NOVEMBER 1ST

0011 EST

One dozen. Two dozen. Three.

"--All throughout Brightbay City, we're receiving reports of what appear to be zombies raiding the streets. They are under the control of the infamous Shadow Web, the league of supervillains that have been plaguing the city for months. The National Guard has been called in--"

Fifty. Sixty. Seventy.

"--We're taking you live to Haven Bridge downtown, where civilians have attempted to build a barricade against the zombies--"

One hundred. Two hundred. Three.

"--The question everyone is asking is where is the Contingency? Where is the Union?"

Avi jerked out of the Internet, out of where hundreds of people were uploading videos of the chaos, where news reporters were standing by documenting the distress of the city, where she could see nothing but endless destruction, now immortalized for all of time to see. The numbers kept climbing, and the higher the rate of crime increased, the worse Avi felt.

Physically, Avi couldn't get sick. But that didn't explain the feeling in the pit of her soul, like things were spiraling too far out of their control.

Tristan glanced at Avi out of the corner of his eye. "Av? How bad is it?"

Avi turned to meet Tristan's gaze. "Worse than we'd anticipated."

Tristan set his jaw, then turned to where Priscilla was frantically executing commands into the portal's platform. "Priscilla, what's the hold-up?"

Priscilla, who'd been banging at the platform with her shoe, whirled around to face Tristan. The manic look in her blue eyes, coupled with her heavy breathing and disheveled hair--and the stiletto heel in her hand--made Avi take a step back in alarm.

"The damn thing is fried," Priscilla breathed, shooting the platform a scathing look. "Even with a manual override, my powers won't be enough to teleport you all into the city."

"Then how are we supposed to get there in time?" CJ asked. "I can't exactly run as all there."

"No, no, you'd lose your strength," Tristan muttered, waving the idea away. His sapphire eyes flicked back and forth as he ran through ideas in his mind. "We need a way."

Suddenly, Bristol straightened up, as if she'd realized something. "I think I have a way." And she sprinted out of the cortex.

CJ raised a lazy hand in the direction she'd gone. "Bristol Vandeviere, everyone."

"Heard that," Bristol called as she came dashing back into the cortex, no longer empty-handed. Dangling from her hands was the defective amulet. "This should help us."

"Uh, how?" CJ asked. "It can only work alongside the other amulets."

"Right," Bristol said. She turned and looked to Priscilla, still grumbling about the portal platform. "But it ultimately possesses asterokinetic magic."

Priscilla furrowed her eyebrows at Bristol, looking from her to the amulet in her hands and back. "You want me to use my powers on it?"

"It should be enough to open a portal into the city," Bristol figured.

Avi ran logistics in her head, expecting to find a hole in Bristol's plan, but no such thing came up. "Bristol is correct. The resulting energy will open a portal."

Bristol lit up, thrusting the amulet into Priscilla's hands.

Priscilla stammered, her fingers splayed out as she held the amulet, as if she didn't want to touch it. "Are you sure?"

"Priscilla," Tristan chided. "It's Avi. She's always sure."

Priscilla pressed her lips together, then shook her head, stepping down from the faulty platform. "Worth a shot."

She closed a fist over the amulet and shut her eyes. Like a trapped firefly, the amulet began to flicker from under Priscilla's hands, until at last, it emanated a steady amethyst glow.

Priscilla opened her eyes, and Avi was shocked to find that her blue eyes were tinged with a ring of purple the same shade as the amulet, as if its power was afflicting her or vice versa. "Are you all ready?"

"Of course," Tristan nodded.

Priscilla took a breath and unfurled her fist from around the amulet. Steadily, it began to rise, the glow growing around it until the portal had expanded to full-size. It rippled with violet energy, and arcs of lightning flickered from its swirling depths.

"Yeah, that looks safe," CJ muttered, his hazel eyes flicking up and down the length of the portal.

"It'll do," Tristan insisted, surging forward. "Let's move."

Tristan was the first through the portal, followed by Bristol, then CJ, and finally, Avi stepped towards it.

Beyond its rippling depths was a city in need of their help. Her help. Somewhere, thousands of people were fleeing for their lives, and it would not be a creation in a lab that would help the masses. No, rather, it would be the hero's heart that had formed on its own will.

And as Avi stepped through the portal, she wondered if the pulsing she felt throughout her whole body was a result of the teleportation, or a thunderous heartbeat urging her on like the march of an army's drum.

---

If chaos was tangible, it took its form in darkest night, an obsidian so impenetrable that the stars above winked out like matches under a breeze. It spurred civilians out of their homes, into the streets, fighting for their lives. It unfurled down the street, battering in doors, shattering windows, leaving a trail of detritus in its wake. Chaos was a bride to death, and destruction formed its veil.

As Avi joined her friends on the opposite side of the portal, she knew that there would be nothing she could do to prepare her for what she saw. Videos on the internet were one thing. Living it yourself was another.

The streets, illuminated by flickering streetlights, were littered with broken glass and rubble. The apartment complexes and small businesses lining the streetfront appeared to be devoid of all life. Arching up beyond were the skyscrapers and high rises of downtown Brightbay, its crowning jewels, now lit up like beacons of distress as its citizens scrambled for safety beyond.

But most horrifying of all were the screams, echoing over the city like a chorus of banshees had been unleashed down the avenues. Avi could detect human screams, tires skidding off road, glass shattering, sirens wailing as first responders raced against time to fight something they just were not equipped to fight.

How were they supposed to get everywhere in time?

"Avi," Tristan's deep voice snapped her out of her spiraling reverie. She looked to him, sapphire eyes like flares. "Run a scan of the city. How far are we from city hall?"

Avi nodded, and at Tristan's behest, an overlay of the city appeared in her vision. Red dots sparked onto the screen like wildfires, but Avi forced herself to ignore them. "About ten blocks."

Tristan took a deep breath. "Let's go."

The four of them took off down the street, racing past row after row of desolate streets. Where everyone had gone, Avi had no clue. Hopefully, people had found safe places amid the chaos. But judging from the echoing screams, she doubted it.

City Hall was just two blocks away when suddenly, the Union was brought to a stop. Sprawled out before them was Haven Bridge, arcing above the river that cleaved the city in two. And huddled onto the bridge were the at least a hundred civilians, hunkered behind a barricade of cars, trashcans, anything they could find.

"Oh, no," Bristol muttered, eyes wide.

Avi followed her gaze, and felt her figurative heart plummet to her figurative stomach. Marching onto the opposite side of the bridge were zombies and more of Rune's lackies, and leading the charge was Alexander Grayson. Eric Hart. Mania.

Suddenly, Avi was hyper-aware of her friends' eyes on her. But her eyes were locked on the man sauntering onto the bridge as if he were the leader of the whole army instead of just the foot-soldiers. She willed herself to focus and initiated her enhanced reconnaissance mode; in a matter of moments, Mania's voice echoed through her ears.

"Look at you all," He marveled, a grotesque smirk on his face. "Cowering like fools. We are doing you a justice by destroying this city. Humanity is too weak to endure beneath the reign of Rune."

"Screw you!" Someone yelled, launching some projectile towards Mania. The villain merely watched the object fly over his head, and when he returned his attention to the crowd, his eyes began to glow in unison with those of the zombies flanking him.

"I truly wish you hadn't done that," Mania chided, his eyes continuing to glow.

Suddenly, the bridge began to rattle and creak, and exclamations of alarm floated up from the group of civilians hunkered behind the barricade. Then, the barricade itself began to wrench itself apart at Mania's will, forming a path for the zombies clambering towards it.

"CJ!" Avi shrieked.

"On it!" CJ replied before zooming onto the bridge. One by one, the bridge was rid of civilians. As he got them to safety, Avi, Bristol, and Tristan sprinted over to the bridge.

"Plan of attack?" Bristol asked as they ran.

"To quote Tony Stark," Tristan began. "'I have a plan. Attack.'"

"Excellent," Bristol mused as they slowed. She spread her hands open, flames dancing along her fingertips at her command. "I rather like that one."

As one, they struck the wave of zombies. Bristol launched fireball after fireball at the zombies approaching her, reducing them to nothing but charred stumps of their former selves before turning to ash entirely. Tristan formed a growing wave of ice as he maneuvered up and around the bridge, shooting arrays of icicles at as many of the undead he could target. CJ, now finished clearing the bridge, wove between the masses of zombies, flipping them over into the river below, throwing punches, doing everything he could to disable them and lower their ranks.

And Avi? She walked through the chaos as if she had created it, immune to the zombies' advances. Her eyes were locked on Mania, who had yet to see her. When he did, she stopped, now in a silent battle of wills.

His face was unreadable, slack as it typically was when he wasn't under his power's control. However, he narrowed his eyes at Avi, his face hardening.

"What are you doing?"

Four simple words, and yet each one felt like a brick being thrown at her processing core. It was Eric's voice, his intransigent tone. His face, his body, him, in every sense of the word.

And yet, it was not.

Avi was looking at a monster, a shapeshifter that could imitate those able to weaken the will of its enemies. And even if the man before her was a telepath, capable of launching her over the rails into the icy river below, he did not have the power in this situation.

She did.

"I don't know if you can hear me," Avi began, urging her voice not to crack. "I don't even know if there's a semblance of the man I knew left in that husk of a body Rune uses as a proxy. But if there is, I am doing this for him."

Again, Avi was met with nothing but an emotionless face.

"And what is that?" He droned.

Avi felt her own energy reserves flare at his words, kicking into gear as she prepared for her next move.

"Giving him peace at last."

And with that, Avi struck. She raised a hand and a beam of green energy shot from her palm, hitting Mania square in the chest. He staggered backwards, and as if being roused to his senses, fixed her with a glowing glare.

"You'll pay for that," He growled.

"Believe me," Avi raised her chin. "I already have."

Mania yelled in defiance, his eyes glowing as he raised both of his hands. Two cars that had been crashed into the railings shot into the air at his command and arced towards Avi. She ducked, rolling out of the way, and narrowly missed being crushed by inches. She sprang back up onto her feet, firing at Mania again.

As if he were locked in some kind of deadly dance, Mania leapt away from Avi's blasts, the asphalt singed beneath his feet. She fired another energy beam at his chest, and he stumbled against the railing. Before he could move, Avi cornered him, one hand glowing and aimed at his heart.

Mania met her gaze, a twinkle in his beady eyes. "What are you waiting for? Do it."

Avi faltered. She urged the glow to be stronger, as if the more energy she channeled into the preemptive blast, the more courage she would gather.

But she couldn't do it. She couldn't kill him.

Avi lowered her hand. "I won't kill you."

Mania gave her a look. "Tragic." And with that, he brought his leg up and kicked her away.

Avi skidded across the street, hitting the curb of the sidewalk with a wince. Mania stalked towards her, his eyes emanating a dull glow.

"I built you to be invincible, not to have a bleeding heart."

Avi froze.

"What did you just say?" She asked.

"I didn't say anything," Mania snarled. He was standing over her, towering like some Colossus of insanity. "And soon, you never will again either."

"You built me to speak every language known to man, so that likelihood of being incomprehensible to speech is low." Avi said in her matter-of-fact way.

The moment it took for Mania to furrow his brow at her in confusion was all Avi needed to channel enough energy to spring back to her feet, and with a spin and a carefully aimed blast, send Mania sailing. He hit the railing and crumpled to the ground, unmoving.

For an instant, Avi wondered if the impact had killed him. It wasn't improbable, her results informed her, but unlikely. Still...

"Avi!"

Avi spun around, finding Bristol jogging towards her. The bridge beyond was devoid of zombies; the Union had done its work. "Are you okay?"

Avi glanced back to Mania, lying motionless a few yards away. "Yes."

When Avi returned Bristol's gaze, she knew that Bristol wasn't convinced, but didn't push it. "Okay. We need to go."

"Right," Avi said, and she and Bristol started to the opposite side of the bridge, where Tristan and CJ were waiting. However, a feeling like her feet being chained together froze her in place.

Bristol slowed to a stop, turning around. "Avi, what's--"

Avi looked over her shoulder and found Mania's hand, trembling, aimed at her. His eyes were flickering, as if losing their power, but filled with rage.

The next thing Avi knew, she was sailing over the railing of Haven Bridge, locked in a freefall for the icy water stories below. She braced for the impact that would surely kill her, unable to scream, the water approaching faster and faster--

As if she'd been tethered to a rope, Avi came to an abrupt stop less than a yard away from the water. Her own neon green eyes met her in horror from the water's surface, and when Avi averted them back up to the bridge, she found Bristol, reaching for her. And while her hands couldn't reach Avi, her control over air certainly had.

Slowly, Bristol raised Avi back up to the bridge. It wasn't until Avi's feet were safely back on the asphalt when Bristol lowered her arms.

Both girls were breathless--Avi from the fall, and Bristol from her rescue--but Avi managed to nod to Bristol. "Thank you."

Bristol waved a hand at Avi sarcastically, heaving a breath. "Don't mention it."

"Guys!" CJ called, and just like that, their reunion was cut short. Both girls dashed over to where CJ and Tristan were waiting.

"Glad you're not dead," CJ said to Avi by way of greeting.

"So am I," Avi responded.

"City Hall is two blocks from here," Tristan reported. "Once we get there, we find Liv, find Rune, and take him down."

"Sounds easy enough," Bristol shrugged. "Except for, y'know, all of it."

Tristan gave Bristol a wry smile, before glancing at Avi. "Ready to go?"

Avi cast one long look over her shoulder, as if expecting to see Mania lurking behind her once more, but she found nothing waiting for her back there. Everything was forward.

Avi turned back to Tristan, and nodded. "Let's give him hell."