Stephanie Royal slammed the phone down, breaking it in half.  Good.  Let it go to voicemail.  The assholes in Washington could wait.  There were cops and feds and news crews and a whole throng of curious onlookers outside her doors.  Nearly her entire team had been incapacitated.  And she had a powerful witch in her custody that had nearly succeeded in summoning one of the ancient patrons of magic right above her roof.  The last thing she needed was to deal with the DEO.

Adam walked back into her office.  The shock Arquebus had delivered him had very temporary effects, and he was the only one besides Stephanie to be back on his feet.  “Lady Sapphire?”

“What’s the status?”

“You want the long or the short?”

“Short first.”

“I found Impaqt, Gallant, Mammoth, Atonement, and some black guy.  I have no idea who he is.  They’re all in bad shape.”

Stephanie sighed.  She knew they’d all been controlled, just like the others, but still, she was hoping that Anna and her friends had managed to leave some of them unscathed.

“Still no sign of Aegis, or Barrage for that matter,” he continued.  “But I haven’t checked outside yet.”  He glanced towards the window, where the blue and red police light flashed across the glass.  “There is a huge hole in the wall, and two craters in the street though.”

She put her head in her hands.  “Did you get everyone into the infirmary?”

“Everyone but Mammoth.  I can’t move him by myself.”

“How is he?”

“He’s lost a lot of blood, but he’s still breathing.  Someone stuck his own tusk in his back.”

Stephanie’s eyes widened.

“I didn’t pull it out, but I stopped the bleeding.”

“Thank you.  Doctor Dhawan should be here soon.”  She looked at the window.  “We’re going to have to make sure she can get in.  I’m going to go look for Aegis and Barrage.  I need you to go out front and talk to everyone.”

“What the hell am I supposed to say?”

She shrugged.  “There was a threat.  It has been handled.  The LC is fine and we are in control of the situation.  Tell them I’ll give a full press conference tomorrow, just get them to leave.”

He nodded.  He hated dealing with the press, but now was not the time to protest.



Izzy looked up the LC Tower.  The badly bruised and broken cowboy sat leaned against the rubble.  He just needed a minute to rest, and then he’d make his way back inside.  It might take him a day in his current state, but he was going to make it to the top of the tower.

He shut his eyes, telling himself it was just for a moment.  

His eyes snapped opened as he heard footsteps, and he pointed his good arm towards the noise.  The police had evidently done a good job or cordoning off the area, but it was only a matter of time before some paparazzi or curious idiot with a phone slipped through.

“Israel.”

He sighed with relief, lowering his hand.

“Lady Sapph.  If you’re here, does that mean-”

“Yes, yes it does.  We stopped her.  Anna stopped her.”

He laughed, crying out in pain as he jostled his broken ribs.  “And she’s alright?”

“Yes, just a little banged up.  We all are.”

“Good.”

“Israel.  Where is Aegis?”

He rested his forehead in his good hand.  

“I don’t know how it came to this,” he said.

“Israel, tell me what happened.”

“I didn’t have any other choice.  I didn’t leave him with one either.  It just, it escalated too fast, and neither of us could fix it.”  He looked up at her.  It was then that Stephanie saw the tears dripping down his dirty cheeks.

He reached over and pushed away a piece of rubble, exposing Aegis buried beneath the rocks.

Stephanie put her hand over her mouth.  That couldn’t be him.  There was no way.  

Izzy continued to clear away the debris he’d used to hide Aegis’ body.  There was a dime sized hole in his stomach, one that went straight through to the other side, a perfect hole that had obliterated everything in its path, his indestructible skin, his organs, his spinal cord.  All gone.

She stumbled over on shaky legs and sat down, cradling his head in her lap.  His bald head was cold in her hands.  Tears fell from her eyes, splashing on his cheeks.

“How?”

“He left me no choice.”

“But he wasn’t controlled.  He’s immune.”

“He was going to kill Anna.  Stop the problem at the source.  I couldn’t talk him out of it.  He saw it as a necessity, for his greater good.  I just couldn’t stand by and let him.”

She finally let herself look down at the fatal wound.

“That’s something different,” Izzy said.

She nodded.  She knew he was much stronger than he let on, but there was no amount of kinetic energy that could do that.

“There was no other way.  I held off as long as I could, but we both reached that point where we realized that both of us couldn’t walk away.”

“I know,” she said.  She didn’t always agree with her partner, but she at least recognized the wisdom behind his decisions.  And the stoic determination to follow through when he had made up his mind.  She’d feared Aegis would come to this conclusion, that Anna’s power was too dangerous to be allowed to exist.  Up until tonight, she had thought she’d be able to dissuade him when the time came, but after seeing what Ursula had been able to accomplish with that power, she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop him.  She might even be inclined to agree with him.

“I’m sorry,” Izzy said.

She looked at him, reading the genuine regret in his face.  “I’m sorry too.”

“Look.  I know I have no right to ask this of you-”

“No one will know that you killed him.”

He looked taken aback.

“I’ll blame the Sea Witch.  She’s partly responsible anyways.”

“Thank you.  It’s just-”

“Aegis was the most powerful man in the world.  And you were able to kill him.  No one has come after him in years, because no one thought he could be killed.  But that’s not a mantle you can wear.  The world has already seen you bleed.”

He nodded.  He couldn’t have said it any better.

“I can’t afford to lose you, now more than ever.”

He looked into her deep blue eyes.  There was hurt there.  She understood, but she was human, more human than Aegis ever was.  

“Whatever you need, I’m yours.”



Anna knocked on Lady Sapphire’s door, wincing at the pain in her bruised knuckles.  She’d woken up as her wounds were being dressed.  Lady Sapphire had managed to get a whole team of discrete doctors and surgeons in to assist in patching up the LC.  Anna’s injuries were some of the least significant, and despite wanting to go back to sleep and rest some more, she’d forced herself to get up.  Izzy was in surgery and she hadn’t been able to see him, but both Mira and Tyrese were out, albeit still unconscious.  The things they’d gone through, and judging by the state of the LC, the things they must have done, to allow to her to reach the roof and stop Ursula.  Anna could never repay them.

“Come in,” Lady Sapphire said.  She was on the phone with her hand over the receiver.  Even from the door, Anna could hear yelling on the other end.  “Look, I hear you, but as I’ve told everyone else already, I will have the details tonight.  Now, I have to go.”  She hung up.  “Anna, how are you?”

“I’m alright.  All things considered, I’m pretty good.”

“Be thankful for small favors.”

“What are you doing about Ursula?”

“I’ve sealed her magic and locked her in a cell in the sub basement, until I can have her transported to Lighten Prison.”

Anna nodded.  The prison was on a small island off the coast of Virginia, and held enhanced, augmented and magical prisoners.  She could live with her being there.

“She’ll answer for everything she’s done.  You, Israel, Mira, your friend Tyrese, we won’t hold anything you did here against you.”

“That’s actually what I need to talk to you about.  Not the second part, though that is a relief.  Ursula, before she came here, she killed a woman named Ellen Frederick.  She is- was my adoptive sister Macy’s girlfriend.  Right now, the police believe she choked to death in her home, though I’m not sure how long that will hold up.  Her family deserves to know.  They deserve justice.”

“But you don’t want your involvement, as either Annabelle Carillon or Siren, associated with her death.”

“If it were just me.  I just, I can’t let Macy get dragged into this.”

“I understand.  Ursula will be held responsible, but the circumstances of your friend’s death will have to be fabricated.  Is that alright with you?”

“Yes, Lady Sapphire.  I greatly appreciate it.  Now, as much as I’d like to help out here in any way I can, I need to be with my sister right now.”

“Of course.  We will take good care of your friends.  I promise.”

“Thank you, so much.  Thank you for-” for stopping me from killing her, she almost said.  “For everything.”

“You’re welcome, and it is I who cannot thank you enough.”

“It was my power she used.  I was only cleaning up my mess.”  Anna turned towards the door.  “Thanks again.”

“Anna?”

“Yes, Lady Sapphire?”

“If you want your job back, it’s yours.”

“What?” Anna asked.

“As a member of the LC.”

“I, but, I mean, especially after this, people would flip,” she stammered.  Of all the things, she had never once expected to be offered a spot on the LC again.  If anything, she expected them to hate her more after this.

“Fuck them,” Lady Sapphire said.  “Almost the entire LC was compromised uner my watch.  Without your power you took on the entire LC, and stopped a powerful spell caster from completing some sort of ritual that most assuredly would have had dire consequences.”

“Oh, I didn’t take on the LC.  I just ran.  That was all Izzy and Mira and Tyrese.”

“You brought them together.”

“I only brought Tyrese, and he actually insisted.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit.  They fought to let you get to Ursula.  I couldn’t have stopped her by myself.”

Anna almost argued that it was Lady Sapphire’s armor that gave her a fighting chance, but she kept her mouth shut.

“I forced you to retire eight years ago because I didn’t have the courage to stand behind you.  Last night you stood behind all of us.  I want you on my team.  I don’t care what kind of blowback I get for it either.  I’ve let that dictate my actions for too long.”

Anna took a deep breath.  She’d toyed with the idea of coming back, but even then it had felt more like a fantasy that she wasn’t sure she wanted to come true than an actual possibility.  And now that felt like a lifetime ago.  “Do I need to answer now?”

“Take all the time you need.  Go be with your sister.  The offer will still be on the table.”

“I’ll think about it.”