NOVEMBER 1ST

0028 EST

Lightning cleaved the smoldering night sky in two just as the Union arrived at City Hall. Bristol cast a wary eye up at the gathering storm. The rumbles of impending thunder seemed to send her heart out of its typical rhythm. It felt as if this night just kept getting worse, some evil plan wrought by the Shadow Web to ensure the destruction of all things good and right and just in the world.

Bristol frowned. First, an army of zombies and now a powerful storm. What was next?

"Bristol." She turned to find Tristan watching her carefully, understanding in his electric blue eyes. "We need to move."

Thunder shook the heavens again, only this time Bristol could feel the storm in her bones, the way she had that fateful night. She had been forever changed on a night much like this, torn apart by lightning and reborn from the frothy waves to the sounds of a storm. It was almost poetic that now, when the fate of the city depended on her and her friends, another storm was brewing above them.

The lightning seemed to strike Bristol again for the bolts of energy that flew through her as she joined her friends. She wouldn't be afraid any longer, not when there was so much at stake.

"Are we sure Liv's here?" CJ asked. "What if--"

Tristan cut him off with a sharp look. "What if what?"

CJ visibly resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "What if Rune moved her or something? The signal is only worth so much, and we don't even have that anymore."

Tristan set his jaw, glaring at City Hall before them as if willing Liv to materialize from its stone walls. Eyes still locked on the front verandas, Tristan barked out, "Avi, scan. Please," he added as an afterthought.

"Scan complete," Avi chimed almost immediately. Bristol shook her head to herself; where would they be without her? "There are two heat signatures coming from the top floor of city hall, both augmented."

"That's gotta be Liv and Rune," Bristol said, glancing at Tristan. The tension behind his eyes seemed to fade, but Bristol knew it would take a lot more than just statistics to calm him down.

But then Avi frowned. "Hold on..."

"What?" Tristan asked. "What is it?"

The green glow before Avi's eyes died down as she glanced at the glass front doors of City Hall, virtually made of obsidian in the growing dark of the storm. "Something's going on in there." She shook her head, eyes beginning to glow again as she received information. "My scan is showing me a group of about thirty-two individuals, eight of which appear to be hostiles."

"Hostiles?" CJ echoed. "Great."

"They're holding weapons, they've gathered the other individuals into a center group..." Avi's eyes ceased glowing, and her expression was one that Bristol felt in the pit of her soul. "It's a hostage situation, and they're running out of time."

The air seemed to be sucked from Bristol's lungs as the first drops of rain began to fall from the storm-clouds overhead. Her friends stood before her wearing matching expressions of uncertainty.

Rune would make it this hard for them to reach Liv, but a hostage situation? This wasn't anything they'd dealt with before, and Bristol feared that if they engaged and saved the hostages, Rune would surely whisk Liv somewhere else. Their chase would continue until all of Brightbay was destroyed.

But they had no choice. Innocent people were at risk. Liv was alive, they knew as much; she'd just have to stay that way until they could reach her.

Bristol resisted a shudder at the thought. "Liv can hold her own. Right now, we need to save those hostages."

CJ nodded, gearing up. The lightning overhead seemed to find its way around him, the speed bending to his will. "What're we waiting for?"

Bristol heard shouting, and she and her friends turned to face the front doors of City Hall just as the silhouettes of two hostiles appeared behind the glass. She saw them raise their weapons, and the glass shattered into thousands of fractals as bullets flew towards them.

Thunder rumbled from above as Bristol threw her hands forward, fingers splayed out, and the air around her and her friends moved at her will. An impenetrable wall of air spread out before the Union, blocking the bullets as they flew. The smoldering shells hit the pavement, almost as loud as the falling downpour. When it was clear that the hostiles had run out of ammo, Bristol let the wall fall.

She glanced at CJ, watching her incredulously. "A dramatic entrance, of course."

Bristol looked back to the hostiles, gawking at her and her friends. It wasn't long until their expressions of wonder and fear morphed back into one of purpose and malice.

"CJ," Tristan said.

Before Tristan had finished saying his name, the speedster had already gotten rid of the two hostiles. He leant against the wall of the building, hazel eyes wide. "Yes?"

A smile tugged at Tristan's lips, and Bristol smirked as she locked eyes with him. "Let's go."

Together, the Union ran inside. The marble floors were littered with shrapnel and broken glass, fallout from the chaos on the streets outside. It created a trail for Bristol and her team to follow, leading deeper into the first floor of the building. Finally, the central hall spat the four heroes out into what seemed like a library-esque room. Bookshelves lined the walls, and a second floor was ringed with balconies and walkways, manned by men with guns trained on them. The hostages were corralled in the center, also surrounded by other hostiles. Two above, four below.

Easy. Right?

As soon as the heroes entered, all attention flew to them. Exclamations of shock, of fear, of hope. Shouts from their enemies and the hostages rang together, a chorus of screams echoing around the space and suddenly Bristol found herself in a very new, and very exposed position. She shot quick glances to her friends, all standing by as they assessed the situation, and was somewhat relieved to find them all equally as shell-shocked as she was.

"It's the Union!" someone in the crowd yelled, bringing Bristol back down to reality. Hostage situation. Right.

Two hostiles on the ground floor ran for Bristol, and she threw her hands forward. Twin gales of wind knocked them back, disarming them. As she sauntered forwards, confidence in her steps, her friends split up. Avi sprinted up the staircase to the upper floor, shooting bolts of energy at the two snipers. Tristan sent shards of ice towards the other two men on the ground floor, disarming them as well. CJ was a blur, getting to work on removing the captives from the scene.

Bristol's targets staggered to their feet, and they weren't happy.

"Oh come on, boys," she crooned, smile on her face. "Can't we all just get along?"

One man swung at her but Bristol caught it, surprising herself at her speed. The man looked just as shocked as she was, but her smile only deepened as she summoned the flames within her. Her hand grew warmer around the man's, and his face contorted into one of shock and pain.

"What?" Bristol asked innocently. "Don't want to play with fire?"

The other man yelled, barreling straight for her. Bristol--still holding onto the other man's hand--used all her might and momentum to swing him into his friend. They went down like bowling pins at her strength, and it wasn't until they unsprawled from their collision that Bristol realized the first man's hand had been singed from her power.

"Bristol!" Tristan yelled. "Six o'clock!"

Bristol spun around just as Avi blasted one of the two snipers off the railing. He fell, and while Bristol had half a mind to let him, she needed him to not be a threat. She crouched down, raising her arms upwards as she manipulated the air, buffeting him from below.

Panting, the sniper looked down at her. "Thank you."

Bristol cocked her head, a serpentine smile on her face. "No need."

And with that, she promptly forced the wind to throw him out of the room.

"How are we doing?" Bristol asked, turning slowly on her heel to survey the room.

A crackling sound rippled through the room, and Bristol looked up to the second floor to find Tristan having frozen the second sniper to the wall. He met her gaze and winked. "We're doing great."

"Uh, guys?" CJ said through their comms. "I wouldn't jinx it if I were you."

As if on command, all the doors and windows to the library slammed shut, casting them all in darkness. The remaining hostages whom CJ hadn't freed yet exclaimed in shock, and the light of nearly two dozen smartphones filled the room. What lights hadn't been damaged by the fight and the chaos flickered on weakly, blinking on and off sporadically. Bristol opened her palm, flames unfurling across her fingers.

"What are we looking at?" Bristol asked.

"Nothing," CJ chimed. "Isn't it obvious?"

"There's a new level of power in the room," Avi said, and that was enough to send each one of Bristol's nerves on end. If an augmented had done this, then it wasn't a friendly one.

The hair on the back of Bristol's neck stood up straight, shivers running down her spine. No, she knew exactly who was behind this.

Haunting laughter filled the room, silencing the muffled murmurs of the hostages. Bristol pressed a finger to her earpiece, feeling both frozen in place and raring to go. "Guys, we need to get out of here."

"My scan tells me that one of the two above is struggling," Avi said, her voice frantic with panic. "Liv needs help."

"We need to go!" Tristan said hurriedly.

"But we can't," CJ argued.

Bristol swallowed as she watched a figure emerge from the shadows. Every primal instinct she possessed was telling her to run as she beheld those crazy eyes, but she forced herself to stay put. She would not be afraid.

"CJ, go with Tristan to find Liv," Bristol said cautiously. "Avi and I will fend him off."

"Bristol, are you sure?" Tristan asked.

But as Phobos himself materialized from the darkness, all chaos and danger and malice, the only thing Bristol knew was that she was sure. This was something she needed to do. She couldn't be afraid anymore. It did her no favors, it only chained her down and contorted her soul into something unrecognizable.

"I'm sure," Bristol said at last, before lowering her hand from her ear and clenching her fists. Flames surged up her arms, lighting up the darkness as she marched forward.

"No greeting?" Phobos drawled, arms wide as if expecting an embrace.

Bristol lobbed her fireballs right at his face, watching as they ignited. Phobos let out a guttural shriek as he swatted at the flames, trying to get them from catching on his long greasy hair. Soot covered Phobos' grimy face as he stalked forward, silver irises glinting with malice.

"I've waited a long time for this, girl," he said.

As he walked, the shadows behind him seemed to come to life, stretching across the floor after their master. They pooled around Bristol, and suddenly, they weren't shadows, but visions. Bristol saw images of her friends lying dead around her, bleeding out. She watched as her parents disowned her. She watched as she started to drown, right before the lightning struck her and changed her life forever.

Bristol wrenched her eyes closed. She knew that they were just visions, weapons created by Phobos to disarm her, but her body responded all the same. Fear was something no human, augmented or otherwise, could be immune to. It petrified you, stopped your heart, stopped your breathing, stopped every rational thought from forming inside your shell of a mind.

The waves pushed her down each time Bristol broke the surface, but this time, Bristol would not drown. She would save herself.

She was not the same girl who had gone under that day, nor was she the same girl who had run away in fear of what she could do. She'd been through the trials that came with being augmented, she'd witnessed them firsthand. But if it was one thing she knew, it was that she was done with running from fear.

The motion came from some place deep inside of her, one that she wasn't sure existed. Bristol swept her arms out, and as she locked her eyes on Phobos, merely paces away, every window in the library shattered with one impulse.

Lightning, piercing through the false realities Phobos was imposing on her. Lightning that arced, from the storm outside into the library itself and around Bristol's arms, coils of electricity all poised at her command.

The energy was nearly unbearable, leaving Bristol feeling like she was supercharged, a supernova ready to burst at any moment. In a way, she supposed she was, but the more she dwelled on the impossibility of what she'd just summoned, the more she could feel it begin to burn away at her.

Bristol willed her eyes to meet Phobos', now small and full of panic. The sight made her want to smile but she couldn't, not now. The lightning needed a release.

"Th-that's impossible," Phobos stammered. "Your abilities...they can't do that!"

Gritting her teeth, Bristol brought her hands forward and the lightning followed. It leapt through the air to its next victim, wrapping around Phobos like a boa constrictor made of fire, until he collapsed, writhing and panting on the ground.

Smoke curled from his clothes and his now-singed hair as Bristol approached. She crouched down beside him, forcing his dull eyes to meet hers.

"Not impossible," Bristol countered. "Just one in a million."

Phobos groaned, his eyes fluttering shut. And then he did not move again.

Silence filled the library, and it was so unnerving that Bristol almost summoned the lightning again, just to have the noise and familiarity of its crackling presence. But she didn't. There were still hostages to rescue, and somewhere up above, her friends needed her help. Rune needed to be defeated.

Bristol cast her gaze out to the crowd of remaining hostages, gawking at her with equal parts fear and amazement. She wondered how she must look to them right now, donning her supersuit, having just held lightning in her bare hands. Probably a lot cooler than she felt, in all honesty.

"You all need to leave," Bristol said. "Head downtown, you'll be safe there."

It took a moment for her words to register, but soon the hostages were hurrying out the door. Almost all of them were out when Bristol heard something that she thought she'd never hear again.

"Bristol?"

She turned, feeling as if the lightning had returned to strike her once more. Standing there, in the midst of the fleeing crowd, were her parents. Her mother, with her dark hair coiled up into a sagging bun. Her father, whose forehead was cut from something--the broken glass?

Her mother surged forward, tears in her eyes. "Bristol, sweetie, is that you?"

For all her mastery over water, Bristol couldn't keep the tears from welling in her own eyes. She nodded, doing her best to try and stay calm.

"I..." Bristol managed. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Her father echoed. "Bristol, we're just--we're just glad you're okay. We had no idea where you'd gone, if you were safe..." He trailed off, eyes flying to the golden emblem on her uniform. A melancholy smile formed on his face. "I think it's safe to say you're more than okay on your own."

"We're so proud of you, Bristol," said her mother. She smiled through her tears. "So proud."

Bristol couldn't form any words; she wasn't sure any words would be good enough. She wanted to apologize, she wanted to cry, but she couldn't manage anything other than sheer amazement and shock.

The building rattled, shaking Bristol back to reality. There was still a battle to be fought; this reunion would have to wait.

"I need to go," Bristol said, eyeing the ceiling. She looked back to her parents, watching her in wonder. "Will you both--"

"We'll be okay," her father said. "Now go save the world."

Despite it all, despite herself, Bristol smiled. She took her parents hands, squeezed them tight, and then sprinted for the staircase, where somewhere up above, a war would be coming to its end.