From where I was flying I could see Armsmaster riding on his motorcycle through the city streets, half a dozen PRT officers following him on foot as his motorcycle crawled along. Looking the other way, I saw Triumph leading his own team of PRT officers, each one equipped with a foam sprayer. The plan was simple, they would use their manpower to scope out the area while I kept an eye on things from up above. He had given Cheshire a radio in case we saw anything and needed assistance.

Flying a little lower, I let my magic spread out to get a better sense of the area. I could feel people inside of the mix of apartments and factories. Most were small families, huddled in spaces too small for them. Others were single people, lying still enough I might have thought they were dead if I didn't know what time of night it was.

I found them the moment I felt Cheshire pulling on my mane to get my attention. It was a factory and on the inside, there were bodies everywhere. A lot of them weren't moving, but that wasn't to say there wasn't any.

Landing outside of the loading bays, I used my telekinesis to wrench the doors open as Panacea and Cheshire slid off my back. The inside looked like a war zone.

Besides the massive amount of bullets scattered absolutely everywhere, a large explosion had taken place in the middle of the room. It left a rather large crater and had caused the floor above it to cave in around it. There were bodies on the ground, the most intact ones belonging to Merchants. Doctors and Workers… they clearly didn't get the same treatment.

"Oh my god," Panacea said under her breath as she knelt down to check one of the people. "What the hell happened?"

"Mush," Cheshire said grimly, stalking around the explosion site. "They spent the fight feeding his body military grade explosives, which is why a lot of them look like this." She gestured with a hand at them. "Then they set them all off at once, Mush himself taking most of the explosion from the inside moving outward."

"Then where's his body?" I asked.

Cheshire shrugged. "Where isn't it?"

"That was disgusting," Panacea noted.

"Come on," I said, grabbing them each with my telekinesis. "Let's keep looking." I kicked off the ground and gave a quick flap to get to the second floor through the hole in the ceiling. The people I felt moving would be up there.

I took us down a hallway and started letting my magic expand outward again. This time I got an even closer look at the people moving, though there was less now. A room had collapsed in on itself when the floor above it had caved in for whatever reason. I could feel more bodies on the top floor with my magic so I guessed someone had used explosives up there to cause it. I guessed the Merchants because the Workers seemed too… organized to use an explosive on the top floor of a building that was already abandoned.

I suddenly felt a person enter the room that wasn't there before, someone who managed to not be affected by my magic projection. They knelt down and took out something thin and metal. A knife.

At that moment I realized it I recognized the costume she wore. It was the Crossbow vigilante. The person that had been squirming against the rubble on top of him suddenly stopped moving. I broke into a run.

She must have heard my hoofs against the floor because she whirled around and fired an arrow at me the moment I rounded the corner into the room. I grabbed it and threw it back violently, causing her to duck the other way to avoid it.

Suddenly she froze, unable to move as my telekinesis wrapped around her. I took the moment to look around the room. It was a large place, something I could see being a living room of a staff lounge of some sort. And there were clearly a few people in here due to how most of them were dead. The man Crossbow had been leaning over had his legs crushed under the rubble and his throat slashed. There was one more still alive, a metal bar through his shoulder. Panacea was looking over him already.

I turned to Cheshire who made a face and grabbed the radio Armsmaster had given her before saying,

"I'll go let him know." I gave her a curt nod and turned back to the Crossbow vigilante.

"Why?" I demanded, putting a hoof down hard against the ground. I rotated her in the air so she faced me.

"Because it was the kind thing to do," she said acidly.

"What?" I asked incredulously, not quite believing what I just heard her say.

"He was weak, and he was suffering. He had already lost too much blood and there was no way in hell to get him to a hospital. He was going to die there suffering, I helped him with that.

"By killing him," I said bluntly.

"Like I said," she responded sourly. "I was doing him a favour."

"Well forgive me if I don't mark you as the kindest person in the book," I responded sourly. At that moment Cheshire came back into the room, idly holding the radio in her hand.

"Armsmaster is on his way. Miss Militia and the others found the other fight. Skidmark was the only one killed in the action, Squealer was hiding in the basement and they have her now. Making Whirlygig the only one unaccounted for, and I doubt they kicked up any fuss for her." Cheshire glanced at Crossbow and asked, "Are you going to be able to hold her until Armsmaster gets here?"

"I'll be fine," I responded. "I don't know about her though."

"What's your problem," she asked sourly. "He was a Merchant, no one cares about him. What I did was probably the kindest thing that could have been done for a guy like him."

"The problem is," I said with a forced calm, "that you don't go around killing people!"

She fell silent at that, causing me to shake my head at her again and turn back to Cheshire. She thought for a few moments before deciding to walk up to Crossbow and start walking pensive circles around her.

"What do you know about The Workers?" She asked.

"I know they're a pain in the ass," Crossbow responded.

"Noted. But have you found out anything about them? A lead we can work off of?"

"Nothing I would tell you."

"Ah, you know one of their bases. That's good. Is it in The Docks?"

"Fuck yo-"

"Yes, alright. So it's a warehouse of some kind right?"

"I'm not-"

"Yes, it is. Good. Hey, Nova?"

"Yes?" I responded. Cheshire's grin widened as she said,

"Hit her with the healing spell."

"Why?" I asked as a confused look passed over my face. Not that I wouldn't, but I wasn't exactly high on magic at the moment and I'd rather not exhaust my reserves.

"Because Shadow Stalker here really likes her ability to swear."

Shadow Stalker? Not the name I would have chosen, but if it is swearing she likes… a smile spread across my face as I charged up the spell.

I hit her with it right as Armsmaster walked into the room.

"What's going on here?" He demanded.

"We caught the Crossbow vigilante after she killed a man," I answered him, floating her over to him. Armsmaster's lips pressed into a thin line before retrieving a pair of Tinker made handcuffs from his suit. Reaching his hands into my telekinesis, he grabbed Shadow Stalker's arms and pulled them behind her. He pressed the bits of metal that made the handcuffs into her wrists and metal extended outward from them, securing her wrists together.

I dropped the telekinesis once I thought he had her, but the moment her feet touched the ground she kicked off and attempted to get through the doorway. Cheshire stepped in her way at the last moment and punched her across the face.

Shadow Stalker hit the floor hard, her mask barely hanging on. I caught a glimpse of dark skin underneath before she rolled over, pressing her face to the floor to keep the mask from sliding off.

"Huh," Cheshire said, looking at her fist. "That felt great. Oh, and she has a fractured jaw now."

"Are you sure she killed him?" Armsmaster asked like that event didn't just occur. Cheshire nodded.

"Yep, she cut his throat with the knife that's in her belt. That's should give you everything you need. Now, did you find any more of The Doctors and Workers?"

"No," Armsmaster answered with a shake of his head. "They took some losses, but they got out as soon as possible. But without many of their capes, The Merchants are likely going to fall apart in the next couple of days."

"Not exactly reassuring," I said bitterly. Armsmaster frowned and paused for a moment.

"No," he conceded. "But it is the only thing we have gotten out of this whole crime spree these gangs seem to be part of. Until the Director hears back from the Think Tank it is likely the only thing we'll get.

"Now," Armsmaster continued as he picked Shadow Stalker off the floor, holding her mask in place for her. "I'll be taking her back to the Protectorate building. I suggest you go home for the night."

He left the room, pushing Shadow Stalker in front of him. Panacea and Cheshire walked up to me, standing on either side of me. When he was gone I looked at Cheshire and open my mouth but she silenced me with a shake of her head.

"I want to help you go after them," Cheshire said, "Believe me, I do. But it took the whole day just to get this lead and I don't think it's likely they planned two events on the same night. If we go back out, we'll only waste our time."

"Plus," Panacea said, inserting herself into the conversation. "As fun as it was coming with you guy, which it surprisingly was, I really need to get home. It's already pretty late."

I looked between the two for a moment before hanging my head with a sigh. They were right, there was only so much we could do. I want to get Rune's killer, and if it were just me I go all night. But it is not just me, it's my friends too. And my dad is probably worried as well.

I knelt down on all four legs and said, "Alright you two, climb on. Let's go home."