PART ONE: LEGEND HAS IT

Shiloh

You're a hero. And heroes save lives. Period.

Without second thought, you shoot forward in a blur right at kevlar-girl. Before she can see you coming, you crash into her and grab hold of her waist. Keenly aware of the bullets ricocheting all around you, you canvas the room and spot a small window in the far corner. You have no idea where it will lead; you're just thankful the room has an exit at all.

With a thundering crash, you use kevlar-girl as a battering ram to smash through the glass, ignoring her screams—she doesn't exactly deserve delicate treatment after murdering everyone in sight.

Once out of the window, you find yourself five stories up—the headquarters must be hidden on Shed's top floor. Feeling yourself start to fatigue from the effort of carrying kevlar-girl, you pull above the nearest roof and drop her. She gracefully tumbles onto the roof in a tight ball then flips to her feet.

The moment she gains her footing, she reproduces the massive cannon-guns (which you could have sworn she dropped when you tackled her inside) and trains them directly on you.

You begin to swerve and dodge laser blasts as kevlar-girl opens fire at you. She is not playing around—if one of those blasts were to hit you, you'd be burnt to a crisp.

You don't have much time to decide what to do next, however, as kevlar-girl chucks something back towards Shed….

A grenade.

Though it looks unlike any grenade you've ever seen before, intricately coiled with tech and a cool-blue core.

You turn to fly after the grenade as quickly as possible, knowing it will probably incinerate anyone still left inside the headquarters.

Jade

"Reaper!"

Shiloh

But you're not fast enough—the grenade drifts easily through the broken window. Seconds later, an intense flash of blue heat erupts from inside, followed by a massive explosion that sends flames and debris flying in every direction.

Shiloh and Jade

You scream as you feel the force of the explosion send you reeling.

Both

It takes several seconds for your head to stop ringing and your vision to clear. When they do, you two find yourselves on the street below—the blast sent you a couple of blocks down, significantly lowering your Health. That grenade was some seriously advanced technology—where on earth did kevlar-girl get her hands on something like that?

You look up at Shed and see people flooding out of the front door as the top half of the building rages with flames. Could it really be that kevlar-girl has done the impossible—did she just take out Smyther and half of The Splice Circle in one attack?

Through the raging fire, you manage to make out kevlar-girl's shadow leaping onto a rooftop…holding The Gravitas! She must have gone back in after the blast and sifted through the wreckage to recover it, no doubt protected by her shield-movements. You don't know whether to be horrified or impressed—this girl has some serious moxie.

Still, you're not about to let her escape, not after she murdered all those people. And especially not with the one thing that's going to launch your careers.

Shiloh

You fly after kevlar-girl but as you reach the roof you find that she isn't fleeing—she's pointing The Gravitas directly at you. Before you can react, you feel the air around you twist with a sucking noise and feel yourself being pulled downward.

You try to fight it but you can't stop yourself from crashing into the roof. It's like someone suddenly turned your Powers off and a giant, invisible hand is crushing you down.

Then it clicks—The Gravitas must control gravity. No wonder Smyther wanted to get his hands on it. An object that powerful would be useful to anyone, let alone a mob boss with a strictly defensive Power set.

"Feels nice, huh?" you hear kevlar-girl say from above you.

But you don't have the patience for snappy banter—you know this girl won't hesitate to kill you. So what are you going to do?

Jade

You fly, arriving next to Reaper, but you are caught in the same gravitational field as your friend. You hit the ground violently, shaving off some of your Health. You remain weakened from your interactions with Madame Vice.

Reaper grits his teeth and shakes his head once, trying to get past the pressure against his body. He groans and starts to build up his telekinetics, glaring up at Kevlar-Girl. "You don't...want to...do this."

Conduit slowly gets on his knees, "W-we can split the profits, we don't have to be enemies."

Both

In response, you feel the weight pushing down on you double and hear kevlar-girl start to laugh.

"Is that what you think I want, Conduit? And why don't I want to do this, Reaper?" She glances at Reaper, before looking back at Conduit. "You two are funny."

You groan under the weight of The Gravitas push, knowing kevlar-girl is about to kill you, just like all those Splice Circle members. As your ribs start to creak under the pressure, you hear police sirens blaring from the street below. You've never been so happy to hear that sound!

Suddenly, you feel the weight lifted off your shoulders and you spring to your feet, just in time to see kevlar-girl strapping a layer of plastic explosives to The Gravitas.

Shiloh

"Wait, stop! What are you—" you start, moving forward.

But kevlar-girl just pulls away from you and holds The Gravitas out in front of her body.

"The name is Prodigal, chicken," she says. "And you'll be seeing me again."

Without another word, the girl named Prodigal drops The Gravitas.

Both

Horrified, you watch as The Gravitas explodes at Prodigal's feet. A plume of silver smoke erupts into the sky as shards of shattered gemstones go flying in every direction. You step back, covering your eyes to protect them from the explosion.

And when the smoke finally clears, you find that Prodigal has vanished. Only The Gravitas remains in charred pieces, destroyed beyond repair.

No! Why would she destroy The Gravitas? Now it's of no use to anyone. It doesn't make any sense!

Then another thought hits you—before she left, Prodigal called you by your code-names! She knows your codename! But how? You've only been on the hero scene for a few hours. How would she know…?

You hear the sound of police choppers swooping overhead, so you don't have much time to ponder this question. What are you going to do?

"...Officer Sanders..." Reaper nods at Conduit. "We talk to Officer Sanders."

"Yeah." Conduit said, agreeing with Reaper. "After this, I'm going to get some sleep. Mind if I come to your place?"

"Yeah crash wherever..."

He sighs. "Lets get this over with."

Shiloh

"All right, here's what you're going to do," Officer Sanders says quickly.

When the police arrived, you ducked out of sight. Not trusting anyone else to believe your story, you waited to see if Officer Sanders would show. Once he did, you managed to pull him into a back alley unseen (with the help of some mega fast flying).

You've just finished explaining everything that happened—and Officer Sanders does not look happy.

"I'll tell you what you're going to do," Officer Sanders starts, "you're both going to get the hell out of here. Right now."

"What?" you ask. "Don't you need to take my statement or-"

"I believe your story, Reaper. But with a case this big ruined, not to mention over a dozen murders involving The Splice Circle committed, no one else is going to care. They're just going to want a scapegoat. And that will be you."

"But it was Prodigal!" you start. "She's the one who-"

"Don't be stupid," Officer Sanders growls. "You're both going to get blamed for all of this, one way or another. I'll try to vouch for you two but the best thing I can do for you is pretend I never saw you here."

As much as you don't want to believe what Officer Sanders is saying, you know he's right. This whole debacle is going to make the MCPD look really bad and it'll lessen the blow if they have a rookie hero to pin it all on…which brings one major question to your mind.

"Why are you doing this for us?" you ask. "Arresting us would only be a good thing for you…."

Officer Sanders stares you down, probably wondering the same thing himself.

Then he just shakes his head and walks out of the alley.

"Let's just say I have a soft spot for emerging heroes. Now disappear and lie low for a while—I think things are about to get very rough for you."

Shiloh

You fly toward home, your mind racing with questions. What will happen to your reputation now that The Gravitas is destroyed? Will the police blame everything on you? Will you become a fugitive?

Then your thoughts spin completely out of control. Will Jury and Madame Vice be gunning for you after what you did to them? Even worse, will the remnants of The Splice Circle be out for revenge? And who is this mysterious Prodigal, the girl who sabotaged your first mission? Why didn't she kill you when she had the chance?

You're too exhausted to even begin to contemplate the answers to these questions. You've pushed your Powers to their limit and have taken more than a few hits tonight.

But all you can think about right now is getting home to your bed, knowing that Grandma will help you sort it all out in the morning.

Shiloh

It isn't long before you see your bedroom window waiting for you invitingly. Thinking you might collapse before you can reach it, you give one final push to land inside.

All you want to do is get in bed immediately, but you need to let Grandma know that you're all right. Your muscles aching, you move slowly toward the door.

"Gran, it's me," you shout. "I'm all right, but I'm—"

"Well, look who it is," you hear a familiar voice say, stopping you in your tracks.

Sitting in your living room is none other than…



…Mayor Victon.

And he does not look pleased.

Jade put a calming hand on Shiloh's shoulder, "I...I'm with you." He looks like hell, but a true friend sticks with you until the end.

"What do you want, Victon?" He didn't bother to hide the venom in his tone or motion when he tore off his mask. His brown eyes stared down at the Mayor with pure hate.

CHAPTER SIX: VICTONIAN VISIONS

Shiloh

Your heart begins to pound and you clench your fists—it's just about all you can do not to pummel Mayor Victon on sight. The only things holding you back is seeing Grandma sitting in the living room behind him, and your best friend supporting you.

"What do you want, Victon?" you say, willing yourself to stop shaking.

"Now, now, there's no need to be rude," Mayor Victon says. "After all, your grandmother was kind enough to invite me inside."

You send Grandma a look and she returns it with a calm nod. Not now, Shiloh, you imagine her saying.

"I received an urgent call from my son, claiming that some rogue rookie attacked him and sabotaged his latest case," Mayor Victon says. "I had my office discover which so-called hero this was and a quick background search gave us your address. Then I had some of my more…colorful staff pay you a visit."

Your eyes flash back to Grandma, but she nods once again, indicating that she's all right. If this scum had hurt her…you don't even want to think about what you'd do.

It's terrifying that your private information is out there, too. Sure, you have a secret identity, but since all heroes have to register with the government, there's a secure database with all of the licensed heroes' information in it—a database that Mayor Victon clearly has access to, one way or another.

"Imagine my surprise when they found an old woman living here instead of some young buck hero. And then my absolute delight to learn that I had walked right into the new life of my dear, old friends, the Garnetts," Victon nearly coos. "I had heard you'd both been enrolled in the PFPP but I rather frustratingly hadn't been informed of your whereabouts."

Mayor Victon pauses, hitting you with the warmest politician smile he can muster. He's got the same Kennedyesque good looks as his son, but you can slightly see his replugged hairline and concealer-covered cheeks.

"It is rather gratifying to finally have found you, after all these years. And even more gratifying to know exactly where you live," Victon says, his voice dropping. "Do keep that in mind the next time you happen to come across my son."

That is enough, you think.

Jade was enraged. "ENOUGH!" His voice went across the room, the very essence of his rage going over the audience. "You come in to my friends home, and you threaten him and his family? I will kill you the next time you threaten him in my presence, politician. You've made his life a disaster thanks to your actions, and I do hope you keep that all in mind when I'm at the top." He crosses his arms, looking at the Mayor. It was something to think about, he had never acted this way, but then again Mayor Victon had never met his best friend.

Jade

"Get the hell out of this apartment, before I throw you out myself," you say, your voice trembling. This man took your best friends parents away and now he has the audacity to threaten his family in their own home? Not tonight.

Especially because, for all Mayor Victon's posturing, he has his eye on a bid for the upcoming presidential election. He's beloved by the people of Millennia City for regulating Powered activity and making the city a safer place to live. Taking down their "murderous" parents was spun as a positive, but coming after their innocent, shattered family won't play well to the public—especially not with the PFPP backing you up.

So Mayor Victon won't want to make any waves here…at least not today.

But Mayor Victon eyes you, seemingly pleased by your aggression.

"Of course, I have a full security detail positioned outside your door, in addition to the considerable defenses afforded by my MeChip. So I'd caution against any…rash decisions."

Mayor Victon smiles at you—a smile that sends ice through your veins.

You're about to respond when suddenly Mayor Victon shouts in pain and jumps sideways. You're quite delighted to see that one of Grandma's Venus flytraps has had its way with Mayor Victon's thigh.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry about that," Grandma says. "De Milo sometimes has a mind of her own. Now if you'll excuse me, I do think it's time you were leaving. That is, unless you have something constructive to add to this conversation?"

Mayor Victon looks from Grandma to Shiloh, the smile draining from his face.

"I just wanted to drop by to let you know you always have a friend in me," Mayor Victon says as he walks toward the door. "Feel free to call me any time. And now that I know where you three live, do remember that I can call you any time I'd like, too."

Shiloh

On that discomforting notion, Mayor Victon exits your apartment.

"Bastard," Grandma says, petting De Milo. She looks as if she wants to say more, but stops once she gets a closer look at you.

"Oh my word, you look dreadful, Shiloh! Are you all right?" She looks at Conduit, her mouth wide open, "What happened to you two? Just a few hours ago you were both looking fine!"

"I don't know...so much has...so much has..." Reaper suddenly falls to his knees, pressing his hands against his temples. "I can't..." He then slumps forward against the floor.

Shiloh

A few short hours ago, it was the best birthday of your life. But now… You try your hardest to block out the failures, to forget that your costume is still covered in bits of human ash. You thought being a hero would be glamorous and exciting but tonight was just…

You could barely save your own life, let alone anyone else's.

As the adrenaline finally drains from your body, one thought pounds in your brain, pushing out everything else.

You wish your parents were here.

It isn't long before you're on the floor, the room blotching into blackness. The last thing you make out is Grandma kneeling beside you, looking more worried than you've ever seen her.