“That’s the last one,” I said, taping the cardboard box shut. “Um, not that I don’t enjoy hanging out, but why’d you ask me over to pack? It took like, half an hour.”

  “Do I need an excuse to hang out with my-- my girlfriend?” Amy asked, cocking her head.

  “I guess not,” I said with a shrug. “So, uh, what did you want to do?”

  “Maybe...watch some TV?” Amy said, gesturing to the couch. “Dunno what’s on but like, we can probably find something.”

  “Ehh, okay.”

  We headed over to the couch and got settled in. It was our first ‘date’, such as it was, since we’d talked and I couldn’t help feeling a little antsy about it. I put an arm around her back as we got comfortable, and she slumped down on the couch until her head could rest on my shoulder. It was kind of awkward, since Amy had a full head over me, but comfortable enough.

  It made me wish I could stop my heart from beating, or at least make it quiet down a little. I was probably keeping Amy from enjoying the dog show she’d settled on watching after a few minutes flicking through the channels. I was practically burning up too, probably cooking her head, but for whatever reason she didn’t seem to mind. After a few minutes, I had to push her off just so I could take my jacket off and be vaguely comfortable. She laid on me as soon as I’d settled down.

  Ugh, and I was sweaty too, of course. As subtly as I could, I leaned my head down and sniffed. Okay, I didn’t stink at least so probably wasn’t disturbing her with that. I caught a faint scent of whatever soap Amy used, some kind of floral thing. That made sense for her, and it was better than--

  “Shit!” I swore as my phone belted out an alert that made my stomach churn. That off-key, two-tone alarm that only meant one thing.

  Endbringer.

  “What is it?” Amy asked, pulling away as I scrambled for my phone, eyes wide.

  “No, no, no it’s too early,” I said, reading the text. “Fuck. We need to go, Behemoth’s going to arrive in India soon.”

  “What?!” she shrieked.

  “I told you this was coming,” I snapped. “It’s just too fucking soon. Whatever, let’s go.”

  I grabbed her hand and pulled her off the couch, ignoring her groan of fear. Right, last Endbringer attack had been here and basically ruined her life. But things would be different now. I retrieved my jacket and mask while she pulled on a set of sweats and a medical mask, then tied her hair back. A minute later, we were out the door and charging downstairs.

  Amy stopped in the lobby, where the rest of the Wards and Protectorate heroes were gathered. I only paused to offer a brief apology, then scrambled down to my quarters and changed into my costume faster than I ever had before. I was back up within five minutes and found half the heroes had already vanished. I joined Amy and the other Wards, huffing and puffing from my headlong sprint.

  “Someone’s getting their exercise,” Clockblocker said dryly, though I could sense a bit of nerves in his voice. He was fiddling with his gauntlet, a new toy they’d made for him after Echidna.

  “Fuck,” I wheezed. “Off. Hey, where’s Autumn?”

  “Can’t do dick and ball against Behemoth,” Crucible replied. “She’s search and rescue, already headed out. That’s what you’re doing too.”

  “I...okay.” I sighed. “I guess I can’t really do anything against him, have to get too damn close.”

  “Exactly,” Clockblocker said. “Amy, you—”

  “Pandora,” she said.

  “What?”

  “Going by ‘Pandora’ for now,” Amy explained, tapping her mask. “Um, rebranding.” Clockblocker stared at her for a moment, then sighed.

  “Okay, whatever,” he said. “Pandora, you’re obviously going to be dealing with casualties. Gonna try and keep you away from the thick of the fighting. He hasn’t surfaced yet, but there’s a hell of a lot of earthquakes going on in Northern India. Dragon and Defiant raised the alarm, they’re on site observing for us.”

  “Where’s he coming out?” I asked, getting a shrug.

  “Northern India, like I said,” Clockblocker answered. “You’ll know more as soon as I do.”

  Both places I’d noted were in the north, so I gave him a nod and backed off. Amy, or Pandora, came over to me and took my hand, but stayed quiet. I gave it a tight squeeze and offered her a smile-- mask, dammit. It looked like she might have been smiling back behind hers though. I felt an icy finger of fear up my back and shivered.

  “Be careful,” I said quietly.

  “That’s my line,” Amy retorted. “I’m not the one who’ll be traipsing through the radioactive wasteland he’ll be leaving behind.”

  “Okay, fair,” I sighed. “Can you blame me for being worried though?”

  “No, as long as you don’t blame me.”

  “Okay lovebirds, break it up,” Clockblocker said. “Our ride’s here.”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  I looked up and saw a swirling, dark cloud rapidly dissipating, leaving a cloaked figure behind. They sagged, seeming to pant heavily for a moment, but recovered soon enough and gestured for us to come over. We shared a look, then followed the other Wards in joining Miss Militia and Adamant with the teleporter. The dark grey clouds thickened around us like thunderheads, and with a loud ‘crack’ they began to quickly vanish, revealing a pristine lake with dozens of heroes lining the banks.

  Wait, lake? Behemoth attacked a city I recalled, but I couldn’t see anything besides a scattering of buildings on the far shore, barely enough to be a town. I recognized Chevalier as he marched towards us, flanked by Ursa Aurora and another cape wearing iridescent purple armour and a mask shaped like a woman's serene-looking face. I let go of Amy’s hand as they joined us.

  “Good to see you, Miss Militia,” Chevalier said, surveying our group. “Wards, Panace—”

  “Pandora,” Amy interrupted, drawing more than a couple glares.

  “My apologies, you reminded me of someone else,” he recovered quickly. I guess heroes weren’t asking too many questions about shifting identities lately. “Your powers?”

  “A healer,” she answered with a shrug.

  “Right, with Vala here,” he said, gesturing to the purple hero. “Anyone for SAR as well, with her. If you’re fighting, come and join us, we’ll fill you in.” I followed Amy and Vala as she led us downhill.

  “Villages by the shore got an evac notice about half an hour ago because of quakes,” Vala explained as we headed down. Through the trees, I could see a massive dam rising up. Oh fuck. “Right now we’re predicting Behemoth somewhere along the north shore, going off the seismic activity Dragon is measuring. Our aid camp is set up here on the south bank.” She pointed ahead at a wide clearing with dozens of tents set up.

  “I suppose we’re not guessing what his target is?” I said as Amy joined the various nurses and capes dotting the area; she probably knew her place in these fights better than me.

  “One of the largest in the country,” Vala said, gesturing for me to follow her further down the hill. “We’re going to hold him back, more heroes than ever have turned out for this one. Somehow we got a tip off days in advance, not even that far off. You ever hear of a precog able to predict that stuff?”

  “Never,” I lied. “So uh, why’re we going into the splash zone?”

  “Because even though people have got an evac order, some could have been missed,” she replied. “This area isn’t the best connected, despite the dam. Civilians are working further downstream, where they’ll at least have some warning if—”

  The rumbling of a violent earthquake cut her off and made her drop to her knees. I stopped and stood still, and as long as I did it really wasn’t that bad. A quirk of my projection? That was kind of interesting, but right now it really didn’t matter all that much, beyond allowing me to help Vala up.

  We charged down the hill, a break in the trees let me see colourfully costumed heroes on the far bank of the river doing the same. Ahead I could see a scattering of houses, not the best construction but I’d probably slept in worse places. We paused in the little village’s square, or at least the rough center of all the buildings. A few other heroes joined us shortly, and one of them dressed in vibrant orange and blue robes spoke shortly to the others in some foreign language; or more likely, India’s language...whatever that was.

  He approached us and gave us brief, accented instructions to go door to door. No answer meant a search, they weren’t taking chances. Vala and I took off in two separate directions, sprinting from house to house, pounding on doors before kicking them in and trying to find anyone left behind. At the third door, an older woman answered, speaking a language that sounded sort of like what the hero had been speaking.

  “Sorry I don’t know what you’re saying,” I said, speaking slowly. I gestured with my hands, beckoning. “We need to leave. You’re in danger. Danger.” She spoke again, sounding a bit angry. She began to shut the door and I jammed my foot in, turning my head. “Hey! I don’t speak Indian, can someone hel—”

  “What is the trouble?” the robed hero asked, descending from above. “Ah.”

  He looked at the woman and frowned, then spoke quickly. Whatever the exchange was, the old woman opened the door and tottered out once I’d moved aside. The hero picked her up, then flew off. A thunderclap echoed and I craned my neck. Massive bolts of lighting were pouring down over the lake; Behemoth was here and he was pissed.

  I moved on, trying to ignore the almost constant tremors and the sickening smell of sulphur. Had to trust everyone fighting to do their job, and I had to do mine. I wasn’t sure where we were, but I was starting to doubt that Indian cape with the bomb would be any help. Christ alive, that meant we were waiting for Scion. How long would that take? I couldn’t worry about that right now, had to focus on trying to save people.

  A house ahead of me collapsed, and I swore I’d heard a scream. I charged over and started sifting through the rubble, calling out for an answer, or any sign of someone trapped below. Vala joined me a moment later, hands glowing purple as she laid them on the rubble. It swiftly crumbled away under her touch, leaving a five inch circle of nothing under each palm. The hell was that?

  Couldn’t worry about that. I perked up as a groan echoed out under me, or under the large metal sheet that had once been part of a roof. I quickly hopped off and called Vala over, pointing to where I’d heard the noise coming from. She carefully shuffled up and reached out, hands shimmering with her power. I saw the metal rust and the paint rot at impossible speeds, and within seconds there were two holes like I’d seen before.

  I shook my head and stepped over to one of the holes, sticking both arms inside. Using my projection, I pushed it wider until the two holes had joined. Vala had widened it enough that, with my modifications, I was able to slip through and land on a pile of rubble below. It was in the corner of what had maybe been a basement, and across from me I saw a woman laying face down, unmoving.

  I ran over and checked her pulse, breathing a sigh of relief; it was there, but thready. I yelled to Vala, and a moment later she joined me. She ran two, glowing fingers over a bloody patch on the back of the woman’s head, then swiftly down her spine before the glow cut out. I didn’t ask questions, it wasn’t the time. We stirred the woman and helped her from the basement, and a hero that spoke Indian directed her to safety.

  “What was that?” I asked as we ran further down the hill, on to another village. “Your power, I mean.”

  “Time dilation,” Vala replied. “Make things move faster through time, means I can speed up peoples’ natural healing, or turn rubble into nothing. Have to be careful, using it on people.”

  “I bet,” I said.

  “You? Some kind of forcefield?”

  “Projection,” I corrected. “No super strength, but it displaces things. Can also take a hit like nothing else.”

  “Why aren’t you fighting?” she asked, sounding irritated.

  “I get near him, I die,” I said shortly. “And I can’t do dick if I can’t grab him. Again, no super strength.”

  “Shitty.” I could only nod in agreement. “Brave of you to be out here then, we—”

  A tremendous rumble cut her off and threw her tumbling to the ground. Even I stumbled and fell as the ground physically shifted under my feet. I clambered up as a deafening roar drowned out Vala’s shouting at me. I turned and froze, eyes widening as a torrent of water ripped through the trees towards us. Vala screamed something a split second before it crashed over us, sending me tumbling through inky black water. I thrashed and fought as debris pummeled me. Not again not aga