The remaining guards tossed their guns to the ground, surrendering as Tóxica approached. They must’ve realized who I was, my reputation shaking them to their core. It could’ve also been the mutated alligator covered in blood and intestines that just killed the other guards. We were both terrifying in our own way.

  “Open the cells,” I ordered, aiming my pistol at the nearest guard.

  “We can’t,” he stammered. He yelped in fear as Tóxica growled at him. “Not because we don’t want to! The keys were all collected by Polymeniac earlier, said it was for security, and he’d return them later.”

  It was impressive just how much of a pain in the ass he could be. “Where’s the prisoner who got brought alongside me? Short guy, messy hair, wore all white clothing.”

  “Uh, hall three,” a different guard spoke up.

  “Tóxica, break down the door to the hall. Break open every cell you see until you find Reload, we’re letting the prisoners out.”

  Her claws easily tore the metal door off its hinges, the screeching of steel covering her low growl. She tossed the door behind her, narrowly missing me, letting it crash into a nearby wall. I checked the main room looking for any trace of Fat Timmy, finding nothing. He was the only guard that I cared about, so I used my pistol to finish off the remaining guards.

  Sure, it was a bit of a dick move, but if Polymeniac appeared, they wouldn’t just stand around. It was minimizing the risk to us. A minute later, Tóxica stomped out of the hall, Reload stretching as he walked behind her. There were also a handful of prisoners nervously following, keeping a few feet of distance from Tóxica.

  “Alright, Tóxica and Reload, we’re getting the fuck out of here. Everyone we just freed, get as far away from here as possible. If you head north, the direction of the McDonalds, you’ll eventually escape Disciple Territory. But until you see an opening to run, stay out of our way.”

  The three of us made our way up the stairs, the crowd of prisoners timidly following. Most of them seemed malnourished, likely struggling to survive off the crap they were fed. Agony didn’t like torturing people, but that didn’t mean he treated his prisoners well.

  By the time we reached the top of the stairs, a few dozen henchmen had already gotten into position. They used overturned desks as makeshift cover, guns aimed at the open entryway. Hundreds of bullets rained down on Tóxica, forcing her to nearly fall back.

  If they were this organized, then someone was giving them orders. Quarry would be gone, having headed to check out the deli we just attacked. That left Agony and Polymeniac as the only possibilities. Regardless of which one, or both, of them was there, we weren’t in any position to fight them head on.

  “Reload, make the bomb that you used last time.”

  “What?” he asked, shocked at my order. “I’m down to fuck around, but that thing took out the last building we were in.”

  “Trust me.”

  For the first time, I saw hesitation in his eyes. “Alright, boss. I’ll trust you.”

  He handed me the oversized, uneven, hunk of metal. While I struggled to hold it, I passed it to the one person that could easily handle it. “Tóxica, I need you to throw this into the crowd of henchmen up there. Don’t let them see it coming.”

  She grabbed the bomb from me, gripping it with one scaly hand. It was hard to tell what she was thinking in her reptilian form, her face too foreign from human, but I just hoped that she trusted me.

  “Everyone, get back down!” I shouted at the prisoners, before turning back to Tóxica. “Once we’re down, throw that and rush down here. I need you as far away from the blast as possible.”

  Even without knowing about the previous explosion, the prisoners understood that Godzilla would be lobbing a bomb like a baseball, and decided to follow my orders, running down the stairs.

  Once all of us made it to the main room, I looked back up the stairs. I locked eyes with Tóxica, her pupils a beautiful haze of green, with a strong purple ring. Tóxica nodded at me before storming up the stairs, her arm pulled back. She threw the bomb with heavy force, sending it flying out the stairs, before she turned to run down. She failed to take a single step before the bomb went off.

  The foundation of the building shook as a violent explosion roared through the stairs, bursts of flame following close behind. Tóxica flew down the stairs, crashing against the metal steps as she fell. But when she hit the bottom, she was thankfully still in her reptilian form. A sign that she was at least conscious.

  Despite the distance, I was still knocked to the ground from the force of the explosion. It took a second for me to collect myself, as my [Borrowed][Regenerate] healed the small bits of damage I got from the fall. After a minute, everyone else was standing, thankful that the building didn’t collapse on them.

  The safehouse we attacked was a shithole, a random building turned into a base. But the Tower of Agony was a work of art, made to survive an all out war with the heroes of South Rain City.

  While the others slowly made their way up the stairs, I ran. Polymeniac’s [Regenerate] was able to keep me going with force, despite the energy it drained. Polymeniac was always going to be a tough fight, but this power would be a nightmare to deal with.

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  After reaching the first floor, I could see the devastation that we just unleashed. The inside was practically bare, the walls and offices of the first floor reduced to nothing but rubble. Only the exterior walls and supports remained standing, unharmed by the explosion.

  I ran towards the front of the building, looking around to find Agony or Polymeniac, while the rest of the group followed after me. If they were part of the fight, at the very least, they weren’t here now. I knew better than to assume that would kill them.

  As I stepped onto the sidewalk, shattered glass cutting into my feet, I looked at Tóxica and Reload. We’d done it. I saw Frank speeding through the street, weaving the bright pink Beetle around the debris in the street. Even though the bomb was near the back of the building, chunks of the office had flown out the front.

  Frank came to a sudden stop in front of us, filling the air with a screech that was barely louder than the ringing in my ears. “Did you guys blow up another fucking building?!”

  “Yeah, it’s our trademark,” Reload laughed, looking over the damage his explosion caused.

  I climbed into the front seat while Reload got comfortable in the back. We needed to wait for Tóxica to shrink back into her human form, however, because she was larger than the damn car.

  As she returned to normal, climbing into the back with Reload, I called out to the crowd of prisoners that were just standing around. “You should start running, because that’s all the help we’re giving you. If they catch you again, you’ll be shit out of luck.”

  With that, Frank sped off, gaining as much distance as possible from the Disciples’ headquarters. Even if we didn’t kill any of the higher ups in their operation, this was a better success than I could hope for. Not only did we just land a humiliating blow against the Disciples, but we made sure that they won’t ever underestimate us again.

  The winter sun was already close to setting by the time we reached the motel. Frank decided to ditch the car in a different part of the city. There were multiple floors in the tower, and that meant at least a few henchmen could’ve spotted the car. We weren’t going to risk the Disciples finding where we lived.

  While Frank took his time dropping off the car and heading back, the rest of us got showered and changed. It was annoying that the Disciples stripped me, though, because I liked that outfit. At the very least, it felt like heaven to put in a new pair of contacts.

  When Frank came back, we all gathered in the meeting room. Tóxica had managed to remove any trace of the blood and death that had covered her earlier, and Reload was already wearing a new set of gold jewelry.

  “So, what’s our next move?” Reload asked, disassembling a pistol in his hands.

  “We’re gonna lay low and live off our newfound fortune,” I answered. “Think of it like a short vacation.”

  “What?” Reload tossed his pistol to the side, sending pieces flying across the room.

  “We barely made it out of their main base, and just one lieutenant joining the fight would’ve ended with us dead.” I answered his non-question, ignoring the mess he just made. “Their safehouses are changing, with new security measures that I don’t know about. I’m going to try and get in contact with anyone that will talk, and find out what they’re preparing.”

  “That’s a good decision,” Tóxica added.

  “Sorry, Reload, but I have to agree with Taker.” Frank put his arm around Reload’s shoulder, who was now sulking. “I just had to shoot out the windows of a packed deli to save you guys. Some time off would do us all some good.”

  “I didn’t call all of you here just for that, though,” I spoke up, hoping to lift the mood. “While they were holding me hostage, I gained a new power. It’s something I’ve honestly never seen before, and it’s going to be a gamechanger.”

  “Is it that grabbing someone’s heart out their chest thing that you talked about?” Reload asked.

  “No, it’s not that. Look, just let me show you.” While I would’ve shown off Poly’s ability, it was gone by the time we reached the motel. I wasn’t certain just how long I could hold a power with [Borrow], but it seemed to be under an hour.

  [Borrow] was my strongest power, and it was something that completely changed what fights we could take. The only issue was that I had no clue on how to use it best. I’d spent my childhood learning everything I could about supers, from the most infamous villains to oddballs with lackluster powers, but no one could do something like this.

  I extended my hand towards Reload and flexed, activating [Borrow]. It felt odd, like a burst of energy had been torn off of him, being sent into my palm. A small blue screen popped up in my vision, letting me know that it worked.

  [Secondary][Borrowed]: You can summon any weapon you know the construction of. The weapon will last 24 hours before disappearing.

  I closed my eyes, focusing on the idea of a combat knife, willing it into my hands. I opened my eyes, looking at them. “Check it out.”

  Their stares of interest and curiosity quickly turned into confusion, with some hints of concern. After a few moments that were far too silent, somebody spoke up.

  “What happened?” Tóxica asked.

  I looked at my hand, noticing that I wasn’t holding anything. I tried again to summon a knife, this time focusing on a plain knife. But even that wasn’t working, so I resorted to something simpler. My thoughts were focused on the construction of a single blade, with no handle. While I worked, the group just stared at me, growing more worried.

  After another minute of trying, I gave up. “Okay, fuck this. Reload, how does your power work?”

  “What? Which one?”

  “[Secondary]. How do you make a weapon? Tell me in as much detail as possible.“

  “Shit, alright, let me Ted Talk this. I just think of how the weapon looks, think about each part of it. Then I reach into my pocket and pull it out. If it’s something large, then I need to reach behind my back to grab it.”

  That.. wasn’t that surprising. I’d never seen him actually summon a weapon, he just pulled them out like a knockoff Bugs Bunny. Most powers had hidden aspects to them, limits and requirements that aren’t mentioned in the skill. When I used [Take], not only did I need to flex my palm, but I could only pull items that I could carry with one hand.

  Honestly, I didn’t care about guns more than the average person. But if I was going to have Reload as a lieutenant, I’d need to understand his powers as well as he did. If I was getting a power like this, I’d make sure to push it to the limit.

  I reached behind my back, thinking of nothing but a shining metal blade. And after a minute, I pulled my hand out, holding a sharp blade that could easily tear through flesh. All of them stared at the blade, their confusion turning into surprise.