Sonya sat in her office, staring at the small cluster of ss. The brief call with Bera had e and gone, Veloce would be in the try the day. Sonya scrolled through the list istered heroes. There were a few names she reized, most of them on the right side of the war. The War. She closed her eyes and caught her breath again, her hand going to her throat. She rubbed her ned let out a sigh, trying to put the images out of her head. She could still see hua’s lifeless fa her mind, but it had been superimposed with the face of the woman oelevision just a few hours before.

  She g the mirror on her desk, noting the faint bags beh her eyes. I’m a damn mess.

  She shifted her gaze towards the list again a scrolling. There were plenty of powers worth analyzing, heroes worth iing in, but that was all future pns. She o keep solidating her power base before she went any further. She was established now, but there were plications that o be addressed before she moved forward into the phase. A and Hyunh o go. They were directly antagonistic towards her public persona and that roblem. She o cultivate an image of sterling silver, she’d done well so far but there was more to do. It had to be io even sider she ying both sides.

  She paused as she was scrolling. It was a huge list, and it took a while to fiain names while browsing for powers.

  Stel Hanks art of the first wave, unsurprising. She’s in Mississippi? I see. Liberty should probably be the oake care of after A. She would have been the first but he decided to make a personal nuisance of himself. I’ll o start monit her soon, the longer she is left alohe more dangerous she bees.

  First Wind wasn’t on there, her was Majordomo, Astaroth and Craftsman weren’t on the initial list of lised heroes as well. She was surprised not to see Qilin as well, the woman had bee a hero very early on in the past timeline. She had basically been traded with a like a sports star for- Sonya found hua’s profile and froze. She looked down at her trembling fingers and ched her fist. She shifted her jaw left and right and leaned ba her chair, taking aeadying breath.

  Seeing her again had been overwhelming. I o clear my head.

  She gowards another one of the ss on her desk, it looked for all is and purposes like a weather radar but it was far from it. She’d asked for a direct stream of the data that Amos was getting for the mana radar set up on top of the current ASTA headquarters. Her lip twitched as she stared at one of the dots on the s. There were several minor dungeons in New York, nothing as potent as the oh Times Square, but still would be a problem if left unchecked and unmanaged. Firestorm's team was out clearing out the monsters in them while leaving the bosses alohese dungeons would be the first that ASTA directly mined.

  Her fiapped on the desk, faster, her kwitg, her eyes focused on one of the dots. Her lips pressed into a thin line.

  I ’t trate. Damn it. Tomorrow is going to be hell. How the fuck am I going to get through that damn press ference like this?

  A knock came to her office door and she jerked. She looked up at it and frowned, Marta? Damn it, did Amos unlock my door? That brat.

  She willed the door open and looked back down at her ss, “Marta.”

  “Amos-” She started and Sonya gnced up at her and raised an eyebrow, “-you figured that out already, obviously.” Her friend said and walked over to her side. Sonya tensed and dismissed hua’s profile, leaning forward and staring at her hands. “Sonya, what happened?”

  “Expining it would be very difficult,” Sonya said cooly.

  “Your mysterious knowledge?” Marta asked, half joking.

  “Yes,” Sonya said, not even b to phrase around it. She looked down at her fingers. “I retly acquired a way I could share it in a way that is a bit clearer, but to be ho I’m not ready to use it.”

  She was talking about the ability analyzed from the Chairman, of course; Share the Path. The ability had seemed very stra first, especially ing from the Chairman. Some people had abilities that appeared almost tailored to their personalities, which led to Sonya’s fusion. Share the Path allowed someoo share memories in a trolled way. Instinctively she uood that it provided the images almost like a reel and in a pressed way, feeding the information over a short period rather than having them live it out iime.

  Why would a politi hat? It didn’t make much sehen a few thoughts occurred to her about sharing pns without verbalizing them. After that more ideas came to her and she realized that it was actually a rather useful and funal power.

  Marta frowned but nodded, “I uand.”

  Sonya let out a sigh, “I’ll share eventually, I just… ime. I o clear my head, Marta.”

  “How I help?” Marta asked early.

  Sonya looked up at her and smiled, “I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Sonya said a little more weakly thaended. She looked back down at her hands and ched them together. “I need you to pose as me tomorrow for the press ference.”

  “I don’t know the material as well as-” She was cut off as Sonya reached out and took her hand. Sonya pulled Share the Path out of her warehouse and fed in the memories of practig for the press ferehe information needed based on what she knew. She also shared how Share the Path worked and when she’d acquired it. Share the Path didn’t have to be specifients, that's why it ectacur power. It could be hard information if she wanted.

  Marta didn’t pull her hand away as her eyes fluttered, then she gasped as Sonya released her hand. “Now you do.”

  “What was that?” Marta asked, breathless. “Wait-” She blinked and tilted her head, “Share the Path, you got it from shaking hands with the Chairman. It… Okay I get it.”

  “ you ha?” Sonya asked, looking up into her friend's eyes “I need some time alone.”

  Marta nodded, “Yes, take all the time you need.”

  Sonya smirked, “I won’t be long.”

  –

  Sonya stood alone in front of the portal with a duffle bag in her hand. She felt out her surroundings. No one resent. This part of the subway had been abandoned a long time ago. She set the bag down and ope, pulling out her Ishtar gear. She ged and looked back up at the portal, turning on her helmet with a mental flick. She let out a breath. Unon-tier, not as far along as the Time’s Square duhough. It’ll do. She thought as she walked inside. She felt the buzz of the energy making up the portal wash over her and took a deep breath as she took in her surroundings.

  This particur portal wasn’t ohat replicated the structure it was i rather opened up into its own tiny pocket world. It still seemed to mimic its surroundings in a small way, though. She found herself standing at the entrao a tunnel made of stone, a lengthy cavern that stretched forward as far as the average eye could see. She could see the end just fihough, and of course the critters that had quickly scampered to hide when she appeared. Her smile thinned, it had been a long time since she killed a goblin.

  She strode forward ahe bag on the ground, reag for the krapped to her waist and slipping it out. She twirled it between her fingers and strode forward before stepping to the right and vanishing. There was a squawk of fusion somewhere down the hallway, five goblins, short, squat, pudgy creatures with rge heads and beady yellow eyes, scampered out from behind the stohat they had been using to hide. They hurried to the portal and looked around, jabbering ily amongst themselves.

  I don’t need full power for this. Just a little energy to disappear for a moment, Sonya thought, her fingers digging into the stone of the ceiling above the goblins. No need for uptime.

  She let go.

  Her knife fell like a silent guillotine, one instant she was on the ceiling, the she was in the midst of the goblins. Blood sprayed from one of them, its spine severed down the middle. She pivoted and swept her on out horizontally, catg two of them across the ned separating their heads from their bodies. The remaining two had just enough time to turn in her dire before a kered aracted from their throats in quick succession. In a matter of heartbeats, they had fallen to the ground, dead.

  She stood up and whipped the bde, ing the blood off and staring down at the corpses.

  “If I use the bare minimum of my powers, it doesn’t seem like I strain my inner reserve too much. Going all out cuts into my uptime,” She murmured thoughtfully, “More than enough for these things.”

  She gnced up at the hall ahead of her and affixed her mi. For just a little while, she would be a scout again, clearing out the trash for the heroes that came in after her. She touched one of the bodies with her foot and pulled ste space from her warehouse, it vanished. She turned away from the remaining bodies and strode down the hall, bde at the ready, before vanishing again.

  The room had ten of the god forsaken things. Sonya didn’t fight them directly, ihrowing a corpse of one of the ones she’d killed earlier he entrahe ten goblins looked at the corpse in fusion, sniffing the air and yammering to one ahree of them hurried over to examihe body only for a fsh of white to blitz past them, cutting them down before vanishing again. The remaining goblins in the hall shrieked at one another before four rahis time, a lot more cautious.

  There was a cry of pain, and the four iigators spun around to see that the three they had left behind in the ter of the room were dead and on the ground. They whipped their heads around, trying to find the source of the danger as a pair of hot-pink eyes glowed down at them from the ceiling.

  Sonya rolled her shoulders as she walked down the hallway. How hard do I o go for it to t as eating into my internal energy? She questioned. So far she was only using her enhanced speed and strength just a little bit. Most of it was her own skills as a scout. Do I have to have all of cyber punk active at the same time? She frowned, It’s hardly a solution, I still ’t go full power. I have to trate while fighting goblins of all things. She clicked her tongue in irritation. She shrugged. I’m just blowing off steam anyway.

  Sonya let herself get lost in the age as she worked her way through room after room. The Unon-tier goblins falling for the same strategy pretty much every time. It wasn’t hard to fuse their senses with the thick st of blood. They werely the smartest creatures in the world either. As she fought and killed, she let her mind drift. She o figure out how she was going to handle meeting hua, how she was going to deal with Hyunh, how she was going to find Otis, what she o do.

  Even in her post-violence crity she found it hard to e up with specifis. Her mi drifting to hua, to seeing her face again. How am I supposed to stay calm when I see her again? What I say to her? Hell, I don’t even think I’ll be able to say ‘It’s o meet you’ without choking. All I want to say, all I want to get across, all I wao know…

  She looked down at the dozens of bodies around her. A level of sughter that would take Firestorm’s eeam to aplish in a simir amount of time.

  “I missed you,” Sonya breathed.

  She looked up at the ceiling, I’ll o have Marta pose as me for the meeting. I don’t have a choice. It would be o shake her hand and acquire Lord of Jianghu, but I don’t think I carry on a versation with her without fug it up. I’m not ready. I’m not strong enough.

  She walked away from the bodies, deep in thought, Now what about Otis? I o strike first. He’s going to reveal himself one of these days and I o be the oh the momentum. What do I know?

  She khat he had tried to e visit shortly after she’d acquired the wyer. Out of curiosity she had monitored the security cameras of his old offid had seen the blurry looking man walking through the building, searg for . It was strahough, despite knowing who it was, her emotions hadn’t eveed to seeing him. It was like he wasn’t really there. That damn power of his. If it wasn’t for her cyberic brain, she probably would have overlooked him on the cameras. It was helpi it, a little.

  He was following his old path. He was ing. One day she’d see him face to faot now though, not yet. He hadn’t joined as a lised hero, though that wasn’t surprising. He didn’t respey authority beyond his own and the rules of heroes in this timeline were far stricter than they were in the previous timeline. She’d made sure of it.

  She ched the on in her hand, “My head isn’t clear enough, I need…” She trailed off as her eyes nded on the end of the tunnel ahead of her, a rge opening that lead into an even rger room. The boss room. Her lips pressed into a line and she strode forward. I need more crity. Fighting goblins isn’t enough. The stress is still there, the ay. I’ve beeing the stress build, time to get it all out, the restlessness, the ay, the worry. Let it all go. She thought as she stepped into the room and vanished again.

  In the ter of the room, an enormous, rotund, green-skinned monstrosity looked around in fusion before starting to pluck at its teeth again. Above it, a pair of neon-pink eyes bzed with urained bloodlust.