Tweak's message arrived while Fii was trying to eat breakfast—a bowl of synthies that tasted like cardboard soaked in dishwater. The message pinged on her wrist comm, its cheerful alert at odds with the content that followed.

  Heads up, Fifi! Sparkle-princess requested a meet. Not just her—Metal Man's coming too. Tomorrow, noon, east edge of Sector 7, by the Wall. Sounds like bad news, but thought you'd want to know. BE CAREFUL!!! XOXO

  Fii let her spoon clatter into the bowl. Glimmerstrike and Diamond Ace, together, requesting a meeting. The sour taste in her mouth had nothing to do with the synthies now.

  Her fingers tingled as she typed a reply, the sensation spreading up her arm like cold water running beneath her skin. She ignored it, pressing the keys harder than necessary.

  Not walking into an ambush. Tell them to choose somewhere else.

  Tweak's response came almost immediately: Already checked it out. Place is clean. And get this—they're bringing some corporate suit as a "neutral party." Must be serious. You want backup?

  Fii considered it. Quinn would come if she asked, but what good would that do against two Supers? And Virgil was still recovering from whatever had happened at the Red Market Syndicate—not that he'd admit it. He'd spent the last three days holed up in his quarters, emerging only for coffee and to bark orders about the sand buggies.

  I'll handle it, she typed back. But keep an eye on the feeds. If I don't check in after, send the cavalry.

  Three dots pulsed as Tweak considered her reply. Roger that. Just... don't do anything stupid, okay? And by stupid, I mean your usual heroics.

  Fii snorted. No promises.

  She set the comm down and stared at the unappetizing synthies. Her stomach had knotted itself into a tight ball, appetite vanishing at the prospect of facing the Metropolis heroes again.

  Not from fear—not exactly—but from the strange energy still coursing through her veins, making her fingers twitch and the air around her hands shimmer.

  Whatever was happening to her powers, it was getting worse, not better. Last night, she'd woken to find herself hovering just above her mattress, the entire contents of her small room orbiting her like she was the center of some bizarre solar system.

  It had taken nearly an hour to get everything back to normal, and even then, a few small objects continued to float at random intervals.

  And now Glimmerstrike and Diamond Ace wanted a meeting. Perfect timing.

  The Wall loomed ahead, a massive concrete and steel barrier that separated the slums from the rest of the world. It cast long shadows across the eastern edge of Sector 7, a forgotten stretch of abandoned warehouses and crumbling tenements that even the gangs avoided. The buildings here leaned drunkenly against each other, their foundations slowly sinking into the perpetually damp ground.

  Fii approached cautiously, staying to the shadows, every sense alert for an ambush. She'd come early, scouting the area twice before settling on a perch that gave her a clear view of the meeting spot without exposing herself.

  The agreed-upon location was a small clearing where the buildings gave way to a patch of bare earth, directly in the shadow of the Wall. It was one of the few places where you could actually see the barrier up close without running into MetSec patrols or automated defenses.

  Right on schedule, a sleek black vehicle pulled up at the edge of the clearing. It hovered a few inches above the rutted ground, its engine making barely a whisper. The MetSec logo on its side gleamed, clean and polished—a stark contrast to the grime and decay surrounding it.

  The rear door slid open, and Glimmerstrike stepped out, her platinum blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. She wore her usual iridescent bodysuit, though it seemed more subdued than her typical flashy appearance. No drones circled her today—no audience to perform for.

  Diamond Ace followed, his silver power armor catching what little sunlight pierced the haze. His helmet was retracted, revealing a stern face with sharp features and cold hazel eyes that scanned the area for threats.

  A third figure emerged last—a woman in a tailored gray suit that probably cost more than all the buildings in this sector combined. Her hair was pulled into a severe bun, not a strand out of place, and she carried a thin digital tablet under one arm.

  Fii watched them for a few moments, assessing. Neither of the Supers had their powers activated. The corporate woman was clearly unarmed. It seemed legitimate—as legitimate as anything involving Metropolis representatives could be.

  With a slow exhale, Fii stepped out of her hiding place, letting herself drop from the fire escape where she'd been perched. She cushioned her fall with a gravity field, landing softly despite the three-story drop.

  Diamond Ace's head snapped around at the faint sound of her boots hitting the pavement. "You're late," he said, voice flat as a steel plate.

  "I'm exactly on time," Fii corrected, keeping a safe distance between them. "I just wasn't standing out in the open like an invitation for a sniper."

  The corporate woman cleared her throat, stepping forward with a practiced smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Ms. Fii, thank you for joining us. My name is Elise Winters, Corporate Relations Officer for Paragon Entertainment. We appreciate your willingness to engage in dialogue despite the... complicated history between you and our representatives."

  Complicated history. That was one way of putting it. Fii had killed the Metropolis' number one hero, Prime, and then saved their rising star, Glimmerstrike, all within the span of a few months. Complicated didn't begin to cover it.

  "Cut to the chase," Fii said, crossing her arms. "Why am I here?"

  Winters' smile tightened almost imperceptibly. "As I'm sure you're aware, recent incidents have created a certain... tension between the slums and the Metropolis. The death of Prime, followed by these altercations with Glimmerstrike—"

  "Altercations she started," Fii cut in, glancing at Glimmerstrike. The hero had the decency to look slightly embarrassed.

  "Regardless of who initiated what," Winters continued smoothly, "the fact remains that we have a situation that threatens to escalate further if not addressed. The Ultimate Guardians and Paragon Entertainment have jointly decided to pursue a more diplomatic approach."

  "Diplomatic," Fii repeated flatly. "Is that what you call showing up in my backyard with two Supers?"

  Diamond Ace stepped forward, his armor whirring softly with the movement. "We're here to offer terms, not threats. Though let's be clear—you're still considered responsible for Prime's death."

  "He attacked us first," Fii shot back. "If you'd actually bothered to investigate instead of jumping to conclusions—"

  "I reviewed the footage," Diamond Ace interrupted, his voice hard. "It was... inconclusive."

  That made Fii pause. She hadn't expected even that much of a concession from him.

  Glimmerstrike shifted her weight, arms crossed over her chest. She hadn't spoken yet, which was unusual for someone who typically couldn't shut up. Her gaze kept darting between Fii and Diamond Ace, as if trying to gauge how badly this meeting might go off the rails.

  Winters tapped something on her tablet, apparently oblivious to the tension crackling between them. "We're proposing a formal truce. No more pursuits, no more confrontations. In exchange, we ask that you refrain from utilizing your powers in ways that might be deemed provocative or threatening to Metropolis interests."

  Fii's laugh came out sharper than intended. "Provocative? I'm using my powers to help people in the slums because nobody else will. If that's 'provocative' to the Metropolis, that's not my problem."

  "We're not asking you to stop helping people," Glimmerstrike finally spoke, her voice lacking its usual performative quality. "Just... maybe be less public about it? The feeds pick everything up these days."

  "Why do you care?" Fii asked, genuinely curious. "You got what you wanted, didn't you? Views, followers, whatever it is your corporate overlords measure success by."

  A flush crept up Glimmerstrike's neck. "It's not like that. Not anymore." She glanced at Winters, then back to Fii. "You saved my life. That counts for something."

  "Not with everyone," Diamond Ace muttered.

  Fii's fingers began to tingle again, that same strange sensation that had been plaguing her for days. She curled her hands into fists, trying to focus on the conversation rather than the growing pressure behind her eyes.

  "So what exactly are you proposing?" she asked, directing the question to Winters.

  The corporate woman brightened slightly, sensing progress. "A public reconciliation event. A staged interaction between you and our Supers that demonstrates mutual respect and cooperation. Nothing elaborate—perhaps a joint patrol of the border areas, or a collaborative effort on some community project."

  "A PR stunt," Fii translated. "You want me to smile for the cameras and pretend everything's fine so the Metropolis can sleep better at night."

  "I want to prevent further violence," Winters corrected. "And yes, improve public perception. Is that so unreasonable?"

  Before Fii could answer, Diamond Ace cut in. "What she's not telling you is that the Ultimate Guardians are split on how to handle you. Some want you brought in, tried for Prime's death. Others..." He paused, jaw working. "Others have questions about what actually happened that day."

  Fii studied him, trying to decipher which camp he fell into. His expression gave nothing away, but the fact that he was here instead of trying to arrest her suggested something had shifted.

  "And you?" she asked. "What do you want?"

  "The truth," he said simply. "Whatever that turns out to be."

  A gust of wind caught the edge of Winter's tablet screen, flipping the display to a new document. Fii caught a glimpse of graphs and metrics labeled "Public Opinion" before the woman quickly swiped it away.

  "Perhaps we could focus on the practical aspects of our proposal," Winters suggested. "The reconciliation event would be carefully controlled. Low risk, maximum visibility."

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "What exactly did you have in mind?" Fii asked, crossing her arms. "Me and Sparkles here holding hands and singing kumbaya?"

  Glimmerstrike flinched at the nickname, her posture shifting. "It wouldn't be like that. We were thinking something more... authentic."

  "Authentic," Fii repeated. The word hung in the air, hollow as an empty pipe gun. "Nothing about this is authentic. You hunted me for weeks, turned me into your villain of the month, and now you want to play nice because—what? Your ratings dropped?"

  Diamond Ace's jaw tightened. "This isn't about ratings."

  "It's always about ratings with them," Fii shot back, gesturing toward Glimmerstrike and Winters. "Why else bring a corp suit instead of someone from MetSec or the Guardians?"

  "Because," Winters cut in, "Paragon Entertainment has the reach and resources to reshape public narrative most effectively." Her corporate smile never wavered. "The Ultimate Guardians are divided on your case, as Mr. Ace mentioned. This gives us an opportunity to navigate a middle path."

  Fii looked back and forth between them. "Let me get this straight. You want me to play along with some PR stunt, pretend everything's fine, while half the Guardians still want my head on a pike? Why would I agree to that?"

  "Because it's better than the alternative," Diamond Ace said. His voice had dropped, quieter now but somehow carrying more weight. "Right now, you're operating in a gray area. Not officially sanctioned, but not actively hunted either. That could change."

  "Is that a threat?"

  "It's a reality." He took a step closer, and Fii tensed, gravity shifting around her hands. Diamond Ace noticed but continued anyway. "If the hawks in the Guardians win out, they'll come for you. All of them. And they won't care who gets caught in the crossfire."

  Fii's stomach clenched.

  Rao. Quinn. Tweak. The people she protected in the slums. They'd all be at risk.

  "And what about Prime?" she demanded. "This magical PR event won't erase what happened."

  Something flickered across Diamond Ace's face—pain, maybe, or regret. "No, it won't. Nothing will. But I've seen enough to have... questions... about what really happened that day."

  "Questions like what?"

  "Like why Prime went after a platoon of Adrenomancers fighting some gangs in the slums when he wasn't authorized intervene. Like why his power signature was fluctuating before he even encountered you. Like why three separate surveillance feeds went dark at exactly the same moment."

  Fii blinked. This was new information. "I thought—"

  "You thought we just blamed you without looking deeper." Diamond Ace shook his head. "Maybe some did. I didn't."

  Glimmerstrike stepped forward, her usual media polish cracking to reveal something more genuine underneath. "When you saved me from the Red Market, you could have left me there. It would've been easier. Safer. But you didn't." She glanced at Winters, then back to Fii. "The slums have real problems, and you're actually trying to fix them. That's more than most of us can say."

  Winters cleared her throat. "While Ms. Glimmerstrike's personal growth is touching, we should focus on concrete terms. The reconciliation event would involve a joint appearance, perhaps addressing community needs in the border zones. We could arrange resources—medical supplies, tech upgrades for local infrastructure—as a show of good faith."

  "Throwing scraps to the slums while the Metropolis gorges itself," Fii said, but the bite had left her voice. "That's your idea of good faith?"

  "It's a starting point," Winters insisted. "A foundation we can build on."

  "And what happens after your cameras turn off? When you've got your footage and your metrics? The slums go back to being invisible again?"

  Diamond Ace surprised her by answering. "Not if we don't let it. This isn't just about optics. It's about establishing a precedent."

  "For what?" Fii asked, genuinely curious now.

  "Cooperation." He said the word like it cost him something. "Between Supers who operate by different rules but share the same goals."

  Glimmerstrike nodded. "The way we do things in the Metropolis doesn't work here. Maybe it should never have been supposed to."

  "That's quite enough, Glimmerstrike," Winters cut in smoothly. "We're not here to debate policy."

  But Fii had caught the slip, the crack in the corporate veneer. She turned to Glimmerstrike.

  "What happened to you? A few weeks ago, you couldn't wait to parade me around as your trophy villain."

  Glimmerstrike's polished exterior faltered. "I saw what real villains look like up close. What they do. What they enjoy doing." Her hand moved unconsciously to her side where, Fii suspected, scars from her time with the Red Market lingered. "It changes your perspective."

  "If we could return to the matter at hand," Winters interjected, swiping through screens on her tablet. "The specific parameters of the reconciliation event—"

  "I want immunity," Fii interrupted. "Written guarantees that the Guardians won't come after me for what happened with Prime."

  Diamond Ace's expression hardened. "That's not within our power to grant."

  "Then what are we even talking about? I'm not putting a target on my back just so you can improve your approval ratings."

  "We could offer conditional immunity," Winters suggested, fingers flying across her tablet. "Pending further investigation into the Prime incident. A temporary stay, legally speaking."

  "Not good enough," Fii shot back. "I need something real. Something binding."

  Glimmerstrike looked at Diamond Ace. "What about the Stanton Protocol? It would at least buy us time."

  Diamond Ace considered this, then gave a reluctant nod. "It's possible. Not ideal, but possible."

  "What's the Stanton Protocol?" Fii asked, eyes narrowing.

  "It's a rarely-used provision," Winters explained, her tone shifting to legal precision. "It allows for the temporary suspension of pursuit in cases where the public interest is better served by alternative measures. It would require approval from the Ultimate Guardians' Council, but with Mr. Ace's support..."

  "And I'd be free to keep operating in the slums? Helping people my way?"

  "Within reasonable parameters," Diamond Ace said. "No destruction of Metropolis property. No interference with official operations. And no..." he gestured vaguely at her, "whatever you did to Prime."

  "I told you, I didn't—"

  The pressure behind Fii's eyes intensified, a dull throb that made it hard to concentrate. She reached up to rub her temple, and as her fingers made contact with her skin, a small shock passed between them—like static electricity, but deeper, resonating in her bones.

  Glimmerstrike noticed, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Are you okay?"

  "Fine," Fii lied. "Just a headache."

  Diamond Ace was watching her with renewed suspicion, his hand drifting back toward his armor's control panel. "Your powers. Something's wrong with them."

  It wasn't a question.

  Fii took a step back, suddenly aware of how vulnerable she was standing here in the open. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just tired."

  "No," Diamond Ace insisted, taking a step toward her. "There's an energy signature. My suit's picking it up. It's similar to what my sensors detected when..."

  He trailed off, but Fii knew what he meant. When she'd fought Prime. When she'd ripped apart the very fabric of reality to bring an end to the so-called hero's rampage.

  The tingling in her hands spread up her arms, crawling across her shoulders and down her spine like ice water. She could feel her gravikinesis responding, but it felt wrong—wilder, less focused, as if she were trying to direct a river with her bare hands.

  "Stay back," she warned, raising her hands. "I don't know what's happening, but you don't want to be near me right now."

  Winters looked alarmed, backing toward the vehicle. "What's going on? Is this some kind of threat?"

  "Not a threat," Fii said through gritted teeth. "A warning."

  The pressure behind her eyes exploded into pain, white-hot and blinding. She gasped, dropping to one knee as the world around her seemed to ripple, buildings stretching and contracting like they were made of rubber rather than concrete and steel.

  "Ace!" Glimmerstrike shouted, activating her powers. Golden light flowed from her hands, forming translucent barriers around their small group. "What's happening to her?"

  Diamond Ace's armor fully activated, metal plates shifting to cover his face as his helmet deployed. "Unknown. Her energy signature is fluctuating wildly. It's like what happened with Prime, but... different. More intense."

  Fii could barely hear them through the roaring in her ears. The ground beneath her feet no longer felt solid—it pulsed and shifted like a living thing. When she looked up, the sky seemed closer somehow, the Wall bending inward as if drawn by an immense gravitational force.

  "Get back," she managed to say, though the words felt disconnected from her mouth. "I can't... control it."

  Glimmerstrike's golden barriers flickered as they came into contact with the distortion field emanating from Fii.

  "This is… definitely not telekinesis," she said, voice tight with effort. "It's like she's bending reality itself."

  "Whatever it is, shut it down," Diamond Ace ordered, moving toward Fii with measured steps.

  "Don't!" Fii shouted, but it was too late.

  As Diamond Ace reached for her, the distortion field intensified. His armor crackled with energy, systems fluctuating as they fought against the warping physics around him. He stumbled, caught himself, then pressed forward again.

  Fii could see his face through the transparent visor of his helmet—determined, focused, but also... afraid.

  "I'm not going to hurt you," he said, raising his hands in a gesture of peace. "But you need to get your powers under control. Now."

  "I'm not doing this on purpose," Fii gasped. The pain was everywhere now, not just in her head but in every cell of her body. It felt like she was being pulled in a thousand different directions at once, her very atoms straining against the fundamental forces holding them together.

  Glimmerstrike abandoned her barriers, which were crumbling anyway, and created a platform beneath her feet. She rose a few meters into the air, trying to get a better view of what was happening.

  "The distortion is spreading," she called down. "Ace, we need to contain this!"

  Diamond Ace reached Fii, his armored hand closing around her wrist. The moment they touched, a shock wave pulsed outward, knocking Glimmerstrike from her platform and sending Winter tumbling back against the vehicle.

  "Let. Go." Each word cost Fii immense effort, her vision swimming with fractured light.

  Instead of the slums, she saw flashes of somewhere else—endless sand dunes, rock formations, and a horizon choked with heat distortions.

  Diamond Ace's grip tightened. "Not until you get control."

  "I can't!"

  The world buckled.

  There was no other way to describe it—reality itself seemed to fold inward, compressing into a single point centered on where Fii and Diamond Ace's hands were joined. Glimmerstrike scrambled to her feet, golden light flaring as she tried to create a containment field around them, but it was too late.

  The light bent, twisted, fragmented. The Wall stretched like taffy, buildings elongated into impossible towers before snapping back to their original forms.

  Sound warped too—a high-pitched whine that rose and fell like a siren, punctuated by cracks that reminded Fii of lightning striking too close.

  And through it all, that other place flickered in and out of her vision—desert, rocks, clear blue sky.

  "What are you doing?" Diamond Ace shouted, his voice distorting as if heard underwater.

  Fii couldn't answer. The pressure had become unbearable, building toward something that felt like an explosion or a collapse—a fundamental restructuring of whatever held reality together.

  Glimmerstrike fought her way toward them, golden light still streaming from her hands in a desperate attempt to stabilize whatever was happening. "Ace! Let her go!"

  But Diamond Ace held firm, his armor whining as it fought against forces it wasn't designed to withstand. "If I let go now, we lose all control!"

  "There is no control!" Glimmerstrike yelled back. She reached them, grabbing Fii's other arm. "We need to—"

  The world went white.

  Not the blinding flash of an explosion, but a total absence of detail—as if reality had been wiped clean, reduced to a blank canvas.

  Fii felt suspended in that whiteness, still connected to Diamond Ace and Glimmerstrike by their grip on her arms, but disconnected from everything else.

  No sound, no sense of time passing, no gravity—just existence, stretched to its thinnest point.

  Then, like a rubber band snapping back after being stretched too far, reality reasserted itself.

  But not the reality they'd left behind.

  Fii gasped as air rushed back into her lungs, hot and dry and tasting of minerals she couldn't name. She blinked against harsh sunlight, her eyes watering after the brief nothingness.

  Beneath her hands, she felt not concrete or steel but sand—burning hot and fine as powder.

  She pushed herself to her knees, disoriented and nauseous. Her ears popped painfully as they adjusted to a different pressure.

  Gone were the slums, the Wall, the MetSec vehicle, and Winters. In their place stretched an endless expanse of desert, broken only by strange rock formations that jutted from the sand like the spines of some enormous buried creature.

  Diamond Ace lay a few feet away, his armor smoking slightly, systems flickering as they attempted to reboot. Glimmerstrike was sprawled beside him, her platinum hair loose from its ponytail, tangled across her face.

  Fii pushed herself to her knees, sand grating against her palms. The power that had surged through her was gone, leaving behind a hollow feeling, an echo of something vast and incomprehensible.

  "What the hell did you do?" Diamond Ace rasped, pushing himself upright, helmet retracting to reveal a face pale with shock.

  Fii looked out at the endless expanse of desert, a landscape as far from the slums of the Metropolis as anything she could imagine. Her lips were dry, tongue thick and clumsy in her mouth.

  "I don't know," she whispered. "I really don't know."