Lucid stood just beyond the reach of the streetlight, the blue glow of her suit stark against the dark alley behind her.

"Before we start," came the villain's distorted voice, "does anyone else want to be excused?"

Sebastian thought about raising his hand, but his training instincts already had his fingers wrapped around the Taser in his vest. Veritas swooped down beside him, palms up defensively.

"Whoa, whoa," he said. "Relax, guys. What's up?"

She didn't bother to answer, raising one hand and sending a stream of electricity straight at the superhero's chest. Completely caught off guard, Veritas went flying backward, crashing through the wall of a building across the parking lot. A security alarm started in the distance.

Lucid turned to Sebastian, who was still staring open-mouthed after the super.

"Sure you don't—"

"Yes." The ferocity in his own voice surprised Sebastian, but he already had his weapon out, pointed steadily at the dark-suited figure.

"Ooh." She raised her hands, laughing. "Better shoot quick, before the other guy comes back and steals your credit."

"I'm not here for credit," Sebastian said evenly. "We're interested in justice."

"And truth," came Veritas's voice. He was floating just above the villain's head, apparently unfazed by the attack – unless you count the way his usually slicked-back hair was floating around his head. "Don't shoot yet, I want to talk."

Lucid clapped her hands over her head, sending another flash of energy at the super. This one shot him over the roof of the video store half a block down, and Sebastian flinched slightly.

The villain hadn't even turned her head, taking a step closer. "You know you want to be the one to bring me in, Mr. Esposito."

"Sergeant," he corrected, fingers slipping over the trigger. His palms were sweating. He didn't like the way Veritas was handling the situation.

It gave Sebastian too much temptation.

"Is it justice you're looking for, Sergeant?" Lucid's face was still hidden by a mask, but he could feel the villain's gaze burning into him. Concrete dust floated down on them, the streetlight flickering.

Veritas was back, grinning. He opened his mouth, but Lucid waved a hand.

"Yeah, and truth. Heard you the first time." Despite the helmet's distortion, the annoyance was clear in the villain's voice. "Are you so sure? The truth isn't always nice."

Sebastian clenched his teeth, waggling the Taser up and down. "Veritas, any time now?"

"No, no—" and the super was blasted out of the sky again.

Lucid shook out her fingers, sparks running up and down her arms.

"The truth is," she started, "Justice isn't good enough for you, Seb."

"It is." But his voice cracked, and he found himself wondering how she knew his name when a moment ago she hadn't seemed to know he was a police officer despite the uniform he was clearly wearing.

Lucid raised her hands as though surrendering, and he suddenly realized she was less than a foot from the end of his weapon. Her voice was an electronic whisper. "You want revenge. And the truth is—"

"Shut up." Sebastian was too loud. His gun hand twitched.

Lucid was fast. She wrapped one gloved hand around the end of the Taser and leaned in. "Truth? Malory's dead. It's her own fault for getting in the way. Where were you when it mattered, Seb? And more important—where were your precious supers?"

Sebastian had pulled the trigger automatically, but the sheer amount of words the villain had been able to fit in before she was affected was shocking.

The electric charge went straight up Lucid's arm. A spasm caused her grip to tighten on the weapon, and it was torn from Sebastian's fingers. Her suit was sparking, but she was still standing—

"Nice try," Lucid said, and threw out both arms, letting the energy she'd just absorbed splatter out in all directions. There was no time for Sebastian to even think about moving—and suddenly he was on the ground.

The back of his head throbbed. Sharp bits of concrete were digging into his back, and something smelled vaguely of... fish? He sucked in a breath and realized it hadn't been Lucid's blast that knocked him down.

The weight rolled off his chest. A hand slipped into his, pulling him to his feet.

"You okay?" Aether asked.

Sebastian shook his head in confusion, then remembered she'd asked him a question and switched to a nod.

"Sorry," she said, and glanced over her shoulder. Sebastian followed her gaze just in time to see Veritas drop from the sky onto the villain's head.

Aether turned back to him, scraping back a flyway chunk of hair. Her red curls were in a sloppy ponytail, and she was wearing jeans and a stained white tank top. There was something dark crusted under her fingernails, her knuckles split like... like she'd been in a fight. Where had she come from?

"Where's Flickr?" she asked, and Sebastian blinked.

"The captain's taking her and Nova back to the station. Uh, I should probably tell you about Nova—"

Aether shook her head, eyes sliding to the right. "I know. What car are they in? One of ours, or..."

"No, mine. Why?"

"That's bad." The super glanced down, dropping Sebastian's hand. "I need to go. Vortex is going to try and get Nova back, and if Flickr's hurt—this isn't going to end well."

Sebastian tried to meet her eyes, but she wouldn't look up.

"Wait," he said. "What about Lucid? Isn't she the biggest problem—"

"You've got Veritas. Let us know if anything changes. Just try not to die, yeah?"

Sebastian turned his head, watching Lucid blast the other super into a wall with another burst of energy. "Veritas hasn't been all that helpful, actually..."

He looked back, and Aether was gone.

Super speed? Check that.

And suddenly there were two of them.

Two figures in black supersuits, advancing on Sebastian from both sides. He went instinctively for his Taser, but there it was, lying on the ground a few steps behind the newcomer.

"I suppose that's fair," came Veritas's voice. He stood facing Sebastian in the alley, looking like a mess, but at least a mess who was ready to fight. The super's eye was twitching from the electricity, his suit was ripped across one shoulder, but he stood nonchalantly cracking his knuckles. "I'll take the one on the left."

"Um... your left or my left?"

"Depends. Is she gonna shock me too?" Veritas nodded at the second figure.

A muffled laugh came from Lucid's direction, and the other villain stepped forward, annoyed.

"I'm a he," the figure said. "And no—but I can punch really hard."

"Huh. Couldn't tell." Veritas shrugged. "You guys should really colour-code or something. The all-black thing is confusing."

"That's the point," Lucid said, and stepped forward.

Sebastian's attention had been on the new arrival, and Veritas had been watching Lucid – neither of them expected the opposite to attack. The super just had time to start "Look out—" when the black figure crashed into him, and Seb was on the ground with Lucid's glowing fingers around his neck.

"Don't worry," came her distorted voice. "Scope will keep your friend busy for a minute – I want to talk to you."

She let him up, keeping a firm grip on his vest collar, and gently shoved him against the wall with another burst of electricity. Sebastian shook his head to stop his ears ringing, flinching as Lucid flexed her sparking hands again. The villain was looking down at her suit in annoyance, smacking her fists together like it wasn't working how she wanted it to.

That's when Sebastian realized – her suit was on the verge of self-destructing. Every time she sent another surge of energy his way, she was frying the suit's capabilities a little more. He wasn't sure why it was malfunctioning, but any weakness of Lucid's was his advantage. Pushing to his feet, the sergeant squared his shoulders and cocked his head to one side like he wasn't the one cornered.

Lucid tilted her head the same way. If she was nervous behind the mask, he couldn't tell. She flicked a blue spark lazily in his direction.

"Enough," she said. "I just want to know about Malory, and then you can go. Probably."

Sebastian gritted his teeth, but he knew he had to provoke the villain if he wanted to use her weakness. Shrugging, he challenged, "If you wanted to know about her so bad, you probably shouldn't have killed her."

Lucid spread her arms apologetically. "All right. It's you I want, then. How much did Malory tell you about her little research project?"

Oh. Sebastian should have known that was her goal. Malory definitely had a lot of dirt on the villain, and she had relayed much of that information to her long-distance boyfriend. He could safely say he knew just about everything the reporter had been working on, up until two nights ago when Mal had called him in a flurry of excitement. I've figured it all out, she had said, over and over, insisting she didn't have time to talk. She had arranged for him to meet her, with backup, at that old warehouse...

And that was the last time he'd heard her voice.

"Everything." Sebastian stared unflinchingly at the villain's black mask.

"Everything?" The electronic voice was doubtful.

He shrugged again. "Oh, well, nothing then. If that's the answer you prefer."

Lucid's fingers slowly clenched into a fist.

Maybe the villain wasn't a big fan of sarcasm? All Sebastian's muscles were tight, though he wasn't sure whether he was on the verge of fighting or fleeing. Vaguely, he registered a series of crashing noises from down the road – Veritas and Scope, still?

The villain was raising her arms again. He just had time to think so yeah I'm dead— when Lucid pulled off her helmet.

She met his eyes, flicking away a sweat-sticky chunk of hair. Her posture was changed – casual, curious even – like she was analyzing his reaction. Clearly he didn't appear as shocked as she expected, and the villain's mouth twisted in dissatisfaction.

"You really don't know anything, then," she said dismissively, and turned her back on him.

Sebastian was frozen for only a second when he realized she was walking away.

"Hey!"

His hand was on the figure's shoulder before it occurred to him what a bad idea that was. Lucid spun, energy rippling down her arm, and threw him back into the concrete wall.

Blood was roaring in his ears, but suddenly Sebastian stopped caring. If he screamed loud enough, pushed himself far enough, hit something hard enough, it would all stop hurting.

Lucid was staring down at her hands, not paying attention. When he threw himself forward at the black figure, her eyes flicked up to his in something like panic. Sparks flew around the edges of his vision. They slammed into the concrete, rolling until Sebastian's back hit another wall, and he pushed himself on top of the villain again, ready to hit her again.

Why wasn't she resisting? Lucid's eyes flickered up to his raised fist, then slid sideways like she didn't care if he hit her. There was an old scrape on her jaw that had started bleeding again, but still she showed no sign of fighting back.

Sebastian wanted to be angry at her lack of a reaction, but he couldn't fight someone who wasn't even going to block a punch. He yanked her up, shoving the villain into a wall so she was forced to look him in the eye.

"Look," he said roughly. "I'm not a super. I'm probably not important to you at all—"

"I don't care about that."

He left his mouth open, confused.

Lucid's laugh turned into a cough. "I mean, that's our whole thing. You think I have powers? It's all a suit – we don't care what you were born with."

"That's not my point. You ruined my life, and you clearly don't care about justice, or... or truth, or other people's lives. People like you are what's wrong with the world." Seb was babbling, trying to get that look off the villain's face.

"What are you going to do about it? Kill me?" She finally raised her eyes to him, dark and dull. "Go ahead. I don't want to do this anymore."

"You... what?"

"All of... this." Lucid's gaze was shifty. She pushed Sebastian's arm off her shoulder, and he didn't protest, taking a step back. "I didn't want to kill Malory, you know. I knew her before... I knew her too well. I'm sorry."

Sebastian swayed on his feet. The blows he'd taken were settling in, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand. It occurred to him that the noise from Veritas and Scope's fight had faded a long time ago. Why wasn't he finishing this? She was manipulating him, playing on his sympathy.

Lucid took another step backwards, meeting his eyes again. Something in her expression reminded him of Malory when she was lost in thought. They shared the same true American features – high cheekbones, straight dark hair, eyes so brown they looked black. Maybe that was why Sebastian couldn't seem to move, couldn't think...

"You're right," the villain said. "I deserve this. I deserve everything you hate me for."

"Wait—" Sebastian unfroze, but he was too slow. Lucid turned and ran into the darkness.

(2234 words)