Linh heard him before she saw him. In fact, she was pretty sure they heard him all the way over on the West Coast. Somewhere in Perth somebody's baby just started crying because this moron had woken them up.

  “JUSTICE BLADE!”

  Edgeblade, also known as Edgelord, or Brad, or just “Fuck Off” to his sister, arrived in a flash of purple light. He landed, swinging a huge blade of purple energy that extended from his arms.

  His shout gave the gangsters he was aiming at ample warning to dive to the side as an arc of energy swept out from his sword. It was probably a good thing too, as the energy blast smashed into a Ramen store, slicing the counter in half.

  “Oops,” Linh was probably the only one that heard his muttered words, and she sighed.

  “I’ll be right with you!” she told the advancing lizard man, holding up a finger.

  She teleported over to Edgeblade, roughly jamming a spare earpiece into his ear.

  “Oww!” he said, “What the fuck?”

  “Turn that on, don't fucking kill anyone, and do what Kestrel tells you,” she instructed him.

  “I don't have to listen…” he began, but Linh was already gone, teleporting back over to her end of the street. She quickly took out the feet of one of the few remaining criminals in her section, restraining him before turning to the lizard man.

  “Sorry about that, where were we?” she asked him.

  He growled in response, throwing a table at her. Linh smacked it to the side using her sleeves and met his charge hopping directly at him.

  He caught her foot, sliding backwards under the force of her impact, but keeping his grip.

  Her other foot caught him under the chin, and he dropped her out of reflex. She landed in a crouch, spinning, flicking one leg out behind her to sweep his legs out from underneath him. She rose as her spin finished, flinging arm out as she did.

  It was time to show off her new technique.

  She met the falling lizard man’s torso mid-air with an open palm, sending a stream of Chi into him. A flash of green light, and he exploded away from her, spinning through the air to crash senseless into a wall.

  Fuck yeah.

  “Nice one Rookie,” Sentinel said over the radio, and Linh grinned.

  “Thanks,” Brad said.

  “Not you,” Sentinel snapped, “Get out of my firing line.”

  Linh rolled her eyes, trust Brad to harsh the vibe of her new technique. She surveyed the scene. Things were almost under control.

  Her end was wrapped up, and Sentinel just had one more guy to take care of, while Edgeblade was proving to be surprisingly effective. Still, he had ruined her favourite noodle store. She would never forgive him for that.

  “I’m clear,” Linh reported, “Now what?”

  “We have stragglers inside the mall itself,” Kestrel reported, ”Get after them.”

  “Careful Rabbit, I can't follow,” Sentinel said, and Linh almost mistook that for legitimate concern for her.

  “I can handle that,” Edgeblade said, and Linh could almost hear the eye roll from Kestrel.

  “Back her up, but Rabbit leads,” Kestrel replied.

  “Going in,” Linh reported, dashing towards the mall.

  There were shops and people everywhere, this was going to be a mess. Like going into a warren, one filled with badly washed dudes who wanted to crush her skull.

  But that was okay, because she was born for burrows, she was a rabbit after all.

  “Everyone stay calm!” Brad shouted as he ran into the mall.

  “You know,” Jade Rabbit said into his ear, “That is exactly what you should yell if you want people to panic.”

  Brad clenched his fist. This bitch. First she stole his place in the team. His fucking destiny, and now she was lecturing him. HIM.

  “Mind your fucking business,” he snapped back.

  “Mind your language,” she replied.

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  He ignored her. She would get hers later. Right now he needed to focus on showing Beacon the mistake he had made.

  “Where are they?” he demanded of the woman in his headset. Kestrel, he assumed. It rankled to be taking instructions from her, but he had to play along. He had no idea why the eye candy was running the show over Beacon or Sentinel, but it wasn't his place to question. Not yet at least.

  “There's one in the Velour behind you,” Kestrel replied.

  “The what?”

  The woman sighed, “The clothing store.”

  Brad spun, there were like six. None of them had names on the front, and they were all fucking identical.

  “Which?” he growled, frustrated.

  “The one with the shoes in the window,” Kestrel replied.

  Right, that narrowed it down to three.

  He decided to take a guess. He sprinted into a store, looking around.

  Nothing. For fucks sake.

  A scream from his right drew his attention.

  There.

  He dashed back out and into the correct store to find a richly dressed woman being held at gunpoint by a thug. He had his arm wrapped around her head, barrel of a pistol pressed against her temple.

  Well, shit.

  “Easy man, let her go,” Brad tried, holding his hands up.

  “Back the fuck off, or this bitch’s brains go all over the floor,” the thug shouted.

  “No one needs to get hurt here,” Brad said.

  The guy retreated a step, the hostage crying, doing her best to stifle her terror.

  “Back the fuck up man!”

  “I need a hand here,” Brad whispered, “He’s got a hostage.”

  Brad took a step forward.

  “Easy, just drop the gun, and we can sort this out,” Brad said, brain racing. What the fuck was he supposed to do in a hostage situation?

  “I said back up!” the guy shouted, adjusting his aim to point the gun directly at Brad.

  Brad froze.

  “Don't do it,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm.

  Then a flash of light. Brad closed his eyes, waiting for the pain… which never came.

  He opened his eyes to see Jade Rabbit standing over the guy, who was tied up in those ridiculous sleeves of hers.

  “You good?” she asked.

  Brad nodded, heart pounding.

  “Hold this one, I’ve got one more to chase,” she said. Then she was gone in a shower of flower petals.

  Linh found the last guy hiding in a toilet stall. Of course he had to have chosen the men’s.

  “Eww,” Linh said, staring at the urinal on the wall. Boys were so gross.

  “Got him,” she reported, dragging the guy out by his collar. She was even nice enough to pull him around the wet patches. She was a hero, after all.

  “Is that all clear?” she asked, heading back out to the street.

  “It is,” Kestrel replied, “Good work Rabbit.”

  “Pile them up,” Sentinel said, “Bus is almost here.”

  Linh dragged the guy outside, adding him to the pile of groaning and restrained criminals. She spotted the two guys she had tied together earlier. Their heads were still butting each other. She rolled her eyes, walking over to separate the two and… they weren't fighting.

  “What the actual fuck?” Linh thought, turning away, face going red. Emotions ran hot in a fight, but still…

  Putting the enemies-turned-lovers out of her mind, she headed back into the mall. Brad hadn't said anything for a while, she should probably check on him.

  She found him standing where she had left him.

  “You okay?” she asked. He was an asshole, but having a gun pointed at your head was scary the first time it happened.

  He blinked, and shook himself.

  “I’m fine,” he snapped, “Mind your own business.”

  Linh shrugged, looks like he wanted to play it that way. Well, she could oblige him.

  She stepped up, and pulled the comm out of his ear, making sure to pinch his lobe as she did so.

  “Pleasure saving your ass,” she said, wiping the comm on the pants of the guy who Brad was supposed to be dragging out to pile. She hoisted the captive by the belt, dragging him out and leaving the dick to his own brooding. The unconscious criminal was better company anyway.

  “That's the last of them,” Linh said, “Grabbed our comm back too.”

  “Nice work,” Kestrel said, “Wait for the bus, then head back to base for the debrief.

  Linh sighed. It was going to be a long night.

  “I don't suppose any of you know how to write an essay?” Linh asked, looking at the pile of criminals.

  Lizard tentatively raised his cuffed hands. Well, the man who was formerly a lizard. The power restricting cuffs had transformed him back.

  “What's the topic?” he asked.

  An hour later Linh was on her way back to the HQ, the criminals all on their way to the holding cells, and a slip of paper in her pocket with some surprisingly good ideas from Not-Lizard about how she could connect the concept of loneliness to the recurring imagery of individual carnations that was prevalent throughout the assigned work in her English assignment.

  She would pass those notes on to Jazz later, making sure to not tell her friend how she got them.

  Linh arrived in the briefing room to find Kestrel and Sentinel waiting for her.

  “Nice work team,” Kestrel said when Linh took her seat, “Got it wrapped up with minimal injuries.”

  Sentinel nodded, “You did well Rabbit, but there is room for improvement.”

  Linh sighed, it was time for her review it seemed.

  “What did I do wrong this time?” she asked.

  “You stopped to eat mid incident, for one,” Sentinel said.

  “I was hungry!” Linh protested, “Besides, I did it to keep people from panicking.”

  Kestrel raised an eyebrow, “In what way does that help?” she asked, more out of curiosity than doubt.

  Linh shrugged, “Well, if people see me relaxed and sassing, they’ll relax too. Like, how bad can it be if the Super Hero has enough time to snack?”

  Kestrel stared, then looked at Sentinel, “She’s got a point,” she admitted.

  Sentinel shook his head, “Please don't make a habit of that,” he replied.

  Linh grinned at him, “No promises,” she said, and he sighed.

  “Rookies…” he muttered.

  He liked her.

  “So what else?” Linh asked, turning to Kestrel. She settled in for a long evening of paperwork and debriefing.

  It was close to midnight when Linh got back to Jazz’s place. She probably would have gone straight home and collected her stuff the next day, but she left her phone in her bag, and she needed that on her at all times.

  The lights were off when she got there, so she snuck up to the small ledge outside Jazz’s window. It was dark in the room, so Linh just tapped lightly on the window before teleporting in as quietly as possible.

  She froze.

  Jazz was lying in bed, arms wrapped around a plush rabbit that Linh had bought the other girl for her birthday when they were both eight. Jazz had been jealous of Pom Pom, so Linh had found a plushie that looked as similar as she could find to give her.

  Jazz was in her pajamas, a tank top that had ridden up to reveal an expanse of smooth, toned stomach and a pair of short shorts. Her friend had kicked off the covers in her sleep.

  Linh’s bag lay in the corner. There was a note lying on top.

  “You better not be hurt,” it said, in Jazz’s tidy handwriting. Linh’s heart clenched. She loved being a hero. She hated how it made her friend worried.

  Linh left the paper containing the essay notes on top of Jazz’s laptop, the paper folded in half with the words “Sorry for ditching, hope this helps,” scrawled on it.

  Linh grabbed her bag, and turned to leave. Then she hesitated. She turned back, and tucked Jazz back in, staring at her friend’s sleeping face for a bit. She really was so pretty, especially when she relaxed. It was so rare to see her vulnerable like this, even for Linh.

  Linh blinked, she was tired, despite her powers. She better get home. Jazz was going to demand a full recounting of the day first thing in the morning.

  She stared at the bed, considering. She could just crawl into the bed. Jazz wouldn't mind. She could curl up and sleep here. But no, she had to get home. She needed to get changed and help Mum set up in the morning. She turned back to the window, sparing one last glance to Jazz’s relaxed features.

  Linh teleported out into the night, and began the long hop home.