The Big Fight, Part Two

Charlie was about to say something when a distress signal came in over the radio. A blip appeared on the giant hologram of the city. Her heart sank: the blip was coming from the Benefactor's warehouse. "Put it on the speaker," Knight said to Penelope. She nodded.

At first there was static, then, finally, a panicked voice came through every now and again. "Repeat...fzzt...fzzt...factor's machines...fzzt...fzzt...fzzt...Help!"

The sound of the explosions that cut the man's voice off could be heard even from the Tower. Charlie turned to the window that faced that direction and saw the orange plumes rise from behind the buildings. She turned to the rest of the group. "I think that's all the robots."

No one got a chance to say anything, however, as the building suddenly began to lurch to the side. Charlie jumped onto the ceiling as it suddenly became a wall, and webbed everyone else to the floor. Glass shattered everywhere, rained down upon them all the while shooting upward from the building's momentum. Charlie could only hope she didn't sustain any lasting injuries from the shower of glass.

She looked out the window to see the building falling towards another building, one significantly shorter, with a spire on top with one of those flashing lights that stopped planes from flying into it. Charlie jumped from the ceiling to the floor just in time to narrowly avoid a swift impalement. Tim had already broken free of his webbing, and was shielding her with his body.

The building didn't stop moving, even after coming into contact with the shorter building. It kept going, crashing through the shorter building. Charlie heard people screaming, from both buildings. She closed her eyes and tried not to imagine the horrible things happening to those people. She felt Tim's breath on her face, but even the idea of him shielding her didn't give her any comfort.

Something crashed through the floor of the building. The sound made her open her eyes. She looked and saw one of the HARP robots hovering there, matching speeds with the still-falling building. An energy blast destroyed its head, however, an energy blast from Penelope Banter's Titan. The billionaire had somehow summoned her mech armor, and gotten inside all while the building was falling around them.

Finally, the building landed, and everyone collected themselves. No broken bones, thankfully, though a few cuts from the multitude of glass shards. Charlie noticed a tear in her costume, along her stomach, but no cuts.

"Clearly, the Benefactor's ready to up his game," Penelope said, landing the Titan. "We need to get going. There's bound to be hundreds of thousands running for cover, and when the Guard starts taking on the robots... Collateral damage doesn't even begin to describe the chaos."

"Right," Guardian said. "Maybe we can stop the robots' advance if we head out there now."

"I don't think so," a new voice said. A voice Charlie had heard before. She turned in the direction of the voice and saw Melody Hunter standing on top of some building debris. "You're all pretty much fucked."

***

Guardian flew toward the girl. He didn't even try to hold back, as he knew she wouldn't. She giggled as he lifted her high into the air. "You're funny, buddy."

"You're not hurting anyone," he said, his voice calm.

"Oh, no... I'm hurting everyone." She pointed downward. Guardian looked down at the people in the streets, all clutching at their throats as if trying to pull invisible hands away, or bleeding profusely from their mouths, ears or eyes. "And I'm gonna keep doing it if you don't let me go."

He looked her in the face and smiled. "Fine." He threw the girl down, toward the very people she was slaughtering with her mind.

Unfortunately, she caught herself in midair, and she was suddenly standing on an invisible platform. "Oh, cutiepie! C'mon!"

Guardian grit his teeth. He fired his heat vision at her, but she just casually raised a hand and caught his blast before it hit her. Then, with but a flick of her wrist, she shot it back at him.

***

Tim ran out into the crowd of dying people, ran toward some. He tried to help them, but nothing was working. He felt weak, as if he couldn't do anything. He looked over at Charlie and Brenda, who had run out into the fray with him. "What the hell do we do?!" he shouted.

"We really can't do anything," Charlie said, her voice sad. "Melody won't stop killing them until her one personality is knocked out, at least that's how the government guys did it in Los Milagros."

"We can't do anything?" Brenda asked.

"Not really, no."

"Bullshit!" Tim spat. "I'm not letting these people die!"

"Tim, I wanna help them, too, but..."

"They're living!" he shouted, and suddenly, all the dying people around him suddenly stood up, none of them bleeding or clutching at their throats. Each one of them looked around, confused, then realized that two super beings were fighting in the sky above them, and fled the scene. "What the hell?!"

"I kinda think you did that," Charlie said, the surprise in her voice obvious.

"That was... amazing," Brenda said, just as surprised.

***

Melody looked down at the kid the Benefactor had told them to watch out for, then sent the message Boss man, he's here. He just saved a lot of sheep I wanted to scalp.

His voice soothed her mind. Good. Keep pressing the attack. Deal with Guardian, like I told you. I'll handle Timothy.

***

Angel hovered in the air above East City, far out of sight. She didn't want anyone to know she was there, but she knew she couldn't remain hidden for long. Of course, her present company was not unwelcome, nor was she unexpected. The woman known to very few as Breeze materialized out of the nearest cloud and sat there as if it were a comfortable chair. "I'm here," Breeze said.

"It's begun. The fight that will end the world. We've both seen it."

Breeze nodded her head. "We have."

"And we both know that our visions of the future have been different."

Breeze nodded once again.

"Allie needs to be here. It's her destiny."

Again, Breeze simply nodded. "I know."

Angel turned to look at her. "But we both know what could happen. We've seen it."

"She'll surprise you."

Angel closed her eyes and sighed. "I hope so. You failed Newbright, I failed Pine Ridge. East City can't be counted among our failures."

Breeze stood from her cloud. "I know. I'll go to her now. She'll be here within the hour."

"Faster, dear." Angel turned back to the destruction raging below. "Something isn't right about this. I just can't sense what it is yet."

***

Knight jumped out of the way just as a lightning blast hit the ground where he'd been standing. It wasn't easy to predict where Korra would send her blasts, but he read her movements, watched her eyes. He couldn't take his own off of her. He threw two boomerang blades, both of which were shot down right away.

This isn't going to work. He reached into his belt and tossed several smoke grenades, surrounding the girl in a haze. She countered this, however, by opening a black hole above her head. The smoke was sucked into the hole, away from her. "Betcha didn't know I could do that, didja?" she asked.

Knight grit his teeth. "You killed Blackhole and Terror."

She smirked. "Nope. I drained Blackhole, but the nice woman behind you with the battle axe killed them."

He spun around and saw a Japanese woman in military gear right on the cusp of lowering an axe on his head. He rolled out of the way just in time and pulled out a small baton. He pressed a button, and the baton extended into a staff almost long enough to pole-vault with. He dodged two more swings, then thrust the staff into her stomach. She doubled over in pain and shouted, "Watashi wa anata no mazāfakkā o korosu!"

Knight shook his head. "Kono yōna utsukushī josei kara osoroshī gengo..." She looked at him in shock, then rushed at him with the axe again. "Watashi wa sono yōna bōryoku o kitai shite inakatta."

As they locked their weapons together, she spat in his face and shouted, "Anata ga shindeshimau!"

"Kyōde wanai."

***

Charlie kicked the face of one of the robots, then webbed another. She was getting tired already. She had taken out six robots, but they just seemed to keep coming. She looked to her left and saw Brenda and Elliot doing about as well as she was, maybe a little better. Elliot almost seemed to be enjoying himself. Figures... Probably the first time they've done something in awhile. She brushed hair out of her eyes and jumped just in time for one robot to hit another.

She swung out of the way of another robot, managed to shoot a webline at a... sixth? Twelveth? She couldn't even count anymore. She pulled that one forward, into the next on, crushing the one and nearly destroying the other.

"Any word from Penelope?" she shouted into her headset. She'd be able to talk normally, if it weren't for the sounds of tanks just a couple streets over. She was grateful the National Guard actually seemed to be doing something.

"Nothing!" Brenda shouted. "Last I saw her, she was somewhere near the wharf!"

"I've got nothing!" Elliot responded. "How do you East City people do this on a daily basis?"

Charlie was about to answer, but instead, she had to jump out of the way as a giant lightning bolt shot past her. She turned just in time to see Elliot and Brenda jump out of the way, too, while all the robots they were fighting were fried. Charlie looked in the direction of the blast and saw Tim standing there, one arm held straight out.

"How the hell did you do that?!" she screamed.

"I don't know what all I can do, I just thought about stopping them," he said, walking up to her. "How many of these things were in that warehouse?"

Elliot stepped up to them. "That's actually a very good question."

Charlie shrugged. "A lot more than I saw, apparently."

Their headsets all buzzed. Charlie tapped hers, and Penelope's voice came over. "Hope you haven't dealt with all of them yet, kiddies."

"Oh, there's plenty more where we're losing from. What's your ETA?"

Charlie was instantly sorry that she'd asked that question. A sonic boom burst right over their heads, as Penelope flew past them. "Right now!" She burst by them, straight into the chest of another robot that had somehow come out of nowhere.

Charlie sat up, unaware of when she'd even fallen on her ass. She looked over at Brenda and Elliot, who were also sitting up. "Does she do that a lot?"

Brenda coughed out a laugh. "You have no idea."

***

Guardian felt his arms getting weak for once. He could feel his lungs burning from all the exertion. All the while, Melody just stood there and yawned. "C'mon, big boy, I'm getting bored."

He grit his teeth and fired a blast of heat vision at her, but she swatted it away as if she were swatting a fly, then pointed her fingers down, sending him crashing down to the ground with a thud. He knocked debris off of himself and flew upward again, straight toward her. She held up her hand once more, this time stopping him dead in his tracks. He hit no barriers, he was simply held there, in the air. He tried to move, but he just couldn't.

She smiled. "I like playing with you like this, Guardian. You were always my favorite, after all."

***

Angel hovered above the HealAll facility just outside of Pine Ridge. The building's high walls were patroled by numerous guards, each one wearing full body armor. Clearly, they didn't want the Pine Ridge disaster to happen a second time. She took a moment to think about the countless dead, and the countless more, dying in East City, right now. She didn't want to do this. She needed to do this.

She swooped down and in through the window to Mr. Kennedy's office. There he sat, his back to the window. He was still in a wheelchair, even almost two weeks after the attempt on his life that killed Christine. Clearly, he wasn't healing very well, despite the name of the company he worked for.

"Nice to finally meet you, Angel," he said, still not turning around. "Or, should I call you Bernard?" She walked around in front of his desk. He looked very tired, very angry. "How can I help you?"

"I apologize for not being here when Pine Ridge was attacked," she started with. "My sight has been... Clouded... Recently."

"So I've been told. What do you want?"

"East City is dying, as you're aware."

"Pine Ridge is dead. Where was Guardian when robots destroyed hospitals? Where was Knight when the Joker kidnapped a bus full of children? Where was Arachnya when Pro-Tech was captured by a Rejecter and experimented on until his very soul was shattered? Where were East City's heroes, Angel, when we needed them?"

"I said, I apologize."

"I don't care. Our situation was no less televised, our deaths were no less significant. Tell me why any of our Chosen should help you?"

She spread her wings to their full span. "Because this fight isn't just some extremist protesters and a psychopath in clown make-up. The Benefactor is a threat to the world, Kennedy, a threat to every living creature on this planet. You think East City is it? East City is just the first, and as soon as it falls, he'll turn his gaze toward Glassview, then to Newbright, then Los Milagros. He'll destroy them all, and you'll just sit back and realize that he didn't bother with your city because you were weak, and didn't stand up against him when the time came."

Kennedy sat back in his wheelchair, clearly intimidated. "How many do you need?"

She nodded. "Send who you can, but I only need one."

***

Knight jumped out of the way of another axe swing, then put all his strength into his own swing, slamming the staff into the back of the Japanese woman's head. She spit blood onto the street and suddenly another axe appeared in her other hand. "Sore wa anata ga shinu tame no jikandesu," she said, a smile on her face.

His lips twisted into a smile, as well. "Watashi wa watashi no jikan ni shinu."

Korra stepped between them. "What the hell are you guys even saying?!"

Knight swung his staff again, this time into Korra's face. She went down, and the Japanese woman rushed forward. He brought the staff up, blocking the two axes. "Watashi wa ichinichijū made kore o iji suru koto ga dekimasu. Anata wa anata ga dekiru to omoimasu ka?"

She growled, "Mochiron, watashi wa dekiru!"

***

The Benefactor looked out at all of it and took a deep breath. The city was in absolute chaos. The robots were advancing much further than the heroes could stop them. There was only one section of the city untouched, only one place that could be considered a safe zone, to any wayward citizens.

Gustav Hammond's skyscraper.

The Benefactor stood on top of the building and watched as people burned, people bled, people died. There were so many, and he could feel, he could see, he could remember every single one of them, but he didn't recall any of them. He loved and hated that ability, but he put it to the back of his mind.

"Timothy. It's time," he said aloud, though the young man would hear the words in his mind. "You know where to find me. Do so. This will be the final battle."

***

Tim punched a robot in the chest, again surprised at his strength. He made the decision that as soon as he was done defending the city to find out what each and every one of his powers was. He thought he had a good enough idea, but then he fired that lightning blast at the robots, so... He needed more time.

Another robot was firing some sort of machine gun at him, but the bullets simply bounced off of him harmlessly. He sent another arc of electricity out, ripping that robot to shreds. He just barely missed hitting Charlie in process. "Hey!" she shouted, "I'm kicking robot ass, too!"

"Sorry!" he responded. "I really don't know my own strength here, babe!"

"Just don't hurt me! Hurt them!"

He nodded, turned to the next in what appeared to be an endless amount of robots and extended his arms. Much to his surprise, a chain lashed out along with his arm, and tore one of the robots in half. He looked at his arm in shock as the chain was fused to his skin, but it didn't hurt one bit. He waited a moment, and then the chain receeded into his arm. This is more than a little weird. More than a little.

Timothy. It's time.

Tim looked around for the voice he'd heard, but no one human was anywhere near him. In fact, the voice had been so calm and clear that he shouldn't have been able to hear it with all the noise from the robots and the rampaging going on.

You know where to find me. Do so.

He dodged a robot and slammed his fist into its back. His hand shot forward, a rubbery sword. How is it I know where to find him? he asked himself.

This will be the final battle.

Tim didn't need any help to know that the voice was the Benefactor's, and after a second, he realized exactly where he needed to go. He raised his arm and threw something at a robot. He didn't even realize it was a harpoon made entirely of energy. He had somewhere he needed to be. He burst upward, into the air, and flew toward the center of the city.

***

Elliot jumped onto a robot and melted its head between his hands. "Seventeen, love!" he shouted toward Charlie. She swung down, shot two weblines out, caught a robot in each and yanked them back, knocking the robots to the ground and into one another.

She stuck her tongue out. "Sorry, guv'na, that's twenty-six."

He groaned. "I've never even said that."

She put on that fake Australian accent again. "Sorry, mate, I've just got to stop with these bloody stereotypes, roight?"

He smiled. He liked this girl. If it weren't for prior engagements, on both sides, he'd could definitely be attracted to this spunky girl. Stop that, she's younger than you, you nutter. Granted, only by a couple years, but still.

He looked into the sky as Charlie's boyfriend took flight and left the area. "Where the hell is he going?" he asked.

"I... I don't know," Charlie answered. "I should follow him!"

Elliot shook his head. "You can't. We need you here."

She didn't look happy, but it was obvious that she knew it was the right decision. He threw a fireball at a robot that was about to pick her up by the head. She spun around, gave a shaky thumbs up, then quickly repaid the favor by webbing something behind him. He turned and saw a robot fall to the ground, its head crushed under the webbing.

"Let's not mention that to Brenda, okay?" he asked. She smirked.

***

Allie felt herself land after Breeze dropped her off. She let out a breath, saw it in the air, despite the fact that it wasn't cold at all. There were two robots in front of her, both of them looked as though they were processing her appearance. She smiled. This should be fun.

She held out one hand a sword made of ice appeared in it. She ran toward the robots and took one strong swing, slicing one of the robots clean in half diagonally upward from the waist to the right shoulder and then knicking the other robot's head. She held out her hand and created froze the robot's head, causing it to fall to the ground.

She was about to pat herself on the back when something shot it. She felt the plasma burn on her back and screamed in pain, then threw her ice sword in the direction the attack had come from. Much to her surprise, the robot that had shot her grabbed the sword. It held the sword in its hand for a moment, then squeezed, shattering it.

Shit!

A fireball hit the robot's chest, knocking it to the ground, then what looked like spider's webbing stuck it to the ground. Allie turned around again, and saw a girl with long brown hair hanging from a webline stuck to a street light and a young man covered in flames hovering beside her.

"Good to know somebody new showed up," the girl said. She turned her head toward the young man. "Well, besides you guys."

The young man landed, extinguished his flames and walked over to Allie. "Hope you're a friendly," he said, his accent British, "because we could use some of those right about now."

***

Brenda regretted leaving Elliot behind, but he'd told her to go, to help Penelope or Guardian. She hadn't been able to find Penelope or Knight, but Guardian was still tangled up in fighting that girl from Los Milagros. She held out her hand and imagined a bubble around the girl, which obviously couldn't have happened soon enough for Guardian, as he was getting the shit beaten out of him.

Within seconds, the bubble emitted from her ring and surrounded the girl, who pounded her fists against it in an attempt to break free. Brenda supported her right arm with her left and concentrated on making the bubble smaller. Less air, less chance that the girl could actually break the bubble. Brenda's problem was that her focus was divided. Despite the fact that the girl's attacks weren't visibly damaging the bubble, Brenda could feel it weakening with each blow, so she pumped more power into shrinking it and making it stronger, hoping to keep the girl contained until Guardian caught his breath.

"C'mon!" she shouted to him, "Use your laser eyes!"

He looked up at her, blood seeping from behind  his left eye. "I don't... I don't..." He coughed, blood came from out of his mouth. "I don't know if I can..."

"I can't hold her for much longer, so please shoot her!"

The girl turned to look at Brenda. "I'll rip  your goddamn face off, bitch!"

She ignored the threat. "Hurry!" she shouted at Guardian.

He stood up slowly, then closed his eyes. She saw the glow behind them, then they suddenly burst open, and a powerful blast shot forth from them, straight at... Brenda! She was forced to drop her hold on the girl and quickly jump out of the way. Guardian snapped his eyes shut as quickly as possible. The girl then landed in the middle of the street.

"Thanks, sugar," the girl said, looking toward Guardian, "I hope you're not too mad that I moved your head for you."

"Why are you helping him?" Brenda asked. "Why help the Benefactor kill millions?"

She smirked. "Because it's fun."

***

Charlie jumped just as the fist of the robot made contact with the ground at her feet. She landed on the robot's back and made a webbing garrote which she used to rip the robot's head off with. She then jumped from that robot as another started firing machine guns at her. Oh man... I'm getting a little tired now...

She landed on a building just as Elliot poured fire onto a pair of robots, melting them from top to bottom. On another part of the street, newcomer Allie was lancing robots with many different kinds of ice weapons ranging from swords to spears.

Charlie looked up toward the sky and saw helicopters flying past, some of them being destroyed in mid-air. We're going to lose, aren't we?

I don't think so, a voice said. Charlie looked around for the source, but couldn't find it. And you won't find me, Charlotte.

"Who said that?"

I'm not going to lie to you. You're the only one I can never lie to. I'm him. I'm the Benefactor.

"What?!"

Yes. I'm going to tell you something that you'll learn from Tim in a few hours. Don't be alarmed in anyway, and don't tell anyone. Can you do that for me?

"Why should I do anything for you?"

Because you're the most important person in my life, Charlie. I've loved you since the moment I first laid eyes on you, that day you came in for the interview.

Charlie felt her eyes widen. "No way..."

Yes. I'm going to tell you everything, Charlie. You, of all people, need to know.

***

Lieutenant Hapscomb fired a grenade from his mounted M203 grenade launcher straight at a robot's center mass, then retreated behind cover as a volley of machine gun rounds pelted the side of the building he was hiding in. He looked over at Captain Montoya of the East City Police Department and saw the concern in her face. He tossed her another magazine for the M4 she was holding and then popped out to launch another grenade. A second robot went down, but they just seemed to keep coming.

Captain Montoya leaned around the corner and fired off a group of rounds into the head of a robot, knocking it to one knee just before the head exploded from too much damage. She whistled. "Lots of these bastards, huh, Lieutenant?"

He laughed. "Yes there are, ma'am. How have you guys dealt with these things before?"

"Most of the time, our heroes take care of 'em."

"Sure wish we could get some of that help right now."

"They're busy, Lieutenant. When we need our Chosen, we get our Chosen."

"You sound like you've got a lot of faith in them."

She fired at another robot. "My niece is one. If she were here, she'd be helping."

***

Elliot slammed his fist straight into the robot's stomach area, the fire around his hand melting through in an instant. He hoisted it upward, then threw it at one of the other robots, which grabbed it in mid-air, then ripped it in half. Oh, bollocks! He jumped out of the way just as the pieces of the robot were thrown in his direction, then aimed a jet of flame at the robot, melting it to the ground.

"Hey! Big Ben!" Charlie's voice shouted at him from behind. He turned around and saw that she was using her webbing to hold a robot back. "I could use a hand saving your ass!" He jumped into the air and let loose a roundhouse kick on its head, accentuated by a flaming foot. Charlie let go of the robot and let its headless husk fall to the ground.

"It's called Elizabeth Tower, now," he said, smiling at her.

She shot a webline past him at another robot, pulled it forward, then swung it around until she launched it into a building. "Eh, who cares but you guys? I didn't even know it was a clock tower until I was twelve." She looked at something behind him. "Heads up, Torch."

He turned around and fired a flame jet at a robot that was running toward him. "It's Blaze, c'mon!"

She walked past him, a sexy smirk on her face. "Just keeping you on your toes."

Allie walked up to them, she looked out of breath. "Can you guys stop flirting and help me beat the shit out of these things?"

Charlie turned red. "Hey, I've got a boyfriend."

Elliot coughed out a laugh.

***

He didn't know how he knew where he was going, but he did. He landed on the roof of the building, then walked down the stairs to the floor the Benefactor was on. He took several deep breaths as he made his way to his nemesis. He had to be ready.

Tim had never been in Gustav Hammond's office before, but he assumed it had actually had furniture at some point. The room he walked into had nothing of the sort, and instead looked like it was ready to be the site of the decisive battle for humanity.

Which it was.

He saw the Benefactor across the room, looking out the window. The man was wearing a trench coat, and stood with his arms folded across his chest. "Beautiful, isn't it?" the Benefactor asked, not even bothering to turn around. "It's amazing how boldly they're all fighting, considering how soon it'll all fall."

"We're not just going to give up to you, you sick son of a bitch. Why the hell are you dressed like that?"

The Benefactor threw back his head and laughed. "It's common for a super villain to wear memorable attire, isn't it? And trench coats are very often considered villainous attire."

"Is that what this is about? Being the super villain? You just want to be the bad guy?"

He looked over his shoulder at Tim. "Isn't that all it needs to be? You're a hero, you need a villain, it's just that simple. Law of balance."

Tim grit his teeth. "You're a goddamn psychopath."

The Benefactor turned away again. "I knew you'd say that. It wasn't so long ago that I said the same thing to someone similar. Of course, it was so many lifetimes ago that I can't even remember the true outcome. Maybe I won, maybe I didn't." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that we need to fight now." He turned to face Tim. "Well? I assume you're ready?"

Tim's arms shifted into curved blades. "Yeah. I'm ready."

The Benefactor smiled, and changed his own arms into similar weapons. "Good, I was hoping this would be fun. It's been such a long time since I fought someone as strong as I am."

"Good to know I've got an edge."

Tim ran toward the Benefactor, swiping this way, slashing that. The Benefactor blocked him blow for blow, occasionally even gaining a short-lived advantage by faking Tim out, but the boy didn't give up. A metal spike sprouted from his shoulder, and he jammed it into the Benefactor's stomach. The Benefactor countered by creating a similar spike from his knee, and sending it through Tim's chest.

***

Knight defended against the axe again, completely unaware of when the woman had lost the other one. With the axe and the staff locked together, he used his advantage to punch the woman in the face. She spit blood at him, then managed an odd acrobatic feat: holding the axe with one hand, she jumped, twisted, and kicked him the face, never letting go of the axe. They  broke, and Knight fell to his knees. He spat out a tooth, some blood.

"Anata no namae wa nanidesu ka?" he asked her.

"Konjurā," she answered. "Tasha no tsuizui o yurusanai."

Conjurer, he translated in his mind. The unbeatable. We'll see.

He stood, twirled his staff and brought it down across her face. She recovered quickly, then created another axe and threw the two of them straight at him. He jumped, used the staff as a vault pole, then landed behind her. In the time it had taken him to perform the move, she had created a sledgehammer, and brought it down on the ground where he'd landed. He somersaulted out of the way, then dropped down to do a leg sweep.

Conjurer landed on her back, but she was right back up in seconds. She made several swings with the sledgehammer, but Knight managed to just barely dodge each of them. He made several swings with the staff, but she managed to just barely dodge each of them. He grit his teeth. They were too evenly matched.

He needed to change things up.

"Guardian," he said into his earpiece, "I need some help here."

***

"Too busy," Guardian responded. He was in pain. He hadn't felt this bad since he was Chosen, those three months ago. He fired another blast of heat vision at Melody, but the blast didn't even reach her. She was too powerful. Sapphire was doing just as badly, managing only to block several attacks that Melody launched at her. He couldn't even tell what powers Melody truly had, there seemed to be so many.

Just a few, a female voice said in his mind, the voice cool as ice. He recognized it instantly as Melody's. Telepathy was clearly one of them. He fired another heat vision blast at her, this one managing to clip her in the head, burn a few of her hairs. Ow! That hurt! Do it again!

Guardian punched the asphalt at his feet, then he felt it. The Earth itself. He reached down and took a grip on some soil beneath the asphalt. What's this feeling? he asked himself. It feels... good. He crushed the soil in his hand and felt power surging through him. He felt his wounds healing. He'd never felt this before, why now? He decided to ignore it, instead building this newfound power. He collected as much of it as possible.

In seconds, he felt rejuvenated. He felt himself lift off of the street. He felt lighter than ever, now. He smiled. "I hope this hurts," he said, directing the line towards Melody. She had been focusing her attacks on Sapphire, but now she looked at him, surprise in her face. He understood it. By the time she'd turned to see him, he had already closed the distance between them, his fists were almost connecting with her face by then. She tried to create some sort of force field, but it was too late. He felt it rise into his stomach, but he had already knocked her off of her floating platform of asphalt.

She landed on the ground below, complete surprise in her eyes. He hovered above her, never taking his eyes off of her. "How'd you do that?!" she asked.

He smiled. "Fuck you." He focused his energy through his heat vision and fired his most powerful blast at her head. Seconds later, he stopped his assault, and saw that her head had been vaporized.

Sapphire hovered there beside him. "Um... Remind me not to piss you off..." she said, nervously.

"You don't have anything to worry about. Let's get to Knight and help him."

"Sorry to say no, tall, strong and well-hung," Penelope's voice came over their earpieces, "but I need you guys on the west side with me. I don't have enough missiles to take down this many robots."

"We'll be right there, Ms. Banter," he said.

"Please, call me Penelope."

He sighed, then turned to Sapphire. "Let's go." She nodded.

***

The two broke, and Tim pulled throwing stars from his wrists and threw them one after another toward the Benefactor, but the villain was ready for Tim's assault, and absorbed each star as it hit his hands. The Benefactor then created a fireball in his hand and threw it at Tim's head, but Tim ducked out of the way and froze the floor, using it to hold the Benefactor in place.

The Benefactor was ready for that, too, and melted the ice right away, using the water it melted into as a series of whips, each of which tore large gouges in Tim's skin. Tim's body took care of the healing, while the boy himself punched each water whip as it came to strike him, turning the water into ice projectiles that were launched directly at the Benefactor. The Benefactor couldn't stop all of the ice, and took several blows.

But this didn't stop the Benefactor. He dropped metal from his arm and turned it into a chain, then used the chain as a metal whip. The chain-whip was used repeatedly, knocking Tim back several feet, then into the wall. The boy countered, however, by grabbing the chain and using it to pull the Benefactor close. The villain dove out of the way and let the chain leave his skin. He threw more fireballs at the boy, but Tim caught each one and threw them right back.

Tim pulled the same chain trick that the Benefactor had done, except he used two chains, one on each arm. He looked almost like a dancer, spinning around with the chains twirling around him. He would send a chain out every few seconds to slash at the Benefactor, but his attacks were doing little real damage. Worse yet, the Benefactor pulled the same trick that Tim had done, and grabbed the chains. He yanked Tim toward him, and Tim's face met the underside of the Benefactor's boot.

***

Allie buried her sword into a robot's head, then made two more, jumped off of the one robot and performed a spinning attack, severing the heads of two more robots and landing gracefully on the ground. She was about to cut the legs off of a fourth robot, but it suddenly burst into flames in front of her, while she was pulled out of the way by something.

Charlie landed on the ground next to her and cracked her knuckles. "You need to be a little more careful."

"I'm careful enough. I did take on a sun god, y'know."

The younger girl raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Newbright? Helios? Didn't you hear anything about that?"

"Did this happen recently?"

"It was about a month ago."

"Were there important people involved? Like... established Chosen, or anything?"

Allie sighed. "Forget about it."

"I probably already did."

"Whatever. What sort of bad guys have you taken out?"

Charlie looked like she was about to answer before something exploded in front of them. Allie jumped one way, Charlie jumped the opposite direction. They both landed about twenty feet away from the explosion site, where a lone woman in her mid-twenties was standing, smiling.

"Oh, yeah..." Charlie sighed, "I fought her."

The woman laughed. "Oh! Oh! This is just too good." The woman took a few steps closer to Charlie. "If it isn't little Spider-Cunt..." The woman laughed again. "Spider-Cunt, Spider-Cunt, fucks whatever it is I like to do!" A webline shot out of the woman's wrist and attached to Charlie's shoulder. "Oh, and she's got a little girly-friend!"

Allie created another sword and stood her ground. "Let her go, whoever you are!"

The woman smirked. "Nope."

Allie felt heat on her back and smiled. "Then I guess it's time for a fight."

As if he'd been called to battle, Elliot threw several fireballs in the direction of the crazy woman, then shouted, "Amazing Friends to the rescue!"

We're not calling ourselves that!

***

Hapscomb loaded another grenade into the launcher and leaned around his cover. He fired the grenade at the nearest robot, and then nearly lost his head as some of the flak from the robot was launched in his direction. He ducked under cover quickly, then heard a scream. He looked to his left and saw Captain Montoya clutching at her stomach.

"What happened?!"

"One of the bastards got me..."

He quickly reached into his side pack and retrieved a bandage, executed a roll over to the captain, and pressed the bandage to her wound. "Keep pressure here," he said to her, "I'll see if I can get a medic out this way."

She shook her head. "Just get out of here. These damn robots are just gonna keep coming..."

He slammed his fist against the wall. "No! Leave no man behind. I swore to that." He checked his magazine and then chambered a round. "I'm staying." He reached into his pack for more 40mm grenades for the M203, and found one. Better than nothing. He loaded it into the launcher and took a deep breath. One full magazine, one grenade. Be all you can be, you sonuvabitch. He jumped out from his cover and squeezed the trigger on the M203, then watched as a whole group of robots detonated right in front of him. He ducked back behind cover to avoid getting hit, waited a moment, then peeked around his cover. There was a teenage girl walking through the remains of the robots. "Hey!" he shouted. She turned his way, dropping into a defensive stance. "Lieutenant Hapscomb, National Guard! I have Police Captain Montoya here, she's injured!"

The girl's eyes widened. "Aunt Holly!" She ran toward the building, pushing Hapscomb out of the way. She knelt down next to the captain and embraced her. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

Captain Montoya coughed. "Forget about me, sweetie, what are you doing here?"

"Colin and I couldn't just stand back and let this happen. We had to come back." The girl turned to Hapscomb. "Do something to help her!"

He shook his head slowly. "I'm out of bandages, kid. That wound is pretty deep."

She grabbed him by the collar. "Do something!"

"I want to! I just can't!"

"Monica Montoya, let, him, go!" Captain Montoya yelled. The girl let his collar go and knelt down by her aunt. "I'm a goner, kiddo. You get back to the boyfriend and go help somebody else, understand?"

The girl started to cry, and embraced her aunt once more. "I don't want to leave you," she said, through tears.

The captain patted her niece on the head. "I know, sweetie, but you have to. There's people out there who need your help, so go."

The girl stood up and looked at Hapscomb. "Will you stay here, with her?"

He nodded. "I will. Leave no man behind, it's our motto."

She smiled, faintly. "Just, please, keep her final moments peaceful?"

Ne nodded again, then watched as she ran back out of the building. He knelt down next to Captain Montoya and put a hand on her shoulder. "That the super hero niece?"

She nodded. "She is."

"She's a good kid."

"She is."

Those were Captain Holly Montoya's final words.

***

Knight jumped back to dodge another powerful swing, then brought his staff into direct contact with Conjurer's left cheek. She recoiled in pain, then tried to make another swing. She stopped just short of the full swing, however, as a puff of smoke appeared in between them. A tall man with an Elven face stood there, sword on his hip. He didn't draw the sword, but his hand rested on the hilt.

"Shazai shimasu," the man said. "Konjurā wa hijō ni senmon-gaidatta." He bowed. "Anata wa meiyo to tatakatte kita." He stood up again. "Watashi wa anata ga kono shiren-shi Burando o sonzoku o negatte imasu." He put his free hand on Conjurer's shoulder, and then the two of them disappeared.

Knight stood there alone, just staring at the spot where the two of them had been. "What the hell?!"

Then a voice shouted out, "Guess you forgot about me!" A lightning bolt hit him in the chest. He turned and saw Korra Reston standing there, tossing electricity between her hands.

"You don't have to do this, Korra. You can just walk away."

She shook her head. "No, I can't. You don't get it, Knight, if it weren't for the Benefactor... I'd be a mess."

He readied his staff. "You are a mess, kid. I feel sorry for you."

She smirked. "So, we gonna do this, or what?"

Knight didn't answer with words. He sprinted toward the girl and swung his staff, which she barely managed to dodge by jumping over it and hovering in the air. He twirled the staff, swung again, clipping her across the face. She landed on the ground and somersaulted backward, then tossed two of her electrical grenades his way. He jumped, threw several boomerang blades at her, which she shot down with several careful lightning bolts. He threw three more blades, but she fired out a large electric wave, which redirected them back in his direction. Using the staff, he swatted them each in different directions, then just managed to block as a chain made of pure electricity was thrown in his direction.

***

Tim's fist was covered in metal, which connected with the Benefactor's face. He was countered quickly by a knee to the gut, then the back. He turned and saw a second Benefactor behind him. Great, duplication... Nice to know I've got that one... He felt electricity flow through his arms, then shape itself into two glowing blades at the end of his arms, almost like swords. He swiped at the duplicate Benefactor, which dissolved before his eyes, then at the real one, who healed as quickly as he was injured, then roundhouse kicked Tim straight in the face.

Tim recovered quickly, threw alternating lightning bolts, fireballs, and icesicles at his enemy, who blocked each attack and countered with one of his own. This was far too even a match. Tim slammed his fist into the floor, which turned into lava very briefly, but long enough to force the Benefactor into midair, where Tim brought down a storm of fire from the ceiling. The Benefactor shifted into an animal form, a snake, and slithered across the floor and then shifted back into a human just in time to grab Tim by the throat.

Tim turned his hand into a sword and cut the Benefactor's arm clean off at the elbow, but the villain grew it back within seconds, minus the sleeve of his trench coat. He smiled, then gripped two fireballs, one in each hand. He threw them, each time gaining a replacement to throw. Tim dodged several of them, then forced a gust of wind in the Benefactor's direction, destroying the fireballs and blasting the Benefactor through the wall, into the reception area.

Tim morphed his arms into scythes and ran toward his enemy, slicing this way and that. The Benefactor's clothing was torn in several places, but the wounds simply healed. The Benefactor responded in kind by grabbing Tim by the neck a second time and elongating his arm, crashing Tim into the opposite wall. The Benefactor turned his fingers into knives, and started twisting them into Tim's neck, but Tim turned his own neck into metal, canceling the attack out. He then cut the Benefactor's arm off a second time to escape.

The Benefactor used his super speed to rush Tim, punching him in the jaw at seven hundred miles per hour, breaking his jaw. He healed quickly, then morphed his hand into a sledgehammer and returned the favor, breaking the Benefactor's legs.

***

Brenda fired an energy blast at the closest robot, then jumped out of the way as Penelope threw one in her direction. She blasted two more in the face, then created an arm to grab one and throw it toward Guardian, who caught it in midair and ripped it in half vertically.

"Brenda! Catch!" Penelope shouted. Brenda looked in that direction and nearly didn't catch the three robots that were thrown in her direction. She created two buzzsaws and cut them to pieces just in time to avoid getting hit. She flashed Penelope a thumbs up and a weak smile, then returned to blasting the growing number of robots that were destroying the surrounding buildings.

There had to be a thousand of them on this block alone. The ones that weren't trying to take a fist sized chunk out of a super hero were slaughtering the innocent civilians. Brenda tried her best to save as many people as she could, but it seemed like the moment she did, another robot either shot the people she'd just saved or destroyed the building she'd sent them to for cover. This was turning futile, and it was annoying her.

Several of the robots were suddenly hoisted into the air, then a few of them simply exploded, somehow. Brenda landed on the ground and took careful aim at some of the ones that remained floating, as did Penelope and Guardian. That street was clear now, but there were still more robots coming. What just happened? Brenda asked herself.

As if in answer, a young mildly Hispanic girl and a young black man stepped out of an alleyway. Brenda was almost certain she recognized them from somewhere, but she couldn't quite place them...

"Quake," Guardian said to the girl, landing on the street to greet them. "And Hold-Up, am I right?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah. Nice to see you, too."

"Word from Knight was that you two joined the Guardians."

The boy rubbed at the back of his head and nodded. "Yeah. But as soon as we saw that broadcast, we came back here."

Penelope joined them. "You two were in that group that Knight funded, weren't you? With that electric girl, Korra?"

The girl nodded. "Uh-huh, why?"

Guardian answered, "Then you'll probably want to find Knight. He was dealing with her and some Japanese woman, last we knew."

"Korra's with the Benefactor?"

Guardian nodded. "Unfortunately, yes."

***

Charlie struggled against Harmony's webbing. It was... stronger, somehow, than it used to be. It didn't make sense. Had the Benefactor done this to her? Just another reason to... No... She couldn't think about that. She just concentrated on trying to pull this webbing off of her shoulders without dislocating anything.

She tried pulling the strands off individually, but that didn't seem to be working. This stuff was tough. She managed to pull a bit of one off, then felt herself get pulled down to the ground. Her face connected with asphalt and she looked up to see that Harmony had gotten significantly closer. She was standing right over Charlie now, her foot on Charlie's head. "I wouldn't take any steps closer, kids, or the Spider-Cunt gets it."

Stop calling me that...

The bitch moved her foot from Charlie's head to her neck. "Maybe I'll just crush neck right now... Would you little shits like that?"

Why? Why do you have this stupid vendetta against me? All I did was lock you up when you were hurting innocent people!

Harmony's foot morphed into what appeared to be a raven's clawed foot, and clamped around Charlie's neck. She felt the talons digging into her skin. "I think her skull's gonna pop!"

Let go of me!

Almost as if Harmony was complying, Charlie felt herself lifted into the air and thrown at a wall, then Harmony was on her again in seconds, pressing something into her side. "How's it feel, Spider-Cunt? To have the same knife lodged in your gut that I killed your dad with?" The bitch punched Charlie, knocking her head back and into the wall. She could feel blood build up in her mouth. "What'sa matter, cunt? Got somethin' you wanna say? I bet you do." She grabbed Charlie by the chin and pulled her close. "You ruined me, you little cunt, so I'm gonna enjoy this. I'm gonna take this real slow, and it's gonna be the greatest thing -"

Charlie closed her eyes, squeezed them shut, then she opened them again. To anyone looking at her (like Harmony), her eyes were now blood red, as was the aura surrounding her hands. In less than a second, Harmony was pulled away from her, into the air, arms and legs spread straight out.

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up."

The words sounded disjointed, as if some speech program on a computer was reading for her. Had Charlie herself heard the words, she would have laughed about it, but Harmony Sprite wasn't laughing. Harmony was very obviously scared. Charlie raised one hand and Harmony's entire body seemed to curl in upon itself. The cracking sounds of bones being broken into thousands of tiny pieces and the disgusting snapping sound of skin being torn and ripped apart was the last thing Harmony heard.

***

Elliot kept his flames up as Charlie came closer to him. That weird red glow around her hands was gone, but her eyes... There was something wrong about them. They were glowing a sort of deep blue, rather than her typical green. She shook her head a moment, and the blue was gone. "What?" she asked.

"How did you do that?" Allie asked.

"I don't... I don't know. I think I just..." Her eyes then rolled back in her head, and she fell to the ground. Elliot quickly dropped his flames and reached out for her, catching her just in time.

"What the hell?!" Allie shrieked.

Elliot turned to her. "We need to get her some place safe." He looked past her and saw several more robots marching up the street toward them. "And we need to get her there fast."

***

Angel stood outside of Maria's room and took a deep breath. The mind reacher hadn't been happy to see her the last time they'd met. She opened the door and walked inside, but Maria was nowhere to be found. She took another step inside, and then heard the door slam shut behind her. She spun around and saw something... odd.

The woman before her was wearing a purple suit, poorly applied clown make-up and had dyed her hair green. Beneath the make-up appeared to be scars extending outward from her mouth in a bizzare smile. The woman resembled Maria, but looked more like the Joker. "I'm not here to hurt you," Angel said, extending her wings outward.

The woman reached up and cracked her neck, then let out a sigh. "Whenever somebody says they're not there to hurt you, they take all the fun out of everything." The woman reached into a pocket in her suit and retrieved a knife. "I like the fun. It's what drives me."

Angel held out one hand, which stopped the woman. "I'm here to speak with Maria, not some fragment of the mind of a psychopath. Leave, or else."

The woman grit her disgusting yellow teeth, and then the Joker facade melted away, leaving Maria. "I'm sorry. Sometimes... It's not easy to keep her at bay."

Angel nodded. "I understand. I need your help, Maria."

"I know. I saw the broadcast, and I can feel it in your mind. The Benefactor's destroying East City, right now."

"And you may play a key role in defeating him."

"I'm not so sure I trust that future sight of yours anymore. You were pretty far off the mark with Pine Ridge."

"I know, but something's different about this. I can feel that I'm right about it."

Maria took a step closer to Angel. "I assume you know I'm pregnant?"

"I do."

"I can't leave."

"Your body doesn't have to. Only your mind."

"And if I can't keep... her... under control?"

Angel put her hand on Maria's shoulder. "You can. I'm certain of it."

She sighed. "Okay. Fine. I'll do it. Whatever exactly it is."

Angel smiled. "You need to get inside his mind."

***

The Benefactor lifted Tim up off the floor and threw him at the large window that dominated one side of the room, but Tim managed to catch himself in midair, just outside the building. He flew back inside, shifted his hand into a giant metal hammer, and slammed it into the Benefactor's face. The villain was launched to the side, but also recovered just as quickly as Tim had moments before. He unleashed fire from his eyes, not as concentrated as heat vision but just as dangerous. Tim quickly turned himself into concrete, and held out until the flurry ended.

When the Benefactor was finished, Tim shifted back into his normal form and let out an ear shattering scream, which broke every pane of glass on that floor of the building. He heard the supports start to shake, but it was the Benefactor's icicle shard piercing his throat that stopped his assault. He concentrated on healing the large wound in the back of his neck, then just managed to counter a barrage of jabs and kicks what broke every bone in his body, at least until they healed seconds later.

Tim morphed both of his hands into swords and went on the offensive, hacking and slashing this way and that, each time managing to do a little more damange to the Benefactor's clothes if nothing else. With a grunt of exertion, he drove his left blade into the Benefactor's shoulder, pinning the villain against a wall, but the Benefactor easily escaped by turning himself into a gaseous form. Tim followed suit, shifting into a slightly more volitile gas.

"You've learned!" The Benefactor said, though absolutely no mouth.

***

Monica ran. She didn't stop running. Korra was there, fighting Knight, and she had to see her. Colin followed closely behind her, occasionally using his telekinesis to shove several HARP robots into one another. Monica, however, ignored the robots. She needed to get to Korra.

She slid to a stop, falling on her ass, as a group of robots rounded a corner. They took aim with their machine guns and let off several vollies of rounds. Colin managed to stop them in midair, but she knew that he had his limits. She concentrated on the robots, careful not to accidentally hit the bullets, but was just as surprised as Colin when the heads of the robots were suddenly sliced off, as if by a sword.

"What the hell?!" Colin asked, dropping the bullets onto the ground. When the robots fell to the ground, there stood a figure dressed completely in black. Monica couldn't tell the gender of this figure at all, thanks to the already pervasive darkness. The figure simply nodded to them, then disappeared.

"Who the hell was that?" Colin asked, though Monica wasn't entirely sure she heard him. She was too busy wondering who or what that figure had been. Why had they saved the two of them? Why did that guy look familiar? she asked herself.

Either way, her mental questions were put on hold as something flew past them and hit the building to Monica's left. Not two seconds after that, Korra Reston hovered into view, coming from the direction that whatever it was had been thrown from. "Korra!" she shouted, catching the girl's attention.

"Oh hey, Monica. Gimme a sec to kill this prick and then we can catch up."

Monica looked at the building and saw Knight climbing through the hole he'd caused on the way in. He didn't look too good. "He's a lunatic, Korra..." the hero said, "and he's going down tonight."

"Shut up!" She threw lightning blasts at him, but Monica intercepted them with some explosions. The blasts knocked Korra off balance, onto the ground.

"Go! Run!" Monica shouted at Knight, but he simply shook his head. She'll kill you if you stay, man, go!

Oh, I plan on killing him anyway, Korra's voice entered her mind. The question is whether or not I should kill you now.

"Oh shit..."

***

"She'll do exactly what you need her to," Kennedy said, rolling his wheelchair up to Angel. She turned to him. "I fear for the Benefactor's mind, though."

"If what I've seen of the future comes to pass, it's not what she'll do to his mind. It's what he will show her. What he knows." She turned back toward Maria's empty shell. "I'm sorry for how I behaved earlier."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I was... Unnecessarily harsh with you. Things were bad here. And after the incident in Africa..."

She nodded. "I understand. I was with you, as well. I hope you understand why I've only asked for Maria."

He nodded, this time. "I do. It's for the best, anyway. So many of our Chosen are recovering, it's likely that they wouldn't be a help to you even if they were close to a hundred percent."

She shook her head. "It's no problem. They've been through much, and I still have to catch up, thanks to my clouded vision. But today... I'm sure of what it is I've seen."

***

Guardian punched a hole through one robot's chest, then fired his heat vision at another. He was getting tired again. There were so many robots. He blasted two more robots just in time to get punched in the face by a third. He wrestled with the robot for a few moments, then pulled its arms off and used them to bat its head clean off.

Sapphire landed beside him, then collapsed. He quickly grabbed her before she hit the ground and gently slapped her cheeks. "Wake up! Sapphire!"

She weakly opened her eyes. "This... There's too many of them..."

He looked over at Penelope. "She's down!" he shouted.

"What?!" Penelope shrieked. She quickly blasted two more robots, then rushed over to them. "Brenda!"

"We have to get her out of here, Penelope," he said, as calmly as was possible. He was worried about the girl. "We need to get her somewhere where she can recover."

"I know that!"

The robots continued to move closer to them.

***

Lieutenant Hapscomb met up with six more from another squad and together, they managed to hold onto Captain Montoya's precinct house. The robots were coming up fast and strong, though, bullets punctured the walls, occasionally riccocheting around the detective's office on the second floor.

Hapscomb took aim on one of the closer ones and pelted its head with bullets. He watched its head explode, then he ducked back behind his cover and reloaded. "Does anybody have a radio that works?" he shouted to his fellow soldiers.

Davies responded, "Yeah, sir!"

"See if you can't get any back-up!"

McKlusky slid up beside him, popped a few rounds out the window, then pulled behind cover. "We tried that already, sir. We're fucked. No back-up until morning, and..." He sighed. "And that's going to be an air strike, sir."

"What?"

"That's what they told us before. Oh-seven-fifty hours, if the Benefactor's not a confirmed kill, East City will be blown to hell. "

"Shit!" Hapscomb slammed his head back against the wall. There was a particularly loud explosion of sound just behind him. He pulled away from the wall and saw a small circle of bullet holes exactly where his back had been. He turned to McKlusky, saw that the other soldier's face was a mass of blood and holes. That was when he felt it. He looked down at his chest and saw the blood pouring freely from the small circle of wounds that perfectly matched the holes on the wall. "Shit..."

Lieutenant William Hapscomb fell to his knees, and then onto his back. The warmth drained from his body quickly, and then he saw nothing but darkness.

***

Charlie woke to Elliot kneeling beside her. Allie was over by a window, ice sword in hand, ready to fight anything that came along. Charlie sat up and scratched at her head. "What happened?" she asked.

"You passed out after you trounced that bitch with the spider webbing. How'd you do that?"

After I what? To the who?! "What did I do?"

Allie answered, "You killed that woman that kept calling you 'Spider-Cunt'. Tore her to shreds, too."

"I did?!"

Elliot put his hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head. "No... Harmony... Her name was Harmony. I killed her?"

He nodded. "Yeah, with some weird glowing energy coming out of your hands. After that, you passed out."

Charlie stood up, took a long look around the room. "Where are we?"

"The quickest place we could find shelter. Those robots are looking for us, but they can't seem to find us just yet."

I really killed Harmony? Me? "You guys didn't get hurt trying to save me, did you?"

Elliot chuckled, shook his head. "No problem, love."

"That's extremely good," came a voice from the opposite side of the room. Charlie looked in that direction and saw the man who'd shown up earlier that day, to help her family leave town. Where'd he come from?! "I imagine you three would like some answers." He stuck a cigarette in his mouth, brought a lighter to it. "Follow me, children."