“Oh fuck.”  Mira was by no means the toughest, her power not the strongest, but she was confident in her ability to take on most of the LC.  She was fast and deceptively strong for her size.  And she fought dirty.  She had no problems doing whatever was necessary to win a fight. It had gotten her this far, but there was one who she knew her skills might not measure up against.

Someone who matched her dirty fighting tactics with raw brutality.

Someone she’d hoped she’d knocked out of fight already.

And now she stood before her.

Lynx’s chains slowly unfurled from around her, the claws at the ends of the chains resting in her hands.  

Her trip down the elevator shaft had left her with only anger.  She glared at Mirage, slowly twirling one end of the chain.  The claw at the end scraped the floor, sending up sparks as it scraped along the tile.

Mira raised Arquebus.

The chain soared through the air, the clawed tip tearing through the illusion of Mirage standing in the hall.  Lynx didn’t falter, veering the chain around the corner.

Mira dropped to the floor on her back, looking up as the claw latched onto the wall, tearing out a great chunk as Lynx ripped it back around the corner.

“Yep, this is where I die,” she said, rolling up to her feet.  She ran past the corner, firing Arquebus blindly.

“IT IS HIGHLY LIKELY,” the gun agreed.

Lynx locked the chains in front of her, deflecting the blasts.  As soon as they subsided, she launched a claw around the corner after Mira, followed by the other, the first going high, the second low.

Mira ducked under the first, barely catching the second wrapping around the corner.  She tried to roll out of the way, but she wasn’t fast enough, and the three razor sharp hooks sunk into her back.  She screamed in agony as it yanked her back across the floor, dragging her around the corner.

She let herself be pulled in close before she snapped the gun up, firing Arquebus at Lynx.

The chains coiled in front of her as a defensive barrier, blocking the blasts, and when she peaked through them, Mira was gone.

Mira was still on the floor, having merely rolled off the claws digging into her back, masking her presence with an illusion of the floor over top of her.

She waiting until the chains and claws had spread out, seeking her, and she snapped the gun up, firing.

Lynx took the blast full in the chest, Arquebus not holding back as the gun had done with other members of the LC she’d used it on.  Lynx went flying.

Lynx landed on her back.  Mira propped herself up on her elbows, still keeping Arquebus trained on her.  Her eyes widened when she saw under her destroyed shirt more chains protecting her chest.  Mira squeezed the trigger, but the chains coiled up at Lynx’s feet, protecting her again.  One of the claws snaked out and ripped Arquebus from Mira’s hand.  The other latched onto it, and they pulled apart.  Arquebus released a powerful shock.  Lynx screamed, her body convulsing as the current passed through her chains to her body.  Still the claws pulled apart, and the gun cracked.  The electricity stopped.  

Lynx hurled the gun to the side and climbed to her feet, brushing back her frazzled hair.  “You got the drop on me once, little LeBlanc.  You won’t a second time.”



She was back.

It wasn’t her armor, her own costume that she was wearing.  She still didn’t have her power.  The energy and strength she now possessed wasn’t even hers.  But none of that mattered.  All that wasn’t who she was.

She was Siren.  Finally, she was back.

Her body wasn’t holding her back anymore.  It obeying her instincts and training, hitting as hard- no, harder- than she wanted.  She had Ursula on the ropes, putting the Sea Witch on the defensive as she threw everything she had at her.

Ursula deflected Siren’s jabs, stepping in close to headbutt her.  She reeled as her head struck something a lot harder than the bridge of the redhead’s nose.  The Sea Witch staggered back, looking up to see that the armor now included a sapphire tiara that extended down low between Siren’s eyes, protecting her from the headbutt.  No wonder she could still move so well.  The armor moved with her, extending and retracting to allow her perfect freedom of movement while still offering maximum coverage.  It was a powerful spell, one that Lady Sapphire seemed to be doing fine without, the sorceress flying around the roof, keeping her tentacles at bay while she tried to upset the ritual.

“You stole my power.”  Siren laid into her with a flurry of blows, her sapphire coated knuckles raining down on Ursula’s arms.

“You stole my identity.”  She kneed the Sea Witch in the kidneys three times in rapid succession.  The runes and sigils across the roof glowed a little less bright.

“You locked me in hell.”  She caught the witch’s arm as she tried to throw her own punch.  The heroine spun around, and threw the witch over her shoulder.  Ursula rolled to her feet and spun back to face Siren, her tongue flicking out of her mouth as she chanted the arcane words of power and ran the sharp nail of her middle finger down her cleavage, drawing blood.

“You turned the world against me.”  Siren kicked her in the jaw, interrupting the spell.

“You kidnapped my sister and her girlfriend.”  She kicked her again, knocking her back.

“You killed Ellen!”  Siren raised her foot up above her head and brought her sapphire clad heel down on Ursula’s temple.

The Sea Witch collapsed to her knees.  

Siren grabbed her by her hair and tilted her head up to look at her.  “What the hell was it all for?  All to control some people?”

Ursula started laughing.

“Why?”

“You still don’t get it, Ariel.”

Siren punched her in the face.  “It’s Siren.”

Ursula spit the blood from her mouth.  “Well, Siren, you still think such a gift was meant to command the likes of petty criminals.”

“And you’d command superheroes?”

“So ignorant.  A convenient side benefit, very convenient, but a waste of such a truly spectacular gift.”  She paused, smiling.  “Ariel.”

Siren raised her fist to hit her again.  Ursula breathed a single syllable.  Siren brought her fist down.

Ursula caught it, stopping her with ease.  Siren’s eyes widened.  She stared at her arm, watching the cracks appear in the blue crystal protecting her.  Ursula squeezed her fist, and the sapphire armor shattered like glass all the way up to her shoulder.

The Sea Witch rocked back, getting her legs out in front of her, and kicked up, catching Siren in the stomach.  A spiderweb of cracks appeared in the armor.

Siren yanked her fist free of Ursula’s grip and leapt back, looking around for Lady Sapphire, sure something must have happened to her.

Ursula got to her feet, speaking in the guttural arcane tongue.  A long, thin trail of black arcane energy appeared in the Sea Witch’s right hand.  She flicked it across the ground, and it scarred the roof.  A whip.  Siren tried to dodge, but Ursula threw it out, wrapping it around Siren’s upper body.  The witch spoke again, and the armor around her body completely shattered, falling away into small blue fragments on the rooftop.  Siren cried out as the magic whip seared her now bare upper arms, back and chest with roiling pain.

“This power was never meant to control mere humans.  It was wasted on you.”  She yanked Siren in, and the heroine fell to her knees, the last of the armor around her legs breaking and falling away.  All the strength and sustenance the armor had bestowed her was gone.

“The arcane forces bend to my will.  No blood sacrifice, no study, no prayer, no promises to ancient forces.  I have only to speak, and I can command powers your ignorant mind cannot even fathom.”  She dropped the whip and turned towards the center of her magic circle.

Siren tried to shake the magic rope from around her, but even without Ursula holding the end, she couldn’t free herself.  She fell to the rooftop on her side, craning her head back to look over as Ursula lifted her hands to the heavens and began to chant.

The sky opened up.



Izzy clung to his side, panting through the pain of broken ribs.

“You’re really going to kill her, aren’t you,” he gasped.

“I should have done it eight years ago.  Then I wouldn’t have lost you too,” Aegis said.

“Then you know you’re gonna have to kill me.”

“I know,” Aegis replied, cracking his neck.

“I’m not going to make it easy on you,” Izzy said, standing his ground.

“Nothing about this is easy for me, Israel.  I truly regret what is about to happen.  I want you to know that, and I wish you’d given me an alternative.”

“Same to you, boss,” Izzy panted.

Aegis broke into a sprint, charging the broken cowboy.  Izzy kept his fingers trained on him, but he didn’t shoot.  Not quite yet.



Mira ran.  Her wounded thigh screamed at her with every step, but still she ran on.

Lynx ignored the illusions Mira threw up behind her in a desperate attempt to slow her down.  She was a huntress, focused on her prey.  Like all wounded animals, Mira might be dangerous once Lynx cornered her, but as long as she was still running, she posed no threat.  She launched one of her claws out.

Mira saw the incoming claw out of the corner of her eye, the rattle of chains filling her ears.  She skidded to a halt and grabbed the claw, wrapping the chain quickly around her arm before the claw latched on, the curved talons hooking into the chain links.

Lynx pulled back, reeling her in.  Mira kicked off the ground, leaping into the air as Lynx yanked her forward.  She pulled the knife from her ankle, bringing it up to strike.  Lynx caught her wrist, holding the smaller girl up by her arms, and slammed her into the wall.

Mira swung her legs up, kicking Lynx in the face before she threw her legs over the Legend’s arms, snapping them together and freeing her wrist from Lynx’s grip.  She spun, slicing with her knife, but Lynx leaned out of the way.  Mira yanked on the chain still wrapped around her arm, pulling Lynx in closer as she swung her blade again, slicing a deep gash below the Legend’s collar.

Lynx hissed, and the chain around Mira’s arm constricted, bending her arm backwards.  Lynx performed a jumped kick, launching Mira backwards as both feet connected with her stomach, knocking the wind out of her.  The chain around her arm yanked her back, and Lynx clotheslined her as she pulled the illusionist back.

Mira lay on her back, gasping for breath.  The chain uncoiled from around her arm.  Lynx leaned over her, grabbing her by her shirt.  “You shouldn’t have come here,” she said, lifting her off the ground.  Both claws hovered above Lynx’s back, poised to strike.  “Your brother trained you well, but it wasn’t enough.”

The chains shot forward, the claws punching into her.  Mira flew through the air, the chains propelling her backwards across the hall.  She crashed through the window in an explosion of broken glass and sailed out into the night sky.



Anna couldn’t look at it directly without it burning her eyes.  It wasn’t bright, in fact, it was the opposite.  So impossibly dark it sucked the very light out of the air.

This was her plan.  To summon some ancient magic being and use her stolen power to command a force the world had never seen.  Anna very likely had given this woman the key to unlocking the apocalypse.  And she was going to be the first witness to the end of the world as she knew it.

There was no sign of Lady Sapphire either.  It looked to be just her and the Sea Witch and her tentacles left on the roof.  And of course, the magic entity opening a hole in space above them.

The pain of the magic whip encircling her upper body hadn’t subsided, but she was growing numb to it; either that, or the rest of the aches and pains in her body were vying for her attention.  Everything hurt.  She was paying for forcing her weak body through so much, the agonizing climb up nearly forty floors, and then her fight with Ursula, all for nothing.

She shifted her weight, trying to get off whatever was pressing into her thigh.  Something hard and round and-

The orb.

Ursula’s magic orb that had stolen her power.  She’d forgotten about it, lost in the heat of the moment as Lady Sapphire had given her the armor and she’d briefly turned the tide in her favor.  She closed her eyes and focused, blocking out the pain as she worked her hand towards the pouch.



Lady Sapphire hovered off the roof out of reach of the ever seeking tentacles, catching her breath.  Ursula shattering her armor had taken a lot of her.  It was much less stable when she shared it with another, but the speed at which Ursula’s magic had torn it apart left her in shock.  

She studied the tentacles stretching through space to grasp at her, looking for a pattern, an opening for her to strike.  Whatever that rift was, she dared not go over it.  Its raw arcane energy dwarfed her own.  She skirted along the edge of the building.  The tentacles followed her movement.  There it was.  A narrow window to attack.

The sorceress’ blue eyes flicked up towards the rift.  She saw what was on the other side.

And it saw her.

It was as if she had been doused in ice water.  She hurtled through the air as her mastery of flight was robbed from her in an instant.  She tried to throw herself towards the roof, but she was too far out.  The Sorceress of Sapphires missed the edge of the roof.  Her hands slapped against the glass windows, doing nothing to slow her free fall.  Panic set in.  She couldn’t do anything, no flight, no spells.  She closed her eyes, concentrating, trying to summon her power back from her deep wellspring.

A hand wrapped around her wrist, and her arm was nearly yanked out of its socket.  Her scream of pain was matched by a louder roar born of pure exertion.

She looked up to see Mira holding onto her wrist with one arm, the other wrapped around a chain hanging from one of the windows on the top floor.  Lynx looked down at them from the window, scowling.

“Hey.  I really hope you’re not trying to kill me too,” Mira said.  She looked up at Lynx.  “You drop me, you drop her too.”



The rumors that H.P. Lovecraft had dabbled in magic, or at least was close to someone who did, must have been true.  The being that stared back at Ursula was clearly the inspiration for Cthulu.  Maybe it even was Cthulu, an unfathomable ancient entity that granted power to those willing to brave a pact with it.  There would be no more pact, at least not on its terms.  No, its nigh unlimited power would be hers, free of cost, no strings attached.

The being’s infinitely black single eye stared back at Ursula above the mess of tentacles.  She could feel its rage at being summoned, a tangible force pressing down on her from the rift.  How dare she.  

Ursula steeled her nerves.  In her mind she recited the carefully practiced words of power, words never before spoken, but would soon bend the will of one of the great ones to her own.  She opened her mouth.  The words caught in her throat as a strange sensation rippled through her vocal cords.  It was familiar.

The tingling increased.  She recognized it.  It was almost like the feeling she’d had when-

She snapped her head to the side, looking at where she’d left Siren.  She was still on the ground, bound in magic.  But in her hand, she clutched something.  It was impossible.

She looked back up.  The rift was starting to close, the ancient one staring back at her.  She began to chant, the words flowing from her mouth.

The fury radiating down on her from the being faded.  There was something else, some new sensation.  Palpable indifference.  The black eye disappeared as the rift closed, revealing the night sky.

She had failed.

Ursula turned to Siren.  The heroine was still on the ground, black ichor flowing from the orb as her fingers dug into it.

“You bitch!” she hissed.  She began running towards her.  She was going to kill her.  She didn’t care if she needed her power again.  She was going to stomp on her head until there was nothing left.

“Stop!” Siren said.

Ursula abruptly came to a halt just before her.  She had no wards on herself to protect her from such compulsions.  She hadn’t needed them while she had the power.  And now her body obeyed the commands of another.

“You fucking cunt!  Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!” she raged.

“Shut up,” Siren said.  She too had felt the tingle in her throat as she’d crushed the magic orb in her hands.  She’d had no idea if it would do anything at all, let alone return her powers.  She should have done it immediately, but she’d figured Ursula never would have left it in her possession if destroying it would return the power to her.  It must have been a proximity thing.

The magic whip had gotten weaker as Ursula’s power faded.  The tentacles were starting to melt back into the roof, still swinging about sluggishly before they crashed the ground and melted away.  Siren wriggled free of the magic whip, breathing a sigh of relief as the immediate pain subsided.

Ursula took a step forward, having satisfied the stop command long enough.

“Just stand there,” Siren said.  She managed to push herself to her feet, panting.  She staggered towards Ursula and threw a wild punch.  It was weak, but Ursula’s attempt to lean out of the way failed, and she struck her across the cheek.  She steadied herself on Ursula’s shoulder as she wound up and hit her again.  And again.  Finally Ursula fell backwards, and Siren collapsed on top of her.  The heroine pushed herself up and began hitting her again, striking the witch in the face over and over with both hands.  She unleashed a feral scream, blinded by hot tears of rage as she kept hitting her.

A strong hand caught her wrist, holding her back from another punch.  “She’s done, Annabelle.”

Anna looked up to see Lady Sapphire holding her wrist.

“You did it.  It’s over.”

Her hand was bloody.  She looked back down, surveying the damage.  Ursula’s face was an unrecognizable mess of blood and bruised and torn flesh.

Lady Sapphire pulled her to her feet and held her while Anna cried.  “It’s over,” the sorceress repeated.