“What have you done, Barrage?”

Izzy flashed a smile at Aegis.  “I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play coy with me,” Aegis growled, grabbing Barrage by his shirt.

Izzy’s smile disappeared in a flash.  He brought his hands up defensively, his fingers inches from Aegis’ chest, ready to blast him away.  He stopped himself, forcing himself to take a deep breath.  It occurred to him, not for the first time, that he may have pushed Aegis too far.

“Enough,” Lady Sapphire said.  Aegis relaxed his grip on Izzy’s shirt, and the cowboy took a step back, dusting himself off.  “Israel, where is Anna?”

“I have no idea.”

Aegis took another menacing step forward, but this time Izzy didn’t move, staring up at the mountain of muscle before him.  

“Israel!” Lady Sapphire said.  The lights took on a faint, bluish tint as she clenched her fists.

“I literally have no idea, I made sure I didn’t.  It’s better that we don’t, none of us.”

“That wasn’t your decision to make,” Aegis said.

“Well I made it, and it’s done, for better or worse.”

Aegis’ eyes narrowed, before he turned abruptly, heading for the door.  “This isn’t over, Barrage.”

Izzy slowly exhaled, allowing himself to relax, not realizing until then just how tense he had become.

“This isn’t like you,” Lady Sapphire said.   “You’re usually more subtle.”

“Flattering, but I usually just don’t care that much.”

“That’s just the thing.  You always care, but you’re cautious.  You’re antagonizing him, hell, me too, all of us.  You’re keeping the focus on you.”

Izzy shrugged.  “You’re giving me too much credit.”

“People never give you enough credit, and that’s where you thrive.  You’re out of your element.  Be careful Israel,” she said.



When you know you’re going to make a bad decision, sometimes it’s best to just get it over with.  Anna had come to this decision, justifying her actions by telling herself that Macy didn’t have to see her for her to see Macy.  It was the kind of selfish rationalizing that could only be used to justify an equally selfish act.  But the fact was, she needed to see Macy.  

She’d felt better after she’d eaten, and remembered to keep eating, building back her strength.  She still felt weak and tired, but not debilitatingly so, and after a decent night’s sleep and a refreshing shower, she’d gotten back in the old Mazda Izzy had left her and headed home.

Doubts plagued her as she started to see the familiar landmarks of her city.  What if she was putting Macy in danger?  Ursula probably knew who she was; she might already be in danger.  Anna toyed with the idea of getting Macy to go into hiding with her, but she knew the logical trap that was protecting your loved ones, drilled into her by Callie years ago.  She cared about Macy, but Macy cared about her girlfriend Ellen, and then she’d want to protect her too.  Ellen in turn had people she wanted to protect, family, friends.  They all had people they cared about.  It didn’t matter how small you kept your inner circle, there are always more people to protect.  Be an island or protect your identity.  

She’d failed at both.

She was unable to see Macy at the news station.  Her car hadn’t been there, but she often walked or got a ride, and there was a chance she was out on a story and not at the station at all.  Anna also found herself drifting off while surveilling the station, so it occurred to her she could have just missed her.  Ellen’s car was parked outside of Macy’s apartment when she drove by, and she decided not to intrude further.  The lights were on; that was going to have to be enough for her.  After a day of waiting for an opportunity to see her, just for the opportunity to see a familiar face, she could pry no further into her adoptive sister’s life.

It was nearly 8 o’clock, the sun setting behind the buildings.  Anna yawned despite having spent a good portion of the day napping.  She knew she should probably go back to Izzy’s safe house.  But then again, she hadn’t left anything there.  There was no need to go back if she was going to leave again in another day or so.

She started the car back up and drove across town to her apartment.  Her possibly former apartment.  She wondered if Macy had come and gotten any of her things, or if her landlord had just thrown it all out on the street for people to pick over like vultures picking over the carrion of her former life.



Anna’s keen senses that she had honed to a fine edge were dulled by her recent traumas.  Her finely tuned instinct replaced with a paranoia that was tempered by sluggishness that came from a month in captivity.  Every shadow was out to get her, but she couldn’t see the shadows.  Such a balance protected her sanity, but it failed to alert her to the eyes watching her as she parked her car.  She had the residual instinct to park her car a few blocks over, despite the exhausting chore that even walking was on her fatigued muscles, but her radar failed to pick up the three men walking briskly after her down the sidewalk.  The hat and hood pulled low over her face concealed her identity, but that protection made her oblivious to the danger stalking her through the night.

Anna’s caution was more out of habit than an actual fear of danger.  She’d had to come back to her apartment many times in her armor and avoid detection.  Her paranoia existed in a quasi-real state in her nightmares, not realized as the shadowy figures stalked her through the very real streets of her town.

And then the there was the normally forgettable obstacle of jumping up to reach the hanging ladder of the fire escape, a move she’d once taken for granted but now the lowest rung hung tantalizingly out of reach, mocking her frailness.  She looked around the alley for something to climb on, when she saw them.  Three dark figures silhouetted against the dull streetlights in the mouth of the alley.  Suddenly she could feel their gaze on her, and her blood froze in her veins.  

The gun Izzy had thoughtfully left her was in the glove compartment of the car.  Her voice held no power here.  Even at her peak, fighting three at a time was challenge.  She didn’t stand a chance.

She glanced once more up at the fire escape.  It offered no escape from her current situation.  

She turned and ran.

Adrenaline pumped life into her atrophied muscles as she fled deeper into the alley.  It fed back out onto the street.  It was dark, but it was still early.  There’d be people, witnesses, safety.  Her hand fumbled in her pocket, pulling out the phone Izzy had given her.  Her foot caught on the loose asphalt, and the phone tumbled from her fingers, dropping to the ground even as her momentum carried her forward.  She gave it one last look over her shoulder, seeing how close her assailants were, and she kept running.

They chased her, gaining on her as her lungs struggled to fuel her frantically pumping legs, her breath coming in short gasps as she skidded to a halt, seeing two more dark figures at the other end of the alley.

Behind them, she could see cars driving by.  Every instinct told her to scream, to call for help, but she couldn’t draw in the breath, a cramp tearing fresh agony into her side.  She managed a few panicked steps backwards, stumbling over the broken asphalt.  She turned to see her original three stalkers closing the gap between them.  At this distance she could see the lower halves of their faces under their hoods, their mouths twisted upwards in satisfied smiles.  She knew how her power gnawed at its victims, leaving the effected tense until they could fulfill her commands.  These contented smiles were the grins of those who were doing what they were told.  Ursula had told them to wait here, and they might have been waiting ever since Mirage had first freed her, on the off chance she was stupid enough to try and return to her apartment.

And here she was.

“Please,” she managed between labored breaths.  “Don’t.”

They didn’t listen.  They didn’t have to listen to her.  They’d listened to the Sea Witch.

Anna dropped to her knees, struggling to pry up a large rock.  She got back up and hurled it at the three figures approaching her.  It fell pitifully short, and the one in the middle kicked it aside as they bore down on her.

She snapped her head back over her shoulder, looking towards the mouth of the alley.  There was a third silhouette between the initial two now, towering over them.  Anna stooped and picked up another rock, holding it defensively in front of her, facing the three that had started chasing her, backing slowly towards the wall.  It was a useless gesture, but she was going to at least try to put up a fight.

A cry of surprise from the alley behind her attracted her attention, as well as the three men closing in around her.  As they turned to look, there was no sign of any of the figures approaching from the street.  

Anna jumped on the opportunity, turning on her heels and making a mad dash for the street.  

She shrieked, throwing her hands up in front of her face as a huge, dark shape rushed out of the shadows.  She caught a blur as it moved around her, and she turned to see it barrel into the three men behind her.  One of them men was thrown across the alley as the larger figure slammed into him, and there was a blur of flying limbs as the figure lit into the other two.  Anna’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she watched, backing slowly towards the street.  She uttered a startled cry as she stepped on an arm, one of the men lying unconscious in the shadows.

Her three assailants put up a good fight, but the newcomer was bigger, stronger, faster, beating them into submission with a flair and style she knew all too well.

She opened her mouth, her lips soundlessly forming the name she knew he couldn’t hear anyways.

Her savior dropped the last one with a brutal knee to the kidneys, accompanied by a crunch that could only be the man’s ribs breaking she could hear from across the alley.  She stared, speechless.  The man stood in the center of the alley, barely illuminated she could see the old black hood sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off, his muscle-bound arms free, the toned black flesh barely standing out in the dark.  One of his gloved hands swept his hood back.  His white teeth gleamed in the dark as he pulled his gloves off with them, tucking them under his arm before he began to gesture.

“It’s good to see you,” Tyrese Cain signed.