The ability to move around without hurting. I knew I was missing it, but still.

  To nearly fly while switching between phased and solid on a whim?

  And without Asher tonight, I’m free to move on my own and just enjoy it.

  With a bit of effort, I send myself flying through the air, heading toward the lab. I’ll probably still have Asher with me when I seriously try to do anything against them, but it’s been a while since I’ve been in the area and I want to remind them that I’m around so they don’t get too excitable.

  I need to work on my landings; they're pretty loud most of the time.

  This spot is as good as any, so I stop my monkey shenanigans and look around to see if there’s something catching my eyes, or any other sense, for that matter.

  The physical and auditory sensation of rain is taking up most of my other physical senses.

  I love the smell of rain though, so I’ll happily take it.

  And rain hopefully means I’m less likely to fight some pyrokinetics because I think I’ve fought those like three or two times? Does a lightning elemental count as a type of pyrokinetic?

  Probably not, but I’ve been fighting lots of people who can burn me, and you know I would like to change it up.

  Maybe I’ll fight a healer who heals me every time I get injured because they have an uncontrollable wave of healing power that mends everyone near them?

  That might be wishful thinking.

  Sitting down on my back and leaning against an AC unit, I close my eyes and expand my senses, trying to see what I can feel.

  Rain is significantly more irritating in this sense. Movement is one of the big things I look for when I’m feeling the world, and with everything moving around, it makes it all muddled.

  I extend my range further until I hit the comfortable limit, and I can feel some folks puttering around the lab now.

  Just a little farther.

  Breathing slowly to remain calm, I push even farther out, extending my range in all directions.

  Like a weighted blanket wrapping around my brain, I strain against it, pushing harder and harder.

  I don’t want to hurt myself, but I need my range to be more at the moment. I don’t need ?good detection quality, just distance right now.

  The map snaps back to my natural range.

  “Damn it!” I curse, going to pinch the bridge of my nose in irritation before stopping at the contact of my helmet, leaving me unable to do so.

  Standing up, I pace around the rooftop trying to get myself into some kind of zen state. It’s not really working. “Focus.”

  Now with my mind strained, it’s even harder than last time to extend my ability out as far as I want it, but I manage it.

  The entire lab is in my vision, so to speak, and I can watch.

  Without fine vision, I can’t tell who or what everyone is, but I don’t need to know who they are.

  Counting the bodies in the morgue, I let out a sigh of relief. It’s the exact same count as the last time I was here. Hopefully, that means there have been no more deaths.

  I lean back, letting myself land on the roof with a happy sigh. “Soon. We’ll be there soon.”

  Reconnaissance done now. It’s time for step two of my plan.

  Which is also more reconnaissance since I want to know from where they’ve been getting into the sewer network since it’s been a pain in the ass for my personal highway to have been crawling with annoyances.

  I haven’t been able to fight them every time I’ve seen them either, so recently they’ve been able to have free rein in the place.

  Alright, let’s do this.

  No superhero landings to see here. I scale down the building like a normal person. You know if a normal person had the ability to stick their hands through walls to get a grip ?and had the strength to hang on to their entire body weight by a few fingers.

  Walking around till I’m directly above what I think should be a border wall of the lab, I extend the map back to my regular distance and begin walking around the perimeter, following the wall to see if there are any discrepancies.

  When I find where they’ve made their entrance to the sewers, I can’t help but be a little disappointed.

  Below me, where there should be a wall between the lab and the rest of the city’s underground, is a large hole in the wall with rubble piling up on either side of it.

  It was probably Kurt who just blew a hole through the wall, if I had to guess. Just gathered up a ton of energy and bam busted through, but that doesn’t seem super fun now, does it?

  Electing not to listen to the compulsive thoughts in my head, I run in a different direction.

  Step three includes harrying some of the folks down here, but I don’t have the ego required for me to really want to do that right outside their base.

  Just because I’m nearly impossible to hurt doesn’t mean everyone fighting near us has that feature.

  Once I’m roughly a mile away, I make sure there’s nobody nefarious looking underneath me before dropping through the ground and landing in a crouch.

  Now to go hunting. Even if I don’t know where anyone is.

  Besides the ice patch I saw once, I don’t know if anyone is really down here besides the mooks they have on payroll.

  One ice patch does not mean Horrorfrost is always down here, now does it?

  As I begin hunting, I run through the list of supers I know about that work for them trying to come up with a battle strategy for each one.

  Andromeda seems difficult? I don’t know if she’s as physically strong as me, but something about quality and quantity. If there’s a hundred of her, does it matter if I can take any individual one of them down easily?

  Though maybe she’ll lose control if the main one is knocked out? So, I really only need to hurt one person? That could work.

  The green gobliness? Not a problem. If her ability requires physical senses, specifically eyesight, to work like she said, I'll just close my eyes and fight her just with the map. I have to do that when I’m down here or in the dark anyway, so I have practice.

  Kurt and Horrorfrost are a bit more irritating.

  Last time I fought Kurt we were probably in what was probably as fair of a spot for both of us but if I fight him where he has a lot of stuff I might not be able to go solid again because there’s constantly going to be stuff inside my phased body.

  And when I fought the ice lady, she nearly froze my hand off, so I’m not feeling particularly endeared to her.

  As something large enters my range, I stop considering how I’m going to fight future opponents and narrow in on the one I’m going to be facing soon.

  Sidling up to the wall, I try to get a better sense of the big thing moving around down here.

  There’s something very classic about a giant lizard person moving around in the sewers, so I’ll applaud them for having thematically appropriate minions, but really, couldn’t I fight a giant bunny rabbit with soft fur instead?

  Always keeping the lizard in range, I move closer, trailing them as I close the distance and can make out more and more detail.

  Apparently, giant monsters don’t need to wear shirts but do at least elect to wear pants.

  More than a small part of me is grateful for that. Even if they’re shapeshifted or mutated, I don’t want to breach anyone’s privacy.

  …anymore than I already do with having perfect spatial awareness or whatever it’s called.

  The only noteworthy thing besides all the lizardy bits is a large collar encircling its neck.

  Why does a giant lizard monster have the fashion accessory of a collar? Who am I to guess, but I’m probably going to presume that I should get rid of it as soon as possible?

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  They either got new muscle or they have a way to control the people they’ve turned into supers, which is probably a good guess doesn’t do well to make a bunch of supers and have no way to control them.

  Could it be the collar?

  Though if it’s the collar, wouldn’t they only be able to control people’s abilities that are entirely physical?

  Even if someone could take full control of all of my limbs, I don’t think that they could stop me from phasing.

  Actually, if that’s the case, it makes sense why a lizard person would be what they choose to subjugate. If you have control of that body, presumably you have control of all the powers that could be in there, right?

  Plan: ‘rip the collar off of the lizard’ makes its way a few notches higher up my list as I follow the lizard farther out into the city.

  There doesn’t seem to be any thought behind ?its movements beyond moving away from the lab, which works for me.

  After following the lizard for twenty minutes and making sure that there’s nobody near me, I decide it’s time to do a little ?fighting.

  Breaking into the run, I cut a few corners, ending up in front of the lizard. “Hey fancy seeing you here.”

  The lizard roars, lumbering after me, arms outstretched.

  Passing through the reach, I leap up and through the lizard, twisting through the air so that when I’m solid, I can land on their back.

  Gratefully, my armor is good enough that I don’t scrape myself up when I land on the lizard’s scales, but the grating sound doesn’t make me all that endeared to the idea of letting it get a hold of me.

  Gripping the collar tightly, I brace with my feet and pull, trying to snap the collar via my brute strength.

  Before I know what’s happening, I’m peeling myself off the floor, my entire right side screaming in pain as the lizard spins around, tail swishing aggressively behind them.

  “Ow,” I whimper, bringing my fists up. That had hurt.

  The lizard may have gotten me once, but I’m not going to let him get me again.

  Ducking under a swing, my fist slams into their knee as I pull the map in closer.

  I need to see inside them.

  To minimize my ability usage, I pull in closer to the lizard, using its massive body against them, giving me plenty of time to use my physical ability to slip aside most attacks.

  Lizardman drops to the ground, and I push off into the air at the same time.

  Digging my hands into the ceiling, I swing my hips hard, slamming my boots into the ceiling, pinning myself above as the tail thrashes below me, sending concrete chips flying.

  Phasing through the rocky assault, I come crashing down, my boot coming eye to eye with the lizard, sending us both tumbling into a heap.

  Using my power to break away, I scramble to my feet, finally dialing my map to where I can pierce the skin of the Lizardman and the collar.

  No idea what kind of invasive surgeries were involved with the installation, but as it seems to be inside the lizard just as much as outside messing with various parts of their body, I’m going to guess just ripping it out of them isn’t an option.

  Not if I want them to be able to adjust to a normal life afterwards.

  Err… normal enough for a ten foot tall lizard person, that is.

  Racing forward, I pass through the tail, solidifying the tips of my fingers as they brush against the collar.

  A pulse of energy leaves me and enters the collar, giving me a clearer picture of the device but unfortunately not phasing it.

  I’m positive I can phase it.

  But the thing is so integrated, I’m going to need a lot more time to pull it apart.

  “Whoever’s inside that body, if you have any control, could you please restrain yourself as I try to remove the collar?” I ask, dancing backwards as I try to decipher where it ends and the body begins.

  The lizard roars, but this roar seems significantly less angry than the last one?

  Though the last one didn’t seem particularly angry last time, either.

  I need a light so I can see the lizard’s expressions!

  Running along the wall, the only item that has a light I can use is the pulse pistol, and I would rather not shoot them in the face so I can see the expression.

  “I’m sorry, this is probably going to hurt!” I call before slamming a knee into the throat of the lizard just above the collar.

  Putting the lizard in a chokehold, I phase most of my body except my chest and arms, letting it fly through the lizard every which way as we thrash.

  My right hand on the collar, I pour more of my attention inward, ignoring the impacts on the walls as we thrash about.

  A cold breeze blows across us, and I redouble my efforts.

  Finally, the lizard or whatever is controlling the lizard has enough of my shit and grabs my forearm and I have to choose between risking injury and using the chance to continue studying or if I take the loss and let myself be thrown or phase out of it.

  As the lizard begins to pull, I phase my full body, landing on the floor before kicking up with all of my might.

  The lizard rises into the air, but that’s all I need.

  Rolling out from underfoot, I get to my feet, bringing my left foot up and down, aimed right at the lizard's shoulder.

  If I can’t ask nicely, I’ll just hurt them until I can free them.

  Not a solution I like, but it’s the one I have.

  The world shakes, and the roof comes crashing down on the two of us.

  Letting out a shriek of surprise, I put my power into high gear and run away from the collapsing ceiling.

  As multiple projectiles fly through me, I have an irritating realization.

  I really should have been paying attention to it getting colder. And if I pull in my map to see inside the lizard to try and trace the collar, someone above, just walking on the normal street level, can sneak up and attack me.

  Something Horrorfrost was happy to demonstrate.

  At least it’s probably her. I don’t know anyone else who would drop a mini-glacier on the street to break through.

  With it being a two on one, I can’t risk fighting blind, especially if more of them are going to show up.

  Stifling my irritation, my mind map snaps out to its full distance, revealing to me that Horrorfrost has in fact come to play.

  It’s still raining.

  And I don’t know where anyone else is.

  “Have you ever considered you and I could have a normal battle with the two of us fighting without you sneaking up on me?” I accuse pointing at the cold villain.

  Horrorfrost and the Lizard don’t say anything, both getting into fighting stances.

  I close the distance between the two of us, dodging a volley of icicles, I try to keep the lizard between me and Horrorfrost.

  Hopefully, they don’t have a lot of practice as a team.

  Like the lizard, she’s moving robotically too. As robotic as human movements get, at least.

  Like she’s following directions instead of piloting her own body.

  Going to test my theory, I reach out my left hand in a claw trying to swipe at her neck where, if there is one, a control collar would be.

  A blast of white fills the air, and ice builds on my fingers as I scamper away.

  Questions whirl through my mind as I half-step into the wall to avoid a tail swipe.

  I need more room to move. I can barely dodge in all of this against two of them.

  Rain splashes against my helmet as I pull myself out of the wall.

  We’ve already destroyed the street above us, so for once I consider bringing the fight to somewhere more open. It would give me more room to move and, more than that, I could see.

  Deciding to take the idea, I crouch down before leaping up, passing through the asphalt, coming up on top and landing in a crouch.

  I don’t run though. I’ll wait for them right here.

  Eying the hole in the ground, I switch positions so that I might be able to attack them from behind.

  With a crack, the Lizard launches himself into the air, landing twenty feet away from me, Horrorfrost in his hand.

  Why wouldn’t the ice user have just made a giant cool staircase of ice? Wouldn’t that have been a lot easier than relying on the lizard to do it?

  Not if it works, I suppose.

  I dart forward, aiming to close the distance as fast as possible.

  Between the rain and the mood lighting, I’m feeling significantly cooler than I usually do when I’m out like this.

  “You know, isn't there supposed to be some banter going on between the three of us?” I comment as I put some more distance between me and the two villains.

  The lizard and the snowflake stare at me with contempt.

  That’s not true. Snowflake stares at me with a blank motorcycle helmet that leaves me no clue what she looks like.

  And the lizard doesn’t seem able to look at me no matter how much the head might be turned in my direction.

  Horrorfrost stretches out a hand, and a javelin made of ice appears, the tip pointed towards the ground.

  Hands held up, I race forward.

  The lizard can cause more damage to the area, so I’m going to try and take them out first. As long as I stay away from Horrorfrost, she’ll probably not do anything more than throw a few ice projectiles through me.

  The two versus one is actually going better than my one on one was going down earlier. The ability to have tons of area to move around is amazing.

  Enough for me to feel confident that I can try for the collar trick again.

  This time, though, I need to make sure that Horrorfrost doesn’t attack me while I’m doing it.

  Letting the Lizard grab me with his massive hands, he pulls me up into the air, a whimpering roar directed at me as I struggle against the grip.

  Getting out should be easy enough anyway, but I thought I could actually overpower them, to be honest.

  As the lizard brings me higher into the air to look at me, I finally get the chance to lock eyes with the lizard, and I can’t help but feel like I’m looking at a crying animal.

  I don’t know if giant, human mutated lizard people can cry, but the pain in the eyes and the rain make the feeling unmistakable.

  Phasing out of the grip, I let myself fall out of the hold before placing a hand on the collar. “I’m going to free you.” I promise.

  The entire world freezes.

  Lizard roars in pain, pulling away from me, ice crystals cracking and breaking with every movement as an icicle shaped exactly like my hand falls to the floor as I phase it out of the ice prison.

  Horrorfrost stalks forward, the circle of absolute cold moving with her.

  The rain turns into near bullets of ice as they slam into my reinforced boots.

  I try to turn to face her, only for my feet not to move, my boots having been frozen. It barely takes any effort for me to break free, but it was time and effort not spent fighting.

  The ice is spreading, and I can feel it sapping away at me.

  Any part of me not phased is quickly being entombed in frost.

  “Damn it.” I curse, charging headlong at Horrorfrost, trusting in my physical ability to let me move faster than I could be frozen.

  I don’t want to risk bringing my hands solid. The boots are way more armored than the gloves, so I’ll have to kick.

  As my foot arcs through the air, a second explosion of cold bursts through the air.

  I feel it coming this time.

  I phase my feet and let my now entirely ghostly body fall through the ground, landing in a heap.

  Safe for now.

  Returning to the fight quickly, I climb out of the hole in the ground to see a wall of ice.

  Did she freeze the entire air around us?

  More than that. Why can’t I feel them?

  There’s nothing in the ice.

  They got away.

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