String [Superheroes, Technological Progression]

I waited for the inevitable chaos to erupt.

My mind was already racing, trying to figure out the best way to get Mom and Lucy to safety. I could trust Abby to try to separate Wildfire from the rest of us, but that wouldn't save us from the initial exchange. I could contemplate why Abby was here later, assuming I even survived the encounter.

I had precious seconds to come up with a plan as the stunned silence lingered. Any moment now, Abby's bubble would erupt, and she would come down upon Wildfire like an angry goddess. He would not go down easily, and I did not doubt that our house would suffer the same fate as Lucy's.

"You…" Abby's words turned vicious, there were traces of her sparkling aura appearing around her wrists as she tentatively moved to activate her armor. "What are you doing here?"

"Abigail," Han said softly, masterfully concealing his displeasure. "We were not expecting you," he glanced at Abby's glittering power. He had been on guard the moment he saw her, but now the temperature in the room was steadily rising. "I can see you are displeased with my presence. May I ask why?"

Abby didn't snap like I expected her to. I was surprised the situation hadn't turned violent yet.

"I can think of a lot of reasons," Abby's voice was tight, like she was thrashing to remain in control of herself. "None of them more important than the fact that you're Wildfire, a wanted criminal."

I didn't know what I expected.

Subtlety and Abby were mutually exclusive, and she made it very clear how she felt about Lucy's family when we discovered the truth. It set her off and made her question everything about her friendship with Lucy. The only thing that probably stopped Abby from hunting down Wildfire herself was that she was too busy dealing with her trauma.

There were also legal complications to consider. We discovered his identity illegally, and while I doubted the ECU would care too much, Pandora absolutely would. They would realize the ECU was responsible for the initial attack, and not the Cains.

There was no doubt in my mind that Abby thought the legal and political complications as bullshit nonsense—but Catherine wouldn't.

Han stood up, any false pleasantries gone.

He casually adjusted his suit and glowered at Abby with undisguised disdain.

"You know who I am?"

Abby balled her fists.

"Yeah."

"Then you should know what happens when Pandora is attacked unprovoked," Wildfire remarked with an eerie tone of calm. "You should leave, and we will settle our business another time. If we were to do battle now, my daughter, and your friends would be caught in the crossfire. I do not wish for this, and neither do you."

"Fuck off!" Abby sneered. "Since when have you people ever cared about what happens to normal people? You hold your power over them like… like it makes you gods. I'm not going anywhere!"

The room descended into a tense silence as Wildfire began rubbing his wrists.

I sent Mom a look that carried a very simple instruction: escape.

Wildfire and Abby were too busy focusing on each other, and Lucy's attention was fixed on the exchange. Mom had a chance to escape, and even though she was in Abby's line of sight, I couldn't see my friend calling her out.

Slowly, Mom began to drift backward in her chair.

"People like me?" Wildfire's tone carried a sharp edge. "People like me are the only ones willing to shoulder the burden bestowed upon us, unlike you," his voice became louder and angrier with each word. "You, who would sooner submit to the grasp of a dying world, than realize that we are meant for something greater," he gestured to me, Lucy, and my mother. "You've seen it, they are helpless without us."

"What I've seen is Pandora taking advantage of those same helpless people to exploit them! You have no idea the damage you cause, the scars you leave on your victims!"

"And you are so different?!" Wildfire challenged. "I've seen first hand the brutality of the ECU and how it goes unpunished. We do not turn a blind eye to disloyalty. You are blind," he shook his head, disappointed. "I expect no less from someone so young. You have a shockingly incorrect view of the world, and they are to blame for twisting your mind."

Abby's bubble abruptly extended across the room and swallowed Wildfire, carrying him all the way into a wall with a nasty crack. Wildfire groaned, but he did not activate his powers.

Lucy was up out of her chair, and Mom was already most of the way out of the room. The dining room was part of the living room, and there was a hallway she was heading toward that led straight to the back door. It wasn't ideal because there were stairs, but Cyberspace would see the commotion, and Anomaly would be there to whisk her away to safety.

"Abby—!" Lucy tried, but she was cut off.

"Shut up!" Abby snarled, refusing to take her eyes off Wildfire. "I don't know what the hell you were playing at bringing me here, being all vague about this when you told me something was happening here tonight, but right now I've got a job to do. You two need to leave, you aren't safe here."

I turned to Lucy, unable to hide my shock. I wasn't sure what to feel, because betrayed wasn't the right word. Cyberspace put her in charge after all. Given what was transpiring, I knew it wasn't the time to feel slighted at being left out, but the pragmatic part of me insisted that it played into selling the ruse.

If I had known, I might've been too obvious and given away the game.

My feelings, however, paled in comparison to Wildfire's.

He was seething. Lucy shrank under his smoldering glare as curses danced on the tip of his tongue. If it wasn't for Abby restraining the man, I would have expected him to lunge across the room and strangle her.

Unfortunately, Abby's hold wasn't able to contain all of Wildfire's anger. It rolled off him in a blast of heat that had us all sweating.

"I'm not leaving," Lucy bit back. "I… I can reason with him."

"You can reason with him when he's detained, not now!" Abby shot me a fierce glare. "Take her and get out of here before I throw you out!"

Before any of us could move, Wildfire spoke.

"You…" his growl cut through the tension as his focus fixed on his daughter. "You brought her here? You conspire against me… against Pandora?"

"I've…" Lucy almost lost her nerve, but in a split second, she summoned all the anger and courage she had been repressing. "I've always been against Pandora. Did you really think I would just accept being used as a tool?"

The heat around Wildfire took form, and Abby did her best to contain it. However, it wasn't enough. I could see the beginnings of a fire starting. The wall Abby had him pinned to was smoking, and the paint was beginning to blacken.

"UNGRATEFUL!" Wildfire bellowed. "I will see you punished for this heresy!"

Abby snarled and tightened her grip around the man, surrounding him with more of her bubble to suppress his fire.

"The only thing you'll be seeing is the cold dark walls of whatever hole Ajax throws you in."

Wildfire ignored Abby's threat, keeping his focus locked on his daughter.

"After everything I have done for you, this is how you repay me?!" Wildfire growled. Lucy seemed to lose her balance somewhat, but she steadied herself under her father's wrathful gaze. "I have bent every rule to keep you satisfied and this… this betrayal is my reward?!"

"Y-You were never going to keep your promise," Lucy murmured, trying to find her courage. "I was always going to be traded off if I didn't get powers, no matter how well I did at school. You were never going to follow through!"

"You need a protector!" Wildfire snapped. "Those without our gifts you will always be at risk, how can you still be so stubbornly naive?! You walk the same ground and breathe the same air I do. How can you not see the same dangers I do? I wanted you to be safe!"

"If you really cared about any of that, you wouldn't have promised me to a piece of SHIT that didn't see me as anything more than an object! You don't give a shit about me, you only care about yourself. If you really cared, you would have listened to Nana!" Lucy's voice got more hysterical with every word. Even Abby looked taken aback. "The only person who was taking advantage of me was you. YOU!"

Lucy's accusations only served to enrage her father further, and I was worried Abby wouldn't be able to manage him if he decided to go nuclear.

"You guys really need to get the fuck out!," Abby commanded.

"Leave?" I said, finally managing to find my voice amidst the hurricane of emotions. "If you're going to take this guy, get him out of my house! "

"I've already hit my silent alarm for containment to come, and I've got him pinned," Abby explained through gritted teeth. "I just gotta keep him restrained for a few more minutes. Elementals can be tricky with my powers, and I'm not going to take any chances with someone as powerful as him. I've got him right here, locked down. Moving him is too risky," she said, pushing Wildfire further into the wall. More wood started to char and catch fire, but it seemed Abby was able to suppress some of it with her bubble. "Sorry about the damage. I'll make sure we pay for it."

That silent alarm would never go through. Cyberspace would have blocked it, which meant help wasn't going to come. Abby was here alone, and she would be waiting forever.

We didn't have that time.

I quickly hit my own silent alarm that I hid on my disguised wrist watch.

Not three seconds later, my front door flew off its hinges. It wasn't exactly the entrance I was expecting, but I would take being saved over being turned into a crisp.

I turned, expecting to see Alice blitz into the room with Pink. Instead, when I poked my head through the dining room entrance to see who it was, my stomach turned inside out.

Seraphim strode through the entrance, stepping over the broken door as she made her way into my home. There was a crazed look in her eyes like she was out for blood.

I instinctively dove deeper into the living room, unintentionally closing some distance between myself, Abby, and Wildfire. I narrowly avoided Seraphim's lunge to grab me, and she didn't get a second chance. Without a word, Abby's bubble extended again and snagged her body in a tight grip. The girl grunted as she struggled against the telekinetic grip, her eyes never once leaving me.

"Seraphim? What the fuck are you doing here?!" Abby's voice came out shrill. "We've been looking for you for days! Where the fuck have you been!?"

"LET ME GO!" Seraphim screamed. "I NEED HIM!"

Abby's confusion only grew as she tried to keep hold of the situation that was rapidly devolving.

"Wha—What the hell are you talking about?!" Abby demanded, before realizing who Seraphim was looking at. She craned her neck and looked over at me as I pushed myself back to my feet. I had never seen Abby look so bewildered. "Him? You need him? You don't even know him!"

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Two of Seraphim's wings shot out of her back, one side ripping into a wall and slicing through family photos while the other sliced into Abby's collarbone, and in her rush to deploy her armor, she lost her hold on her power.

A blast of flame surged off Wildfire, and Abby wasn't able to suppress it in time.

I shielded my face, but I still felt the searing heat. I cried out in pain as I felt the skin on my hands and parts of my face bubble up and blister. My lips cracked and split, my eyes dried out, and I felt like I was a few steps away from crumbling to dust.

It was nothing short of agony, and from her screams, Lucy got the worst of it. She had been standing closer to Wildfire and hadn't even had time to shield herself. When I looked through my blurred, scorched eyes, I could make out her form writhing on the ground, her clothes smoldering. It was a good thing she was wearing the armor I made for her, otherwise Wildfire's blast would have been lethal.

The dining room was torn apart by a storm of energy as Abby's bubble expanded.

She pushed Wildfire through the wall and leaped after him, dragging Seraphim along for the ride.

Walls and windows shattered, scattering sharp debris everywhere as the fight flew out onto the street.

I was left inside with Lucy, and all I could think about was whether Mom escaped safely, and what Alice and Anomaly were doing. They should have intervened before things got to this point!

"Lucy!" I called out, my throat hoarse and raw. It hurt just to speak, and I could taste the smoke when I opened my mouth. Amidst all the pain, I hadn't even realized the whole room was burning down around us. I coughed and continued to crawl toward what I believed to be Lucy. She was still moving, and I could still hear her crying out. "Hey–hey, I got you."

My eyes adjusted, and I saw the extent of the damage. The side of her that had been closest to her father was littered with severe burns. She probably wouldn't die, but she needed help now. Where the hell were Alice and Anomaly?

Conveniently, the former suddenly dropped down next to me.

I turned to see Anomaly surge into the room, while two of Vigil's statues lurked at the other end of the living room. Everything seemed quiet, and all I could hear were the flames slowly beginning to consume my childhood home, as well as the fight raging outside. With the damage that had been caused, I couldn't even see which side was winning.

"Where were you?" I hissed, glaring at them.

Anomaly shifted, looking confused and taken aback.

"We only just got your signal. We didn't know this was happening!" Anomaly said. "Why are Seraphim and Comet here? What the fuck is going on?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but Vigil came through one of her statues. She looked exasperated.

"I was calling you guys!" She exclaimed, sounding panicked and out of breath. "I couldn't get through. I was trying to tell you that Comet and Seraphim were here and no one was doing anything! I got his Mom out at least…"

For the moment, I forgot about the searing pain in my hands and on my face. The reality dawned on me just as I watched the same happen to Alice. I hadn't just been left out of the loop. We all had. This had all been engineered by Cyberspace, every step of the way. There was no coincidence here. Seraphim and Abby didn't just show up, and Vigil's calls were being blocked, and my silent alarm was delayed.

"We need to get out of here," I said. "We—"

Seraphim burst through the broken wall like a flaming meteor. Her clothes and wings were ablaze, but otherwise she was unharmed. Her head was on a swivel, scanning for me amongst the wreckage. The smoke was starting to get thick now, so it obscured her vision enough to give us a moment's reprieve.

Before she could lay eyes on me, Alice shot to her feet.

"Looking for me?"

Seraphim lunged madly. Alice met her head on and punched her square in the jaw, knocking her all the way into the kitchen. The crash got a flinch out of me, but at this point, the house was as good as gone. The flames had already spread far and fast enough. Nothing here was salvageable.

"Payback," Red cracked her neck, then her knuckles. "That feels good!"

She jumped after Seraphim before anyone could argue.

"Anomaly, my suit," I coughed. "Now!"

He transformed back into his Morpher state to reach inside his body. He didn't get a chance to bring out my suit before Abby abruptly zipped through the hole Seraphim created moments ago. Her bubble expanded, forcing away the smoke and fire so she could get a better view of the flaming room. When she saw Anomaly standing over us, she didn't ask questions.

"BACK OFF!" She blitzed Anomaly, hitting him with so much telekinetic force that he was blown out of the other side of the house. Vigil was lucky to have switched to a different statue, or she could have died.

She pulled me and Lucy into her grasp, and I felt a sensation of weightlessness overcome me. I was pulled to Abby's side as she soared upward, her bubble shattering the roof of my home. She carried us both into the sky in an attempt to escape.

"Madhouse is here too?!" Abby cursed aloud. "What the fuck is—AH!"

Something exploded against Abby's bubble, and I felt the searing heat try to bulldoze its way through. Our controlled flight turned into an uncontrolled spiral back toward the ground before Abby managed to steady us.

"What does it take to put you down?" Abby hissed as she turned her focus back to Wildfire. The man was still grounded, but he was summoning more fire to fling our way. It seemed endless, and it only continued to grow more intense the more he conjured. "Sick bastard! Lucy is hurt! Are you trying to kill her?!"

Abby maneuvered us out of harm's reach as she attempted to put more distance between him and the three of us. However, what Abby wasn't looking at was where all the fire she avoided went. Ahead, it all combined into a curtain of flame that hung in the air, ready to close in around us.

"ABBY!" I screamed.

She looked just in time to stop, and as she did, the curtain fell upon us. The heat was unbearable, even with the bubble acting as a shield. Abby didn't try to push against it, not when we were floating beside her. Her armor protected her whole body, but we weren't so lucky. I didn't design our fireproof armor with this kind of battle in mind.

Instead, Abby did the only thing she could.

She directed us back down to earth while the firestorm chased us. It funneled down as we descended, and I got a brief glance of the city.

In the back of my mind, I knew that the Walkers and Sweepers should have picked up on the commotion and would almost certainly have already been here. Instead, I saw dozens of them all clumped together throughout Bayside, far from our location, engaged in battles that looked far more destructive.

Multiple diversions.

There wasn't a doubt in my mind that this was Cyberspace's doing.

Diversions, however, could only last so long. There was one Walker on the way, but it was still a fair distance away.

Abby forced a snap change in direction a few meters from the ground, causing my stomach to leap into my throat. She expertly dodged the firestorm Wildfire was guiding, making sure not to endanger any of the other residences in the area. My home was utterly consumed by fire now, and the only thing I could hope for was that Mom got out safe. Thankfully, Vigil's words reminded me that she had.

Judging from the path of destruction that trailed from our backyard, it looked like Alice had lured Seraphim away. That was good, one less problem to worry about.

"Can't get away," Abby muttered, trying another direction, only for Wildfire's firestorm to cut us off at every turn. His fire traveled faster than Abby could, and she couldn't exactly pull off any complicated maneuvers carrying us. We were already injured, and she had to be mindful that anything extreme would only aggravate our wounds. "What do I do…?"

"Fight," Lucy wheezed. She followed that with a violent cough before summoning what was left of her strength. "He gets stronger… with more fire… you have to—"

"I know, I know!" Abby snapped. "Stop talking and just focus on staying alive there. I'll get you guys to our recovery wing as soon as I can!"

Abby wasn't angry. The bite she had earlier when she was talking wasn't there. All I could hear from her now was panic.

The disguised watch on my wrist itched.

Abby did her best to keep her distance, but Wildfire was slowly reeling us in. With every direction we attempted to flee, his firestorm brought us closer. He stood in the middle of my street, surrounded by walls of fire which were only growing larger by the second. It wouldn't be long now until the air scorched our lungs.

"Abby—"

"Shut up, Max. Let me concentrate!"

She wasn't listening, and I couldn't blame her.

Abby was doing her best to stall, she only needed to last until the Walker got here. I didn't like our odds, and with each second that passed, I liked them even less. We were running out of time, and Wildfire was getting ready for the kill.

Unfortunately, Abby's movements became too predictable, and Wildfire sniped us.

One of his lancers of fire exploded against Abby's bubble, and she completely lost control. The combined force and heat popped her telekinetic barrier, and we dropped like rocks. Thankfully, we weren't all that far from the ground. We landed on a freshly cut lawn, which, while preferable to concrete, still hurt.

I rolled, unable to breathe until I came to a stop.

Something isn't right.

It felt like I was breathing through a straw. Something in my chest felt wrong. I couldn't feel my left arm, and the pain from my burns tripled. I couldn't focus on anything, black spots dancing in my peripheral vision.

Am I dying?

Abby's bubble reappeared to try to cover me, but another lance of fire soared over my head. The bubble dissipated, but I saw it attempt to cover me again.

Another lance flew over.

Abby's bubble popped again.

As I struggled to breathe, my head lopped to the side, and I saw Wildfire leap into the air. He must have been at least three houses down the road when he jumped. Fire and smoke trailed him, and he landed only a few feet away.

"Stay back!" Abby screamed.

Wildfire hurled more fire her way, and she was forced to abandon me to completely defend herself. He was solely focused on Abby.

"I gave that girl everything, and what does she do?" Wildfire summoned more of his power. With all her telekinetic power at her disposal, Abby actually managed to withstand his onslaught, but she was struggling. I could see it through my blurred vision, the sparkle of her aura fighting to remain strong against the vicious red flames. "She turns her back on me and our people for fools like you."

I felt more fire as the man pressed her, and I heard Abby cry out.

I had never heard Abby in pain before.

Wildfire let out a bitter scoff.

"This is what I get for indulging her childish ignorance. I should have trusted my own intuition."

Abby's bubble had lost all its sparkle, worn down by all the fire. It hung over her like a deflated balloon, and it looked like it was taking everything out of her just to hold it up.

"Killing you is such a waste, but you have given me no other choice. I will not forgive you for twisting my daughter's mind. You can take your rot to your grave."

Wildfire brought forth more of his fire, and it swirled around him. Abby tried to summon more of her bubble, but it simply refused to expand.

She was… she looked exhausted, even as the guillotine hung above her.

Move, damnit.

My limbs felt like noodles, and my head throbbed. Every breath hurt as I forcibly sucked in oxygen. The sharp pain caused me to cough, but I managed to flop over onto my front to see Lucy standing upright.

"Stop," her voice reached my ears, and she sounded fragile, like the smallest gust of wind would be the end of her. "Enough."

Wildfire's power did not disperse, but he turned his head to acknowledge her plea, watching as she limped over to Abby. The burns and whatever damage she took from the fall took their toll, but that didn't stop her from persevering.

"Don't!" Abby cried, pushing hard against Wildfire's flames, but her bubble couldn't gain any ground. He was overpowering her, something I didn't think was possible.

"That's en-ou-gh," Lucy's words came out raspy and pained. "Stop it now, pl-ease."

I pushed, ignoring what felt to be glass in my ribs and shoulders, and made it to my knees. Despite my colossal effort to get here, I knew I could not stand. I didn't have the energy, and I was pretty sure more bones were broken than not. My left wrist was twisted unnaturally and flopped uselessly.

"You have no right to ask anything of me." Wildfire's tone was cold.

I activated the mechanism on my watch with my chin, and the weapon unfolded in my only good hand. Wildfire wasn't even watching me.

"I have failed and allowed my personal feelings toward you to cloud my judgment. This path you've taken is of my own doing. I see that now." his tone became less cold and more regretful as he lifted a hand to touch her cheek. Lucy stood still, looking up at him, unable to come up with anything to say, all while I struggled to aim. "I will mourn you."

I leveled my gun, and Abby screamed something.

There was a short, pained cry that escaped Lucy's throat as her entire body dried and blackened. She fell, pieces of her crumbling to dust before piling up on the dirt in front of her father.

I pulled the trigger.

The inferno Wildfire conjured fizzled out and died in the blink of an eye.

Abby was left reeling by the sudden absence of any pressure.

The man remained standing for a moment, his body shaking as his legs began to give way. He only managed to turn halfway before he keeled over next to Lucy's ashes, a hole where his heart had been.

Abby's eyes followed the corpse all the way to the ground, unblinking.

Then, slowly… her empty gaze landed on me.

I didn't even care.

I had been too late—not fast enough. A moment earlier, and Lucy would still be breathing.

Wildfire might be the one with a hole in his chest, but I was the one who felt like I had died. What was even the point now? Cyberspace's voice echoed in my head, reminding me that it was I who brought Lucy into the fold. That I was the one who told her I had powers. It was my fault she was even here in the first place.

But Cyberspace…? They had done this. It was their—

"Why…?" Abby stared at me, looking sunken and hollow. Her gaze then shifted to Lucy's ashes. "Why?"

My mouth was dry.

I had no response—no explanation other than my own selfishness.

All I could do was stare back as the grief and guilt began to settle on my shoulders.

Then… a red, warm light.

It rose slowly and grew in intensity. It drew our attention, and we both found ourselves entranced by a hovering red flame no bigger than a match emerging from Lucy's ashes.

It was… mesmerizing. Calm. Serene.

The air suddenly shifted, a reverberation from the light. It shook the air before doing it again only seconds later.

It got faster, settling into a rhythm.

A familiar rhythm.

A heartbeat.