Everyone at HQ tried to talk her out of it.

"It's suicidal," they said. "Don't go on your own" or "You're not thinking clearly". They all had solid arguments and Blue understood where they were coming from.

Streetlights doused her form in a wet sheen of greens and reds. The air was heavy and humid from a previous drizzle.

She understood. Blue comprehended every single word yelled at her. And they ignored the ones she yelled back. Ignored her pain. Her rage. Her wrathful thirst for revenge. Justice.

A sleek black Camry swerved and screeched to a stop as the hero stomped past it, the angry honks fading into white noise. Blue didn't give a flying fuck. If she wasn't so set on one target, she would've toyed with the idea of shattering his bumper and making his head snap back with the impact of an exploding airbag.

No one else stood in her shoes. None of them could comprehend the molten rage swirling in her chest. That fucker had done the unspeakable. And he was going to pay for it... right now.

The future corpse came into view, his back facing her as he trapped and drowned a couple inside their car with a dense cloud of ash.

Syphon was deeply fascinated by their screams and pained gagging. The way they beat against the glass with blind desperation. That final spark of fight clawing out of his victims like an instinct fornicated by centuries of evolution.

"Don't fight it," the villain whispered in awe. As he said this, his victims' movements slowed and their bodies slumped as life drained from their lungs. "That's it... Be at peace."

Rage flowed through Blue's lips like magma, her voice distorted and grim. The pure fury pouring from her was inhuman. Animalistic in its purest form. "Fucking die."

Twin funnels shot from Blue's arms, but the most it did was nudge Syphon in the back. He turned slowly, curiously, and came face to face with the physical embodiment of murder on a mission. A smile lurked in his voice. "Did you come alo--"

A booming fist connected with his chin and sent him flying back into the car. The passenger window cracked under the impact, decorating his back in shards as he slumped to his knees. However, Syphon merely chuckled and stood once more, rubbing his sore jaw. "You're angry."

Syphon summoned his ash cloud and closed his fist. Tendrils arched around Blue's form... only for her to disappear in a flash of blue lightning. His other hand was already raising to lash out again, spinning around to see her once more. Standing there. Stagnant yet quivering. Coiled tightly like a snake rearing to strike. Syphon formed another coffin, but the same as before happened. His brow furrowed. "You're so fast. Isn't she fast, Kendall?"

Another thunderous crack pulverized Syphon's insides as Blue's fist sunk into his gut. His spine curved from the impact as his feet lifted from the ground, saliva spilling through the bottom crease of his gas mask. He was then seized by his robes and spun around to slam into the car again, the back of his head shattering straight through the window. He could feel a warm liquid dribbling down his neck. "You're... you're so angry," he wheezed.

Blue said nothing. Her menacing, glowing eyes penetrated deep into his soul.

Suddenly, Syphon dissolved into a cloud and slipped from Blue's grasp. He appeared behind the raging hero and threw a punch, only for his fist to sail over her shoulder as she leaned aside. Her body blinked. Then she was facing him again, the tip of her mask wet and slick against his nose.

Five fingers shot forward to clench around Syphon's neck, yet they pierced ash instead. She promptly swung out horizontally with her arm, trying to hammer fist his ribs. She grit her teeth as she cut straight through him.

"Those won't work on me, you know this." He tilted his head curiously. "You're not thinking straight." Syphon sounded beyond pleased. "Perfect."

Ribbons of ash crawled up Blue's body and bound her in place, thickening around her until she was trapped in a coffin of ash. The lack of oxygen burned at her lungs, despite how viciously she fought to free herself. Whatever movement she had before was restrained as the coffin shrunk in size, closing in painfully around her. Her rage burned hotter, even as a series of clicks and cracks shook her nerves raw.

She felt herself floating before being whipped aside violently like a rag doll. Her ribs roared in agony as she collided into the brick wall of a shop. She fell with a soft thud, shaking against her will in agony...

She stood up through the pain.

Silently, Blue settled down onto her hands and toes, form hunching like an Olympic runner at the start line. All movement was predatory and calculated, gathering every iota of will and power to charge her next attack. Eyes never leaving Syphon, electricity danced and whipped about her furiously. Their crackling energy illuminated her form, yet bathed her mask in an ominous sheet of darkness. Mercy lost its relevance.

KRA-KOOM!

All that was left was a crater.

Blue smashed into Syphon with the destructive power of Thor's hammer, shooting a monstrous crack of thunder to echo throughout the city. The villain rocketed straight for a crashed SUV, its mechanical belly exposed as the hood rested against a building.

A nanometer was left between his back and the car when Blue appeared in front of him mid-air. 

Time slowed.

Arches of electricity swirled about her form languidly like a vengeful god without a leash. Unhinged. Her foot smashing into his chest launched him clean through the vehicle and buried him deeply into the building just beyond it. His limbs protruded from the hole, hanging limply at awkward angles.

Syphon twitched, his consciousness flooding back like a crumbled dam. Had he momentarily blacked out? He must have. He wiggled, confirming that he was momentarily stuck. However, he fixed his predicament easily and slid from his trap in a stream of ash. He slunk out into the open and circled Blue like a tiger sizing up its next meal. His voice slithered into her ears. An unwelcome and sinister whisper on the wind. "Pete doesn't like you. He said you're too angry. Too scary. They all want you dead."

The wisp expanded into a massive cloud, blinding Blue and filling her lungs with poisonous ash. She wheezed and clutched at her chest. She nearly fell to her knees, but fought the lapse in weakness and remained standing, albeit shakily.

Blue fell still within the cloud. His voice was everywhere and nowhere all at once. Surrounding her. Taunting her. So pleased. So unaffected. As if doing what he had done to her Precious weighed next to nothing on his conscience.

"They want to know, Blue Bang. They're so curious," Syphon whispered.

Blue's muscles coiled.

"They want to know what your screams of agony sound like. Are you high-pitched? Do you gurgle? Choke?"

Her eyes roamed the clumps of ash dispersed about. They were no larger than a fist, some as small as a nickel.

"Or do you suffer in silence while your mind slowly breaks? They want to know so badly."

Wait... Wait. Was that--A cough rattled Blue's chest.

"Oh, Kendall is dying to know, Blue Bang... Do you scream like Nanomanc--!"

A rough and dusty tongue poked through the crevices of Blue's fingers. It seized in shock before flailing, Syphon's choking slick and prevalent in the hero's ears. His face clumped together in broken pieces, struggling to reform around her hand. The cloud separated and all that was left was the pair, one looming dangerously as the other crumbled slowly under the pain. Syphon's gags grew panicked as Blue's grip tightened.

"You. Hurt. Her," Blue snarled as she pushed her weight forward until Syphon fell onto his back. She crouched over his writhing body, watching every motion, every tick, every choke and pathetic flicker of fear racing through his agonized gaze. Her body vibrated, stacking an unimaginable degree of pain onto Syphon's being. His scream was muffled within her steel grasp. "Suffer like she did... Then die, Syphon. Die painfully. Die slowly." Another cough lashed at her lungs, but she swallowed it back.

Suddenly, Syphon's eyes rolled into the back of his skull. His body slackened. It seemed he had passed out from the pain, but he wasn't dead.

It wasn't enough.

The poison lingering in her lungs took a backseat to the steadily growing rage. A darkness swirled throughout her, staining her thoughts and morals an inky black. Her fingers traveled down to his neck, pressed together and rigid like a handmade blade. She could end it. Slice his neck open, drain the blood from his body completely. Finally earn justice for her love.

Blue couldn't hold back another hacking cough, the sensation dry and painful against her throat. It felt as if she was breathing in sandpaper. The poison. The poison. But Nat. Sh-she had to avenge--

Blue bared her teeth before unleashing an enraged yell. She didn't care! He needed to die! He had to pay! And he would pay with his fucking life!

Her hand reared back and in a flash, her hand rained down--

It slapped into asphalt as a final cough split her chest in two. A pained gag followed. Something inky red and tasting of copper spilled through the bars of her mask... Fuck... N-no... she had to... h-had to... ki...

Eyes rolling, Blue fell onto her side. She laid unconscious next to Syphon.

It took about a half hour for the team to find them. One was immediately detained and transported to the nullification chamber, while the other was rushed to HQ's infirmary.