I flapped my wings to take us a little higher, Vista shifting on my back a little to avoid getting slapped by the wings. Glory Girl was flying slowly next to us, waiting patiently for the say so. Cheshire was silent on the other end of the line of our phone call with her. I know after spending so much time using her power she couldn't be doing so well.

"South end of downtown," Cheshire suddenly said. "People are raiding the store fronts." Vista pulled out some binoculars from my saddlebags and looked in the direction Cheshire indicated.

"I see it," Vista said.

"Glory Girl," I ordered. She gave a mock salute before Vista stretched the space between her and the location she needed to go. Glory Girl flew just a few inches forward and then suddenly she was on the ground, disabling the robbers.

"Vista," Cheshire spoke again, some one shouting in the background on her end. She was still with Panacea attempting to help with the wounded. "Cricket and Othala by Captain's Hill fighting Industry."

Vista turned her binoculars in that direction and found them almost immediately, waving her hand in their direction. I banked just a little to the right and suddenly we were flying just above them.

Cricket froze the moment we were above her and looked up. She was surrounded by Industry members, some of them on the ground, some still fighting. One of them attempted to throw a metal net over Cricket, spurring her back into motion as he did so.

I reached out with my magic and picked the Industry men up and tossing them several feet in all directions before sweeping down towards Cricket. She darted backwards immediately but she stepped into a patch of warped space and suddenly found herself closer to me than before. She whirled around and shot off the ground at me with her granted flight power just before I threw up a shield. I didn't even stop moving towards her, slamming the shield face first into her.

She hit the ground and rolled over to get away but I grabbed her with my magic and lifted her up. I considered attempting to generate a shield over her, but thought against it. If weaving a spell together took more magic like I thought it did it would only tire me out more.

Instead, Vista slid off my back and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. They would work for Cricket, provided no one came to break her out. Keeping her steady in my magic, Vista was able to slap on the cuffs effortlessly. She took out a second pair for good measure and clamped them down as well. I floated out a short rope I had learned to carry with me from my saddlebag and used my magic to wrap it around her legs. Cricket was fast, that should keep her in place.

"Nice work," I told Vista. Her space warping abilities had been great at stopping most people, if not setting them up perfectly for me to finish off.

"Thanks," Vista said absently as she pulled out her Wards phone. "I don't see Othala though."

"Othala doesn't have any powers to defend herself without support," Cheshire answered her. "She'll have run away the moment Cricket went down."

"We can get her later," I said, turning towards one of the fallen Industry members. I picked one up with my magic and levitated him in front of me. The gang member's head rolled on his shoulders as he looked at me in a daze. He was bleeding from his forehead.

"Who is in charge?" I demanded.

"That one," the dazed ganger mumbled, rolling his head to look at one member who was cradling a compound fracture Cricket gave him. I dropped the ganger I had on the ground and grabbed the one he indicated, pulling him towards me next.

"What do you know about The Sentient?" I asked him. The guy had black hair and was in desperate need of a shave. He growled at me with a Boston accent to say,

"I know they should have sent us more sonic beacons. Would've screwed up the racist trash real good."

"Not what I was asking," I told him sternly.

"Wasn't it?" The guy asked with a silly grin. I surprised him when I released the spell and dropped him on the ground. I used that surprise to reach into his mouth with my magic and grab a molar before giving it a pull.

The guy let out a mangled cry as the tooth came rocketing out of his mouth and collapsed to the ground. I stomped a hoof directly in front of his face and said,

"Again, what do you know about The Sentient?"

"Heh," the ganger laughed, a little blood coming out of his mouth. "You think I haven't lost a few teeth before? You could pluck them out of my mouth all day and I wouldn't say anything."

"Fine," I said sourly, kicking him with a hoof so he was on his back. I reached out with my magic and gave his crotch a tight squeeze. The man paled a little.

"I don't know anything," the man said. "I get all my orders from someone else who gets their orders from someone else. We don't know the chain of command."

"He's telling the truth," Cheshire observed. I heaved a sigh, it wasn't the answer I was looking for, but it was all I was likely to get. I turned back to Vista, who looked harshly at the guy on the ground and at me.

"Was that necessary?" She asked. I nodded without saying anything. She pursed her lips and nodded. "I have to stay with Cricket until a PRT van can come and arrest her. You should probably go and see if there is anyone else that needs your help."

I almost agreed, but the Industry members caught my eye and I stopped. "Maybe I should stay here," I said slowly. "In case these guys get any bright ideas."

"I can handle them," Vista said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Wasn't saying you can't," I answered. "But they won't come for you, they'll be coming for Cricket and they might kill her while she's tied up like this."

Vista nodded and looked away. "I guess. I wonder how the other Wards are doing."

Armsmaster studied the capes that had gathered around him. He, Clockblocker, Gallant, and a few independents were gathered just a little bit away from the bladed fortress Kaiser was still growing. The sound of fighting could be heard from inside. Faultline's Crew had disappeared inside just an hour ago, apparently hired by someone to fight Kaiser. Every so often Faultline's power would rip through the blades and give them a brief window to look inside before the blades closed again.

Armsmaster turned his gaze to Grue, a fresh cape that whose reputation was practically non-existent. The computer in his visor's interface brought up what information there was about him. As expected there wasn't much.

"Grue," Armsmaster called, getting his attention. "What experience do you have?" Grue shrugged and crossed his arms.

GUARDED

Armsmaster glanced at his visor's warning for a brief moment, noting what is said.

"I've done some mercenary work around," Grue said.

TRUE

"Anything illegal?" Armsmaster asked seriously. Grue shrugged.

"Nothing you can prove."

TRUE

"Have you ever worked with anyone else before?" Grue shook his head in response. Armsmaster nodded and looked back at the forest of blades. Density scanners revealed that it there was only a few feet of intertwined blades. After that, there were pockets and gashes where the blade growth was interrupted. It seemed that Kaiser was more concerned with keeping others out than keeping up the structural integrity of his fortress.

The scanners also revealed an open area right in the centre were the battle appeared to be going on. There was one person inside however that seemed to be shifting density states. Likely a cape he had yet to experience. Past that, he was unable to discern who was who in the battle.

"Can you create your darkness in such a way that it doesn't affect the other's?" Armsmaster asked.

"If you stay close I can banish a large bubble around myself that we can walk through it."

TRUE

NEW DIRECTIVE: ASK TO JOIN WARDS PROGRAM

"Have you considered joining the Wards?" Armsmaster asked automatically, without even pausing to consider it.

"I think we have more pressing concerns to deal with right now."

DISTRUST. DISLIKE.

Armsmaster nodded and looked at the fortress. He pressed a concealed button in his glove and his predictive program kicked in.

The program traced a path into the bladed fortress, staging each person in the location they would be the most useful. It paused in its analysis and a question popped up.

INQUIRY: CAPE ID: GRUE EXPENDABLE? Y/N

Kid Win watched as the front door of the mall lit up brightly only for the light to die half a second later. His thermal imager showed people going back and forth like a horde of ants played in fast forward. They were all too small, about a fourth the size they should be.

Slowly, Kid Win adjusted the dial on his scanner to slow down the feed. At twenty times slower than the normal speed and they were still moving too fast for normal humans. He tried again at thirty, then forty, then fifty. It finally evened out at about at fifty-five times slower than normal speed, which was lucky because the setting only went up to sixty.

He lifted his arms and entered in the numbers. It had been over five hours out here, making it over eleven days in there. Kid Win grimaced.

The mall was trapped in some sort of bubble where he and a few other Tinkers and Thinkers were analyzing. With their combined knowledge, they had discerned what exactly had happened with the bomb.

It was a time and space warp thing, inside the bubble the mall grew to massive proportions, but the bubble condensed the massive mall and the people inside to the normal dimensions of the mall, making everyone inside seem small by comparison. And all that was on top of the time dilation between the two.

They were limited in what they could do to help. Attempting to send anything or anyone inside subjected them to the space warping effects. Anything inorganic didn't seem to grow, from their perspective. But sending in people made them look small from inside the space warping effect. The one person that had walked in came out a second later claiming he had been stuck for hours. No one had wanted to go in after that.

Kid Win sighed and was about to pack up his gear and report Director Piggot so she could give him some new orders when he caught something.

"Oh my gosh," a female PRT officer suddenly said, pointing her finger at the mall. Four figures were stumbling out of the front doors which were massive by comparison. At this speed, they were moving so fast it was hard to tell what exactly what was going on, but luckily he had left his scanner open. Looking through it, Kid Win was impressed by what he saw.

There were four of them. Two guys and two girls. One of the guys had an arm wrapped up in a sling and was wielding a pistol at some people chasing him. The other guy had bandages wrapped around his head and a splint on one leg as he limped away. Kid Win got a chance to see him stab someone with a butterfly knife before attempting to limp away from them. The two girls were fighting too and didn't seem to have nearly as bad injuries. Each of them was supporting the other two by brawling with the people chasing them.

Kid Win didn't get a chance to see how it all turned out because the four suddenly came out of the bubble on their side and collapsed to the ground, their attackers nowhere in sight behind them.

"You okay Stan?" The guy in the splint panted.

"I'm fine," The guy in the sling growled with a heavy Boston accent. Kid Win noted he was wearing Worker colors, even if they were faded and stained with blood. "The pricks barely scratched me."

"Good, good." The first one let out a sigh and looked around as if he was taking in his surroundings for the first time. He glanced back at the two girls that came with them. They weren't injured besides some bloody knuckles and grimy hair. Seeing they were okay, the man straightened up and took a deep breath as he looked at all the capes and PRT officers around him. No one seemed willing to say anything, so Kid Win stepped in.

"Hey," he greeted as kindly as he could. "Are you all going to be okay?"

"We're fine," the man said curtly. Kid Win looked him up and down. He was muscular, lean like he had been working out long before he got trapped in the library. But he was young too, young enough that he could be in Kid Win's class back at Arcadia, if there still was an Arcadia. His injuries and determined expression made him seem older than he was. His friend, Stan, seemed just a little older.

"Then, do you have a name?" Kid Win asked. The guy wiped away some blood that was coming from his mouth.

"Greg," he answered. "Greg Veder."

---

A/N: So, there were so many spelling in grammar mistakes in this that I caught in the editing that I swear I had to be drunk when I wrote it. Sorry for anything I didn't catch, no idea how that happened.