damn near the same effect. He lost his grip on Cait’s neck in the process, and she shot backwards, lining up with Qi and Kennedy as they clambered out of the van.

  Cait grinned at them.

  “So. Good news. No traps!” She said, earning an eye-roll from Kennedy.

  Qi glared at their skeletal foe, who was bent over to pick up his hairpiece. Cait followed her gaze to just below the guy's waist.

  “I’m gonna bite that fucking thing off,” the dragon declared.

  “Gross!” Cait and Kennedy said in unison, and Cait shot forward again.

  She aimed off center this time, dodging around his grasping hand to drive a fist into his cheekbone. Again, a sigh as his toupee was blasted off his head, but no real damage.

  No, not no damage.

  It was barely perceptible, but Cait could see the faintest imprint of her knuckles where they’d impacted his cheekbone, like the flesh there had actually been packed in slightly.

  She grinned.

  “Cait!” Gwyn’s voice came over the comms. “I’ve got Meta-Brains from MedCorps and Physics Hub yelling at me that he should have basically regular anatomy. Compress that head enough and his brain should come out of his fucking eyes.”

  “That is a rough way to put it,” Cait answered, “but message received. Qi! Get me some fire!”

  Almost as soon as she’d asked for it, an inferno blew past Cait. She didn’t expect it to do much, she just didn’t want this dude to be able to see her well enough to grab her.

  She burst through the flame, swinging her best explosive right hook at Lloyd’s temple. It impacted, and she ducked back through the flame. Cait dipped and weaved, only striking when she knew she could get at least a partial hit on the divots she was beginning to dig on either side of the man’s skull.

  Once the girls figured out what she was doing, they covered for one another, Kennedy releasing her own gout of flame when Qi’s lungs ran dry. More and more, Lloyd’s head was looking cone shaped, his eyes bloodshot and bulging.

  “Jesus, bud, if you’re the ‘Elevated Race’ I don’t know how the fuck you guys ever do any recruiting.”

  The man’s moaning scream was almost inhuman as he lunged at Cait. He barely got a grip on her waist, but his strength was implacable, and even the small jump he had taken drove them into and through the street with the force of a meteor. They crashed into the sewer below, and then further, burrowing into the earth.

  Cait couldn’t see shit but Lloyd’s fucked face, deformed from her punches, dried and cracking from being doused in constant flame. She wasn’t even absolutely certain she could see that, as light had stopped trickling down pretty quickly.

  There was a splat like a tossed rotting pumpkin from the area Cait thought Lloyd's head should be, and an impact comparable to a railgun hit Cait in the face. Lloyd’s grip loosened. With effort, Cait spun him off of her, and slammed an arm into the wall of the pit they’d created as his headless corpse kept burrowing towards the center of the earth.

  “Cait!” she heard Kennedy’s voice call out, and Cait reached out, finding the girl's hand, oddly spindly. For a moment, she was heavy enough that Cait wasn’t sure even her limb lock would hold her, but soon felt her fingers become soft and supple, and her weight became easily manageable.

  “Fancy meeting you here,” Cait said. She knew Kennedy couldn’t see her grin, but was willing to bet she was imagining it. “Hup!”

  “WhoooAaooaaAAAAAHHH!” Kennedy screamed as Cait’s enhanced arms tossed her back up and out of the hole. Cait shot herself back up with both legs, following her out.

  She caught Kennedy as she came back down, princess carry style, making it look like she’d been the one doing the rescuing.

  “I don’t deserve that,” she said into the adoring look Kennedy gave her.

  “I know,” she responded, but it didn’t leave her face.

  “Holy shit, Cait, you shoulda seen crack whore Kennedy, I thought her pants were gonna fall straight off when she linked to that dude to follow you,” said Qi, laughing at the two of them.

  “Didn’t you say you were gonna bite his dick off?” Kennedy asked the dragon, fixing her with a glare. “You miiiight still be able to catch him!”

  Her voice became singsong as she gestured at the hole. Qi grinned, flipping her the bird with one thick talon.

  “You two chucklefucks ready to head in?” she asked, inclining her horns towards the building. Kennedy’s form swelled further as she regained the scintillating black scale and muscle she received from Qi.

  “These bastards put my girl in the ground,” she growled, flashing a fangtoothed smile to Cait. “Just cause it didn’t take doesn’t mean I’m gonna let that slide.”

  “Gotta say, kinda wonder what would have happened if I made it to the core,” Cait said, walking up to the doors of 801 Grand and cracking her neck. Qi and Kennedy fell in behind her. “But I’ll settle for finding out what happens when we send these shitbirds to hell.”