I push myself faster than I ever have before. It's a lot less like running and significantly closer to just horizontal leaping across the city, and this time I don’t care if I break whatever’s beneath me as I run.

  The only consideration I implement is trying to avoid residential buildings to push off of.

  More than that, I don’t have the money to fix everything I break either.

  “I really wish you had an actual name I could call in coms because I want to say something to you, but no, you don’t have a name, meaning I don’t know what I’m supposed to say!” Amelia complains loudly.

  “It was funny at first, but I’m getting irritated at it too.” Cass tacks on to add insult to injury.

  Despite my best efforts not to, I laugh as I run. I don’t know if the situation is in the clear over there to where they can laugh and joke or if it’s just for me, but regardless, it’s helping me clear my head.

  “I really am working on it. I just didn’t expect it to be so hard that I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to be called.”

  “Well, I know you’re the faster of the two people who are more expendable when it comes to base defense, but are you sure you have any idea on how to beat Andromeda?” Amelia asks, her voice shaking in worry.

  “If I can find her prime body or the source, I think I can manage something, but beyond that, I’m not exactly sure what I’m supposed to do,” I say darkly as I launch past another building.

  “Anything we can do to help?” Cass asks.

  “Fractal, Smoulder, keep fighting like your lives depend on it for the base, and Smoulder, try to have a copy of him be seen fighting so we can confuse them,” Asher relays. I hope his plan is good. “Mask, what do you remember of Andromeda’s powers?”

  “She can duplicate herself and items. It also looks like as long as one Andromeda is holding an object, the rest can copy it to them, though that’s not confirmed,” I reply.

  “Okay, then on our end we have to make sure she can’t grab anything, and on your end you’re going to have to figure out which is the prime. If she has a weird energy signature, your helmet might detect it, but you’re going to have to rely on your own senses as well,” Asher explains.

  A plan sort of in motion, I focus on having the most direct line from here to the cabin, though at this point I might have to entirely divorce myself from the idea that I could be an unknown player in this whole game we play.

  As people look up and point at me as I fly past, little kids cheer as they see a hero running off to save the day.

  The weight almost causes me to stop. I didn’t want to be in charge of saving everyone in the city; that’s too much to handle.

  Images of people I do care about flicker through my mind, and the weight lessens. It’s fine to be selfish. It’s fine to be greedy.

  If the weight of everyone is too much, all I can do is focus on the weight of those I care about and do the best that I can.

  The highway approaching means I’m running out of buildings to jump off of, so I need to put my money where my mouth is.

  I hit the road hard before running on the lip of the highway, focusing on staying out of the cars' way while still using my more direct highway avenue. It wouldn’t do well for me to accidentally cause a crash.

  I run, pushing myself as hard as I can, as I listen to the sounds of my friends fighting, as I can hear Amelia freezing more and more of the world.

  The cars aren’t passing me. Though I’m not passing any of them, leaving us in a stalemate.

  “How much longer till you get to this place?” Amelia complains. “I’m getting really cold, and the suit is not keeping me warm.”

  “Twenty minutes.” I say mostly pulling the number out of the air but now that I’ve said it I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it’s accurate.

  “Wait, you’ve burnt out the heaters already?” Asher yelps. “How I thought I insulated the suit well enough you couldn’t freeze it if you tried!”

  Amelia giggles innocently.

  “Guys, we might have a problem,” Cass says in a voice that makes me terrified for whatever is about to come out of her mouth.

  “If you say that they’re leaving the clock tower to attack the city because they’ve realized this battle is pointless, I’m going to be upset.” Amelia complains.

  “Well, from what I’m seeing outside, they’re leaving the building to attack somewhere else. I don't know if they’re going to scale the outside or to draw us out.” Cass says.

  Both Amelia and I start our own tirade of curses.

  “Do you want me to turn around?”

  I think all three of them practically roared no at me.

  “I’ll move to the top of the tower and start blasting everyone. Smoulder can range out farther. Miracle is our eyes and support. And you’re going to kick that duplicator’s ass and do whatever it takes to stop her.”

  Whatever it takes, huh?

  “Whatever it takes.” I say, not sure if I mean the words entirely, but I will have to do my best.

  I desperately hope that it will not develop into a situation that forces me to choose between letting her go or using the final option. But if it comes, I have to be ready.

  As I transition from the highway to just running through the woods, I slow down briefly before remembering my own abilities and use my phasing to continue my straight-line dash

  I say a silent prayer that my friends are going to be okay. With me going in and out of phase repeatedly, I don’t know what they’re saying, but I need them to stay safe.

  Blocking out the questions of what if, I finally feel the cabin enter my mental detection range?

  Not much longer until it’s within visual range.

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  The cabin in sight, I push hard as all sorts of traps and alarms whir to life.

  At the response, I become immutable, charging through the field without a care in the world. I would have much rather phased, but I need parts of me solid to still move like that currently, and I would have gotten hit.

  I vow to myself to keep growing as a super as I crash through the door; the metal warping around my body as we fly through the entryway.

  With a brief respite from the traps, I look around, trying to make sense of where Andromeda is. I don’t feel her in the house itself, but there’s a small elevator in the basement that leads down.

  As I’m focusing my attention on the elevator, an Andromeda clone rides up the elevator, a grim look etched on her face, and I know that I’m in the right place.

  “Fractal, Smoulder, make sure Andromeda can’t just send clones here; keep them trapped and occupied. Hopefully, they won’t have a kill switch.” I bark out the moment I’m not immutable.

  “Roger Dogder!” Amelia cheers. “I’m trying to figure out how much ice to freeze them without turning them into blue particles.”

  With the stairs being incredibly paranoia-inducing, I phase dropping to the basement before solidifying and pushing off towards the elevator.

  The Andromeda standing between me and the elevator tries to get between me as more clones pull out of her, but I’m not having it, not this time.

  With the full weight of my armored form crashing into her, she almost immediately self destructs and I reach the elevator shaft.

  Flexing my will, I pass through the sealed doors and quickly begin falling once more, solid as I quickly try to ascertain what level I need to get off at.

  When a door rapidly comes into view, I push off the nearest wall, phasing once more as I fly through, coming into what looks to be a secure bunker.

  A bed with tossed sheets, a fridge humming with power, some television with a console I don’t recognize.

  A desktop.

  And a person in a hazmat suit, from what I can tell with my senses, the inside is just some kind of swirling mist.

  The hazmat suit turned to face me, blue light streaming out of the visor in a face shape that has been nothing but nightmare fuel for what feels like ages.

  “Oh, I’ve been waiting for this moment.” I growl, holding up my fists.

  “Well, this isn’t exactly how I thought attacking your base would go, forty-three,” Andromeda says, her voice like an electronic copy of the voice I normally associate with her. “I didn’t realize you'd found this place.”

  “So are you going to surrender and come quietly?” I ask, ignoring her. I won’t get trapped in her tempo.

  “No, I won’t I have to try and defeat you. Just because you are a better result than me on cross-dimensional powers doesn’t mean you’ll win. I can’t do everything the normal me’s can do, but I can do this.” She says, holding up a hand.

  I’m already moving as I race forward, zigzagging enough to throw off the aim of whatever is to come.

  Blue energy pours out of the suit and forms into a giant cannon, and I mentally reel at that. Unless there’s an Andromeda somewhere with a cannon, that means she has an entirely different set of abilities like this, which is terrifying.

  I go immutable as the attack slams into me, but I don’t let it stop me as I continue going forward.

  As soon as the distance is small enough, I slam my foot into her abdomen with no result.

  No result is wrong, but not entirely. It was as if I hit a water balloon without popping it. Andromeda bent and warped from the kick but remained standing as she summoned more conjured implements to try and hurt me with.

  Unable to keep up immutability constantly, I fight as hard as I can using all the skills I’ve gained to make sure that I dodge and disarm to the best of my ability in the bursts where I can’t use my power.

  Though no matter how much I tear at her weapons, I’m unable to truly defeat her, and she’s already beginning to wear down the armor as chips of material fly off of me as we clash.

  Andromeda seems to realize that the fight is drifting towards a stalemate and tries to disengage from me and move to the elevator.

  Unwilling to let her escape, I blow past her and smash the elevator door and console, shattering them even as my body reminds me that I am in fact not indestructible.

  Not knowing just what she’s capable of with her prime body, I plant my feet where I am and begin holding the line of the elevator shaft like my life depends on it.

  Whoever designed this bunker didn’t think ahead that much, cause it’s the only way out of here, so as long as I’m still standing, Andromeda can’t leave.

  Both my power and focus are being chipped away at, but I’m learning with every moment on how Andromeda works. Primarily that she prefers ranged attacks because her form isn’t that solid.

  The bigger problem is that no matter what I try, I don’t seem to be able to do any actual harm to her; it’s like fighting water.

  No matter how big of a ripple I cause, it’s not like it actually does anything to her.

  “Give up already! You can’t hurt me! You should just let me run away!” Andromeda shrieks as I’m continually bombarded with attacks as I try to recover my breath.

  “I can’t hurt you, huh?” I ask, an idea slowly forming.

  “I’m just living energy; you can’t hit energy!” She taunts as another beam slams into my right shoulder, the pain lancing through me as my armor continues to break apart.

  Whatever it takes.

  In an explosion of movement, I lunge forward instead of trying to strike her. My hand wraps around her wrist, and I can feel the roiling energy beneath my fingers. Only my own self-control stopping me from just squeezing and trying to break the suit.

  Power burbles forth as the room darkens, and a black color that nearly consumes all light crawls up Andromeda’s arm with every passing moment.

  She does her best to scream and pull away, but my grip is immutable. And worse than that, even if she’s composed of energy, I’m wrapping her in my power.

  Be it phased or immutable. I am, for better or for worse, always able to interact with my power.

  Andromeda continues to batter me, the pain increasing as she becomes more and more real to my power, letting her hit harder.

  I know I’m screaming in equal measure as the pain tears through me, but I can’t give up; there’s more to do. Not until she’s fully permeated with my ability.

  My perception dialed up from the fight and the speed both of us are moving at makes it feel like it takes eternity and it doesn’t help that Andromeda keep making things to try and overwhelm my ability meaning I have to use my other hand to try and bat them away.

  Eventually, Andromeda is completely contained within my ability.

  I slam my head into the visor, sending chips scattering as I feel my head make contact with what is most likely a nose.

  Jerking my head back, I slam into her again and again until my power fails, though if it’s because of pain or overwork I don’t know.

  I stumble backwards as Andromeda slips through my fingers, her body slumping to the ground, and for the first time since the fight started, I realize that there is no more blue light radiating off of her.

  Forcing myself to move forward, I look down to see that she’s once more fully human. Or, human-adjacent could be more accurate.

  Neither of us are fully human.

  Andromeda’s mutation makes her look almost transparent. As if she’s not even real.

  Though despite all of my attacks, she looks entirely unharmed, and I can feel her breathing.

  My fingers moving slowly from everything, I pull the tranq gun out and shoot Andromeda twice, hopefully keeping her knocked out for the considerable future.

  “You did it!” Amelia calls, her voice distorted from the damage to my helmet. “All the clones are gone.”

  “We’re almost all tied up here, but if you get here fast, you could get interviewed like the rest of us,” Cass teases.

  “Did you kill her?” Asher asks, the tone of voice almost instantly killing any joy that was forming.

  “I wanted to.” I admit as I pick up her body, forcing myself to move through the pain. “But I didn’t I found a way to knock her out. And as the ticket to keeping her stable, I don’t think she’ll run honestly.”

  “If this is you saying you want to adopt the crazy bitch, I’m going to remind you that spot is already filled in your life.” Amelia cackles.

  “God, please no,” Cass whispers.

  “She’s going to prison for as long as they can hold her, I hope. I don’t want to see her ever again.” I say, going over the mental logistics of how the hell I’m going to get out of here.

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