Prologue: That Fateful Day

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“Everybody down! This is a robbery!” Mask Culprit yelled as he trained his rifle across the sea of people in the bank as most of them got down to their knees and raised their arms. “We wanna harm no one. Think of your loved ones. Don’t try to be a hero. Stay down, and this will be over before you know it!”

Cripes Stripes, his right hand man, ran up to him and handed him the vault key taken from the bank manager. He ran it over to his other associate, Wild Stallion, handing the key over to him before pointing his gun back on the civilians.

One man tried to stand up, and Mask Culprit depressed his trigger twice and the man had two red stains on his chest, which were quickly spreading. Now he was able to comply as he fell down on the ground.

The other civilians had screamed out in terror when his gunshots rang out, but now they knew better than to test his patience.

Wild Stallion had gotten the vault open and he was already in the process of tossing out bags of money.

“Airy Nose and I will start gettin’ them to the getaway,” Cripes said and tossed one bag to their fourth associate, before slinging one over his own shoulder.

Mask nodded and kept his eyes alert, making sure no one would try to call the police. He dug into his suit pocket and pulled out a stopwatch. So far they’d been here seven minutes. If an alert had gone out, the cops would be here in another three, but so far, everything was good. One of the security guards reached for the holster at her side, but Mask saw it and immediately, she had a new hole between her eyes and blood and brain matter splattered out the back of her head, coating three civilians and the nearby wall. Screams erupted again.

“Shut your mouths, all of you!” Mask yelled violently and took two steps closer.

By now, there were seven bags of money on the floor, and Wild Stallion ran out with an eighth bag. “We’re all done here, boss. Time to go.”

But something was wrong, and Mask cursed himself for not noticing it sooner. The pile of bags had only increased. Cripes and Airy hadn’t come back to get the rest.

“They should’ve been back by now. The getaway isn’t far…” Mask narrowed his eyes. What had happened?

“Excuse me, gentlemen…” a powerful voice sounded above them.

Above?

Mask quickly looked up to see a fluttering Canterlot flag-styled cape, which was white with purple stripes and the emblem of a golden horse imprinted near the top, and wearing the cape was a woman with blonde hair and a dark blue and purple suit, with a similar stetson atop her head.

Mask Culprit stepped back in fear. The supes weren’t supposed to be on them already. The cops always came first, should they come at all. And this was no ordinary heroine.

“I-It’s Protectorate Sod!” A civilian woman got up and pointed excitedly. “She’s come to save us!”

Mask saw his chance and ran over to grab her, pointing his rifle at her head. The crowd screamed around him, and the woman started sobbing.

“Get back! Go away or I blow her head clean off!” Mask yelled at Protectorate Sod.

“Woah there…” She raised both her gloved hands. “No one needs to die here. Put the gun down.”

“I’ll put it down once we’re well away from here with all the money!”

Protectorate Sod shook her head. “They never learn, do they?”

In just a split second, her eyes emanated a red glow and twin beams of red-hot lasers shot out to Mask’s hand holding the gun.

He didn’t even have time to pull the trigger. It had all happened so fast that he didn’t even feel the pain at first. He soon looked down at his hand, or really, what was left of it. The rifle had been blasted from his grip and was now lying behind him, its trigger and its handle were gone and the corners where they used to be were smoking and melting. And all that was left of Mask’s hand was a quarter of his palm. Four of his fingers lay on the floor close to the rifle and the lasers had been so hot, his wounds had immediately cauterized.

Mask Culprit dropped to his knees and cried out in pain, grasping his arm as Protectorate Sod landed by him, her hands on her hip, a smile on her face.

Wild Stallion started shooting at him from behind, the sound of his rifle unloading its ammunition echoing through the bank and making the civilians scream again.

Protectorate Sod simply rolled her eyes and she stepped back into Wild Stallion in a blur of blue and purple and the criminal was launched across the room into the vault door, knocking himself out when he hit his head.

“Justice is served,” Sod said and held her arms outstretched to the sides. “Canterlot citizens, y'all are safe now. The police will be here shortly. Don’t worry about these criminals. They’ll be in cuffs in no time.”

“You’re a hero, Protectorate Sod!” a woman cried out.

“Just doin’ my job.” She saluted to them, then stepped back. “Take care, citizens. Y’all are gems to Canterlot.”

And then she bent her knees and rocketed out of the roof. Mask Culprit hadn’t moved, still clutching his hand even as the sirens outside got louder and louder.

“Just the day in the life of a superhero, citizens of Canterlot,” Protectorate Sod said behind a podium with a row of four mics. “We are here for you, whenever you need us, we have your back!”

Sunset Shimmer chuckled as she continued watching the interview on her phone. It must’ve been awesome, having powers to do what was right. That made her think back to her time in Equestria, when she had been a student of Princess Celestia. She had left for this world long ago, where magic wasn’t a thing. Being here, she was just like all the humans in this world, except some of them were born with special powers, with one of them being Protectorate Sod, the world’s strongest supe.

Sunset was thankfully she had given up her evil ways all those years ago. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like if Protectorate Sod was coming after her. She only had Pine Resin to thank for turning her life around.

Pine Resin was a human whom she had dated when she first came to the human world to popularize her image in school. He was in the football team and he was quite the star athlete. Someone who had a lot of eyes on him all the time.

She had sought to gain wealth and power here, something she didn’t have back in Equestria, but after being with Pine for so long, Sunset realized the folly of her ways and she gave up her plans of conquest to live a normal life with him. It had been five years now, since she had left Canterlot High and it had already been ten years since she was with this amazing boy.

“Cappuccino for my pretty girl, and a coffee black for me.” Pine Resin swooped back onto the bench she was sitting on, holding out a paper cup to her.

“Thanks, Pine.” Sunset gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and accepted the hot cup. It was nice to have something warm on a cold day. “Was it packed inside?”

The orange haired boy made a sound, then waved a hand. “Nah. More than usual, but maybe it’s ‘cause the chill’s chasing everyone indoors to get a cuppa.”

“I don’t understand why everyone wants to be inside when they can be outside enjoying the air,” Sunset said sarcastically. She breathed in and her throat was already stinging from the cold. “Your cappuccino came at the right time.”

She took a sip from it and immediately warmth began to flow down her trachea and then her gut, followed by the rich taste of caffeine and cream.

“Mmm… delish.” Sunset licked her lips. “Say, when will you be leaving for Manehattan again?”

“Oh, in three days. Why?”

Sunset smirked. Pine Resin was set to further his studies in Manehattan, where he would continue on to get a doctor’s degree in medicine. He wanted to be able to save people, just like the superheroes who saved countless lives everyday. Sure, he didn’t have powers like they did, but he would be able to work in a different area and save lives in a different manner. That just made her love him even more.

“I’ve decided.” Her smile got wider. “I’m coming with you.”

Pine’s eyes brightened. “Wha-what? Really? You’ll come?”

“Yeah! I don’t want to spend so long away from you. It’s not like I really had anything tying me down here anyway. I’ll come!” Sunset put a hand on his and inched closer. “It’ll be fun!”

“Oh, Sunny, you don’t know how happy this makes me!” Pine Resin wrapped his arms around her, then quickly pulled away and balanced his coffee. “Whoops, don’t want to spill all that over you. We-we should celebrate! Go somewhere fancy! I don’t know, maybe that Maredrid restaurant you like, El Azucar.”

“Yeah, that’ll be nice!” Sunset giggled and drank more of her cappuccino. “Life with a doctor. I wonder how that’ll be like, hmm?”

She herself had taken up a degree of computer science. Yes, it was something she hadn’t thought she’d do, but it was interesting, nonetheless. If anything, at least she now knew how to put computers together. If her past self were to come here right now, she’d be shocked at what the future held.

Getting up from the bench, the two young adults left the park and went down the street, hand in hand, drinks in the other. Sunset couldn’t wait. She was going with Pine to Manehattan. She had already packed what little she needed in her luggage and all they had to do now was wait three days.

“Anything else you want to do before we leave Canterlot?” Pine shook her hand. “Last chance.”

Sunset thought about it. She didn’t have any friends here besides Pine. Most people in Canterlot High had been afraid of her, even after she’d dropped her whole ambitious conquest, so she never really made any lasting relationships besides the one she had now.

“Hey, how about we go to Vogel World? Tomorrow?” Pine suggested. “We could spend all day there. Maybe even book a hotel there to stay the night?”

Sunset Shimmer grinned at the idea. Vogel World was an impossibly large theme park, owned by the ambitious Vogel International, who basically owned just about everything you could think of. They had the theme park industry, the movie industry, the technological industry, hay, they even owned a school for the gifted. They also owned all the superheroes of the world. They were like the publicizers of them all, spreading their deeds and fame worldwide.

Vogel World had everything you wanted in a theme park. Death defying roller coaster rides, submarine rides, a humongous ferris wheel, you name it, they had it.

The two of them stopped at the traffic light and threw their finished cups in a nearby bin. It didn’t seem like a busy hour, so there were barely any cars on the street. She didn’t know why they had to wait for the green light.

“I want to ride Poolfreezer’s Penguin Adventure till I puke,” Sunset laughed. She had been on the ride a couple of times. The cart was shaped like a penguin and they would just slide down an icy slope that looked like it was made by Poolfreezer. “It’s too bad she’s retired now. I wonder who’s gonna take her place?”

“Yeah, me too, Sunny.” Pine gave her hand a squeeze. “Hey, whatever you want, we can ride them all till your legs give out.”

“Do you count, Pine?” Sunset prodded him playfully.

He moved in front of her to face her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Do you want it to?”

Sunset grinned and ran a hand along his face. Then she pulled him in and planted a kiss on his lips. “I love you, Pine.”

“I lo-”

A sudden buzz filled Sunset’s ears and it was as though a high speed truck had just driven by right in front of her face, just barely inches away. She flinched and shut her eyes, grasping Pine Resin’s arms tightly at her sides. Then she realized he should’ve been in front of her, so there was no way she would’ve felt something whizz by that close to her.

Sunset cracked an eye open, but Pine was no longer standing there. She looked around frantically, then she spotted a splash of blood to her right, spanding at least four meters away from her. Standing in the blood was a frantic looking girl with rainbow hair and she had pulled goggles off her face and she was wiping at their lenses. She looked down, then she looked at the blood on herself. She was covered head to toe in blood and there was what looked like a jawbone hanging off the side of her head.

Then she looked at Sunset, and a look of worry shot up into her face. “I-I’m sorry, I can’t stop. I can’t stop.”

She put her goggles back on and then she was off down the street, disappearing faster than Sunset could blink. What sounded like a truck’s horn blared out around her as she disappeared.

Sunset panted heavily. There was so much blood and bits of bone on the street. What had even happened? Then she remembered Pine. Where had he gone? He was just here, holding on to her. He still was...

The fiery haired girl slowly made herself look down. There in her hands were Pine Resin’s arms, the fingers still curled around her waist. At the elbows, there were just bloody stumps, with a splintered bone sticking out of the right arm. Other than that, Pine was gone, completely obliterated to her right.

“P-P-P…” Sunset’s voice wavered as tears filled her eyes. Then she opened her mouth to scream. “P-PINEEEE!!!”

Chapter 1: Welcome to Vogel International

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Flash Sentry woke up that morning, feeling particularly pumped. Today was the day. Today was the day he had been training for all his life. Getting out of bed, he quickly threw on his white shirt and jeans before heading out into the living room. He flipped on the television to see that it was already halfway through the morning news.

“Z-Truck is ashamed of what has happened and she’s willing to give up any amount of compensation for her actions. This is what she had to say…” The newscast said, then the camera swapped over to Z-Truck, a renowned heroine. “I am deeply sorry for what I’ve done. I was just running after these criminals in their armored truck, then from nowhere, this guy jumped off onto the road and I couldn’t stop in time. Even as a hero, I still blame myself. I hope the family will forgive me for what happened.”

“Oh dear…” Flash looked on as the camera shifted around the scene of the accident. There was still blood and bone all over the road and it must’ve been gruesome to witness, if there were people who were actually there. Z-Truck was the fastest superhero in the world and to run into someone at that speed definitely wouldn't be pretty.

Flash wanted to throw up just thinking about it, but he held it in. He couldn’t fall at the sight of blood. He was going to be a hero today. A proper one, that is.

He had the mail yesterday. He had been accepted by Vogel International! And not only that, they wanted him on The Septet! The most powerful superhero team in the world!

When he had first read the letter, he had dropped it and he grabbed his face in shock. After that, he jumped around his room for a while and he had accidentally shattered a stool, but that was easily replaced.

He was finally going to be a superhero today and he was finally going to get to officially do what he enjoyed most: saving lives and ensuring a future for everyone.

His dad came out to congratulate him on a work well done for the auditions he had to take part in. Flash still remembered them. He had to show Vogel his strength, speed, durability and anything else he could do. It was nothing fancy, but Flash could absorb light from various electrical sources, then reproduce it in the form of fiery light like that of a solar eclipse. He guessed Vogel had found it good enough to give him Poolfreezer’s old spot on The Septet, since she retired.

As he went back to his room to change into his Dark Sun outfit, he looked at the various posters on his wall of The Septet. He had a really epic one where each of them stood in a line with a ruined background. Their leader, Protectorate Sod, stood front and center, her cape billowing magnificently behind her like a pennant. Then her right hand man stood to her left. That was King Max, who was dressed in a silver and brown attire which made him look like a character out of Roaman mythology. He even had a little circlet on his brow. He was strong and quite bulletproof.

Then following him, to Protectorate Sod’s left, was White Blanche, a fully covered figure with all kinds of knives belted to her white armor. She was a silent heroine, and Flash was sure he’d never heard her speak a single word before, but she was a ferocious hero nonetheless. To her left was Z-Truck, the rainbow haired heroine who had just been on the news. She had on a blue and white outfit with the letter Z on both shoulders, who could outrun just about anything or anyone.

On King Max’s right was Flash’s favourite hero, The Shallow. She was a beautiful girl and she wore a dark green and black outfit that hugged her figure tightly, and her soft pink hair was tied back in a loose braid. She could breathe underwater and communicate with sea creatures, which Flash thought was pretty cool, because she was really the only hero who could do it. By her side was the retired member of the Septet, Poolfreezer, who was able to freeze anything, as long as she had a source of water around, which was usually a long waterspout that she could also use as a staff. She had on a pink and white suit which had an eye mask and a hood.

And finally to the leftmost side of the group stood Refraction, the least seen hero of The Septet, and for good reason. She was able to turn her skin into diamond-like material, which could reflect light and grant her invisibility, and at the same time, near invulnerability. She stood there on the poster, with her dark blue suit the only visible part about her.

And now Flash was gonna be among them. That was just crazy!

When he was done fitting his cape on, the blue haired boy stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. His suit was a black and orange one and in the center was the insignia of an eclipse. He had made it himself, which was something he was proud of, because he wasn’t really one for sewing and designing.

When he was all set, Flash left his home, where a black Vogel car was already waiting to take him to Vogel Tower, their main headquarters, which was also the home of The Septet, all the way at the top of the building, where they could overlook all of Canterlot.

The ride from the suburbs into the city was relatively quick, with all the homes soon disappearing behind them, giving way to the taller corporate buildings of Canterlot City.

And then there it was, standing tall near the center of the city itself, Vogel Tower. The tower had a wider base, which narrowed as it went up all the way to the middle of the structure. And then smack near the top was the name of the building, displayed for all the world to see. It was a magnificent building indeed.

The car stopped in front of the building beside a statue of Protectorate Sod flexing her left arm. Flash Sentry made his way into the lobby, where hundreds of busy people were walking about, turning the building into quite the chatterbox.

He spotted a few other superheroes wandering about, one of them being Sonicboom, another speedster, though she wasn’t as fast as Z-Truck. Supposedly.

“Dark Sun, hi!” A small woman appeared in front of him and waved quite vigorously. “I’m Autumn Breeze, Mr. Still Well’s assistant. I’m to escort you in for your introduction.”

“Oh, hello, yes, alright.” Flash shook her hand, then followed her to a lift. He wasn’t one to be afraid of introductions. In fact, he was actually quite excited about it. He was going to get to meet his heroes! He was going to get to meet The Shallow!

From a young age, since discovering his powers over light, he’d always been sent to hero events by his father, and he would stand on stage in a little pajama-like costume and give out little flashes of light, and he was always able to wow the audience. When he had gone to high school, he had started his own band, and he could play a mean electric guitar, so yes, he was very used to crowds around him.

The lifts were spacious and very well accommodated, with bright lights above, air blowing through vents near the ceiling and even a little spray by the side that would keep the air smelling nice; this spray smelt of peppermint.

Flash also had to wonder how much weight these lifts could take. If a hero like That Object, who was basically a rock monster, could get into the elevator, then they must surely be able to take at least a couple of tons.

The ride up the tower was fast. Really fast. Flash felt his ears pop somewhere along the fiftieth storey and then by the seventieth, his hearing had become a bit hollow and echoey. Autumn didn’t seem affected by it. Perhaps it was something he would eventually get used to.

There was a light ding and the elevator doors opened into a rounded corridor with light panels in the walls. The ground was a smooth white marble and following the left path, Autumn led him along past display cases of awards of heroic deeds and historical pieces of other heroes that had led Vogel International to where they were today.

The corridor soon led to an opening that led into a circular room in the center of the corridor, which boasted a huge window pane which gave them all an amazing view of the city below. In the corner of the room was a wall of statues of each member of The Septet, standing together heroically, almost like the poster he had back at home. On both sides of the room were two rows of television screens, displaying what looked like statistics and some news channels. In the center of the room was a table, shaped like a V, where seven chairs had been arranged around. Flash had known the room was grand, but actually being here in person, it was amazing.

“Welcome, Dark Sun!” A man stepped out from behind one of four pillars in the room, a smile plastered across his big face, showing a row of sparkling white teeth. “I trust you had a pleasant journey here?”

“Yes, thank you very much.” Flash pointed up to the ceiling, which had a mural of The Septet, with Protectorate Sod floating in the middle of the other six, who were positioned in a circle around her. “That’s amazing. This whole place is amazing. I still can’t actually believe I’m standing here!”

“Yes, not many can have your opportunity.” The man chuckled and walked around the table towards them. “I’m Still Well, Senior Vice President of Vogel International’s Hero Management. It’s a great pleasure to meet you and to be able to welcome you to The Septet.”

Still Well explained to him a little bit of Vogel International’s history and how they had been founded to make the world a better place, especially after the emergence of superpowered beings, like himself. Since then, they had made it their job to protect the world from harm, expanding out from Canterlot to neighbouring cities to work with the various governments and ruling bodies.

“Unfortunately, the other members of The Septet are all away on missions right now, except for The Shallow. I’ll be getting her to bring you around the tower to have a little teammate bonding, seeing as you’ll be working together from today. But first, we’ll be announcing you to our sponsors and benefactors.”

“The-the-the Shallow?” Flash couldn’t believe it. His favourite heroine was going to be showing him around? “This really is the best day of my life.”

“That’s right, now if you’ll follow Autumn, she’ll bring you to the changing rooms so we can freshen you up for the introduction.”

“Good day to everyone!” Still Well announced, situated at the podium in the small theater hall. There was a backdrop behind him with the words, ‘The Septet’s newest member: Dark Sun’, printed on it. “I’m sure you’re all excited and truth be told, so are we. But I won’t be doing the introduction myself. I’ll be leaving that to another member of The Septet, so please give a round of applause to… The Shallow!”

There was a thunderous cheer from the crowd of business people and newscasters as The Shallow lightly hopped out onto stage from the side. She hid behind her long pink fringe and meekly waved to them as she slid over to the podium, clearly embarrassed at having to be in front of so many people. The cameras were immediately on her, snapping photo after photo of the Septet member.

“P-Please, you don’t need to do that for me…” She smiled sheepishly. “Our newest member, Dark Sun is a Canterlot native, just like the rest of us in The Septet. He had won many awards from his time in the Childrens’ Show and he even has a band of his own. N-Neat, am I right? Now, to welcome him, he-here’s Dark Sun!”

She raised a hand to the side as Flash walked up onto the stage, waving at the crowds and feeling a little daring, he ignited a small burst of light in the palm of his right hand, then let it float up into the air, before it put itself out. The cheering only got louder.

He still couldn’t believe what was happening today. Right now, he was actually standing beside his hero. He was standing next to The Shallow!

“Give us a speech!” One of the news reporters in front yelled.

The Shallow looked at Flash, then giggled and motioned for him to stand by the mic. He had to first tone down his excitement, or he might actually not even be able to speak.

Flash stepped closer to the microphone and cleared his throat. The audience grew quiet, and cameras were aimed at him even more than before.

“I just wanted to say,” Flash began as the crowd listened with bated breath. “That this is huge for me. All my life, I’ve looked up to heroes, to inspire me to do what’s right, and what I can do to help others. And now, to be here, to have The Septet welcome me like this, it’s just nearly too much for me. I look forward to working with the fine people of this city, and making it a better place for everyone, however I can. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”

The crowd cheered again and The Shallow gave him a pat on the shoulder. She pulled on his sleeve and motioned for him to follow her off the stage as Still Well went back to the podium from the other end.

“I have much confidence that Dark Sun would make a fine replacement for Poolfreezer, and soon he will make a name for himself as a great hero! And that brings me to my next point.” He cleared his throat and paused a second. “With our roster continually increasing, my team and I have decided that we are ready to ship them out to all of you! How does it sound to have a hero in every city?”

Flash watched many a businessman nod his head, probably considering how it would work out. He thought about it himself and it did make sense. Right now, every supe was situated here in Canterlot and it would take some time to fly them over to other cities and nations and the crime rate might actually drop if there was already a hero ready to go in each city.

“Everyday, these superheroes risk their lives to safeguard our cities, our communities, our lives!” Still Well gestured towards Flash and Shallow. “And with their hard work in every city of the world, we would be able to feel safe every moment of our lives. All I ask is for your support for our brave heroes and we will all be able to make this dream a reality!”

The crowds cheered again, their voices and applause ringing around the theater hall.

To make this dream a reality…

Flash’s dreams had already become his reality. He’d seen all the good The Septet had done and all the lives they’d saved. He knew that now he had the chance to be sent out to fight crime, he would be able to do just that for the citizens of Canterlot and the world. He vowed he wouldn’t let this opportunity go to waste and he would make his dad proud.

Chapter 2: Life Choices

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Sunset Shimmer looked at the letter in her hands and pursed her lips together. It wasn’t right what had happened and it felt even worse now after reading the letter. When she got home after being questioned at the police station, there had been a Vogel International spokesperson waiting for her at her front door. He had handed the letter to her and was willing to explain everything to her after she had read it.

Vogel was willing to compensate her for the death of Pine Resin with a sum of forty-five thousand dollars and all they wanted from her was to sign that she wasn’t going to go to court with this and basically to forget about the whole ordeal.

Sunset wasn’t even able to yell at the man for suggesting such a thing, because she was still very shaken about what had happened. In a single second, everything had been taken from her and Vogel acquainted forty-five thousand with the life of her boyfriend?

And then it had been on the TV as well.

“I was just running after these criminals in their armored truck, then from nowhere, this guy jumped off onto the road and I couldn’t stop in time,” Z-Truck had said, the heroine who had run through Pine.

What was he talking about? Pine hadn’t done that. We were at the traffic light!

Tears dripped down Sunset’s cheeks as she crumbled the letter under her grip. Pine hadn’t deserved that. He was going to do so much good in life, not even for himself, but for the good of others. He didn’t deserve to be turned to mush, especially not by a superhero she looked up to.

The question now was why would Z-Truck lie about it? Why did he have to say that Pine jumped into his path?

Sunset tossed the letter aside and cradled her head in her hands, sobbing. She didn’t want to accept the money. It wasn’t right. She wanted to go straight to the authorities and tell them it wasn’t true. She wanted to do exactly what Vogel told her not to do. She wanted to get justice from this.

“But what are you going to be able to do here, Sunny…?” Sunset said to herself, her voice croaky. Vogel basically owned everything. How could she file a lawsuit against a company that powerful?

She was angry. Angry that Vogel and Z-Truck seemed to be treating it so lightly. Pine wasn’t just some random person on the street. He was the one she loved the most in this world. She was the one to go to when she needed help or advice, and now he was gone and there was no one she could turn to about what she could do about all of this.

She had also contemplated ending it all here. She didn’t have anything else to live for. She came to this world to amass power, but her reason for staying became Pine Resin, and she had given up on her idea of world conquest completely. Sunset shook her head. She didn’t want to go back there. That wasn’t her anymore.

She also couldn’t go back to Equestria. Not after what she had said and done to Princess Celestia. She didn’t know what to do but to sit there and cry.

All of a sudden, there was a knock on her front door and she looked up. Who could it be now? Why couldn’t they all just leave her alone?

Wiping her eyes, Sunset cursed under her breath and walked to the door, first putting an eye to the peephole. It was a blue skinned woman with black hair, dressed in a patterned shirt with a dark trench coat over it.

Unlocking her door, Sunset pulled it open an inch and asked, “What?”

“Well, well, well. Looks like I got the right place,” the woman in the trench coat said. She had a deeper than usual voice and spoke with a very strong Trottingham accent. “You’re Sunset Shimmer.”

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Sunset asked.

“Name’s Milly.” The woman flipped open a little black holder to reveal an FBI badge and a photo of her grizzled face. “Milly Mulcher. A shame what they’ve done to ya.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Sunset had to be sure.

“The whole Z-Truck accident.” She leaned against the doorway and folded her arms. “Well, they say it’s an accident. But I don’t like what I’m seein’. Condolences to ya, by the way. Awful farmin’ thing that happened.”

“Thank you…” Sunset said slowly. What was an FBI agent doing here?

“Ya know, you’re not the only one who’s lost someone from some supe related farm-up,” Mulcher continued. “Happens a lot more than ya think. People just don’t hear about it, is all.”

“What?” The girl didn’t know what she was hearing. Pine wasn’t the first one? But superheroes were meant to save people. “I’m-I’m sorry, but did you want something from me?”

“Couple of moments of your time,” Mulcher said, leaning in a little too close. “Ya see, what happened to Pine Resin goes on all over the country. But people don’t want to know. Ya wanna know why?”

Supes killing people all the time? How could she even believe something like that? “No. Why?”

Mulcher entered her house and went over to the closest window and crooked her finger for Sunset to come join her. Outside there was a massive billboard of a movie that was set to star King Max and Refraction. “That’s why. Billions of dollars of merchandising and corporations coming off of them supes. People like the idea of some golden cock swooping out of the sky to save the day, so they don’t got to do it themselves. Supe ‘accidents’ like Pine Resin, get swept under the rug by Vogel. Farmin’ diabolical, ‘innit? But then… That’s where I come in.” Mulcher did a twirl with her fingers and pointed to herself.

“Umm… you come in to… do what, exactly?”

“Hammer the supes where it ‘urts when the buggers step out of line.”

“You want to… hammer a supe?” Sunset gulped. “How do you even do that?”

“That’s what I want to show ya, Sunset.” Mulcher suddenly turned and proceeded back to the front door. “Come with me. I’ll show you exactly what I mean.”

“Wait, go with you? I don’t even know you.”

Mulcher turned and placed a hand on her chest. “I told ya. Milly Mulcher. FBI. Now come on. What I’m going to show you will change your mind about ‘em goody two shoes supes. Just come have a butcher’s hook.”

“A-A what?” Sunset still wasn’t sure if she wanted to go. Maybe Mulcher was right. Maybe she did like the idea of supes solving her problems. She didn’t want to actually do it herself. “Anyway, I think I’m good. I’m sorry.”

“Right, right. That’s thermocline.” The black haired woman nodded with one raised eyebrow. “Well, then I’m off. But let me tell ya… Once I go, I’m gone. Do you want to expose the truth of what happened with Pine Resin, or do ya just wanna stay here and wallow away like the farmin’ cock you’re tryin’ to be?”

Expose the truth? It wouldn’t do Pine any justice for her to just stay here and wallow away. She wanted that. She wanted the world to know it wasn’t his fault for what happened. He hadn’t jumped into the street. But was she really willing to go out there with this weird woman to have a look into it?

Sunset groaned internally, but at the same time, she had a pit in her gut. She knew what had to be done here, but was she willing to do it? She didn't quite know yet.

For Pine...

“So you’ve already seen the room, huh?” Flash Sentry and The Shallow entered the main hall of The Septet, with the latter walking ahead and raising her arms up around it. “But have you… seen it?” She finished with a cute meekly smile. She pointed to the terminals on the walls. “Satellite images from orbit. They can pinpoint the license plates of getaway cars even at a hundred and eighty miles per hour. Pr-pretty neat, right?”

“Yeah, I can see that help a lot of people…” Flash nodded.

“Mhm.” The Shallow waved to The Septet’s table next, which had a glowing surface. “It’s got a built-in interface. It can bring up whatever you want too. Useful when you need to get some information on on-going crimes too.”

“Wow, this place really is amazing.” Flash spun around to take in the circumference of the room. Shallow had been right when she said he hadn’t really seen it yet. Now he wondered if the chairs could do anything too. Or even the mural on the ceiling.

“I-Is this everything you imagined, Dark Sun?” The Shallow stood by the table, twiddling her fingers together.

“Everything I imagined?” Flash asked incredulously. “It’s better than what I imagined! So, when do I get my first assignment? I know it’s late and all, but I’m just so… Everything is so surreal.”

“Protectorate Sod usually is in charge of handing out assignments,” The Shallow said. “But she isn’t here at Vogel Tower right now. She’s a very busy hero, Protectorate Sod.”

“I’ll bet she is,” Flash nodded. “Being the leader of such an amazing band of heroes can’t be easy. But that’s why she’s the captain, because she can handle it. That time when she pulled the whole bus full of children out of the water, that was truly amazing.”

“Y-Yeah, Protectorate Sod really is something else…” Shallow clapped her hands together, then went to toying with her braid. “Your, umm, your favourite superhero must be Protectorate Sod, right? I mean, it seems like it…”

“What, Protectorate Sod?” Flash leaned on the nearby pillar and chuckled. “No, no. She’s like, everyone’s favourite hero. No, no, I’ve always thought she was way too powerful for me as a favourite hero. You know, she's the common choice of most people and I didn't want to just be in the same boat as everyone else. You know what, my favourite hero was actually you.”

Shallow’s cheeks slightly coloured and she leaned further back so her hair was now partially covering her face. “Wh-what… Me?”

“Yeah, you know…” Flash looked out the window at the city below. It was already evening and the sky was already beginning to get dark. “You can breathe underwater, and you can talk to fish. I always thought that was pretty cool. Plus, um, well, I sorta did have a crush in you when we were in school together. Sounds weird, I know.”

“W-We were in school together?” Shallow continued to play with her braided hair.

“Yeah, Canterlot doesn’t have very many schools. I played in a band in high school, if you remember what it was like.”

Flash reminisced on the days where he would just get on stage and play a wicked electric guitar. He used to be really good at it, but it had been a few years since he’d really played anything of such caliber. Normally he’d just take it out to strum a tune or two nowadays. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t remember seeing The Shallow at many of his concerts. She was a rather shy heroine. Perhaps she never went to such events.

Flash turned back from the window and was about to ask her if she had attended any of the concerts when he noticed, to quite his surprise, The Shallow was seated on the table with her pants down around just her left leg. She had her left hand sliding up and down her pussy slit, gently stroking it in full view of him.

“Woah, woah, woah… Uhh…” Flash looked away, his face going bright red. He flicked his eyes all over the room instead.

“U-Umm… you did say, umm, you had a crush on me, didn’t you?” The Shallow asked quietly. “I-I mean, we don’t ha-have to do it… You could just… have a little snack before you go.”

“Hey, well, look, uh… This isn't... Uh... You know...” Flash pointed to the entryway. “I should go.”

The boy hurriedly began walking away, almost falling over one of the chairs, but he was swiftly at the entryway.

“Dark Sun, come on, wait!” she called, and he was about to walk out completely, but then she said, “I mean, it’s a matter of how much you want to be a member of The Septet, isn’t it?”

Her tone had changed. It sounded more… firm and somehow… more seductive.

He turned back and the look on her face had changed. It was as though a shadow had passed over her eyes and she had a sinister smile on her lips.

“What did you say?”

Her smile only got wider. This wasn’t the same innocent-faced girl he remembered. “Oh, you know, I’ve been in The Septet much longer than you have. I’m sure if I decided to, you know, voice it out, off you go. Just like that.”

Flash couldn’t believe what he was hearing. And from his favourite hero, no less. She was blackmailing him. His eyes started to glow orange and the lights in the room began to flicker, with the darkness occasionally blanketing them and making him seem like a demon from the netherworld, with only his flaming eyes visible. This wasn’t what he wanted. This wasn’t at all what he had dreamed of when he realized he would be able to work alongside such great superheroes.

“Come on, you can stop with that.” The Shallow waved her right hand in the air. “I know, you’ve got quite the power. That’s why Vogel decided to put you in The Septet. And you can have a great future ahead, Dark Sun. You can do what you’ve always dreamed of doing. You can save people, you can inspire people to be just like you, you can make a name for yourself. You can fight alongside The Septet! Or… you could be in the worst rut of your life for attacking me…” She gave him a cheeky wink.

“Attack you?” Flash looked at his hands, then back at her. “I didn’t attack you.”

The Shallow hopped off the table, then sashayed her way over, swinging her hips from side to side as she walked. “Look, who do you think they would believe? You? A boy and the newest member of The Septet? Or me, an innocent girl who was forced down by a man? Your choice…”

She stopped in front of Flash and smirked. All he could do was stand there and hope it wasn’t really happening.

“It won’t take long. I promise…” She rubbed a finger down his chest and then ran it up her womanhood. “And once we’re done, you can continue to have everything you dreamt of… So what will it be, Dark Sun?”

Chapter 3: The Name of the Game

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“Mulcher,” Sunset Shimmer said. “What are we doing here?”

Sunset had been led by Milly Mulcher into a thrift store, where the FBI woman had insisted they get a change of clothes. Sunset was looking at some novelty printed shirts while Mulcher had found herself a brown pencil skirt and a blue blouse with short sleeves. Without the long sleeves, Sunset was able to appreciate how muscular Mulcher really was. It was probably a requirement to be physically fit to be in the FBI, Sunset thought.

“We’re in ‘ere because we can’t go where I wanna take ya all conspicuous-like without some disguises. Don’t wanna be recognized, now do we?” Mulcher growled.

“But why would I be recognized?” Sunset asked and grabbed a light blue shirt with a unicorn head on it. “I’m not FBI.”

“Yeah?” Mulcher said, looking unimpressed and threw her trench coat back on. “How about that greasy slick-runner Z-Truck? Ya already ran into him once. Third time pays for all, but I’m not riskin’ it. You shouldn’t neither.”

“What exactly are we going to do? Where are we going? You still haven’t told me.”

Mulcher threw her normal clothes into a plastic bag and slung it over her shoulder. “I’m gonna show you what them supe cocks are really like.”

Sunset did as she was told and put on her new shirt, keeping the jeans she was wearing today. She figured no one would look at jeans as a form of recognition. Once that was done, she followed Mulcher back out into the streets where the van was parked.

Once they were on the road, Sunset took the chance to check out the inside of the vehicle, thinking that maybe it would tell her something about her mysterious new ‘friend’. Unfortunately there were few personal effects. Just a half smoked box of cigarettes, a flask of something on the dashboard, and a walkie talkie. That was probably what she used to talk to the chief of police or something. And as the van went on down the night streets of Canterlot, Sunset still wondered whether she was doing the right thing here. She was doing this for Pine, she knew that. But was this something he wanted her doing? She still hadn’t figured that part out yet. She hadn’t figured anything out yet, except to see where this was leading.

“This place.” Mulcher eventually stopped the van and Sunset realized they were in a dark side street which was barely even lit. “This is where all them supes come to meet their old eastern plates and that’s where we’re gonna catch ‘em doin’ what they don’t want you to see. Come have a look yourself.”

She got out of the van and slammed the door shut, prompting Sunset to get out as well and followed her as the older woman led her over to a door that she would’ve missed if Mulcher hadn’t pulled on the handle. It was the same colour of the wall and once it was open, the terrible smell of cigarette smoke and something that smelt like rotting plants snaked its way into her nose and Sunset had to fight to not double over and gag. Before she could take another breath of fresh air, Mulcher reached back outside and pulled her in, then shut the door behind her.

The inside of the building was wreathed in smog. Mostly it smelled of tobacco, but there were other, unfamiliar smells there which made Sunset gag.

“Hold it together,” Mulcher muttered to Sunset as the latter covered her mouth and nose. “Act natural.”

Fighting back a coughing fit, Sunset followed Mulcher deeper inside. There was music playing, she could hear it now, and the smoke was getting thinner.

“What is this place?” Sunset whispered to Mulcher again.

“This?” Mulcher answered equally quietly. “This ‘ere is one of the city’s many, many dirty secrets. A nice little hole in the wall where the supes can be themselves. Now shut yer gob ‘fore you get us both caught.”

The whole place seemed to be bustling with supes and normal people alike. There were people of all shapes and sizes and when Sunset said shapes and sizes, she really meant it. In one corner was a bird-like superhero, ripping into a packet of what looked like white powder and after taking a whiff with it with his rather large beak, he puffed it up into the air and cackled, his face now covered in the stuff. There was another hero who could shrink himself to something like the size of a pencil and when he was ready, he took a running start and jumped straight at a woman who was holding her legs wide open and he disappeared right into the folds of her snatch, much to the woman’s pleasure. Sunset just hoped he wasn’t going to grow back to regular size any time soon.

Supes all over the club were participating in acts that Sunset never thought a superhero would do and then she spotted a supe she knew from seeing her on television a whole lot. It was White Blanche, one of the members of The Septet. She was just dancing there by the bar counter rather robotically. It kind of reminded Sunset of the main character of a video game called Density Result, who also danced rather strangely. At least to her honour, White Blanche didn’t seem to be doing anything off like most of the supes in here.

Mulcher found some empty seats and ordered two beers from a passing waitress. As they waited for their drinks, Sunset and Mulcher watched the other inhabitants of the club go about their business. She spotted another familiar hero, Slender, who had the power to stretch her body. She had a woman ravaging her moist pussy while she stretched over to another table to make out with another.

“So,” Mulcher said eventually. “Bit of a surprise, yeah?”

“A bit? Are you kidding?” Sunset couldn’t believe what she was seeing. This was not at all what she thought superheroes were doing behind the scenes. She thought they would be more like Bruce Mane instead, or at least, typical heroes from the comic books. “All of them?”

“Well, ‘cept Protectorate Sod. She’s like the heavenly angel here. She don’t drink, she don’t smoke, she don’t do drugs. It’s as though she’s the perfect heroine, ‘innit?”

Sunset sighed. Perhaps there were still some good ones amongst all of this.

Mulcher smiled, but there was no humour in it. “Ya see, this is the side of supes that Vogel don’t want the crowds to see. Why else do ya think they’d all meet up here in the farmin’ dump part of town?” The waitress came back with the beers. Mulcher popped the lids off the bottles and handed one to Sunset before drinking from his own with a grimace. “Sure ain’t cause of the liquor, I can tell ya that.”

“Uh, thanks.” Sunset took the bottle reluctantly. She didn’t really drink. She’d done it maybe twice in her whole life. She guessed this would be the third. “So you brought me here to… see the dark side of supes? Was that it? How does this help me?”

“Well, a little birdie told me someone was going to be here tonight.” Mulcher took a long sip from her bottle and looked around the club. “And wouldn’t ya know it. There she is.”

Mulcher nodded in the direction of the bar, where there was a small crowd of people drinking. Then a little further away, sauntering in like she owned the place, was a familiar hero in a blue outfit and goggles, but the most recognizable feature was her rainbow hair. She looked like she didn’t have a care in the world and that irritated Sunset. She had seemed so regretful during the interview about Pine’s accident and here he was now, almost as if it had happened years ago.

“Z-Truck, you daughter of a witch!” The bartender clapped one hand to Z-Truck’s atop the bar counter. The two held on to each others’ hands and Z-Truck grinned, her arm pushing at the bartender’s in some kind of unofficial arm-wrestling. Eventually, the bartender let go of the hero’s hand and laughed. “So, what’ll it be? The usual?”

“You know it, Cheddar.” She sat back on the bar stool and placed her goggles on the table.

“How’s it with that running accident yesterday?” The bartender returned with a glass of alcohol for the superheroine. “Sad thing with what happened, people just jumping out into the streets like that.”

“Exactly, like, what, do you not want to live anymore?” Z-Truck guffawed. “Some people just can’t wait to end it all. Maybe he was a druggie or something. Owed big money to one of the cartels. Well, if that’s the case, he should be thanking me for what I did, then. I saved him the trouble of having to work it off. Of course, the funeral won’t be open casket.”

The two of them laughed together.

Sunset’s fingers curled into a fist and she took a swig of her beer to calm down. Z-Truck was a hero. She looked up to her, like she did for the rest of them. They were supposed to be protectors, not butchers. And they weren’t supposed to laugh about it, especially not after lying about their guilt on live television.

Z-Truck stayed there, drinking and chatting to the bartender until another customer came to be served. The superheroine stayed sitting at the bar, looking for all the world like nothing was wrong at all.

Sunset got up and wanted to give her a piece of her mind, but then she felt Mulcher grab on to her arm and she motioned for her to sit back down.

“See what I mean?” The black haired woman drank more of her beer and pointed at the heroine. “They don’t care. It’s all a big joke to ‘em, ya know. Bein’ in the FBI, I had all the reports of criminal activity that day. Other than Protectorate Sod stoppin’ those bank robbers and their getaway, there wasn’t any other armored truck on the road. Not even a second crime that day, could you believe that. That Z-Truck wasn’t chasin’ nothing. That girl is up to something else. Farmin’ diabolical, am I right?”

Sunset lowered her head to the table and shut her eyes. She didn’t want this. She didn’t want any of it to be true. What did Pine even die for? Where had Z-Truck been going?

“So are ya in, Sunny?” Mulcher tapped her bottle against the table to get Sunset’s attention.

“Hmm?” She looked up. “In on what?”

The woman took another swig, then leaned closer and spoke in a lower voice. “On gettin’ back at these farmin’ posers. I’ve got a plan, ya see. But only you can do it.”

“Me?”

“First, I need you to plant this in Vogel Tower.” Mulcher dug around her coat and pulled out a little black circular device, no bigger than a penny. “This’ll let us in on all of The Septet’s juicy little secrets.”

“G-Get in the tower?” Sunset gave Mulcher a slack jawed stare. “Are you mad?”

But the woman raised a hand. “Hold your horses there, Sunny. I ain’t done. Gettin’ in the tower’s the easy part. They want to compensate you, remember?”

“How’d you know about that?”

Mulcher made a weird face. “FBI. Remember? Anyway, you say you want to take the money, but you gotta make them a condition. Say you want Z-Truck to personally apologize to ya in Vogel Tower, specifically in the Hall of The Septet. Just to make it official; ‘they can’t say no to that unless they want you to sign their non-disclosures and wipe it all under the nasty mug.”

“No! I don’t want any part of signing those NDAs.” Sunset waved her arms. “That means that whatever happened to Pine will just fade away. Not like that.”

“Sunny, you listen, sure, it might look like that at first. But our real goal’s to hit ‘em where it hurts.”

Sunset paused for a good long while, then eventually sighed. “Mulcher, thanks, you know, for showing me all this and trying to help me out, but really… I can’t do this. I’m not someone who can help you.”

Mulcher leaned back and her seat and tipped her bottle from side to side. Then she raised her eyebrows for a second and downed her bottle’s contents. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Well, if ya ever get the right snatch to do the job…” She held out a piece of paper with a number on it. “You can just find me here.”

Sunset hesitantly accepted the number, then stuffed it in her coat pocket.

“Come on, then. We’ve spent enough time here.” Mulcher sniffed and got up. “I’ll send ya back and you can get a good night’s rest. Maybe you’ll change your mind.”

Sunset doubted she would, but a good night’s rest did sound good. Unfortunately, it wasn’t something she would get any time soon.

Flash Sentry slowly dragged himself into the restroom, his eyes wide with disbelief and shock as he homed in straight for one of the many sinks in the room. King Max, was also standing there, checking out his muscles in the mirror, but Flash didn’t have the energy right now to feel excited about meeting another of his heroes.

He simply approached a sink and flicked the tap on, before running the cold water over his face to wash off what he could.

The Shallow really was something else, and when she came, she came like a flood. He didn’t think any girl would be able to release so much fluid, and she had done so all over his face, his hair and even his cape. It was going to be a pain to wash. To add insult to his injury, he smelt terrible as well. It was as though he’d just swam through a sea of dead fish, then dried out under the sun.

When King Max was done flexing his arms, he looked over at Flash and raised an eyebrow. He shook his head and began brushing his long green dreadlocks, and then polishing what little clothing he had on. King Max’s outfit consisted of a belt that went across his muscular chest, which attached to a thick pauldron on his right shoulder and below that was a leather pteruges and a belt, which had his insignia on it. Other than that, all he had were his gauntlets and boots, with not even so much as a shirt. Then again, he was basically bulletproof.

“Dude, you better clean yourself up before heading out of here, man,” he spoke, his voice low and somewhat hoarse. “You’ll spoil our image.”

Flash could only look at him, saying nothing. His first day had already gone terribly wrong. What else could possibly happen now to make it worse?

When Max was done, he turned to leave, but then suddenly stopped and looked at the wall by the sinks. Flash was curious and looked over, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“Refraction, get out of here.” And then Max was out the door.

Flash still saw nothing, but then the corner of the wall began to shimmer and a naked pale skinned girl appeared, her voluptuous body almost a sight too much for the blue haired boy and he turned away to continue washing his face and hair, even though he’d already seen The Shallow’s pussy up close and even put his tongue in it.

“I’ll umm…” Refraction awkwardly pointed to the door. “I’ll just go, darling.”

And then she was out too, leaving Flash alone in the restroom with his thoughts. He’d already met three of The Septet and so far, they weren’t what he knew them to be on television. But the most disappointing one was still The Shallow. He had always thought she was pretty, but now when he pictured her, all he could think about was her sinister smile and what she made him do. This wasn’t the superhero he looked up to.

And that made Flash ask the important question: Was anything he knew about The Septet even real?

All he could do now was sigh and continue washing himself off.

Still Well grabbed a couple of clear glasses, then returned to the seating area of his office, placing them on the table, before pouring out a little red wine into both glasses.

He picked one up and slid the other one over to another man at the other end of the table, then sat back into one of the two long black couches beside the table.

“So, Mayor Calvert,” he began, crossing one leg over the other and formed a warm smile on his face. “I had time to think, and I think I can lower my offer to send Blue Whirligig to Baltimare. How does two-hundred million a month sound?”

“Two-hundred?” The mayor sipped the wine and twirled the glass in his hand. “Still a tad bit much from my one-hundred million, isn’t it?”

Still Well shrugged. “Well, we still need to earn something, right? I can’t hire him out to you if we’re on the way to bankruptcy.”

“Bankruptcy, please.” The mayor laughed. “You’re Vogel International. You’ve the money to spare.”

“What can I say. We take every opportunity to make profit, just like any other corporation.”

Mayor Calvert nodded, then leaned closer and rested his elbows on his knees. “That includes the production of Hold X, hmm?”

Still Well let out a low chuckle. “Come on, Mayor Calvert. I told you we don’t have such a thing. I don’t know where you heard that from.”

“And I told you, unless you agree to my deal with you, I can go to the media with this. Now what would the world say when they learn Vogel International is producing a kind of advanced warfare with Hold X?”

“Why, they wouldn’t say a thing. Because there’s no such thing.” Still Well stared at him, unblinking. “But I urge you to reconsider. Two-hundred million is already a really low offer. Take Appleloosa, for example. They’ve already accepted the offer of three-hundred and fifty million and Commodore will be shipping out to them tomorrow morning. Or even Manehattan. They pay seven-hundred million a month to have The Revengers in their fine city. But then we have you, sir, who wants to try a little bargaining chip to get Vogel in his palm?”

“That’s because I know something they don’t. And if you don’t want them finding out, I suggest accepting my deal.”

Still Well sighed, but maintained his smile. They were getting nowhere with this. “Well, I suppose I’ll need more time to think this through, Mayor Calvert. Perhaps I could let you know tomorrow?”

“Yes. That’s fine. Just don’t keep me waiting too long. I might… get up to other things if I get bored.” The man finished his drink and got up. “Thank you for the time and the wine, Mr. Still Well. Oh and I would like an answer before tomorrow night. I’ll be flying back to Baltimare then. You know how it is, these long flights.”

“I’m afraid I do, Mayor Calvert. Well, safe travels.”

Still Well walked him to the door of his office and watched him go. Once he was out of sight, his smile was quick to fall off his face, replaced by one of scorn and annoyance. This changed things.

The hero manager turned and walked back into his room, and almost as soon as he had done so, there was a knock at the doorway and he looked back to see Protectorate Sod standing there, her arms folded across her chest.

“Just met the Mayor of Baltimare earlier.” She pointed a thumb towards the hall. “Somethin’ the matter? He seemed pleased.”

Still Well sat at his desk and pulled out a flask of coffee from his portal machine and poured himself a steaming cup. “Just a little business meeting where I will have to recalculate the costs. I’m afraid he knows how to do business well.”

Protectorate Sod smiled widely and walked into the room, his eyes on the coffee in Still Well’s hands. “Aw, don’t worry a beat about it. You’re brilliant. Ah’m sure you’ll come up with a plan. Ya always do. That’s why you’re the boss here.”

Still Well chuckled. “If only everyone could have your innate optimism.”

“Come on, if everyone was like me, then we wouldn’t need me anymore, would we?” She plopped herself down on one couch and pulled her cape aside. “Besides, the people forget sometimes. They’re the real heroes of the world.”

Still Well blew at his mug and looked out the window at the dark sky. “Yes. Yes they are.”

And the Mayor Calvert of Baltimare was no exception.

Chapter 4: To Play the Game

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Flash Sentry despondently waltzed about the Canterlot streets, not sure of what to do. Being new, there wasn’t much to do yet, especially since he still had to wait for all of the Septet to return before they could formally introduce him to them. Apparently White Blanche and Z-Train were still out on missions. He heard that Protectorate Sod had also returned last night, but left again on some urgent mission. He didn’t know what kind of mission, but surely it had to be something heroic, or more like he was hoping they were doing something heroic. He didn’t really know what to think anymore.

Flash had left the tower dressed in his usual clothes, which consisted of his black jacket and white shirt, not wanting people to recognize him now. He needed the peace and quiet to have time to think.

What would the rest of The Septet even be like? From what he’d already seen, they seemed to care more about self interest than the needs of others. Was Protectorate Sod like that as well?

“Ah’m no hero. You guys are the real heroes,” Flash heard her say multiple times during her interviews. Was that all an act?

He didn’t know, but what he did know was that his first day as a member of The Septet wasn’t at all what he had been expecting.

Just then, his phone buzzed in his pocket and realized it was his dad once he retrieved it from his jeans.

“Hey, dad. What’s up?”

“What’s up? That’s all after joining The Septet? You didn’t even call last night. I was expecting you to be telling me all night long about how amazing it was to be in The Septet.”

Last night… Flash grunted ironically. He didn’t think he even got sleep last night. He kept dreaming that The Shallow was going to come into his room butt-naked and sit on his face. In the end, there wasn’t really much to be afraid of. She was pretty and so was her snatch, but what Flash was more concerned about was being forced to do it when he barely got to know her. And then she had to go and just blackmail him and ruin his image of her and The Septet.

“Dad, I don’t know… I don’t even know what to tell you.” Flash walked on towards a nearby park, where there were a bunch of families flying kites. “I don’t even know if I should be here.”

“What? Of course you should! We’ve been working all your life to get you to where you are right now! It’s a dream come true, isn’t it? And you can’t leave! You’ve only just joined. I went to tell all our neighbours you made it. I can’t just tell them you left after one day.”

Flash exhaled sharply and placed himself on a bench and looked down at nothing in particular. Of course his father had already gone to tell everyone he could. He’d always been the one pressing him to go to those events as a kid, hoping he’d win first place. This hero business was his father’s as much as it was his. He had been with him since the beginning, always being supportive of his life goals.

“I know, dad. I know…” Flash groaned. “I just… I’m not sure this is still the best option.”

“What? The Septet are the most powerful superheroes ever! There’s no better place to be. Don’t you worry, Flash. I can talk to people. I know how to get you the gigs you need to boost your hero status. You can count on your good ol’ dad for that.”

“I mean, I… you… That is…” The boy sighed. He didn’t want to crush his dad’s world too. “Nevermind. Yeah, don’t worry, dad. I’ll let you know what comes up.”

He ended the call and hung his head in defeat.

Sunset Shimmer had watched the boy walk over with his phone to his ear and when he had hung up, he looked more down than ever. She didn’t know what to do. She’d been having a hard time and lately she wasn’t feeling too good, but there he was, seated just across from her on the bench where she had decided to sit for a quick lunch of a ham and cheese sandwich, and she didn’t know why, but she felt she needed to talk to him to see what was up.

But still she was hesitant to talk to a random stranger, so she first waited a few seconds to see if anything was going to happen. She even looked around to see if anyone else was going to approach the dejected boy, but eventually, she mustered up enough courage and she swallowed her food.

“Umm, hey, sorry…” She rubbed the back of her head unconsciously when he looked over to her. He had quite bright blue eyes that seemed to speak sadness, kind of like when her literature teacher used to ask her what poets meant when they mentioned blue. She hated it, but perhaps it had been useful after all. “Yeah, you look uh, you… umm, are you okay? You seem a little… down. I mean, sorry to barge in like that, I just thought, you know… Uh, you know what, now that I’ve opened my mouth, it seems a little strange to ask this. Don’t mind me.”

The boy’s eyebrows went up and he shook his head. “Oh, oh, no no no, it’s okay, it’s okay. I’m okay. I mean, I’d like to say I’m fine, but… I guess I’m not. Bad day.”

“Hey, don’t worry. I understand. Life getting you down, huh? I’m in the same boat. Uh, metaphorically. Things haven’t been all too good for me either.”

The young man slumped over on the bench. “You know, sometimes you just have a moment that just… makes you question everything. Like, rocks your world. You get me?”

“Yeah, I do,” Sunset said after a moment. She thought of her relationship with Pine, and how it had all ended in a flash. “I get you.”

“Like, yesterday was just one of those days,” the young man sighed and stared at the tops of his shoes. “And I don’t know if I want to punch someone or just run home and never go out again.”

He looked so melancholic that Sunset couldn’t help but feel bad for him. Even though she had her own issues to work through, she knew she would feel bad if she just left this man here in his own misery without even trying to cheer him up.

“Look,” Sunset said. “I used to… know a guy. He was a football player, and he told me once, that until the game’s over, there’s still a chance,” she tried to keep her calm when talking about Pine Resin. “Until the final whistle blows, you have to give it your all. So you had a bad day, but who knows? It could always get better tomorrow.

“Not over until the whistle blows…” the man sighed. “This friend of yours seems like a good speaker.”

“Yeah…” Sunset blinked away a tear. “He was. So don’t give up, you hear?” She scooted over and gave the young man a gentle punch on the arm. “You hit a wall, you break it down. If there’s no road, then pave one with your hands. You look strong; I’m sure you can do it.”

For a moment, nobody spoke. Just the two of them listening to the sounds of the park.

“You know what? Sorry that I just… started unloading all this.”

“Hey, no no, don’t worry about it.” the man said. “You’re right. I’ve worked too hard to get to where I am, and I’m not letting some witch of a coworker ruin all that. I’m done with her garbage. All of it. I’m gonna get back in there and I’m gonna make the most of it.”

“That’s the spirit,” Sunset smiled. She liked this man’s attitude and how he was able to bounce back so quickly. Perhaps she could also learn a thing or two from him “I’m Sunset, by the way. Sunset Shimmer.”

“Flash Sentry.” the man reached out and took her hand for a shake. “And… Thank you for talking to me. It means a lot to hear someone else’s advice. I can do a lot of good where I am. It doesn’t matter what else is happening around me or what others are doing. It’s my choice to continue and do what’s right.”

Sunset nodded. That sounded just like what Pine used to say. That’s why he wanted to become a doctor, after all. To do just that.

“You take care too, Sunset Shimmer.” Flash smiled, a genuine one that made him look like a movie star. “I hope your problems will be behind you as well. I should make a move now. Thanks again. For what you said.”

After a few more pleasantries, Flash got up and jogged off away from the park. Sunset watched him go, and her heart felt just a little bit lighter. She had doubts about what she had been doing, but he was right. It didn’t matter what was happening around her. She could do what was right. She remembered the club Milly Mulcher had taken her to and all the corruption she saw. Perhaps there was something she could actually do about it all, not just for herself, but for anyone else that had ended up like her or Pine.

She removed Mulcher’s number from her coat pocket and held it tightly between her fingers.

With a deep gulp to steady herself, Sunset produced her phone and typed the number in. She only had to wait a second and someone on the other end picked up.

“Oi, this is Mulcher. Who’s the cock calling?”

Yeah, that was the right Mulcher alright.

“Mulcher, this is Sunset. Sunset Shimmer. Listen, um… I’m in.”

Mayor Calvert loosened his tie as he hopped up the steps of his private jet into the cabin. His plane had a well decorated interior, with a fuzzy carpeted floor, prime leather seats and a row of medals and photos were plastered onto the luggage compartments, displaying his years of military service when he had been in his prime.

He sat down and gazed at them as one of his stewards arrived to hand him a glass of champagne. He had been put out of service at least fifteen years ago due to a knee injury over in Saddle Arabia when they had been trying to take down a terrorist stronghold.

He coughed as he pictured Still Well’s face smiling at him. That had been another plan the Vogel hero manager had talked to him about: Sending supes to fight alongside the military in the war on terrorism.

Calvert had voiced his concerns that these wars didn’t concern supes, but Still did bring up a good point.

“What happens if the terrorists had supes of their own? I’m sure we can’t be the only city originating superheroes.”

The mayor of Baltimare said he would think it over, but in time, the more pressing issue was getting a personal superhero in their own city. Still Well still had yet to reply with a counter offer. Perhaps it was really time to go to the media with his information on Hold X, which he knew for sure they were producing, according to his intelligence and inside information.

“Dad, are you okay?”

Calvert looked down at his son, who was seated beside him on the jet. He was a young boy with black hair and a red hoodie. In his arms was a plushie of Protectorate Sod, with buttons sewn into its face to represent eyes.

“Yes, son. Don’t worry, daddy’s all fine.” The mayor gave him a pat on the back and smiled. “Just have a lot on my mind about our city’s future.”

“So we’ll really be getting a hero in Baltimare?” His son bounced in his seat. “Could we get Protectorate Sod? She’s so cool!”

The mayor laughed and helped buckle his son in. “She’s with The Septet. We can’t possibly have the Septet in Baltimare. They belong to Canterlot.”

“Or the Revengers? Could we get them? Warrior Girl’s cool too, just not as cool.”

“They belong to Manehattan, son.”

“Oh.”

“Sonicboom?”

“Maybe. They're actually offering us Blue Whirligig."

"Ooh, yeah, he's cool too. He's like a little blue tornado in a beetle suit. Yeah, he's cool."

Once everything was settled in, the jet took off the runway and was soon rumbling through the dark skies and away from Canterlot. Calvert never liked flying, but he couldn’t deny it was the fastest way to travel between city to city. The rumbling of the cabin always put him on edge, making him think the plane could fall apart any second.

As he sat there in the flying machine, Calvert thought about his next course of action. Perhaps he would give Still Well one more call once he landed in Baltimare to give her one last chance of accepting his offer. He was already willing to pay a million dollars a month, which was a lot of money, but she still wouldn’t take it, even with his threat to expose Hold X to the public.

He watched his son, playing with his Protectorate Sod plushie and making it fly through the air. If only he knew half the things Vogel did with their superheroes. But ignorance was bliss, and he would rather keep it that way. The less his son knew about the world for now, the better. It was nice to see him happy and enjoying himself.

As the boy flew his plushie along the window, he suddenly stopped and lowered it to his lap.

“Dad, look!” He pointed out the window.

Calvert raised an eyebrow. What could his son possibly be seeing in the night sky? It was dark, with the exception of a lightning flash now and then. He hunched lower and looked out the window.

At first, he saw nothing, but then the next lightning flash came and he spotted a familiar figure flying alongside them, her Canterlot cape blowing wildly against the wind. She waved at them and gave them a big smile.

Calvert’s son was ecstatic and he held up his Protectorate Sod plushie to his face. “Dad, I didn’t know you were friends with Protectorate Sod! Is she escorting us home?”

And then twin points of red light appeared outside the window and Mayor Calvert only had enough time to throw himself over his son as two laser beams cut through their jet’s hull and ravaged the length of it from the rear window to front.

An explosion ensued and the plane began to fall from the sky in a raging fireball as Protectorate Sod floated on, grinning to herself, her eyes glowing red in the darkness of the night.

Chapter 5: The Game is Afoot

View Online

Flash Sentry had entered the Hall of the Septet early the day, hoping to get to start afresh after having a disappointing first day yesterday. He had taken Sunset’s words to heart and he knew what he was. He was a fighter and a perseverer. He was gonna stay, whether The Shallow was here or not.

And there she was at the table as he entered, flashing him a wicked smile and a wink as he walked down the short flight of steps to the hall.

Protectorate Sod, who was standing by the window, noted his arrival and turned around and stretched her arms out to her sides.

“Ah, Dark Sun! Welcome! We haven’t formerly been introduced! Ah’m Protectorate Sod, as you would already know and welcome to The Septet!” she ended with a rather cheery laugh and a tip of her stetson. “Ah trust you’ve already been introduced to some of the others.”

Flash noted that she seemed to be as he saw her on the news and that was a good start. But he wouldn’t let his guard down just yet.

“Good to finally be here, Protectorate Sod,” Flash returned the greeting.

The Shallow, from the end of the table where she was seated, gave him a wave. “G-Glad to see you’re still with us. Some-sometimes the new ones get washed out a little t-too quickly… Nice to know you haven’t gone down on everybody.”

“No.” Flash looked at her and his eyes began to emanate its orange glow. “I’m not going down anytime soon. I’ll be here to stay and make the most of it.”

Shallow didn’t say anything and simply flashed him a knowing smile as she placed a hand to her cheek.

Protectorate swung an arm playfully. “Now that’s the spirit, Dark Sun. That’s exactly what we need here. Someone willin’ to get out there and do what needs to be done.”

The Stetson wearing hero walked up to Flash and put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a charming smile. It was the same smile that she had worn on Flash’s old posters of The Septet and it practically screamed: Goodness and Righteousness. Oh, and Canterlot. A lot of Canterlot.

“That one’s yours, Dark Sun.” She flipped around and pulled out a chair from under the table. It was the same as all the other ones, but with a slight speck of mould growing under the left armrest.

“Oh, don’t worry about that.” Protectorate Sod shook her head. “Poolfreezer carried that sprinkler of hers around. Sometimes it just drips on the chair. Nothin’ to worry about.”

“Um, yeah, I guess so.” Flash rested a hand on the chairs headrest. It was still cool to have a chair of his own in the Hall of the Septet.

Unfortunately, this position was just opposite of The Shallow, who still had her eyes locked on him like a predatory bird. Beside her, White Blanche sat there, toying with one of the many knives in her arsenal. Of course, she didn’t greet him.

On the other side of The Shallow was Refraction, who was seated there in her sleeveless dark blue suit, her body invisible, though Flash couldn’t forget seeing her in the restroom. She had on a pair of bright red glasses and she was in the process of sewing up something blue.

King Max was seated two chairs away from Flash and he looked like he was in the process of inspecting his muscles. Again. Beside Flash was Z-Truck, who was kicking back in her seat, her feet propped up on the table with a packet of Maltsneezers in her hands. So far, none of it looked out of the ordinary, maybe except for Shallow’s constant gaze.

“So, missions for the day.” Protectorate Sod returned to her seat and pulled her cape aside as she sat down. “Blanche, Vogel wants you down on the Tegucaballo Cartel job, Z-Truck, you’ve got that apology to do later this afternoon, so please, be sincere.”

Z-Truck blew a raspberry, then stuffed a Maltsneezer in her mouth. “Man, it’s that son of a witch’s fault for jumping into my path. You all know how awesome I am. He should’ve stayed on the pavement.”

“Yes, well, it can’t be helped now, can it?” King Max sniffed and leaned back in his seat. “If you want it to go away, you gotta make it a good one. dude.”

“Dark Sun!” Protectorate Sod turned and smiled at Flash. “Since you’re new here, Vogel’s thinkin’ to have ya do a little superhero team up. It also helps to boost your reception and that of Vogel’s. There’ll be a secret drug trade happenin’ at the docks tonight. You and The Shallow will be helpin’ the police nab them criminals and bring them to justice. But Shallow, before that, there’s another mission for you in the seas. I’ll need ya on it asap.”

Flash reluctantly looked across to The Shallow, who gave him a sultry look and licked her lips.

“May we please talk about what we’re going to do about those crooks who’ve been selling ripoffs of the clothes I made?” Refraction asked, her glasses bobbing up and down as she sewed. “Those farming donkeys are pirating my hard work. I shall not stand for it.”

“Really, you’re concerned about your merch?” Z-Truck dropped her legs from the table. “I’ve gotta do this thing right, or I might lose points with the public and you’re worried about someone copying your design?”

“I’ll have you know, Z-Truck, my fashion designs are very important to me. Not anyone can just take them and start selling them under a different name.”

Flash sighed. He didn’t know what to do except to sit there and listen. This was not at all how he thought superheroes discussed their plans. He thought they would just go on out there to save people when they picked up crimes.

But at least what he would get to do tonight sounded important. He would be busting a drug trade and that was exactly what he wanted to do. To save lives and to bring bad guys to justice. The only problem with his mission was that he had to do it with The Shallow.

Flash’s eyes glowed again as he eyed the pink haired girl. If she tried anything, girl or not, he was going to give her a piece of his mind.

“Righty-o, spaghetti-o, Sunny.” Milly Mulcher stopped her van before the entrance to Vogel Tower. “‘Ere’s where you get off. Now, just stick to the plan and everything will fill itself out nicely, yeah? If ya need anything, well, don’t call me. It’ll be too late for that. Anything ya say on the phone in there, Vogel’s gonna know.”

Sunset Shimmer gulped and flipped the door open. The tower stood high above her head and she looked up to try and spot the ninety-ninth floor, which belonged to The Septet, but it was much too high to determine.

“Good luck in there, Sunny.” Mulcher gave her a thumbs up from inside the van. “You know how to get me once you’re outta there all safe and sound.”

And she was off, leaving Sunset alone in a strange new world. She still barely knew Mulcher, but somehow, that brutish woman was still better company than nothing.

Sunset slowly made her way into the building’s lobby, looking for signs of where to go. She had called yesterday evening to let Vogel know that she was willing to accept the compensation and to sign the non-disclosure agreements, but on the condition that Z-Truck apologize to her in the Hall of the Septet. The man on the other end of the phone accepted her proposal without even a moment’s pause, so here she was, trying to figure out how to get to reception.

The fiery haired girl followed a slew of business people over to a row of metal detectors and bag checks and each person was complying, going through and out on the other end like clockwork. It seemed they all were all used to this by now, but Sunset wasn’t.

Mulcher had warned her about the metal detectors and that was why she had swallowed the bug, but she still had a little part of her brain that doubted the detectors wouldn’t pick it up.

Eventually, her turn had come up and Sunset reluctantly walked through the metal detector, her whole body stiffening instinctively as she passed it by. Thankfully, no alarms were sounded and she managed to get into the building without incident.

The reception counter was easy to get to after that and there wasn’t really a queue for it, so Sunset got by relatively quickly before someone arrived to take her up to an elevator. The orange haired man had on a black and white suit and he had sunglasses on, even though they were indoors. Sunset didn’t want to look suspicious, so she made no sudden moves and waited as the elevator climbed higher and higher and higher, until her ears began to pop. She watched the number above the lift doors ascending very quickly and she fought the urge to reach up and cover her ears; these lifts sure were fast.

Fortunately, because they were moving so fast, they were soon at the ninety-ninth floor and the doors glided open without a sound, or at least, Sunset didn’t hear anything, but that was because she was trying to get her ears unstuck.

This floor was a single rounded corridor, filled with decorations of heroes present and past. Sunset had dreamed of walking the Hall of The Septet when she was younger, wanting to be among her heroes. It was sick that Pine Resin had to die for her to be here today and after what she’d learned from Mulcher, she wasn’t so sure if she still even considered them her heroes.

Perhaps if it was anything to go on, the old saying applied. Never meet your heroes.

A little woman with orange hair greeted her in the hall, introducing herself as Autumn Breeze. She didn’t look too pleased for Sunset to be here, but Sunset also wasn’t too pleased to be here.

“Just wait here. You can have a look around while you wait,” she told the fiery haired girl and left to go back out into the round corridor.

Sunset did as she was told and had a look around the room. This was it. This was actually the Hall of The Septet. It was bigger than she thought it would be and it was actually really well designed, with walls of monitors to keep an eye on the world and a really detailed mural painted in the middle of the ceiling.

Mulcher had told her to plant the bug under The Septet’s V shaped table, but with the man in the suit standing by the entrance, there was no way she was just going to barf it back out onto the marble floor in full view of him. She had to work out a plan on getting it out before she left the building or she was going to have a problem with Mulcher.

Mulcher’s words echoed back in her head. “Oi, don’t be a farmin’ cock and make sure the bug’s planted firmly under the table. Don’t come back till you do.”

Yup. I’ll do my best not to be a farmin’ cock.

Sunset didn’t know what was up with that woman and such vulgarities, but at this point, she was too afraid to ask.

Sunset ran a hand along the table’s glass surface and then from somewhere outside the hall, she heard what sounded like a truck driving by at high speed and she flipped around to face the entrance. Autumn Breeze was walking back in with Z-Truck waltzing in behind her, a neutral expression on her blue face.

“Alright, here’s Z-Truck as per your request.” Autumn waved to the superheroine and smirked. “Z-Truck?”

“Yeah, uh, sorry about what happened to your boyfriend,” she started to say, but Sunset wasn’t hearing any of it.

In her mind, her ears rang and her vision blurred and turned red at the corners. This had been the woman to kill Pine that fateful day. She had been the one who said he jumped out into the street. She was the one who was making fun of his death at the club. Without realizing it, Sunset’s fists had clenched and she was picturing bloody murder in her mind.

She continued to glare at her, even after she finished talking, which then prompted her and Autumn Breeze to give each other confused looks.

Sunset scrunched up her face with one last bout of exertion and then suddenly, it was as though she calmed down. She grinned at Z-Truck and stretched her arm out.

“Hey, you know, no hard feelings. You guys save the day all the time. I’m sure it was just an accident.”

Sunset wanted to kick herself in both shins for saying that, but she knew she had to.

The heroine gave her a relieved-like look, as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, but Sunset knew what she really thought about it.

“Right, if that’s that, come on, Z-Truck, you’ve got some interviews to get to. Snails here will sort you through your paperwork,” Autumn Breeze said and ushered the superheroine away.

The man named Snails got out a folder from inside his suit and handed it over to Sunset. The girl held the weighty folder in her hands and frowned. There was going to be a lot of signing to do, but first…

“Hey, sorry, could I use the restroom first?” she asked the man.

She was directed to one end of the rounded corridor, where there were doors to the men’s restroom and the women’s. Sunset chose the women’s room, obviously, and went inside, looking around surreptitiously to make sure that she wasn’t being watched. When she was sure no one else was in the restroom, she popped into one of the many fancy cubicles, marveling inwardly at how clean and tidy everything was. Whoever was the cleaner, should they not know about what these heroes were actually like, got to honour to see The Septet everyday.

Locking the cubicle door behind her, Sunset held her hands to her stomach and started trying to force herself to retch. She stuck her finger down the back of her throat, attempting to trigger her gag reflex. With a sudden splatter, the contents of her stomach came splashing out into the toilet. Fortunately, she had not eaten anything the whole day, so most of it was water and bile. Then before it landed in the toilet water, Sunset caught the bug as it exited her mouth and wiped off her mouth and the tiny device and held it up to her eye. She didn’t think she was going to get it out that quickly, but she was thankful she did. It hurt to vomit on an empty stomach.

And then the device slipped from between her fingers from the wetness and Sunset scrambled to grab it, but it flipped in the air and bounced off her fingers, then her knee and then the floor before rolling out from under the cubicle door and into the middle of the restroom floor.

“What the hay…” Sunset pressed the flush button then unlocked the cubicle door. She scurried out and picked it up before looking around.

The restroom was still empty.

Sunset breathed a sigh of relief, then pocketed the device where her arm could easily reach it when she was signing the documents. Her heart beat heavily in her chest, her palms became sweaty and her knees threatened to buckle. This was it. This was the moment she had actually come all this way for. She had to succeed here. For Pine and for anyone else who suffered at the hands of careless supes.

As Sunset left the bathroom, the wall beside the sinks began to shimmer.

“Farmin’ nice work, Sunset!” Milly Mulcher cheered as she sped away from Vogel Tower. “And they didn’t suspect a thing?”

“Not that I know of.” Sunset Shimmer leaned back and finally took the time to breathe easy. “They were anxious to get rid of me.”

“Yeah public stunt like what Z-Truck did, they want it gone as quietly as possible to keep up their supe facade.” She clapped Sunset on the back while driving. “Ya did good, Sunny.”

Once they got her signing the forms, Sunset simply got the bug out of her pocket and slipped it under the table as she signed away, with the suited man none the wiser. She actually hadn’t expected it to be that easy, but perhaps being such a powerful company, there were things that they would overlook. After all, how often would the public get to waltz around the Hall of The Septet?

“My FBI friends and me will be sure to put this bug to good use. See what else them supe cocks come up with.”

“Right.” Sunset looked at the cheque for forty-five thousand dollars in her hands. Other than this measly sum of money to keep her quiet, she felt she had done good. It had been like a moment from Wooden Cog, where she had to sneak around and steal the missile plans, but in this case, to plant a listening device. Stressing at first, but rewarding at the end. “So what happens now, Mulcher?”

“Well…” The woman sniffed and wiped her nose with a finger before cleaning it off on her tropical patterned shirt. “I guess I send ya home and you can kick back till I call ya again. Ya done good today and that’s all I needed help with at the moment.”

Sunset didn’t say no to that. After such a daring job, she felt she needed at least a few days to calm her nerves. It hadn’t even been this stressful back in the day when she had first arrived in this world to plan her eventual takeover of Equestria. Perhaps it was because school security stank and she never ever had to worry about being discovered.

“Ever brought any heroes to justice, Mulcher?” Sunset was curious. She’d never seen any of it on the news before, of superheroes abusing their powers and being caught.

“Yeah, of course.” The woman turned the wheel of the van and proceeded down the next street. “Even beat a couple of ‘em up, but ya gotta know, this ain’t knowledge we just let the news stations ‘ave.”

“No, I suppose not.”

In about fifteen minutes, Sunset looked out the window to find they had arrived outside her apartment and the sun was already on its way down, turning the sky into a bright and vibrant orange colour.

“Well, here’s where ya go back to normal life, Sunny Shimmer.” Mulcher leaned on the wheel and gazed up at the sky. “Should I ever need your help again, well, I know just where to find ya, don’t I? I do wonder what kind of juicy intel we’ll get from the bug now.”

“Yeah...” Sunset was about to leave when she remembered something. “Oh hey, Mulcher, you want to see something cool?”

The older woman watched and waited.

Sunset picked up the cheque and tore it down the middle. It wasn’t as clean as she had intended, but it didn’t really matter. She wasn’t going to accept money to forget about Pine.

Mulcher grinned as Sunset stuffed the halves of the cheque into her coat pocket and got out of the van. She gave her one last wave, then drove off down the road.

The fiery haired girl proceeded up to her apartment without a sound and fell face first on her couch and groaned into it. Now that her little mission had been completed, real life came back and hit her again. She was supposed to fly off with Pine to Manehattan today, but he had been taken from here in a blink of an eye.

Sunset wiped the tears from her eyes as she remembered his calming voice, the warmth of his body, the hot breath on her neck. She missed him. But she had done him good today. She had helped the FBI, and perhaps they could hear something that would help clear Pine’s name. After all, Z-Truck was a frequent member at the Hall of The Septet.

She didn’t know what more to do now, but she couldn’t give up on life. Pine wouldn’t want her to. Like she had told that Flash Sentry in the park, she couldn’t give up just like that. She had to live on for Pine. That meant getting a job. She did have expertise in technology, so it wouldn’t take her that long to find one, but that could wait till tomorrow.

With nothing more to do today, Sunset decided to boot up her television to play some Hola 4, to continue her adventures of the Hoplite known as Juan-Uno Uno Siete, in his quest to detonate a structure called a Hola, to stop an invading alien race.

She had only grabbed the controller to her Neighstation 7, when she heard her door shut. Sunset looked over there, but there was no one there, and she could swear that she had closed it earlier. Perhaps it had been one of her neighbours.

“Hello.”

Sunset, who had already gone back to her game, jumped and spun her head back towards the doorway, but she still saw no one there.

“I’m talking to you, darling.”

Suddenly she felt someone grab the side of her head and she was pushed into her coffee table, hitting the side of her head on the edge and pain immediately filled her head and her eyes shut from the sudden spike of pain. She was then thrown aside, where she landed beside her couch, her head bloody and her vision blurry.

“I saw what you were doing at the tower,” the voice said somewhere above her, then something round clattered to the ground beside her. Even though her vision was blurred, she could still recognize the object. It was the bug she had planted under The Septet’s table. “What on earth was that for? And who was that dreadful woman in the van with you?”

“I don’t… I don’t know…” Sunset tried to steady her vision, but she was still reeling from the blow to her head; her hand came from her head stained red.

She felt a foot press into her shoulder, then she felt breath on her face. “Who hired you? Who do you work for?”

“I-I don’t know!” Sunset squirmed and tried to dislodge the foot, but to no avail. “She was just my… my Super driver. She just got me from one point to the other. I don’t know her! I’m not working for anyone!”

There was a pause. “If you’re not working for anyone, then I can just snuff you right here and nobody will care. Do you know who you’re attempting to spy on?”

Sunset felt a knee smack into her cheek and then she was thrown again, this time over the coffee table, where she landed hard and then slid off on the other side, landing on her head.

“We’re The Septet! We’re earth’s strongest heroes. You don’t just farm with the strongest heroes, dear.”

Sunset made out her television being lifted off its table, then it was yanked clean of its plug, which now hung above the table, its wires raw and sparking. The television floated high above her head and it got closer and closer to her.

Is this it…? Am I going to die here…? Sunset felt sore all over. She couldn’t run. Her planting of the bug had all been for nothing. She hadn’t accomplished anything after all. I’m so sorry, Pine. I failed…

Sunset was about to let it all end, when something crashed through the window over her. She saw a figure kick into thin air and her television went flying back, crashing to the ground by her hallway.

Sunset groggily looked up to see Milly Mulcher standing there, a wicked grin plastered on her blue face.

“Had to use your neighbour’s to get to ya.” She helped Sunset to her feet. “Come on, ya gotta get out of here, Sunny. I’ll take care of this.”

“What…?” Sunset stumbled and looked as Mulcher lifted a red metal shoehorn to her shoulder. “What are you doing?”

“Gonna teach this supe a lesson. Now go on, get out of ‘ere.”

Sunset staggered away towards her kitchen, trying to get the emergency exit open, seeing as she would have to get by Refraction to get out the main door. She’d always kept the doorway clear, just in case she would ever have to use it. She never thought it would be to escape from a superhero, much less a member of The Septet.

She pried the door open, then took one step out before pausing. Mulcher had crashed through her window to save her. Could she just run off like that? What if she was in trouble? Sunset contemplated her choices. But what could she even do to help? She wasn’t an FBI agent, she was just… Sunset Shimmer. Would going back even accomplish anything.

Sunset groaned to herself. She didn’t know what she could do, but she knew what she had to do.

“Well, well, well…” Milly Mulcher smirked at the corner of her mouth and held her shoehorn in both hands as she looked at the hallway where the television had fallen. “If it ain’t the invisible cock.”

She walked closer, then lifted her shoehorn high and smashed it down hard enough to crack the television screen, but she didn’t feel it connect with anybody.

“Huh. I was sure you were there.”

And then she was suddenly kicked in the side and she flew back against the wall, dropping her weapon. Mulcher was quick to get up and readied her arms in front of herself. She didn’t know where Refraction was standing now, so she took a random swing at the air. She hit nothing, but then a fist connected with her face, and then another in her gut, making her double over before a hand grabbed her by the ponytail and threw her forward.

The woman got back up and straightened her brown skirt, then threw another punch. This time, something grabbed her wrist and twisted it to the side and she grunted in pain. She tried the other arm, but it was also grabbed. That was good. Now she knew the heroine would be right in front of her, judging from how her arms had grabbed her.

Building up the blood in her mouth from her injuries, Mulcher spat it all out straight in front of herself and she watched it splatter against nothing, eventually spreading off an invisible surface, forming facial features and then dropping around to reveal slender shoulders and arms.

“There you are.”

And Mulcher threw herself backwards and kicked both legs out, and when Refraction fell atop her feet, she brought her knees down, then kicked out hard and backwards, launching the heroine off of her and into the couch, knocking it over on its back.

Milly Mulcher approached Refraction as she got back on her feet, watching her bloodied face and arms as they got ready to attack again. She threw a punch, but Mulcher ducked and gave her a good one to the left side of her head, then the right, followed by a third to the neck.

Refraction staggered back a step, but then swiped Mulcher’s legs out from under her with a kick. The black haired woman went down and hit her head against the television.

“Ow. That was a solid knock to me uncle ned.” The woman spat out more blood and rubbed at the side of her head.

Bloody footprints appeared where she had spat out blood and began making their way towards her. Mulcher watched the invisible woman lower herself, who then picked up her red shoehorn.

“Just who the hay are you?” Refraction lifted Mulcher by the coat and tossed her back down. “We are The Septet! You don’t farm with The Septet, darling. Or we farm with you.”

Mulcher turned on her back and looked up at the invisible woman. Then behind her, she spotted Sunset Shimmer. The girl hadn’t run away. She was crouching by the other end of the couch, near the window, sneaking closer.

Oh? Brave lass, isn’t she?

“I’ll tell you who I am, ya moron.” Mulcher raised an eyebrow and smirked at the corner of her bloody mouth. “I’m the cock who’s gonna beat a supe who thinks she’s such a smart donkey.”

Refraction kicked her across the face and Mulcher fell back and groaned, then started laughing.

“What so funny?” The superheroine raised the shoehorn and pointed it at Mulcher. “Tell you what, darling. I’m going to count to three and when I do, you’re going to tell me who you are. And if you don’t, I’m going to find a new home for this shoehorn.”

“You know what?” Mulcher looked back up at her. “I’ll tell you who you are. You’re a farmin’ braindead waste of skull space. Refraction doesn’t even mean you’re reflective. It just means a your type o’ wave splittin’ up against an object.”

She looked at Sunset, who was now close enough to grab the exposed television cable. Mulcher returned her eyes to the invisible woman, then grinned madly as Sunset thrust the cable forward towards her posterior.

Sunset Shimmer pulled and pulled at the cable, but it wasn’t long enough. It couldn’t reach Refraction.

Just a little further! Sunset tugged on it, silently hoping that the superheroine wouldn’t turn around. If she were to see her now, she was probably going to die and Sunset really didn’t want that right now if she could help it.

And then from the front, Milly Mulcher suddenly pulled a foot back and launched it forward, getting Refraction probably somewhere in the abdomen. She fell back a step and Sunset thrust the wire up, feeling it squelch into something. She could now roughly picture the heroine’s butt and her hips as electricity began to pass through her body and sparks were even flying off of her in all directions and Sunset flinched and kept her head low, screaming as the superheroine began convulsing on the spot.

Sunset didn’t know how much electricity Refraction could take, but when she yanked the wire out of the heroine, she just fell to the side and over the coffee table, still twitching on the spot occasionally.

“Did I… Did I kill her?” Sunset put the wire down and breathed heavily. She’d never done such a brutal act in her life, not even when she was scheming to overthrow Princess Celestia. All she was going to do was lock her in a dungeon somewhere.

Mulcher pushed herself up and walked over to Refraction and dropped a knee on her chest. “Still breathin’.” Then she turned to Sunset and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Farmin’ A, Sunny! You shocked that super cock right up the twat! Now that’s what I call a shocking encounter.”

“Wait,” Sunset said as realization dawned on her face. “We just attacked a member of the Septet. We are going to be in so much trouble for this!”

“We?” Mulcher repeated. “You’re the one who shoved a ‘lectric cable up her purse.”

“Me?” Sunset spluttered. “You were fighting her more than me, Mulcher!”

“Well, whatever the case is, they’ll be comin’ for us now, like it or not.” Mulcher reached under Refraction and held her up by the shoulders. “Now come on, help me get ‘er in the back of my van.”

“Aren’t you with the FBI?” Sunset asked as she followed Mulcher downstairs to his van, helping him carry the unconscious woman. “Surely you have some pull with The Septet and Vogel, right?”

“Uh, well, about that...” Mulcher suddenly dropped the body and it got too heavy for Sunset to hold alone, so she too released her grip and it began to slide down the stairway to the bottom. “I’m not… technically FBI. Just said that to get your help.”

Sunset’s right eye twitched. “You-you-you… WHAT? Then what are you?!”

“Well, I’m part of a group who used to deal with supes like this,” Mulcher began and walked down the steps to where the body was resting at the bottom. “But I’ll fill you in once we get her to a secure location, yeah? They’ll be after you too now, after offing one of The Septet. You’ll be safer with me.”

Sunset didn’t know how true that was, but after everything that had happened, she figured she owed Mulcher somewhat, so going down the stairs, she decided to help the older woman out and see what happens. After everything that had happened, she was sore all over and she was sure her head was still bleeding.

“So where can we go?” Sunset grabbed Refraction around the legs again to help lift her.

“This supe’s gonna be a little tricky.” Mulcher sniffed. “But I know someone who can get just about any supe caged up real good…”

Chapter 6: Diamond is Unbreakable

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In the darkness of the Canterlot Docks, a trio of men rode silently over on their black skiff and stopped beside the landing, throwing up dark blue duffel bags onto the pier before getting out themselves. They kept their hands in their pockets, which likely had firearms and they just stood around, waiting.

“This must be it…” Flash Sentry breathed and kept low behind a pile of trash bags in an alley. The smell was extremely unpleasant, but there was nowhere else to hide at this position, so he had to make do for now.

The Shallow was keeping an eye on things from the water and Flash couldn’t be more happy to be away from her. It was as though Vogel was taunting him by placing him in a matchup with her right after she had forced him to go down on her. If it were true, they really had some sick sense of humour.

Around the outskirts of the docks, where the warehouses stood, Flash knew the police were waiting in ambush. They had brought in a van of swats and they each had a rifle, just in case the meeting got loud. The dealers were currently here, but the buyers still had yet to arrive.

One of the criminals pulled out a cigarette and stuffed it between his lips and lit it as the other two squatted in the corner, keeping a close eye on the bags.

“Here they come, Dark Sun,” a police officer’s voice sounded in his earpiece. “Show’s on the road.”

From behind the nearest warehouse, two black SUVs rolled in, their tyres hardly making a screech as they came to a stop. Their headlights were on full power and the three men from the skiff were immediately bathed in bright white light. They lifted their arms to their eyes as people from the car emerged, walking towards them with a single briefcase. These men and women were armed with rifles and one even had a shotgun in his hands.

“They’re taking it,” Flash radioed over to the police as he watched the three men hand the duffel bags over for the briefcase.

The newcomers unzipped the bags to have a look inside, retrieving packets of white powder, with one of them cutting one open and having a sniff. She smiled and shook her head wildly after inhaling it, then nodded to her friends.

It was then that floodlights on the rooftops activated and the swat team charged in from behind them, guns raised.

Immediately, the criminals started blasting and the cops had to take cover behind the building corners. And Flash knew that was where he had to come in.

Emerging from his hiding spot, Flash’s eyes began to glow as all the lights in the area began to flicker. The crooks with the machine guns were the first to see him and raised their weapons to fire at him. A few hit him straight in the chest. They hurt, but they couldn’t puncture his skin and he released two pulses of fiery light from his palms, throwing three of the gunmen back into their car, denting the vehicle and sending it sliding an inch.

Flash had the power to absorb nearby electricity and convert them in blasts of light and with all the floodlights around, he had quite a lot of power to go about.

Now all eyes were on him and they began to open fire again. As Flash returned fire, the three men from the skiff began to make their way back to their vehicle, but as they set foot on it, the entire boat flipped up into the air and two of them fell into the water. The third man fell back on the dock, but screamed as the boat came crashing back down on top of him.

The two who fell in were soon thrown back up, followed by The Shallow, who landed beside them, striking a heroic pose before brushing her hair out of her face gently.

“It’s another supe!” A purple skinned woman trained her gun at her and fired.

The Shallow was fast on her feet, already running straight for her as the bullets started bouncing off her skin. She swung her arm to the side and knocked the woman’s rifle clear and then swiped back with her other hand, catching the woman across the jaw. Flash heard something snap and the woman flew aside, blood trailing from her mouth. The other woman with the shotgun turned to aim at The Shallow, but Flash whipped a serpentine flame at her and she was thrown through one of the warehouse windows, spilling shattered glass across the floor.

The rest of the crooks attempted to flee, but Flash blasted a few of them aside with his fiery light waves, and The Shallow chased down two of them, before throwing them headfirst into the shattered glass. They slid on the ground and began screaming as glass embedded into their faces, with one of them having been speared through the eye by a thin shard. Blood dripped from their faces and began to coat the ground around them, when the swat team charged back in with their weapons raised.

The remaining criminals tossed their weapons aside and thrust their arms up in surrender and the cops began to get them down on their knees to cuff them.

“Solid work, Dark Sun.” The Shallow waltzed over to Flash, rearranging her wet hair. “But what a waste of talent. The police didn’t need me here to solve such a simple crime. They could’ve done it themselves. Or at least just with you. They could’ve assigned me something more grand.”

“That’s all it is to you, huh?” Flash’s eyes burned against her. “Your fame, your status.”

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to be popular with the crowd, does it?” She wrung at her braid shyly, but Flash knew that was all just a facade now. “That way, you know, you can get people to do your bidding sometimes…”

“But that’s all you are.” Flash stepped closer. “I asked around the tower. You’re not as big as you think. You want to know what people think? They just think you’re the underwater hero to keep some form of diversity. As far as they’re concerned, you’re only in The Septet for your looks.”

Shallow didn’t say anything for a while, then she sarcastically flinched. “Ouch. Is that what you think?”

“Yeah, now look. I don’t care who you think you are.” Flash’s eyes began to glow a brighter orange. “If you make me do something like that again? I swear, I’ll melt that pretty head right off your neck. Then we’ll see what people think of you. I don’t care if you’re a girl or not. Am I clear?”

As Flash left her to assist the police, The Shallow folded her arms and smirked, then waved sheepishly at a policeman as he passed and awkwardly brushed at the left side of her hair.

She eyed Flash and mumbled under her breath, “This Dark Sun’s going to be an interesting addition to The Septet…” She licked her lips.

“Really? This is the place?” Sunset Shimmer asked.

“Sure is. Now hold your horses. I gotta see if she’s home.”

Milly Mulcher had driven them to slums of Canterlot’s city, where most of the buildings were old and worn, as though there had been a demolition crew who only did half their job. The building they were visiting was missing half a wall on the second floor and its paint job outside was completely faded and some bricks were missing.

The stench of cigar smoke in the air was strong and there was a reason Sunset would avoid this part of town whenever she was here. She just didn’t feel safe, though with Mulcher around, she actually felt a little more safe. Just a little.

They carried Refraction’s body around the back and into a dark alleyway, which was barely lit. Sunset was sweating profusely by the time they arrived there, even though the weather was cold and with the injuries she received from the superheroine in her home, she felt she could collapse any minute now.

Mulcher knocked on the door roughly and placed an ear against the door. Sunset was wondering who he’d come all the way here to find until a shorter woman opened the door.

She had stark white skin and light pink hair, along with a sharp face and she didn’t look too pleased to see her. She was dressed in a simple dark pink tank top and brown pants, which were covered in stains.

“Hey, Prenchie.” Mulcher gave her an awkward smile and leaned on the door. “Fancy seein’ you here. Listen, we need a little help.”

“Milly Mulcher.” The woman nodded and folded her arms. She had a very distinct Prench accent. “Only after all this time you show up, and…” She eyed what the both of them were doing. Sunset understood. To her, it might’ve looked like they had gone crazy, carrying nothing. “Don’t tell me that’s-”

“Yeah, it’s Refraction. She came after Sunny here. Come on, hurry and let us in, we gotta lock her up before she gets up.”

“Dragging someone else into your problems, huh?” She shook her head, but then stepped aside. “Just hurry, get in.”

Prenchie ushered them in, then locked the door behind them. Inside, Sunset was dismayed to see more steps, which led straight down from the doorway to a room below. With her adrenaline already fading, it was getting harder and harder to carry Refraction and by the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, Sunset had dropped the heroine’s legs and fell to her knees, unable to put in more strength to carrying her.

“Prenchie, she’s hurt bad. Why don’t you help me instead, we’ll let Sunny here rest up.” Mulcher motioned with her head.

The pink haired woman sighed loudly, but helped Mulcher with taking Refraction somewhere else. Sunset sat by the stairway, breathing hard. She really felt sore all over. Refraction had given her quite the beating and if it weren’t for Mulcher, she wouldn’t even be here to be all tired out.

While she waited, she thought of what was going to happen now. Having taken out Refraction, they had to make sure that she wouldn’t be able to get back to Vogel Tower. She knew Sunset’s name now and she managed to get back, then her normal life would be gone in a flash. Hay, her normal life was basically gone already. If she got out, it was going to be much worse.

Sunset didn’t know when she had passed out, but she eventually found herself waking up on a musty old couch. She found her head and chest had been bandaged up. She still felt sore, but perhaps the rest had helped with getting her some strength back.

“Pleh,” Sunset said as she sat up. It was all dark around and there were no clocks to tell her what time it was.

The place itself was badly lit, with only a few lights every few meters to slightly light up the room. The walls were of cement and covered in old posters and graffiti. At least it looked relatively clean and didn’t smell.

“Hey, you. You’re finally awake,” Mulcher’s voice came from behind the couch. “Ya done sleeping, then? Prenchie didn’t wanna wake ya just yet.”

“Ugh…” Sunset tried stretching her arms back, but her right arm still hurt. “So who’s this Prenchie exactly?”

“She’s an associate of mine. Specializes in supes and their weaknesses. She’s got Refraction under wraps, see.”

“And by under wraps, Milly means to say that I’ve built her a small containment cell with an electric fence around it.” The smaller woman gave Sunset a whack on the arm, which she quickly drew back and rubbed at her shoulder. “And it is all thanks to you and your genius idea, petite Sunny.”

“Uh, yeah, alright…” Sunset continued to rub her shoulder. “So what are we going to do with her?”

“Well, we’re going to find a way to deal with ‘er.” Mulcher sniffed and patted her red shoehorn. “Conventional weapons ain’t gonna work. She’s near unbreakable in that state. That’s what Prenchie here’s for.”

“As if you don’t already owe me enough…” Prenchie put a bottle of liquor to her mouth. “You make off with forty thousand without paying back and now you come back to my doorstep asking for help. Incroyable.”

“H-How do you two know each other, anyway?” Sunset asked. “Is she also from that team of yours?”

Prenchie laughed and pointed at Sunset. “You told her, Milly? That team of ours, petite Sunny, was disbanded years ago.”

“After a little accident you had, Prench. Don’t forget that.” Mulcher shot back at her. “They shut us down because of your little farm up.”

The Prench woman said nothing, then finished her bottle and tossed it aside. “Whatever it is, I need to find a way to deal with Refraction. Her diamond-like skin is impervious to anything we have here, but what I did was make a bullet of the same material as her. Like they say, diamond can break diamond.”

“Ain’t heard that sayin’ before, but farm it. We ain’t got anything else to go on. Come on, Sunny. We’ll show ya the room. You okay to have a stroll?”

Sunset nodded and pushed herself off the couch. It was still okay to move about as long as she wasn’t putting any strain on. The two women led her to a room in the back, past rows and rows of what looked like weapons and drugs in crates. The backroom was a small square space and in its center was a small cage, just enough for someone to sit in it. A tiny generator sat beside it, with wires clipped to it and to the cage itself. Around the room, there was foil plastered on everything, even on the ceiling above them.

“Ya think our supe’s awake yet?” Mulcher asked and eyed the contraption.

“I’m awake, you farming hooligans,” Refraction’s voice came from inside the cage. “You better let me out of here now before Vogel comes looking for me. I promise you, it shan’t be pretty.”

“Well, guess what, mon amie, no one is going to find you.” Prenchie waved a hand over her head. “No transmission will be getting out with all that foil we set up.”

“I’ll find a way out. And when I do, I’ll come for you. I’ll come for all of you and you won’t even see me coming!”

“Kind of your whole schtick, ain’t it?” Mulcher said boredly. “Well, ladies. Shall we get to work?”

“Oui, I’ve prepared this just for you, Refraction.” Prenchie whipped out a rifle from behind her back and pulled the slide back. “Let’s see if this gets the job done, huh?”

Sunset covered her ears and stood partially out of the door and watched. At first, Prenchie still hadn’t fired, but just as she was lowering her hands from her ears, the woman pulled the trigger and the air was instantly filled with a loud bang and her hands shot back up to her ears and flinched.

Whatever happened inside, the bullet bounced back out and sparked across the room, with all three women throwing themselves to the ground to avoid it.

“Well, that didn’t work.” Prenchie looked at her gun’s barrel. “Guess diamond is unbreakable.”

“Guess we’ll have to come up with some other way to get rid of this bint,” Mulcher growled. “C’mon. We can do better than her for company while we figure it out."

Sunset wondered just what they were going to do about this. If breaking through her skin wasn’t possible, then what was?

As the three women left the invisible heroine to laugh by herself, they failed to notice a slight tear in the foil in the corner of the ceiling.

Chapter 7: Fancy

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Protectorate Sod walked along to Still Well’s office, being wanted by the big man for some odd reason. No, there was no reason she could think of that could warrant Still Will looking for her so early in the day.

She walked by Dark Sun, who was busy trying to introduce himself to White Blanche, but to no avail. Protectorate Sod had seen the footage of her drug bust last night. She had to give credit where it was due, Dark Sun did a good job at taking down the criminals. It helped a little with raising public awareness of how superheroes could help if they fought alongside the military. After all, it was roughly the same thing, just overseas.

When she arrived outside the manager’s door, she rapped her knuckles on the smooth mahogany wood of the door and waited.

“Come in,” she heard Still Will say from inside.

With a grin, the superheroine pushed the door open and approached the desk. “Yes sir, what can Ah do for ya?”

“It’s about the Mayor of Baltimare’s plane crash.” Still Well tossed three photos across her desk for Protectorate Sod to see. “What do you know about it?”

“Can’t say I know much.” She made a clueless expression. “Storm, am I right? Sometimes unpredictable.”

Still Well put his hands together. “Evidence says otherwise. I had The Shallow remove the evidence before her drug bust, if you recall I sent her out. There were laser marks across the plane’s cabin. I don’t have to tell you what would happen if the public found out this was your doing.”

“Hey, Ah was only doin’ what was necessary.” Protectorate Sod raised her hands. “That mayor was tryin’ to blackmail ya with all that Hold X cow manure, so I took care of it for ya.”

“I appreciate the concern, but we could’ve handled that differently. But either way, now that he’s out of the way, our next course of action is to continue to get the Congress’ approval of sending our supes to fight alongside the military. The vote has to be unanimous.”

“Well, how hard is it for them to agree it’ll be great help to them once they see us savin’ people on the streets?” Protectorate Sod tipped her hat lower. “And besides, Ah’d imagine we could deal with any o’ them who say no easy.”

Still Well sighed and poured himself a cup of coffee from his coffee machine. “You are absolutely right about that, Protectorate Sod. And this time, leave it to me. I already have a plan for it.”

“Of course. You’re the boss, boss!” She mock saluted, then left the office.

Once she was out, her smile quickly turned upside down and she went looking for The Shallow. She eventually found her fellow Septet member in the Hall of the Septet, scrolling through articles at the table.

“Shallow!” She greeted the other heroine with a slap on the back. “How’s it goin’?”

“Oh, pretty good, all things considered.” The pink haired woman nodded.

“Hey ya know, I wanted to talk to ya about a lil’ somethin’.” Protectorate Sod left her hand on The Shallow’s shoulder. “It’s about what you told Still Well about what ya found on the plane wreckage.”

“O-Oh. What about it?”

“There’s somethin’ Ah didn’t quite like about what ya did. Ya know what that is?” The Shallow shook her head. “It’s that ya went to Still Well first before comin’ to me. Ah would rather my actions be kept under wraps next time.”

“O-Oh… I see, Protectorate Sod… I’m-I’m sorry.” Shallow shrunk away in her seat from the other heroine.

“Ah know, ya won’t, Shallow.” The blonde haired heroine clapped her on the shoulder and then gave her a firm squeeze, which The Shallow slightly jumped from. “Cause ya know Ah don’t want to have this conversation again. I trust you know that.” She smirked at the other heroine.

She nodded again meekly.

“Great that we understand each other, Shallow.” Protectorate Sod strolled off, her hands behind her back and a wide smile on her face.

The Shallow watched her go, before taking a breath and stopping the shiver in her shoulders.

The girl in bed looked on nonchalantly as Z-Truck entered the hospital room, the sound of a truck horn signalling her arrival. She pointed at everyone in the room before swaggering up to the kid, leaning down beside her bed.

“Hey, kid. It’s the Z-Truck!” She pumped her muscles. “Isn’t that awesome? I brought you a little something.”

She handed a brown paper bag to the kid, who looked inside it excitedly. But her face was quick to return to its unenthusiastic expression when she pulled out a Z-Truck action figure from inside.

“I… I wanted one of Refraction.” She sighed dejectedly. “And I wanted Refraction to visit me. That was my wish. My only wish.”

“I mean, well…” Z-Truck pressed a button under the action figure’s arm and her rainbow hair lit up. “The hair does that. It’s awesome.”

“But all I wanted now was to meet Refraction…” She put the toy down and tilted her head down.

Z-Truck looked between her and the doctor and raised an index finger. “Okay, you know what. Refraction’s on a top secret mission away from Canterlot right now. Maybe I could get her to swing by next week…” The doctor shook his head. “Ah. Uh, well, you know what, I’m pretty awesome myself. I’m sure if you get yourself better, and with a little training, I’ll have you running as fast as me in no time!”

“Yeah well, will I ever be faster than cancer?”

Z-Truck opened her mouth, but no words came out. Instead, she pointed at the camera and imitated finger guns.

Still Well put a hand to his head and turned off the television. “Autumn, what did I tell you about sending in Z-Truck without a script? She needs a script!”

“I’m sorry, it’s just… It was really last minute. We only found out when Refraction didn’t turn up to the hospital fifteen minutes before the meeting.” The assistant tapped at her clipboard anxiously. “We ha-haven’t been able to get ahold of her…”

“Is she still in the building?”

Autumn shook her head. “None of the motion sensors have gone off. Unless she’s staying very still, I don’t think she’s actually here. There’s no sign of her tracker implant as well.”

Still Well rubbed his chin. “Where’d that bloody pervert go? Just have them keep an eye out for that tracker. She has to be somewhere.”

“And here we have it, the perfect plan!” Prenchie held up a little ball. Sunset thought it looked like a wad of plasticine. “I know just what we can do to that witch.”

“What’s the plan, Prench?” Mulcher returned with a packet of Maltsneezers. “We gonna make her eat it?”

“No no, I’ve a much better plan.” She smiled wickedly. Sunset didn’t have a good feeling about it.

She followed the two older women back into Refraction’s room and watched as Prenchie dug a thin wire into the cage.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Refraction’s voice came from inside, but before she could even utter another sentence, the wire touched her and the entire room lit up in sparks as a current passed through it into the heroine and along the rest of the cage.

Sunset screamed and covered her face to shield herself, remembering the previous night’s electrocution. She still couldn’t believe she’d actually taken down a member of The Septet. Prenchie eventually retrieved the wire from the cage and the burst of power stopped. They waited a few more minutes before throwing the cage door open. Nothing happened and the pink haired woman retrieved the wad of plasticine from her pocket and to Sunset’s astonishment, she began stuffing it somewhere low to the ground, which disappeared into nothing. One would think it was a magical trick if they didn’t know Refraction was actually there.

“Farmin’ diabolical.” Mulcher smirked. “Right up the twat. Just like when Sunset ‘ere stuffed the cable up there too.”

“Umm, it was accidental.”

“Well, accident or no, it was a good idea with the electricity.” Prenchie took out a second ball and stuffed it into Refraction. “I never would’ve guessed electricity would work so well. Anyway, a second plastique up a second hole. Just in case. You can never be too sure with these supes.”

“Wait, plastique?” Sunset blinked. “As in like, explosives?”

“Oui, what else did you think it was? Dough?”

“How’d you know if this will work?” Mulcher ran a hand through her dark hair. “What if it blows all of us up instead?”

“Ah, I was thinking about it.” Prenchie wagged a finger. “Her outside is as tough as diamond. Unbreakable, non? But her insides, it cannot be unchanged. It’s only the carbon skin that makes her unbreakable. But her insides, they’re soft like us. Jelly.”

“Great. Well, gimme that detonator and we’ll blow her sky high.”

“Wait, wait.” Sunset waved her arms between them. “Shouldn’t we like, question her first? Like where Z-Truck was off to in such a hurry that day? When my boyfriend was killed?”

“Oh sheep, that was you?” Prenchie gave her a pat. “I am so sorry for you. But the girl is right, Milly. We could see what Refraction can tell us. If not, boom goes the plastique.”

“What could that farmin’ cock give us that could be useful before we blow ‘er up?”

“Z-Truck. Remember?” Sunset spoke. “She was going so fast that she killed Pine without a second thought. “Maybe it could be something important.”

“Well… I suppose it doesn’t hurt to ask the invisible cock what she knows. Alright, we’ll have at it, Prenchie.”

“Oui, let’s see when she’ll come to. She had quite the shock. It might take some time.”

Mulcher lifted the corner of her mouth and leaned against the wall with her arms folded. “And now we wait. It ain’t like we have anywhere to go, anyway.”

Protectorate Sod had rarely visited what she called the ‘Spy hub’, but when she did, everyone always seemed so on edge, as though they could break in two any moment. She had found it amusing at first, and she still did. She walked over to the closest table, where the analyst, Paprika, was seated. She tensed up when Protectorate Sod got closer.

“Paprika! My favourite computer girl!” The superheroine leaned on the desk and tipped her hat in greeting. “Not too busy to help me out?”

“U-Uh, no, Protectorate Sod. Never too busy.” She grinned awkwardly and a bead of sweat began to roll down the side of her face.

“Good, good.” She sniffed and nodded. “So listen, Ah need to know if you’ve found Refraction. Cause Ah wanna go on out there and find her.”

“We’ve been searching, but un-unfortunately…” She gulped. “We haven’t been able to… Oh. Her-her tracker just appeared.” She wiped her forehead with the back of a hand.

“Oh? Do tell?” Protectorate Sod leaned closer.

“B-But, Protectorate Sod, acc-according to protocol, you, umm… you first n-need D-Director Still Well’s approval. Before we can… let you… get out there.”

On hearing that, Protectorate Sod bent back with laughter, turning all heads in the room to her. Even Paprika looked a little confused at this.

When the heroine was done, she wiped the corner of her mouth and grinned. Then she slammed a hand down on the desk and everyone in the room jumped.

“Refraction has been gone for almost twenty-four hours now. Do ya know how this looks on the company? Now, you’re going to tell me where she is. And Ah’m gonna go find her.”

“B-But, Protec-”

“I’m Protectorate Sod.” She got closer to the analyst and nodded with her eyes opened wide and a thin smile across her lips. “And Ah can do whatever the farm Ah want. Now. Give me her location. Ya don’t want to hear me askin’ again, Paprika.”

Sunset had counted and it had taken approximately twenty two minutes before Refraction started talking from inside the cage. With her being invisible, that was the only indication they had to her conscious state.

“Hey, what did you do to me?” she asked. “I demand to know this instant! When I get out of here I’m killing all of you!”

“I think ya better do well to give us some respect ‘ere, supe cock.” Mulcher said and exhaled with a smile on her face. She sure did smile a lot. She produced a rectangular device in one hand. “See this? One push of a button and you’re gone.”

“W-What did you do to me?”

“Ah, well, see here, mon amie.” Prenchie rubbed her hands together. “We stuck a little plastique in you.”

Mulcher chuckled. “Yeah, right up your twat, ya farmin’ cock.”

“Your outsides might be tough like diamond, but your insides…” Prenchie clucked her tongue. “Is soft like tissue, especially with a little ball of explosives inside you.”

Suddenly, Refraction appeared, her legs curled up to her chest, completely naked and she placed her hands together. “No, no, please, I’ll tell you anything. Anything. Just don’t blow me up.”

“Anythin’, huh?” Mulcher flicked off dirt under one fingernail. “Go ahead, Sunny. Ask her.”

Sunset swallowed and stepped forward, closer towards the cowering heroine. It was weird seeing her like that. That wasn’t at all what she was like on the news and stuff. It really told Sunset how people reverted to their true natures when faced with death.

“You’re good friends with Z-Truck. A few days ago, she was in a hurry to get somewhere. She had a bag with her. What do you know about that?”

“Pl-please…” Refraction sniffled, her makeup running down her eyes with her tears. Sunset almost felt bad for what they were doing to her, but then she remembered she tried to kill her last night. “I don’t know. I don’t know what she was carrying.”

“That’s a load of cow.” Mulcher looked unimpressed. “I guess ya don’t value your mosquito wife as much as I thought.”

“H-Her what?”

“Her life, Sunny. Keep up with the rhymin’, yeah?”

“I-I’m being terribly honest! Please, just don’t kill me!” Refraction babbled. “I-I know where she was coming from. I do. I can tell you th-that, darlings. You’d like that, wo-won’t you?”

“Where?” Sunset asked, still crouched beside the cage. “Where was she before that?”

Refraction was shivering, whether because she was cold or frightened, or maybe both, seeing as she was stark naked. “Soarmaster. She came from Soarmaster’s. Honest!”

“Soarmaster? The flying supe?”

“Yes, Soarmaster is Z-Truck’s boyfriend. That’s all I know.”

“The bloke was comin’ from her boyfriend’s, eh?” Mulcher walked about the room and rubbed her chin. “Wonder what she got in that bag from him, besides gettin’ some.”

Suddenly, there was a short rumble and the ground shook under their feet and the lights flickered for a second. Everyone looked around and at each other. Sunset thought it had been an earthquake at first, but it had passed very quickly. Her next thought was that it could be something crashing into the ground. But what could possibly do that?

Her eyes widened. Protectorate Sod.

“Prench, what we got on the cameras? You have cameras around your place, yes?”

“Patience, Milly. I need to have a… look.” She had pulled up her phone, but if colour could drain from her white face, it did. She held it up for both of them to see. “We have trouble.”

And Sunset had been right. Outside the block on the streets, Protectorate Sod was walking around, her arms behind her back as she turned her head from right to left, clearly looking for something.

“She’s going to find us! She has x-ray vision!” Sunset began to panic.

“Non, non, petite Sunny.” Prenchie waved a hand and pointed to the walls. “How do you think I’ve been hiding so well from the supes? I had the walls lined with zinc. She cannot see us.”

“Well, what do we do now?” Mulcher scratched at her hair and looked at the detonator in her hand. “We can’t blow that supe cock up now. Protectorate Sod’s bound to hear it.”

“You girls are going to be done!” Refraction began laughing and she became invisible again. “Protectorate Sod will save me and you will all be dead. I would say it was a pleasure, darlings, but it hasn’t been.”

“We’ll need to get Protectorate Sod away from here before we can blow Refraction up,” Prenchie said as they walked away from Refraction’s cell. “I have a plan, but it will take some time.”

“Not like we got anythin’ else to go on. Do it, Prenchie.” Mulcher nodded.

The Prench woman dialed in a number from her contacts, then she put the phone to her ear. “Allo, Fancy? I need you to activate Protocol S. Oui, ready it and wait for my signal.” Then she ended the call. “Fancy will get one of my safehouses ready. In the meantime, we must wait.”

“We ain’t got much time with that sorry sod upstairs.” Mulcher pointed to the ceiling. “Fancy needs to work fast. In the meantime, we've got to prepare for a fight should it happen.”

Sunset looked between them. “I’m sorry, but what’s going on? What do we do now?”

Mulcher held Sunset’s hand up and placed the detonator on it. “You watch this cock. Prenchie and I will prepare some safety measures. Once Fancy is ready, we’ll give you the signal.”

“Wait, who even is this Fancy?”

“Just a special acquaintance I've known for a very very long time, petite Sunny. Just wait here, okay? We need to get to work.”

“Still got that fifty, Prenchie?” Mulcher and the Prench woman ran up the stairs to the main room, while Sunset sat outside Refraction’s room, watching the doorway.

She sighed and propped herself on a nearby crate. She didn’t know what was inside it, but surely it wouldn’t just blow up with her sitting on it. Right?

She looked at the detonator in her hand. She had shocked Refraction once before, but to blow her up from the inside? Sunset didn’t know if she could pull the button. She didn’t know if she could intentionally take a life.

The next thing that scared her was what was going on outside. What would happen should Protectorate Sod find them? Sunset had always marveled at how powerful she was, but this time, she would be on the receiving end and she didn’t know what she would do if she came face to face with Protectorate Sod now.

She didn’t want to find out.

Still Well stood at a small balcony at the top of a short flight of steps in Vogel Tower’s glorious function room as he watched people of all shapes and colours moving about below, interacting and just having a good time.

He grinned and sipped from his glass of whiskey. White Blanche was in one corner, playing on the violin, providing an ambient tune for everyone. She was really quite the character and Still Well liked having her around.

Sonicboom and Z-Truck were in one corner, discussing something, and from the looks of it, Z-Truck didn’t look too happy. Still Well guessed they might be talking about the upcoming race. There had been word recently that Z-Truck was no longer what she used to be and Sonicboom was a rising favourite amongst the people, so a race had been organized by the people upstairs to prove that Z-Truck was still in the game. He had made it clear to The Septet member that should she lose, she would no longer be useful in The Septet and she would be replaced.

“Enjoying the party, Director Still Well?” a calm and collected voice said beside him.

He turned to see his boss standing there, a thin glass of champagne in one hand. He had tan-brown skin and greying hair, but in his older age, he didn’t look any bit frail. In fact, he still looked as imposing as ever.

“Director El Dentista,” Still Well greeted. “Yes, I am enjoying myself quite so. The senators all seem on board with the plan to send superheroes abroad with the military. I have spoken to a handful and they are all quite keen.”

“Ah, then you have not spoken to the right ones yet.” El Dentista pointed down to where a fairly plump man with green hair was standing. “Senator Bray Road has explained to me his concern about collateral damage, should superheroes engage the enemy in the presence of our troops. He does not want this passed.”

“The senator’s concerns are misplaced. With supes on the ground, we could potentially lower collateral damage tenfold.”

“I am aware.” El Dentista nodded. “But he isn’t. Perhaps you could… change his mind.”

“Oh, yes, I already had a plan for that, director. You can leave that one senator to me.”

“And that is why I can count on you for all things, Still Well.” El Dentista made for the stairs. “You always have a plan.”

And that he did. With superheroes as their national defense, at home and away, what else would there be to fear?

Chapter 8: Face Yourself

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Fancy Pants pulled up at his pants as he finished plugging in the final wire to his little detonator and timer.

Prenchie hadn’t given him enough warning to set up, but he knew the stakes after she had explained everything. If Protectorate Sod was here, then he had to quickly get him off their backs before he realized what they were doing.

It had been some time since Milly Mulcher had come back into Prenchie’s life and truth be told, Fancy actually thought it was better Mulcher wasn’t around. She usually only brought trouble with her, which was what was going on right now.

This was Fancy’s favourite safe house, but she had to protect Prenchie.

“You owe me again, Fleur.” He primed the switch and started a timer for three minutes. He would be sure to get some form of payment later.

With everything set, the blue haired man took off like a lightning bolt, just not as fast as one, racing down the stairs and away from the apartment block.

Prenchie wanted a distraction and this was definitely a distraction she’d be proud of.

As the boom sounded somewhere beyond their hideout walls, Prenchie smiled to herself and looked at the cameras on her phone. She spotted Protectorate Sod’s head turn in the direction of the explosion and she was off into the sky faster than a speeding bullet.

“That’s my Fancy.” Prenchie looked pleased.

“Well, looks like all this was for naught.” Milly Mulcher leaned on her huge rifle and scratched her rear. “We should blow up that cheeky little blighter now, before that sorry sod returns.”

“Yeah.” Frenchie wiped her forehead and flicked her sweat on the floor. “Do you think we would’ve won if she came knocking on our door?”

Mulcher laughed. “No, mate. But we would’ve given her one farmin’ hard time. Especially after what she’s done to me.”

“Yeah. I’m so sorry, Milly.” Frenchie went over to a table and tipped out some white powder on the table, before grabbing a spoon. “It’s not right, what she’s done. So much for being heroes. But you know, I’m actually glad you came back.”

“What, really?” Mulcher watched her intriguingly.

“Oui, you know how boring it gets when all you do is gunrunning and drugs?” She mashed the powder down with the spoon. “I didn’t want back in this life, Milly. But… I think I was lying to myself. Taking down supes is what we do.”

Mulcher looked to her and smirked. “Farmin’ right it is. And we’re gonna take down Vogel too, those cocks and their schemes for money. I tell ya, what I would give to smack a crowbar through Ferdinand Vogel’s stinkin’ head so that all of this wouldn’t have happened. And my husband would still be around.”

Prenchie nodded and sighed as she finished preparing her crack. Mulcher had only joined the force to take down supes all those years ago because of Protectorate Sod. She herself had only joined up because she wasn’t given a choice. Their old boss, Colonel Memory, had given her the ultimatum of doing time or joining the squad. Prenchie hadn’t even put a second thought into it, because she really hadn’t wanted to go to jail.

Colonel Memory…

She still woke up at night from time to time, the event still fresh in her memory. It had all been her fault that they had disbanded, but she hadn’t told anyone the true reason she had failed her mission that night.

Bending down, she inhaled the powder into her nostrils and she immediately felt better. Her vision began to pulse at the sides and it turned green or yellow, after all this time, she still couldn't tell, but it did help to calm her nerves.

“I don’t know why you need that now.” Mulcher lifted her shoehorn to her shoulder and waved at the drugs. “We better get back and check on Sunny and that invisible cock. “I just wonder what they’re gettin’ up to now.”

And then an explosion rocked underneath their feet and the two women looked at each other. Immediately, they rushed for the stairs leading down.

A little while earlier

Sunset Shimmer continued to sit by herself facing the entryway to Refraction’s cage, even as the explosion outside rocked the concrete under them. That must’ve been the distraction Prenchie had been talking about. That meant that Protectorate Sod would’ve already gone to investigate, which gave them the window to deal with Refraction. Now she just needed to wait for them to get back and do it for her. She wasn’t about to just blow someone up right now.

She watched the cage and she sighed. They really had to kill Refraction. If she ever got out, then all their identities would be compromised. This location would be compromised. Sunset would never get back to a normal life. She imagined herself looking like Mulcher and she shuddered. She didn’t want to become anything like that woman, all gruff and brutish and the way she was.

It was then that she noticed something within the cage. There was something flowing from thin air. Something yellowish in colour.

Sunset got off her crate and walked closer. She noticed it was a stream of liquid, flowing out of the cage. And then the stream suddenly changed direction and it went out of the cage and all over the battery that was powering the electric fence. Sparks flew and smoke began to rise from the battery as the cell door violently shot open.

Sunset Shimmer took a step back and held the detonator tightly, not knowing where Refraction already was. She positioned herself at the stairway, the only way out of here and she kept her eyes alert for any signs of the supe.

“I’ll push the button.” Sunset kept one hand in front of herself to try and feel around, should the invisible heroine get closer. “I’ll do it. Show yourself now.”

She suddenly appeared before Sunset, folding her arms. Her makeup streaked down her face, making her look like some kind of pale ghost. “Really? You will, darling? You know, I watch people and believe me when I say that I know how to read people. You’re not going to push the button, dear. You’re going to let me walk right out of here.”

She tried to take one step closer, but Sunset held her palm higher and warned her to stop.

“What’s your beef with us, anyway?” Refraction asked. “Why’d you plant that bug? What do you hope to get from us superheroes? How can you even hope to defeat us?”

“It’s because you tell the world how great and heroic you all are, but… but that’s not even true. You’re nothing like that!” Sunset’s vision began to turn red at the edges. She remembered what Z-Truck had said about Pine that night at the bar. She hadn’t meant what she said on TV at all, about being guilty and remorseful. “You think just because you can read me, you know I won’t pull the trigger? After what you’ve done, I very well should.”

“You think I cannot read you?” Refraction placed a hand on her chest. “You’re a nobody. And then you lost your boyfriend and your world crumbled around you and you lost your purpose as well. And now you think you found it again by helping these people kill superheroes like me? You want to be that killer, but you can’t do it, can you, dear? It’s because you know you’re weak. You can’t do what you think you want. You can’t take a life in cold blood. It’s not who you are. Please, I can’t read you?”

Sunset took one step up the stairs and frowned, but she said nothing. The heroine had been quite spot on and she didn’t know how to reply.

“I thought so, Sunset.” The heroine waved a hand towards her. “Now, be a good girl and let me pass. I know you won’t pull the trigger, so tell you what, I’ll let you live. As long as you let me walk from here, I will forget I ever saw you. You can go back to your everyday life of moping around and wishing things were different.”

Sunset still didn’t answer.

“I can tell them all that you saved me from the clutches of those villains outside,” the heroine continued. “You saved beautiful and daring Refraction from her captors. Imagine the headlines now. It’s more than you could’ve ever wanted, Sunset dear. And you just need to let me go.”

Sunset contemplated it. She would very much want to go back to normal life, but was that even possible now, knowing what she knew and without Pine? What was normal anymore? She used to look up to superheroes and she would wish every so often that she could be just like Protectorate Sod. Now, she wasn’t so sure anymore. She wasn’t what she used to be, even when she had left Equestria. She had planned to get power in any possible way, then return and enslave Equestria. She had changed her ways for Pine and this world, but then this world turned out to be one big lie.

Sunset slowly lowered her arm and she exhaled through her nose.

“Atta girl, Sunset.” Refraction walked up to her and clapped her on the arm. “Be seeing you, darling.” She smiled rather smugly.

As she passed Sunset, her body shimmered and disappeared from view as the fiery haired girl turned to look at the stairway.

Sunset listened to the footsteps of Refraction as she walked away. Did she want to go back to her normal life? Perhaps. But now that her eyes had been opened, there was no going back. And she had more than an inkling of a feeling that if she let Refraction go now, it would only come back to bite her later. She looked at the detonator in her hands and she could only picture what Z-Truck had done to Pine. Refraction was no different.

Sunset’s finger curled around the trigger.

Then she pressed down and a deafening explosion ensued. Blood and bone sprayed the walls of the stairway ahead and Sunset shielded her face as some splattered on her as well. Thick red sludge now dripped from her body and a part of the small intestine lay around her left shoulder.

Sunset didn’t smell the blood, she didn’t think of the bits of bone and meat on the floor and walls. All she could think of was the justice she just brought to the superheroine, and she smiled.

Senator Bray Road found himself in a small hotel room, with a single bed in the middle and a table under the television in front of it. It wasn’t much, but it would certainly serve its purpose here.

His companion, Seashore, closed the door behind him and walked over.

He had met her at the Vogel party earlier and he couldn’t keep his eyes off her tight black dress and her amazing figure. She had noticed him looking and a conversation had sparked, followed by her inviting him to her hotel room. Bray Road had said yes naturally.

“Like what you see?” Seashore pulled the hair tie from her head and let her sandy coloured hair fall from her head and down her back.

Bray Road couldn’t control himself and rushed her, grabbing on to her as he forced his lips upon hers, his hands working their way up and down her body, feeling up every inch of the woman, especially under her skirt. The senator’s heartbeat went up as the skirt was lifted and his hand soon found what he was looking for.

“Mmm, oh yesss…” The woman playfully bit at his ear as his fingers began rubbing along her panties. “Come on, I think you’re ready.”

She pushed him off and onto the bed, then reached behind herself to unzip her dress.

Bray Road couldn’t keep his eyes off her body as her dress fell to the floor around her feet. He soon began to throw his own clothes off as well. She had such an amazingly erotic body, almost like it was too good to be true. Seashore climbed on top of him and the senator immediately leaned in to suck at her firm breasts. She welcomed it for a while, before reaching down and removing her panties as well.

“Lie down.” She batted her eyes.

The senator did as he was asked and she grabbed his tie from the side, and with agonizing slowness, she tied it around his eyes. With his shirt, she tied his arms to the bed frame and Bray Road didn’t mind. He did enjoy trying out new things, unlike his wife. He had loved her at first, but after time, she just got… boring. He didn’t know how else to describe it, but she’d lost her flare. Seashore wasn’t the first woman he was having sex with without his wife’s knowledge, but what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.

Seashore, now in complete control, grabbed ahold of his cock and gently rubbed it against her pussy. “Ohh, yeah, you ready, wolfey?”

“Born ready. Put it in. Put it in!”

She smirked and brought herself down on top of it, letting out one long drawn moan. As Seashore began to ride Bray Road’s dick, she watched him enjoying himself, unable to see her, unable to move his hands. Her eyes glowed green and her skin began to waver, almost like there were actual waves moving beneath it. Her body began to shorten itself, then expand at the sides and in only a few seconds, the sexy woman she was was no longer there. In her place was a short and chubby man with a wild look in his eyes and he continued riding the senator as he looked to the phone in the left corner of the room, set to record them both. Things were going very well.

Once the deed was done, he left the senator to cool down and proceeded outside without any clothes on. It was late and there weren’t any people in the hall, but even if there were, it didn’t bother him. The man’s eyes glowed green again and his form began to shift and change, reverting to his actual form: a charcoal skinned woman with teal hair hanging down around her face. She ran a hand along her slender body, smiling and how perfect she thought her true body was.

She held the phone in her hand and dialed a number, then placed it to her ear as she simply wandered the corridor.

Someone picked up on the other end.

“Hello, Director Still Well?” she said. “I have what you requested.

“Very good, Changeling, I knew you wouldn’t let me down. We have him in the palm of our hands now.”

“That we do, sir.” She grinned wickedly. “That we do…”

Chapter 9: The Girls Are Back in Town

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“Dark Sun, there you are.”

Flash Sentry looked up from his phone and spotted Autumn Breeze rushing over, a tablet in her hands. She flipped it around so that Flash could see the screen. On it was a red arrow, starting low and then moving up in a zig zag motion.

“After your team up with The Shallow, your publicity has gone up and the people are looking forward to seeing you more in public, so Director Still Well has a plan to parade you down the streets of Canterlot to show off our newest member of The Septet, so the public can see you for themselves.”

“Parade?” Flash raised one eyebrow high. “We’re superheroes. We should be out there saving lives, not showing people how great we look.”

“Well, we like to raise your publicity with the people. It doesn’t hurt that they like you more before you go save lives.”

“But I don't need a parade. Just send me out there to fight some bad guys. It does the same thing, yeah?”

Autumn shook her head. “No can do, Dark Sun. Vogel wants you to do this parade. You have to do as you are told, okay?”

Flash raised a hand as the manager’s assistant left and wondered to himself just what a parade was for. He wasn’t going to just stand there and wave as they moved him around town. That was just ridiculous. He wasn’t some float to show off to people. He was a hero, and he was supposed to be out there saving lives instead of all this.

White Blanche sat across from him, just watching him. She wasn’t doing anything else.

“Is this really what it’s like?” Flash asked her. “Public image instead of going out there to do what’s right?”

Blanche said nothing and continued to stare at him.

“Yeah, I figured you’d say that.” Flash leaned back in his seat and exhaled.

This was not at all what he hoped to do, but he remembered his talk with Sunset Shimmer and he knew he couldn’t give up again. He could do good here, and he had to keep going to do just that.

“Just wait, dad. I’ll be the superhero we planned for me to be. Just hold on for a little while longer. I’ll make you proud.”

Sunset Shimmer picked out a new shirt from the store they had gone to visit. The sun had already come up by the time she managed to clean herself up and get some rest.

Milly Mulcher had been very impressed with what she had done, telling her how awesome it was that they had offed one of The Septet. Sunset knew it herself. It was no easy task to eliminate one of the most powerful superheroes in the world. She had been very pleased that she had done something to avenge Pine, but after getting some sleep, she wasn’t so sure if she had done the right thing anymore. She had killed someone. Brutally. She didn’t know what to think, so she tried to push it out of her mind and live in the present.

She picked out a grey Discourse shirt, a pair of black elastic sports pants and a pale green jacket to ward off the cold.

“All set, petite Sunny?” Prenchie returned from the other side of the store. She had on a beige fedora. “Thinking of buying this. It suits me, non?”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

Once she purchased her items and changed out of the loose clothes that Prenchie had loaned her, they were soon out of the store, where Mulcher was waiting for them by the van.

“Here’s our hero.” She chuckled and slapped Sunset on the back. “Now, we’ve got someone else to pick up before we plan our next move. We’re gonna need the input.”

Prenchie’s eyes widened as Mulcher threw the van’s sliding door open. “No, no, no, Milly, not her. We’re not going to her.”

“Prench, we need ‘er. Now get in the farmin’ van. Let’s not waste more time.”

She wanted to protest more, but she just shrugged and got in the van. Sunset didn’t know who this was, but she figured she was going to find out soon.

“She’s not going to be happy to see me, Milly.”

“Yeah, well, we gotta make do, Prenchie.”

The van moved silently down the streets and away from Canterlot’s city. Soon, the tall corporate buildings began to vanish behind them and they were now out on more open roads. Mulcher eventually pulled them up to a short one storey building along the road. There was a fence around it and there were guards standing at the entrance.

“Visitin’ an old friend,” Mulcher told a guard in the gatehouse. “Starlight Glimmer. She works here.”

“Name?”

The guard handed Mulcher a clipboard and she began to fill out her particulars, then handed it back to the man. He gave it one look over, then cleared them through and opened the gates. According to him, only Mulcher was allowed entry, so Sunset and Prenchie had to wait in the van.

“What is this place?” Sunset asked as she eyed the guns in the guards’ holsters.

“Juvie center, Sunny. For all ‘em naughty children.”

“Oh. And your friend’s in here?”

“Yeah. Well, I won’t be long now. Just sit tight.” Mulcher headed out of the driver’s seat and approached the building.

Inside, she had to fill in more forms, which she hated, before receiving a pass to allow her into the premises. A guard led her down the fenced corridors, eventually arriving at a large sports hall with an office next to it.

There were kids of all shapes and sizes playing Basketball and among them was a familiar flow of purple and aquamarine hair from a pale purple woman, dressed in a tank top and black shorts.

“Ma’am!” the guard beside Mulcher called out as she passed the ball to one of the kids, who began driving towards the hoop. “You have a visitor.”

The woman pushed stray hair from her face and turned around, instantly locking eyes with Mulcher.

“Oh, hay no. Not you.” She walked over and shook her head. “No, you’re not welcomed here, Mulcher. I’m busy.”

“Good to see ya too, FC,” Mulcher replied. “But come on, I came all this way to talk to you.”

She grumbled to herself, but then motioned with her head to the nearby office. “We’ll talk in there.”

Mulcher walked on after her with her hands in her coat pocket, checking out the room. It was a minimalistic room, with no decor set up except for a photo of Starlight and her family and another photo of her and her legendary coffee machine. Everything was arranged neatly and there was not an item out of place, even the two chairs in front of her desk, which were aligned with the sides perfectly.

Mulcher still remembered the stories of how Starlight had even earned the nickname of Father’s Coffee. She used to make so much coffee for them that they didn’t even know what to do about it. They sent a lot to her father, but even the beast of a man couldn’t finish it all. She just had a thing for making coffee. She couldn’t go a day without it and it always had to be done in a certain method.

“So how’s life been, FC?” Mulcher pulled up one of the chairs and sat down. “Great, I hope?”

“Yeah, of course.” Father’s Coffee sat opposite her and looked at her photos. “Sunburst and I have a daughter now. We named her Lumina. We’ve a nice house, a nice job, why I’ve even been sleeping nights.”

“That’s real nice. Real nice indeed.” The black haired woman nodded.

“You’ve come to get me away from all that, didn’t you?” Father’s Coffee put the photo back down. “You need something from me?”

“No light way to put this.” Mulcher pursed her lips. “We need your help in takin’ down the supes, FC.”

“I knew it. Come on, Mulcher, those days are long gone. We’re done. We can’t go back now.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” The woman planted one leg up on the table, much to Father’s Coffee’s annoyance. “I found this kid, ya see. Sunset Shimmer. She’s the one who lost her boyfriend to that supe cock, Z-Truck.”

“Oh, gosh. I saw that on the news… That was messed up.”

“Got that right. That bloke deserves what’s comin’. They all do. How’d you like to help us take the rest of ‘em down?”

“Take them down?” Coffee laughed. “We’ve tried for years. The closest we got was Poolfreezer, but then that Prench witch just had to mess it all up.”

“Look, it’s not her fault, FC.”

The purple skinned woman looked at her. “What, really?”

Mulcher squinted one eye and nodded. “Well, it was her fault. But we’ve already made progress. We got Refraction, FC. She’s dead.”

“You… you what?” She sat back in her chair. “You offed one of The Septet?”

“Yeah, wee Sunny Shimmer did it.” Mulcher chuckled darkly. “Blew her up with C4 right up the twat. I got rid of her body, which The Septet are bound to find eventually. Left them a little present.”

Coffee put a hand to her head, her eyes wide. “I don’t believe it. You actually got one of them.”

“And it’s only a matter o’ time before we get the rest and make our way up to Protectorate Sod.” Mulcher clenched her fists and leaned closer. “We got a lead to Soarmaster. Z-Truck was in a hurry the day he pulverized Sunset’s boyfriend into a plate of meat. We can find out what the rush was about. Might lead us somewhere, but we need your help, FC. We can’t do this without you.”

The other woman breathed in deeply, then let it out all through her nose. “Listen, Mulcher. I can’t. I have a family now. I can’t do this to them.”

“FC. We can do it. We can take down The Septet and Vogel International.” Mulcher tapped the table with a finger. “You don’t have to do it for me or for yourself. Remember what these cocks did to your mum. You can’t give up on her now, not after what we’ve been able to do. We could use your help. Do it for her.”

Father’s Coffee wore a conflicted face and she grimaced. Mulcher sat there and waited. Of all of them, Starlight probably had the most beef with Vogel International itself, instead of the supes.

“Alright. You got me there, Mulcher.” Coffee raised her hands and nodded. “I’ll help you take down Vogel.”

“Atta girl.” She smirked and got up. “Then come on, we got a plan to come up with.”

“Let me just let the kids know what’s up and get changed.” Coffee grabbed her coat and pushed her chair in, then shifted the one Mulcher had been in so that it aligned with the desk corner.

“Same old Father’s Coffee.” Mulcher watched her return to the court and explain what she had to do. Most of them seemed upset, but they let her go eventually.

Father’s Coffee changed out into a black shirt and tattered jeans, then placed her signature pink beanie atop her head. She followed Mulcher out into the cold outdoors and immediately stopped in her tracks when she saw who was in the van.

“No. Not Prenchie. Not that daughter of a witch. Uh uh.” She shook her head. “Mulcher, I’ll help you, but you know all she’ll do is mess up my plans! You can’t expect me to help you out with her around.”

“Nice to see you too, mon amie.” Prenchie sat at the sliding door’s opening, a cigarette between her lips. “You put on some weight.”

“Don’t you get started with me,” Coffee snapped at her. “We can’t work with her, Mulcher. She’ll just ruin everything and I might as well not even be here if she’s here.”

“You two, we’ll work it out. But we need to work as a team. Oh, and this one’s Sunset.” Mulcher reached in and pulled the fiery haired girl from around the neck. “Sunset, Father’s Coffee.”

“Wait, that’s not really your name, right?” The younger girl asked.

“No. Just a nickname, cause I like to brew coffee.” She stuck out her hand. “Real name’s Starlight Glimmer.”

“Sunset Shimmer.” She accepted the handshake.

“Well, great, now that we’re all done tickling each other’s clits, how about decide what we’re gonna do next?” Mulcher leaned against the van door. “Our lead points us to Soarmaster. We know Z-Truck was in a rush from her place before runnin’ into Sunset’s boyfriend. We need to get what information we can from that supe. Perhaps we’ll find a little something to incriminate The Septet.”

“Well, you know where he stays?” Prenchie blew out a puff of smoke.

“He’s a supe. How hard is it to find out?” Mulcher reached into the van and pulled out a huge yellow phonebook. “Besides, we have this. Won’t be hard to find out, ‘innit?”

“Umm, so what are we going to do? Once we find him?” Sunset asked from inside the van. “How can we get him to talk?”

Mulcher held up her red shoehorn. “I’ve got this.”

“You don’t expect to go into a supe’s house and beat information out of him?” Coffee eyed the other woman and scratched at her beanie. “No, we need to be more discreet about this. If we could find a way to hack into his electronic devices, perhaps we could listen in on him. Catch him saying something secretive?”

“Oh, hey, you know, I actually know how to do that…” Sunset rubbed the back of her head.

And it was true. Besides her degree, she had a lot of practice back in school. She figured if she could blackmail others, she would hold power over them, and it had been useful in removing popularity from other people above her in her quest for the top. She didn’t think this skill would ever come in handy again.

“See why we meed ya, FC?” Mulcher gave her a pat on the shoulder. “Ain’t it great? The Girls are all back together. Just like ‘em Salty Boys.”

“You still talking about those guys?” Prenchie laughed and flicked her cigarette away.

The black haired woman stretched her arms to the side. “What can I say? They’re a farmin’ good band. I tell you what I hate, what I really really hate. Great song.”

“Yeah, okay. Guess The Girls really are back in town.”

Sunset looked at them, confused as to what they were all talking about.

“Oh, yeah, I guess I forgot to mention, our team was called The Girls.” Mulcher grinned and threw the driver's door open. “Good thing you’re a girl, eh, Sunny?”

“I, uh, I suppose so.”

Sunset shuffled in further into the van as Prenchie pulled her legs back up and shut the door. They had a plan now and perhaps once they find out what they can from Soarmaster, she would be one step closer to finding out what really happened that day.

Chapter 10: That's What Heroes Do

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Dark Sun sighed internally as he stood atop the roving car, waving to the masses of citizens as they came out to the streets to see him. Some of them chanted his name and one woman even lifted her shirt to show off her breasts, but regardless, they all seemed excited to see him.

Flash didn’t mind the excitement, but this wasn’t what he wanted. Even a short speech would have sufficed to help make people feel safer and confident that he could help out, but this was definitely a bit much. Vogel said it would amp up his popularity, but being a hero wasn’t about how popular you were, at least, it shouldn’t be.

“Dark Sun, we love you!” one woman yelled.

“Show us your light, Dark Sun!”

Flash groaned inside, but he kept his smile up and his eyes lit up. Raising his hands, he pulsated flashes of flaming light into the air, which exploded into mini fireworks.

The crowd roared with cheers and there were more snapping pictures of him.

“Dark Sun, everyone! Your new hero of Canterlot!” Protectorate Sod clapped her on the shoulder.

For the parade, Autumn Breeze had told him that Protectorate Sod and King Max would be there with him, to show him how it was done. He had insisted just using the two of them, but Autumn said he had to be there. After all, this parade down the streets of Canterlot was for him.

“Not bad, Dark Sun,” Protectorate Sod whispered in his ear. “Just keep it up. Make the crowd happy, give ‘em a little show here and there. Ya got this.”

“Protectorate Sod, we love you too!” someone shouted. “You’re our hero!”

Immediately, the heroine’s smile widened and she pointed to the crowd. “You guys are the real heroes! And today’s not about me. Today’s about Dark Sun, our newest member! Know that whatever happens in this city, he’ll be out here to save y’all too!”

“Come on, smile more, dude.” King Max nudged him. “And look a little more confident. Like this.”

The green haired hero started flexing and there were shrieks from the crowds.

Flash tried to do the same, but he felt it just wasn’t him. Instead, he just puffed out his chest and looked skyward. It was what heroes did on his posters at home, especially Protectorate Sod.

“Atta boy.” Protectorate Sod tipped her hat to him. “Just smile and wave. It’ll all be over in no time.”

There was a sudden gunshot and Flash felt something ping off the car they were standing on and the crowds’ cheers immediately turned into screams and people ducked and looked around. There was another and this one hit Flash in the chest. He dropped back a step, but was otherwise unharmed.

“Dagnabbit. Someone just had to mess this up.” Protectorate Sod clucked her tongue and frowned at the buildings around them. Flash guessed she was using her x-ray vision. “If anyone dies, we’re gonna have more collateral to deal with. Best we find this shooter fast.”

There was a sparkle of light in Flash’s vision and he turned to see something glinting on the roof to his right, before another gunshot echoed and pinged off Protectorate Sod’s forehead. That had been a good shot, but unfortunately for the shooter, it was a bad move.

“Up there.” Flash pointed.

“And off we go.” Protectorate Sod grabbed King Max and blasted off into the air towards the shooter, leaving Flash standing there, wondering just what that shooter was expecting to do, shooting at superheroes with a gun and why she hadn’t taken him with her.

Flash figured he might already be too late if he ran up there, so he just sighed and got back to reassuring the public that everything was going to be okay. At least that was something.

Protectorate Sod stood before the gunman, her arms at her hips, unamused as he fired at her with his firearm, the bullets bouncing off her chest harmlessly.

The man continued to fire at her, as though something could change if he kept it up. The corner of his mouth tilted down as he gritted his teeth, a droplet of sweat trailing down the other side. King Max stood beside Protectorate Sod, looking heroic, but he too wasn’t sure what the gunman was up to.

“Really?” he asked. “You’re going to shoot at Protectorate Sod?”

The gunman reloaded his weapon and fired again, his face strained and agitated as bullet after bullet pinged off Protectorate Sod’s chest.

King Max looked at Protectorate Sod and sighed. The leader of The Septet took one slow step after another, even as spent bullets and cartridges rained down on the floor in a shower of gold and brass. One more step, and the superheroine was only a few inches away from the gunman’s weapon, its barrel smoking with all the shots that had been fired.

Protectorate Sod shook her head and then slapped the gun out of the gunman’s hands, a nasty crunch coming from the man’s hand as his wrist was bent out of shape.

“Aaaaaah!” The man cradled his destroyed hand and stepped back until he bumped into a stack of wooden panels.

“Ya know, really?” Protectorate Sod put her arms behind her back and walked in a circle in front of the man. “Ah’m Protectorate Sod. Ah’m bulletproof. So are most of us heroes. Why’re ya tryin’ to shoot at us for? Come on, Ah’d like an answer. Ah’m truly curious.”

“I just… I hate you supes!” the man cried, spit flying from his mouth. “Vogel took everything from me, my family, my car, my house. You don’t deserve all that praise you get! The world needs to see you as you are! Monsters.”

“Really?” King Max folded his arms. “Who do you think is the real monster to the people? Us? Heroes who save them from harm, or you, a gunman who shot into a crowd?”

“Oh, don’t ya worry ‘bout what King Max has to say to you.” Protectorate Sod walked up to the man and patted down his shoulders and straightened his coat. “Yeah, Ah get it. Sometimes we heroes do the wrong things, we hurt people, but then ya try and come after us and Vogel just doesn’t take it sittin’. Ah know it ain’t fair for ya, but then again…”

The man bent forward and gasped as Protectorate Sod punched him in the chest. She had punched him so hard that her hand went right through it and ruptured his heart. Blood seeped from the hole in his chest as the heroine removed her gloved hand, which was now stained red. She bent down and wiped it off on the man’s clothes, then dusted her hands.

“Life ain’t fair, my boy.” She smiled at the body. “Well, shooter threat cleared, Max, what’cha say we head back to Dark Sun’s parade and give him a hand?”

“Did you need to kill him, dude? I mean, right on, the shooter’s neutralized, but he didn’t need to die.” King Max looked at the lifeless body as blood pooled around the man’s body. His heart now hung limply and flattened out of his chest and his broken ribcage.

“Hey, he shot first,” Protectorate Sod said firmly. “All Ah did was defend myself and the lives o’ all those people down there. Ya know why, Max? Because that’s what heroes do.”

“Well, at least we have a reason for that.” King Max pointed to the balcony. “Then we better go and let the police deal with the body.”

“Swell idea, Max.” Protectorate Sod grabbed him around the waist and together, they descended back down towards the crowd, who began cheering once they saw them.

She smiled. It was always nice to be loved by the people.

Sunset Shimmer sat in the back of the van, again watching as the city passed by block by block as they moved along towards Soarmaster’s residence. Mulcher’s van didn’t have heating and it was getting colder being trapped in this metal tin of a vehicle and Sunset began to shiver more, but on the upside, at least her coat did quite a good job at keeping her body warm. She couldn’t say the same about her legs though.

“I have some costumes in the back.” Mulcher turned around and faced them while driving. The van began to swerve and someone honked them from outside. Sunset held on to the side of the van and prepared herself for impact. Mulcher quickly righted the vehicle and pointed her finger out the window. “Cock! Anyway, it just so happens I have some repair costumes, but they might be a tad small on ya, Sunset.”

Once she had calmed down, Prenchie helped her with rummaging through a duffel bag with various articles of clothing until they found two repairman garbs.

“Ugh, they’re musty as hay.” Prenchie held her nose and waved a hand across the attire. “Glad I’m not the one wearing it.”

Sunset changed into it, and the sleeves and pant legs were too long, so she had to roll them up. Other than that, they helped in warding the cold off, so it wasn’t so bad.

The van eventually pulled up alongside an apartment building with brick walls and dirt-stained windows and all four women looked out the windows at the place. It wasn’t what Sunset had been expecting.

“A supe lives in this sheephole?” Prenchie scoffed.

“Yeah, I’m with Prenchie on that. Shouldn’t supes have like, a lot of money?” Sunset added on. She thought it would at least be some sort of fancy apartment that was cleaner than what they were looking at.

“Cock’s a low rate supe,” Mulcher said and re-tied her ponytail. “She probably doesn’t make loads of money like them Septets. Anyway, one way to find out. Go on up there and have a look yourselves.”

“So how are we doing this?” Sunset looked at the name tag on her suit. It read, ‘Charred Broil’.

“Just follow my lead, Sunny.” Father’s Coffee grabbed the other repairman suit and slipped it on. Hers read, ‘Rikers’. “But all that hacking, it’s going to have to be you. We’re not going to have a whole lot of farming time, so you’ll have to be fast. You sure you’re up for it?”

“Up for it or no, we need to do it. I’m ready.”

“That’s the spirit, Sunny.” Mulcher flipped open a laptop and handed it to Prenchie. “So we’ll be right here, monitorin’ what’cha give us. And we’ll be in contact through earpiece, so don’t ya worry about a thing. Just do what’cha gotta do and get that blighter’s systems.”

“Umm, yeah, I’ll do my best.” The fiery haired girl nodded as she and Father’s Coffee left the van.

The other woman was quite tall, standing at least a good head over her, and Sunset liked her hair. It was really pretty.

“So how long was your team around, uh, what do I call you? Father’s Coffee? I mean, not like I have a problem with it.”

“That’s fine. If you’re finding it a mouthful, FC will do too. Or just Coffee. Starlight, if you must, but I’d prefer our enemies don’t know my real name, so the less said the better.”

“Okay, sounds good.”

“And the answer to your question is… I dunno, five years or so?” She shrugged. “Sometimes time just passes so fast you forget. I sure as hay try to forget some things we’ve done. I have a daughter now and there are things I’ve done I don’t want her to be proud of. You get me?”

Sunset nodded as they entered the building’s stairwell. “Yeah, I get it.”

Would she want to tell any future children she might have that she blew up a superhero from the inside? In the end, that was really nothing to be proud of. Sunset sighed. She couldn’t let revenge cloud her judgment. She knew what she was fighting for and she was not doing it just for herself, but for anyone who could end up in her position because of a superhero’s recklessness.

“Seventh floor, we’re here.” Coffee pointed to the door into the hall.

Sunset hadn’t noticed they had already climbed so far up, but she didn’t feel all that drained. Perhaps what she didn’t know didn’t tire her.

The hall was badly lit and musty, with the stench of cigarette smoke coming from one of the rooms. Parts of the floor were sticky or slippery and it made walking through it a hassle. Whoever did the cleaning here, if there was any done, needed to be fired.

Some parts of the brick wall was chipped and one corner of it had graffiti of what looked like King Max and it read, ‘Farm all supes’. It seemed there were more like minded people out there than she first thought. Sunset still couldn’t believe she used to look up to superheroes.

“Forty-four, forty-four…” Coffee looked at each door, trying to find the right one. “Forty-four, there.”

It was the door second from the end, and it didn’t look any better than the rest of the place. Sunset didn’t know why a supe would live in such a rundown place. Even she had a better apartment building than this and she definitely earned a lot less.

“Here goes nothing.” Coffee reached her arm out and knocked on the door.

There was nothing at first, but after the second string of knocks, the door opened, revealing a man with dark blue hair and blue skin, dressed in a simple white shirt and strange enough, striped boxers. Sunset blushed at his lack of clothing, but he didn’t seem to find a problem with it.

“Can I help you?” he asked, scratching at his unshaven face.

“Hi there, we’re upgrading the routers of the whole building,” Father’s Coffee started. “So could we ask for a few minutes of your time and your permission to do so?”

“Upgrading huh?” Soarmaster stepped aside and let them in. “By all means. I can’t say no to faster internet.”

“Thank you, sir. We promise we won’t take much of your time.” Coffee ushered for Sunset to follow her in.

The inside of the apartment actually looked better than the outside. The floor was carpeted in the living room, which housed a black leather couch and a flat screen television atop a white table. The kitchen was at the back, which had a smooth wooden floor. Sunset couldn’t see the rest of the apartment, but at least what she saw was clean enough.

“So how many devices do you have in here, sir?” Coffee asked and pointed at the TV. “You’ve got one television. A phone, I’m guessing?”

“Yeah, and I’ve got a desktop in my room.” Soarmaster gestured to a doorway beside the television. “Router’s under the television. Just let me know if you need anything. I’ll be in my room for the time being.”

The hero levitated off the floor and floated away into his room.

“Well, uh, this feels a bit easy…” Sunset rubbed her hands nervously. It didn’t feel right.

“Doesn’t matter. Nothing seems wrong yet.” Father’s Coffee pushed her. “Go on. Get to work. The sooner we’re done here the better.”

Sunset nodded and followed Father’s Coffee to the router. They crouched down to examine the device.

“Huh,” Sunset said as she looked at the router. “Looks kind of old.”

“Is that a problem?” Coffee asked.

“Shouldn’t be a problem.” The fiery haired girl took out a small screwdriver and a tiny microchip, barely the size of a fingernail. “Fiddle with the wires over there and make sure the router’s unplugged. I don’t want to end up getting electrocuted before we get anything done.”

Father’s Coffee duly disconnected the wires and the lights on the router went out. Sunset quickly unscrewed the plastic casing and exposed the inner workings, where she placed the microchip and fixed it in place with a few dabs of glue. Then she put the router back together and asked Coffee to reconnect the wiring.

“Well, that wasn’t too hard,” Sunset stood up and dusted off her knees. “Router’s done. Now we just need to mess with the cameras and we should be able to link them to Prenchie’s computer.”

“Not bad, Sunny.” Coffee clapped her on the shoulder.

Sunset messed around with the television’s connection next, and when she was good, they had to go get Soarmaster to deal with her phone and PC. They found the hero floating over his bed, reading some kind of magazine.

“Done already?” The hero threw his reading material aside and slowly floated back to the ground.

“Just your phone and your computer left, sir.” Coffee pointed to the black monitor on the hero’s desk in the center of the room across from the bed. “And if you have anything else that needs connection?”

Soarmaster shook his head. “That’s it. I’ll get it on for you.”

Sunset eyed the hero as he walked past them to switch on his computer. It all still felt too easy and it made her feel uneasy. Her mission to Vogel Tower had been stressful, but planting the bug had been all too easy. But just when she had thought it was all done, Refraction came knocking at her door. She didn’t want to prematurely let her guard down a second time.

“Okay, go ahead and do your thing.” Soarmaster stepped back. “So how much faster will my net be?”

“We’re uh, trying to reduce the waiting time by about… a minute.” Sunset got to working on the connection, tapping into the camera systems. Soarmaster didn’t seem to be the type to understand technology, so she should be safe to do it in front of him, but she tried to block his view a little with her body. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll see the difference once we’re done.”

“Well, you girls are the experts.” Soarmaster shrugged.

Father’s Coffee looked around the room while Sunset worked, trying to get a mental image of it should they need to note anything for later. It never hurt to get an understanding of the target.

“Computer’s done.” Sunset closed all the windows and smiled.

All that was left was Soarmaster’s phone and when that was done, Sunset put everything back into her tool kit at her waist and they proceeded for the door.

“Well, thank you for your time, Soarmaster.” Father’s Coffee shook his hand. “Big fan, by the way. Always dreamed of flying, but not everyone gets lucky.”

“Right. Yeah, I guess so.” Soarmaster nodded and looked at the TV. “Well, thanks for the upgrade. I’ll be sure to check it out.”

Sunset and Coffee waved to him and they were off back down the hall, moving as quickly as they could to the elevator. Only once Soarmaster shut the door behind them did she allow herself to breathe. It was tense, being so close to the hero when they were trying to hack her systems, but they were finally out. That actually hadn’t been too bad and with Refraction out of the way, she didn’t have to worry about any invisible people following them after this.

As they were approaching the stairway, someone almost bumped in to her from around the doorway.

“Woah, watch it,” Z-Truck said, taking a step back.

Sunset stopped and eyed the superheroine. Here she was again. The superhero who killed Pine. Her heart began to beat faster and faster, her eyebrows creased and her mouth hung open in some kind of disbelief.

“You, uh, you okay there?” Z-Truck looked at her and Father’s Coffee. “Something the matter?”

Sunset couldn’t say anything, so Father’s Coffee pulled her aside and led her down the stairs. Z-Truck already didn’t seem to recognize her. Had she been nothing more than a problem to get rid of after her accident with Pine? Sunset just couldn’t understand it, but then again, now she knew that was what heroes did.

Z-Truck just watched them go, then shrugged and started walking on to Soarmaster’s apartment.

Chapter 11: A Timely Acquaintance

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Sunset Shimmer sat in the back of the van with The Girls, their eyes all focused on the laptop screen, her fists clenched. On the screen were Soarmaster and Z-Truck, now seated on the bed, just talking. Seeing Z-Truck just made her think of Pine and how unimportant she seemed to think he was. Pine wasn’t just some nobody she ran into on the street. He had been everything to Sunset and Z-Truck had taken everything away from her. And the worst part was, she didn’t even seem to realize her actions had caused pain to others. When Sunset had bumped into her earlier, she hadn’t even recognized her. So much for regret and remorse from her.

“Don’t you worry, Z.” Soarmaster put a hand on hers. “You’re fast. You’ve nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty awesome. But what happens if I lose? I can’t lose.” She balled her fists and grunted. “Still Well said I’m out if I lose. I can’t lose.”

“You won’t lose, Z. You’re the fastest supe out there. Sonicboom might be fast, but she’ll never be as fast as you. You’ll win.”

“What are they talking about?” Sunset asked the others. “There’s a race coming up?”

“Oui.” Prenchie nodded and tipped out a packet of crack on the back of a hand. “You haven’t seen the posters? The Race of the Century. People pay to see this.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not a stupid consumer, petite Sunny.” Prenchie sniffed the white powder into one nostril.

Father’s Coffee shook her head in disgust and went back to monitoring their feed.

“What if I use more of Hold X?” Z-Truck asked her boyfriend. “It made me faster the last time.”

“Yeah, it made you run through a guy. You can’t control it, Z.”

Sunset slightly flinched at this.

“I failed once, but I got this. I’ve had practice now. You of all people should know what it feels like, to have all that power coursing through your veins. It feels awesome!”

Soarmaster sighed. “Well, you do what you think is best. Can I at least come and watch?”

“Remember what Still Well said. We can’t be seen in public together. We’re not official.”

Soarmaster leaned closer, trying to kiss the superheroine, but she shifted away. “Come on, can’t you just ask for permission for us to be together? You’re a member of The Septet. I’m sure they would think about it.”

“Man, no, I don’t want to have to go ask Still Well about something like this.” Z-Truck got up and paced the room. “Hey, don’t sweat it, Soarin. You can watch me from here. We just need to be patient, okay? We’ll get to be in public together one day. I promise.”

The male superhero leaned back on his bed and groaned. “Okay, okay. You still have enough Hold X?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll just pop one before the match and hey, I’m gonna run like never before.”

“Just please don’t run into anyone else? You don’t want the hassle of clearing it up again.”

“You think I want to? I even had to apologize to the guy’s farming witch in person.”

Sunset swung a fist at the van’s door, creating a loud clang.

“Hey, woah, not my van, Sunny,” Mulcher said from the front seat. “Don’t ya worry, yeah? We’ll sort this supe cock out.”

Prenchie closed her laptop and put it aside. “Oui, mon amie, Z-Truck will be at the race soon. We just need to get that Hold X, whatever it is, just a sample of it and we can expose her.”

“Whatever this Hold X is, it seems to amplify a supe’s power.” Father’s Coffee rubbed her chin. “Sounds like a drug to me. Soarmaster said Z-Truck couldn’t control herself the last time.”

“Yeah, and she splattered Pine all over the sidewalk…” Sunset teared up again, just thinking about it. She wanted to strangle Z-Truck, but it probably wouldn’t end well.

“You know what?” Mulcher tapped the back of her seat to get their attention. “I’m sure if we go lookin’ at the race, we’re bound to find some of this Hold X stuff. We could use this to get ‘em supes and Vogel in some big trouble, I’d wager.”

“How are we going to get in?” Sunset asked. “Surely a place like that’s gonna be guarded, especially after all the attempted bombings at the stadiums.

Mulcher shifted her gaze to Prenchie. “Prench, how do we get in?” Then she smirked.

“I’m sure I can figure it out.” The pink haired woman sat up straighter. “Z-Truck will likely be leaving anything on her in the changing rooms. I can find a way to get in. Facile.”

“Alright. It’s settled then.” Mulcher turned back forward and started the van. “Off to the race we go.”

And the van went speeding off down the streets, almost hitting a turning car on the way.

Sunset Shimmer had zipped her coat up all the way to her neck as they walked about the Canterlot Stadium. She couldn’t believe that they had actually made it in so easily. There was security at every entrance, checking everyone’s bags and pockets. Because they didn’t have any weapons on them, getting through the checks was easy enough. She didn’t know what Mulcher showed them in place of tickets, but somehow, they managed to get in anyway.

The bleachers were packed to the brim with fans of both Z-Truck and Sonicboom, with the clear distinction between both sides. Z-Truck fans were decked out in blue holding up rainbow banners with her face on it and the Sonicboom fans were dressed in orange, with orange flags and foam fingers.

“Right, so…” Mulcher snatched a box of popcorn off a table when the attendant wasn’t looking. “We’re lookin’ to get into the changin’ rooms to steal something out of Z-Truck’s stash. Prenchie, you and Sunny will be on that. FC and I will keep an eye on things up here.”

“Wait, what do I do?” Sunset asked and gestured to herself.

“I’m going to sneak into the changing room,” Prenchie briefed her. “I’ll need a lookout, in case anyone needs to use it. You’re going to be that eye, petite Sunny.”

“Umm… right. Yeah, okay.”

“Race of a Century, eh?” Mulcher munched on her popcorn. “More like Race of the Farmin’ Supe Cocks. What a waste o’ time.”

Sunset followed Prenchie around the bleachers as Mulcher and Father’s Coffee went to blend in with the crowd. There were lines of attendees coming out, carrying towels and water bottles, and along the side was a line of people leading to a room, which was likely a meet and greet for Z-Truck and Sonicboom. Sunset was disgusted by that. These people were lucky they didn’t truly know their heroes.

They found the changing rooms quickly, but of course, the door was locked.

“You have a… a key or something?” Sunset looked at her friend and then around the hall to make sure no one saw them standing here.

“No need.” Prenchie pointed above. Sunset followed her finger to see an air vent above them. “Facile, petite Sunny. Just get me up there and I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Uhhh, okay.” Sunset placed her hands low and waited for the pink haired woman to step on them.

Prenchie placed one foot on her palms, but Sunset couldn’t get her up. She tried it with her knee next, but she could’t stand up with Prenchie’s weight on her. The Prench woman shook her head, then stepped up onto Sunset’s shoulder instead. Sunset grunted and tried to fight off the pain, and it soon subsided when Prenchie tore the air vent grate out of the way and climbed in, her feet disappearing down the tunnel and towards the changing room.

Sunset took up position close to the changing room doors, standing against the wall and looking at her phone, like she was waiting for someone to come out of the nearby restroom. Every few minutes, an attendant passed by, and she would whisper the word, ‘Attendant’ to her earpiece. But thankfully, none of them entered the changing rooms and Prenchie could continue to search in peace, though she hadn’t radioed in any findings yet.

“Wait, I think I found it,” Prenchie said in her earpiece. “Let’s see what we have here.”

“Great, just hurry the farm up. We don’t got all day,” Mulcher’s voice came on next.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going as fast as I can, Mulcher,” Prenchie grunted.

Sunset wondered what Prenchie might find inside Z-Truck’s locker. Something incriminating, hopefully. This Hold X sounded like some kind of drug, seeing as Z-Truck planned to take it to win. It somehow boosted superhero powers according to Soarmaster.

There was the sound of snapping cameras coming from the hallway they had come from and Sunset looked down it to see what was going on. They had passed some cameramen on the way in and they were probably taking pictures of Z-Truck or Sonicboom.

There came more cheers, then Sunset saw a flutter of a dark cape rounding the corner. Someone was coming. She quickly pressed her back into the wall and looked busy on her phone, keeping on eye up every few seconds. It was a hero and she partially recognized him from his black and orange outfit and his cape. He was the new member of The Septet, Dark Sun. It seemed there were more heroes making an appearance at this race today other than Z-Truck and Sonicboom.

She hadn’t met Dark Sun before, but why did he look so familiar?

He rounded the corner and Sunset pretended to be focused on messaging someone when she realized two things. He was going for the changing room and he was also more familiar than she had first realized.

“Wait, F-Flash?” Sunset called out and put her phone down.

The blue haired man had just pushed open the changing room doors, but he flipped around to face her, missing the sight of a certain Prench woman dangling down from the ceiling vent on a rope, her face a mix of surprise and relief as the door swung closed.

“Wait…” Dark Sun approached her. “Sunset? Sunset Shimmer? From the bench?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Sunset nodded. “Y-You’re Dark Sun! I didn’t… How could I not have realized?”

“Blimey, Sunny, you know Dark Sun?” Mulcher’s voice said in her earpiece.

Flash shrugged. “Yeah, well… It’s not something I go around announcing. Actually, I think it was better you didn’t know.”

“Oh. Yeah, but wow. You’re in The Septet. That’s… really something.”

“I suppose it is.” Flash pointed to the changing room with a thumb. “Well, it was nice seeing you again, Sunset, but if you’ll excuse me.”

“Not yet, I need more time!” Prenchie said on the radio.

“Oh, oh, wait!” Sunset reached a hand out, then paused. She wasn’t sure what to say. “Uh, ah, would you… uh, hey you wanna, uh, get a drink? Or something? Umm, I’m buying.”

Flash wore an amused face. “You do know the drinks here are absurdly priced, right? You know, big event and all.”

Sunset averted her gaze to the wall. “Uhh, well… Once in a century, yeah? According to the race. I’ll get you some popcorn too.”

“Change that to tortillas and you got yourself a deal, Sunset.”

“Right!” Sunset grinned and looked between Flash and the changing room door. That had been close. “Uh, let’s go then.”

“These aren’t bad.” Sunset Shimmer stuffed another green tortilla chip into her mouth. When she had first seen them, she had thought they were weird, but they weren’t half bad.

“Yeah, they’re learning how to use green veggies to make these now.” Flash Sentry grabbed another piece from the plate. “Sustainable, plus it’s not too weird for the palate.”

“I suppose so.” Sunset looked at him. He didn’t have any face coverings to obscure his identity. How had she not noticed he was Dark Sun until now? The conversation on the park bench came back to her. “Hey, that day at the park. You said you had a problem with a co-worker, you were talking about this?”

Flash nodded. “Yeah. I thought, you know, I could make a difference. Saving lives, protecting people, bringing criminals to justice. But… It’s really not what I thought it would be.”

“Yeah, I get that. A lot of revelations have rocked my world too, in the recent days.” Sunset picked up another green tortilla and munched on it. “But I’m trying to get by now, you know? Because it’s not over yet.”

“Well said, Sunset. I take it things are better for you, then?”

“We’re getting there, I guess. I’m working on getting back up.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Sunset drank from her glass of beer. “Yourself? How’s it all going.”

“Well, you inspired me that day, Sunset. I’ve been trying to make good of the role I’ve been given. It’s just… the opportunities don’t always present themselves.”

Sunset agreed with him, though she didn’t know how much she should actually reveal to him of the events that had transpired over the last few days.

“Hey, well, it’s been nice, Flash, talking to you.” Sunset took another sip of her glass. “It’s nice to just… get away from everything for a while.”

“Yeah. Hey, uh… you know, if you ever want to talk, you know… uh, just like that, you could always let me know. You know.”

“Oh, uh, would you… like to exchange numbers, then?” Sunset asked. That seemed to be what he was trying to get at. She didn’t mind.

“Umm, yeah, yeah that’s what I wanted. To ask.” Flash nodded awkwardly.

Sunset smiled. It felt normal again for a few seconds. It was as though all the troubles of life had been forgotten by this one simple act and she appreciated it very much.

“Ferme,” Prenchie said in her earpiece. “Nothing here. Just clothes. Nothing on Z-Truck.”

“Farm it…” Mulcher exhaled. “Alright. Get out of ‘ere, Prench. We’ll find another way.”

Sunset was immediately pulled back to reality. There was nothing in Z-Truck’s bag to incriminate her or to give them a lead on what this Hold X really was.

“Something the matter, Sunset?” Flash asked and finished up his glass of beer. “You look a little… shocked.”

“Oh, uh, no no, nothing’s wrong.” Sunset tried to play it off. “Just, umm… thinking about it. How… normal it is, swapping phone numbers. Really lets you know that, uh, life still goes on and all that.”

“I guess you’re right,” Flash said and got up and dusted his cape. “Well, thanks for a good time, Sunset. But I’ve got to go prepare myself before the big race. Heroes have to make a good appearance and all that.”

“Yeah, yeah, no worries, Flash.” Sunset smiled to the best of her ability. “Hey, listen. I had a good time, just… catching up. Just let me know when, umm, you wanna… do something like this again?”

“Oh, sure. Of course.” Flash waved. “Well, I’ll be seeing you, then.”

And the superhero was off through the doorway to the bar, leaving Sunset seating by herself, gazing out the window at the racetrack below. What were they going to do now?

Chapter 12: Race of the Century

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Milly Mulcher stood in the stands, keeping an eye out on the track for Z-Truck. She had disappeared off somewhere a while ago and she hadn’t been able to find her since.

“Where could ya have bloody gone, ya supe cock?” Mulcher muttered under her breath.

Both she and Sonicboom were standing around earlier, rallying their fans for the race, but while Sonicboom still stood on the track, how arranging her orange hair up into its spiky shape, the rainbow haired speedster still hadn’t returned.

“Prenchie, have you gotten out of ‘ere? I can’t find Z-Truck.”

“Oui, Milly, but I still don’t have anything.”

Mulcher sighed and put her binoculars down. She turned to Father’s Coffee, who was looking at something on her phone. “Oi, FC, what’s up?”

“Oh, I brought up Soarmaster’s feed onto my phone. Easier that way.” She tilted the screen discreetly so that only Mulcher could see it. Soarmaster was currently seated in the living room, watching TV. He must be waiting for the race to start. “I’ll keep an eye on him, see if anything comes up.”

“Good on ya, FC.” Mulcher gave her shoulder a firm pat.

There was the sound of a rushing truck and Mulcher looked back to see that Z-Truck was now back out on the track, standing on the opposite end of the field from Sonicboom. Something was off about her. She was more jumpy than usual, taking very quick steps back and forth, and she was sweating bullets. If she didn’t know better, she would say Z-Truck was jacked.

“Oi, I think she’s already taken it.” She pointed for Coffee to see.

“Sheep.” Coffee squinted to get a better picture. “That Prenchie probably didn’t search well enough.”

“You know I can hear you, Coffee.”

“Then you know you didn’t try hard enough. Z-Truck’s jacked up. She might hurt someone.”

Mulcher smirked. “Well, if she hurts anyone, I do hope she blunts herself in.”

“So how else are we going to catch her in the act?”

“We’re just gonna have to wait an see…” Father’s Coffee looked at her phone and frowned. “You know what, I’ll pass on this race. There’s something I gotta go check out.”

“Oh? Somethin’ more important than catchin’ this supe?” Mulcher raised an eyebrow.

Coffee looked elsewhere for a few seconds, then back at her. “It might be. I’ll keep you updated.”

“Well, alright then.” Mulcher ate more from her box of popcorn. “Just let me know what ya find.”

“Will do.” Coffee headed off the stand.

Mulcher breathed in deeply, then brought the binoculars back up to her eyes again. Z-Truck was being incredibly agitated, constantly whipping from side to side as she hopped on her feet, moving so fast that she looked like a blur. Perhaps to the regular civilian, she just looked like she was warming up, but Mulcher and The Girls knew better after what they heard from her conversation with Soarmaster.

If she lost, Sonicboom would take her spot on The Septet. Perhaps that was something they could use against the rainbow speedster, but only if she didn’t win. Mulcher sighed. That wasn’t a very good plan.

Sunset had been wronged by this superhero and Mulcher wanted to make sure supes like that were exposed to the public. They didn’t care about saving people. All they were after was the improvement of their own image.

Everyone around her suddenly looked skyward and began pointing.

Mulcher shoved more popcorn in her mouth and joined them. There was a parent and child on her left, squealing about how it was a bird or a plane. He wanted to lean over and club them over their heads for even thinking it could be either of those.

There was a rumbling of wind and behind them, at the very top of the stands, Protectorate Sod rocketed down, landing in a crouch with one fist on the ground. Cheers erupted amongst the civilians and Mulcher fought the urge to yell at them to stop.

Protectorate Sod raised her form, tipped her hat and began waving to the crowd.

What a cheeky little blighter… Mulcher narrowed her eyes. Protectorate Sod was the ideal heroine in everyone’s minds, the best of the best. But Mulcher knew it better than anyone that she was far from the best. Sod was the reason she was even in this anti-supe business in the first place.

“Welcome, citizens of Canterlot!” a voice erupted out of the speakers around the stadium. “Are you prepared for the Race of the Century?”

This announcement was met with more thunderous cheers and an outpouring of applause.

“Today, just for you, we have two of the city’s greatest heroes, pushing themselves to the limit to see just who is the fastest speedster on the block!” the announcer bellowed. “Let’s hear it foooooor… Sonicboom!”

Sonicboom jogged on the spot, her orange uniform dazzling the cameras. She raised both her arms into the air and made two peace signs with her hands. The cheering grew even louder.

“And competing against her, The Septet wonder herself, iiiiiiit’s… Z-Truck!”

Z-Truck’s rainbow hair swished around in the air as she leapt into the air and did a spin. She raised her hand in a wave and blew a kiss to the spectators, who cheered even louder than before.

The two speedsters moved toward the starting line. Two huge concrete blocks were set up at the beginning of the racetrack for the racers to push off from. Their respective logos and symbols were painted onto the blocks. All around the two heroes, cameras and newscasters jockeyed for a glimpse of the two racers.

Mulcher wanted to say she kept an eye on them, but instead, her focus was on someone else. Protectorate Sod still stood at the top of the stands, clapping along with the crowd with a huge smile on her face.

The superheroine saw her watching and she stopped clapping, locking eyes with the black haired woman instead. Mulcher didn’t care whether Protectorate Sod saw her looking or not. There wasn’t much else she could do right now, but she silently promised the heroine that one day, she was going to understand what was coming to her and she was going to regret what she had done.

The official took his position at the starting line. He held a stubby black pistol in his hands, and he gestured to both Z-Truck and Sonicboom to take their places on the track. Both heroes got into a sprinter’s crouch, bracing their legs against the concrete blocks as they waited for the signal to begin. The crowd grew quiet as the official raised his pistol to the sky and his finger curled against the trigger.

Bang!

In a near invisible blur of blue and orange, both Z-Truck and Sonicboom were gone from the starting line, the concrete blocks cracking and sliding back a few feet from the immense amount of force that had been exerted on them by the speedsters’ push-off. There was a sudden blast of wind, and then a shrill whistle as the sensors installed at the finish line were tripped.

All around the stadium, the big screens flickered as they displayed the slowed down footage of the finish line as the blue-clad Z-Truck crossed it, arms in the air in a pose of victory.

“And there we have it, folks! The race of the century, and…” the announcer’s voice bellowed. “The winner is… Z-TRUCK!”

The cheers of the crowd exploded around Mulcher as people got up to rush the track, hopeful of selfies and autographs. She scoffed at everyone who paid to be here today. It was a waste of time and money to watch a race you couldn’t even see.

Mucher watched as Protectorate Sod put her hands on her hips and shook her head with amusement, then flew down to the track to see Z-Truck and her crew. She narrowed her eyes again as she eyed the blonde haired heroine, pretending like everything was alright with the world. Mulcher didn’t like that one bit.

“Race is over, girls.” Mulcher radioed in. “Guess we should get out of ‘ere soon. Not much point hangin’ around.”

Taking one last look at the heroine, Mulcher sneered at her, then turned her back and headed away from the bleachers. Protectorate Sod didn’t know it yet, but the battle had already begun.

Soarmaster sat up in his couch as Z-Truck’s footage was shown on his television screen as she passed the finish line in slow motion. He had to give it to whoever had made these cameras. Catching something moving that fast was surely a feat, especially seeing as his girlfriend was moving at the speed of sound.

“Go, Z!” He chugged a can of beer and threw it in the corner when he was done.

He wished he could be out there with her right now, but Z-Truck had been right. Vogel wouldn’t allow it, not unless they were first allowed to officially be together. He sighed and grabbed another can. It was ridiculous how they had to first be approved if they wanted to be together. The decision should be made between the two individuals, not the company that oversaw them.

“What a load of sheepskin.” Soarmaster ripped open the can’s lid and drank from it.

When the race was over, the cameras were on Sonicboom and Z-Truck out on the track, with the reporters ready to ask them a barrel of questions. Z-Truck still looked wired and Soarmaster knew the reason for that. She had really done it again. Hold X really made her a lot faster, and he was relieved she hadn’t accidentally run through anyone this time. It would be a hassle to have to go through all those legal issues again so soon.

“Z-Truck, congratulations on the amazing victory! How does it feel?” one of the reporters asked Soarmaster’s girlfriend.

Z-Truck removed her goggles and ran a hand through her rainbow hair. “It was awesome, of course! I was going at speeds I didn’t think were possible. And I only have my fans to thank for that, for cheering me on all the way.”

“So what are you going to do now? Off to celebrate the victory? With a special someone, perhaps?”

Soarmaster floated closer to the TV, anxious to hear what Z-Truck was going to say. He knew what he wanted to hear and though he knew the chances were low, he still held on to the possibility that Z-Truck loved him more than the rules set for them.

“I uh…” She babbled for a second. “No, I’m still single and always ready to mingle!”

Soarmaster dropped himself to the ground and closed his eyes. He was disappointed with what Z-Truck said, but then again, he had already been fully prepared to hear it. But why did it still hurt?
Soarmaster groaned and looked to the shelves under his TV. He reached his hand into one and removed a vial of purple liquid, looking at it disappointedly. It worked like a drug, so maybe it could help with taking his mind off Z-Truck’s statement.

The hero flew over to his kitchen counter and pulled open a drawer where he kept a boxful of syringes. He picked one out and jammed it into the bottle and pulled back the plunger, sucking up the purple fluid into the syringe’s barrel.

“Z-Truck, why…? Don’t you love me?” He jabbed the needle into his arm and pushed the plunger back down.

The purple fluid began to vanish from the syringe and almost immediately as it entered his system, Soarmaster felt the liquid reach his heart and get pumped all over his body. As the needle fell to the ground, Soarmaster grinned and levitated up; he loved the rush that soon followed.

Grinning, he flew around his apartment, spinning and turning whenever he had to to avoid knocking into furniture. He felt faster, stronger, and definitely happier. It felt good, to have so much power coursing in his veins. He jetted over to the corner of his room, where he kept a stack of weights. He piled on as many as he could onto a dumbell and began lifting it. At first, he took it slow, because he didn’t know just how much he could lift, but when he picked it up, it felt almost like lifting a stack of paper and his smile only got broader.

Soarmaster grabbed two of them and began tossing them up in the air and catching them again. He felt so powerful and it was the best feeling he’d ever had, maybe even better than sex with Z-Truck.

“I’m on fire!” He whistled and flew back out to the living room. “Hold X is all I need.”

There was a knock on his door and it broke his attention to how strong he was. Soarmaster dropped the weights to the carpeted floor and he heard something splinter, but he just floated over to the door and flipped it open. It was his landlord, Dunder Snitch, and he was holding a stack of papers in his hands.

“Mr. Dunder Snitch, what can I do you for?” he asked. “If you can see, I’m a little busy right now, so if it’s nothing important…”

“The month is up, Soarmaster. You know how it is,” the man said in his heavy Stalliongrad accent. “I know you’re hero and all, but hero is still human, so you know what I need from you. Give me rent.”

“Rent?” Soarmaster repeated. “Can’t this wait? I’m in the middle of something.”

“You’ve been late on your last three payments,” Dunder Snitch said, a frown coming onto his face. “I want rent now.”

Soarmaster looked back into his apartment, where the weights had made a hole in the wooden floorboards.

“You’ll get your rent when you fix this floor!” he snapped. “Doesn’t mean I don’t walk means you can leave the broken floor as it is.”

“Floor?” He tried to look past the hero. “There is nothing wrong with floor. I repeat. Give me rent.”

“Listen, you old coot,” Soarmaster shouted. “Either fix the floor or get out of my face. I got more important things to do than talk to you unless it’s about fixing up this dump.”

“Hey.” Dunder Snitch stepped into the apartment and folded up the papers and pointed them at him. “You are hero. I am landlord. Landlord is above hero, da? Hero does not treat people this way. What if… words get out that you are mistreating your kind landlord? You will be hero no more. So I give ultimatum to you. Give me rent.”

Soarmaster had had it. Dunder Snitch was his landlord and all, but he was having a good time and now the man was trying to threaten him.

“I’ll give you the rent when I want to!” He grabbed the balding man by the collar and slammed him against the wall, flying up to the ceiling and holding him in place. “I am a superhero, what are you? You are a nobody. If you don’t like it here, just go back to Stalliongrad and do what you want there.”

He tossed to man to the ground, where he landed in front of the dumbell and the couch.

Dunder Snitch rubbed the back his head, which was now bleeding across the carpet. “I only want rent. Give me rent and I go.”

Beside the dumbbell, the floor had indeed splintered and there was wood jutting up from under the carpet, though the carpet still kept it in place.

“No, you always treat me like dirt.” Soarmaster swooped down and lifted him again, only to smash him back down on the ground. “Now I’m gonna put some dirt in your eye. I am a farming superhero! I’m not just some guy who needs an apartment! I save lives, the public loves me! What gives you the right to even ask me for rent?”

“You signed agreement!” Dunder wailed as he was slammed back on the ground again.

Soarmaster’s anger burned against the man. “You good for nothing Rushky!”

He picked him up by the shirt again and he spun around in the air and flipped the landlord over his shoulder and this time, when he crashed into the ground, face first, there was a cracking and splattering sound and Dunder Snitch stopped moving. Blood began to pool out from under his face as Soarmaster panted, slowly understanding what had just happened.

The hero dropped back to the floor and pulled Dunder Snitch up and to his side. He had landed beside the dumbbell, where the floor had splintered. The impact earlier had pierced his face through one of such spiked segments and the carpet. His nose was now a bloody ruin and Soarmaster had to yank it off the spiked portion of his floor, which had gone right through and out his left eye as well. His eyeball still lay on the floor deflated and blood was still seeping out of his head, staining the carpet.

“Oh, oh no, oh no.” Soarmaster’s legs wobbled. “What have I done…?”

He looked at his bloodied hands and he shivered and dropped to the floor. He had felt so good and the slightest irritation had put a stop to that feeling and triggered a serious burst of outrage from him.

“Why did I do all this? Why? Z, Z, where are you?”

“Z-Truck’s not coming.” A purple and aquamarine haired woman with a shiny pink beanie walked into his apartment, carrying a phone in her hand. “I have it all, Soarmaster. I saw what you did. Now you’re going to tell me what you know, or the world is going to know what you did.”

“W-What? Who are you? You were here. You were fixing my internet.”

“A ruse, I’m afraid.” She squatted down in front of him. “Now look, we know you know about Hold X. And you’re going to tell me everything you know about it.”

Chapter 13: Super Maximum

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King Max stood atop the building, leaning down a knee against the edge and he watched the band of criminals work their way into an armored truck. After all this time, he didn’t know why or how they always got their hands on such vehicles, but criminals never did learn their lesson.

“A shame, dudes, but right on.”

He hopped down from his vantage point and felt the wind whistling in his ears and his dreadlocks flailing about his face as he got closer and closer to the criminals. Max balled his knees up to his chest and smashed right into the armored truck, tearing right through the roof and the bottom, and cracking a bit of the street as well. There were already two robbers in the truck and the impact had thrown one out, while the other had flown against the wall and knocked himself out against the edge of the walkway between the driver’s seat and the back.

He stood up and whipped his hair from his face and folded his arms as the remaining three criminals stared at him in horror.

“Come on, man, why you always gotta rob banks? You’re just askin’ to get your butts handed to you on a surf, man.”

“Ah, sheep, shoot him shoot him shoot him!” One of then pointed and the three began opening fire with their assault rifles.

Max placed his hands on his hips and waited as bullet after bullet bounced off his bulletproof skin, landing on the ground, flattened. The criminals only stopped firing when they ran out of bullets.

“This too. I mean, come on, you’ve seen me on the news, right?” King Max climbed out from his hole and walked out the backdoors of the truck, now standing before the three men. “Surrender? Or what, man? What do you think you can do?”

They began reloading and Max shook his head with amusement. They never did learn. He dashed at the closest man, the one calling the shots, and his muscular body knocking into the man was enough to send him rocketing back into a lamppost, bending it at its center. The man bounced off and planted his face into the sidewalk.

The last two dropped their weapons and attempted to run, but they couldn’t outrun Max. He caught up to them in a single bound and raised his arms to his sides. The men ran into his toned muscles and knocked themselves out.

“You don’t mess with the king.” He bent a knee and flexed his arms. “To the super max with you lot, dudes!”

Civilians around them began to cheer and flashes from cameras began to materialize in the air around him.

“No need to thank me. All in the day and life of a superhero, dudes!” Max smiled and waved.

“We love you, King Max!” a girl squealed.

“And King Max loves you, harmless citizen!” He pointed and winked.

He was about to head back to Vogel Tower when an explosion occurred just five blocks down in a tall apartment building. The people around him screamed and some began running away.

“Anything for me, man?” Max radioed in to the analysts. He first needed to make sure Vogel would approve him running in there.

Max sighed. It was rather counterintuitive, but he had long since let it be. There was nothing he could do to change any of it, so he just decided to go with the flow.

“King Max?” Paprika finally said in his ear. “Director Still Well wants you at that explosion site to find out what’s happening.”

“Right on, dude.” He smiled.

Max lowered himself, and with as much strength as he could muster, he propelled himself up and forward, soaring through the sky for a few seconds and covering a great distance. The road had cracked where he had jumped from, but he figured the roadworks people would just fix it up later.

He was at the building in no time, leaping up and running along the wall, grabbing on to the side of the ledge and pulling himself through the new hole in the building.

“King Max, help!” a woman called. Her legs were caught under a piece of the fallen ceiling.

Standing at the doorway to the room was a man covered in a hood and scarf, with his yellow eyes being the only facial features Max could see. He had his hands up, facing the superhero.

“You, did you do this?” Max pointed at him. He looked shifty and out of place.

The man whispered something and King Max recognized it as Saddle Arabian before two streams of fire erupted from the palm of both his hands and swatted Max back. He lifted his arms to defend himself, but the flames hit him hard and he was thrown back out the hole in the wall.

He anticipated a free fall, but suddenly, he felt himself bump into something hard and yet a little squishy and he was pushed back into the damaged room from behind.

“Mighty fine trouble we have here, huh, Max?” Protectorate Sod floated into the room and landed beside him, tipping her hat to their attacker. “Howdy, hoss. Ready to come quietly?”

The man muttered something again and he placed his hands together and blasted a wave of fire at them.

Max readied himself to defend again, but Protectorate Sod stepped in front of him and stood there with her hands on her hips. The man stopped his attack and gasped as the blonde haired superheroine stepped forward, completely unscathed; even her suit was unburnt.

“A supervillain, huh?” She whistled. “That’s a first.”

Protectorate Sod’s eyes glowed red and she lasered their attacker from one hand to the other. First, his fingers were sliced off and then his upper body fell off at the diaphragm. His legs crumbled soon after and joined the rest of his body in a smoldering mess on the floor.

“Well, justice is served.” She folded her arms.

King Max went to rescue the trapped woman, but to his dismay, she was already dead, burnt to a crisp from one of the man’s earlier fire attacks.

“An enemy supe?” Max asked Protectorate Sod as he stood up. “That’s gnarly, dude. I didn’t think they existed.”

The blue heroine walked to the hole in the wall and looked outside, spotting the fire engine rolling down the streets on its way here. “Neither did Ah, my friend. Ah wonder just where they came from.”

“He was Saddle Arabian,” Max said, remembering the words he had spoken. “You don’t think they’re more of them?”

Protectorate Sod scoffed. “If there’s one, there’s bound to be more. Well, a surprise to be sure, but a welcomed one. They pose more of a challenge, don’tcha think, Max?”

Max watched her. She didn’t seem all that surprised, even though she said she was. But he learnt years ago to not question their glorious leader of The Septet. It could only end badly. It was funny how they used to be a thing. Max couldn’t picture any of it anymore, but still remembered time with Protectorate Sod.

“Funny, huh? How times change.” Protectorate Sod slapped him on the shoulder. “Just when we thought a-stoppin’ crime was gettin’ a little too easy, now we get supervillains. Ain’t that somethin’.”

“Uh, sure is, man.”

“Maybe now the government will approve supes in the army. We’ll take the fight right to ‘em.”

King Max eyed the back of her head and wondered just what went on inside that skull of hers. Then again, perhaps it was something better off never finding out.

“I trust you had time to think over your role here, Senator Bray Road?” Still Well held out a glass of wine to the man. “About placing superheroes into the military?”

“I have.” He accepted the glass. “And my answer is still no. Superheroes may be powerful, but the outcome could be devastating as well. Think of all the collateral damage we could receive? Supes are still like us. They can make mistakes.”

“But our soldiers make mistakes too. It isn’t too different.”

Bray Road shook his head. “A superhero mistake could prove very devastating.”

“Yes, well… Surely I can get you to reconsider your stance.”

“Nope. There is nothing you could do to convince me of the dangers.”

Still Well picked up his remote and flicked on the television. “Not even… this?”

Bray Road immediately recognized himself on the TV screen, tied down on the bed and blindfolded as a rather large man sat on top of him, grinding his hips up and down. This wasn’t what happened that night. She hadn’t been a man.

“This is… this is messed up to think you would make something as fake as this! I never did this!” He tossed the glass of wine aside and stood up. “I’m not that kind of man!”

“Are you sure?” Still Well looked unimpressed. His eyes shone an acid green and his skin began to shimmer and flicker.

To Bray Road’s horror, where Still Well was sitting was now a large balding man with a crazy look on his face; it was the exact same man in the video.

“That night was amazing, dearie.” He licked his lips and chuckled. “I’ve never been done by a senator before. You know, you come a lot. Even my butthole couldn’t keep it all in.”

“What the farm?!” Bray Road walked back and fell over the couch. “No. There’s no way!”

A door closed behind him and Bray Road turned to see Still Well again, walking into the room. He looked back and the fat man was still there.

“You see, senator.” Still Well leaned against the wall. “All we need is your vote for supes in the military. Do that for me, and this video will never see the light of day. Easy enough, wouldn’t you say so? Imagine what your wife would say if she saw this. It wasn’t even with another woman...”

He got up and pulled at his collar, suddenly feeling very warm. “I’ll… I’ll…”

“Yes?” Still Well slid over to his desk and started his coffee machine. It began to rumble lightly. “You’ll do what?”

The senator sighed. “I’ll do what you want.”

“Excellent.” Still Well grabbed his coffee mug and sat down. “Just what I wanted to hear. Well, you have a good evening now. Changeling will show you out.”

Where the fat man had been was now an attractive young woman with charcoal skin and teal hair. She gestured for him to follow as she headed for the door and opened it for him.

“Thank you, senator.” She licked her lips. “You know, you have a pretty nice cock. Perhaps I’ll see you again some time…”

Bray Road quickly ran out. He knew better than to stick around.

The sky was already dark by the time Protectorate Sod decided to grace Vogel Tower with her presence. She had been out for interviews all day long, with the reporters being very intrigued about the idea of what they were now calling, ‘Superterrorists’. Protectorate Sod was intrigued herself, but she didn’t like that word. It sounded disgusting. Supervillain was the way to go, but apparently the media thought it was too cheesy.

She also hadn’t thought it would turn out so well. She had only smuggled in a handful of Hold X cases to Saddle Arabia and hoped that the military would have such a hard time with them, they would allow supes to combat the supervillains, but for one of them to actually make his way to Canterlot, now that was an amazing turn of events.

She walked by Still Well’s office and she decided to stop. Protectorate Sod narrowed her eyes and her vision soon began to darken and the wall began to fade from sight. Seeing right into the director’s office, Protectorate Sod could see him now, seated at his desk as his coffee machine rumbled on, releasing the occasional puff of steam from the top. Coffee was squeezed out of its nozzle and into Still Well’s mug, ever so slowly.

“My, oh my.” The heroine couldn’t help it but lick her lips as she imagined the rich coffee swirling in the cup.

“U-Umm… Protectorate Sod? Wh-what are you doing…?”

The quiet voice broke the coffee machine’s spell over her and she sniffed and turned her head. The Shallow was standing in the hallway, carrying a large black crate in her hands.

Protectorate Sod shrugged and pointed to her cover, a large painting of herself, standing on a hill and looking heroic. “Just admiring the artwork here. What’s in the box?”

“Umm…” The Shallow looked down and away. “It-It’s… It’s not something good… I was bringing this to Director Still Well.”

“Then ya wouldn’t mind if Ah joined in.” Protectorate Sod lowered her hat and walked to knock on the door. “Director Still Well, The Shallow’s here and she’s got a mighty fine lookin’ package for you to see.”

She held the door open for her teammate, who meekly walked past her and towards the director’s desk. Still Well stood from his chair and watched as The Shallow placed the crate down on the carpeted floor.

“What’s this?” the man asked. “You were supposed to be looking for Refraction.”

“Well… This is Refraction.” Shallow popped open the lid.

Protectorate Sod could see bits and pieces, like an arm and a leg, all covered in blood, which made it visible to their eyes. The inside of the crate was lined in zinc. Whoever did this knew that she wouldn’t be able to see through it with her x-ray vision.

“Clever…” She nodded her approval. This was no mere crime. It was planned.

But what struck them the most was what was inked onto the inside of the crate’s cover. Written in what was likely Refraction’s own blood were three words. Words that made Still Well take a step back, but words that did nothing to faze Protectorate Sod. In fact, they only made her feel more challenged, like with the supervillain from earlier in the day. This was more like it.

The crate read, ‘Coming for you’.

Chapter 14: The Male of the Species

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“Mmm… Mmmnn… yeahhh…” Milly Mulcher gasped as she leaned down against her husband’s chest as her hips moved themselves up and down.

“Milly, I’m gonna… It’s coming…!” Beck Call groaned and held on firmly to her butt.

Milly felt him ejaculate within her, his white sticky fluid filling up her insides as she slipped off his dick, breathing heavily.

“That was great…” Beck wrapped his hands around her shoulders. “Come here, you.”

Milly smiled and inched herself up to kiss him on the lips. She looked deeply into his bright blue eyes and she chuckled. She loved him with every bit of herself.

“Hey, you really need to go take on that supe.” He grinned and kissed her again. “Memory will be coming after me if I don’t get you out of the house soon.”

“Nah, Beck. Takin’ down supes can wait.” Mulcher twiddled with the ring around her finger. “Time with you always comes first.”

“Well, you’ve already had it all night.” Beck kissed her again, then pushed himself up against their bed’s backing. “Come on. You’ve got work to do.”

“Fine. Fine…” Mulcher blew at her fringe and combed back her long black hair with her hands. “But when I come back, you’re gonna give me the deepest farm you possibly can, that’s a deal, yeah? You’re gonna be makin’ babies swimmin’ up me twat.”

“Right, right, so go on, scoot.” He slapped one of her butt cheeks as she got out of bed. “You’ve got this, Milly. You always do.”

“Can’t argue with that one.” She tied her hair up, then gave her husband one more kiss. “I’ll see ya when I’m done, yeah. Ya better remember your promise.”

That had been years ago and as Milly Mulcher opened her eyes, she sighed deeply and scratched at her forehead. She let out a huge yawn and then smacked her lips together. She wished she didn’t have this memory, but she woke with it almost every night and every night, it only made her miss Beck more and more.

Beck Call had never fulfilled his promise to her that day. When she returned home, he had already gone and it was only after digging around for clues on what might’ve happened, she found that the last place he had been seen was Canterlot Park and that Protectorate Sod had been seen with him.

She balled her fists at the memory of the camera footage from the park’s security feed. That was all she had to remember her husband by. She didn’t know if he was still alive or not, but what she did know was she was going to make Sod pay.

Mulcher turned and faced the back of her seat as she lit a cigarette, and watched Sunset Shimmer gazing out the back of the van, her eyes still on the Eastern restaurant across the street.

“Sunny?” She stretched her arms up as high as she could, then took a drag of her cigarette. “Did ya get any rest?”

The fiery haired girl shook her head without turning from the window. “We need to keep watch.”

“Nah, mate. I told ya. They ain’t comin’ at night. Did ya see anything since?”

She shook her head again. “But I had to be sure.”

“Yeah, alright. I guess so. Prench? What’s up?”

The Prench woman sat beside her in the van, her head lulled to the side and a bubble coming out of one nostril. Mulcher shook her with a foot and she startled awake, sucking the bubble back into her nose as her eyes shot open.

“What, did we see something?” She wiped at her face with a hand and snorted.

“Nothin’ yet. Just checkin’ to see if you were still alive.”

“What time is it?” Father’s Coffee sat up from beside Sunset and stretched. “Man, you need to get some heaters for your van, Mulcher. How can you take this?”

“Duh, coat.” Mulcher gestured to her black trench coat.

Coffee shook her head and turned to Sunset. “Sunny, you alright? You better take another blanket.” She tossed an old ragged cloth over the fiery haired girl’s shoulders. “Don’t want the cold to kill you before we even get anywhere.”

Prenchie was quick to whip out a cigarette and she winded down a window as she lit up. “Are you sure this is even the place?”

Father’s Coffee flashed her an evil look. “Yes. I got it straight from Soarmaster’s mouth. I can tell. He wasn’t lying. He was doing anything he could to prevent that incident from getting out to the public.”

“Killing his own landlord?” Prenchie scoffed. “Histoire incroyable.”

“Yeah, messed up supes.” Coffee shook her head. “He said Z-Truck had been running the stuff to the place.”

“The Eastern Dragon.” Mulcher looked at the place from her side view mirror. “Nice ring to the name, but it’s no five star, I’ll give ya that. Looks like a farmin’ sheephole.”

There were two women standing by the restaurant entrance, just talking in their Eastern language, but they didn’t seem to be doing anything suspicious. Yet. Sunset narrowed her eyes, but she kept watch on them. She had to find out why Z-Truck was bringing Hold X here. She doubted it was just to inject herself with. She could just do that at home or at Soarmaster’s place. What was she bringing the Hold X here for?

As Sunset stared at the two workers, there was a sudden gust of wind and one of them turned around and scratched at her hair, looking down at an orange parcel.

Wait a second. Was that already there?

She picked it up and the two of them talked for a few more seconds, then proceeded into the restaurant.

“Uh, hey, I think I got something,” Sunset called for the others. “The two women there. They just picked up an orange package.”

“Looks like the game is on.” Mulcher nodded and pointed out the window. “You three go on in. There’s a little somethin’ I have to see to.”

“What?” Coffee raised an eyebrow. “What could you possibly have to see to at this moment?”

“A little sightseeing with an old friend. See what she knows about this whole Hold X situation.” Mulcher tossed her cigarette and waved a hand to get them out of her van. “Go on, I’ll see you back here later. Or wherever. Just keep in contact, yeah?”

“Alright, alright. Let’s just head outta here.” Father’s Coffee opened the van’s door and hopped out. “The fewer of us, the less conspicuous we look, walking into that Eastern shack.”

Sunset complied and followed along behind her, while Prenchie got out the side door. As soon as all doors had been shut, Mulcher honked a goodbye to them and drove off, slowly disappearing from view down the street.

Sunset watched her go, then turned to follow the two older women into the restaurant. It was still before lunch time, so the restaurant was not yet open, which meant there was no one to greet them in the front, or really anyone in the main room at all. And that worked out just nicely, seeing as they didn’t want to have to talk to anyone about why they were here.

They spotted the two women from earlier entering the kitchens and they hastily followed after them, keeping low. The kitchens, unlike the main room, were filled with chefs and servers, preparing the food, plates and utensils for use later. Fortunately, they were all so busy prepping for lunch, they didn’t see Sunset and The Girls sneaking through, walking down past them and into a backroom near the restaurant’s freezer.

The room past the kitchen was absolutely dreadful, with dark stains on the walls and floor and cockroaches scurrying out from behind a stack of wooden crates. Compared to the kitchen, it looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years. Then again, the kitchen wasn’t all that clean as well and neither was the whole restaurant, in fact.

Prenchie wrinkled her nose after sniffing at the air and she recoiled her head. “Sheep, this place smells like diarrhea. Worse.”

“Coming from someone who does all that crack, I think it’s a compliment.” Father’s Coffee shook her head.

Prenchie glared at her. “Now see here, your boobs might be bigger, but that doesn’t mean jack.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“You’re always walking around, swinging them like they’re everything.”

Coffee looked down at her breasts as she walked and then frowned at Prenchie. “I can’t help it that they do that.”

Sunset groaned inside. She didn’t see how any of this helped their current situation. “Can we please, focus on the objective at hand?”

“Yes, petite Sunny is right.” Prenchie nodded and walked past the both of them. “We have better things to do than compare breast size.”

Father’s Coffee raised a finger, but then shook her head and said nothing. Sunset just shrugged and pointed forward. They still had to find out what they were doing with the Hold X here.

“This place stinks.” Sunset waved a hand around her face. It was musty and the air felt heavy, not in the foreboding kind of way, but more like it was incredibly hard to breathe. Then she shook her head. The foreboding sense was there as well.

The hallway was badly lit and there were some opened crates of alcohol and vegetables stored here, with the latter having flies buzzing around them. Sunset cringed. If this was what they were serving in the restaurant, she was never going to come here for a meal. She also thought about a certain Glascow chef who would have a field day with this place.

They kept walking down the dark hallway until they began to hear the chattering of soft voices. All three women ducked down behind stacks of crates and waited. Sunset tensed up, but she didn’t hear the sound of walking, and neither did the two older women. She ducked her head out to survey the hallway and found that no one was approaching. The voices were coming from a room on the right, where a faint blue light could be seen against the wall on the left.

Prenchie gestured with her head for them to keep going and Sunset slowly crept out from her hiding spot and followed behind her and Father’s Coffee. They rounded an entryway and stuck their heads out in a row as they took a look inside the room. The two women from before were in their watching a football game on a small TV, with the volume turned rather low.

In their room were more crates and tables filled with magazines, both the paper and firearm kind, and of course, a few assault rifles.

“What could they be doing here?” Prenchie hissed.

“The living conditions here are dreadful…” Coffee shook her head. “Why won’t they just clean this place up?”

“Only criminals would live in a place like this…” Prenchie sniffed at the air.

“It looks just like your place,” Father’s Coffee said.

“Shhh, wait. What is that.” Prenchie pointed to what looked like a holding cell behind the tables.

“Are they keeping prisoners here?” Sunset whispered.

Prenchie waved for them to follow her. “We should take a closer look.”

She snuck into the room, keeping low. She slowly moved each foot in front of the other, careful not to make a sound louder than their football game on the TV. Sunset copied hers and Father’s Coffee’s actions, moving almost as slow as a snail as each step made her heartbeat pound louder and louder in her ears. She was afraid the two Eastern women would hear her at this rate, but they didn’t seem to.

As they now stood outside the cell, Sunset could see that there was another TV inside, though a lot smaller, playing the same football match and in front of it was a man, seated there on the ground with his knees to his chest, his attention on the game.

“Who is that?” Sunset whispered to her companions. “Some kind of hostage?”

The man was caked in dirt and grime and he looked and smelt like he hadn’t had a shower in weeks. No. Years.

“What are they doing with him?” Prenchie approached the cage and crouched before the door.

The man inside must’ve heard something, because he turned his head to face them, a vacant expression on his face. He just stared at them blankly and for a second, Sunset thought he would yell for the women on the other side of the room, but all he did was stare at them, unblinking. It was kind of creepy for her.

“Hey, don’t worry, mon ami.” Prenchie placed a hand on the fenced door. “We’re going to get you out of here. Let me just get my tools…”

“Prenchie wait.” Coffee put a hand on his shoulder. “We shouldn’t rush to conclusions.”

“He’s dirty. He’s a prisoner. What more do you need?” She whipped out a lockpick and began working on the door’s padlock.

After a few seconds, there was a click and the lock swayed to the left side, unlocked.

This noise was heard by the two women and they got up from their side of the room, their eyes swiping from Sunset, then Prenchie, then Father’s Coffee, then the opened lock. Immediately, their eyes went wide and they rushed for the table of guns.

“Down, down!” Father’s Coffee grabbed Sunset and kept them all low.

Prenchie just moved out of the way of the door a second earlier as it was thrust open, smashing against the cell wall with a metallic clash. The man inside was now standing, though crouched and hunched, his hands forming into hooks like those of a bird of prey.

He immediately threw himself over the table in a single bound and the first woman screamed and was unable to point her gun in time. The man landed on top of her and there was the sound of ripping flesh and her gurgled screams as his hands flew across her body so fast Sunset almost couldn’t see it. Something flew into the air and landed before the three women and at first, Sunset thought it might’ve been a grenade or something, but then to her horror and disgust, she realized it was a human arm, crudely torn off at the bicep, where the shattered humerus could be seen jutting out of the tender flesh.

Sunset held back her stomach as the man attacked the second woman, who managed to fire off just a single round of the rifle. It missed and hit the wall behind the man, but it was too late for her.

“Quick, get in here!” Father’s Coffee pushed Sunset into the holding cell and then grabbed Prenchie by the collar and threw her in as well.

The screams of the second woman stopped and the man looked back over at them, a wild look in his eyes.

“Go go!” Coffee slipped into the cell and pulled the door closed as the man jumped back at them, crashing into the cell door and shaking it.

Coffee, Prenchie and Sunset held on to the door for dear life as the wild man tried to get inside. For a single person against three women, he was really strong and Sunset thought they were going to die here in this dark and dirty cell as the door was shoved open an inch.

Suddenly, from behind the man, there was a gunshot and a bullet burst through his shoulder and sprayed blood against the three women. The man stopped pushing against the door and turned to face another Easterner, this time a blue haired man holding one of the assault rifles. His eyes were wide with shock and fear and Sunset knew there was no chance of him getting out of this unscathed. Or even alive.

The wild man was upon him a matter of seconds and the rifle was knocked out of his hands, or so Sunset thought. As the rifle clattered to the floor near them, the man’s right hand was still clutching the weapon’s grip, though the wrist ended in a bloody stump, spilling blood all across the already grimey floor.

Screams and tearing flesh echoed out around them and Sunset pressed her hands to her ears, trying to drown them out. Her heart pounded in her ears and her breathing got heavier and heavier. She felt she was going to pass out any second. She just wanted it all to end. She had tuned out everything else until two hands grasped her shoulders and shook her roughly.

“...set! Sunset!” Father’s Coffee’s voice phased into her ears. “Come on. He’s gone. He’s gone.”

She inched an eye open, then dropped her hands from her ears and listened out. There was not a sound to be heard besides their own breaths.

“Hmm…” Prenchie hummed to herself and darted her eyes around the room. Then she pushed the door open and walked out. “Coast is clear.”

“Man, what the sheep did we just let out?” Father’s Coffee pulled at her pink beanie. “That was no human.”

“Non.” Prenchie shook her head and pointed to the floor. “Definitely not.”

The floor was now caked in fresh blood and the three bodies, those of the two women and the man, were literally torn to shreds. Sunset couldn’t even see their faces anymore and what was left of them were scattered everywhere, with blood covering almost every portion of the room, even the TV. There were guts strewn across the crates, a small intestine hanging over one like a long worm. An arm was sticking out from under the table and it was missing every finger except the middle finger, which looked to be flipping them off even in death. Half a breast sat against the wall, the nipple still fully visible and covered in blood, and Sunset was sure there were a few eyeballs as well, close beside it. The sight and stench was too much for her and she ran to the corner and threw up her breakfast, spitting everything onto the floor in a brownish sludge.

“Petite Sunny, you okay there?” Prenchie came over and patted her back.

Sunset heaved again and shook her head. Something shiny caught her eyes on the side. She wiped at her eyes and nose and looked. When her vision was clear enough, she noticed it was a syringe. No, a stack of discarded syringes, just lying on the floor, all used up.

“H-Hey…” Sunset wiped her mouth with the back of a hand. “Look. Might be the Hold X…”

Prenchie squeezed past her and bent down to pick up one syringe. “Don’t tell me they’ve been using these, then? On what?”

“Might be that little friend of ours.” Coffee pointed to the entryway. “Look what he did to all these people. This isn’t human. They must’ve been pumping him with this Hold X.”

“But why? What would they do this for?” Sunset said groggily.

“Anything else about these people?” Father’s Coffee looked around the bloodstained room for anything she could find.

“Too much mess to determine.” Prenchie shook her head. “But I would say this must be an insurgent cell. The thing is… what is Z-Truck doing with them?”

Sunset wiped at her face again, then looked around. The dim lights and stacks of weapons and goods surely looked like a place terrorists would hang out in, at least according to the movies. She’d never actually met any terrorists in her life, thankfully.

“Here, I got something.” Prenchie held out a tattered portion of what used to be a shirt. It had an emblem on it, which was a sun. It was partially torn on the right side, but there was still enough of it to determine the sun image. “Must be the Celestial Unified Totalitarian Army. Only ones I can think of with Easterners and this.”

“Is, uh, is that a problem?” Sunset asked.

“They aim to destabilize governments, which in this case, they’ll be up against Vogel and Canterlot. But if Z-Truck has been giving them the Hold X… It might not be as simple as that.”

“You don’t think Vogel is creating… supervillains to fight them?” Sunset gulped. It didn’t sound good. “Do you…?”

The other two women looked at each other. “We need to find that man before Vogel does. Perhaps we can get what we need out of him.”

Sunset didn’t like the sound of that. She didn’t like it at all.

Chapter 15: Little Talks

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Rain Dance gazed out at the peaceful Canterlot River as he stood before a railing, a piping hot cup of coffee in one hand. It was a nice day and the wind was cool against his face. There were flocks of seagulls sailing across the water, searching for their next meal, and a series of ships traveling to and fro, carrying shipments of cargo, or just rich people spending their time on the water.

He grimaced at them wasting their time and money just because they could, without a care in the world, while the rest of them had to work hard just to put food on their families. Tables.
He meant to say tables.

“Sodding carefree people…” Rain Dance sipped at his coffee.

People often left the truth earthed. It was better to live in bliss without knowing what really went on in the background than to find out and become disheartened at what they know. Plus, if anyone, even someone without an ounce of a brain were to say it was all fake, people would simply take that as the truth and let life go back to normal. They couldn’t handle the truth, nor did they want it, and that, to Rain Dance, was incredibly ridiculous.

He laughed to himself at how ignorant and selfish humans could be. It was really amazing once you got to thinking about it. The truth may vary, but these rich pricks’ ships still carry on without a care in the world.

“Havin’ a giggle there, mate?” A woman leaned her back on the railing beside him.

Rain Dance raised his eyes and grimaced as he realized it was an old contact, Milly Mulcher.

“Milly Mulcher. Didn’t think I’d see you again after what happened.”

“Don’t kid yourself, Dancey. Ya think I really wouldn’t be back to ya? I’ve missed our little talks.” The woman sniffed and rubbed at her nose. “How’s it been. Pushin’ pencils and the whatnot.”

“Haven’t gotten a good night’s rest in a long time.” Rain Dance shook his head. “I don’t think we’re meant to, people in our profession. The stairs creak as I sleep and I jolt awake immediately. I keep thinking someone’s coming up to shoot me. Sometimes I think it’s you.”

“Nah, why would I kill ya for? Ya know how muuch time I love spendin’ with ya.” Mulcher chuckled and prodded him in the gut, much to his annoyance. “Just the house tellin’ you to close your eyes. Do ya need me to come over and bonk ya over your old Uncle Ned to get some sleep?”

Rain Dance sighed and pulled his coat collars up. He suddenly felt colder. “What do you want, Mulcher? Why are you here?”

Mulcher looked around, as though to make sure he wasn’t being watched. “What do you know about Hold X?”

“Hold X?” Rain Dance eyed Mulcher warily. “How do you know about Hold X?”

“Well, it ain’t much, I’ll give ya that. That’s why I’m here. To see what more you can tell me.”

Rain Dance shrugged. “Not much. We don’t even know if it even exists. There have just been whispers. Some kind of supe substance.”

“Well, you’re not wrong. Except for one thing. Hold X is real, Dancey. Found it out ourselves, me and The Girls.”

“You got the gang back together, huh?” He folded his arms. “But what good is that? Colonel Memory shut you down after what happened.”

Memory Cog was now his superior in the CIA, and he wouldn’t be happy to learn that Mulcher and The Girls were back in town. They had botched their last mission and were deemed unfit to continue their anti-supe task force.

“We’ve been followin’ the Z-Truck incident, Dancey. We found she was takin’ Hold X the day she ran through that poor sod. She took it again yesterday, for the big supe race. It seems to boost a supe’s power. Me girls caught Soarmaster in the act yesterday too. Got his dick wrapped around our little finger now. They get powerful, Dancey. Too strong to control, even. It’s some kinda supe drug.”

“We feared as much.” Rain Dance sipped at his coffee. “We had some rumors that a drug was going about creating supes, but other than the name Hold X, we haven’t received anything else yet. But do you have proof? No one’s gonna believe you unless you can bring me something concrete.”

“Blimey, did ya say creatin’ supes?” Mulcher asked. “The other day, that was that flame-tottin’ terrorist.”

“Possibly.” Rain Dance nodded. “But like I said, we need proof. That’s all I have for you, Mulcher. Everything else is just speculation. I can’t go forward on any of this unless you give me a reason to believe it’s all true.”

“Well, you’ve given me another angle. Me girls are settling somethin’ else. Perhaps I’ll have something for ya soon. I guess I owe ya somethin’. How’d ya like me to go back with ya and tickle your balls and suck ‘em real good?”

“You know I hate that, Mulcher.”

“Your face always said otherwise, Dancey.”

“Alright. Goodbye, Mulcher.” Rain Dance turned back to the river and leaned over the railing. He had a lot of thinking to do and he didn’t want this woman bothering him anymore, especially not with her bringing up the past.

“Well…” Mulcher took a few steps away. “Ya know how to get me.” She fished her phone out of her pocket and walked off. “Hello? What’s up?”

Rain Dance sighed and eyed another rich person speeding across the water on a fancy boat. If Hold X was real, like Mulcher and some of her sources said, and if it indeed could make supe terrorists, then signing the amendment to allow supes into the military was going to be a big mistake. But at the same time, why did Vogel want their supes in the military so badly? What would that gain them? He still hadn’t discovered that part and were they creating terrorists just to pass that amendment? It didn’t make any sense.

“Just what are you farmers planning…” He sipped at his coffee and groaned. Mulcher better find something and soon. He couldn’t believe he had to rely on that woman again. They had been investigating rumors of Hold X for so long and they hadn’t come up with anything concrete to even be sure if it existed, but Mulcher had sounded very sure it was real. She might even have something for him soon and that was actually rather good news.

“Rain Dance, come in. We’ve got new reports on a hijacked plane above Trottingham. Copy?”

Rain Dance looked down at his belt and removed his walkie-talkie from its clasp. There hadn’t been a hijacking in a long time, not since superheroes became a thing. No one was that stupid. Right? “Hijacked? What’s the situation.”

Chapter 16: Terror on the Airline

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Protectorate Sod flew above the plane, using her x-ray vision to confirm the situation below. There were three terrorists, two in the cabin and one in the cockpit, and they were all armed. On the upside, it didn’t seem like it was going to be a hard task.

“Three, Max,” she called down to her companion, who he was holding on to one of his arms as she flew them both closer to the plane.

“Right on, dude. This is gonna be a piece of cake.” King Max chuckled. “Like, let’s get those farmers.”

“Alright, ya know the drill.” Protectorate Sod flew alongside the plane and placed a hand on the door’s handle. “On my mark.”

She twisted the handle and yanked the door back. Immediately, the pressure inside the plane dropped and masks fell from above the passengers. The first terrorist turned just in time to receive a straight fist from King Max. The blow knocked him back into one of the seats and bounced him back into Max’s grasp. With a grin, the green haired man turned around and tossed him out of the plane, then faced the second terrorist.

He raised his gun to fire, but from behind him, twin lasers shot out and burned a hole straight through the man’s chest. His screams of pain soon turned into wet gurgles as his eyes rolled back and he fell to the floor.

The passengers cheered as Protectorate Sod flipped around and yanked the door shut, returning the air inside to normal.

“Everythin’s A-okay now, y’all don’t have to worry.” She raised her hands and put on a big smile on her face.

The passengers looked round at the two superheroes and put their hands together, filling the inside of the plane with their applause.

“It’s Protectorate Sod!” one man cried out.

“You saved us!” a woman gasped.

One of the passengers, a young girl, lifted her Protectorate Sod plushie. “You’re a hero, Protectorate Sod!”

Protectorate Sod raised her hands in a show of humility. “Aw, c’mon now. Y’all are the real heroes. Let’s hear it for King Max!”

“King Max!” the passengers cheered, clapping some more.

King Max smiled at the attention, but then directed his gaze toward the cockpit door.

“Protectorate Sod,” Max called. “The last one.”

The Stetson wearing superheroine came over to the cockpit door and kicked it open. Inside there were three people; one of them, the co-pilot, was dead and another was holding a gun to the head of the third, a green haired man who was sitting in the pilot’s seat.

“Woah, now. Hold your horses there, hoss.” She raised her palms to the sides of her face. “Ya don’t gotta do this. Just put the gun down. We can settle this differently.”

The man said something in Saddle Arabian and pressed the gun’s barrel against the pilot’s head.

“Yo, no habla sand people. Ya understand english?” Protectorate Sod readied herself to take him down. “Please surrender and we won’t have to kill ya.”

Max too, raised his hands. “Just calm down, dude. No sudden moves.”

The terrorist looked between them and the pilot, his hand visibly shaking.

“Pl-please help…!” the pilot whimpered. “I don’t want to die!”

“Don’t panic, sir. We’ll get’cha outta here. Ya got a name?”

“Ti-Timber. Timber S-Spruce…”

“Listen here, Timber Spruce. You’re gonna be alright, ya hear? We’ll diffuse this yet.” Protectorate Sod held up a hand.

“Please! I ha-haven’t even been a pilot all that long! This is my fi-first week! I quit my old camp counseling job just a few years ago to be a pilot. This isn’t what I imagined!”

And that’s important… why? Protectorate Sod blew up at her fringe, then resumed her wide smile. “Don’t panic. We’ll save y’all yet.”

The terrorist barked another string of Saddle Arabian and Protectorate Sod was unable to understand what he was saying. Here was where a superpower of linguistics would come in handy, but unfortunately, she didn’t have it.

“Don’t kill me, please! I have so much to do in life!” Timber Spruce begged his captor.

Protectorate Sod cleared her throat. “Sir, just calm down. Don’t antagonize the man. And as for you, my terrorist friend, last chance. If ya ain’t gonna put that gun down, we’re gonna have to resort to some violence.”

The Saddle Arabian man looked between the heroes and the pilot again and to Protectorate Sod’s disappointment, he chose to pull the trigger. Timber Spruce’s head slumped forward as the bullet shattered the window, now sucking out the air violently. The terrorist didn’t get a second chance to do anything else before twin lasers cut him in half from the shoulder to his waist. Unfortunately, they also damaged the plane’s controls and alarm bells began to ring out around the whole plane.

“Unfortunate turn of events.” Protectorate Sod patted the dead pilot and then sighed. This was rather inconvenient for them now.

“What are we going to do now?” King Max ran to the controls to see if he could salvage anything. He ripped the pilot’s headset off his head and held the mic to his lips. “Mayday, like, does anyone read?” He put it down and shook his head. “It’s fried, man.”

“Well…” Protectorate Sod pursed her lips, then tipped her hat. “Good game, Max. Nothin’ more we can do for these folks. Guess we better just skedaddle.”

She pushed the door open back into the cabin and people were already screaming and running about the plane, not even bothering to stay in their seats with their belts on.

Farmin’ humans. Protectorate Sod shook her head. They really had no sense of self preservation.

“Protectorate Sod, what’s going on!” one woman wailed and pulled at her cheeks. “Are we all going to die?”

“Help us!” another one screeched.

“Nah, y’all gon’ be fine!” Protectorate Sod put on her best smile and walked down the aisle. “We’ll straighten things out yet.”

“Can’t you like, go out in front and push the plane up?” Max suggested. “Like, keep it from hitting the ground?”

The superheroine scoffed. “Max. Ah can’t hold this plane up. Ah’ve nothin’ to stand on. Besides, if Ah go out there and push, the plane’s just gonna fold around me like paper. There ain’t nothin’ more we can do for them.”

“Or go under the nose and hold it up!”

“Max, Max. That ain’t how it works. You’ve been buyin’ too much into those Vogel films of me. Ah can’t do that. That’ll just kill everyone in here. It’s better we don’t even try. We’re done here, Max.”

“Then just fly them down one at a time, or something. That can work, right?”

Protectorate Sod chuckled. “Come on. Even you know how much work that is. We can’t get all of ‘em. Time to give up.”

“Are you leaving us?” The little girl with the plushie asked. “Don’t leave us!”

“Nah, don’cha worry a thing, li’l one.” Protectorate Sod gave her a gentle fist bump on the shoulder. “Ah’ll just be seein’ a lil’ somethin’ around back. Everythin’s fine, everyone!”

King Max followed her, but he still wasn’t sure about any of this. They couldn’t just let a plane full of people die without even trying to save them. There had to be a way.

When Protectorate Sod reached the back of the plane, she leaned close to the rear door and punched it on the back of her hand. The door launched out into the air and disappeared behind the plane, once again depressurizing the cabin and forcing people to don their masks. The air stewardess assuring people had been thrown clear from where she was standing, toppling over the trolley and knocking bottles to the ground.

“What’s going on?! We’re going to die!” the woman of the young girl screamed.

“Max, come on!” the heroine called from the rear of the plane.

King Max watched the child with her mother and gritted his teeth together. Surely they couldn’t be this heartless. True, he had lost the will and the determination to be a great hero after being in the real world for so long, but this went beyond all that. They were going to let a plane full of people die. People who trusted them to rescue them. Max didn’t want it to end this way.

“You two, like, seatbelts off. Now. And come with me,” he said to the woman and her child.

They did as they were told quickly and he motioned for them to walk, gently pushing them from behind.

Protectorate Sod looked out from behind the corner as they approached and raised his hands. “Max, what are ya doing?”

“Come on, dude. Take these two. Just these two. Fly them down,” Max pleaded.

“What for?” She gripped the edge of her hat and frowned. “So they can tell the world we let all these people die? Nuh uh, leave ‘em.”

More people were unbuckling themselves and rushing down the aisle to them, reaching their arms out and begging Protectorate Sod to save them. King Max felt a sting in his chest. They trusted them to save them, but Protectorate Sod wasn’t going to have any of it.

“Y’all stay back! Stay the farm back!” She pushed past Max and her eyes were now globes of burning red. “Ah’ll laser y’all! Ah’ll laser every last farmin’ one of y’all! Y’all ain’t comin’ with us, ya hear?!”

With the threat of being sliced into pieces by her eyes, all of them backed down and stopped screaming. That was exactly how Protectorate Sod liked it. It seemed Max was still too soft. He unnecessarily cared for the life of these lowly people.

Protectorate Sod stretched a hand out to him and sighed. “Alright, Max. Two options for ya. Let’s go. Or stay with them. Don’t die for them.”

“Protectorate Sod, don’t leave us!” The girl with the plushie began crying.

“How could you do this to us?!” someone in the back yelled.

The superheroine said nothing. Instead, she just nodded her head, her arm still outstretched. King Max looked between them and a pang of guilt gripped at the strings of his heart. He wanted to save them all, he really did, but he also didn’t want to die here, not when there was still so much he had to do. In truth, he was afraid. He was very afraid of what would happen if he did not take Protectorate Sod’s hand and he hated himself for that.

“I’m so sorry. Like, seriously, I’m sorry!” He tried to reason with the people, but it was really more for himself. “I’m sorry.”
“King Max, no!” The young girl grabbed his arm. “Don’t leave us!”

“Max,” Protectorate Sod called, her voice stern.

He looked between the leader of The Septet and the civilians once more, then he left his place beside them and took the superheroine’s hand.

“Ah’d knew you’d make the right choice.” She smiled at him.

And together, they hopped out of the plane door as people rushed for it, begging for them to save them, but their screams now fell on deaf ears as Protectorate Sod and King Max watched the plane slowly grow smaller and smaller, dipping down towards the sea below.

“I’m sorry…” King Max whispered to himself.

“Ain’t nothin’ for ya to be sorry for.” Protectorate Sod watched them go. “People die. Nothin’ lasts. Well, maybe ‘cept book and words. Then again, words aren’t always necessary. They do a whole lot more harm, don’t they?” She chuckled to herself.

King Max didn’t answer. All he could do was imagine the plane full of screaming people perishing because of their selfishness and fear, and it was all his fault.

“It has been an unfortunate moment that King Max and Ah were unable to rescue the hostages aboard the flight…” Protectorate Sod choked on her words as she stood before a sea of people, most of which were reporters. “By the time we had gotten there, there was nothin’ more we could do. The plane had already lost control and crashed into the sea. There was nothing more we could do, but hope that we could’ve been just a little faster… Ah deeply regret not bein’ able to save them. They were truly the real heroes…”

King Max stood beside his partner, watching the people. People looked up to Protectorate Sod. If only they really knew what she was like. But today had been his fault as well. He couldn’t stand up for himself, because there was nothing more he could do for them. He wasn’t blessed with Protectorate Sod’s powers. He couldn’t do what she could, but she would squander her abilities because it was too much of a hassle.

“But ya know what…” The superheroine looked up with crocodile tears in her eyes. “We could’ve avoided this. We could’ve. If superheroes had been in the military, our response time would’ve been so much faster. But our governments still want to decide whether it’s a good idea or not. Well, Ah pose this question to y’all. What’s more important? To be decidin’ law and order or to be out there, savin’ the lives of what matter? Y’all, the true heroes of our world.”

Nods and murmurs went along the crowds and a few shouts of agreements erupted from within them. Protectorate Sod smiled.

King Max watched her carefully, trying to gauge just how far she was willing to go to see this through. Sure, supes in the military would help combat the enemy threat, especially now that there were superterrorists too, but to use the plane crash as a means for it? This Max didn’t agree with. He knew Vogel would’ve been pleased with this outcome, no survivors of the crash or no. They too didn’t care for the lives of innocents. All they wanted was to further their agenda. Max had known that for many years now, but he had given up a long time ago. There was nothing he could do against them unless he wanted to be outed from The Septet and to lose everything he had.

All he could do now was smile and wave at the crowds as they cheered their names and he would have to live with the fact that he let a plane full of people die, just because he was afraid. He pictured an old friend in his head, someone he had not spoken to in a long time, someone he once held dear to his heart. Perhaps they would be able to help him process this through, but he wasn’t holding onto any hope it would justify letting all those people die.

Chapter 17: Pressure

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“What’s bothering you today, Shallow?” A blue skinned woman sat across from the superheroine in a large hall, decorated with trophies, awards and even a grand piano to the side.

The Shallow looked down at her legs and played with her long braid. “I’ve been feeling… um, a lot more useless… as of late.”

The woman clasped her hands together and leaned forward. “What makes you say that?”

“It’s about why I’m in The Septet…” Shallow sighed. She hated coming for these counseling sessions, but she didn’t know what else to do. “I f-feel, um, they really only keep me around… because of my status as… as an animal speaker and for my looks.”

“You’re strong too, aren’t you? You can lift a truck.”

“Barely…” The pink haired heroine gazed out the window at a lake near the estate. “I’m nothing compared to the others… Protectorate Sod is just really powerful. So is King Max. Refraction can turn invisible, Blanche has all her… knives. Z-Truck can run so fast. Poolfreezer could freeze just about an-anything… Even Dark Sun, the new one, he can use light. All I can do is… breathe underwater and talk to fish…”

“And why is that so useless?”

“Because all Vogel uses me for is underwater foraging and saving people from pirates or shipwrecks. I can do so much more than that! But everyone treats me like dirt… even the new guy…”

The Shallow remembered Dark Sun’s threat on the docks the other night. Even he now knew how no one respected her as a member of The Septet and he wasn’t going to either. Things weren’t going her way at all. She had hoped to subjugate the new hero under her wing and to make him serve her and care for her needs, but that just strengthened his resolve to not be a pushover.

Just yesterday, Vogel had made her dive in search of the missing plane to make sure there hadn’t been any survivors. After talking to a few of her fishy friends, including Lambert, her sperm whale friend, she had determined where it was and swam down to it, glad to have found no survivors. She had seen the news, where Protectorate Sod was advocating the use of superheroes in the military and she could understand why Vogel wouldn’t want a survivor coming up and telling the truth. That would jeopardize each and every one of them.

In this line of work, she always felt under pressure to push the limits of what she could do, because if someone like Protectorate Sod were to do something incredibly heroic, and she didn’t, her popularity would just shrink, compared to her. And it was hard to do heroic things when all Vogel wanted her for were underwater missions.

“Shallow?” her counsellor asked. “Are you still with us?”

“Huh? Oh… um, sorry…” She looked back at her counselor embarrassedly. “I just have a lot of things on my mind.”

“And that’s why you’re here, Shallow. That’s why I’m here to help you.”

“It makes no difference, really. I don’t know why I came here…”

Her counselor tapped her pen against her clipboard. “You’re putting yourself down. You are in The Septet for a reason. If they didn’t want you, they would’ve already just changed you out, wouldn’t they?”

She pouted. “But no one breathes underwater like I do.”

“Precisely. You’re unique, Shallow. No one else is like you. You’re special. There are things Vogel needs you for, only things you can do.”

“Y-You really think so, doc?” She continued to play with her braid.

“Yes. You downplay yourself. You’re a great hero. You can save lives like no one else. So go out there and do what you do best. Be a hero.”

The Shallow blushed. Her counselor was right. There were people out there that still looked up to her, whether her peers did or not. There was still much she could do for fame and glory, and there were already ideas of what she could do for all of that.

Her whale friend, Lambert, had already told her of the mistreatment of sea mammals in Canterlot’s Ocean World. That could be a good place to start to bring up the awareness of animal treatment and to put her name in a better light.

“Thank you so much, doc. You always manage to make me feel better…”

The counselor nodded. “It’s my job, Shallow. So I’ll see you same time next week?”

“Mhm. And I hope I’ll have better news for you then.”

“C’mon, Prenchie, can you find him or not?” Father’s Coffee groaned as she planted her forehead against the van’s interior.

“I told you, stop asking!” The pink haired woman shot her a glare. “I’m doing my best.”

Milly Mulcher sat in front, chewing on a strip of beef jerky as she looked out the front window at the people passing by. The Girls had updated her about their adventure into the Eastern Dragon and how Prenchie had released a dangerous man who had basically killed the entire Celestial Unified Totalitarian Army in the restaurant in seconds. She had been impressed at the destruction at first, but once they had told her how they were injecting her with Hold X, her smile slipped off her blue face.

The man was a supe and that made him as bad as Protectorate Sod now and they had to find him before innocent people could be killed, plus, they needed to know what Z-Truck’s role was in all of this. And so the pressure had fallen on them to find this male before The Septet could. They needed answers.

“Oi, Sunny. Ya alright back there?” She turned around to look at their youngest member.

Sunset Shimmer was seated near the rear doors of the van, just looking at nothing in particular. She was probably still shaken from all the bloodshed they’d seen in the restaurant. That Male really left no witnesses or even a shred of who those people once were. Fine work to people that deserved it, Mulcher thought, but messy and maybe a tad little much.

“I’m okay,” Sunset said without looking up.

“Hmm.” Mulcher accepted that answer and looked back forward. “Well, alright. We’re gonna have to find that Male. Find out what we can before Vogel gets a hand on ‘im.”

“Anything yet, Prenchie?” Father’s Coffee asked and sipped at her cup of coffee.

“Nothing on any camera feeds.” The pink haired woman shook her head. “I think he is holed up somewhere.”

“Where would a bloke like that go?” Mulcher rubbed her chin in thought.

“If Vogel has already found out about this, I’m sure they’ll already be on the lookout with their supes. Z-Truck could cover more ground than us in a shorter amount of time.” Father’s Coffee tapped a finger against her cup. “We need to be quick about this.”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Prenchie growled.

“We have to think. Where would someone like that go?” Coffee rubbed her chin. “They won’t have many places to go. Another Celestial Unified Totalitarian Army safehouse?”

“He won’t go back to one…” Sunset sighed and scooted herself closer. Mulcher smiled. It seemed she was getting over the initial shock of the massacre. “He killed all those people in there. I don’t think he’ll be relying on them to hide him. Especially not if they’ve been working with Vogel.”

“We’re going to have to go out there and find him.” Prenchie slammed the laptop shut and stood up. “He’s not been on any cameras for the last few hours. I think he must be holed up somewhere. He couldn’t have gone that far, oui?”

“What makes you say that?”

“He has nowhere to go. No aim. I think he would first try to find that out first.”

“Well, we’ve already given ‘im plenty of time to think, ‘innit?” Mulcher started the van and put it into reverse. “We better get started. We’ve wasted enough time as it is.”

“Where are we even going?” Sunset asked from her spot. “Do we have somewhere to start?”

“Not much to go on, but…” Mulcher turned the wheel and brought them out to a straight street that went down for quite a distance. “There’s a subway station close by. Perhaps we’ll have some chance at findin’ him there. If he goes there, he can go to any part of Canterlot.”

“What if he’s already gone?”

“Well, farmin’ luck we have, ‘innit? But maybe we’ll find a little somethin’ to tell us where that cheeky little blighter went.”

Sunset Shimmer hopped out the back of the van as they stopped alongside one entrance to the subway below. The plan they had wasn’t great, but there was really nothing else to go on. It had already been too long since the Male hightailed it out of the restaurant and they had nothing for certain that he would be hiding somewhere instead of running.

Vogel must’ve also caught wind of his escape by now and they would be busy trying to either reclaim their test subject or terminate him.

Sunset took off running down the steps of the subway and split off from the rest of the other Girls as she searched for anything that could point her towards the Male’s location. It sounded great in her mind at first, but now that she was down here in the subway, she realized she had only been thinking wishfully. There were hundreds of people bustling around, making their way to various places and there was no way she would be able to profile them all.

The girl muttered under her breath and gently squeezed past people, doing her best to keep her eye on green haired or purple skinned people. That was what the Male looked like, under all that blood he had after killing those Celestial Army guys. She spotted someone with green hair walking in a crowd of people and she cautiously approached behind him. Unfortunately, as he turned his head to chat to someone beside him, Sunset realized he had orange skin instead.

Not the one we’re looking for… She sighed. It was as good as looking for a needle in a haystack. There was nothing to really go on with. Think, Sunset. Think. Where would someone like that go? Surely there’s a place in mind for them…

She remembered the cell and the items in it, but nothing really pointed to anything that man would do. Except the television. Sunset shrugged. It was worth a try and it wasn’t like they had anything else to go on.

“I’m going to check out television stores,” Sunset told the others through her earpiece.

“What, are ya dense?” Mulcher’s voice buzzed in her ear. “This is a subway station. There ain’t no television stores down ‘ere.”

“There has to be one nearby.”

“That or…” Prenchie’s voice trailed off. “Maybe a store with a TV will do.”

“Then we better split up and search for clues. I’ll take Sunny and we’ll scour the streets for TV stores. Prenchie, you and FC keep an eye on the station.”

“Why do I need to be paired with this fool?” Coffee complained.

“Who are you calling a fool?” Frenchie protested.

“Just get on with it,” Mulcher’s voice was gravelly in the earpiece. “I’ll buy ya an ice cream later if that makes ya feel better.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Coffee sighed and cut the transmission. “Guess we’re teaming up here,” she said to Prenchie, who wandered into view.

Prenchie rolled her eyes and moved about to get a better view of the place. Father’s Coffee grunted and picked up an abandoned newspaper, blending in with the rest of the pedestrians on a bench as the pink haired woman wandered from store to store, peeking her head in each one as she looked for any sign of their mysterious male figure.

Sunset had mentioned the television. Prenchie still remembered the Male seated in there, his eyes glued on the football game. Maybe he was an avid football fan. She wasn’t interested in football herself. Prenchie found she had always prefered a more refined sport, like fencing, but that wasn’t important right now. They needed to find that Male before The Septet did. Knowing Vogel, they would already be searching. They didn’t have much time left before Vogel would find him before they did.

Most of the stores were bustling with people, those with the time to dawdle and in no rush to be anywhere. One was a coat store, which actually made sense, should someone need a coat on the way to work or something. It had plenty of people picking out what suited their outfits, but there didn’t seem to be any sign of the man they were looking for, so she proceeded on.

The next two stores were selling food and other than the delicious scent of fresh bagels and sandwiches, they didn’t seem to have who she was looking for too. Prenchie had been a little hopeful when she realized the next one was a little store that sold football team merchandise, but when she went inside to look around, she didn’t see any sign of the Male in there either and she left the store, cursing under her breath with every word she could think of.

Perhaps they had been wrong that he would come here, and maybe Sunset and Mulcher were having better luck searching for him on the streets. Things were just going really well right now.

“Nothing…” Prenchie grunted and continued on.

“Nothing on my end too. No one resembling our male suspect,” Father’s Coffee said.

“Nothing here too…” Sunset replied on the surface.

Prenchie cursed again and wandered to the next store, which was a measly shoe store. There was no one walking about inside, and she was just about to move on to the next store when she heard a faint sound over the bustling people in the station. It sounded like a football commentator’s voice and it sounded like it was coming from somewhere inside the shoe shop.

Could it be? Could this be it?

She slowly crept into the store, observing that there was no cashier behind the counter, or even any store assistants. Normally, she wouldn’t be too bothered about it, but no one around in the middle of the day? That was puzzling.

There was the sound of crackling as Prenchie got closer to the cashier’s table and she was sure now more than ever that it was the sound of an old television set, doing its best to provide images for whoever was watching it.

And she was right. Behind the counter was a familiar figure seated with his knees pulled up to his chest, his head turned towards the television screen, unmoving and seemingly enthralled.

“Girls.” She tapped her earpiece. “I found him.”

At that, the figure by the TV flipped his head around, and then leapt to all fours and curled his fingers.

Prenchie immediately took a step back and raised her hands. “Stop, stop, I mean you no harm, mon ami, I do not wish to hurt you.”

The Male glared at her, narrowing his eyes, but he made no move to attack. Prenchie remembered the massacre back at the restaurant and she couldn’t help but feel that that could happen any second. She first needed him to know she was of no threat. What more could she do to convince him?

“Hey, that TV.” She pointed to the football game on the screen. “I like to watch it. It is interesting to kick the ball, non? You like to watch? How about to play?”

The Male looked back at the screen, then back at her, but made no form of acknowledging what the pink haired woman said.

“Prenchie. Status? Where are you?” Father’s Coffee’s voice buzzed in her ear.

She slowly put a hand to her ear and pressed down on the earpiece. “Shoe shop.”

At that, the Male suddenly sprinted at her and barreled into her, then leaping over her and out the store, running away in a blink of an eye.

“Ferme! He got away.” Prenchie got back up and adjusted her coat. She ran out of the store just in time to see him leap over the gantry to the subway. “He’s heading down to the subway!”

“Sunny and I are headin’ back. Don’t lose ‘im!” Mulcher said.

“I’ll take the other entrance down. Maybe we can cut him off,” Father’s Coffee was next to speak.

Prenchie wasted no time in hurrying after the Male. They had to get to him before Vogel could. He could potentially be the answer they’ve been looking for as to what Vogel was doing with all that Hold X, especially since he could just tell them about what they’ve been doing.

The pink haired woman ran straight for the gantry and slid herself over it, not bothering to pay her fare. The conductor watched her go and shook a fist at her, but she didn’t have time to stop now. People parted for her as she barreled straight towards them, waving her arms wildly to try and get them to move. In only two minutes, she was already leaping down the escalator two steps at a time, almost to the platform. The Male was already out of sight, but she figured he only had two options: taking a train, or running out the other side of the platform. FC would have the other end covered and should he pass her, she would probably sound it off. That would mean he was still down here somewhere.

Good. Reste ici, espece de bougre vert.

With one final hop, Prenchie arrived at the platform and instantly began whipping around, looking for their escapee. She quickly found him with the help of worried citizens, backing away from a crouching green haired Male, standing at the edge of one side of the platform, looking down over the side.

“I’ve got him. I’ll try to talk him down.”

Prenchie rushed for the man, who swiftly whipped to face her and raised his fingers in hooks. She quickly raised her hands again and stopped.

“I do not wish to hurt you, mon ami. I just want to take you somewhere safe. Somewhere you won’t be harmed like you have been.”

The Male eyed her warily, not lowering his guard.

“You can trust me,” Prenchie continued. “I know what they’ve done to you. I want to stop them too. I can hide you, so they cannot find you. But you must trust me.”

The Male examined her from head to toe, but then said nothing and leapt over the edge, hitting the ground and running.

“Wait!” Prenchie reached a hand out, hoping to catch him.

But before the Male could run any further, there was a rush of wind and the blare of what sounded like a truck horn echoed out in the tunnel and the Male was suddenly swept off his feet, disappearing down the other end in a speeding blur.

All Prenchie could do was stand there and watch.

“Uh oh.”

Chapter 18: Running on Ice

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Z-Truck had been ecstatic when she heard about the commotion going down at the subway and she had rushed right in there through the tunnels, outrunning several trains on the way in. In only twenty three seconds, she had found their escaped supe and grabbed him, already on the way back towards the restaurant. His escape had been unforeseen, but now that he was out, Vogel would probably want to get rid of the evidence.

It was a pity. She had rather liked taking Hold X down to the restaurant, but she couldn’t risk Protectorate Sod finding out the man had escaped under her supposed watch. That would be bad for everyone there, but especially bad for her. No one really enjoyed getting on the Protectorate’s bad side.

“You’ve caused me plenty of trouble, you know that?” she said to her captive, slung across her shoulder. “You’re gonna regret that now.”

Z-Truck ran on for a couple more seconds, but then she felt the supe stir. She briefly considered whether she should have tied him up, but a tremendous blow hit her like a hammer on the back and both of them went rolling onto the floor of the tunnel.

Z-Truck came to a stop on the tracks. She picked herself up and shook the stars from her eyes.

“Hey, what gives?” she said to the supe. He was lying a short distance away, getting to his feet. “Can’t have you getting away.”

The escaped supe turned his head towards Z-Truck’s voice. His eyes narrowed and he ran towards Z-Truck, a punch forming in his hand. The Septet member simply darted to the left, avoiding the punch. The fist crashed into the tunnel wall and made a sizeable hole in the brickwork.

“Ooh, so you’re strong. Guess what? Doesn’t matter how strong you are, you can’t take down what you can’t hit.”

Z-Truck sprinted behind the supe and grappled his arms, holding him down. The supe struggled for a few seconds, then jerked his head back and hit Z-Truck on the nose. Z-Truck saw lights explode in front of her face and she let go, staggering backwards.

As Z-Truck tried to recover, the other supe whipped around and punched her in the chest. Luckily, Z-Truck’s constitution was stronger than the average human’s, but she was still launched back into the opposite wall, cracking it into an outline of herself.

“Ow…” Z-Truck said, stepping out from the crater. “Okay, now you’ve pissed me off.”

The male supe took another swing at Z-Truck, but this time she was ready and ducked under the blow before swiveling her body into a side kick. The other supe was launched down the tunnel and flew at least twenty feet before crashing to a stop.

“Heh,” Z-Truck said, walking over to the downed supe. “Now you’re coming with me.”

Z-Truck bent down to pick up her quarry, only stopping when his arm reached out and tried to grab her leg. Z-Truck hopped backwards out of reach.

“You’re still trying to fight me?” she said incredulously. “Do you know who I am? I’m the Z-Tru- ow, hey!”

A piece of loose concrete bounced off Z-Truck’s shoulder. The other supe was picking up debris and throwing it at her. Despite having a nigh-indestructible physique, the bits of concrete still hurt and Z-Truck backed off, hands over her face.

After a few seconds, the throwing stopped and Z-Truck looked up. The male supe was on his feet and running away from her. That did not worry Z-Truck unduly, she was a hundred times faster than this pathetic excuse for a supe. All she had to do was… why were the tracks shaking?

The male supe rounded the corner of the tunnel and out of sight, just as a subway train came roaring down the tunnel. Z-Truck watched in disbelief as her quarry ran at the oncoming train and at the very last moment, jumped forward. He smashed through the front window and landed in the lead carriage.

Z-Truck swore and turned to run, keeping just ahead of the subway cars to see what her objective was doing now. Before long, they had arrived back at the station where Z-Truck had first snatched the other supe.

“Hey! Hey! Stop the train!” Z-Truck hollered at the driver. “In the name of The Septet, I order you! Stop the train and let me get on!”

The train driver looked surprised, but yanked on the brakes for the train, causing it to come screeching to a halt right at the station platform. The doors hissed open and people poured out, loudly complaining and yelling about the sudden stop. Some had fallen over and were rubbing at their joints, but Z-Truck had other things to worry about.

The Male was now rushing out one of the doors, scrambling away on all fours. Z-Truck shook her head and dusted her rainbow coloured hair. That man just didn’t learn that he was dealing with the world’s fastest superhero.

She took a step back and was about to sprint forward when a voice yelled from somewhere outside the train.

“Hey, it’s Z-Truck, everyone! She’s here to give us her autograph!”

Suddenly, she began getting swarmed by civilians of all shapes and sizes, flapping blank sheets of papers and pens in the air, hoping to get her autograph.

“Hey, no I didn’t, hey, wait!” But her words fell on deaf ears as more and more people came closer. Even the train conductor seemed at a loss of what to do, since he was now unable to close the train doors and continue on his way.

Z-Truck tried to look beyond the sea of people, but she was unable to sight the Male any longer. He had actually managed to get away from her, the fastest supe alive.

“Farm it all…” Z-Truck breathed and looked back up with a smile. She still had an image to keep up. “Who wants an autograph?”

The crowd around her cheered even louder and the train conductor looked at his watch and sighed. At least he had a good reason for being late.

“See, my plan worked,” Prenchie told her friend as they made their way out of the subway station, right on the tail of the Male. “These supes will never miss an opportunity to receive fame and glory. Especially members of The Septet.”

“One good plan doesn’t outweigh all the farm ups you’ve done over the years.” Father’s Coffee shot her a look, then pointed to their target. “Besides, we still have to catch him or that plan won’t even be for anything.”

“What do you think we’re trying to do?” Prenchie complained. “Come on, rapidement! You've got to run.”

"Yeah, I know that."

“Sunny and I are comin’ up to ya. Did a little side detour to grab a little somethin’ for our supe friend,” Mulcher's voice buzzed. “Just keep us updated on where ya are.”

“Do you think we can even keep up?” Prenchie asked Coffee as they continued their pursuit of the Male. He was fast, and he was steadily widening the gap between them, much to her dismay.

“Less talk, more running. We gotta get him before Z-Truck breaks out of that little distraction.”

“That I caused.” Prenchie smiled smugly.

“Not the time, Prench. We ain’t got much time here. Who knows when Protectorate Sod will show up? Once she’s here, I don’t think we should keep going.”

“Then we got to speed up!” Prenchie leapt to the side of a man carrying a crate, knocking him over as she zoomed past.

Father’s Coffee, unfortunately, wasn’t so fortunate or agile. As the crate fell, bags of ice cubes spilled out and spread out across the pavement, creating a sizable obstacle for her to cross. She tried jumping, but her foot slid on a few cubes near the end of it and she slid forward before flipping up into the air and landing on her back.

“Argh, are you serious? Where did my life go wrong?” She rubbed her head as she watched as Prenchie kept going. If anything, at least she was still somewhat hot on the target.

“Mulcher, where y’all at?” She pushed up to her butt and rubbed the back of her head. “He’s heading down Stirwood and Maple. Prenchie’s still after him.”

“Comin’ up from Northwart,” Mulcher replied, then pushed Sunset Shimmer’s shoulder to signal her to move on.

Sunset nodded and followed up behind the older woman, pulling her coat’s collars higher and closer to her face as the cold wind bit at as it wafted by. If anything, at least she was a little warmer from all the running they were doing.

The streets were bustling with people today and she found she had to sidestep a lot of them to get by. Mulcher just pushed her way through everyone, but that wasn’t something she was going to willingly do.

Sunset began to process just what they were doing now. They were chasing after a male supe that could tear people to shreds with his bare hands. And she didn’t even have a weapon to defend herself with. It didn’t seem like an ideal situation at the moment, but then she remembered the little canister Mulcher had grabbed from the back of the van. She said it was an old gadget from her time fighting supes in the past and that it would help, but she hadn’t mentioned what it was exactly. Sunset could only hope that it wasn’t a bomb. The last thing they needed now was to be labeled as terrorists.

All this still felt a little too much for Sunset to handle, but she continued to tell herself that there was no going back anymore, now that she knew the truth about superheroes. Someone needed to do something. Sure, Mulcher and the Girls could probably find someone else to help them, or maybe not, but Sunset felt she needed to do her part to expose the grizzly truth of what was going on behind the scenes, regardless of what she felt. She didn’t know how life could even get so wrong, but here they were now.

“He’s headed for the docks,” Prenchie’s voice said on the radio.

“Come on, Sunny, keep up,” Mulcher called from the front. “We’re comin’, Prenchie, calm your tits.”

There were a few more corners and more people to weave around, but Sunset soon found herself and Mulcher along a side alley, finally devoid of people and if memory served her right, it would lead them right down to the docks.

By now, she was sweating, even in the cool wind, but she wasn’t complaining. It was helping to stave off the cold, though she hadn’t run this much in a long time and it was starting to wear her down. She made a mental note to get some exercise once she found the time to do so.

“We’re arriving at the docks!” Mulcher yelled as she kicked aside a trash can and ran on.

Sunset leapt over it and followed. Just at the end of the alley was the end of concrete, now leading them out to the wooden floorboards of the pier where dozens of big white ships floated, anchored to the docks by ropes and probably… anchors themselves.

They spotted the Male running ahead, leaping onto one of the many ships as Prenchie followed, almost falling into the water with a misstep.

“Right, Sunny, go on after him.” Mulcher held the canister in her hand smugly. “I’ll cut ‘im off at the other end.”

“Uh, alright.” Sunset followed on after Prenchie.

She could smell the salty air of the ocean as she jumped onto the first yacht, and it was something she hadn’t smelt in a long time, not since Pine took her to the beach one time. She still remembered their time in the warm water, burying him under the sand, and even their little escapade in the changing room, but that had all been so long ago. Now she was here, trying to catch a supe that could literally tear her apart, limb from limb. Whatever Mulcher’s plan was, it had better work.

Sunset ran through the first yacht and hopped out the side of the helm, spotting Prenchie and the Male already two ships away from her. She climbed over the railing and jumped down to a smaller yacht below, breaking into a run along the side of it as she raced for the other end. She saw Prenchie grab a flagpole, then swung around it and cut off the Male’s escape, but she was easily pushed aside as the supe ran on, but she still managed to reach an arm out to grab his leg, his momentum causing him to fall flat on his face.

Sunset used this time to catch up, climbing onto their yacht and grabbing a lifebuoy on the way. She wasn’t armed, so this was better than nothing.

“Hey, hey, stop!” she called to the supe as he struggled back on his feet. “We don’t want to hurt you!”

In a flash of something heroic from within, Sunset approached him and without warning, she slid the lifebuoy down around him, trapping his arms before he could reach her chest and rip her heart out, or at least, Sunset pictured that happening.

“Nice one, Petite Sunny!” Prenchie cheered and let grinned, but the Male lashed a foot out and caught her across the face, knocking her down to the yacht’s lower level.

“Please, stop!” Sunset raised her hands as the Male turned to her. “We’re not here to put you back in a cell. We just want answers. Yeah? We want to help. We want to take down Vogel.”

The Male stopped fidgeting and eyed her.

“She is very correct, mon ami.” Prenchie climbed back up, a bloody welt above her left brow. “We do not wish to harm you.”

From behind Sunset, there was a sound of something releasing and for a second, she thought it might’ve been Z-Truck, but then a metal canister flew by her head and landed by the Male’s and Prenchie’s feet, spewing gas. She recognized it. It was the canister Mulcher had been carrying around.

She spun around to see the gruff woman standing there, her arms folded and she watched on.

Prenchie and the Male began coughing and in only a few seconds, they both fell to the floor, unconscious.

Sunset covered her mouth with part of her jacket and hopped up to the older woman. “What the hay, why’d you have to knock out Prenchie too?”

Milly Mulcher shrugged. “Circumstantial. She just happened to be standin’ a tad too close to the bloke. What does it matter? We got ‘im! FC, bring the truck around. We’ll load ‘im up in the back.”

“Right,” the other woman’s voice sounded in their earpieces.

Sunset watched the Male’s sleeping form. They did it. They caught the supe, and with him, they might be able to learn what Z-Truck was doing with all that Hold X. It was a thin layer of ice they were walking on, having a supe that could tear them apart, but it was better than nothing.

Chapter 19: Always on My Mind

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Sunset Shimmer had been jostled awake when the Male had awoken, rattling in his chains and letting out short and small grunts each time he struggled. Mulcher had chained him down with some heavy duty metal that she said could hold a supe down. Sunset hadn’t fully believed it, but it seemed to be working, at least for now.

“Hold on, hold on.” Prenchie was already there, her palms raised to show she meant no harm. “Don’t worry. We just want to talk first. Then we’ll remove those chains, oui? Just please, stop struggling. We do not mean any harm. You can trust me.”

“Sure he can.” Milly Mulcher waltzed over, her arms folded.

“Maybe not her.” Prenchie glared at her. “I still cannot believe you knocked me out as well.”

“Hey, ya do what ya got to do, yeah?”

Prenchie shook her head and returned her attention to the Male. “So hey, we need to know what they were doing to you down there. Why were they keeping you down there? What do they want?”

The Male didn’t answer, but he had stopped struggling against his bindings.

“We want Vogel to go down too,” Prenchie reasoned. “You do want that, yes? We know they’re not really who they say they are and we want to find out what they’re doing. What is Hold X? Can you tell us?”

There was still no answer.

“We’re wastin’ our time.” Mulcher waved a hand, then turned her back and walked away to a dirty old couch with brown stains, lighting a cigarette. “Just off ‘im. He’s a bloody supe.”

“Come on, don’t you see, Mulcher?” Father’s Coffee rubbed a pack of ice to her head. “He’s on the run from Z-Truck and Vogel now. If we kill him, we’re just doing them a favour now.”

“A supe’s a supe in my book.” She folded her arms. “I don’t care who they’re with. They’re still a danger.”

Coffee sighed, then waved to Prenchie. “Do what you can to find out what she knows and what help we can get. Mulcher, you and I need to discuss some things.”

Sunset watched as the two taller women walked away, then looked back at the Male. He still sat there, keeping his gaze on Prenchie, rarely blinking. She wondered just how they could get through to the Male that they could help him as long as he would help them back in return.

As she sat there watching as Prenchie attempted to coerce the man again, her phone buzzed in her pocket and she dug into it to retrieve her device. There was a single message on the screen and it read a single line.

See you soon, Sunset.

Then she remembered. She had made a date with Flash on Mulcher’s insistence and she had completely forgotten about it.

“Prenchie, I’ve got to go. I’ve got to meet Flash.” Sunset grabbed her coat and hurried for the stairs. “You can handle this yourself?”

“Oui, oui, you go have your fun, petite Sunset.” Prenchie waved a hand. “I will do what I can.”

“Um, right. Well, good luck.” She threw her coat on and raced for the stairway.

A date in a time like this felt weird and almost like something she didn’t deserve, but Sunset actually felt excited about it. It had been so long since they’d done something normal, but at the same time, she was dreading it. Mulcher had tasked her with finding out as much about The Septet from Flash as she could. In other words, she would have to play both sides here and that was risky business. She just hoped she wouldn’t do anything to give them up, or Protectorate Sod would be smashing down their door and zapping them all with her laser eyes.

That was an end Sunset didn’t want.

Soarmaster had just stowed her mop in the kitchen to dry when he heard the familiar blare of a truck’s horn, signalling the arrival of someone he held dear, or at least, he thought he did.

“Soar, I’m back.” Z-Truck took off her goggles and waltzed about in front of the couch. “Anything interesting happen?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all.”

Soarmaster had taken Mr. Dunder Snitch’s body high into the sky before throwing it on the icy slopes of Mt. Everhoof. No one would think twice after seeing a body all the way up there, seeing as people died there yearly. After that, he had gone back home to repair the floorboard and to wash all the blood away. Getting blood and brains off the carpet had proven extremely difficult and tedious and it was really a wonder how he had cleaned it all up before Z-Truck showed up.

“Nothing at all?” Z-Truck brushed a hand against his midsection, then threw herself on his couch. “Did you watch my race?”

Soarmaster scoffed. “I sure did. What was that you said? Single and ready to mingle?”

He was fed up with that. All the women in his life always dropped him for someone better. If Z-Truck were to do that too, well, he wouldn't be surprised, but it would certainly hurt. Member of The Septet or no, she's always a woman. An women tend to betray him.

“Something like that.” Z-Truck shrugged and reclined back. “Hey, we’ve talked about this. You know I’m not allowed to reveal our relationship to the public. Vogel orders. I thought you understood that.”

“I do. It’s just that… Come on, do you think anyone would feel good after hearing their girlfriend say that?”

“Well, no, I suppose not. But orders are orders. You don’t want to go against Vogel, Soar. Neither do I. Speaking of which, I need to talk to you. About something.”

Soarmaster shrugged and floated his legs up and crossed them, sitting in the air. “What is it?”

“The Eastern restaurant. The one with the Hold X and the… assets.” Z-Truck twiddled her fingers together. “There’s been an escape and I wanted to know… Did you tell anyone about it?”

Soarmaster’s heartbeat soared up. “No, no. Definitely not,” he said quickly. “Didn’t tell a soul. Why would you think I would even do that? I love Hold X. I wouldn’t reveal it to anyone else.”

“Okay, yeah, I didn’t think it was you. But you know, you’re the only other person I’ve told. Other than you, only Protectorate Sod knew about the operation, and she gave me a sure warning to never let this happen again. So really? You didn’t tell anyone?”

Soarmaster looked into Z-Truck’s eyes for a moment, appalled that she would even suspect him, but at the same time, he was trying to find ways out of this, because he had been blackmailed into revealing the restaurant to those girls.

“No.” He remained firm. “I didn’t tell anyone.”

Z-Truck suddenly leaned back again and chuckled. “Yeah, alright. I believe you. But hey, pack your bags.”

“Why?”

“Because after what happened, I don’t want Protectorate Sod coming for you. You should get away for a while. Someplace nice. Maybe Harevana. Remember that hotel we spent nights in?”

“You’re not coming?”

Z-Truck spun her goggles around one finger. “You know I can’t do that. I have appearances to keep up, being a member of The Septet. We’ve enough trouble with Refraction being dead. We can’t have another missing member.”

Soarmaster groaned and rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

“Hey, don’t be like that.” Z-Truck got up and walked over to him and grabbed his feet. “I’ll come visit. Alright? I can get there in like, three minutes. You won’t see the last of me yet.”

“Really?” Soarmaster floated down to be face to face with her. “You’ll come visit?”

“Everyday, if I can help it.” Z-Truck wrapped her arms around his neck. “Hey, I’m awesome like that. I just need you there so that you can be safe.”

“And you love me, Z?”

Z-Truck laughed, then kissed him. “Of course I do. You’re always on my mind. I say what I have to for TV, but come on, you know what I think of you.”

“Alright.” Soarmaster nodded. “Then I guess I’ll get to packing my bag.”

“Or…” She reached up and pulled down her zipper, revealing her soft, but firm blue breasts. “You could do that later.”

And she pushed him down on the couch and straddled him.

“So, no siblings, Sunset?” Flash Sentry sipped at his tall mug of beer. “You aren’t from here, right? I remember something about that.”

“Yeah, I’m not from your world.” Sunset Shimmer sighed and stirred her straw around in her milkshake. “I came here a long time ago seeking vengeance against my former teacher.”

“You know, I actually don’t remember a whole lot of it.”

Sunset was about to continue, but as she looked up, past Flash’s head, she noticed someone standing there staring at her.

It was Pine Resin and he was just standing there, unmoving, unblinking, his eyes wide and sharp. Then someone walked past him and he vanished.

“Sunset? Sunset? Hello? You still there?” Flash waved a hand in her face.

“Oh, oh… yeah.” She blinked rapidly. “Just uh, spaced out there for a minute. Uh… Where was I?”

“Uh, former teacher vengeance.”

“Yeah.” Sunset laughed. “I’d imagine I would be minced meat now if supes like you had been around then. Wait, you were around, Flash. Right? You said you went to Canterlot High School too?”

“Yeah. Believe it or not, so did The Shallow.” He rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out. “But… it’s strange. I don’t remember you, Sunset.”

“I guess we’ve never really talked. Hay, I didn’t know Shallow was there too.”

Flash nodded. “She was. Unfortunately.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Sunset touched his hand. “You can tell me.”

It was a perfect chance to glean more information on The Septet, but Sunset felt bad for having to do it to him.

“Remember I said I was having trouble with a co-worker?” Flash smacked his lips together as he thought. “Yeah, that was her. You know, I had always liked her growing up. I mean, as a superheroine. She was my favourite.”

“What, really?” Sunset smiled. She was intrigued. “Not Protectorate Sod?”

“Yeah. I found her cool, even before she was a part of The Septet. She’s the only supe who can breathe underwater.”

“What changed?” Sunset asked with the straw in her mouth.

Flash ran a hand along his chin. “Let’s just say… she’s not who I thought she was. Perhaps… perhaps you should never meet your heroes, huh? Being in The Septet just… isn’t what I expected.”

“Maybe.” Sunset ran her thumb along Flash’s hand. “But you know, I’m glad I met you. You’re an interesting one, Flash Sentry. You may be the best member of The Septet yet.”

“I don’t know, but…” Flash spun his hand around and held onto hers. “Thanks, Sunset. For thinking so.”

Sunset let this moment go on for a few minutes. It felt almost underserved, to have something nice like this, and she didn’t want to let go of it just yet. She wanted more of it. But Mulcher’s face appeared in her mind and she remembered what she needed to do, even if she felt bad doing it.

“Hey, you hear about that restaurant massacre the other day?” she asked. “It sounded bad. Really brutal.”

“Oh, yeah, Z-Truck was on it. Apparently some crazed supe was terrorizing Canterlot. He killed a bunch of people. He’s still at large.” Flash looked around, then leaned closer. “By the way, I’m not supposed to be telling you all this. The public only knows that a murderer is on the loose. They don’t know it’s a supe.”

Sunset had to fein knowledge. “Wait, there are evil supes now?”

“Yeah, I suppose if we can be born with powers, there would be some who would use them for evil.”

Use them for evil. Right. As if the rest don’t.

“I wanted to ask about that.” Sunset drained a portion of her drink and licked her lips. “So supes aren’t made? They’re born with them?”

“Yeah, all the superheroes I know are born with their powers.” Flash tilted his head from side to side. “Kinda like a birthmark?”

“What’s that?”

“A mark you’re born with...”

“Oh. Yeah, I see.”

“Take me for example. I was six when I discovered I could use light as a weapon.” Flash lifted his other hand and a small ball of fire snaked from his index finger to his thumb, before extinguishing itself. “My dad had said it was a gift from a higher being.”

“So you don’t think supes can be made?”

“I don’t think they can.” Flash seemed to ponder this question. “I don’t know how someone could just be… given powers at the snap of fingers.”

Sunset nodded in agreement. Flash didn’t know about Hold X, it seemed. Either that or he was really good at hiding it, but Sunset didn’t think he was lying. Flash was different from the rest of them.

“Hey, I really enjoy our time together.” Sunset smiled at him. “We could do this more.”

“Yeah, I’d like that. Just some time to get away from all the madness.” Flash made a choking gesture.

Sunset snickered. “You have no idea.”

And truly, he didn’t. Sunset herself had killed a member of The Septet and if that wasn’t a serious crime, she didn’t know what was.

She leaned on an arm and looked outside the window, then startled back a bit. Outside, Pine was there again, glaring at her as though she was doing him wrong by even being here.

“Flash. I think I’ve got to go. I had a great time.” Sunset got off her chair and finished the rest of her milkshake in a gulp. “Let me know when you’re free again?”

The blue haired boy nodded. “I’ll do that. Catch you around, Sunset.”

And she was off, rushing down the streets to the nearby Canterlot Park. She didn’t stop until she was by a row of bushy trees, where the shadows towered over her. It was late into the afternoon, but the sun had yet to go down, with people still playing around in the park or having picnics.

Sunset watched them through the trees, then thought of Pine again and wept.

“I’m doing this for you, Pine. Please know that…”

Chapter 20: Second Wind

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The Shallow hopped down from the fence and landed in a squat as she eyed the wet driveways of Ocean World. It was a rainy night and she couldn’t have asked for a better night to do what needed to be done.

Her counselor was right. She was unique. She was special, and that was why Vogel needed her. They weren’t keeping her around just for the sake of diversity. They actually needed her.

“And I’m the only hero who can do this.” She smiled to herself. “The only one.”

She had been so down in the dumps for nothing and instead of wallowing in the sludge and trash there, she found she could actually be doing so much more, and this was where she came in.

For months, she had been hearing from her fishy friends about how the park had been abusing their sea life and she was here to get them out and to make sure it never happened again.

With the icy water from the sky pelting against her skin, The Shallow raced down from the gates to the compound, now shrouded in darkness after closing time.

She spotted flashlights waltzing about in the dark around the place. Security guards. Guards that would not stop her mission.

With the rain strengthening her, Shallow ran on and with a mighty leap, she was propelled up into the air, landing on the roof with barely a bump. None of the flashlights aimed her way, which meant she was still in the clear.

She pried open one of the rooftop windows, then descended into the facility below. Down here, the rain pounded against the roof above, echoing around the empty park, and that was all The Shallow could hear. Everything else was quiet.

Shallow had never been a fan of the dark, even now. She had always pictured something emerging from the darkness, maybe something that couldn’t even be comprehended, trying to grab for her, and that had always scared her. Even the darkness of the deep sea scared her; she was unfortunate enough to have actually witnessed the horrors below.

“Just quick work, Shallow,” she breathed, her chest heaving up and down as she tiptoed her way around the facility, looking for her mammalian friends. “Just find them… find them and get out.”

She headed down the dark halls, remembering where they kept her friends. First, she was looking for one particular animal, and that was Kevin the Dolphin. She had been here a few times to see him and it was he who had told her all about the abuse the keepers took part in after closing time. She had wanted to get him out first, seeing as he was her closest friend here.

Finding a red door at the end of her hall, Shallow busted it open, then proceeded down a smooth slightly sloped passage, lit only by the green exit lights above the doors. This door she knew led to the animal pens and that was where she was going to find Kevin and her sea friends.

One room held a small yellow submersible, with a single mechanic working on its engine, but he was too busy to notice her and Shallow easily slipped by his room, heading deeper down the facility.

Eventually she found what she was looking for at a blue door with a rectangular window in it. This was underneath the dolphin pool and it was where they would come to retire for the night. The Shallow eased the door open and immediately, the two dolphins inside raised their heads and eyed her as she quietly shut the door behind her.

“Kevin! Ilsa!” She waved and slid close to the glass, where the male dolphin bumped his nose against it in greeting. “I’m here to get you out.”

The two dolphins had been housed here for three years now and it was because of her friends from the sea that Shallow knew about the predicament of their treatment.

“Let’s see…” Shallow said in a soft voice and spotted a bay on the other side. “Hang on.”

She went through a doorway on the side, which led down another hall to a garage on the other end. There was already a white van in here, likely for moving animals around which, right now, was perfect for her. Unfortunately, as she opened the back of the van, there was only enough equipment and room for one dolphin. She cursed in her head. She would have to move them one at a time, which wasn’t ideal.

“Farm this…” Shallow looked back at the tank, where the dolphins had swam around from the other side to watch her. “I’m sorry, I’ll have to take you one at a time.”

The dolphins chittered with each other. Shallow knew it wasn’t fair for them, but she had no choice here. Ocean World wasn’t anywhere near the sea, and there was no way she was going to carry either of them very far without strength like Protectorate Sod’s. The van was her only option here. She had hoped to find a bigger vehicle, maybe something with a water tank, but perhaps she had been too optimistic about her mission. Without Vogel providing intel on her mission, she realized she knew a whole lot less about what to do.

Eventually she decided to start with Kevin, lowering the hook into the tank with a nearby set of controls. Ilsa seemed okay with it, but Shallow knew that inside, she wasn’t happy with this decision. She didn’t blame her friend. Letting your friend leave before you and having to endure the hardships of Ocean World alone was something she wouldn’t want as well.

Once Kevin was out of the water, Shallow brought him down low enough to the back of the van, before releasing him onto a sling that hung from the roof of the van. She pushed him further in, until she was able to close the back doors.

“Don’t worry, Ilsa. I’ll be back.” Shallow pressed the open button for the garage doors. “You’ll see Kevin again soon.”

The dolphin in the tank chirped something as The Shallow got into the front of the van and started its engines. The vehicle rumbled to life and they were ready to go.

“We better make this quick.” Shallow stepped hard on the pedal and the van’s tires screeched into motion. “Hang on tight! You know… in your sling.”

Kevin chirped as the van left the garage, scraping the top as the door was still opening. The Shallow followed a narrow road up and around a bend, leaving the main building behind as she made for the gates. As of yet, the patrolling guards had not learnt of her intrusion, and she would like to keep it that way until she could get out of here.

Spotting the gates at the top of the hill, the superheroine stepped harder on the gas and blasted right out of there, smashing the gates aside. She had done it, they were out and they Kevin was going to see the ocean again.

Shallow also thought about what she was going to do to Ocean World. Saving the animals was one thing, but unless she taught them a lesson, they were just going to catch more sea animals and mistreat them like they were doing for Kevin and Ilsa. Vogel would never allow her to kill all the people here, but perhaps if she could take some pictures of their mistreatment the next time she was here, she could get some activist groups to take them down for her. Well… with the credit going to her name, of course.

“We’ll be to the ocean soon, Kevin, I promise.” Shallow smiled and sprayed her dolphin friend in the face with some water from a spray bottle on the dashboard.

The dolphin chattered something and Shallow’s cheeks coloured.

“Oh, it was nothing. You’re a friend and friends help each other.”

Kevin made more noises.

“Oh, no no, don’t worry about it. Really. You don’t need to do anything for me.”

The dolphin said something else.

“Wh-what? Th-that can wait till later…” Shallow’s cheeks grew even redder. “No, no. You’re my friend. Yes. Bu-but… can you just wait a little? W-what about Ilsa?”

The dolphin chittered and bounced in its sling.

“Okay, okay… Just a little while, but when we arrive at the ocean, okay?” Shallow shifted gears and sped up along a straight road. “I’ll… Sure. I’ll let you put it in, okay? Just calm down. Be patient.”

She sprayed more water in his face.

Suddenly, she picked up something in her ears. The sound of sirens. And they were getting louder. Turning to check her sideview mirrors, spotting the familiar hue of red and blue coming from two cars on the road behind her.

“Not now…” Shallow groaned. She didn’t expect them to pick up on her trail so quickly. “Hang on, Kevin. It's gonna get bumpy.”

The superheroine stepped harder on the pedal and sped down the road, hoping to lose them around the next corner, where there were rows of warehouses. Unfortunately, the cop cars were faster than her Ocean World van and they were steadily gaining on her and Kevin. She silently wished that they were next to the water now. She could just drive the van into the ocean and they would be home free. All it would take was to come back and get the van out after things cooled down so as to avoid more oil pollution, but unfortunately, the water was still a ways away.

One of the cop cars pulled alongside her, but Shallow ducked her head back and swerved her van into the front side of the car. There was a metallic thump and the car drifted off to the left and she kept going.

“Come on, come on…” Shallow willed the van to go on, to lose the cops before they could find out who was driving this piece of junk.

She tried to think of something else to take all the worrying off her mind, to help her just keep driving. The Shallow remembered her admission into The Septet. There had been fanfares, even confetti. She had thought that with her skills and fame alone, she had gained a place among the most powerful superheroes of Canterlot. Looking back now, she knew that wasn’t the case, or at least, it wasn’t all of it. She liked to think that her skills still gained her some kind of rapport with the people and her teammates. She knew she would still have to prove herself, to make it known that she, The Shallow, was still a capable superheroine, able to do what needed to be done.

And saving Kevin was one of these.

Turning the wheel hard, the van’s tires screeched against the asphalt and made an almost impossible sharp turn down a side road, jumping over a bump in the process. The van rocked as it landed back on the ground and Shallow had to make sure Kevin was doing okay. When he chirped his response, she snorted a laugh, something quite unbecoming of her, then sprayed his face with the bottle of water.

The two cop cars in pursuit had stopped to u-turn back at the main road, buying her some time to get to the beach.

“We’ll be there soon, Kevin,” Shallow said excitedly. “And the ocean will be your playground once again.”

The dolphin said something.

“Yes, yes…” Shallow nodded. “I remember what I promised. You’ll get it, okay? Just don’t make it too weird, alright?”

There was a deep honk ahead and Shallow looked up just in time to see a truck speeding towards her, its headlights switched off. She swerved to the left and cursed the driver for not having his lights on at night. Then behind that truck was another, its lights also turned off, but this time, the truck swerved to avoid her and ended up cutting her path off. With no other option, Shallow jammed hard on the brakes to avoid colliding with it.

The van screeched to a halt and she let out a sigh of relief, but then something sailed past her head and crashed out of the van’s windshield and splattered against the side of the truck in a bloody mess of flesh and meat.

“What was that?” She looked back to Kevin, but then she realized he was no longer in his sling. “No. No no no no no…”

She looked back at the truck, finding fins jutting out of the mangled body.

“Oh farm…”

Chapter 21: It's the Life You Lead

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Flash Sentry raised an arm and produced a shield of fiery light, deflecting a spat of bullets the crooks were firing at him. They stared at him in surprising disbelief, then opened fire again.

Flash groaned internally. These bad guys never seemed to understand that they weren’t going to get far with bullets. He remembered a meme he had seen recently, with the face of a yellow creature from something called Patchtures, looking all surprised at something that shouldn’t surprise anyone. That was exactly what all these criminals did whenever he protected himself from their munitions.

“Keep shooting! Keep shooting!” one of the criminals yelled.

Flash ran along to the side, still holding up his shield of light as he went, deflecting more of their projectiles. He grabbed a parking meter along the way and once he cleared a busstop, he threw the meter with all his might, scoring a hit at one of the criminal’s faces, knocking him back into their van.

Raising both hands, Flash unleashed a storm of light above the criminals, turning the air around them dark as his fiery light became the sole source of light in the area, casting ominous shadows across the street. The other two had worry scrawled all across their faces and hightailed it to the front of the van where they attempted to get in. Flash rushed over and unleashed a wave of light from the source overhead, melting their tyres in an instant. The van started and metal screeched against the road as they tried to get away.

With another wave of his hands, Flash’s eyes brightened intensity and the lampposts around him shattered in small orange explosions. The lights in the van did the same, along with their dashboard and windows, and smoke soon engulfed the van’s interior, forcing the remaining two criminals out onto the streets, where they ripped off their masks to breathe.

“Had enough?” Flash asked them as he stepped closer, brandishing a fist of orange light. “If you’re still looking for a fight, you’re responsible for what happens to you.”

Both criminals looked at each other, then raised their hands. “We surrender, Dark Sun!”

“I figured.” Flash grinned and stepped away as cops rushed in to cuff them.

In no time, the robbers were being escorted away from the scene in police cars and that was another mission accomplished for Flash. Citizens flocked to him, asking for his autograph and what he thought about this latest crime.

“A day in the life of a superhero.” Flash waved a hand. “It should be expected of us to save people and stop crime.”

“Is being a superhero everything you’ve dreamed of, Dark Sun?” A young woman asked.

Flash was about to say yes, like he’d always done for every time he had to say something about what supes did or what Vogel wanted. For some reason, this time, he didn’t want to just say something he didn’t mean. Something inside him wanted him to really speak from his heart.

Hey, maybe that’s my heart speaking.

“You know… I actually can’t say this is everything I’ve ever wanted.” Flash sighed and looked over to Vogel Tower, standing high above everything else in the city center. “When I was growing up, I wanted to be a superhero. That hasn’t changed. I still want to do what a superhero does. I want to save people, I want to protect people who can’t protect themselves. That will never change. But this life isn’t what I had in mind of being a superhero.

“There’s been so much going on that I have not been proud of, but you know what? I’m not going to let any of this stop me. I’m going to still go out there and I’m going to do what’s right and what needs to be done. I’m not going to let anything stop me, not even sexual harassment, or people putting me down. It’s the life you lead that makes you who you are, and this is going to be the life I’ll lead.”

The crowd began asking more questions, but Flash knew he would already be in big trouble when he got back to HQ. Vogel scripted everything they should say to the public, but Flash hadn’t wanted to lie to himself, at least not this time. He wanted to do better. This time, Vogel was going to have to figure this one out themselves.

“Dark Sun, calling Dark Sun. You’re wanted back in the tower,” a voice buzzed in his ear.

Flash nodded. There it was. Vogel was really listening to everything. There was no hiding from them. He figured the chip embedded in them to track them probably had a speaker of sorts as well.

“I’m sorry, but it’s time for me to go.” Flash waved to the crowd one more time, then began backing away. “Thank you for the questions. I’ve more to think about today.”

He quickly rushed off before he could be bombarded any further, hightailing it towards Vogel Tower. Now he wondered what he was going to say to talk himself out of this one.

“Dark Sun, what were you thinking, talking off script?” Autumn Breeze paced in front of him, her hands constantly going to her head as she continued to process the situation. “You cannot say what’s on your mind. You cannot! That’s not what we’ve planned and everything we’ve planned is perfect for you!”

“I’m sorry, Autumn Breeze. But no.” Flash shook his head. “There’s been so much going on lately and there’s so much I needed to get off my chest. I guess, superhero life just isn’t what I thought it would be. There’s so much more it could be.”

Autumn pulled at her hair and groaned as she continued pacing. Opposite Flash, across the glass table, sat The Shallow. She had also done something wrong, by the looks of her face, but Flash hadn’t heard anything about it. Yet. Though he could think of many things she would’ve done wrong.

“Whether you think so or not, Dark Sun…” Still Well poured himself a cup of coffee from his elaborate coffee machine. “You signed a contract. You cannot go against Vogel’s orders. And we asked you to follow a script. It’s not that hard. Someone says something in your ear and you repeat it.”

Flash knew this was all malarky, but he’d already said what needed to be said. For now, there was nothing more to say, so he nodded. “You’re right, director. I am sorry for my sudden desire to speak my mind.”

“Yes, well, now we’ve got to clean up your mess.” He took a sip from his mug. “People have already taken to social media, expressing their desire to know who had sexually harassed a superhero like you. I suppose we’re fortunate that that was the one topic they picked on.”

The Shallow suddenly looked up at Flash, then averted her eyes and began twiddling her fingers together.

“And we already have an idea of who did this to you, and I already have a plan to sort this thing out.” Still Well eyed the heroine. “Shallow, your little farm up at Ocean World has bigger repercussions and like I said, this wasn’t a job to be taken on. Now we’ve got to answer the press as to why a famed supe had broken into Ocean World to steal a dolphin, only to have it killed.”

“I’m sorry, I did-didn’t intend f-for that…” Shallow rubbed her arms. “I wanted to g-get them their freedom back. This is no life for them, especially not in some shoddy place l-like Ocean World…”

“And I told you I would have a look at this, but you acted rashly. We have that crazy supe terrorist on the run, and that apparently is not trouble enough for you?” Still Well moved his eyes over to Dark Sun. “And I’m sure you have a role to play in Dark Sun’s new social media escapade?”

Shallow looked down. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

Flash watched her for a few minutes. He wanted to hate her for what she did, for what she forced him to do to her, but now she looked so pitiful and weak, he didn’t really know what to feel.

“No matter. I have a plan. It includes you.” Still Well sipped his drink. “As for you, Dark Sun, a rule is a rule, so I’m placing you on the bench for a week. You are not to do anything… heroic. Are we clear on that?”

“Yes, Director Still Well,” Flash answered in the only way he could.

“Good. Then that concludes our meeting with you.” Still Well smiled. “Autumn, please stop pacing. You’ll wear out my carpet.”

“R-Right, sorry, director.” She stopped moving and stood in place.

“Now, if you would show Dark Sun out.” Still Well motioned to her. “I will speak with The Shallow about this matter. And find White Blanche. I have a mission for her.”

“On it, Director Still Well.” Autumn nodded furiously and grabbed Flash by the arm before escorting him out of the room. Her smile faded away once the door to the room was shut. “Consider yourself lucky, Dark Sun. Imagine the fallout Vogel could’ve had from you running your mouth. I-I could’ve even lost my job! Did you think about that when you decided to go rogue?”

“No, no I didn’t...” Flash admitted. “I’m sorry, Autumn. I guess I wasn’t thinking straight. You’re right. I should’ve thought on behalf of others.”

“Yes, well…” The little woman smoothed out her auburn hair. “Apology accepted. “Just don’t do it again. Now off to your quarters for you. I was going to get you to find the superterrorist after the robbery, but with your leave, but I suppose White Blanche now has the honour of doing that. Think about what you’ve done, and please, don’t make the situation any worse than it already is.”

With that said, Autumn headed in the opposite direction, leaving Flash standing there by himself as the hallways bustled with suits going about their work. He began thinking about what he had said to the people on the street and wondered if anything had gotten through to anyone besides his sexual harassment situation. Vogel was not what everyone thought it was and there was so much more going behind the scenes that no one really knew about. Hay, even he didn’t even know what secrets Vogel was keeping from him.

But whatever it was people thought about, that didn’t matter at the moment. He was now off duty for a week, and that meant he couldn’t even do anything related to protecting people. That sucked, but really, he only had himself to blame for going against the directive.

As to what he was going to do now, he was going to just go back to his room and think about it. His mind also drifted to Sunset Shimmer and he wondered what she was up to now. He didn’t know where he stood with her, but they had gone on a couple of dates already. She stood out from all the other girls he’d dated before, even in his youth, because she didn’t seem to bother that he was a hero. Everyone else always wanted to date him for status, but Sunset was different, and that was a nice change of pace.

Flash didn’t know if he was looking too deep into a simple friendship, but perhaps he had actually found something that could last, something worthwhile. As of now, it was still too soon to say anything, but perhaps he would give her a call later. A hangout now would be a good way of taking his mind off his latest blunder.

“Sunset Shimmer… An interesting one, aren’t you? I wonder what kind of life you lead…” Flash mumbled as he walked down the halls of Vogel Tower. “What is it you see in someone like me, if not for the superheroing, huh?”