(January 6th, 2030)

  Within the Shining Darkness’ factory hideout, the new Urban Strikers gathered around Hardwire’s laptop to watch the emergency news. The report that showed a video of Shining Darkness busting the Council of Chaos from Gehenna concluded by stating that a federal warrant for the Super Mask’s arrest would be issued.

  While the news went on, Hardwire hastily turned his computer off. As Hardwire shook anxiously, Shining Darkness took stock of his new coworkers’ reactions. While he and Hardwire knew this had to be more deep-fake nonsense from the Ravagers, he wasn’t sure the others would come to the same conclusion.

  Across the mixed reactions, the Howler, Dannie Dynamite, and Bowstring all looked concerned but non-aggressive, Dhampire seemed tense but thoughtful, while Sonic Siren was the only one who appeared ready to pounce.

  Quickly, she turned the dials on her gauntlets to max, producing a painful whine, and pointed them at Shine and Hardwire.

  Fortunately, just as fast as his daughter, Howler slapped her hands down and yelled, “The Hell do you think you’re doing, young lady?!”

  Stepping away from her father, Siren pointed at Shine and stated, “What am I doing? He really is working with the Council of Chaos! We need to take him down!”

  With full parental authority, Holwer shoved his finger at Siren and stated, “You’re gonna knock that off right now and start thinking, little Ms!”

  “What?” Siren spat while Shine and Hardwire relaxed, as it became clear the other Masks understood the situation.

  “There’s about two good reasons why what you’re trying for’s a dumb idea,” Dhampire cut in coldly. “First,” he said as he gestured at Shine. “Bowstring and I have personally witnessed this guy rip a car in half and block a bullet. What the fuck do you think we can do to him? Second, that footage said the prison break happened today. And Hardwire’s got footage of Shiney at Disaster Prison, whereas Gehenna’s in Neo York.”

  “Also, you need to have your helmet on if you’re gonna fire your weapons at that level,” Howler added paternally, deeply irritated by his kid’s recklessness.

  Defiantly frustrated, Siren argued desperately, “M-Maybe he… He’s fast. Maybe he raced there and back. Or maybe Hardwire’s footage is fake.”

  “I’m not that fast,” Conner replied both defensively and self-loathingly.

  Baffled, Hardwire retorted, “Why would I make deep-fakes of Shine busting through Disaster? I didn’t know you guys were coming. And do you have any idea how long it’d take to make an A.I. video that realistic and long?”

  Still desperate, Siren gritted looked to Dannie and Bowstring, both of whom returned her gaze with dismissive disapproval. Emotionally defeated, Siren looked down and dialed her gauntlets low.

  Simultaneously, Hardwire’s helmeted face lit up as he exclaimed, “Hey! That’s it!”

  “What’s it?” Shine asked, happy to move on from Siren’s bad attitude.

  Turning his computer back on, Hardwire started working as he explained, “I can publicly release the footage of you at Disaster alongside a breakdown of all the A.I. giveaways in the video of you busting the Council of Chaos out. Oh, and I can do the same for that fake interview with King Chaos. After that, I can see if I can track down whoever’s making these fake vids."

  “Hrm… But my break-in to Disaster could still cause some serious legal issues,” Shine remarked as the other Masks looked impressed.

  As he kept typing, Hardwire explained, “It’s better than people thinking you’re working with the Super Crooks. And the conspiracy uncovering’ll probably take some heat off the breaking-and-entering.”

  While Conner contemplated the pros and cons of John’s plan, Bowstring approached and nudged him as she stated confidently, “Kid, you really don’t have to worry. You’re the most famous Mask out there, so you’ve got the people on your side. So long as you’ve got that and even a bit of proof in your corner, you’re safe from just about anything the law can throw at you.”

  “I- Hmm.” Bowstring’s words did ease Shine’s worries, but they also reminded him of their prior debate. For a moment, he worried more about the unjust abuse of power a person in his position could indulge in.

  Thoroughly sickening himself, Shine cleared his thoughts, looked over Bowtring, and asked the others, “Does everyone else agree with this?”

  With varying enthusiasm, the other Masks acknowledged that Bowstring’s logic was sound.

  Shine had a hint of a frown at that, as he stepped away from Bowstring, and asked everyone, “Okay, well, if we think we’ve got this news story as handled as we can, then we’ve got other missions to delegate.”

  “Alright. We’re all ears, Shine,” Howler told him confidently. Before anyone could agree, Shine ignited himself.

  As he startled the other Masks, the boyish uncertainty was replaced with burning certainty, and he explained, “First off, I’m going to have my flames on while we talk. It’ll help anyone here with longstanding injuries recover… Howler, you might not need those hearing aids by the time we’re done talking.”

  A bit floored, Howler instinctively squinted at the light that wasn’t actually bothering his eyes and remarked, “Really now? Wish I’d asked you to get on that sooner.”

  As Dhampire and Bowstring remarked about some old wounds they’d be eager to be rid of, and Siren eyed her dad hopefully, Dannie Dynamite wordlessly touched the scorched quarter of her head. For the first time since she took her mask off, she stopped smiling and instead seemed wistfully stoic.

  In truth, Shine didn’t know if his powers would heal Dannie, but considering he’d healed a crippled spine and regrown a missing chunk in Death Head’s ear, he was silently optimistic.

  “Alright, first off, what should be our number one priority right now?” Shine asked while gesturing at Hardwire’s computer, the owner of which was too tunnel-visioned to notice. “Before now, I would’ve wanted us all to focus on the Ravagers. But with the Council of Chaos out of prison, do you guys think I should chase them down and leave the Ravagers to the rest of you until they’re dealt with?”

  All the new Urban Strikers contemplated this question deeply. The first to speak up, though, was Dhampire.

  “We should focus everything we’ve got on the Ravagers first. You included,” the fake-vampire answered. “The Ravagers are a more immediate threat, and if they have as much governmental power as it seems, we’ll need you to be the front line against them.”

  Bowstring spoke up next, remarking, “Also, we need to let things improve around your image and the Council of Chaos for a little bit. If you go out and catch them right away, it could come across as you having planned it to make yourself look good.”

  Shine was angered at this sound logic. Firstly, over his desire to stop King Chaos before he killed anyone else. But he also held an urge to get a rematch against the Super Crooks, after how easy he’d taken it against them the first time, and how much that had cost him.

  However, if Shine wanted to save lives, then stopping the Ravagers was likely a top priority. After all, Conner had read enough dystopian future manga to imagine just how many people this corrupt deep state was likely killing every day.

  He might be more flashy about it, but it’s a number I doubt King Chaos could ever match.

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  After thinking it over, Shine responded, “Okay, those are good points. Well then, I have a list of tasks that need people assigned to them. First, I’ve built a bunker in the middle of nowhere that I’m going to transport some people I have reasons to believe the Ravagers are going to target. My police liaison is going to provide some volunteers as security for the place, but we should discuss having one of us stationed there, too. We can take some time to figure out who, if anyone, is going.”

  “I’d get to stay away from you and keep some people safe? That sounds nice,” Siren grumbled.

  Immediately, Howler bapped her shoulder and snapped, “Seriously! Enough of that!” He then told Shine, “That sounds solid, Shining Darkness. We can get the details sorted later, but either Siren or I can probably handle it. You’ve got more, right?”

  “Yes, thank you,” Shine replied tactfully. “If I’m going to be focused on pursuing the Ravagers, at least one of us should investigate the history of Issac Turner and his brother. We only know what the news has told us, and that’s sparse at best, to downright unreliable.”

  “Oh. Leo and I can handle that,” Bowstring chimed in.

  “Yeah. Sounds like the best use of our skills,” Dhampire added as he stroked his chin stubble and grinned.

  That’s what I was thinking. Shine thought with a modicum of pride at getting Dhampire to follow orders by framing them as a general suggestion.

  As Shine nodded, he told the couple, “If you two want the task, take it. As for the last part, once Hardwire figures out who is behind the fake videos, I’ll go confront them. Until then…” He then approached Dynamite and asked, “Dannie?”

  Immediately, she pulled out a notepad and pen from one of her bandoliers and signed her name with a flourish. “Here ya go, kiddo,” Dannie stated jovially as she offered her autograph to Conner.

  Wordlessly, Conner took the paper, gently folded it, and carefully put it into his utility belt. He then explained, “No, I was going to ask for your help with a personal project.”

  “Oh? What’s up?”

  “Well, since everyone else seems to be busy, I was hoping you could help train a new recruit.”

  A touch puzzled, Dannie pouted faintly and replied, “A new…? Uh, sure. But with how fast things are moving, I don’t know if we’ll have the time to train them up to our standards.”

  Pride gleamed across Conner’s smile as he explained, “Well, she’s in decent shape, but still not on a Mask’s level. All I’m asking is to help her become competent. See, she’s actually figured out how to use the same sort of Magic that the Ravagers have. So, she should be able to make up the difference with that.”

  “Magic?! Really? How’d she do that?!” Dannie asked as the other Masks listened in with equal interest.

  “We’re… still figuring that one out, actually. It just recently happened,” Shine explained with mild embarrassment as his audience turned visibly disappointed. “But we’ve got time to talk and speculate. She’s getting fitted for a uniform at Fate’s place, and I’d like to give my flames another hour to heal everyone before we start moving out.”

  |X|

  The woman known to Miracle City’s Masks as Fate was their go-to woman for uniform design and tailoring. She was an older woman who, whenever she worked with a Mask, wore a veil.

  Currently, in Fate’s secondary workshop, she was taking the measurements for Lana Kristian, Conner McClain’s second-oldest friend and, as of late, his girlfriend. Save for her underwear, Lana was undressed for the process.

  Objectively, Lana had dragged herself into the middle of what could be the most horrible experience of her already hard life thus far. Despite it all, she couldn’t help but smile like a child as her heart pounded with excitement.

  While others might think she was walking into Hell against powers beyond her comprehension, to Lana, such hardships sounded like paradise: Magical powers, fighting evil leaders, and an adventure with her friends? What more could a girl with a love for fantasy ask for? So what if she might be fighting for the rest of her life against monsters who’d want her dead or worse? She would finally be free from the Hell of mundanity she’d hated her whole life.

  As Fate brushed some of Lana’s red hair off her chest to take measurements, she remarked, “I can see why the Shining Darkness likes you enough to bring you to me.”

  Throughout the fitting, Lana had been telling Fate her ideas for the book she’d been trying to write, and so she replied, “My, uh, creative spark and happy attitude?”

  “I’m sure there’s that, but you’re also just pretty,” Fate stated bluntly. “Lovely red hair, eyes like pristine grass, and perfect skin.” Then, as Fate checked Lana’s measurements, she mischiefly chuckled, “Not to mention how filled out you are in the right places for a man’s eye. The boy’s built like a Greek god, makes sense he’d want a woman like you.”

  Lana blushed faintly and went to cover her apparently ample chest, but smirked and rolled her eyes at the older woman’s attitude. However, one detail of Fate’s praise caught her attention even more once she thought about it.

  “Wait? Perfect skin? I don’t… have… What the-?” As Lana half-muttered her response, she lowered her arm, looked at her torso, and questioned if her eyes were busted. “Where’d my scars go?”

  “Well, I didn’t put them anywhere,” Fate answered with mock-defensiveness. “But I don’t even see any acne scars on you, girl.”

  As Fate went to grab something, Lana kept staring at her torso before she remembered what Conner said about his flames and eyes. The glow from them was supposed to heal people; she even saw him heal the scars off Death Head. As for herself, Lana had spent ample time around Conner in his powered-up state. All the exposure must have healed all her old scars.

  How she hadn’t recognized this until now was a mystery to Lana, one which she’d already started kicking herself over.

  More amused than frustrated, though, Lana started to smile again. Although she’d be happy to be rid of all her scars, there were three she’d miss. The first was one on her right hand, which she’d gotten from punching a boy in the mouth in elementary school who’d stolen and burned her latest volume of the Dragon Crystal manga. As for the other two…

  “Oh well. I guess I’m not a woman anymore,” Lana feigned fretting over.

  Puzzled, Fate poked her head out of a clothing rack and asked, “I’m sorry. What’s that now?”

  Pointing at her abdomen, Lana giggled and explained, “See, growing up, I got stabbed a couple times. Here and here. In Hive Town, everyone says you’re not an adult ‘till you’ve got at least one hole in you. My buddies were always jealous I was the first of us to get stabbed, but now I’ve lost bragging rights… Thank God, am I right?”

  Fate shuddered a bit once Lana had finished her merry reminiscing over being maimed, and replied, “I forget sometimes just how bad you Hive Town kids have it. Thank God is right.”

  The veiled woman then produced a leaf-green body suit, held it up to Lana, and muttered, “Okay, this looks good.” Handing Lana the cloth, Fate told her, “Alright. Try this on for me.”

  Hesitant at first, Lana looked for an opening in the outfit before she tentatively pulled on the neck hole. It wasn’t until Fate assured her that the outfit was built to be stretched that Lana fully opened it and climbed in.

  Once she had the suit on, Lana was amazed by its tough make yet soft and flexible feel against her skin, even as it hugged her body as tightly as Conner’s Shining Darkness uniform did for him. And when Lana saw how it looked in the mirror, she thought it complemented her nicely.

  Briefly, Lana imagined herself and her boyfriend in their uniforms, warmly embracing each other. Quickly, she was snapped out of her fantasy when Fate held a metal plate against her torso.

  It sounded like Fate was biting her lip as she examined Lana and the metal in her hand. “Alright, the fabric’ll be the base, and then we’ll put some armor on your limbs. Especially the joints. Then we’ll need to decide if you can handle having plating over your whole torso, just your chest, or just your core. You said you wanted to stay mobile after all… If you had to pick one, I’d suggest your core. The metal needed to sculpt around your girls might weigh you down.”

  Is she just jealous, or is she just being practical? Lana wondered, a bit annoyed now at how much attention Fate was drawing to her body. Hmmmmm… Okay, well, she is a tailor. I guess it’s normal.

  Fate then grabbed two more rolls of green fabric, one a shade brighter than Lana’s body suit, and the other a shade darker.

  “We could make some patterns or line work on the suit with this,” Fate said as she held up the light green roll. She then held the dark green up to Lana’s face and remarked, “And this would work well as your mask. It’d complement your eyes, too.”

  Lana liked what she was hearing, but before she could comment, Fate undid some of the darker roll, wrapped the fabric around Lana’s waist, and stated, “Oh yeah! That’d look great as the skirt you wanted… I’ll need to shorten it to keep it practical, though. Probably only halfway down your thighs. What do you think?”

  “Well…” Lana answered hesitantly to give her brain time to work. “I’ll have this suit on under it, so it should be fine. So long as it can make the skirt work, I’ll be happy.”

  Although her face was concealed, Lana could tell how proud Fate was from her straightened posture.

  Setting the rolls aside, Fate started sketching on a notepad as she told Lana, “Alright. I’ll hammer out some more details for your suit tonight. I’ll have it finishedin a week.” She then pointed at Lana with her pen and hastily added, “And you can keep that undersuit if you want. I have plenty more in that color. Twenty dollars is all. Consider it a first-time discount.”

  Excited at the offer, Lana answered, “Oh, cool. I’ve got that much in my bag. Gimme a sec.”

  As Lana walked off the fitting stand and leaned over to get her backpack, she failed to hear the sound of two sets of feet walking down the steps to Fate’s basement.