String [Superheroes, Technological Progression]

The warm red light thrummed with a power that resonated with me. I felt drawn to it like a man desperately searching for warmth in the middle of a blizzard.

All I could think of was Lucy.

I couldn't focus; every thought felt like it was fleeting. The ground shook as a Walker approached, yet I couldn't summon the strength to stand. Whether it was because of my injuries or the shock rooting me in place, I couldn't muster the energy to move.

This felt like a bad dream. Lucy was dead, and my secret revealed to Abby.

There was a woosh and a flash of pink to my right. Alice knelt at my side, a supportive hand on my shoulder. In the back of my mind, I knew it was time to go. This marked the end of my normal life, and part of me just wanted to sit here and let it all bury me.

I didn't deserve anything less. My decisions led us here.

"Maxie," Pink's normal happy-go-lucky demeanor was uncharacteristically absent, and it felt wrong. "We gotta go… and I mean we gotta skedaddle right now." She didn't yell, but I heard the fear and urgency in her voice. "That Walker is gonna be here any second."

Before I could muster a reply, Abby had already pushed herself back to her feet.

"Stop," Abby's command drew our attention. The pulsating red light bathed the area in its warm radiance, but it only served to make Abby look murderous. In my mind, I figured it wasn't far from the truth. "You—" her gaze landed on me and hardened. "This—This whole time? You…" Her anger grew with every word, along with her bubble. "You've been with them?"

I did my best to ignore my injuries as I tried to get up. Alice supported me, but it didn't change the fact that my broken bones felt like shards of glass shifting around beneath my skin. I couldn't recall any moment in my life when I had been in this much pain.

"Abby, it's—"

A fresh sensation of agony stopped my flimsy attempt at an explanation. Perhaps it was for the best; there was nothing I could say to her that would justify my actions. All the good I had done felt like it was wiped away in just a few short minutes.

Alice took my good arm and lifted it over her head in an attempt to better support me.

"It's not what, Max?"

I could barely speak, let alone stand, and her tone told me all I needed to know.

She had already made up her mind.

"Comet… please. Now isn't the time to be doing this." Alice said, her tone was half pleading, half threatening. She was trying to ward Abby off before she made a rash decision—one I could see forcing its way to the forefront of her mind. "I don't want to fight you."

Abby stumbled forward, her bubble slowly rising and gaining volume.

"Hey–HEY!" Alice yelled in a panic. "Come on, don't do this! You can't take him; you know what the ECU will do to him. They'll lock him up and work him to death! You know that as well as I do, and I'm not about to let that happen. Let us go."

Before Abby could respond, the red light surged.

Alice took advantage of the distraction, turning us away from the light. She twitched, and a moment later, we were at the far end of the street, collapsing against the wall of a house. I slipped out of Alice's grip and tried to fall on my good side to spare myself the pain.

I was left staring at a jaw-dropping view as the red light expanded. The thrumming in the air became more intense as that noticeable warmth transitioned into a blazing flame. Slowly, a shape started to form at the center, the sides stretching out and unfurling.

I saw the wings first, then the neck, the head, the body, and the talons, all coated in an aura of dark red fire. Its plumage was awash with warm yellows and brilliant oranges, while the wings took on a darker hue of red. The color of the tails seemed to bleed off from the brighter colors before transforming into an emerald, crystal green. The neck and the head were different, fading to become a rich, glittery white-silver.

A mish-mash of colors, all culminating in one simple fact.

Lucy's alive.

It was all I could think as the dark red fire consumed the sky.

The bird continued to grow by the second until it reached upwards of forty feet tall.

"As far as Awakenings go, I can say this is a pretty dramatic one," Alice crouched down next to me, ready to ward off any stray attack. "I'm sure we'd love to stick around and watch, but we have to go. We can't help her at the moment. We can figure out a plan later. C'mon. Up you get!" She hauled me back to my feet, despite my clear discomfort. "I'm not gonna leave you like this. Need to get you fixed up. Where are you hurting?"

"Everywhere," I wheezed. "We can't leave. Lucy and Abby—"

"—are going to be fine. One's regaining her strength, the other is a giant flaming bird," Alice retorted dryly. "And let me tell you, we don't want to be around when Comet gets her head on straight. I'm sorry everything is so fucked up, but we have to get you someplace safe."

My gaze was still locked onto the hovering Phoenix. It seemed to defy the laws of physics as it hung in the air without beating its wings. I could see some movement, its head sweeping from side to side as if it was scanning the area. Strikingly, its eyes blazed with white flames.

Was that really Lucy, or was it something else entirely?

I had watched Wildfire burn her from the inside out.

I saw her cry out as her body turned to ashes.

I couldn't imagine a more painful way to die.

My mind drifted to the one responsible.

"Cyberspace," I growled, the word feeling like poison in my mouth.

"This was going to happen sooner or later," Alice whispered, and I could hear the frustration in her voice. "People like them are only ever concerned about results. We're nothing but tools to them, just like you said, and we're going to continue to be unless we figure out how to break away without being killed. Right now? Not the best moment to start a coup."

"No, it isn't," I said through gritted teeth. "But we have to get away. We lingered too long, got too comfortable."

Alice laughed bitterly.

"Everyone's got their own agenda." Alice said, guiding us to shelter. "Cyberspace isn't someone we can just run from either. They're everywhere, even some of the best Mechatech isn't safe. Gonna have to find a way to shield ourselves from them if we're serious about escaping."

"Not all Mechatech." I said.

The cube—Deadlock's prototype. Cyberspace couldn't interface with it. If there was any way to slip away from their grasp, it would be cracking that thing open. However, Alice had a point. I needed a way to block Cyberspace from infiltrating my technology. It was a thought that crossed my mind multiple times, but there was no way to test it without arousing suspicion.

I wasn't going to concern myself with that anymore. Cyberspace had crossed the line, endangered me, my mother, Lucy, and hadn't said a damn thing. Regardless of Lucy's state now, they had allowed all of this to transpire so they could benefit from the aftermath.

"You've got a plan?" Alice asked, dragging me behind the cover of a shed. "Because I know they haven't worked out much before, but it's probably better than whatever I cobbled together without Gold's—"

A deafening boom interrupted her.

I recognized the sound—the Walker's particle cannon.

I craned my neck to see what was happening. The Phoenix let out a shrill cry as it slumped from the attack. The cry echoed through the night as it began to drift harmlessly toward the ground. Before it landed, it regained its composure and began to beat its wings. Each flap sent gusts of wind strong enough to blow over trees and send debris flying.

The last remaining supports in my house failed, and I watched as it caved in on itself. It was left a smoldering ruin, which was only made worse when the Walker came stalking through. It stepped through the smoke, weapons deploying to fire upon Lucy's new form. The Phoenix was not blind to the hostility and prepared to defend itself.

Another shot sounded from the particle cannon, only to be blocked by a wing.

The attack was followed by dozens more. Rockets, lasers, and more were unleashed onto the Phoenix. I watched in horror as every shot landed, engulfing the flaming bird in a cloud of smoke. I half expected it to lifelessly fall to the ground.

When it blitzed through the onslaught and angrily raked at the Walker's energy shield, I found myself at a loss for words. Its talons didn't just damage the shield; the air warped around them. They left momentary gashes in space that I couldn't make sense of.

The Walker struggled to fight the giant beast flailing around above it, unable to get a clear shot off with its particle cannon. It moved around, trying to shake the Morpher off, but the Phoenix's talons managed to dig into the energy shield.

Then, the beak came down, and a thunderclap shook the area.

The force from the blow flattened the war machine like a pancake, and an alarm sounded—a warning that the shield was compromised. Talons landed and wrapped around the hull, then squeezed. Sparks flew out as the circular body crumpled like a can. Bright light erupted from within, escaping through the fissures in the metal as the solar fusion core detonated.

The Walker disintegrated into molten embers, all while the Phoenix continued to attack.

"That's one useful failsafe," Alice mused, biting her thumb. "But that's fortunate for us. Escaping is going to be much easier now. Can't go very fast with you in this state. We need to signal Anomaly so he can get you your suit." She ducked behind cover and knelt next to me. "Not sure if your suit's going to do anything if you're this injured."

"It'll let me walk and keep me hidden," I grunted. "That bird—the Phoenix. That's Lucy?"

"Are you asking or telling me?"

"I don't know," I replied, trying to find a more comfortable way to sit. "Trying to make sense of everything. I just… I watched her die."

"An Awakening through death?" Alice poked her head out to observe the Phoenix again. "I've never heard of anything like that."

"It could have happened right before she died," I said, clenching my only good hand. "I heard her scream. She was alive while it happened. It was only a few seconds, but…" The words died in my throat, but I managed to force them out after a few moments of silence. "…she was conscious. She knew it was happening—that she was burning alive."

"Not all of us get a nice Awakening." Alice mumbled.

"But that means she's alive," I shot back, flinching at sharp pain. There was a numbness that was starting to spread through my body, and I wasn't entirely sure what that meant. Regardless, I kept myself distracted by thinking of Lucy. "It means… It means—"

"It means she'll remember burning," Alice said softly. "She'll remember it forever."

I shuddered as a chill passed through me, and then bird let out a cry before taking to the sky. We watched it ascend, leaving a trail of vapor in its wake before disappearing through the first cloud layer. The light radiating from it dulled as it began moving north through the sky.

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"She's leaving," Alice frowned. "She must not be in control of herself. I've heard of Morphers being somewhat primal during their first few times, like that one we fought during Grim's rampage."

"That, or she's had enough of everything. Her father just murdered her, and I killed him. Abby knows everything now," I mumbled bitterly. "Not much reason to stick around. She'll go somewhere safe—probably her grandparents."

"You sure?" Alice shot me a concerned look. "Cyberspace is going to want to know."

"You think I don't know that?" I snapped angrily. "I'm going to make them regret letting this situation play out. I wanted to shut this down but they convinced me. That's the first and last time I'm letting that happen," I breathed, trying to quell the rage that burned within me like a freshly lit furnace. "Deadlock's tech is the key. We get that cube open, we can slip out from Cyberspace's command."

"It's weird being on the other side of this. The not-knowing part," Alice muttered. "They don't know we might use it to escape?"

"I doubt they haven't thought of it, it's the obvious answer. Besides, it would be stupid of them to expect us not to be angry," I growled. "When Vigil got my Mom to safety, who did she hand her off to? Is she still with Vigil's statues, or Cyberspace's agents?"

"Agents." Alice replied. "They'll use her to keep you loyal. Me and Liam won't have that problem, I doubt they'll hurt Francis to get to Liam, but Mia's family is vulnerable. Her mother is pregnant."

"You don't think they'll threaten your family?"

Alice's expression turned grim.

"They can try, but it won't be much of a problem. When I ran away, I never expected to see them again."

Now wasn't the time to go digging up her past. We had more important things to sort out, and Alice absolutely had a point. Cyberspace would use my mother against me, and they likely would do the same to get Mia to cooperate. That would make things problematic if we wanted to break away as soon as possible.

The idea of continuing to work with Cyberspace made me sick.

"Mia said she was watching her family. She'll have access to them when we act. Cyberspace will probably be taking my Mom to the same base they brought us to. I can break in and get her out," I explained, trying to soldier through the pain. "We can do this fast enough that Cyberspace won't be able to stop us."

Alice closed her eyes and choked out a weak laugh.

"I don't need Gold to see the problems here, Max… we can't access Deadlock's prototype. You're still working on getting access to it." Her shoulders sagged. "Without that, we can't make any moves. It's going to take weeks, and you're injured! You need time to recover."

"What other choice do we have?" I growled. "We can't stay with Cyberspace!"

"No we can't, and let's not pretend staying was ever on the table in the first place." Alice replied petulantly. "I trust you with my life, but this is suicide. Now isn't the time to be making them our enemy."

"What part of all this makes you think they're still our ally?" I countered. "What if they're already an enemy? What if this was their way of trying to get rid of us?"

"Then I would say they've lost their touch, because if this was the best they could do, then I'm not impressed," Alice said. "If they wanted us dead, there were a thousand better ways to go about it than this."

"Cyberspace put us in this situation. The diversions with the Walkers. Abby and Seraphim showing up… none of that is a fuckin' coincidence. They wanted this to happen. Manipulated it. Mom could have been killed. Lucy was," I sucked in a sharp breath, and I suspected the only thing keeping me from fainting was my anger. "Even if we were expected to survive this, I won't accept any justifications for this!"

My teeth grinded so hard I could taste blood.

Alice's gaze hardened, but she said nothing.

"Gaea made me a proposition," I started. "That offer is still on the table."

"Gaea? She's not going to be any better than Cyberspace, and don't forget the two have a truce! We can't go to her."

"I'm not interested in playing any more stupid games for people that will happily set others up to die. I'm not going to join Gaea. I'm going to bargain with her," I said, recalling the encounter I had with the woman. "She wanted to speak with Splicer face-to-face. She evolves my power, and I'll give her Splicer."

Alice opened her mouth to retort, but no words followed. She stared at me, her hard gaze softening somewhat.

"After that, I wait for my powers to reset, and I'll finish the supercomputer. We get access to the cube, then we move all of my equipment into it and set up shop somewhere else—somewhere Cyberspace won't be able to pin us down."

"You make it sound like all of that is going to be so easy."

"It won't be," I grunted. "Nothing is ever going to be easy, but I'll be damned if I have to spend another second listening to Cyberspace's bullshit. We never should have accepted that deal." I noticed Alice flinch a little when I finished, and I looked away guiltily. "I didn't mean it like that."

"I know. Like I said…" Alice said with a sigh. "Cyberspace isn't really someone you can run from. They have a reputation for a reason, and Gold insisted it was our best course of action at the time."

"The situation's changed and we can't rely on Gold anymore," I pointed out, and I didn't miss the pain that flashed across her face. "I'm sorry, but it's the truth. We've got to figure something out, and this is the best I've got."

"And if Cyberspace figures us out?" Alice asked. "If they decide to make an example of your mom and Mia's family? What then?"

What then indeed.

Cyberspace could negotiate and threaten me all they wanted. I was going to get my Mom back, and if that meant leaving their base of operations as a smoldering ruin, then that was only fair. I couldn't ignore what had happened to Lucy either. Awakening or not, she suffered because I had allowed things to get to this point.

I wasn't blameless. I recognized that.

But Cyberspace had weaponized that to get the outcome they wanted. I hadn't seen the whole picture, but I could see enough of the pieces to get a general idea. A Pandora lieutenant was attacked and killed, and Comet was there when it happened. A civilian house burned down in the crossfire, while Seraphim rampaged throughout the area.

The public would be in an uproar.

Pandora would be on another warpath.

The ECU would be framed as unable to control their heroes at best, and blood-hungry warmongers at worst. Pandora and the ECU weaken each other in the ensuing conflict, while Cyberspace and Gaea's grip around the city grows.

Where things went from there, I didn't know.

Alice bit her lip as she turned and looked over her shoulder, staring distantly in contemplation. I could see she wanted to agree, but something was holding her back.

"I get what you're going for but it's not feasible. Think about it for a second. We lose any support we have left, and make enemies with one of the most notorious Supers on the planet." Alice said, shaking her head. "We just agreed before that now wasn't the time to start a coup. I know you're hurt. I know you're angry, and we have every right to be, but we've got to pick our next steps carefully. I need your head on straight, because we both know mine isn't without Gold."

I snarled and looked away. It was the best plan I had on short notice, but I couldn't deny she had a point. I wanted to take action as soon as possible. I didn't want to spend another second playing nice with someone who would so easily throw away the lives of people I cared about.

Options. I needed options.

The more I tried to think, the more frustrated I felt. It was difficult to calm myself down so I could think properly while I was in so much pain.

"Damn it. I can't think straight," I coughed. "I'm not letting things go back to the way they were. I'm not letting them think they can pull something like this on us. Screw them and whatever game they're trying to play."

"Yeah, that's more like it. They've overstepped and we've paid for it. We're valuable and even just walking away peacefully creates problems for Cyberspace. We can use that against them." Alice said.

"Leverage," I murmured.

"Leverage!" Alice agreed wholeheartedly. "Gold would know how to use it best, but it's like you said, we can't rely on her anymore. We have to come up with something, so work with me here. You know rash decisions make shitty consequences, so think… How can we use this? How do we make them play our game?"

Our game…

All I wanted was to tear everything down and watch Cyberspace try to pick up the pieces. That would satisfy the spite I was feeling, but Alice was right. Scorched earth was not the way. Grim went scorched earth, and everyone else paid the price. Pandora did—and would do the same again once they learned about Wildfire.

Adding to that carnage… while tempting, would just have us end up like Grim.

"We make demands."

"Demands," Alice nodded. "That's a good start."

"Cut down my workload. That gives me more charges—ones I can spend on getting the supercomputer done sooner, quicker that's done, the quicker we can disappear. I'll be able to focus on that, Splicers tech, and my cybernetics."

"Yeah, and you won't be stuck developing so much crap for all of their agents. That also means less collaborations, but let's be honest, they need you more than you need them. You can build new connections once we've properly broken away," Alice said. "More operational freedom as well."

I grunted, uncertain about that term.

"Not sure they'll want to give us that one. I already abused mine. They won't be very keen to give it back."

Alice gave me an endearing smile.

"Well, they're not exactly in a good position to be arguing that now, are they? We're already angry and as far as Gold could tell, we are one of their biggest assets."

A shadow suddenly dropped down in front of us. Anomaly loomed for a moment before shrinking and shifting back to his human form.

"Finally found you guys! Had to give Seraphim the run around after Alice dipped," he shot her an accusatory look. "Thanks, by the way. I really enjoy being sliced into a bazillion pieces." His eyes finally landed on me, and he cringed. "Shit, you look like you've been dragged through Hell. What're you two sitting around here for? We need to get him patched up."

"Hiding from Comet, Seraphim, Ajax, and anyone else that wants a piece of us," Alice explained, shushing him. "Cat's out of the bag. Comet knows Max is part of our group. I don't imagine it'll be long until she figures out he's Upgrade, and you're Anomaly."

"Ah," Anomaly coughed. "Shit."

"My suit," I grumbled out. "Please."

Anomaly jolted like he had been shocked by lightning. He transformed back, reached into his body, and pulled out my suit. It took some painful movements, but I was able to get it on, mostly because I automated the fitting process. The moment my helmet folded over my head and the visor switched on, I was met with warning lights.

"Warning: Critical damage sustained. Automatic medical systems engaged."

I was hit with the medical diagnostics as I was pumped full of painkillers.

A scan popped up on my HUD.

My left arm looked like a jigsaw puzzle. My left shoulder was broken in several places. My skull was fractured, and I had a concussion. Eighteen of my ribs were broken. My right knee was cracked, and there were fractures on both my shins. That was just the surface-level diagnostic.

I was a mess—a meaty, splintered mess.

"I need surgery." I said.

"Double shit." Anomaly murmured. "That bad?"

I scowled at him.

"Surgery?" I heard Alice cringe to my right. "Are you sure?"

"That's what my suit is saying." I struggled to stand up, but I made it to my feet. The pain was dulled, but the discomfort was still very real. My body felt stiff, and nothing felt like it was in the right place. "Lots of broken bones. Some need to be readjusted so they can heal properly… lots of internal bleeding. Yeah, not good. I'm not entirely sure how I'm still conscious."

"I… I can do it," Alice said, though I detected uncertainty in her tone. "With Orange. I'll put you back together. My very own Humpty Dumpty."

I turned to look at her.

"You don't sound sure."

Alice clicked her tongue.

"It sounds like there's a lot of damage. Even with a team of the best surgeons, operations are delicate and take time." Alice explained. "Plus, with what we just talked about, it feels like we don't have that kind of time."

Anomaly clued in, looking back and forth between us, confused.

"I missed something seriously important, didn't I? You guys are about to do something crazy again, aren't you?"

"Maybe. Potentially. Probably," Alice replied, looking conflicted. "We can fill you in on the way back."

"No time to heal," I said, ignoring the topic of the conversation. I needed to get things back on track. "I'm not going to risk it. I still need the surgery… but there are other options. I already have them built back at the workshop."

Alice's mouth fell open.

"Those bone replacements are just prototypes!" She exclaimed, running her hands through her hair. "You can't put those in your body! You can't expect me to put them in! They're just replicas—proof of concepts! They're not ready."

"I'll make them ready," I said flatly, though it came out as a wheeze. "I'm not going to sit around and wait to heal. We've got work to do."

I tried to move, but I almost ended up flat on my face. Thankfully, Anomaly caught me before I could inflict more harm on my body.

"I got you. Just take it easy, I'll carry you back."

He transformed and picked me up. His grip started off uncomfortably tight, but he loosened it after I groaned in pain.

"You're something else," Alice said, bewildered. "We're not done, by the way. We need to figure some things out before I start opening you up—like if you're concussed or not!"

Anomaly leaped into the air with me, and I got a good look back at the ruined street. There was no sign of law enforcement or the ECU, but there was still one person there.

Abby stood, staring down blankly at Wildfire's corpse.

She remained completely still until I could no longer see her.