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Chapter 37
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Everyone who remained in the city that night knew terror by sight and sound. Some knew it one moment, and soon knew nothing at all.

A luminescent bubble grew from the center of the Faultline District. It grew and grew, crossing streets in a matter of seconds, passing through walls, shaking everything it touched.

A villainess breaking free of her ice prison was among the first to go. She swore that one day she would get her revenge on the one who had done this to her. Then the thing came. She moved her feet to try and get away from it, but she fell. She slid back towards it. Her final moment was a realization of how her victims had felt, getting pulled into something stronger. Her day of vengeance would never come.

There was a man cuffed to a pole. He was awake by the time he saw the thing growing his way. He pulled, he yanked, and he tried with all his might to use his power. Then, once the dome consumed him, he had nothing.

A god who slept, and another who remained unconscious, were unable to fight their fate that awaited them. It was the ultimate price for trying to bring about the end of the world, and they never knew they’d paid it.

Doctors and nurses scrambled to help whomever they could while metas teleported in and out, taking patients and staff with them. Among those patients was a fallen hero, War Lagoon, barely able to see the world around him as his consciousness would allow. He saw two doctors and a nurse being taken away in time for another man to appear at the doorway. The man was a bloody heap of a mess, and he carried a knife. He approached the fallen hero, and was within arms’ length when the blistering light appeared in the same door. The hero’s vision faded as something else appeared at his side.

Meanwhile, in the lab where Mortar Mage worked, his own effervescent barrier countered the growing dome with all of his magical and intellectual might. More lines appeared on his person, tolling his body’s limitations, but he pressed on with activating and deactivating the different spells and switches in a calculated sequence.

It was tiring, but his work was not done. Not yet.

Soon. Soon I can let go of it all. Tawnya, sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.

He grabbed another switch. Then there was a bang. And two more. And another. Mortar looked around the lab. The male model androids had awoken. Tawnya did not. It was like a slap in the face from the very universe he was trying to save. If just she had awoken, he would have been able to see her smile one last time, and been at peace when his time was over.

“You all know, don’t you?” Mortar asked the androids as they pounded against their capsules. “You know you’re going with me into oblivion. You think you can stop me. You think you can take everything else with us. Well, pack your bags, because the universe is staying put. The city is staying. You have tried in the past and keep trying now, but you underestimated the power of a mortal who knows the greatest magic of all. You can try sending a signal to the ones who made you, or corrupted you, but you will have never seen the beauty and the joy of good people fighting for what they believe in. You will never have taken in the splendors borne of the universe in all of its corners, all of its realms, with all of their silly games and rules. I wanted to see and do more, but I have worked for years to make sure others could have a chance to do those very things. You want my blood, and you can have it, but one last switch is all I need. I have failed to live, but you have lost, and I will go to the other side happier than either of you will ever know.”

His arm trembled no matter how much strength he thought he had. The dark brown lines grew longer. The androids grew closer. The effervescence consuming the city was growing larger, and soon could grow stronger and out of control.

All he needed was one more ounce of strength, and this was over.

A soft hand touched his while Mortar focused on the switch. He turned his head and saw a woman with long, black hair and flowing garments of white and light blue. She had Tawnya’s face, and she nodded to him.

Mortar Mage was stunned and confused. Tawnya the android was still in her tube. The woman next to him placed a finger over his lips with a smile, and concealing a device in her same hand.

Then they turned to the switch they both held, the male androids almost within reach even though they approached so slowly, and they pulled it down at last.

The last few people running across the bridge broke down when the luminescent bubble took them. Several other people budged as if ready to go help or save them, but they were too late. Then the bubble retracted in an instant.

Its movement could be felt in the water, on the land, and in the sky. In the distance, Faultline and a few surrounding buildings became nothing but rubble, void of any walls or structures.

Back on the bridge, the people who had run and fallen remained. The dome had no effect on them, and no one was sure why. Several people ran to them.

In the distance, the alien ship lifted out of view. If what was known about that one was true, then the invasion that had started over five years ago was finally over, and it was going to be a while before the next one arrived, if ever.

Swan Diva hovered in the sky above the bridge, hugging an impossible body in her arms. Her daughter was breathing, barely. It had to be her, wearing the outfit she had received mere hours ago. Swan Diva descended near a makeshift encampment of medics.

Some of the people there backed away at first. One man in a decorated military uniform approached.

He said, “Swan Diva? This may not be the best time, but there is a question of murder and jumping bail that you need to answer for.”

“Yes,” she told him, “you’re right. This isn’t the time. There are medics here, right? Does anyone have equipment for reading vitals, or powers?”

“I-I have a scanner,” said a shorter man. He had a cybernetic arm that appeared to have been broken off near the wrist, and he sprouted a monitor from it that also looked to have seen other days. He looked like he just got done crying as well. “Set her down here; I’ll take a look.”

“Vital signs and owers; I need to know her powers.” That had to mean something.

“Understood.”

She set her daughter down. Pixeletta’s costume had a number of holes and singe marks in it. Her amulet was no longer around her neck. In fact, the burnt, decrepit piece of jewelry still falling from the girl’s hand piece by piece might have been it.

The small man panned his monitor up and down Pixeletta’s form.

“She appears to be alive, uninjured even,” he said. “Just passed out from exhaustion. You said something about powers? It’s hard to read their potency, but . . . Digitization, electrokinesis . . .” His words brought Swan Diva a sigh of relief. “. . . super strength, and flight.”

Her baby girl was alive. Rightfully, truthfully alive. Wait a minute. Swan Diva said, “What were those last two?”

A distant voice brought her to her senses, and her senses hit back with thorns. Gemma felt groggy as she sat up. Something about this moment set in like a déjà vu, and she literally could not remember the last time she felt this way.

Red and gray dust scattered next to her, and flames lit the buildings nearby. Any moment, she was going to remember where she was, not quite all of why she was here, and little of who she was or what she was doing. That was what her déjà vu told her.

The distant voice came closer. She stumbled to pick herself up. Gemma looked outward. This was the southern edge of Paragon City. What happened to this place?

“. . . if one of them happens to be my daughter, let me know.” The distant voice was close enough now. Gemma knew it well. She knew the face better than the name, at least. Only, the face was older than she remembered, once she saw him.

Gemma breathed in, preparing to talk, but words failed her. Instead, the man—he was her father, she recalled—spotted her after turning about.

He ran to her and hugged her in great haste. “I thought I lost you,” her father said. “Why are you in this suit?”

“I don’t remember,” she said.

“Oh. It happened again, didn’t it? That’s alright, I got you. I’ll find a place you can rest safely while I help reclaim the city, and save anyone who’s trapped.”

“What happened?”

“It’s a long story. Tell me, while we walk, do you remember your mother at all? No? Well, I’ll gladly tell you all about her.”

Jeff awoke in a hospital bed, fully bandaged and in stable condition. He had to be. The world was still here, for one thing. He gazed at his bedside in time to see a pair of feminine hands—one of them had a vaguely familiar ring of gold with green gems on it—setting down a vase of flowers.

The young woman in the room said, “Oh, hello. Sorry, I just wanted to . . . I gotta go.”

“Wait,” Jeff called out, “do I know you?”

“I don’t know. It just seemed like the right thing to do.” Then she was gone before Jeff could get another word out.

He exhaled away what little aggravation he had. She was only being nice. There was no need to beat anyone up over it.

Now that he was awake, waiting for a doctor to look him over, and tell him the rigmarole about doctor-patient confidentiality and how it applied to superheroes, Jeff grabbed the remote control for the TV suspended on the far wall.

It was a good time to check in on what the world knew according to the mainstream media.

“. . . continue around the clock since the incident in Paragon City two days ago. An estimated six thousand survivors have been found within city limits without any superpowers, another twenty with low-level powers, thousands dead, and less than a hundred high-level metas are still missing. The vast majority of those missing all ranked 7 or higher, with the remainder unknown or unregistered.”

In war, Jeff learned that collateral happened, no matter the type or size of the bomb or the efficiency of the team sent in. Considering the stakes, Jeff was impressed with what he was seeing so far, even if he was going to have to help out with reconstruction soon.

“Son of a bitch,” Jeff said, “he did it.”

On another channel: “Hundreds of thousands of Paragon residents returned home today, most reuniting with their animal companions. More are expected to return in the next week.” There was a shot of a family being greeted by their ecstatic dog. “In the wake of recent events, Mayor Oldman’s approval ratings have plummeted to a new low both before and after a sound clip was broadcasted over the Internet showing his attitude towards anyone with superpowers.”

And back on the first: “Big news today as Adamast Cross revealed her identity to the public. She had this to say, ‘I have spent the past half dozen years of my life educating children and helping those in need. Unfortunately, I have found that I need time and energy to find a suitable replacement to run for mayor, to find someone who can steer our city toward a better future while we still have one, and this means stepping down temporarily as coach as well as heroics. The city needs all the good people it can get, regardless of our history on either side of the law. Thank you.’”

And then: “Mai Tanimoto, alias Swan Diva, has received a prison sentence of fifteen months today after charges of skipped bail and manslaughter. This comes during an arraignment this morning where she turned herself in and pled guilty on both counts. In related news, her daughter Judy, alias Pixeletta, has returned after a miracle that has been classified as, quote, ‘A really long story.’ She is seen here hugging her mother goodbye before Mai Tanimoto is escorted to a minimum security prison.”

Jeff turned the TV off. The world didn’t go to shit, for one thing, but he had all he could take of the news for the time being.

Kyra visited a few times over the next couple days, during which time she did her best to bring Jeff up to events with everyone in the supergroup she was able to contact. That fateful night she had come so close to death, but she recovered from the poison to help direct the evacuation of the hospital and was one of the last to leave along with War Lagoon. She had passed out when they were safe, awoken in a hospital bed, and was now largely immune to toxic substances.

She told him about how Mai turned herself in willingly, because she felt it was the right thing to do, and the judge was lenient due to the service she’d provided past and present. She wanted to teach Judy how to control her new powers, too, but a hard choice had to be made. No one else in the League knew how to fly except Mortar, who was gone, and Jeff, whose power worked different than most people in the world. Mary was willing to help with the super strength, which was an idea that had made Judy smile.

All that was left was the mansion with all of the base systems still working. The remaining members were content to only operate what they needed for now, but the city was quiet; too quiet to need a whole lot of heroing for the time being. If Tatiana wasn't supposed to be off duty for the next several months, then she was tempted to go somewhere random, like Moroumont or further west, to bust up any bad guys that needed it.

Jeff supposed that the League was done now. Everyone was still in good terms, and probably they’d be willing to work with one another, but things were changing. Times were moving forward.

When he was out of the hospital, Jeff was probably going to have a lot of work ahead of him in his own civilian life. Heroics? That would have to wait.

Wyatt entered the mansion. The world was saved, but there was no telling if this was his last time here or not. The League was done, but its members still sought one another out. Peter had let them continue to use the house so it wouldn’t be empty without them, but it wasn’t the same without Mortar Mage.

Today, he came here looking for something that Tatiana had left by accident before Doctor Terrell ordered her to cease teleporting around during the last trimester of her pregnancy. He figured that it was a good excuse to drop in and say hello in case anyone else happened to be around.

“Is anyone home?” he asked.

“I’m in here,” Judy called back. Not that Wyatt needed her to respond to know she was in the console room. Manners, they matter.

He found her pacing, her mind anxious. He was getting a minor case of déjà vu being here with Judy, but he said, “Is there something I can help you with?”

“No, no. I’m just . . . There’s so much going on. Mom’s serving time, I’m taking care of her new condo so she doesn’t default the loan by the time she gets out, and my powers. Too many powers.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have all of mine, but I have hers now too. It’s too much. No one should have this much power.”

“Ah.”

Judy said, “No one should have to cope with all these things after coming back from the dead, you know? I haven’t really slept since that night we fought the Vanquishiri. I’ve only dipped inside a computer for one moment to see if I really had full control of that power again, and it’s tempting to stay in there for a while.”

“You still need sleep, Judy.”

“I know, but I can’t. Not with all that I have to do. All that I can do. All that I can remember.”

Oh. Judging by her words, her expression, and the flows of her thoughts, Judy remembered everything about her old life. Everything. Now Wyatt got to see if it was better for that knowledge to stay gone, or if it was best for Judy to remember. It was hard to tell other than the fact that the young woman needed a release.

“I’ve been thinking, actually,” she said. “I should see the world with my own eyes. The city’s rebuilding. My mom’s bank provided us with paperwork that we don’t have to worry about payments for the next three months. I think the bank rep was trying to get her to give up her condo on the spot, but she declined. That’s why I’m helping out where I can, but I don’t have to be here every last day, do I?”

Wyatt said, “No, I don’t suppose you do. Paying loans takes money, though.”

“That’s not going to be a problem. We have more than enough for a couple years of automatic payments. Then her job is willing to take her back when she is out.”

“What’s keeping you then?”

“I don’t know where I want to go first. I have most of the world immediately open to me, and more of it that I can fly to. But I never made a list of places I want to visit, or things I want to do, except visit my family in Nippon or an old friend if I can find her. I don’t think I’m ready for that. These powers . . . I need to go somewhere to get full control over them. Maybe I’ll find somewhere nice, and they can help me get some sleep.”

“You could always visit my brother’s place.”

She laughed. It wasn’t meant as a joke, but she was laughing. Electric currents lifted off of her body as she did so. Wyatt had seen a lot of amazing things while living in Paragon City, especially since becoming a costumed hero, but the power coming off of Judy was stunning.

Judy turned on a computer screen, and loaded up the internet browser to see if it was working. It was always hard to tell with their service provider.

“Promise me something,” Wyatt requested.

“What’s that?” Judy asked.

“See the people you love, and never forget your dreams, wherever you go.”

“Wyatt, that’s so damn cheesy, just like your puns. You have a point, though.” Static appeared between her hand and the computer’s main tower. She was about to go.

“You have to promise.” His tone was playful.

In kind, so was hers. “No I don’t.”

Judy stuck her tongue out, and then she was gone. Wyatt exhaled humorously. Good luck, you silly brat.