A dying man is given a second chance. This story is a fan fiction that takes place in the Whateley Universe

--------------------

We charged through the open gate and ran towards the broken down old mansion, getting more than halfway there before I heard the first gunshot. I jumped at the sound, sure that my heart was about to leap right up my throat. I felt a momentary surge of terror since this was the first time anyone had ever shot at me. Sure, I’d been threatened with guns a couple times, but being shot at was something else entirely.

“Oh shit,” I gasped, noticing that Rachael and the heroes were dealing with this as if it getting shot at was a normal occurrence.

Pinnacle, who was bulletproof, charged ahead without any indication of fear. Asset ducked down and looked around with a calm but wary expression. Rachael just snarled and fired a shot from her energy rifle in the direction of the house, where the gunshot seemed to have come from. And Miss Fortune, merely stood there, holding out several tarot cards in her hand and almost daring someone to shoot her.

“What the hell?” I growled, suddenly realizing how ridiculous the situation was. Here I was, about to attack an incredibly dangerous super villain, and I getting terrified of a simple ordinary gun. I grimaced at that, then muttered to myself, “Get your ass in gear and don’t be such a little girl…”

Rachael fired another shot from her energy rifle, and a man who was crouched down in hiding near the mansion entrance jumped to his feet, revealing that he was in his early to mid-twenties and dressed in street clothes. He looked more like a gang member than some kind of super villain or one of his henchmen. But then again, the only thing I really knew about henchmen was what I’d seen in the movies.

Miss Fortune threw one of her tarot cards in the air, and suddenly there was the ghostly image of a grim reaper, which began flying towards the revealed shooter. He screamed in terror and ran but the grim reaper chased after him until it caught him. When it did, a ghostly scythe went right through the man, who screamed and then collapsed to the ground. He wasn’t dead or even bleeding, though he did curl up into a ball and begin sobbing.

There were more gunshots, though I couldn’t see where these ones were coming from. However, I was suddenly hit in the shoulder and staggered back under the impact. To my surprise, it didn’t hurt quite the way I would have imagined. In fact, it only felt like someone had punched me.

“Alyss,” Rachael cried out, rushing to my side.

I felt my shoulder, stunned to find that there wasn’t even a bullet hole. At most, I had a bruise, and even that faded away in seconds. “I’m fine,” I said awkwardly, having known intellectually that I was somewhat bullet proof…or at least bullet resistant, but this was the first time I’d actually seen real evidence of that. “Holy shit… I got shot and I’m fine…”

“Good,” Rachael told me with clear note of relief. Then she turned in the direction of our enemies and snarled, revealing far too many sharp teeth. “Those bastards… It looks like the Marquis hired some local help.” Then she shook her head and muttered, “Fucking amateurs,” before she opened fire and charged towards the house.

“Don’t kill anyone,” Pinnacle ordered her, clearly still not happy about having her present.

Several more of the armed gang members had been forced out of hiding, and one of them ran at me, yelling, “Anyone moves and I gank the girl…”

Miss Fortune stared at us in horror while Pinnacle burst out laughing. I waited until the gang member was close enough, then lashed out, using a ribbon to grab his gun and yank it from his hand, much to his obvious surprise. I picked him up off the ground with one hand, which resulted in an especially funny look on his face. Mere seconds later, I had him wrapped up like a mummy in bright pink ribbon.

“Boy,” I said with a mock cheerful grin as I casually dropped him onto the ground. “It must be really humiliating to get your ass handed to you by a little girl…”

And with that, I turned and walked away, noticing that Miss Fortune was still staring at me in stunned disbelief while Pinnacle and Rachael were both smirking. I gave them both my best ‘innocent look’ which got them to start laughing.

Just then, Pinnacle called out, “The Marquis…”

I immediately looked and saw that the front entrance of the mansion was now wide open, with the Marquis standing in the doorway. He looked exactly the way he had the last time I’d seen him, when he was running away from the mall while dragging Rich behind him. I snarled in anger, seeing a brief flash of red and wanting charge him and tear into him with everything I had.

“A pity,” the Marquis commented as he looked around the defeated gunmen. “I knew that such cheap help would be of limited use, though I’d hoped they would have put on a better show.”

“Surrender now,” Pinnacle demanded in a cold firm voice.

The Marquis actually laughed at that, clearly not being afraid. With all his goons taken out, we outnumbered him five to one, and that wasn’t even adding in Rachael’s robot dogs. However, the Marquis didn’t seem the least bit concerned about that. Then again, we didn’t really know what kind of powers he was currently loaded up with, though we could probably guess a few based off who he’d taken.

“This is very considerate of you,” the Marquis said, sounding almost amused. “Coming to me and saving me the trouble of having to track you down. A couple of you may even be of use to me.”

Rachael let out a loud whistle, and suddenly her robot dogs all charged at the Marquis at once. He fired a blast of energy at one of the dogs and it exploded on impact, catching a second dog in the explosion and triggering it to detonate as well. Her third and final dog rushed forward and launched itself at the Marquis, but he suddenly glowed green and flew up into the air and away from the mansion, barely managing to avoid the attack.

Asset threw some kind of grenade at the Marquis, but it suddenly glowed green and changed direction in mid-air, flying right at Pinnacle instead. The grenade exploded in Pinnacle’s face and sent him flying back, but didn’t seem to have really hurt him otherwise. However, a moment later, Pinnacle began to glow green and was flying through the air, right at Asset, who only barely managed to jump to the side in time to avoid being hit by the other hero.

“Mystery Woman’s powers,” Miss Fortune stated in clear annoyance.

Miss Fortune lifted up into the air on a giant tarot card, just like the one she and Asset had arrived on. However, the Marquis suddenly fired several blasts of energy at her, causing her to leap from the card while the blasts hit it and destroyed it. Pinnacle had already returned to his feet and managed to catch Miss Fortune just as she was about to hit the ground.

Rachael opened fire with her energy rifle, causing the Marquis to turn his attention on her. The weapon glowed green and was yanked from her hand, though she had a cold smile on her lips anyway. It took me a moment to see why. While the Marquis was keeping his attention on her, her remaining robot dog leap high up into the air from behind him, hitting him from behind. The Marquis and dog both fell to the ground, with the Marquis’ scepter flying from his hand. A second later, the dog was suddenly flung away from him, smashing into Pinnacle and exploding.

“I am REALLY getting tired of explosions in the face,” Pinnacle exclaimed, looking like he was starting to get pissed.

I took the opportunity to rush towards the Marquis, only to have him look at me and exclaim, “I can’t believe you people would bring a child into this. How irresponsible…”

The sight of the Marquis filled me with rage and I wasn’t in any mood to respond to his taunting. After all, this was the man who’d kidnapped my son and had done who knows what to him. This was the man who’d terrified my granddaughters and had given them nightmares. If anyone deserved a serious ass kicking with no holds barred, it was him.

Without saying a word, I sent two long ribbons out towards him so I could hold him in place long enough to hit him. However, I and my ribbons were covered with a green glow and lifted up into the air. “God damn fucking bastard,” I spat out angrily, knowing that even with my new memory, I’d let myself forget that he could do this.

“Such language,” the Marquis commented, glancing towards the heroes and asking, “What are you teaching this child?”

And with that, the Marquis sent me flying back where I slammed into Miss Fortune, knocking both of us to the ground. Miss Fortune let out a gasp of pain as I got off her and she was holding her arm with a grimace.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

“I’ll survive,” she answered with a scowl and a glare at the Marquis.

“I hate children,” the Marquis commented almost absently. “Especially ones that refuse to learn their lessons.”

“Then I really hope you don’t have any kids,” I said grimly. “In fact, by the time we’re done with you, you won’t be in any shape to ever have any…”

Rachael had recovered her energy rifle and began shooting at the Marquis again, at the same time Asset threw a grenade. The Marquis flew out of range and began throwing random debris around, including his defeated and tied up gunmen. The man who was tied up in pink ribbons flew right into Miss Fortune, knocking her down again, much to her obvious frustration.

I wanted to just run up and hit the Marquis as hard as I could, and the only thing that kept me from doing so…beside his telekinesis…was the realization that if I got close enough for him to touch me, he might damn well copy my powers. That bastard was tough enough to deal with as it was, so I sure as hell didn’t want to see him with exemplar strength and regeneration.

While I was trying to decide what to do, everyone else was busy trying to attack the Marquis. A ghostly sword appeared in front of Miss Fortune and flew right at the Marquis, though Pinnacle suddenly glowed green and was flung into the sword’s path, taking it right in the chest. He let out a scream of pain and was then flung through the air to slam into Asset.

The Marquis was focused on everyone else, so I saw my opportunity and tried coming at him from behind. I managed to catch him by surprise, sending out ribbons to wrap around his arms and legs. I grinned as I yanked his feet out from beneath him, knocking him to the ground. In just a few more seconds, I’d have him hogtied and helpless.

“Then we’ll go find Rich,” I reminded myself with a grim determination. And if I found out that rat bastard actually had hurt my son, then he’d better pray those heroes were willing to protect him from me.

“You brat,” the Marquis exclaimed with clearly growing anger.

Suddenly, the Marquis burst into flames… His entire body became covered with bright red fire which immediately burned through the ribbons I’d wrapped around him. He stood back up and gestured at me, sending a blast of fire in my direction. I just barely managed to jump aside in time to avoid being hit.

“The Crimson Flame,” Rachael exclaimed with snarl.

Rachael had mentioned the Crimson Flame to me earlier this morning, saying that she was one of the local villains that the Marquis had supposedly kidnapped. With this display of power, it seemed that the Marquis had just confirmed his role in her disappearance.

“Damn,” I snarled, knowing that as long as he was covered in those flames, my ribbons were next to useless against him.

Asset was on the ground, or at least taking a knee and wincing with a look of pain. I guessed that his injury wasn’t nearly as healed as he was pretending and that the stress of the fight was making it worse for him. The Marquis apparently noticed this as well because he gestured at Asset, making a show of forming a ball of fire in his hand and then throwing it at the hero.

“Look out,” I cried out.

At the same moment, Rachael threw a gold metal ball at Asset, which hit him only a moment before the ball of fire did. There was an explosion of flames, and when they faded down several seconds later, I was shocked to see Asset still there, covered with a shimmering blue glow and appearing to be completely unharmed.

“What the…?” Asset started, staring down at himself in surprise. “I’m not hurt?” Asset grunted in pain and got back to his feet while the blue glow faded away. His eyes went wide suddenly and he snapped around to stare at Rachael and exclaim, “You hit me with a force field…”

Rachael didn’t say anything in response, showing almost no indication that she’d just saved Asset’s life. Instead, she reached to her belt and a second later, another metal sphere suddenly appeared in her hand. She threw it at the still burning Marquis, and the sphere exploded in a wave of foam. For a brief moment, the flames vanished, but then the Marquis glowed green and the foam was all pushed away from him. A second afterwards, he was once again covered in crimson flames.

“Damn it,” Pinnacle cried out, hovering in the air and looking frustrated.

I glanced to Pinnacle, understanding exactly why he was just hovering there. With his powers, he was pretty much immune to the fire attacks, which meant he was the best choice to just walk up to the Marquis and take him down. However, Pinnacle didn’t dare get close to the power thief since that would only make the situation worse.

Asset looked at Rachael and jokingly asked, “You wouldn’t happen to have one of those disrupter cannons you used last year, would you?”

“Sorry,” she responded, giving him what was probably intended to be a friendly grin though it came out far too menacing for that. “I’m all out. Besides, the damn thing kept jamming.”

“I can’t believe this,” Asset said, pulling something off his back which unfolded into some kind of hovering drone. “I never imagined I’d be fighting alongside Lady Havoc…”

“Me either,” Pinnacle responded, giving her an odd look. “And this is a hell of a time for her to be without the robot army…”

Rachael snorted at that, then reminded him, “And who was it who destroyed my robot army?”

I just snarled in frustration, wanting to do something more, but my ribbons were useless at the moment and I didn’t dare get close to the Marquis. Then I looked to one of the fallen gang members and smiled faintly. A few seconds later, I was picking up his abandoned gun and using it to shoot at the Marquis.

The gun fired several shots and then suddenly stopped working. My first thought was that I’d run out of ammo, but then I noticed that the Marquis was no longer on fire. It suddenly dawned on me that he was using Ceasefire’s powers to neutralize the gun. But before I could think do to anything with that knowledge, the gun was yanked from my hand and I was suddenly thrown high up into the air. I must have been thirty yards up when I was released and began to fall, hitting the ground with an impact that should have broken damn near every bone in my body but actually felt no worse than doing a belly flop into a swimming pool.

“ALYSS,” Rachael cried out.

“I’m fine,” I told her with a grunt as I got back to my feet.

A moment later, everything around me turned red, though it took me a second to realize that it was because I was on fire. I didn’t feel any pain at first, then it suddenly hit and I screamed.

“Alyss,” Rachael cried out again, rushing to my side.

I’d dropped to my knees again almost as soon as I felt the pain, though the flames vanished after only a couple seconds. Every inch of skin hurt, almost like I had the sunburn from hell. But after several more seconds, the pain began to fade.

“Damn that hurts,” I exclaimed, slowly getting back to my feet again. I stared at my arm, seeing charred skin that was already starting to grow over and heal.

“I can’t believe she survived that,” Miss Fortune exclaimed, staring at me with a look of shock.

“High level exemplar,” Pinnacle told her with a cold anger in his voice. “And regen…”

“I figured the first part,” Miss Fortune responded, giving me another look before adding, “And the second.”

I was shaking with a mixture of shock, fear, and growing anger. Then as I looked down at my nearly healed body, which was now fully naked, I gasped, “He ruined my dress.” Even as the words left my mouth, I knew it was an idiotic thing to say, especially since I could make a new dress in a flash. However, I wasn’t thinking clearly and that was all that came to mind.

Suddenly, Rachael screamed, “YOU HURT ALYSS!”

My attention snapped to Rachael, had now had a look of manic fury on her face, one that told me that she’d slipped into a full blown episode. I gulped at the sight, feeling a mixture of fear and worry. I wasn’t afraid of her or worried about myself, only dreading what his meant for her.

“Rachael,” I yelled out, but she was too far gone to even notice.

Rachael opened fire with her energy rifle, shooting at the Marquis and anything in his general direction. Pinnacle flew out of the way and avoided being hit, but several energy blasts hit the wall of the house and blew holes through it. But then, Rachael suddenly froze, glowing with a blue bubble that surrounded her.

“What did he do to her?” Asset gasped, staring at Rachael in surprise. “I don’t recognize the power…”

“He didn’t do anything,” I explained grimly, creating a replacement dress. “She did it to herself…”

“What do you mean?” Pinnacle demanded as he landed beside me, glancing to Rachael but keeping a closer eye on the Marquis.

“She built a failsafe,” I said, worried about Rachael and what it must be like being paralyzed like that. “She…put a leash on herself…in case she had an episode. She didn’t want to risk hurting anyone else if she flipped out.”

Pinnacle stared at me in surprise, looking a little confused as well. However, it was Asset who asked, “Why in the world would Lady Havoc do that? I thought she lived to cause destruction.”

“In case you’ve forgotten,” Miss Fortune called out in annoyance. “We’re in the middle of a fight here…”

The Marquis had just been standing back and watching us rather than taking advantage of the distraction. Once we turned our attention back to him, he gestured to Rachael and announced, “First she aligns with you fools, and now she’s restrained herself. I must say, I’m quite disappointed in this Lady Havoc. I’d heard much better things of her.”

“You don’t know the first thing about her,” I stated with a snarl, clenching my firsts tightly and really wanting to kick his ass bad.

“Perhaps not,” the Marquis responded absently. “Nor do I care. But perhaps I should thank her for restraining herself for me. I’m certain she will provide days or even weeks of amusement.”

I was REALLY hating this rat bastard and wondering how far I could put my foot up his ass. But more importantly, I was wondering how in the world I could do that when I couldn’t even get close to him.

With that, the Marquis held his arms out wide and the crimson fire that covered his body suddenly began to burn even brighter. A moment later, a wave of flames exploded from him and spread out.

“Look out,” Pinnacle cried out, diving to cover Asset who was the closest one to him.

The wave of fire hit and washed over us, singing my newly forming dress and skin, though not hurting me nearly as bad as the last burst of flame had. I looked up as soon as the fire had passed, seeing that Pinnacle had kept Asset safe, Rachael had been protected by her force field, and Miss Fortune was standing there unharmed, surrounded by the ghostly image of a castle tower.

It took me a moment to realize that none of the defeated gunmen had been protected from the attack, and I could see their charred and burning bodies. At least one of them was screaming in agony, and I knew that those who hadn’t been killed by that were probably wishing they were dead.

“DAMN IT,” I snarled. “I just made this dress…”

The Marquis dropped the flames and began firing blasts of energy from his hands instead, hitting Pinnacle, who didn’t seem bothered by it, and hitting me with one of them as well. The blast stung a little for a few seconds but was nothing compared to the flames.

“Enough of this,” Miss Fortune exclaimed, holding out several cards which began to glow and then vanished.

A second later, ghostly images appeared in front of her, one of a knight holding a sword, one of a woman in a dress, and one of an old man with a walking stick. The three ghostly images charged the Marquis, who began blasting at each of them.

The Marquis was no longer covered with fire, so I sent more ribbons after him, trying to be sneaky and sending them along the ground like snakes. And while I was doing this, Asset had his flying drone move around and come at the Marquis from behind.

Asset and I both struck at the same time, with me yanking the Marquis’ legs out from underneath him at the same time Asset’s drone fired shot darts out of some hidden gun. However, the Marquis glowed green and my ribbons were torn away awhile the darts and drone were flung back.

“You fools,” the Marquis called out, his voice filled with arrogance. “Do you really think you can beat me? I’ll enjoy breaking each and every one of you…even you girl. A regenerator can last for a very long time…”

“Dream on, asshole” I responded, flipping him off with both hands.

“I will admit this,” the Marquis announced, “your mistaken belief that you can defeat me is amusing.”

With that, the Marquis held his hands out and all of us began to glow green again. I was lifted up off the ground, as was everyone besides Rachael, who was still frozen solid. As I floated up in the air, I sent a ribbon to try grabbing something in order to pull myself back down, but the Marquis’ power shoved my ribbon back at me. Then once we were more than a dozen feet in the air, Pinnacle and I were suddenly flung into each other, hitting with a thud that knocked the air out of me but wasn’t quite hard enough to be painful.

“It seems I shall have to teach you all a lesson in humility,” the Marquis stated in an arrogant tone. “I can assure you, those I allow to live long enough will learn to appreciate my talent with pain.”

“I don’t think so,” Pinnacle exclaimed, only to suddenly be slammed right into the ground with enough force that if he didn’t have his powers, it would have broken every bone in his body.

Just then, the green glow faded away from me and everyone else, then all of us fell right back to the ground. Miss Fortune and Asset both cried out in pain when they hit, showing that the rough treatment had really been getting to them. Miss Fortune clutched her arm with a look of pain while Asset was on the ground, holding his leg.

“It seems that I’ve used up that power,” the Marquis commented with a vague note of annoyance. “A pity. It was quite useful.”

A moment later, the villain was covered with red flames again and I cursed, knowing that when he was on fire, he was even more difficult to deal with. The Marquis fired a blast of fire right at Asset, but he was too injured to get out of the way and Miss Fortune looked like she was trying to do something in response, but couldn’t seem to do it with only one good arm. Pinnacle was a lot closer than I was and jumped in the path of the flames, protecting Asset from being hit.

“Damn it,” I snarled, glaring at the Marquis and knowing that even with him having run out of one of his powers, he was still far too dangerous for us to keep this up for much longer. We already had three people down, two from injuries and one from self-inflicted containment. If this went on much longer, we’d all either be dead or locked up with Rich and the other prisoners. There was no way in hell I was going to let that happen.

My eyes went to Rachael and I scowled, wishing that she was in a condition where she could still help us. Unfortunately, even if she hadn’t frozen herself up like this, she’d be wild and out of control, perhaps almost as much of a threat as the Marquis. Then again, I realized that at the moment, someone who was wild an out of control might still be better than not having that extra firepower at all. And of course, there was also the fact that I didn’t know how much air she even had left in that force field bubble and didn’t want to risk leaving her in there too long.

I thought about the remote Rachael had given me earlier, realizing that I’d had it on me when the Marquis had set me on fire. I let out a loud curse, then rushed to the spot where the ground was now blackened and burned. For a moment, I looked around in desperation, then I saw it sitting on the ground a short distance away. With a sigh of relief, I snatched up the remote, thankful that it didn’t appear to have been damaged.

“Please work,” I muttered pointing the thing at Rachael and pushing a button.

A moment later, Rachael suddenly moved, dropping to her knees and letting out a loud gasp. She sat there shaking for a moment before exclaiming, “That fucking hurt… I didn’t expect it would feel like I was getting jammed with a damn cattle prod the entire time…”

“Rachael,” I called out as I ran to her side, helping her to her feet.

When I looked Rachael in the eyes, I was surprised to see no sign of the manic insanity that had filled them a short time ago. She looked angry, but still in control of herself.

“I’m…clear headed,” she said, sounding just as surprised about that as I felt. Her hand went to the bracer on her arm and she whispered, “It…knocked me out of my episode…” Her eyes went wide at that and she whispered, “This is a side effect I can live with…”

I felt myself starting to tear up at that and wanted to throw my arms around her and give her a hug, congratulating her on finally finding something that at least had some positive effect on her Diedricks. However, this was definitely not the time for that kind of thing.

“Rich,” I started to say.

“Gotcha,” Rachael interrupted, her expression turning hard and determined.

“Havoc,” Pinnacle exclaimed when he saw Rachael moving again. He stared at her with a worried look, clearly remembering the fact that she’d gone off her rocker again right before she was frozen.

“Don’t worry about me,” Rachael told him grimly, turning and shooting at the Marquis. “I’m not out of this fight until I get what I came for.”

The Marquis fired another wave of flames in our direction, but Rachael held up a small device and the two of us were suddenly covered in a force field bubble that lasted until the flames passed. He tried it again, this time firing a wave at Miss Fortune, but Pinnacle covered her, blocking her from the attack.

“No,” the Marquis cried out, sounding annoyed. “This power is fading… I must depart while I can…”

The Marquis turned and started to run but Asset’s drone blocked his path and fired several darts at him. For a moment, the Marquis stood there, staring down at the darts sticking out of his chest as though he couldn’t believe they were there.

“Your regeneration,” he cried out, looking at me. “Give it to me now…”

“I don’t think so,” I responded with a smirk, pleased to see that the flames around his body were completely out now. He dropped to his knees, looking weak and helpless, which meant that it was the perfect time to make sure he stayed that way. “I’ve got this…” I walked up to the Marquis, keeping well out of arms reach, then I reached out with several ribbons, wrapping them around him and leaving him firmly tied up.

“Pink ribbons,” Miss Fortune commented as she came towards us, still holding her injured arm. She gave me a curious look and mused, “Now where have I heard about pink ribbons before…”

I just gave her my best innocent smile and said, “I have no idea…but aren’t they pretty.”

Asset snickered at that, getting helped to his feet by Pinnacle. “I know that if some little girl had tied me up in pink ribbons,” Asset commented with a chuckle. “I’d be too embarrassed to ever admit it.”

“Havoc,” Pinnacle started, giving Rachael a steady look.

“Not until I get what I came for,” she said sharply, turning and starting for the mansion. I nodded to Pinnacle and went with her.

Rachael and I stepped into the mansion, being careful since we didn’t know if the Marquis had left anyone behind. From what little I could see, the furniture was all gone and the whole place was in severe disrepair. Graffiti was painted on the walls and there were clear indications that squatters had been living here, perhaps even the same gang who’d attacked us. I imagined that the Marquis might very well have decided he was going to use this as his base of operations, then simply recruited the people who were already here. Of course, that was all just a guess.

“This place is pretty big,” I mused, wondering where to start looking first.

“I’ve got it,” Rachael said, pulling a small out of a pouch on her belt. She held it up and slowly moved around, then gestured down one hall, “I’m reading some body temperatures in this direction.”

We walked down the hall and down some stairs, keeping a careful lookout for guards or traps, though we saw no sign of either. It took us less than two minutes before we entered the basement, where I gasped at the sight in front of me. There were a dozen cages spread over the basement, looking as though someone had taken iron bars and welded them all together themselves. And in most of these cages, I saw chains, shackles, and even metal frames with people chained to them.

“Sick fucking bastard,” I exclaimed, clenching my fists in anger as I looked around.

Along with the cages, there were things that looked like they belonged in a medieval torture chamber…or were the modern equivalent. There was heavy metal chair with straps to hold people in, with table full of nasty looking tools sitting beside it. And of course, I noticed the blood.

After taking everything in and wishing that I’d never seen this, I looked at the cages, many of which held prisoners. There was a skinny black woman in the cage closest to me, strapped down to a chair and with an IV drip stuck into her arm. She had a severely dazed look on her face, making it obvious that she was drugged out of her mind. Most of the others weren’t much better.

“Crimson Flame,” Rachael said, looking at the black woman with a grim expression on her face.

I grimaced, feeling a mixture of relief, worry, and anger. We’d finally gotten past the Marquis to where he was holding his prisoners, but after seeing the way he was treating them, I was filled with dread over what I’d find. Had he tortured Rich? He had killed him? Those thoughts increased my worry and anger, making me look around with a growing desperation to find him.

Just then, a nearby voice gasped, “Lady Havoc…”

I looked at the speaker, seeing a naked woman in the cage beside Crimson Flame’s. She was a pretty young Asian woman, or at least she would have been if she wasn’t filthy and covered with bruises. Her hands and legs were shackled and I could see track marks which showed that she’d been given some shots, probably more drugs to keep her helpless.

“Mystery Woman,” I said in realization and horror.

Mystery Woman stared at me with a look of surprise and confusion, then glared to Rachael and spat out, “It figures you’d be working with the Marquis…”

Rachael grimaced and began to unlock the cage door, saying, “You’ll find this hard to believe, but I’m actually here to rescue you…” Mystery Woman just snorted skeptically.

As soon as Rachael had the door open, she pulled out a small device that looked a little like a lighter and used it to unlock Mystery Woman. Mystery Woman stared at her with a look of surprise and confusion, obviously expecting Rachael to hurt her at any moment.

But a second later, another voice came from the cage beside her. “Rachael…”

Rachael and I immediately snapped around and the figure curled up on the bottom of the cage. As it sat up, I exclaimed, “Rich…”

I grabbed the cage door and tore it open, then released the shackles that were holding my son. He was in the same condition as Mystery Woman, looking like he’d been beaten a bit but I didn’t see any other injuries. He immediately threw his arm around me in a hug, and after several seconds I helped him out of the cage and to his feet.

“Rachael,” he repeated, staring at his sister with a look of stunned disbelief. Then he grabbed her in a hug while Mystery Woman stared at us in surprise.

“Hey Richie,” she responded with tears rushing to her eyes. “Long time no see…” Then she joked, “At least you didn’t hit me like Mel did.”

“You’re here,” he blurted out.

Rachael gave him a weak smile and told him, “Alyss found me and told me what’s going on. There is no way in hell I was gonna let that fucking bastard have my little brother…”

“Brother?” Mystery Woman exclaimed, now staring at Rich.

“We’ve got the Marquis all tied up,” I announced so everyone could hear. Then I told Rachael, “Let’s get everyone else free…”

“Ceasefire,” Mystery Woman gasped, remembering her own brother. “Aerial…” With that, she hurried around the basement to find their cages so they could be freed as well.

“Thank you,” Rich told us, looking unbelievably relieved, for which I couldn’t blame him. Then he said, “I can’t wait until my powers come back so I can get away from here…”

“What?” I gasped, staring at him. “He has your powers?”

“He took them about half an hour ago,” Rich spat out bitterly. “Again…”

Rachael and I gave each other worried looks, then she pointed out what I was thinking. “Why would the Marquis try running away when he could have teleported at any time?”

“Oh shit,” I blurted out in realization. “It’s a trick.”