Light Master groggily pulled himself up, looking around and taking stock of his surroundings. Steel floor and ceiling, three featureless walls, a security camera, a heavy door, a bed, and washroom facilities.
Where was this? How had he gotten here?
Memories slowly filtered in, fuzzy and confused. The attack on the city. His fight with Whiplash. Their Miracles vanishing. Mist choking him until everything went black.
He roared and punched the floor, then got up and ran at the door, throwing his full weight against it. It barely even shuddered, but man did his shoulder hurt now.
Brute force wouldn't work. Besides, based on the hinges, this door opened inward anyway. And there was no handle for him to pull on.
Time for a Miracle. He stepped back and charged power in his hands, ready to unleash a laser at the door. One way or another, he was getting out of here. Achilles would be worried otherwise.
Except no laser appeared in his hands. Light Master cried out in frustration and tried again.
Nothing.
Whatever had taken his Miracle away was still at work. It seemed to happen when Mist was around, so had she captured him and taken him back to the Phalanx's hideout? Somehow they could erase Miracles.
"Come out, you cowards!" Light Master yelled, kicking the door as hard as he could. The impact ran up his leg, making him even more annoyed. He started screaming louder, throwing out every curse and insult he could think of, even ones that he wasn't allowed to say yet. If his mother heard him, she'd be furious.
But the situation called for it. If he made enough of a nuisance, Mist would surely come to gloat about it. Bad guys always did. And then he could turn the tables on her, free himself, and deliver them all to the Legion. Achilles would be so proud of him.
"The Phalanx are a bunch of smelly assholes!"
Light Master continued with the insults until long after his voice had gone hoarse. Only when his voice no longer worked properly at all did he collapse into a ball and start sobbing.
He'd kept screaming to chase away the terror the situation instilled in him. Tanner knew what bad guys did to good guys. And without a Miracle to fight them off, what chance did he have?
Despair settled on him as he forced his hoarse voice to keep shouting. Forced his hands to stop shaking. Forced his heart to stay strong.
He was a superhero. Superheroes didn't give in, even when things looked hopeless.
His Miracle had come back before. It would find him again when he needed it most.
All Light Master had to do was wait for the end of his darkest hour.
Jacob sullenly sat in the cell, occasionally flicking his wrist in the hopes that chains would appear like they had before. Ever since Mist had knocked him out the last time, his Miracle had been gone. That in itself didn't bother him nearly as much as the implications.
Angela loved things that were useful to her and hated things that were useless. Whenever anyone outgrew their usefulness, they were thrown away without a second thought in the best case. In the worst case, she made them a target of vengeance. If she found out that the thing that had made him shine brilliantly for her was gone, what would she do?
He'd done everything right, hadn't he? No, he'd made mistakes. Like saving Jase's ass back when they were teenagers. Like letting that bastard walk away scot-free from Angela. He should have beat him and that girl he adopted to a pulp ages ago.
But he hadn't. And as the years went on, they drifted farther and farther away from him. He hadn't even seen Jase in a few years. Only when the Miracles came to the forefront had that girl showed up, along with the other ragtag castoffs Angela no longer wanted. And as Angela's desire to see them destroyed heated up, so had Jacob's. Why did Jase get to be free?
Not that it mattered anymore. Desperation didn't seize Jacob in that moment, like it had in so many moments before. No, he only felt weary. Like he'd finally given up and accepted whatever his fate would be. This was where Jacob Hinton ended.
And maybe he was okay with that. No Miracle, no use to anyone, he'd just rot away in prison until starvation took him.
It was surely better than Angela deciding he'd betrayed her.
Aubrey didn't make it back to Solstice's hideout until long after everyone else. Guilt welled up in her the moment she set eyes on the new girl Mist had brought in.
"Aubrey!" Niko ran up to her, helping support her as she half collapsed against his shoulder. She quivered like she was in a freezer, fighting tears.
"You okay?" Jase asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Team meeting," she managed to choke out. Niko helped her to the common room, where he sat her on a sofa and stayed next to her. Jase went to get Bryce and Randy, while Ryder and the new girl sat across from Aubrey and June of all people made her a cup of hot water.
Aubrey wanted to snap at June. Hot water? Was that the best she could do? Couldn't she even make a cup of calming tea or something? Hot chocolate? Instant latte? Literally anything but plain hot water!
But she swallowed the protests and held the cup in her hands, letting the warmth seep into her fingers while June sat next to the new girl.
Jase came back with the others and everyone sat in silence for a while before Jase finally spoke up.
"What happened?"
Aubrey managed to tell them everything in halting spurts. How she'd been asked to save the city by raising the dead. And then how the dead girl had threatened her. Finally, she told them that she'd offered a meeting with the girl who could suppress Miracles in exchange for her life.
Niko gave her a hug when she finished and June got her a new cup of hot water while the others digested the information.
"Guess that's what this was all about," Jase finally said with a sigh. "Sounds like if Team Chaos got down there, they'd have control over the whole city. Everything up here was just a distraction tactic." He cursed and spit on the floor, rage simmering behind his relatively calm expression.
"What does this girl want with my Miracle?" New Girl finally asked, looking warily at Aubrey.
"I'm sorry," Aubrey whispered, fighting back tears. "I...I shouldn't have said anything. I was terrified, and..."
"It's okay," Niko said, giving her another hug. "We'll figure it out. Right, Jase?"
Jase nodded. "No one left behind."
"But how do we fight, well, that?" Ryder asked. "Sounds like this tiny girl has way more power than any of us. And how the heck did Aubrey manage to bring back a dead person?"
"I don't know, but there's more going on than I understand," Aubrey replied. "She said something about recovering in a few months anyway."
"Probably a Miracle," Jase mused with a frown.
That would definitely explain it.
"I'll meet with her," New Girl said slowly. "But I want both Jase and June with me when I do." She looked up at Aubrey, and guilt set in once again. Why had Aubrey ever considered throwing this vulnerable kid to the wolves?
"Aila?" June asked carefully.
Right. That was her name. The introductions had been so quick Aubrey hadn't remembered it.
"I'll fulfill her end of the bargain. It's just a meeting, right? And with you and Jase there, hopefully they won't try anything funny. Or, is it too dangerous?" Aila looked at June anxiously.
"Nothing wrong with a meeting. Place of our choice, right?" Jase asked. "In that case, how do we contact them?"
"They didn't say," Aubrey said slowly. "But she told one of them to keep an eye on me. So maybe they'll just know?"
"Alright. Not our fault if they don't show up," Jase said with a chuckle. "Any requests, Aila?"
"Red's," June said quickly, before Aila could respond. Jase glanced at Aila, who nodded.
"Sounds fine by me," she said.
"Red's, huh, Juney?" Jase asked with a chuckle. "That brings back memories."
Right. He and June went there fairly regularly. The tall booths made it easier to have private conversations, and the food was good.
"Will they be open at 9:00?" Aubrey asked.
"They open at eight on Saturdays," June replied. "And close at midnight. So we're covered no matter which 9:00 she wants."
"We'll go there twice?" Aila asked, raising an eyebrow. "Won't that look weird?"
"Jase and I have done weirder stuff there," June replied with a smile. "Like taking up a booth for five hours while we worked out plans for a heist. It's fine - they like us. And we make sure to tip well."
With that, the plan was set. Aubrey apologized a few more times to Aila, who just laughed and waved her off.
"This was probably unavoidable. Someone else was gonna take an interest in me."
Aubrey admired that courage. She certainly didn't have it.
