"Once you hear the details of victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat."
― Jean-Paul Sartre

Tommy stands on the parapet of a small-time law firm. He leans down, keeping his body eerily still as he watches the parking garage across the street. The garage is packed full of cars, a few levels tall, meant for a majority of the businesses down this street. It is frequently used because of this reason, and as the afternoon light begins to permeate in the air, a few cars pass in and out of the one entrance and exit.

Briar stands on the rooftop, leaning against the parapet. She twirls one of her sickles in her hand. Underneath her graceful fingers, the curved blade looks like a solid circle made from rose-gold light. She stares at the roof with an intense expression, the flowers blooming around her eyes becoming a darker color.

Good Guy is on Tommy's other side. He sits on the parapet, his legs hanging over the edge. His wings are pressed tightly against his back, twitching anxiously with each shift in the wind. Good Guy has his eyes closed, but that is only making him more aware of the world instead of less. He knows each strand of danger that is swirling around him, and his body is more inclined to getting out of the way than if he were intently staring at his target.

Watcher stood firmly on Good Guy's other side. He was much better at keeping his emotions under control. His face is devoid of any expression, and his wings do not move in the slightest. He is holding his crossbow with one hand. His other arm hangs uselessly at his side, twitching as if he wants to draw an arrow.

Based on intel given to Tommy by Passerine and Reynard- his most trusted sources of information- Tommy knows that Pearl will show up any time now. She is meant to be completing some mission for the Cult of Erythr with another cultist. Neither of Tommy's informants were able to figure out what the mission was or who Pearl would be doing it with, but that was unnecessary information. If they really wanted to know, they could ask Pearl why she was here after her capture. They will soon find out who she's with. It would have been nice to figure out which plan they would have to go with, but Tommy did go over a plan for any members that would be with her, so it wasn't completely hopeless. It was a waiting game at this point.

"She's getting closer," Good Guy murmurs. He has to really concentrate if he wants to track Pearl. His esper ability doesn't register as a threat. Even with her murderous record, she has only ever killed in the name of keeping Good Guy safe. She would normally never harm a hair on his head. Good Guy was able to pick up a faint trace of her being when Tommy explained that she wasn't happy with anyone right now. Tommy has little doubt that Crimson's mind control has tainted her perception of the world, so it is likely that she will aim to maim when she sees her brothers despite their shared history.

"She's here," Good Guy whispers, his eyes opening. Tommy pulls out his baton. It extends into a staff. Briar stops twirling her sickle, letting the hilt slam against her palm. She pulls the other one out, holding them both in her hands. Watcher inhales sharply, raising his crossbow. The rotating purple rhombus circles around the tip of the arrow and his eye.

True to his words, Pearl appears along the bend of the parking garage. She gestures to the top of the garage, speaking in slow tones to her companion. Tommy hesitates, recognizing Technician walking right beside her. He gestures to something behind them when he responds to Pearl. The two of them walk into the parking garage, their forms disappearing into the shadows. Briar glances over at Good Guy, "Why didn't you tell us Technician was with her?"

"He isn't a threat," Good Guy replies, confusion evident in his tone. Watcher's eye twitches when he registers Good Guy's words. The two brothers glance at each other, sharing a meaningful look. Tommy guesses that whoever Technician is underneath the mask, he must know Watcher and Good Guy personally. They must be close enough that Good Guy's esper ability, the most powerful danger sense in the entire city, doesn't believe Technician is a viable threat.

"It doesn't matter. We were prepared for the whole fucking cult," Tommy tells them, hoping that an argument does not start right now. He really cannot afford to mess up. He raises up on the parapet. His glider extends. He glances at his comrades. "Execute Plan C. Don't stop until you've brought them in."

Tommy leaps off the roof. His glider catches in the air. He starts lowering towards the entrance of the ground. He hears the sound of wings flapping, and he knows that Good Guy and Watcher are moving. Tommy lands on the ground at the entrance of the parking garage, his glider snapping closed. Good Guy and Watcher enter through one of the higher levels. Briar uses a vine to swing from the law firm to the entrance of the parking garage. She lands gracefully, her wings falling to her back as she gets balanced. The vine shrinks as it wraps around her forearm. She glances over at Tommy as the two of them walk into the garage. "Are you sure Good Guy and Watcher will be able to handle it?"

Tommy hesitates instead of answering. He really doesn't know. He knows for a fact that he wouldn't be able to fight his siblings, no matter what horrible decisions they were making. He can only hope that Good Guy and Watcher care enough about their sister not to let her become a monster. Tommy knows that he doesn't personally have the strength for that.

Tommy opens his mouth to answer, but he's cut off when the headlights of the parked cars on either side of them all miraculously turn on. Tommy puts his staff in front of him, glancing around the room. Technician is standing at the bottom of the ramp that leads up to the next level. The masked man tilts his head to the side, lifting his fingers up. He snaps his fingers. Tommy hears the engines of the cars revving. In the span of a second, all of them start hurtling towards Tommy and Briar. Tommy twists his body, facing one of the cars head on. He jumps onto the hood. He runs across the top of the car. He jumps onto the next one, ignoring the sound of metal screeching as it slams against even more metal. Tommy jumps off the trunk of the last trunk. He continues until he reaches the other side of the garage. He glances back to see the wreckage. A dozen cars are all slammed into each other like a bad traffic jam. Briar stands in the midst of it with her hand raised. She held back the cars that wanted to crash into her with a series of vines.

Technician throws something at Briar as Tommy rushes at the villain. Tommy's power expands over the side of the staff in a red caustic light to make it stronger and heavier. Tommy swings his staff from over the side of his shoulder to Technician's back. The villain turns, his bright red eyes glaring at Tommy. Technician grabs the staff before it can hit him. Tommy uses the force that climbs up his arms to kick his leg up. His foot slams into Technician's face. The villain stumbles away, yanking Tommy's staff with him. As he moves, all the cars begin screeching. Tommy yells, reaching his hands up to his ears to cover them. He begins to crumple. Technician rockets his body forward, and his fist collides with Tommy's stomach with enough force to send him flying back. Tommy coughs in pain as he rolls across the cement. He doesn't stop until he's on the other side of the garage from Technician.

Briar screams. She pulls her hands away from ears for long enough to wave her hands around. Her vines shoot up from the cracked concrete. They puncture the engines of the cars, writhing around like an angry basket of snakes. Silence dominates the floor, and Briar seems a little more at peace now that she isn't standing in the source of the obnoxious, mind-numbing sound. Tommy lifts himself up onto his arms, lifting his head up to stare at Technician.

He watches the villain throw a metal sphere in the air at Briar. It misses, landing in the cars. Briar's eyes widen and her insectoid wings raise up fearfully, and she understands before Tommy does what the sphere is. In a pool of flammable oil, the sphere explodes. Tommy doesn't hear Briar make a noise. He hears the explosion, though, and the wash of heat that seems to fry the small hairs along his arm. Tommy chokes on a breath, staring into the flames to try and find her.

Technician walks closer to the fire. Tommy grumbles, shuffling onto his feet. He pumps his arms, getting to Technician before he can step into the fire. Technician sees Tommy coming, so he lifts his arms up into a defensive position. Tommy slams his fist against Technician's forearm. He leans back when Technician tries to kick Tommy. He gets close again with his fists raised. Technician uses his open palms to move Tommy's punches away from his main body. He strikes Tommy in the gut with the flat of his palm. Tommy winces as Technician hits the bruise from when Tommy was punched across the room earlier. Technician uses the side of his hand to strike Tommy's side. The blonde stumbles back. Technician's eyes narrow as he approaches once more to hit Tommy. A sickle flies between the two of them, making Technician jump back. Both the hero and the villain glance to the side to see Briar stepping out of the flames. The ashes of a protective flower cling to her body, and blood pours out of her arms. Her wings are covered in soot, barely twitching as they hang limp against her legs. She coughs slightly, glaring at Technician with one sickle in her hand.

She joins in the fight. Briar slashes her sickle at Technician. He takes a step back, and Tommy- rather childishly- kicks Technician in the ankle. The villain almost teeters to the side, but he manages to catch himself in time. Technician faces them both. He takes a deep breath through his gas mask and puts his hands in front of him. He narrows his eyes in concentration. Briar tries to hit him again, but he does a backflip away from her. He lands higher up on the ramp, grabbing onto the hilt of her other sickle. The villain jumps at Briar. He presses a foot against the side of the wall, pushing himself to the other side in midair to avoid a series of vines that shoot up from to grab him. Technician lands near Tommy. He attempts to slash the blonde. He turns around immediately, the two sickles making a terrible noise as they slide off each other. Technician leans down, avoiding the punch Tommy was aiming at the back of his skull. Technician legs shoot out, and he attempts to knock the two others to the ground. Briar leaps over his leg, and Tommy takes a step back. Technician rocks forward, doing a handstand to lift himself back to his feet.

Technician attacks Tommy, the edge of his sickle cutting into Tommy's arm. The blonde hisses, feeling blood spill out of the cut. Briar tries to attack Technician with his guard lowered, but the white-haired man knows she's coming. He turns to her, slamming the side of his hand into her stomach. She leans forward to minimize the pain and tries to strike him with an upward slash of her sickle. He weaves out of the way, hitting Briar in the side. He twirls away from her as Tommy throws his body weight towards the main. Tommy rolls awkwardly to the side. Technician raises his boot to stomp on Tommy's hand. The blonde cries out when he hears a noise that his hand should not be making. He grits his teeth, staring up at Technician. It is hard to see with all of their masks and the smoke, but he thinks he can see red cracks appearing across his face, particularly around his eyes. He remains deathly calm, though, even as he glances up right at Briar tries to get her twin sickle back.

Tommy glances around instead of immediately joining the fight. He scrambles to his feet, bringing his injured hand to his chest. He tries not to jostle it as he grabs his staff. He glances back at Briar and Technician fighting. His power spreads across the staff, illuminating the space in front of him in a red light. Tommy raises his staff to throw it at Technician, but the villain dodges out of the way. Tommy is able to keep a hold of his staff. He stares at the spot Technician would have been in. The cultist isn't even looking at Tommy. How would he know where Tommy was aiming? How does he always know where Briar and Tommy are? Technician's power should be technopathy, the ability to manipulate technology. He isn't wearing a camera on his back, so-

Wait. A camera. Tommy glances around. Through the thick smoke, he can see the firelight reflecting off the cars. Even though most of them crashed, there might still be working cameras. Tommy shakes his head at their foolishness. Tommy decides to let Briar hold Technician off for a few more seconds. He dives into the mess of shattered vehicles to slam his staff against the cameras. His glasses keep a majority of the smoke out of his eyes, and he can hear his mask working double-time to purify the air. Tommy quickens his efforts despite this hurting his body as to not overtax his mask or test the limits of his glasses.

Tommy hears a pained noise. He glances up to see Briar stumbling away from Technician. She looks sick, pale and dazed. Technician raises his stolen sickle to hit her. Briar sways to the side, nearly falling to the ground. Tommy pulls his staff out of the truck he had just been slamming it into. He rushes toward Briar, realizing far too late that while he and Technician have gas masks, Briar does not. Tommy gets to her quickly. He scrambles to tear his mask off. When he does, he nearly pukes as smoke fills his lungs. He shoves his mask against Briar's face. She heaves in purified air as Tommy tries to regulate his own breathing, holding back a series of nasty coughs.

Briar takes a step back in order to clear her mind. Tommy wants to vomit, but he feels coherent enough to start swinging his staff around. Perhaps because of his efforts in destroying the cameras but more likely because the smoke is growing really thick, Technician is not as quick with his counterattacks. This allows Tommy to grasp the upper hand for a moment, but Technician quickly earns it back when Tommy feels like he's going to pass out from a lack of oxygen. Tommy stumbles around rather blindly, squinting to keep Technician in his sights. The villain hammers down a rain of blows against Tommy, and each one makes Tommy audibly groan. His voice cracks and grows rougher like he's gotten a new voice modifier. Tommy glances to the side for Briar, but this moment of weakness allows Technician to knock Tommy to the ground. The blonde slips, falling flat on his back. He feels his glider cut into his skin. Warm blood pools around his fingertips. Technician pulls Tommy's staff out of his hands. The villain raises the weapon up, ready to slam it back down with a sort of war cry coming from his mouth.

Briar comes up behind Technician. She forcibly pulls his gaiter down, revealing his mouth. She lifts an open vial of the tranquilizer to his mouth. She shoves it down his throat. She presses her hand over his mouth, keeping him from spitting up the tranquilizer. Technician's irises turn into slits in the middle of his bloody red pupils. He drops the staff, reaching down into his pocket. Tommy coughs when he means to yell, trying to warn Briar as Technician shoves a syringe into her wrist. He pushes down, releasing a red liquid into her bloodstream. Briar screams, shoving Technician away from her. Having drunk the sedative, Technician crumples to the ground beside Tommy. The blonde tries sitting up, but his vision grows dizzy and he falls back down.

Briar tears the syringe out of her wrist with enough force to cause a deep cut that starts pouring out blood. She places her hands against the sides of her head. Tommy watches a red color spread across her eyes like a thin film over the entire ball. Red cracks appear along her wrist from where the syringe poured something into her veins, and the rest of her veins and arteries are glowing enough that Tommy can see some of them through her skin. He hears Briar muttering something, but it is muffled and distorted by Tommy's mask.

Briar rips the mask from her face. She growls like an animal. Her wings suddenly rise up, making her look bigger than she actually is- a real tactic winged animals use. Her hands go to her hair, tearing at the strands underneath her hood. The color in her roses begin to drip away, falling to the ground in thick splotches like blood. They leave behind black roses that begin to wither away and disappear. Briar continues screaming, a terrible hissing noise building in the back of her throat. Tommy pukes a little in his mouth, trying to remain conscious as he watches the corruption spread throughout Briar's body.

She stares down at the mask in her hands. She looks at Tommy with her bloodied eyes. She drops to the ground beside him like a puppet with their strings cut. She puts the mask against his face. She presses down harsher on it, and Tommy can see the instincts of a killer glowing in her eyes. He weakly reaches for her wrist. He is able to touch it, but he cannot hold onto it. Briar shoots away from him. She hisses at him, eyebrows narrowing. The noise cuts off suddenly, and Briar drops her head into her hands. She makes the movements of a sob, but no tears spring to her eyes nor does she make the noises.

Briar glances back up at him, her attention darting between him and Technician. She is glaring at them. Tommy fears she will try to hurt them, but she just waves her hand. Sickly green-purple vines wrap around Tommy and Technician's ankles. The vines drag them across the parking garage. Tommy tilts his head back, breathing heavily through his mask and staring at Briar. Her glare worsens the farther he and Technician get, but she doesn't make the vines stop. She closes her hand into a fist. A scream spills out of her lips, the crack growing worse, deeper and longer. She drops both of her fists onto the ground, blood washing across her paling skin. Briar stares into the blood. Tommy reaches a hand toward her, but his body is too weak to move.

Over the cackling of the flames and the groaning of the building, Tommy can hear voices. Tommy looks around for them. Briar does, too, but her angle allows her to see them before Tommy does. Something flashes in her eyes. She glances at Tommy from the corner of her eye. Tommy can see the slightest semblance of the anti-hero he used to know. As one last of kindness, Briar waves her hand at him. Thick red vines that remind Tommy of the Red Army's graffiti wrap around the cement walls and roof surrounding Tommy and Technician. The vines pull these components down in a way that the two are hidden instead of crushed. Briar looks away from Tommy, rising to her feet with both of her sickles in hand. The red vines lash at her feet, angry and ready to strike.

Black spots flood Tommy's vision. He tries taking longer, deeper breaths to keep himself conscious, but even in the dark of their little cave, he can see the pool of blood spreading around him. Tommy's hands fall weakly to his side, and he watches as Reaper easily subdues Briar, careful to not hurt her wings. Tommy thinks Reaper's kindness is odd as the darkness fully consumes his vision.