Julie took another sip from the sports drink bottle that she’d been given and winced. Sure, it was definitely helping her recover, but she was getting tired of drinking the stuff. Then again, she realized just how lucky she was compared to most of the other people in the medical facility. Some of the others were seriously injured, while she only had to deal with a little exhaustion.

“How are you feeling?” Caleb asked her. He was the only person present, besides the DAD doctors, who was in better shape than she was.

“A lot better,” Julie admitted with a pained smile. “But frustrated to be out of action.”

“Tell me about it,” Caleb responded wryly, gesturing to the golden staff that was leaning up against the corner. “I won’t be able to turn into Mystik again for a day or so, and by then, this will probably all be over.” From his grim expression, it was clear that he didn’t expect everything to end in their favor, and she certainly didn’t blame him. She was quite worried herself.

Julie let out a sigh, then looked at the latest patients to have arrived, brought in a short time ago by Counterweight, who’d taken it on herself to evacuate those too injured to fight. At the moment, Counterweight stood beside Catalyst, who’d just been given stitches and some bandages for a large gash along her side. A short distance away, Radiant sat, looking unharmed except for the bandages wrapped around her eyes. Radiant hadn’t spoken to anyone since arriving. A couple others were still in the next room, being taken care of by the doctors.

“You were pretty damn lucky,” Counterweight told Catalyst, giving her a concerned look. “If that sword had gone any deeper…”

“I know,” Catalyst responded with a pained wince. “And if Ladybug hadn’t taken that bastard out before he could come at me again…” She shuddered at that, then let out a loud sigh while shaking her head. “I still have a hard time believing that she’s really on our side now…”

Counterweight just chuckled at that. “Well, I think she’s proven herself more than enough.”

Catalyst grudgingly nodded agreement. “Yeah, she has.”

“Those things seem pretty nasty,” Julie offered, feeling guilty since she hadn’t been able to contribute to this battle. She’d thrown everything she had against Nevermore’s allies, but hadn’t realized that they were just the opening act. Now, her powers had been pushed too far for her to do anything else. Then, with a bitter snort, she muttered, “I might as well be bussing tables at work…”

“Yeah, they’re nasty all right,” Counterweight responded with a look of disgust. “I dropped a car on one guy, and he just squeezed out from under it and continued fighting. It was almost like something out of a cartoon…”

“And my powers don’t work on them,” Catalyst added with a deep scowl. “I found that out the hard way. I just couldn’t shut off their powers.”

While Catalyst and Counterweight discussed the fight, Caleb moved closer in order listen in while Radiant seemed to completely ignore them. Even Legacy, who was on the other side of the room, tilted her head to show that she was listening as well, though she remained just as silent as Radiant.

While Catalyst was in the middle of describing exactly how she’d been injured, Julie’s cell phone began to vibrate. She was so startled by this that she nearly jumped.

As soon as Julie saw that the caller was Glamour Girl, she answered, “Hello?” Julie didn’t have much opportunity to speak as Glamour Girl just gave her a quick message and did all the talking, but once her teammate was finished, Julie responded, “I’ll tell everyone here…but it won’t do much good. We’ve been evacuated to medical...”

“What was that about?” Caleb asked, giving her a curious look.

Julie put her phone back into the pouch on her belt before she answered. “Glamour Girl… She said that they might have a way to deal with the Queen of Ravens…but they need all the help they can get back at the portal.”

“Unfortunately,” Counterweight pointed out, “none of us is in much position to help…” She looked to her injured shoulder and gave a wry smile.

“I know,” Julie grudgingly admitted.

There was a long pause before Legacy abruptly said, “The Seven never walked away in the middle of a fight…” She slowly got up, putting her weight on her good leg. “I’ll be damned if I will…”

“But your leg,” Julie gasped, her eyes going to Legacy’s leg, which was splinted and bandaged.

“These will do for now,” Legacy said, reaching for a pair of crutches that were leaning against the wall. When Julie gave her a skeptical look, she smiled faintly and added, “And I’ve got some great pain killers…”

Julie chuckled faintly at that. “Physically, I’m ready to go, but my powers are kaput at the moment…”

“Ditto,” Caleb added with a shrug.

Legacy stared at Julie for a moment, then reached to the metal bracer on her left arm and touched something. Suddenly, she was holding a high tech looking rifle. Julie recognized it as being some kind of energy blaster.

“This used to belong to Armory,” Legacy told Julie, something in her expression making it clear that this meant something important to her. “I think she’d be happy to have you use it…”

“Thank you,” Julie said as she accepted the weapon. She hesitated a moment, then promised, “I’ll take good care of it.”

“Do you have another one of those?” Caleb asked hopefully.

“No,” Legacy answered with a wry smile. “None of my other weapons would do you much good.”

“Damn,” Caleb said with a sigh. He glanced over to his staff and scowled, clearly wishing that it had recharged so he could turn into Mystik again.

“Your staff is magic,” Catalyst blurted out, getting Caleb’s attention.

“Yeah,” he responded.

“So, you’re not a real developed,” Catalyst continued with a faint smile.

Caleb gave her a defensive look, as though he wasn’t sure if he should be offended or not. “No. I just have the magic staff…”

Catalyst’s smile broadened. “Then I might be able to get you back in the fight…”

“Oh yeah,” Counterweight blurted out with a laugh. At Caleb’s confused look, she explained, “Catalyst can temporarily give powers to people...”

It took several seconds for that to sink in before Caleb began to grin as well. “Then go head,” he told Catalyst.

Catalyst held out her hand, and as soon as Caleb reached out to touch it, there was a golden glow around his body. Suddenly, his body began to shift and change, with his hair growing longer and his features becoming more fine and feminine. Two mounds quickly began to push out from his chest.

“You turned back into Mystik,” Julie blurted out in surprise.

Caleb looked down at himself…at herself and smiled wryly. “It sure looks like it, but I still don’t have my costume…”

“And you’re still changing,” Legacy added a moment later.

Julie stared at Caleb…at Mystik, seeing that Legacy was correct. Caleb had indeed transformed back into Mystik, though she was still wearing Calebs’s clothes rather than her uniform. And in addition, a gold metal coating was starting to spread out over her skin and hair. Mere seconds later, Mystik looked like a gold metal statue.

“You look a little like that Exile chick,” Counterweight pointed out. Of course, they both had gold metal skin, but that was about the only similarity.

“It looks like your staff may have left some kind of imprint on you,” Catalyst pointed out. “How that effects the powers you gained, I have no idea.”

“Since it looks like we’re ready to go,” Legacy announced with a grim expression. “Let’s get going.” And with that, she swung her cloak out wide, opening a path into the dimension known as the Empty.

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

Roselyn Gettz, more commonly known by her codename of Harbinger, did not look very intimidating. She was short, at 5 foot 2, and with a petite build that made most people overlook her as a possible threat, even if she was currently wearing a black and blue costume, with an ammo belt, sidearm, and combat knife. But in spite of her small size and generally non-threatening appearance, Roselyn was actually one of the most lethal snipers in the world, and had been even before acquiring her powers.

At the moment, Roselyn was positioned on the roof of a tall building, her large rifle pulled tightly back into her shoulders. She stared out through the scope while her finger gently caressed the trigger, waiting for the right opportunity to pull it.

Roselyn’s weapon was called Monster, or more accurately, Monster 2. The original Monster had been lost on a mission, while its replacement…called Gunzilla…had recently been made obsolete by an improved model. Monster was originally designed as a vehicle mounted rail gun, for the purpose of being a long ranged, high accuracy, anti-tank weapon. However, Roselyn found that it was also ideal for eliminating developed threats, even ones with ‘bulletproof’ skin.

Being careful not to take her eye from the scope, Roselyn absently reached back and ran a hand through her black hair, which was pulled into a pony tail. She wasn’t happy about her current firing position since it was too open and exposed from an aerial view. However, it was the best position she had at the moment. None of the windows below her offered as clear a shot at the target area, and at the moment, she also had an ease of movement in case she needed to shift her target area. At least the tarp that she’d used to cover herself, broke up her silhouette and offered at least some camouflage.

Through the scope, Roselyn watched the black stone clearing that had served as Baron Nevermore’s command post during this Baltimore operation. There was a large and overly-dramatic throne, which was currently empty, but which could be a potential obstacle for any shots she needed to take. There was also the black stone arch, which had a shimmering veil of red energy, the still active portal that the Queen of Ravens had come through. Roselyn kept a close watch on that portal, because she didn’t know when something else might come through.

And then, there were the people who were gathered down there, all of them allies. Stealth was her teammate and friend, as was Agent Briggs, who’d come in costume. That alone said a lot about how dangerous this situation was, since Briggs usually avoided costumed work.

Alleycat, Witch Girl, and the Face from Faction Zero were all present, as was Lady Knight and Glamour Girl. And from what Roselyn understood, Deadbeat might be somewhere nearby too…IF he could find a suitable new body.

“Not a lot of firepower,” Roselyn mused as she swung her scope a little to look over the monsters who were still skulking nearby.

Roselyn finally tore her eyes away from the target area in order to look over her surroundings, trying to see any indications of a threat. That was another advantage of her current firing position on the roof, the relatively clear view it gave her of the area. Then, she spotted something in the distance, something…somethings that were rapidly approaching.

“Stealth,” Roselyn called out over the radio. Earlier, the barrier over Baltimore had cut off all radio communications, and even now that com had been restored, it was still erratic and full of static. “We have incoming flyers from the west. It looks like a small group of ravens.”

“Understood,” Stealth responded. “Be ready to back us up.”

Roselyn snorted, not bothering to dignify that with an answer. Of course she was going to back them up. What else would she be doing there?

The ravens arrived very quickly, swooping down where they each transformed into a human shape. Roselyn’s eyes narrowed and she followed them in her scope, ready to take the best shot. The Queen of Ravens was her priority target, but unfortunately, between the throne and the other ravens, she didn’t have a clear shot. Not yet at least.

“Patience,” Roselyn told herself with a whisper. “The shot will come.”

The Face fired a blast of golden energy out of his mask, directly at the Queen of Ravens. One of the raven soldiers threw himself in the way, taking the hit for his leader. Roselyn could respect that kind of dedication, though she doubted that the Queen of Ravens was really worthy of it.

Stealth had turned invisible before the ravens arrived and now appeared, holding out her pistol and opening fire. She put half a dozen shots into one raven’s chest, then snapped around and fired a couple more shots at the next raven. Then, before they could retaliate, she flew up into the air, activating her stealth field in the process so that she once again seemed to vanish.

One raven suddenly teleported, vanishing from in front of Alleycat and reappearing behind Briggs. Roselyn pulled the trigger, hitting the raven in the chest and blasting a massive hole through him, right before his mace would have smashed into Briggs’ skull. The raven dropped to the ground, though he was still moving, much to Roselyn’s annoyance. That shot would have killed any normal person as well as most developed, but it seems these ravens were a little tougher than that.

While Briggs snapped around and dealt with the injured raven, Roselyn continued looking over the rest of the field, looking for an opportunity to help. Suddenly, four more people appeared and Roselyn immediately had one of them in her crosshairs, though she quickly realized that they weren’t hostiles. They were reinforcements.

The woman whom Roselyn had in her crosshairs was Legacy, who was associated with the now defunct group known as the Seven. Beside her was Channel of the Slackers and Counterweight, who was associated with the Miracle Men. And then, there was a woman with gold metallic skin and hair, who was dressed in civilian clothes and carrying some kind of staff.

The newcomers caught the ravens by surprise, and Legacy held out her hand and sent three of the enemy soldiers flying back, before they even seemed to realize it. And though Legacy was using crutches when she appeared, she quickly dropped them and floated up into the air in order to continue her attack.

A few seconds later, the Queen of Ravens changed positions, walking towards the large stone arch, almost as though the fighting was of little concern. Roselyn smiled faintly as she saw her opportunity and fired a shot right at the queen’s head. However, there was a flash of purple as her round struck some kind of barrier instead of the target.

“A force field,” Roselyn muttered in annoyance. The Queen of Ravens appeared to be using some kind of force field or barrier to protect herself. Of course, there was the possibility that it was one of the ones with a single charge that used itself up when responding to a threat. Because of that, Roselyn took aim and fired a second shot. Unfortunately, that round was blocked as well. “I hate force fields…”

Roselyn’s shots hadn’t been very effective, but they had been noticed. One of the ravens who’d been standing beside the queen, leapt into the air and transformed into a bird. She flew up, coming almost directly for Roselyn. In mere seconds, she reached the rooftop, where she immediately transformed back to her human form.

The raven looked like a teenage girl, with long black hair that was streaked with purple. She was dressed in a gothic lolita fashion, with a frilly black dress that looked like it should have belonged on a Victorian doll…a somewhat naughty doll.

“Matra deeees mrogka…,” the raven girl exclaimed, speaking a language that Roselyn had never heard before.

Roselyn had already leapt to her feet, before the raven had even landed, and now drew her firearm. The girl appeared unarmed, though Roselyn wasn’t stupid enough to believe her harmless. In fact, her lack of obvious weapons only made Roselyn more wary.

“You were foolish to attack the queen,” the girl stated in oddly accented English. “Now, you will die very VERY slowly…” She gave a cruel smile as she held up her hands, just as her fingers stretched out and formed into long and sharp looking claws.

Roselyn didn’t wait for the girl to attack and immediately opened fire, shooting four rounds into her center of mass. Holes appeared in her chest, with black blood oozing out of them. However, in spite of staggering back, the girl didn’t go down. Instead, she shook it off, then gave Roselyn an evil grin, which made Roselyn realize that the bullet holes were already closing up.

“Oh yes,” the girl exclaimed with a sadistic glee. “This will be a delight…for me.”

With that, the girl swung her arm wide and flung something into the air towards Roselyn. Roselyn leapt back to avoid being hit. A moment later, she saw that four balls had hit the roof and came to a stop. Each unfolded and grew, revealing a doll. Or more accurately, two of them appeared to be ceramic dolls while the other two were marionettes…with glowing red strings that pooled out around them. Then the dolls and marionettes began to slowly advance on her.

Roselyn scowled as she watched the approaching toys, knowing better than to underestimate them. Her eyes especially went to the marionette’s strings, which were glowing and starting to move around on their own, like extremely thin tentacles. For a moment, she wondered if the strings were intended to tier her up or act as garrotes, but it didn’t really matter. She just had to avoid them and deal with the threats.

“I hate close combat,” she muttered under her breath. She was a sniper for a reason, because she preferred to deal with her enemies from a safe distance, not face to face. “No use complaining about it now.”

The toys all charged straight at Roselyn, but she quickly moved to the side, avoiding them entirely. However, the raven leapt at her as well, her claws extended. Roselyn didn’t bother wasting her ammunition and lashed out with her foot instead, kicking the girl in the stomach. The raven let out a loud grunt while Roselyn used her stomach as a springboard to throw herself back, right before several glowing strings swept through the space she’d previously occupied.

Roselyn was developed, with enhanced strength, speed, agility and senses. Individually, none of her physical abilities was nearly as impressive as what other developed might possess, but when combined, they made her a dangerous opponent…even up close and personal.

When the toys charged at Roselyn again, she reacted quickly, drawing her combat knife just in time to slice a leaping doll in half. She quickly dodged one of the marionettes, and nearly avoided the second one, except that a string managed to graze her thigh. Roselyn gasped at the stinging pain on her thigh, though she didn’t let it slow her down. Instead, she kicked the marionette away, then threw the knife, impaling the other marionette and pinning it to the roof.

“Just annoyances,” Roselyn reminded herself, looking at the girl who was the real enemy. “Distractions.”

Roselyn ran back towards where she’d left Monster set up, but instead of grabbing her weapon, she picked up the tarp instead. With a quick swing of her arm, she flung the tarp over the charging girl, covering most of her body, and more importantly…blinding her. The toys all staggered about, bumping into each other as they no longer had clear directions.

“Stupid creature,” the girl yelled, using her claws to slice through the tarp. “You vex me…”

Roselyn didn’t bother answering the girl. Instead, she seized the momentary opportunity and used her sidearm to shoot the girl in the head repeatedly. Then, as the girl started to collapse, Roselyn kicked her, sending her flying over the edge of the building. Seconds later, the toys all collapsed lifelessly.

“That should do it,” Roselyn said, peering over the edge of the roof and looking down at the ground far below.

The girl was sprawled out, her broken and splattered body a complete mess. And as Roselyn watched, what was left of her seemed to melt into a puddle of black goo and fade away. Roselyn stared at her for a few more seconds, just in case she suddenly reappeared whole and unharmed, but that didn’t happen.

Roselyn didn’t bother to celebrate the death of her opponent, or even to silently bask in her triumph. She’d merely done what she had to, nothing more. Then, she looked over the rooftop, knowing that her position had been compromised, but that there was no help for it. In spite of the increased risk to herself, she still had a job to do, and her allies couldn’t afford the time it would take for her to find a new firing position.

With that, Roselyn returned to Monster and her firing position. It only took her a few seconds to lock the Queen of Ravens into her crosshairs again, though she didn’t bother to pull the trigger. That would merely be a waste of ammunition. Instead, Roselyn took a deep breath and prepared to do what she did best…patiently wait for the right opportunity.