October 31st

2358 EST

The battle dissolved into wisps of smoke, sending a smell like sulfur throughout the cortex. CJ skidded to a stop, lowering the fist he'd been preparing to launch into a zombie's decaying head. He looked around in shock, catching his breath.

It was over. Rune had left.

CJ whirled around. He scanned the cortex and save the stumps of charred zombies and the heroes dotting the metallic floor, there was nothing left of the villains who had invaded, but something still didn't seem right.

The silence that had swept the room snapped when Titanium Wave stormed across the cortex and seized Bristol, lifting her into the air.

"Hey!" CJ started, but couldn't bring himself to move.

"The amulet," Titanium Wave boomed. "What did you do with it?"

"Put me down!" Bristol demanded, her eyes like fire as she stared down the leader of the Contingency. "I did nothing with it!"

"I gave it to you, girl, you and the boy! So help me--"

"Grant!"

CJ spun and found Priscilla standing in the entryway. A faint glow emanated from her balled-up fists, and despite her composure, she was breathing heavily as she stared down Titanium Wave. "That will be enough. We have more important things to deliberate other than the how's and the whys."

From the shadows of the hallway beyond, Specter emerged, carrying—

"Tristan!" Bristol exclaimed, horror on her face replacing the fury once Titanium Wave set her down. She hurried over to Specter, but the hero turned for the platform.

"What happened?" CJ asked, his words sounding faraway.

"Rune did," Specter grunted as he set Tristan down on the platform. Tristan was paler than usual, his dark hair a stark contrast to his skin. His royal blue suit was sprinkled with blotches of purple--he'd been wounded. "He stabbed him."

Bristol made a choking sound, covering her mouth with her hands. Avi merely shook her head, unbelieving.

"Why aren't you taking him to the infirmary?" CJ asked.

Specter fixed his gaze upon CJ, calm, cool, and collected. "Tristan's gift of cyrokinesis allows him to, when wounded, regenerate cells and repair wounds on his own."

"What?"

"Just watch."

Specter leaned forward and tapped the snowflake emblem on Tristan's suit. It wasn't long until a sound like ice cracking over a lake filled the air, and Tristan's wounds began to close. Moments after, Tristan's closed eyes snapped open.

"Tristan!" CJ exclaimed. "Dude are you okay?"

Tristan ignored him, sitting up and wincing as he tested his wounds. He held a hand up as CJ, Specter, the girls, and Priscilla all made to assist him. "I'm fine."

"Tristan," Titanium Wave stepped forward, his voice a thunderous boom. "What do you remember?"

"Enough," Tristan grunted. He took a breath, meeting Titanium Wave's gaze. "Rune intentionally left the defective amulet with us. I guess we were right: in league with the other amulets, they can act as a homing device and create a portal anywhere, thanks to Rune's power. We practically welcomed them in."

Bristol folded her arms across her chest, casting a sidelong look at Titanium Wave. "So, it wasn't my fault. Or yours or Liv's, for that matter."

"No," Tristan confirmed. He lowered his gaze to the wreckage-strewn floor and his voice dropped to an almost inaudible level. "Not exactly."

"Tristan, what do you mean?" Priscilla arched an eyebrow.

Tristan inhaled sharply. "Rune revealed his identity to me." He looked up, his sapphire eyes as dark as the bottom of the sea. "Rune is Aaron Dahl."

The cortex fell silent. CJ's eyes widened. He didn't know much about Tristan's life, but he did know that his brother, Aaron, was believed to have been killed in the same explosion that took Tristan's and Liv's parents. Tristan had accepted the death, as well as Priscilla's offer to join the Union. However, Liv had believed Aaron was still alive, a belief that would lead her into Rune's waiting arms.

Little did she know she'd found her brother after all.

"Tristan are you sure?" Bristol asked, her words soft.

Tristan nodded once. "I'm positive." He looked back to the Contingency, gathered in solemn union. "We need to move now. Whatever Aaron--Rune--is planning, he won't wait to do it, especially now."

"Of course," Titanium Wave nodded, the wrinkles on his forehead pronounced as he furrowed his eyebrows together in contemplation. "We will alert our comrades around the region."

"That's it?" Bristol insisted. "You all are just going to watch and wait for something to happen?"

Titanium Wave blinked, something unreadable in his gray eyes. Amber Beam glanced from her superior to Bristol, sympathy in her eyes. "Rune is elusive. There's no way we can find him until we catch traces of his power."

CJ felt fury build up like electricity in his veins. He glanced at Bristol, whose clenched fists were beginning to smoke. How dare they remain idle when people's lives were on the line?

However, despite their fury, it was not CJ who refuted their plans, nor was it Bristol. Instead, the firestorm came from one aggravated android, her bright eyes glowing with a nuclear intensity as she regarded the adults before her.

"No wonder he escaped from you all the first time around." Avi marveled, her green eyes locked on the Contingency in derision. "You stand for justice, yet you fail to condone it. The first step in saving a life is preventing cause for danger. An entire city is vulnerable to Rune's advances, has been vulnerable for some time now, and you will not act. Tell me, Titanium Wave. Do your powers come from metal or your brute stubbornness? Because, if the latter, that is not heroism, nor is it courage. It is being a jackass."

CJ's eyes flew open. He half expected Titanium Wave to reprimand Avi, but the android stood with a raised chin and folded arms before him, determined to her core.

So, when CJ let out a whoop, it might have been alone, but not uncalled for.

Siren pursed her lips, an impressed smile glinting in her crystalline eyes. She nudged Titanium Wave with her hip. "She told you, Grant."

Titanium Wave narrowed his eyes at Avi but spoke to his league of heroes standing around him. "I want all Contingents stationed around the city, searching for Rune or any of his affiliates. Alert the Contingency chapters of New York, Boston, and DC. If Rune strikes with his full power, we could see a regional attack."

Amber Beam, Specter, Siren, and the rest of their comrades sprang into action, disappearing through one of Amber Beam's portals. Titanium Wave made to follow, until Tristan spoke up.

"Wait!"

Titanium Wave turned. "Yes?"

"What about us?" Tristan asked.

Titanium Wave arched an eyebrow. His gaze floated back to Avi. "I thought that was a given. Find Rune and take him down. We old geezers will be here if you need us." And with a wink like a light gleaming off metal, he disappeared.

A stupid grin spread across CJ's face. He watched as Tristan stormed across the cortex, over to one of the monitors. "Is he serious?"

"He sounded serious," Bristol noted, running a hand through her dark hair to tame it. "Tris, what're you doing?"

CJ glanced back to where Tristan was aggressively tapping on the monitor. "Trying something."

"Tristan," Priscilla chided. "This is no time for hacking into the mainframes, you have a city to--"

"I'm trying to find Liv," Tristan snapped. "If Aaron's out there, he's going to find her next. And since she's already searching for him..."

"It'll be easier to walk into his trap." Avi answered.

"Exactly," Tristan muttered as he returned to his tapping. A bleating error was his response and he cursed. "Her phone's off."

That was when the idea blossomed into CJ's head. He walked around to where Tristan was standing and tapped the monitor a few times.

"What're you doing?" Tristan asked warily.

"If Liv is in a stitch, of course her phone will be off. What's one thing a superhero can't turn off?" CJ asked.

Bristol's eyes widened in realization. "The homing device in her suit. Of course!"

CJ continued selecting commands, and it wasn't long until a map of the city was spread out on the monitor, and a little red dot blinked to life downtown. Above it read LOCATED: EMBER.

They had her.

"Where is she?" Tristan asked, peering at the monitor.

"Uh, looks like city hall," CJ began, and moved to clarify, when suddenly the red dot disappeared, doused like a flame. CJ started, and hurried to reissue the commands, but he was met with errors.

"What's wrong?" Avi asked, circling around to the front of the monitor. Bristol joined her, until it was all four of them on one side and Priscilla on the other.

"The signal went out," Tristan responded, his words frantic. "How can it do that?"

"He must have found her," Priscilla's tone was grave. "You need to leave now, before something happens."

"Before what happens?" CJ asked.

His answer came in the form of a sudden video screen popping up onto the monitor. He tapped on it, and it enlarged. It was a newsfeed, documenting shaky footage of chaos breaking out onto the streets of Brightbay City. Among the carnage were burning buildings, panicked masses of people, and zombies at the pinnacle of it all.

Rune had struck.