The safe house felt different when I returned. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and something else—the faint, acrid smell of smoke that clung to my costume. It was the smell of Ember's end, and it felt like it had seeped into my skin.
I landed on the rooftop and deactivated my invisibility. The black lightning of my transformation crackled away, leaving me in my street clothes, but the new power—the pyrokinesis—thrummed under my skin like a living thing. I could feel the residual heat in the concrete beneath my feet, the thermal signature of the city sprawling around me. It was intoxicating.
The door to the roof creaked open. Butcher stood there, a fresh cigarette dangling from his lips. "Well? Did it take?"
"It took," I said, not looking at him. I focused on a discarded beer bottle nearby. With a thought, I heated the glass until it glowed orange, then melted into a puddle of slag. "Eleven powers now."
Butcher's grin was a slash of white in the dim light. "Beautiful. One more step closer to putting that cunt Homelander in the ground." He took a long drag. "The building?"
"The fire's out. Everyone inside should be fine." I finally turned to face him. "But Vought knows we're escalating. Homelander's speech proves that. They had guards with her. They're not going to make the next one easy."
"Good," he said, blowing smoke into the night air. "Let 'em try. The harder they fight, the more it proves we're hurting them."
We went back inside. The team was gathered around the main table, the tension from earlier replaced with a grim satisfaction. Hughie looked up from his laptop, a relieved smile on his face.
"Satellite thermal shows the fire's completely out. No casualties reported. You… you actually stopped it."
"I controlled it," I corrected. There was a difference. Stopping it implied an external force. Controlling it felt more true—the fire had become an extension of my will. "It's a useful tool."
Annie was watching me, her expression unreadable. "How do you feel?"
I knew what she was really asking. Are you still you? "Heavier," I admitted. "Every time, it feels like I'm adding another layer. Ember was… angry. Volatile. I can feel that anger in the power. It's like a low-grade fever in my blood."
MM nodded slowly. "That's what we were worried about. You're not just collecting abilities. You're collecting pieces of their psyches."
"I can handle it," I said, maybe too quickly. "It's a price I'm willing to pay." I looked at the whiteboard, at Graviton's name circled in red. "We can't stop now. Graviton is next. His gravity manipulation is the key to countering A-Train's speed and Homelander's mobility. We hit him in forty-eight hours."
Frenchie pulled up a new file on his laptop. "Graviton—real name David Russo. Much more disciplined than Ember. Ex-military, works as a high-level security consultant for Vought. He doesn't operate in the open. He'll be harder to isolate."
"Then we find his pattern," I said. "Annie, can you access his corporate schedule? Meetings, appointments, anything?"
She shook her head. "He's black ops. His schedule is compartmentalized. Even I don't have that clearance. But… I might know someone who does."
All eyes turned to her.
"There's a data analyst at Vought Tower. Maya Lin. She handles logistics for the black ops teams. She's… not a fan of what Vought does. I've heard her complain about the moral compromises. If I approach her carefully…"
"No," I said immediately. "It's too risky. If she reports you to Stillwell, you're finished. We'll find another way."
"There is no other way!" Annie insisted, standing up. "Alex, you just took out a target that had armed guards! They're escalating their protection. If we wait, Graviton will be surrounded by a small army. We need his schedule, and Maya is the only way to get it quickly."
Butcher studied Annie with a newfound respect. "The bird's got a point. Sometimes you gotta risk a pawn to take a queen."
"She's not a pawn," I shot back. "She's part of this team. I won't risk her getting caught."
"It's my risk to take," Annie said, her voice firm. "I'm not just your inside source, Alex. I'm in this fight. Let me fight."
The room was silent. She was right. We were past the point of keeping her safe on the sidelines. If we were going to win, we all had to be all in.
"Alright," I relented, my chest tight with worry. "But we do it smart. You don't approach her at Vought Tower. You invite her for coffee somewhere public, neutral. Feel her out. If she shows any hesitation, you abort. No hypnosis, no coercion. We do this clean."
Annie nodded, a determined look in her eyes. "I can do that."
The plan was set. Annie would contact Maya Lin in the morning. Meanwhile, we'd use the next day to plan the Graviton strike based on whatever intel we got. The pace was accelerating, hurtling us toward a confrontation that felt both inevitable and terrifying.
Later that night, I found myself back on the roof. I couldn't sleep. The phantom heat of Ember's fire still danced at my fingertips. I held out my hand and summoned a small, controlled flame above my palm. It was beautiful, in a deadly way. A tool of destruction that I now commanded.
You're becoming the monster Homelander says you are.
The thought wasn't entirely my own. It had the frantic, fearful edge of Ember's final moments. I clenched my fist, snuffing out the flame.
"Trouble sleeping?"
I turned. Annie stood in the doorway, wrapped in a blanket.
"Just thinking," I said.
She came to stand beside me. "About Maya?"
"About all of it. About how easy it is to get used to the killing. To start thinking of people as targets, as power-ups." I looked at her. "You were right to ask when it ends. I'm starting to worry I won't want it to."
She was quiet for a moment, looking out at the city. "I think the fact that you're worried is what proves you're still you. Homelander never worries. He never doubts. The second you stop feeling the weight of what you're doing… that's when I'll use Butcher's bullet."
Her words should have been chilling. Instead, they were a comfort. A promise that someone would be there to stop me if I fell.
"Thank you," I said softly.
"For what?"
"For being my conscience."
She leaned her head against my shoulder for a brief moment. "Someone has to be. Now get some sleep. Tomorrow's a big day."
She went back inside, leaving me alone with the city and the ghosts of the powers I carried. The path ahead was dark and dangerous, but for the first time, I felt a flicker of something besides grim determination.
Hope.