Contract 3.3 (Patreon)

It didn’t take the three of us long to reach the chaos, and less than a minute of brisk jogging later we came upon the rampaging parahumans responsible for the mess.The teen had been telling the truth, it was the Teeth, though there were only two of them it seemed, the unpowered grunts that he had mentioned nowhere to be found. My earlier assumption had been right as Spree was indeed present. The man was currently using his clones to wreck the inside of an electronics store, a veritable crowd of the same person smashing whatever they could get their hands on until they slumped to the floor, quickly replaced by another of their number.To my relief, it seemed that the only other cape present was one I should be able to handle. Hemorrhagia was currently painting a wall with her blood, seemingly intent on making sure every tingle bit of the liquid worked itself into the brickwork, making it nearly impossible to remove. Underneath her feet was a pool of the crimson liquid, likely having emanated from the empty blood packs attached to her belt as she used them to replenish her supply.I looked around, noting a single person on the ground nearby the rampaging capes. I couldn't tell their gender or whether they were just unconscious or dead due to the sheer amount of blood covering their bodies thanks to Hemorrhagia, but I simply put it out of my mind as we approached the Teeth. If they were dead there was nothing we could do for them and if they weren't, then the only thing we could do was stop them from getting hurt any more.With that thought in mind, I stepped forward in front of my friends, raising my voice as I called out to the anarchist gang members, “I’d knock that off if I were you!” I brought attention to myself, “I doubt the owners of that fine establishment would much appreciate the amount of property damage you seem so intent on inflicting!”That got their attention and both of the cape’s eyes shot away from their current tasks to face us. Scowls came to Hemorrhagia’s face as she took in our costumes, while Spree looked much more calm about our sudden appearance.“Who the fuck are you?” Hemorrhagia called out, blood spinning around her slowly as she turned away from her macabre painting. She walked up to stand by the original Spree, glaring at us for interrupting her fun, “You guys heroes or something?”“If they are, they aren’t from Boston.” Spree said, looking us up and down, “I’ve never heard of a lizard monster roaming around the city, nevermind the other two. Probably out-of-towners or something.”A grin came to Hemorrhagia’s face, “That so? Well then, they must be ignorant or idiots to not know you don’t fuck with the Teeth.” She taunted. As she spoke, some of them blood circling her flowed onto her body, forming what looked like heavy scabs over the surface of her exposed skin. Some sort of makeshift armor?Either way, it looked like we were getting right into it, and I could feel myself tense in preparation as Spree stepped forward in front of his companion, breaking into a light jog towards us. Only a second or two later, a large crowd of clones burst forth from Spree's body, surging towards us on stumbling feet. Spitfire immediately burst into action, bringing a hand to her mask and undoing a small latch, exposing her lips.A torrent of burning liquid burst forth from her lips, splattering on the concrete in front of the rushing clones where it sizzled and popped with heat. Spree himself stopped dead in his tracks, eyeing the liquid warily and while his clones tried to do the same their momentum was too much and they only succeeded in tripping over one another. Directly into the flames.Screams of agony rang out and the air was filled with the smell of burning flesh as the clones were immolated moments before their functions ceased altogether, going brain dead as their bodies sizzled in the pits in the concrete that Spitfire’s power had created. My nose wrinkled at the foul smell that emerged and I couldn’t help but look away from the slightly ghastly scene.Spitfire herself was clearly unsettled by it judging by the way she was staring at the pit, not moving a single centimeter and looking like she was frozen in time. I set a hand on her shoulder, giving her a look, “You gonna be alright?” I asked her seriously, “Newter and I should be able to handle it if you can’t.”She didn’t respond for a moment, before she slowly shook her head, “No. No, I can handle it, I was just a bit surprised. I’ve never actually hit someone with my power before so it was a little… unsettling.”I kept looking at her for another moment before giving an assenting nod, “Alright, here’s how we’ll do it. You and Newter will handle Spree and I’ll take care of miss heavy flow over there. Between the two of you, his clones shouldn’t be too difficult to deal with and her blood shouldn’t be able to pierce my skin.”The two of them nodded, “Be careful Aspect.” Newter said as he turned to face Spree with Spitfire, “Don’t let her get the drop on you.”“Pshh, as if.” I called as I turned to the woman, the sounds of shouting sounding out behind me as Spree sent out more clones, “Get the drop on me, does he even know who he's talking to?”“A dumb bitch who's in over her head?” Hemorrhagia called tauntingly. Her blood was swirling around her faster now, what was left of it after making her armor at least.I raised an eyebrow at her taunt, “Just for that, I’ll make this quick.” I said, darting down to place my fingers on the ground and activating my power. Just like I had done numerous times before, I spread my presence towards her, shooting it forward and urging the concrete underneath her feet to soften and cause her to sink into it.Instead of panicking and sinking downwards like all of my other opponents however, the blood floating around Hemorrhagia rocketed downwards and soared underneath her feet. It expanded on the softened concrete, creating a wide platform that increased the surface area she was standing on and stopped her from sinking before she even began in the first place.That… was mildly concerning. I had been hoping to end the fight before it actually started.She laughed at my look of surprise, “That trick might work on those idiots back in your city, but we’re not some newbie gang! We’ve been in business for nearly as long as you’ve been alive!” She suddenly sprung forward off of her platform, feet thudding along the concrete as she escaped my power, before she suddenly began rushing towards me.“You’re just another cocky rookie! I’m going to enjoy gutting you, you stupid bitch!” Hemorrhagia laughed as she darted towards me. Blood coalesced around her arms, leaking from the various scabs along her forearms to form semi-large darts in mid air. She threw her arms forward, sending them flying towards me with intent to pierce through me.I cursed in my head as I stood, activating my power and hot swapping my material to match the steel weave of my costume. The darts reached me and, knowing that my hardened body would be able to stand up to the assault, I merely ran through it. The impacts of the sharpened blood felt like particularly hard pinches on my body as I rushed forward, splashing into the air around me and floating unnaturally as I left them in the wake of my charge.I had exactly zero ranged options apart from the trick I had tried earlier. Hemorrhagia on the other hand, had no such limitations. If I wanted to win against the other cape, I would have to keep this fight where I preferred it, close range.I brought an arm up as Hemorrhagia reached me, blocking her first strike with the steel limb before lashing out with my other hand, narrowing my eyes as she danced out of the way with ease. We began trading blows, and immediately I was glad that I hadn’t stopped my training. Despite her powers, the woman was no slouch when it came to close range combat and I was hard pressed to keep up as she danced around my strikes and forced me to block her own, laughing all the while.Knowing that making the woman bleed in any way would probably be a bad play, I morphed my hands into metal hammer, keeping to strictly blunt damage in our fight. I didn’t know if she could manipulate her blood when it was still under her skin, but bruises and broken bones were much preferred to scrapes and cuts when it came to a hemokinetic.With every punch and wave of her arms came a surge of the blood that was hovering around her body, stroking at me with just as much if not more force than the woman herself was striking with. It wasn’t actually damaging me all that much, merely rebounding off of my armored costume and skin, but it was certainly keeping me from regaining my balance and making the fight much harder than it normally would have been.Still, soon enough we got into a normal rhythm, blocking and dodging each other’s attacks as we both tried to gain the upper hand. As we fought, I opened my mouth to ask a question that had been on my mind.“So why are the Teeth in Charlston?” I asked, grunting at a strike that slammed into my guard, “Don’t you know this is Accord’s turf?”Hemorrhagia scoffed, dodging under a swing of my hammer and striking out ineffectually at my body, “Accord? That guy thinks he’s hot shit just because he’s got a tiny slice of territory in Boston. Thinks that his little team of sycophants will keep us out! We’re the fucking TEETH! We go where we please and do what we please, and that fucker’s had it too good for too long! It’s about time we reminded him who’s really top dog in this city.”So that’s what this was, more typical gang dick-measuring. How uninteresting. Well whatever, I wasn’t even honestly interested in it in the first place, I was just asking out of curiosity. And now that it had been sated, I could focus on our fight.I swung my hammer with much more force than before and Hemorrhagia blocked the blow with a shield of blood, my morphed hand smashing into it with an oddly wet sounding clang before the woman deflected it off to the side, causing me to stumble slightly. The woman acted on the opening, blood swirling into a large spike that she held in her other hand as she thrust it towards my exposed middle.I managed to dodge it by twisting on my heel, spinning around the blow and using the momentum to bring my hammer towards her side once more. She slipped backwards, dodging just out of range of my weapon, before darting back in to strike at my exposed legs which I just barely blocked with my other hand.Our fight continued in the same vein for a while, blocking and dodging, before I finally decided I had had enough. A plan quickly formulated in my mind, a bit simple but hopefully effective, and on the next swing of my hammer, I put it into action, swigging my hammer once more, this time with a different idea in mind.As she went to block the hammer with her blood shield, I suddenly shifted my hand, morphing the hammer into a large hook that I used to grab onto the shield. I pulled with all my strength, sending her stumbling towards me with wide eyes as I reared back my other arm, still in its hammer form.It slammed into Hemorrhagia’s chest with incredible force, cracking the bones that comprised her armor as she let out a gasp of pain. I let go with my hook, letting her go flying several feet away as I followed up on my strike.She landed on the ground with a grunt of pain and her hand immediately came up to clutch at her middle. I grinned slightly as she tried to immediately get back to her feet only to double over slightly at the feeling in her abdomen.“You know,” I began as I approached her. Behind me, I could hear the sounds of Newter and Spitfire wrapping up their own fight, Spree’s powerful cursing sounding in my ears. I looked back to find him having retreated a fair distance away from both of my friends, resorting to just flinging clones at them that were quickly dispatched, “I may be a rookie, but I’m three and oh for cape fights so far. I’d like to think I’m doing pretty good.” I turned back to her, grinning smugly as she raised herself up on her elbows to give me a pained glare.I stepped forwards, more taunting words on my lips that I would never be able to get out as I was interrupted.There was a loud noise, like a mix of a bear’s roar and a dog’s bark, and as it rang in my ears I suddenly stumbled as a wave of fatigue washed over me, sinking deep into my bones as my eyes drooped slightly from the force of it. I looked down at myself, shock filling my suddenly dazed mind as I took in my suddenly normal skin and costume.My powers had been turned off against my will. That meant…I whipped my head in the direction the noise had come from, my eyes immediately locking onto the form crouched in a nearby alley, hidden from sight. It was massive, standing on four legs and looking like some sort of messed up dog, only much more alien in appearance. As I watched, it slowly closed its still-open mouth, panting from the exertion the scream had apparently wrought on it. Its eyes stared into my own with a startling amount of intelligence for what was seemingly an animal, and it didn’t take long to put two and two together on the thing’s identity.Animos, a Changer with a power nullifying scream. And he had just used that scream to disable the only thing keeping Hemorrhagia from impaling me like she had been trying to do our entire fight. Fuck.Hemorrhagia immediately jumped on the opportunity that Animos had given her. Blood coalesced quicker than it ever had before, morphing into a thin, sharp spike that she sent flying towards me at blinding speeds. I wasn’t able to dodge it from such close range, and as such the only thing I could do was limit the damage it might cause. I turned my body, positioning my arm in front of my ribs and hoping that the mesh there was thick enough to prevent it from digging in too deeply.I grunted in pain as the thin spike cut straight through my costume and the protective layer underneath, piercing into my shoulder. She immediately followed up on her attack, throwing several more spikes at me and forcing me to leap to the side in order to dodge.Knowing that there was no way I would be able to defend myself for long against a more constant assault, I darted backwards, dodging two more spikes sent flying after me and dove behind a car, crouching behind the thickest part of it. I panted as the darts slammed into the car with a thud, bringing my hand to my shoulder and immediately wincing at the throbbing pain my probing fingers produced. The hole in my costume was leaking blood at an alarming rate so the wound must have been fairly deep.I snapped my head to the side as movement caught my eyes, and was met with the terrified gaze of a woman covered in blood. She looked like she was about to cry as I caught sight of her, and I realized that this must be the civilian that was caught by the Teeth’s attack. I had completely forgotten about her.I cursed as I heard Hemorrhagia’s laughter, the woman no doubt having recovered from my attack by now. Knowing that I wouldn’t have long until Hemorrhagia followed up on her attack, and also knowing that she likely wasn’t above harming a random civilian just to spite me, I retrieved my knife from its holster, gripping it in blood-soaked fingers as footsteps rapidly approached the car I was hiding behind. I would have to defend us both it seemed.I shot to my feet as she rounded the car, blood floating around her as she locked eyes with the woman beside me. She smiled at the scream of fear that the woman beside me let out and I grimaced, tightening my grip on the knife.Just as she shot herself forward, a feral grin on her face as I brought my weapon up in defense, a massive object slammed into her side, sending her flying away with a shout. She skidded along the ground for a moment, leaving a trail of what I hoped was residual blood from scabs, before she stopped. She was helped to her feet by Spree who she had landed near, and turned a glare on the person responsible for flinging her away.Said person turned out to be a large, bulky teenager made completely out of metal. He was completely hairless and his dusky skin glinted in the sun as he relaxed his posture from his admittedly impressive shoulder check. He turned to me with a slightly questioning gaze, and I immediately recognized him as one of the few Case-53’s who joined up with the Protectorate, Weld.He gave me a light nod, before turning his gaze to the whimpering woman behind me. He took her in with an analyzing glance, during which two other costumed teens who I didn’t recognize came up to his side. The first was a tall male wearing black spandex with light blue decals that made the outfit look slightly futuristic as they glowed softly, either from simple LEDs or his powers. His hands were covered in fingerless gloves similar to my own, likely a power requirement like myself. He was wearing a simple domino mask, allowing his bright blond hair and green eyes to be visible.The other teen was wearing bulky armor that was made out of a material I couldn’t place. It was varying shades bright orange and red with white lines in key areas such as the belt and places on her thighs and elbows. Unlike her compatriot, she was wearing a full helmet that only allowed her mouth to be visible, the face of the thing made out of what appeared to be a dark type of glass or plastic.Weld turned to his compatriots the moment they got close, “Jazz, you’re on clone duty. Hotshot, if they get through, you take care of them. Let's get this over and done with quickly.” He ordered.“I’ll take care of it.” “Got it boss.” The aforementioned teens nodded their agreement..“Who’s this?” Jazz looked at me curiously, taking in my costume.“I’m not sure, but she was defending this woman when I tackled Hemorrhagia, so she’s probably on our side.” Weld said, looking over at me with a questioning eyebrow raise.I nodded my agreement, “Pretty much, though I think I’ll let you guys take it from here. I’m tapped out for today. Animos’s power and mine don’t mix very well apparently.” Seemed that being turned back to normal against my will wasn’t something that my powers were particularly happy with. Now that I wasn’t in mortal danger, I was feeling extremely lethargic, like I had hot swapped many more times than I actually had in the fight with Hemorrhagia. It wasn’t a great feeling.“I can get the lady out of your guy’s way if you want.” I offered, looking back at said woman who was much more calm than she had been before. Guess the appearance of actual heroes helped quite a bit, “My team and I can watch over her while you do what you have to do.”Weld gave me a considering glance as Newter and Spitfire returned to my side. They gave me concerned looks that I just waved off as I waited for Weld’s answer. Eventually he nodded, “Alright, I’d appreciate that. Keep her back but don’t leave the area completely. We still need to talk.”I nodded, “Will do. Come on ma’am, let’s get a bit further back away from the action, yeah?” I held a hand out for her to take. She gave me a slightly fearful glance, looking at Weld who nodded reassuringly. That was seemingly enough for her and she grabbed my hand, letting me haul her up and pull her with me as my friend’s and I fell back to a safer area to watch the conflict that was about to start.Unlike what I had come to expect from the heroes in Brockton Bay, these Wards seemed to have their priorities in order. Weld and his compatriots immediately stood in between Teeth and the woman who was with the three of us, watching the proceedings with a healthy amount of fear. Seems the civvies were smarter here too, back in the Bay they’d be recording or something equally idiotic.The three Teeth members stood together, Animos having shifted back to his human form once more, and watched the new arrivals warily. Spree grit his teeth angrily and my sharp eyes caught sight of a large burn scar on his forearm. Seemed like he had gotten a little to close to Spitfire, “Great, the fucking tiny teen wonder force is here. Why don’t you three just fuck off and leave us to our business? This doesn’t concern you.”“When your actions endanger the lives of civilians, it always concerns us, Spree.” Weld said seriously, crossing his arms over his massive chest.Spree just scoffed, clenching his fists, “You heroes need to learn to stay in your own lane!” He yelled, sending out a surge of angry clones towards the heroes.“Jazz.” Weld nodded at the Ward wearing the black costume but he was already in motion. He placed his hands on the ground as the clones approached rapidly. A field of bright blue expanded outwards towards the clones and the moment it reached them they stopped dead in their tracks, seizing like they were being electrocuted.Which, upon closer inspection, they were. The field that Jazz had set up was causing the clones to spark and sizzle as what was likely hundreds of volts of electricity ran through their body. It seemed that much like Spitfire, the Ward had the perfect power to counter Spree's clones. Guess that was why Weld had given him the duty.The Teeth seemed to realize that as well, and it was Animos who apparently made the connection that the other two didn't. He reached up to put a hand on Hemorrhagia’s shoulder.“Let's just go you two. They clearly knew who they were going to be dealing with.” Animos said, eying Weld distastefully, “That metal kid is a Case-53. My powers won't work on him, and non of us can even touch the red one.”“Please,” Hemorrhagia snorted, shrugging off Animos’s hand as blood gathered around her once more, “I ain’t running from a bunch of fucking kids!” She reared her hands back before flinging them forward, sending all of the blood she had gathered soaring at us in the shape of dozens of deadly spears.I prepared to move in front of my friends and the woman to block them despite Animos’s presence, only to be interrupted by our heroic guests, “Hotshot,” Weld looked to the teen wearing bright red, “Can you take care of it?” He received a grin in return.As the sharpened blood soared towards the heroes, Hotshot ran forward even as the other two heroes ran backwards until they were next to us once more. She was completely fearless as she stopped several meters in front of us, directly in the path of the blood spears that Hemorrhagia had thrown.“Is she gonna be okay?” Spitfire asked Weld, clearly concerned for the other teen’s wellbeeing.Weld just nodded, gesturing towards his teammate, “She’ll be fine. Just watch.”I did so and was stunned as the moment the blood reached her, Hotshot burst into towering white and red flames. They were so hot and vibrant that they were nearly too bright to look at, and I was just barely able to catch sight of the blood Hemorrhagia had thrown at us evaporating into thin air. Even from several meters away, it felt like I was standing directly in front of a campfire and sweat immediately appeared on my brow from the heat.It was over in an instant, and like a candle being snuffed out, the flames disappeared and Hotshot once again stood in their place. The now smirking cape put her hands on her hips, cocking her head at Hemorrhagia, “Got another one in ya?” She openly taunted the scowling woman.Hemorrhagia snarled, preparing to do just that, but was stopped by Animos jerking her backwards. She glared at him and he glared right back, “We don't have time to watch you get into a dick measuring contest with a teenager. If we get caught, Butcher isn't going to do jack to spring us out, let's go.” He urged.Hemorrhagia looked like she was ready to completely disregard his words, but instead spat a large glob of blood on the ground, looking disgusted, “Whatever. Next time I'm gonna fucking kill that bitch though.”Animos didn't respond, instead changing shame into the four legged creature once more. He darted away, Hemorrhagia and Spree following close behind, though not before the woman threw a nasty glare back at me. I gave her a small wave in return, grinning as she scowled even harder.“You're just gonna let them go?” Newter asked Weld curiously as we watched the three Teeth members disappear into an alley.“Sometimes it's better to just let them escape if it prevents more damage being done.” Weld explained, “And besides, even if we did capture them, they'd be out in a week. Despite what Animos was saying, Butcher won't just let three of her capes get caught without some sort of retaliation.”I nodded at the explanation. Butcher was a crazy powerful bitch (emphasis on the crazy) but even she couldn't take on the entire city by herself. She needed the rest of the Teeth, so three members of her gang’s cape roster being locked up wouldn't sit well with her. She'd probably do more damage busting them out than they did here.Speaking of which.“You gonna let us go too?” I turned to Weld, taking acute notice of the way both my friends shifted to stand behind me as we faced the heroes. I didn’t really want to fight another cape, much less one with powers so similar to my own. The wound in my shoulder was starting to ache even more as the adrenaline faded from my body, pulsing with pain every time I shifted my arm. That, combined with my waning stamina from the forceful shift back to normal, was going to make fighting more than a little difficult.The two non-metal heroes turned to look at Weld, clearly referring to him on his decision. He looked us over, paying special attention to Newter to my left. “You three, you're Faultline's crew aren't you?” He asked rhetorically, “We got info you were in the city. I'm surprised we only just now ran into you.”“We've been lying low. Contract doesn't permit that much noise and we aren't particularly keen on stirring the pot around here.” I shrugged, immediately wincing in pain, “We just figured it would be bad manners to let the Teeth run amok in our contractor’s territory so we stepped in.”“Ah, Accord is it? I guess that makes sense. Explains why you're in Charleston at least” Weld connected the dots. He looked around, taking in the destruction, specifically the holes that Spitfire’s fire had melted into the cement, “I should honestly thank you for keeping the property damage to a minimum. A few holes in the pavement is nothing compared to what we usually have to deal with after a fight with the Teeth. The civilian wasn’t hurt from your fight from what I can tell which is also good.”Spitfire gave a nervous shrug, “Sorry, I can’t control how hot it comes out.”Weld waved her off, “Like I said, it’s fine. This road was due to be repaved anyway, you probably just sped up the city’s timetable by a few months.” He gave Hotshot a gesture that I couldn’t decipher, before turning back to me as the teen made her way over to the blood-soaked woman standing off to the side, “To answer your question, you three are free to go as well. The Boston PRT has a working agreement with capes like you. Keep your heads down and you’ll receive no trouble from us.”That about lined up with what Faultline had said. I watched as Hotshot checked the woman over for any serious wounds, asking her quiet questions that were answered before apparently deciding that there was nothing too serious.“Still, I don’t want any trouble from your crew while you are in the city.” Weld spoke seriously, “We’re willing to overlook some things, but don’t try to stretch our good nature too far. Understood?”“You got it chief, no trouble from us! No sir!” Newter saluted the other teen, and I giggled as Weld gave a light sigh at the other monster cape’s antics.“Alright then, that’s good to hear. Now get out of here. The actual police should be showing up any time now and I don’t want them reporting back to my superiors about you being here before I do.” He waved us off, moving to ask the woman his own questions as Hotshot pulled out a small device and began talking into it.“Don’t have to tell us twice.” I nodded, turning away from the man as sirens wailed in the near distance, “Come on guys. Let’s go report back so we can get yelled at by the boss lady.” I said, only slightly joking.“Ooh, that’s my favorite activity.” Newter said as we began walking back. Spitfire just sighed, “Why couldn’t I have been recruited by Gregor? At least then I wouldn’t have to hang out with you two all the time.”Even with the throbbing in my shoulder and the impending talking to I was going to get from Melanie, I couldn’t help but laugh as Newter slung an arm around her shoulder, “You know you love us, Spit.”“Against my better judgment.” She relented, “And stop calling me that damnit!”~~~Melanie certainly wasn’t happy with our actions, and did indeed give us an earful. Luckily it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been, as our actions had scored some good will with Accord when he had learned what happened. Limiting the damage that the Teeth had caused in his territory was a good deed in his book, and he had commended us for our efforts, albeit telling us to inform him before taking such actions in the future.Now, after getting a stern speech about checking in with her before fighting murderous capes from my boss, I was back in my room, looking over the damage I had received. The wound that Hemorrhagia had given was actually pretty damn deep which explained why it hurt so much. Hemorrhagia’s attack had penetrated nearly an inch under the skin, digging into the muscle before I had managed to back off. It would likely require a full immersion to heal.“I got cocky.” I muttered as I slowly massaged the aching area around the wound, “I should have put her out before I started gloating like a fucking idiot.”And that wasn’t all, I sighed as I took in the damage to my costume. The hole wasn’t large, just big enough to put my little finger through thanks to how thin the spear had been, but it still burned that I had had the damn thing for less than three weeks and already it was damaged. Great.“Parian isn’t going to be happy.” I muttered, placing the costume in its box, “I wonder how much a patch job will cost…” Hopefully it wouldn't burn a hole in my pocket. I may not be hurting for money, but that woman was really expensive.I stretched as I prepared to immerse myself into the building, wincing lightly as my stomach growled loudly. I hadn’t eaten all day and it looked like it was catching up to me.Hmm… Gregor was making some sort of stew that smelled really good right about now, I would need to grab a bowl or three-FWOMPI froze in my thought as an extremely loud noise akin to an explosion came from directly behind me. I whirled around, wood crawling from my feet to my fists as I raised them up in preparation to defend myself from who or whatever had intruded into my room, only to halt in shock at what I saw.There, on my previously empty bed, was a girl. She was curled into a ball, shivering periodically with sobs as her clenched eyes trailed tears down her face. Dark purple wisps of energy were fading into the air around her, floating upward from her curled up body to dissipate in the space above the bed. Her hair floated upwards on an unseen breeze, glowing a deep violet that was slowly fading, turning lighter and lighter until it eventually settled on a blue so faded it almost seemed white, while at the same time retaining its floating properties.As soon as it did so, the girl seemingly snapped out of whatever state she had been in. She shot up, hands coming down to help her rise on my bed. She looked around, seemingly confused at where she had found herself, before her gaze suddenly shot to me as I shifted my weight ever-so slightly. As I went to question her, my words caught in my throat as I took in the girl’s all-too familiar face, slightly marred by a bruise around her right eye.Christine stared up at me, glowing eyes piercing into my own as glistening tears trailed their way down her cheeks, “Valerie… I found you…” Her voice was ethereal, echoing, like she was both right in front of me and somewhere else all at the same time.Before I got the chance to speak, she shot off the bed, practically flinging herself at me. I braced myself, deactivating my powers to make her landing a bit softer as she slammed into me, wrapping her arms around my body as shuddering gasps began making their way out of her mouth. I winced slightly at the pain in my side at her impact, before bearing with it and wrapping my arms around my friend.I had no idea what was happening but that didn’t matter at the moment, Christine was clearly not okay and I needed to do my best to fix that. There would be time to panic and question her later.She sobbed into the fabric of my shirt, arms squeezing around me with each pitiful inhale. Her hair floated high above my own head as I placed my chin against her scalp, squeezing her harder as I whispered reassurances into her ears.Christine suddenly stiffened in my embrace as the door to my room burst open, and I noticed her hair immediately began to darken, rapidly becoming a deeper shade of blue from the pale color it had been. I flicked my eyes sideways to see Newter making his way in, a somewhat panicked look on his face as he did so. Looking past him, I could spy Spitfire in the hallway, looking no less worried.“Dude, is everything alright in here? We heard a loud bang, did something explo-?” He froze as he caught sight of the girl I was currently comforting, taking in her floating, glowing hair and eyes that stared at him in fear, “Oh…” He said faintly, before quickly shaking himself out of it. He turned, grabbing Spitfire as he went, “We’ll go grab Faultline.”I just nodded slowly, looking down at my newly Parahuman best friend as I slowly came to terms with what her new appearance meant and realizing why the girl had been ducking my calls.“Chris…” I spoke softly, doing my best not to startle the clearly unstable girl. causing her eyes to shoot back up to me. I noticed that her hair had begun fading once more from the color it had become during Newter’s entry. I put it out of my mind, “Chris what happened. Did… Who did this?”I could connect two and two together. My best friend didn’t have powers a few days ago and suddenly she was teleporting into my temporary bedroom, a bruise on her face and tears in her eyes. The implications were as plain as day, and just thinking about what might have happened to her made my blood simmer in my veins.And as she told me the story of what had happened the past few days, that simmer quickly turned into a rolling boil.