“I’m in position.” I whisper as I look down at the collection of warehouses, letting my senses extend their full distance, looking to see if I can find what I’m supposed to be here for.

  There’s a lot of people around, but there’s nothing nefarious going on that I can see, though that’s the point according to Asher.

  The communicator thing in my helmet crackles to life, and Asher’s soft voice enters my ears and hopefully doesn’t broadcast to everyone where I’m hiding. “Do you remember the plan?”

  Holding back the desire to roll my eyes, I answer in affirmation.

  “Okay, if my intel is correct, on the northwest side there’ll be a gap for you to slip in. If we miss that window, you’re going to have to go with a louder entry option,” Asher says, doing his best to keep his tone neutral, but I can catch it rising in excitement.

  Part of me is excited too.

  Grin etched on my face, I make a small loop to the side of the building I want to enter through, watching the people loitering around to see when they’re going to move.

  Not having my phone or a watch made it a lot harder for me to tell time while I’m out being a super, but Asher had an idea for that, so it's time to put that to the test.

  Narrowing my map slightly to push the details into focus, I trace my mind along the notches of the clock, feeling the relative position of the hands and numbers before doing the mental gymnastics to get the right time.

  At two thirty-seven the two men loitering at this corner of the building end their conversation and begin wandering off.

  I’ll have a few minutes before the next group arrives, so it’s time to put my money where my mouth is and prove that I can do this.

  “Going dark.”

  I phase everything I can without killing my ability to run.

  With the alacrity of a shadow, or at least that’s what I’m hoping I’m doing it with. The distance between me and the building turns to nothing, and I phase fully, passing through the wall and dropping to the crawl space below in a fluid motion before returning solid.

  “Back.”

  “I didn’t catch anything on my cameras, and from thermal I can’t see you where you are, but move carefully,” Asher says, his voice hard to make out over the pounding of my heart.

  “On it,” I whisper before pulling myself along the path I had memorized the night prior.

  I’ll take a right here and then go thirty more feet, and then I should be right above the meeting room.

  While I’ve always known my map was a sphere, I use it for so little vertical information inspection that I forget about it sometimes, but right now I need it more than anything else.

  Willfully ignoring what’s in the shipping containers, I close the distance, arriving at my final location, where a very important detail comes to mind.

  I don’t have the power to hear through concrete. Yeah, I can feel a bunch of people talking beneath me, but I don’t know what they’re saying.

  “Asher!” I hiss. “How am I supposed to hear them?”

  The sound of the facepalm is deafening, and I wonder if he turned up the volume for that on purpose, and if I get caught because of a facepalm, I’m going to be pissed.

  There’s clearly a solution I’m missing.

  “Phase part of the shit between the two of you. Not so much that there’s a huge black patch or anything like that but a bunch of small straw holes that you can hear through,” Asher explains, sounding exhausted.

  That’s actually a good idea.

  One ?I’d never thought of before clearly since I haven’t tried it, but it should be within the realm of doable.

  “While you’re listening, don’t make any noise, not even to ask me if I’m getting the information that I need; they could have someone who can hear you,” Asher warns me before the communicator seems to stop humming with power.

  It should still be listening in on me, but I guess it’s no longer broadcasting information back.

  For this, I’m all alone.

  I take ?a breath to steady myself, fully intending to hold this as long as I need to for this ?ordeal to be over.

  A hand resting against the panel I’m about to put through phase surgery, I imagine several small, needle-sized tubes coursing from the top of the bottom wrapping each one of them in dark energy.

  Once I’m positive that I have a firm grip on them all, I push, and I can feel my power beginning to trickle away into it.

  More than that, I can hear the voices, and I’m baffled by how dehumanizing they’re referring to people.

  They have over a dozen people in that shipping container above me, and they’re just referring to them as cargo.

  Though the part I really wish they would talk about is the buyer they’re selling these people to.

  There’s only one thing I can think of here in Silver City where someone would buy up a bunch of kidnapped people, but there are stories of kidnapping rings in the news enough that I can comprehend the fact that there are other reasons.

  They just all make me sick.

  I can almost understand why Andromeda and all of them do it. The curiosity to push the world forward, and, honestly, making everyone healthier is probably a good thing in an ideal world.

  The pounding in my ears begins to get louder and louder until their conversation builds.

  Asher better start telling me that I’m allowed to go in and start beating heads together; otherwise, I’m going to go off script.

  The communicator crackles to life. “Got what we need. Feel free to take care of them, just make sure none of the hostages get hurt.”

  “Got it,” I whisper before going fully insubstantial, dropping into their meeting room before I surge forward, slamming a shoulder into the back of the fat guy who gesticulated wildly during the conversation.

  The man flies back, his waist slamming into the metal table they were meeting at, folding him in half before he falls to the ground in a ball.

  Before they can react, I dash towards the door the only way in or out of this room.

  A few of them follow me with their eyes, but by the time I reach the door, it’s too late. I might not have phase cutting, but Asher gave me more than a few ideas on how to ruin a door like this, leaving everyone in here trapped with me.

  If I had more control or time, there’s other options I could have tried to use, but I just go with the brute force option of wrenching and warping parts to make it so that this door isn’t opening in a hurry.

  I drop a little device to the floor; the gizmo turns fully solid before it gets halfway there and begins stalking towards the center of the room.

  “Drop your weapons and get on the ground,” the device chirps in my voice.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  This is working so much better than I was expecting it to. I had brought up the concern that I can’t speak when my body is phased, but Asher had just made me record a bunch of lines and given me several objects that I can drop that will do the right line depending on what Asher thinks fits.

  Personally, I don’t really want to let them surrender, but I suppose mercy is a skill that I should practice. And at the end of the day, if they comply without violence, isn’t that better for us?

  Though at least some grant my wish, as not everyone gets down on their knees, several get weapons ready, pointing them at me, shouting words that I can’t hear.

  “Those of you willing to surrender, I would advise getting down faster so you don’t accidentally get hit,” my voice blares from the device again as I engage those with guns and knives in hand.

  Between all the training with Travis my irritation and my ability to not be hit by everything, everyone who dared to oppose me has been sent to the ground to think about what they did and more than a few of them decided halfway through to get on the ground early.

  I turn myself solid and tap my helmet three times.

  “I called those people, and they said they need twenty minutes, so we have that long to clear out the place. Nobody in there should be able to get out, and they have plenty of air, so you’re good to go,” Asher relays.

  I move through the door, greeting the two people banging on it with a quick punch to the face before making my way upstairs.

  The ones who are trying to grab the hostages are the ones most deserving of my attention.

  The number Sasha gave me was for Containment, a company that helps with super cleanup, both in detaining and transferring criminals while also making sure people get home safe.

  “They aren’t fighters,” I mumble to myself, firming my resolve. This place needs to be safe for them and everyone else.

  Upon ascending to the top of the stairs, I dart towards the nearest person, grabbing them before throwing them to the floor with a loud thud.

  Stealth is pretty much out the window with all the sounds that came downstairs while fighting, so that only leaves speed.

  I race into one of the shipping containers holding a group of the hostages, dropping what little food, water and light I could carry. “It’s all going to be okay; you'll be free as soon as I finish taking out the trash,” I quickly get out before dashing to the next one, repeating the process.

  Once again, I do it for the third before I flip up to the top, surveying where everyone is moving.

  The captives should be safe for a while, and they can actually see and have at least a little bit to eat now.

  “There’s a strange heat signature just outside the warehouse, and it’s getting hotter.” Asher says. “Come on, asshole. I need you to pick up and be able to hear me. I don’t want to say this a third time.”

  “Got it moving to intercept.” I say before bounding off the container, phasing as I fly through the air before rolling into my landing, popping up outside.

  The air shimmers around me.

  I focus on my surroundings, trying to see if there’s something actionable I can do. The answer is probably knockout and incapacitate the person that’s putting out all of this heat.

  “Ways to punch someone pumping out enough heat that they’re causing the air to shimmer?” I ask, running in the direction where the shimmer seems to be the most vibrant.

  With the air seeming to shoot up in temperature as I run this way, I’m going to guess that means I’m going in the right direction.

  “Uh, you still can’t do phase cutting nor sink them through the ground so…” Asher trails off as I round the corner, getting eyes on what looks to be a living fire monster. Of some kind.

  At least I think it’s supposed to be a living fire. I’ve never seen fire the color of green apples.

  “I’m not punching that.” I say, trying to see if there’s anything I can sense inside the elemental.

  Beneath all of the toxic flames, there’s someone about my size in the center, their motions mimicking the motions of the living bonfire.

  “You’re going to have to figure out a way to stop her. While the heat isn’t bothering you, it’s already getting hot enough to bother other people. If they keep ratcheting up the heat, they’ll cook everyone inside,” Asher says, and I can hear him typing fast.

  “Any drones that can help?” I ask, searching the ground for something small that I could remove and throw.

  “I’m sending some of the bigger ones now, and they have some stuff that might help, but it’s going to take ten minutes, so you’ll need to stop them till then.”

  “I’ll stop them before then. Don’t expect any responses for a while,” I say before phasing my head before a response can be conjured.

  Reaching down, I grip a broken piece of concrete tugging. There’s not a lot of give, but that’s not what I was looking for.

  With a lurch, the stone phases and I lift it up before tossing it like the world’s worst football, careening through the flame elemental and carving a huge hole through it that slowly reforms.

  I go solid to check for any responses, but beyond the sound of crackling fire that has gone through a helium filter, there’s nothing for me to hear.

  I take solace in the fact that nobody has started screaming yet.

  “Hey toasty! How about you try to take on the problem instead of just throwing a temper tantrum? Try out those critical thinking skills you decided to ignore growing up?” I taunt jogging backwards towards my next rock.

  The fire elemental lets out a crackling roar, though if we’re going to be honest, it sounds closer to a hyena laughing from an animated movie than anything really scary.

  The second rock is significantly lighter, and I throw it much more precisely.

  I hit the fire elemental’s center.

  Whoever’s inside of it shoots out another jet of flame that sends both themselves and the elemental towering into the air.

  Okay, so whoever is inside that doesn’t think they can take a giant rock to the leg, which is some kind of information.

  I silently make taunting motions, phasing as much of my body as I dare to.

  There aren’t nearly enough rocks for me to ?continue this form of assault, so I’m going to have to move onto the plan I hate significantly more.

  Ducking around another warehouse, I scale the wall as fast as possible, not enjoying just how hot it is as I grab on.

  Focus.

  I’m at about fire elemental head height as they round the corner, but I push off the wall anyway in a shadowy superman punch, flying through the fire elemental just above where the controller is.

  I go solid to taunt again, but the heat slams into me, and I stumble forward, phasing my body again, not wanting to have anything to do with the air trying to cook my mouth and lungs from the inside out.

  Scampering away, I decide to set up my final trap. I’m going to need some room to move for this one, but I also want the fire lady to move in a way that’s predictable.

  Times like this, I can’t imagine being stuck with normal senses. Within seconds I’ve found somewhere that meets my criteria, and I start herding the fire elemental in that direction, slowly angling myself to get trapped at a t-intersection where they’ll have mostly cornered me.

  As I get to my last stand, I go fully solid and pant for breath, hoping to play up the fact that I’m exhausted as I get myself ready.

  “Come and get me, dumbass!” I shout, flipping them the bird before phasing again as they begin their fiery charge.

  At the last possible second, I slip to the side.

  As the fire person rushes by me, I take the risk, going fully solid as I pull out the metal box, hitting the button.

  The device begins to whine and whirl before finishing reshaping itself into the form of the laser gun.

  Holding the gun in two hands, I aim for the fire person’s center of mass before pulling the trigger.

  At first, I didn’t think anything happened.

  I didn’t see a flash of light. I didn’t hear anything. There was no dramatic slowing of time as the fire person twisted into a pretzel to dodge it.

  That thought is immediately followed by I couldn’t have seen or heard anything and that is then followed by the fire elemental is dissolving the woman in the center, falling to the ground, touching her stomach.

  I rush over, pulling out bandages from my bag.

  Most of the injuries I give people are blunt, and they’re usually still conscious or at least breathing, so I put them in the category of fine.

  I don’t know where laser blasts to the stomach is on the scale of injuries, but I’m going to guess some first aid right now is going to be worth a lot of effort.

  Once the fire elemental lady is bandaged and, I hope, stable, I tune into the rest of my surroundings.

  “Eta, on the people here to help?”

  “Four minutes, you should have enough time to get everyone out of the containers and do your vanishing act.” Asher confirms.

  “Thanks,” I say, going over and doing just that.

  While I don’t have the foggiest on how to deal with the looks as if I’m some sort of hero that freed them, it feels good to make an instant and immediate impact on so many people.

  Once everyone is out of the containers, I extricate myself from the situation, lying on top of the rooftop monitoring everything.

  It wouldn’t do for me to screw the landing.

  “So how are you feeling after that one?” Asher asks, his voice blaring in my ear as I watch the people that showed up from the number Sasha had given me take the kidnapped people away, hopefully to somewhere safe.

  “I’m glad.” I admit watching as a woman of my age reunites with a small kid.

  “Still positive that you’re going to hang up the helm when you’re done with the mask?”

  “Asher,” I sigh.

  “We’re in the field. I'm Miracle, remember Badger.”

  “Badger?”

  “Yeah, you’re? all black and white and don’t have a name picked out yet, so I’m going with random black and white stuff till you pick one.”

  That’s going to get annoying.

  “How much more of this level shit is there in our home?” I ask, changing the subject.

  “If you mean scale, probably not a ton. Enough that maybe you, I and someone else to help could handle it all. If you mean this dark, then more than we’ll ever know or see. The most common human emotion is greed; there’s always people doing this kind of shit,” Asher says, his voice faltering.

  “Tonight was excellent, but I’m not going to go all in just yet. But I want to keep working together,” I say, steeling my resolve.

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