My eyes were on Dynamo as we made our way deeper inside, Lassie and my soldiers taking up the rear and keeping an eye for any reinforcements. We doubted STING had another building in the area under their control, but it was always wise to be cautious.

  A power like Dynamo’s, I hated to admit, was damn impressive. Super strength, what must have been a high invulnerability gradient, and what appeared to be electrokinesis. Sure the gender change was perhaps a little embarrassing, and the time limit a hindrance, but I didn’t see why he was so weird about it.

  Best to say nothing, I told myself, if he was so sensitive about it. Still, it could be a problem if he didn’t get over the issues quickly. A decent crew needed muscle, after all.

  “Great work everyone,” Cheshire said, twirling one baton as she walked along. “We showed those nerds who’s boss. No offence, Toys.”

  “You’re a natural comedian.”

  We started down the stairwell, taking the same route my scout had taken. My soldiers I left in the doorway, keeping watch if anyone else came our way. STING turning up felt unlikely. But the cops? Other heroes? Public security drones? We couldn’t discount the possibility.

  “Remember to grab those rifles of theirs on the way out,” I said. “I plan on reselling them. And studying them.”

  “You don’t think that’s gonna be pissing STING off?” Foresight asked, cocking his head.

  I shrugged. “We’re already raiding one of their labs. Feels like we’ve passed that point.”

  “Eh... fair enough, scary girl.”

  Reaching the locked door, Stretch moved ahead of us and enlarged her right fist until it was nearly as big as her torso. “Knock knock.” Her punch tore the steel door off its hinges, warping the shape of her knuckles into the metal. “They don’t make these security doors like they used to.”

  “Shoddy craftsmanship,” said Cheshire, clicking her tongue behind her helmet. “Let’s keep going, room by room. Toymaker you let us know what you want to bring with us. Anything else? It’s getting smashed.”

  The first room, unfortunately, was a break room. Nothing of value to be taken, save for a bag of Choco-Fingers, which I took for myself. Everything else we smashed to pieces.

  The next room, however, was more promising. We went through, destroying computers and complex pieces of lab equipment, but my eyes were soon drawn to a set of green steel crates at the back of the room. Each one had what looked to be a white horseshoe symbol printed on the metal.

  “Department Omega?” I mumbled, surveying one box.

  “Department what?” asked Dynamo.

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  “It’s a government branch, handles Apex matters,” I said, drumming my fingers on the lid of the crate.

  Stretch tilted her head. “I thought ANVIL handled all the Apex stuff.”

  “ANVIL deal with law enforcement for Apexes. Department Omega deal with R&D for supertech,” I said. ANVIL were the body of a great hydra, from which extended an assortment of heads that each handled a specific kind of business.

  Inside the first few boxes I was disappointed to find little beyond armour plates or small computer components. Things that could be useful, of course, but only with the right material to work with. But, on one of the smaller boxes, we struck gold.

  “Ho-ly shit. I’ve only seen these things in Youtube videos.” It was a long and flat board of steely blue metal, upon which sat a moving arm and a small bank with a USB port in the side.

  Cheshire cocked her head. “What is it?”

  “Well, it’s what we nerds like to call a nano-lathe. It’s a type of 3D printer used by Artisans. Input your raw material, the lathe can be used to forge individual components for it. Mind if we leave this at the hideout? It’s a bit cumbersome for my room.”

  Cheshire shrugged. “You do you, Toys. Figure we can get some use out of it, if it’s as good as you make it sound.”

  And so we pressed on, leaving a trail of destruction in our wake. Finally we reached the last of the rooms STING had set up, one that seemed to have been partitioned larger than the others. Generators hummed from within, joined by the muffled beeps and boops

  The door gave way after Stretch kicked it in, revealing the large room beyond. My eyes were drawn first to the one STING agent in the room, distinguished by the large pauldron on her right shoulder. She raised one gauntleted hand toward us, lightning dancing between her metal fingertips, the crackling sound echoing around us.

  “Bad enough Jupiter is shutting us down, but did he have to send fucking children to do the job?” she asked, her voice a mix of sleepiness and anger.

  “No need to be salty about it. Just business,” Foresight replied.

  “Hagen, I take it?” I asked.

  She glared at me. “And how’d you hear that?”

  “Little birdy told me,” I replied. Already that lone soldier was moving from behind cover, passing the crates in the corner to guard my rear. “Look, we’ve already beaten up all your guards, all your shit is smashed up. Just step aside and let us break the rest of this shit. You’ll lose your stuff, but you won’t have a concussion at least.”

  Hagen snorted, flicking a switch on the console beside her Suddenly the large tube in the corner of the room began to rattle and hiss, kicking up sprays of steam. The metal shutters began to roll down, clicking noisily on every notch. A glass tube revealed itself, the interior curled with frost while bubbles rose in steady streams through the green liquid within.

  And there, suspended in the fluid was something that could only be called... well, something. It was vaguely humanoid in shape, muscular skin a deep ebony shade with a white belly. White rings circled large, closed eyes. The large hands were webbed, each finger tipped with a large claw. The legs bent at an angle, like a raptor.

  “We’ve invested a lot of time and money into this little project. You think I’m just going roll over for a pack of pissants like you?”

  Dynamo and Foresight exchanged a glance? “Pissants?” Foresight murmured.

  Hagen moved quickly, firing electricity from her gauntlet while her other hand deftly flicked a switch. Liquid drained slowly from the tube, and the great beast within started to stir. Stretch did as her namesake implied, forming into a broad curtain to block the blast of electricity.

  “This uh... isn’t your day,” she said, staring at the energy running harmlessly across her rubbery body. Cheshire was behind Hagen in an instant, clubbing her around the back of the head and knocking her out cold.

  “Well,” Cheshire crossed her batons behind her neck. “That was good. Wanna grab a bite to eat after we send word to Jupiter’s people? I now a wicked Thai spot.”

  “Uh...” I slowly raised a hand and pointed at the tube.

  “Oh, actually, there’s this great Ethiopian place up by Hunter’s Aven-”

  “Chesh, for FUCK’s sake!” I shouted, pushing past her. But the tube shattered at that moment, spraying glass and anomalous green liquid into the room.

  “Ah shit,” Stretch mumbled.

  Whatever was in that tank let out a lengthy bellow as it woke.