Corey stared at the hospital room behind the sealed glass, wishing that there was something to be done.

  His wife was gone. And his daughter would never walk again. All because they're supers.

  He clenched his hands tightly, reaching for something to grab ?hold of with his powers, but there was nothing nearby.

  Corey wasn't blessed with the ability to generate his element in any capacity. All he could do was control and alter it.

  But if the element was rare, it could be really hard to use such an ability.

  He knew he should get himself clean, but if he cleaned off the blood of his family, did that mean they're truly gone?

  He couldn’t accept that.

  “Mr. Voss!” a doctor said loudly, his tone indicating it's not the first time he had made that statement.

  “Yes?” Corey rasped out, his voice hoarse.

  “Due to her power, we can't do anything more for Cassandra,” the doctor said, not even bothering to sound apologetic about that fact.

  “What do you mean?” Corey said, his eyes beginning to glow black and crimson as he took a step towards the doctor.

  The doctor backed up, holding his hands up defensively. “She can shoot out super-heated ash, killing everyone in the room with her. If she loses control, well, it's more risk to us than to her. She's? super right; they don't need us. She'll stitch back together naturally and go back to breaking houses in time.”

  Corey did his best not to respond to all the statements that pissed him off. Cassandra being okay was more important. Nobody in their family heals fast.

  “She can't blast any power out while she's unconscious, and she hasn't lost control in over a year.” Corey said hopefully.

  “And do you have proof of that?” The doctor asked gleefully.

  “What if you tell me what to do?” He begs. “I don't have that problem. Cass can't hurt me.”

  The two continue the conversation for a while, but it gets nowhere.

  Until a super doctor is available, Cass was going to stay in the hospital room alone unless Corey could do something.

  His job couldn’t help anymore than they are already doing.

  Unless a volcano is going off, it's not like Corey is actually doing anything most of the time.

  But if there was one going off…going off…

  What if?

  It would get at least a superhero response, right? And then they would learn about Cass.

  And maybe then there would be a healer who can save her?

  Corey pushed a hand against the glass separating him from his daughter. “I'm going to save you. Your future will still burn bright, I promise.”

  Corey had already lived for a long time. Cass has only just started to spread her wings. The math is simple.

  A few hours later, Corey stepped out of his car and went off the beaten trail, heading closer and closer to Yellowstone, letting the power of the mountain flow into him, saturating him.

  Corey reached a hand out, pulling on the power of Yellowstone beneath him to draw more lava to the surface.

  It was slowing down the eruption; he’s pushing the volcano too, but one can’t be doing something like this without attracting the attention of some heroes. Better to have some material to fight with versus get as close as possible to the big finish but cannot do so because you got knocked out, and some hero fixed it.

  As the Corey coated himself in lava, hiding his body in a golem of the stuff, a hero arrived riding a surfboard of earth, the only thing holding up the stone being her power.

  “Warden!” Corey shouts from the lava monster, his voice barely able to be heard over the sizzling of the stone. He could keep it liquid for as long as he needed, especially when he drew directly from the source, but it took some effort to keep it all together.

  “Can I talk you out of this?” She called out, her voice amplified by an unseen microphone. “Do you know how bad things are going to get if you make a volcano go off? You would forever change the trajectory of humanity.” She said the stone beneath them is not yet moving.

  “The status quo has to change! If it had been changed, she would still be alive. And our daughter would be recovering!” He roared, more lava shooting out of the ground at high speeds towards Warden.

  Corey knew it was a lost cause already. There were tons of heroes he’s pretty sure he could beat. Lava could overcome many things.

  Not Warden. The inescapable goddess of the earth.

  Warden flew back as multiple earth spikes shot out of the ground, stopping the lava flows.

  Corey built himself higher until he could see Warden directly. “Don’t fight me. I’m on your side. I want to make this world a better place.”

  Warden said nothing, but how were you supposed to tell the expression of a mask carved out of stone? The only expression on that face was the one she wanted you to see, and if it ever changed away from the permanent gentle smile, well, he’s not sure if there’s a more terrifying sight.

  “I won’t let you change the world through fear.” Warden said the walls of earth climbed up into the sky, stopping him from getting out.

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  Notably, she didn’t block the lava flows. Whether it’s because she couldn't reach that far into the earth or that she’s not afraid of him using his power, he couldn't help but wonder.

  “Respect!” Corey lied.

  Inside his self-made prison of lava, Corey looked at his hands, and all he could see was the blood covering them he still hadn’t found the power to wash off.

  “For you,” he choked out as the lava heated up hotter and hotter as it spun around him faster.

  Underneath her mask, Warden frowned as she took hold of even more of the earth. She couldn't control the lava directly, and stopping it from seeping out of the ground is proving to be irritatingly difficult.

  It’s going to be hard to take him down quietly, and she knew it. “Please surrender!” Warden called out a giant spear of stone rising out of the sky and hovering next to her as it spun around, angling for the lava monster. She could ?barely make out where the manipulator was inside his creation, so she shouldn’t accidentally hit him.

  With a thought, more stone shot up from the ground surrounding Warden in another layer of stone armor as she drifted to the side, avoiding attacks as she launched her stone spear through the golem.

  If it were solid, the spear would have pinned the creature to the ground.

  It being made of lava… it sort of sloughed through it, reaching for Warden.

  Drifting to the side, she sent a few half-hearted attacks toward the monster's core, seeing just how much force she’ll need to use to penetrate the monster and have enough power to hurt but not truly injure her opponent.

  As she glided to the side of a massive fist, a column of lava blasted Warden out of the sky.

  Corey looked around the lava rolling across the ground for Warden, but she seemed to have vanished. She’s not in the air, and she isn’t anywhere else he can see.

  None of her attacks had done anything besides spread out the lava and force him to spend more energy to pull it all together, holding the form.

  He could still taste ?ash in his mouth.

  That taste only spurred him on faster.

  Lances of lava spear through the ground, heating rapidly in an attempt to melt the earth.

  As he did so, he regretfully poured even more power away from Yellowstone, delaying the blast even further. But there’s nothing ?he can do about it.

  Like a demon ascending from hell in an explosion of rock and flame, Warden shot out of the ground, wings and armor made of stone covering her in a black material that seemed to almost eat the light and heat around her.

  “That’s not a normal stone!” He rasped, swinging a fist of lava that Warden artfully dodged, sending a trio of earth spikes that pierced almost all the lava, just barely poking the tip through into the core where he’s hiding.

  His eyes widened at the realization that she knew where he was, though whether that’s more or less pressing than the absorbing all of existence stone is a different question.

  “Humans aren’t the only things with powers.” Warden agreed, angling a black spear at his heart. Not the golem's heart, but his.

  He could make it go hotter and pack more lava in, but was that actually going to help at all?

  “Why do you have to save them?” He pleaded, blasting a torrent of magma, trying to get any attack to stick.

  “Because I have to try. If there aren't any heroes, supers would be treated even worse,” Warden snapped back, the walls holding back the flow growing even taller and beginning to pull in.

  “Only if they have a power like yours or if they're useful!” He said, creating a ball of magma and shooting it near Warden, hoping she dodged predictably.

  Warden didn't say anything as she glided to the side as she continued to compress some of the stone to make a proper spear.

  Corey finally used his ability to manipulate the projectiles midair and curved the multiple magma blasts towards Warden without losing a lick of speed.

  The battle continued, but no matter what Corey attempted, it’s a losing battle; however, Warden seemed to have no interest in fully taking over the fight. Warden was content to keep this stalemate.

  At least it’s a seemingly stalemate. Corey is spending more and more with every second, and he’s slowly losing ground, retreating closer and closer to the mountain.

  Which, while limiting his potential for destruction, it brought him closer to the center of his power. Maybe if he could bathe in the volcano itself, he could summon enough power to truly fight back?

  Not wanting to continue this, Corey, clad in his lava form, lunged towards the mountain, his focus entirely on the swirling magma beneath him.

  In a blink, Warden stood between the golem and the volcano, another massive wall of stone beginning to rise from the ground.

  “I can’t let you do that. If you want to fight, we’ll fight here with you able to get material but not close enough to let the mountain go boom. Got it?” Warden said, her voice with a great hint of danger.

  Corey looked at that expression, taking a few moments to think. He’d already gotten the chance to go toe to toe with a superhero; could that be enough?

  All he needed to do is keep fighting long enough for them to get someone to heal her? Then convince him to stop?

  Corey is just not sure if he’s able to last long enough or push Warden hard enough to get to that point.

  It didn’t matter whether or not he’s sure about it. He had to do it. Even if it burned him up from the inside out, he’ll save what’s left of his family.

  The sun visibly drifted across the sky as the fight continued.

  The once towering lava golem now stood not even three stories tall, though the land was covered in now-cooled magma and giant cavities of stone that had been sheared out of the ground and placed somewhere else.

  “You do realize that this land is going to be permanently scarred until someone like you or me fixes it right?” Warden growled as a pillar of stone blocked a blast of lava.

  “I’ll fix it later than soon as I get what I want.” Corey rasped, his voice strained as he brought more lava up into his golem and reheated some of the lava.

  The tension of Warden’s shoulders seemed to ease rapidly, but the fight continued to ravage the landscape as she effortlessly cut through lava and sent huge pillars of stone into the ground, plugging every hole the lava breached to reach their master.

  A hero on wings of golden light rocketed onto the battlefield, wings shimmering.

  Warden smiles underneath her mask at the sight of a work friend breaking onto the scene, thankfully invited for once.

  Corey stopped the lava blast he was shaping guttering out. In fact, his entire lava construct seems to be slowly falling apart, with more and more of it falling to the ground and flowing around naturally.

  In Icon’s arms is a college student; one who no longer had both of her legs removed.

  One who bears a striking resemblance to Corey.

  Cass looks on at the monster disguising her dad in something approaching horror.

  “Don't be too upset unless he keeps fighting. Sometimes destructive supers make a big deal out of something so we react and save their family, willing to burn out their life to save a loved one.” Icon whispers into her ear before his wings begin to shoot out even farther, the light going from a pale gold to a piercing white.

  More and more of the lava fell until Corey’s human body could be seen. “I’ll go.” He said in a soft voice as stone flies to him and slowly rock builds around him. “I’m sorry, Cass,” he said, looking up at the hero and woman cloaked in radiant light. “I needed to make a big enough sound that they would help you.”

  “You are going to have to atone for this, but as someone who has a useful ability, you’ll probably be able to get out eventually.” Warden said gently, raising a finger and gesturing for Icon and Cass to descend to the ground.

  Corey just stared at his only family, unable to come up with any form of defiance to speak. After all, the heroes did something that was impossible.

  “Dad…” She trailed off, looking at the heroes as if asking for permission.

  One that after a moment of glances between themselves, they gave a simultaneous nod and watched as the two reunited.

  “Don’t let anyone take away your hope,” Corey mumbled with a bittersweet smile.

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