“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” Jay shouted, running his hands through his hair as the car pulled into the alley. The reporter had shut off his phone, leaning forward and holding his head in the back seat with Marta and Colin. Sonya glanced over her shoulder at him and chuckled while her two compatriots gave the little man sidelong looks. When it occurred to her that the man was sitting between Mephisto and The Companion, she couldn’t help herself and barked out a laugh. He dropped his hands and glared at her. “Do you think this is funny? You put millions of people in danger!”

Sonya pointed at herself. “Did I?”

He threw his hands up. “Yes!”

She frowned at him and cocked an eyebrow. “Then what was I supposed to do? The other option was ‘or die,’ according to him. There were not any real tokens in the case. He asked for it, and I gave it to him.”

His eyes bulged. “You know what I mean! Why did you give him the fake ones?”

She gave him a flat look and opened her mouth to speak when Jay’s phone started to ring. He scowled at it for a moment, and she tilted her head. “You should take that.”

He glared at her. “Why?”

“It might help,” she said with a shrug and turned away, crossing her legs.

He spat out a curse and picked up the phone. “Yes! Nate! What? I’m bus- huh?” He sat up straight, and she felt him turn to look at her. “When?” She resisted the urge to smile. “What? Are you serious? That’s-” He hesitated. “That explains a lot. No- I’ll give you a report in a minute. Okay, thanks, bye.” He hung up and glared at her. “Did you leak that footage?”

She just smiled and tilted her head left and right. “There’s more,” she said. “Testimonials. My source wishes to remain anonymous, but he has put a lot of work into gathering evidence of First Wind’s crimes.”

“More? Ev-” he coughed as the car turned into the expo center parking garage. “I thought you wanted to help the heroes.”

“I do. The real ones,” Sonya said flatly.

“Why haven’t you released the rest?” he demanded.

She turned slowly to look him in the eyes and grinned. “Just waiting for you to make your offer, Mister Cash.” 

He glared at her and rubbed the side of his neck, where she knew he was hiding his vigilante tattoo. Her lip twitched when he lowered his hand, and she gave him the sweetest smile she had. He looked away and then dipped his head. 

“I know you have an agenda with your reporting and want to hurt the Pandora Committee. I told you, I’ve watched your stuff,” she said casually as the car parked. “You and I both know that if I’m offering it to you,  the footage won’t hurt the Committee. We also know I won’t give you and your people enough time to doctor it up for your own uses. So what’s it gonna be? Agenda or Integrity?”

“How do I know you haven’t already doctored it?” he demanded.

“You don’t, but you don’t have time to worry about it. Thirty seconds for your offer,” she said.

He whipped his head towards the doors of the expo center, and his eyes widened. Yeah, that’s right, they haven’t started evacuating yet. A bunch of security guards aren’t going to be enough to make some of those people move. If I stand in front of them and accuse First Wind, even with my reputation, there will certainly be doubts since the news stations should just now be getting the footage of the hand-off. You have an agenda against me, though. She raised her eyebrows. Your corroboration clears everything up. What are you gonna do, Vigilante?

He exhaled hard. “Fuck-” He pinched the bridge of his nose and then sat up. “Fine! I’ll help.”

She clapped her hands together. “Lovely! See? That wasn’t so hard!” Marta and Charon’s puppet hopped out of the car, opening the doors to let her, Colin, and Jay out. She winked at the puppet, who nodded and walked away, going to grab the getaway car while she pulled out her phone and pretended to tap away. She used Technopathy to send the footage Blight had gathered from survivors of First Wind’s wrath to Jay.

Timing is everything. She grinned and glanced back at the flummoxed reporter. “I sent it your way. We don’t have time for you to send it off to your boss just yet, but you’ll have plenty in a few minutes.”

He scowled but nodded as they hurried to the doors. Marta moved ahead and opened them for her, poking her head inside. She glanced back and nodded before leading them through the rear hallway and into the expo center itself. Even from behind the stage they could hear noisy conversation, most of it varying between wondering about the delay and off-color remarks about the choice of venue. Ahead of her, she saw her security team in a standoff with the Pandora security team that had also come to assist in watching over the event.

Sonya smirked and adjusted her tie a little before storming forward with her allies in tow. “What’s the delay?” she demanded, stopping between the two groups.

One of the Pandora soldiers turned and frowned at her. “Ma’am, your security team is asking us to evacuate non-light-touched persons. We’d like to have more clarity as to why. Your team had some serious accusations to throw at Hero First Wind’s feet.”

She forced a glare and looked him up and down. “Seems there’s still some trust lacking between our organizations,” she said flatly and brushed past him. “Fine, I’ll convince the crowd and force you to do your job.”

“M-ma’am!”

She ignored him, feeling a little bad about putting him in that spot. He really was just doing his job the way he was supposed to. Even so, it was well within her expectations and added to the whole performance piece she was cultivating. She gestured, and Marta took up a spot behind her to block the security guards as she marched up towards the rear entrance of the stage. She glanced back at Jay, who was following her. “Time to save some lives with your reporting, Mister Cash.”

He stared at her, and she shrugged before darting up the last few steps of the stage. She stepped out from behind the curtain, and the noise exploded. A few shouts died down into silence as her face appeared on the jumbo monitor hanging over her head. She held up her hands to quiet everyone down. “Hello, everybody! I’ve kept you waiting! Sorry about that!” She greeted casually. “Had a bit of a hiccup while retrieving the tokens.”

The room turned deadly quiet, and she nodded. “I understand your concerns. The young heroes will receive their promised rewards. I took extra steps to ensure security before the event, and it paid off, though not without some consequence. I have Mister Jay Cash of World Open Broadcast here as a witness to what took place.”

She swept her gaze over the crowd, meeting the eyes of the many heroes who had come to watch, including the four winners of the Dharan competition. “What I need for you all to do now is remain calm and prepare to evacuate.”

A Pandora representative hopped to her feet. Sonya eyed her name tag.

Sasha Montgommery, Unawakened

The Canadian rep, what’s she doing here?

She mentally shrugged it off as the woman spoke. “What are these consequences? What did you do?”

“The handoff was interrupted by First Wind, who took the tokens,” Sonya said flatly. “I gave him fakes prepared for such an event. The storm outside is his. He was prepared to level Shanghai if I refused.”

Montgomery snorted. “You can’t possibly expect me to believe that-”

“It’s true!” Jay said abruptly, stepping forward. “I watched everything play out. I have footage of it that I’ve sent to my news station.”

The Pandora Rep scowled. “You did what? Without clearing it-”

Sonya held up her hands as the crowd stirred. “Listen to me,” she said. “The tokens were fake, as I said. He will not get any abilities from them, which means he is going to be very angry. I need the non-ability users to leave as soon as possible. My security team is in the back, and there are buses we can commandeer to get you to a secure location. Everyone-”

“We’re not going anywhere!”

She followed the source of the voice and met Nietz’s eyes. He was on his feet with the other heroes present. There was a stormy look of betrayal on his face. She frowned at him even as she grinned inwardly. “First Wind is not someone you fight without preparation, Hero Nietz.”

“We’ll see about that,” he barked. “He is a Pandora Hero, and if he’s guilty, then it’s our responsibility as his peers to hold him accountable and bring him in!”

Sonya lowered her hands and tilted her chin up. She looked to the other heroes in the audience. “Do the rest of you agree with him?”

Every single licensed hero in the crowd got to their feet and started arming themselves. The non-light-touched in the crowd looked at them nervously as the trained fighters prepared for battle. She felt a warmth in her chest before chuckling. “Well, unfortunately, it’s not your call,” she said, and the heroes started to scowl before she glanced towards the pretty face in the front row. “That would be your job, I think, Madame Chairwoman.”

The room fell silent.

Carla Mint got to her feet. Her expression was a mask of fury. She crossed her arms behind her back, walked slowly to the stage, and reached up. Sonya pulled her on, and the woman turned to look over the crowd. Everyone went quiet as the Chairwoman’s angry eyes looked at each and every one of them. “Heroes! Your peer, First Wind, has turned Villain.” she barked. “Show him how real heroes handle Villains. Defend this city.”

“YES, MA’AM!”

Sonya held back another grin. And now to pour oil on the fire.

KRZZZZZZTTTTTTTT!

As the heroes started to move civilians from the stands, the monitor above Sonya’s head crackled and hissed. Her face vanished from it and was replaced by the unmistakable visage of Ishtar. White-armored helmet and glowing pink eyes looked down upon everyone gathered as she sat on a throne made of marble, surrounded by Legionnaires. She tilted her chin up and crossed her legs. “I think I’ve seen enough,” the recording said. “Blackrazor. Do it.”

Blackrazor’s shadow spread out across the stage from Sonya’s feet. She looked down and feigned as much surprise as she could, nearly leaping away from the spot, only to whirl when he, as planned, didn’t grab her. Instead, the shadows pooled around a startled Carla, who fell through them like a hole in the earth. “Carla!” Sonya shouted, hurrying over to the spot as the heroes reacted, only to lower their weapons when they realized she was already gone. Sonya whirled on Ishtar. “Give her back, now!”

“You’ve interfered with my plans far too much, as has the Chairwoman,” Ishtar said without a care, waving a dismissive hand. “Your little game with the tokens has been amusing. I wonder how you will deal with First Wind’s wrath?” She snickered and clapped her armored hands. “Whatever you do, it’s ultimately futile!” She laughed. “You cannot stop me.”

“He’s with you?” Sonya demanded.

Ishtar tilted her chin up. “Hardly. I can’t even imagine how anyone would put up with him. Putting his nose where it doesn’t belong and making messes everywhere he goes,” she scoffed. “Regardless, I will be in Shanghai momentarily, heroes. I warned you not to covet what was mine, Chernovna. Those tokens never belonged to you.” She rose to her feet and began to float as pink light streamed in through the windows of the expo center. “Ready or not, here I come.”

The feed ended.

Sonya spun and gestured to the crowd. “Get the civilians out of here!” she shouted.

The heroes sprang into motion as Sonya made an effort to sway on the spot. Marta was at her side, catching her as she glanced surreptitiously in her companion’s direction. Nietz and his team took charge quickly, barking orders and shouting as the other heroes present moved to assist. She spotted Medved near one side, gesturing towards the crowd and pointing towards the rear of the building. Crusader spread a wave of golden flame over everyone, and disorder turned to order quickly. Holographic arrows appeared over the gathered spectators’ heads at Snow’s action.

I’m glad they came, she thought wryly.

“I need to get you out of here, Miss,” Marta said quickly. She pulled away once, just to add a bit to the performance, and looked towards the heroes working. Crusader and Nietz nodded at her. Medved held her gaze and kept pointing towards the rear. She made a face but nodded, turning away as Marta hurried her towards the back of the stage, where her security team was waiting. She glanced at Kera and Kingshark in their disguises. “Put on a good show,” she said quietly and walked past them and into the rear hallway, the rest of the security team following them.

Her phone rang in her head, and she answered it quickly. ”Mistress, I have Lady Mint at the coordinates you specified.” Blackrazor said.

She flexed her will and created a portal between that spot and the Idol of Venus.

”Thank you. I’ll see her safely aboard.”

She hung up as they re-entered the rear hall, her face a little funny as she tried to restrain the giggles that were threatening to bust her gut. She held onto Marta, trying to remain standing. To those looking past, she probably looked distraught. She staggered with her friend into the parking garage as a sports car pulled up, its pale metal body shining in the artificial light above. A pair of red eyes glanced at her from the driver's seat, and both wing doors opened.

An engine roared nearby.

She glanced towards it, and her eyes widened with delight.

And here come the rats!

POP! POPOPOP POP!

Gunfire filled the parking garage, men hanging out of the side of a van wearing combat gear, their weapons aimed at her. Marta moved to put herself between Sonya and the attackers as the door opened to the car. She clambered inside as Marta darted for the van and, with one titanic punch, crushed the front end. The engine of the car roared as Marta hopped into the front passenger seat. The doors slammed shut. “Charon, drive!”

He laughed. “I’ve been waiting for this!” He hit the gas, and they sped out of the building just in time to avoid another van pulling up near the exit. Sonya dipped low as bullets pinged off the glass behind her. The car swerved, sliding across the street as Charon adjusted the gear and tapped the brakes before he righted it and they sped off.

Sonya burst into laughter. “That was so much fun! Hit the music, Charon! It’s time for a chase!”

He grinned as Marta relaxed and chuckled to herself. “You got it, boss!”