I flew through the wall of the warehouse, my bubble shield protecting Cheshire and I as we ripped through the thin metal like it was aluminum foil. I was instantly glad that I took that approach because a moment later explosives fixed to the roof and wall went off, throwing me against the ground from the force. Thankfully my shield stayed up.

Using my wings to keep me steady inside the shield, I was able to get a good look at the gang members surrounding me before the explosions full cleared. I reach out with my magic, grabbing the guns out of their hands and pulling them all into one tight ball. It only took a small measure of force to bend them out of shape and making into on ball of metal.

Their next attempt was to launch their Kinder gas and Brute nets. The nets didn't bother my shield at all, but it was a drain on my magic. It would better if I could drop it sooner than later, I decided. I flew higher, getting above the extending cloud of Kinder gas. The gas was dense, staying near the ground and it would only be ignited once everyone was out of the way. With that in mind, I wasn't prepared to give them a chance.

I considered trying to form a spark with my magic, but the idea of what the gas might do to someone inside of it made me hesitate a moment. Instead, I thought of the idea of blowing the gas away. Immediately, I felt my magic shift into my wings. I let my magic weave with the air, letting it move freely for the most part. I felt it connect with my wings and then I gave them a flap.

A massive pair of earthereal wings visible only to me pushed a wave of air forward that shoved all the of the Kinder gas away. As the gas cleared, I saw all of the gangers were gone. With a frown, I descended a little to get a better inspection.

"They used the gas as cover, knowing you would avoid it," Cheshire said.

"Cover to do what?" I asked, letting my hooves touch the ground.

"Go underground," Cheshire said simply, moving to slide off my back. "This building has a basement, they probably expanded it on top of that."

"Why go underground?" I asked. "Wouldn't that make them more trapped?"

"No," Cheshire said. "Besides the fact that they have tunnels to take them out through other buildings, they want us to chase them."

"Oh," I said, my eyebrows furrowing. An idea formed in my head and my magic twitched. "Where did they go in at?"

Cheshire raised an eyebrow at me and started to walked over to one corner of the remains of the warehouse. She took me to a metal trap door fixed into the floor.

"Careful," she warned. "They have a bomb set up on the other side."

I nodded to her and focused my magic, letting it pour out of my horn without attempting to control the form it worked in. It spread out, coating everything around me in its invisible energy that gave me a sense of everything it touched. With little resistance, it sank through the gaps in the trap door and filled the corridor below.

I felt it move around some men standing a good distance back from door, holding more guns in their hands. I focused on the details, trying to get a sense of the to contents on their belts. Then I found their Kinder gas canisters and opened the seals with a brief flicker of my telekinesis.

I waited until they had run out of my range to get away from the gas before taking several steps back from the trap door, Cheshire right behind me, and throwing it open with my telekinesis.

I was left wondering if they actually meant for the explosion to be that big or if that was a result in having that much gas filling a hallway. The concrete floor around it had caved inward in the general path of the hallway underneath it. Walking back up to it, I reached out and levitated the rocks and debris out of the way.

There was no one in the hallway below, though there were scorch marks extending down the side of it. I looked at Cheshire for her opinion on the matter.

"Too tight," she said with a shake of her head. "We'd be at a disadvantage if we go in at all. We can call Glory Girl, let her lead the way. But I don't think going in would be such a good idea."

"But we can't let them have any chance to escape," I said, putting my hoof on the ground.

"Well, we can patrol the other exits," Cheshire suggested. "Collapse them maybe."

"No need girls!" We heard a voice behind us.

There was a man in a business suit, slicked back hair, and a general air of business. He held himself casually, one hand in his pocket the other held up close to him. He was a something of an older guy, maybe in his late thirties or early forties.

"Walked here from the other building exit," Cheshire muttered to herself.

"Max Clay, at your service," he introduced with a bow. Immediately, I reach out with my horn to grab him.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Max said, wiggling his finger at me as I lifted him off the ground. "I suggest you look at your partner before you do that."

Hesitantly, I looked at Cheshire.

"Fucking snipers," she swore just moments before red dots appeared on her person. Immediately, I dropped Max and pulled Cheshire closer to me before throwing up a shield around myself. I felt my magic take a hit of exhaustion. It wasn't enough to be a problem, not yet anyway. But the shield was draining on me faster than I would have liked. I only had a limited amount of time to resolve this. If I hit him with a rock in the next few seconds I think I could manage two teleports. One to him, then one away from the snipers. Cheshire could bring him down from there. I just needed-

"Nova," Max said loudly. "I just have one thing to say to you. Adkins S Montgomery is Ragnarok."

[Alert: Omni-Negate shard and host invoked]

[Temporary deactivation invoked]

External administration failing.

[Warning: External energy becoming volatile]

External administration losing control.

[Attempting to rectify]

[Notice: Failure. Going forward with deactivation.]

External administration gone.

Applying changes gleaned from external administration.

Rectifying efficiency caps imposed by external administration.

Increasing Alicorn instincts.

Reinforcing magic bonds.

Intensifying Friendships.

I suddenly felt magic thunder through my body like I have never felt it before. It was like floodgates of pure adrenalin exploded into my magic circuits and started making magic with a passion. It wasn't like before where the magic lingered there, begging to be used. It was like… some sort of restriction had been lifted from me.

My magic exploded from my horn and coated several blocks in its energy, allowing me to find the snipers. I crushed their guns with my telekinesis and dropped my shield. I grabbed Max and lifted him off the ground and into the air.

"Oh," he said. "Well, that wasn't supposed to happen."

"I get the feeling you should be more worried than that," I warned. I felt an irrational spike of anger at the fact he pointed several snipers at my friend. He was going to hurt for that.

"I should be," Max agreed. "But I've been in enough situations like this before that it simply doesn't quite take hold anymore."

"Bullshit," Cheshire said. "He's just gotten really good at hiding it." Max gave a shrugged and said nothing.

[Notice: Reactivation]

Warning: External administration attempting to regain control

[Attempting to administrate external energy]

Frustration. Resistance.

[Partial success.]

Correct expression found: Horseapples.

Suddenly I felt my magic leaving me as quickly as it came. No, scratch that. Quicker.

"Cheshire!" I shouted right before my magic cut out and I was forced to drop Max.

"I got him!" She yelled back, darting forward with a burst of speed that impressed even me. She caught him out of the air, spun him around once, and then shoved his face into the ground.

"Okay, okay! I get it, you got me." Max said around a face full of concrete. "My evil plan is foiled, curse you and what not. I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you meddling kids and your talking horse too."

"Really?" I asked, planting a hoof in front of his face.

"Really." He answered. "Now, I would suppose you would be willing to give me sanctuary in exchange for information?"

"Why would-" I stopped myself as I realized what he said. "Sanctuary? You want protection?"

"Well, it would have been pretty dumb to come out here by myself in front of a god tier cape otherwise," Max said.

"And the snipers?" I asked accusingly. "And that phrase?"

"A show," Cheshire said, her eyes widening behind her mask slightly. "The snipers would be able to watch but unable to hear you hand yourself over."

"Is that a Thinker power? " Max asked, sounding cheerful despite neither looking it nor having a reason to be. "Well, that certainly makes this easier. Although, that show was mostly for the benefit if I encountered hero or the rare villain that was going to give me to PRT custody. Wouldn't want my employer to have a reason to shank me, which makes me doubly glad it was you that found me. PRT prison is dull anyway."

"And what makes you think I won't cart you off to jail?" I asked, my frustration growing.

"Several reasons," Max said, attempting to squirm under Cheshire's grip. "First, do you really trust the PRT to be able to handle me? After everything they've done? I guarantee, you send me there and I'll either be free and back in control or become a tied up loose end in a week.

"Alternatively," Max said, his words becoming a little more hurried. "For the last ten or fifteen years, I lived with the knowledge that I might one day be a loose end and have taken a great many steps to make sure I had some leverage to get my protection. Granted, I thought it would have been Coil, he would have been an easy sell on the information. But you are just as good, if not better."

"He's telling the truth," Cheshire said.

"Is his information worth it?" I asked seriously. I could not seriously believe I was considering it. But one part of his words nagged me. I honestly couldn't trust the PRT with him. It was just like he said and more. If he got this information to get himself a deal with a villain, then I doubted he was even going to drop hints with the PRT where his employers appererntly had men.

"He thinks it is," Cheshire answered.

"I would hope so, but you better come to a decision a little quicker than that." Max pressed. "I'm quite familiar with my men's response times and needless to say, my window is closing rather quickly so I'll just skip to the ace in my sleeve. Or rather, the safety deposit key hanging from my necklace."

Without hesitation, Cheshire adjusted her grip on him to get the key he was referring to. It was less of a necklace and more of a thin leather strip with the key dangling in the centre of it. Cheshire looked at it a moment and suddenly wrapped Max in a choke hold. He struggled for a few seconds before passing out.

"Why did you do that?" I asked.

"Safer to transport him like this," she answered quickly. "He wasn't lying about the response times, and if I'm not mistaken you're running low on magic so we need to get out of here."

"But I-"

"There's no time," Cheshire hissed, tossing Max onto my back with her enhanced strength before climbing on herself. As soon as she was on I saw gang members rounding the corner.

"Ah, horseapples," I said, taking off as fast as I could. I heard some bullets ringing behind me, but I was traveling fast enough I was leaving an afterimage trail behind me. I took us above the city as fast as I could, quickly getting higher than the skyscrapers.

"Where are we going?" I asked Cheshire as soon as I had taken us a safe distance.

"Your house!" Cheshire shouted over the wind. "Panacea can grow a prison cell for him like she did for herself yesterday."

I nodded and turned that direction. There was still a massive gang fight happening all over the city, and I wanted nothing more to be part of it like I already have been today. But I wasn't going to be able to do anything until I chugged down some potions to restore my magic. Besides, between the two bases I had crushed already plus the one that we got Max Clay, their leader for all intensive purposes, I was fairly sure I had done a good amount of heroing today.

And then several explosions erupted across the city.

They weren't explosions in the traditional sense. They were like massive bubbles, each one about the size of a large building, letting me see them clearly from where I was. There was one at The Docks, one near Winslow, one where I was pretty sure the mall was it, and one on The Boardwalk. They all had a light blue colour to them, except for the one on The Boardwalk that appeared to be filling with snow.

"Alright," I muttered. "Apparently not enough heroing for the day."