The house was gone. Nothing but a splintered heap of dust and jagged wood.
From the settling haze, a dark figure emerged. Disrupt pushed aside a beam with one hand, his boots crunching on shattered glass. His hands were still raised from moments ago, the faint shimmer of fractured energy fading as he stepped free from the wreckage.
Tremblor was nowhere to be seen.
He paused, eyes scanning the street beyond the ruins—just in time to catch the sight of Barrier staggering backward from a direct hit by a compressed air shot. Her shimmering dome flared, blocking the follow-up blast.
Then, from above—Glide's wings cut through the air. She dove, scooping Amplify from the pavement and hauling him skyward.
Disrupt started forward at a sprint—
—only for something to smash into his ribs like a freight train.
WHAM.
He slid back three feet across cracked asphalt, boots screeching. He twisted his torso and saw her.
Tremblor stood there, breathing hard, her hero-core suit torn and dirt-streaked, but her posture steady.
Disrupt straightened, rolling his shoulders. "You're strong, Tremblor. Nobody denies that. But I think your time's up. Quit now, and we won't chase you. We won't take your flag."
She narrowed her eyes. "What about Glide's flag? You have that one."
"That," Disrupt said evenly, "I can't give back. But you'll keep yours. And if your teammates still have theirs right now, they can keep them too."
She stepped forward. "Not happening."
Her foot hit the ground—the street shook, small fissures splitting outward.
Disrupt's voice was flat. "Then let's end this."
He slammed his palm into the pavement. Spiderweb cracks erupted, racing toward her. The ground shifted violently, slabs of concrete lifting at angles. Tremblor didn't flinch—she lunged forward.
They met at the midpoint.
CLANG. Her fist collided with his forearm guard in a sharp block. He countered instantly with a right hook to her jaw, but she tilted her head, letting it skim past before shoving him back with both hands.
He stumbled a step, regained balance, then shot forward again. Jab-jab-cross—Tremblor blocked two and slipped the third, retaliating with a quick knee toward his ribs. Disrupt caught it under his arm, twisted—
—She dropped to one hand, swinging her free leg in a sweeping kick that caught his ankle.
CRACK. He dropped low to absorb it, palm touching the street—sending a fresh quake through the ground.
Both fighters' footwork faltered as the pavement beneath them began to crumble, the edges falling away into the hollow gap beneath. They were fighting on borrowed footing now.
Tremblor shifted her stance, hands up. "Careful—one wrong step and you're in the hole."
"Same to you," Disrupt growled.
She rushed in—low feint, then an uppercut. Disrupt dodged just enough that it grazed his mask. He answered with a hammering left that forced her to guard high, then drove his knee toward her gut.
WHUMP. Her barrier training saved her from folding over, but the hit still pushed her back a step—onto unstable ground. The concrete chunk wobbled under her weight.
Without thinking, she stomped down hard, using the tremor to steady it—sending cracks rippling straight toward Disrupt's feet.
He jumped aside—landing on another chunk just as the first one dropped into the gap.
They circled each other, the ruined street collapsing around them in slow, jagged pieces.
Disrupt darted forward again, swinging a heavy overhand punch—she ducked, grabbed his wrist, and tried to throw him over her shoulder. He twisted in midair, landing on one knee, and yanked her with him.
Both lost balance—tumbling onto a slab of loose concrete that tilted under their weight. Tremblor recovered first, grabbing the edge of the slab, ripping it free, and swinging it like a massive club.
She roared, bringing it down at him.
Disrupt crossed his forearms to block—the impact cracked the slab clean in half, sending fragments into the air.
Dust clouded the space between them. In the haze, Disrupt shoved forward—open palm strike to her sternum. The blow sent her sliding backward to the edge of the remaining street.
She caught herself with one foot on solid pavement and the other on a hanging ledge. "Gonna take more than that."
"Good," he said. "Because I'm not done."
He charged again. This time she met him head-on. Fists clashed mid-swing—the shockwave splintering the asphalt beneath them.
Every hit was precise, fueled by raw strength and sharpened instincts. The street was a battlefield of shifting platforms and precarious footing.
Then—both lunged at once, fists drawn back.
Before either could land the hit—
KRA-BOOOOM.
A sudden bright explosion tore the air between them. It didn't strike directly, but the concussion was enough to hurl them away from each other, each fighter tumbling across broken pavement.
Chunks of debris rained down, the light burning into their vision.
When the dust cleared, the ground was steady again—most of the loose concrete had already fallen into the gap.
Bootsteps echoed through the smoke.
A figure walked forward, shoulders broad, voice laced with irritation.
"Well… what the hell's going on here?"
Disrupt froze for half a second before straightening. He knew that voice.
"Fun without me?" the man asked, stepping into view.
Sunstrike had arrived.
---
Barrier's breathing slowed.
Her shield dissolved in a shimmer of light, vanishing into nothing but the memory of its hum. She tilted her head back, her pitch-black goggles reflecting the faint glint of the afternoon sun as she tracked Glide.
High above the suburban rooftops, Glide's wings cut wide arcs in the air, carrying Amplify like a hawk with its prey.
Barrier muttered under her breath, "How the hell am I supposed to get him down from there?"
Her thought broke when a sharp hiss of compressed air snapped past her ear.
FWIP!
She spun her head—Clickshot was still on the street, his fingers shaped in his signature pistol pose, thumb cocked like a hammer. The faint vapor trail from his "barrel" faded in the air.
Barrier broke into a sprint, closing the distance.
Another blast whistled by—she side-stepped smoothly, the shot grazing her shoulder but not slowing her. Her boots struck pavement in quick rhythm until she was in striking range.
She swung—Clickshot leaned back just enough for her fist to miss, twisting his torso and shuffling two steps to the side.
He tried to pivot out, but Barrier reacted fast—her hand shot up and a translucent dome snapped into place around them.
This wasn't her usual tight personal shield—it stretched twelve feet long, curved high enough for both of them to stand comfortably. A shimmer of gold light sealed the perimeter.
Clickshot's eyes widened behind his half-mask.
"Nowhere to go," Barrier said flatly.
His gaze darted around the enclosed space. Not enough distance. For someone like him—who thrived on range—this was a cage.
Above them, a voice cut through the air, sharp and furious.
"STOP! Or I drop him!"
They both froze.
Barrier's head jerked up toward the sky. Glide hovered over the rooftops, her arms dangling Amplify by his collar. The sunlight gleamed off her hair, but her voice was venom.
"I'm serious, Barrier!" she called down. "You hand over your flag right now, or I let him fall!"
Barrier's mind raced. She knew the truth—Amplify could survive that drop. His frame was built for impact. But she also knew the hit would knock him cold, and with one fighter down, the odds for her team would tank.
She exhaled slowly, then unhooked her flag from her waist. Without a word, she tossed it to Clickshot.
He caught it, a satisfied grin forming. "Appreciate the gift."
From above, Glide's tone shifted into a mocking edge. "And this," she said, voice dripping with payback, "is for messing up my flywear."
Then she dropped him.
Instead of panic, a smile tugged at Barrier's lips. Her arm flicked upward and a barrier sphere materialized around Amplify mid-fall.
He hit the ground inside the dome with a thundering crash, dirt and debris spraying in all directions.
Before the dust settled, Barrier dropped her guard—and charged straight at Clickshot.
The goggles hid her eyes, but her body language screamed intent. She snatched the flag back from his hand in one swift motion, then without breaking stride, pivoted her weight into a single, brutal punch.
Her fist connected with the side of his head, right at the temple.
THUNK!
The blow didn't just knock him out—it launched him. He flew backward, limp, until he slammed into the side of a parked truck with a metallic BANG that rattled the vehicle's frame.
Glide's scream tore the air. "CLICKSHOT!"
She dove toward Barrier, rage written in every angle of her descent.
But just as she cleared the rooftops, the ground in front of Barrier erupted.
A massive shadow-club tore upward, intercepting Glide mid-flight. The weapon struck square between her wings with a deep WHUD that echoed through the street.
The force folded her wings unnaturally, bone or metal joints snapping. Glide shrieked in pain as the impact drove her into the asphalt. The pavement cracked under her landing, dust pluming into the air.
The club melted back into darkness, its shape collapsing into tendrils that retreated toward the rooftops.
Barrier tilted her head up just as a new figure dropped down beside her.
Shadowsmith landed silently, mask revealing only his eyes, nose, and mouth. His presence radiated quiet efficiency.
"Nice timing," Barrier said.
"Nice punch," Shadowsmith replied, his voice calm but edged. He glanced at Glide's crumpled form. "You broke her wings."
Barrier shrugged. "Disrupt did and it was out of self defense anyways."
That reminder hit her like a jolt. "Amplify—"
She sprinted through the cloud of settling dust toward the rubble where her teammate had landed. Amplify was propped halfway up, coughing hard, bits of plaster and dirt clinging to his half-mask.
"You alive?" she asked, kneeling beside him.
He wheezed between coughs, "Yeah… just… testing how many bricks I can eat before I pass out. New record, by the way."
Despite herself, Barrier laughed under her breath. "You're impossible."
Shadowsmith stepped closer, arms folded. "You hit the ground harder than anyone I've ever seen and still talk this much."
Amplify grinned, though it was lopsided. "Yeah, well, my charm's as durable as my skull."
Barrier shook her head but reached down to help him up.
Then—a bright flash tore through the neighborhood, flooding the street in searing white light.
The explosion came a heartbeat later.
BOOOOM.
Heat rolled over them, rattling glass in nearby windows. The shockwave whipped dust into their faces, and both Barrier and Shadowsmith turned instinctively toward the source.
Amplify squinted into the distance. "That… doesn't sound like a friendly hello."
Shadowsmith's eyes narrowed. "No," he said. "That's coming from Disrupt's location."
The three of them stood in silence for a breath, watching the smoke billow into the sky—until another distant crash reached their ears.
The fight there was far from over.