The two fighters stared one another down from across the enormous room. The chamber, if you could even call it that, was a oval-shaped space with a hard crete floor and a solid dome of the same material c it. Etgs across the surface of the dome and fllowed faintly even in the persistent light that did not seem to have a notable source. Throughout the area were structures, cubes of crete, aal obstacles that added a measure of challeo any e that took p the building.

  The first of the two batants was a man in his te twenties with a nky frame and a shock of hair that had once been dark but had siurned a ruddy silver. He stood with his hands to his sides, his fiwitg now and then as he sized his oppo up. He wore a simple set of fortable fighting robes with his wrists bound up tightly, his legs were as well but the binding stopped just above his exposed ankles and bare feet.

  His oppo was a steely eyed woman with gray eyes that smoldered with a red-purple glow. She appeared to be youhan the man but not by much. Her hair was long and straight, hanging loosely around her shoulders. It too had turned a whitish color but it was closer to the look of spent charcoal rather than his that appeared to be more from age or stress. Unlike her oppo, she wore her fighting robes loosely with her sleeves hanging fortably around her hands in which she held a long bck-bded ese sword.

  The man was the first to make a move, a manic smile stretg across his face as he took a step forward. A faint whistle apanied his movement and he vanished, reappearing behind her an instant ter with his fist raised and his leg ing up to collide with her . She didn’t so much as move from her spot, seemingly oblivious to his strike as she raised her on up and to the left. Even so, as his foot reached her he found that it was caught by her elbow and his trajectory pushed off. His body tilted in the air as she twisted her sword slightly in her grip, catg his ining fist and defleg it as well. She let his strike slide across her bde as she turned fully to face him only for that whistle to sound, heralding his disappearance again.

  “Faster,” she demanded as he reappeared, once again aiming for a blind spot. His manic smile was gone, repced with an expression of absolute focus. He kicked at her head again and she effortlessly deflected it, turning to swing at him as he tried to pivot in the air by twisting his entire body. She nearly caught him across the abdomehat whistle once more sounded and he vanished, reappearing back at his starting position. She lowered her on, “Is that all, Ellis?”

  “I think we’ve memorized one another’s habits at this point, Kant,” Sir Ellis said with a chuckle, putting his hands on his hips and tapping his foot a few times. He gnced down at it and frowned.

  “Does it still hurt?” she asked.

  “It’s no big deal,” he said with a shrug.

  “Getting y bones repced doesn’t sound like ‘no big deal’ to me,” Kant said and sheathed her on. “You better not choke wheime es. A little ankle pain is not a good enough excuse.”

  He frow her, “I said I’m fine,” he growled, “Don’t test me.”

  “Say that when you actually nd a hit,” Kant said.

  “Ladies, please!” a merry voice chimed in on their versation, “You’re both pretty.”

  The two of them turo see a man in a dapper looking suit walking towards them. He was rail thin with a mess of brown hair hanging down just past his eyebrows. His eyes glowed like molten va, bzing shtly one could feel the heat ing off of them. He walked with an unerring fidehat did not match his visually frail frame. Both of them stiffe his approach, Ellis in particur shifting a bit on his feet and trying not to meet the man’s gaze. He came to a stop in front of them and they had to force themselves not to take an involuntary step babsp;

  “Craftsman,” Kant said and bowed oo him. She brushed her hair back a bit to hide the sweat that dripped dowemple, “This is an ued visit.”

  Craftsman turned his eyes directly on her and she averted her gaze. The man had pyed the role of a useful if unassuming ckey to Liberty up until the botched raid on the East Coast Camp. Shortly after that point, Liberty had leaned into his expertise more and more as well as raising him up as a de-facto left hand to Philip’s right as far as the rest of the cult was ed. No one dared point out that he didn’t buy into their beliefs for a moment. After all, the presehe man gave off now was not of some feckless stist without an ounce of bat power. It felt like standih a pile of enormous logs set abze. Heavy, stifling, and hot enough to burn if he wanted.

  “I was in the area,” Craftsman said casually. “Her worship is calling for you. She’s already sent the others on their way.”

  Ellis fshed his teeth at the mae his trepidation, “Watch how you speak about her, boffin.”

  Craftsman raised his and sneered down at Ellis, “How do ys feel, Ellis? Do you need a tune up? I’d be happy to take you apart again if you’d like. We take our time together,” he said, the hungry tone of his voice tripping with dark promise. Ellis looked away again and closed his mouth. “I thought so,” Craftsman said with a ugh before turning to Kant, “Do you have something on your mind, Kant?”

  Kant lowered her gaze, pushing the dark emotions down into her core even as a chill ran up her spine. “No.”

  “Great!” Craftsman said delightedly, g his hands, “Now let’s be off, yeah? Halloway is outside.”

  –

  Stel Hanks, Liberty, was a mountain of a woman, now standing nearly seveall with an invioble aura that overshadowed all who she surveyed. Her long blonde hair huly around her head in a perfect wave that looked almost artificial at first sight. Her eyes that had once been a faint glowing blue now gleamed shtly they partially illuminated her face. She wore a suit of armor that shone like silver iernoon sun, numerous engravings on its surface radiating an inner yellow-gold light that somehow added to the oppressive air that hung around her.

  Those engravings, of course, were a facade. They hid the truly important engravings on the inner side of her armor that amplified her powers in jun with her sword. Her armored fingers ed around the handle of the massive bde, improved once more from the inal versioed for her by Craftsman. She stood straight and tall, unmoving as she watched from her position on a paved ptform overlooking a fast-moving portion of the Mississippi river.

  Her eyes pao the right and she looked dohilip who stood o her, leaning against the rail with a ptive expression on his face. He had been brooding ever siurning from his trip to ‘gratute’ his sister on her graduation into being a hero. She’d given him permission to go despite personally finding the matter to be a waste of time. Jessica was no longer a member of the cult and held no more relevan the world that Liberty inteo create than a cockroabsp;

  Her eyes narrowed slightly. Despite him being somehow cowed by his sister during his trip, it had not e without some side-bes to Liberty. He was suffering from a simir partial memory loss that Halloway had experienced during the raid, adding credeo Halloway’s excuses ing the in of the dot he had brought to her. The file had been rge and carefully written, a manual for expanding the influence of her cult and strengthening herself in preparation for the ing war. It had even included methods by which she could unlock the hidden funs and instincts of her ability, as if the person who wrote it knew her powers better than she did.

  She wanted very badly to know who the author was but was now uhe assumption that she might not even remember even if she’d met him before. The thought irritated her to no small degree, but such was the way of things in a world rife with strange and mysterious powers.

  “Are you going to tio brood?” she asked him cooly.

  He gnced up at her a her gaze. Uhe others, he didn’t flinch. “No ma’am,” he said ftly, “Just appreciating the water.”

  “Liar,” she said before turning back to the rapids, “You will have your opportunity. Despite the oute of your trip, you, uhe others, have yet to disappoint me. Philip.”

  He huffed out a breath and stood up straight, his fingers curling around the railing. You fet about my humiliation by Ishtar a little too easily, Stel. In a fsh it was coated in a thin yer of frost that quickly gave off a faint mist as it evaporated under direct sunlight. “I’m not ed,” he said, “My abilities were locked behind the cuffs when I went. Wheime es I will deal with her quickly.”

  “You won’t punish her?” Liberty asked, “Curious ing from you.”

  “When we front one another, I have a feeling I will have higher priorities than disciplining her,” he said, his tone bnd as he ran his thumb over the rail, “Wasting my time on her would be er than the showboating during the raid. I will skewer her and leave her to hang for her ‘friends’. She is beh me.”

  Liberty nodded with approval, “Good. I’m gd to see you came out of that experieh a better mi.”

  He gnced her way, “May I speak freely, ma’am?” He asked, getting a nod from her as she looked back to the water. “After you read that dot, you ged. I don’t mind it. But it makes me wonder.”

  She met his gaze for a moment, searg his face before shrugging her shoulders. “I had inteo dismiss that dot out of hand at first. It offended me that someone would suggest they knew me better than I knew myself.”

  “What ged your mind?” he asked.

  “The opening paragraph was the most accurate description of the inner funs of my ability I’d ever seen. Our spies tell me that the ittee only knows the bare bones but that dot…” she trailed off, “...it khings that I have not shared with anyone. Given that information has not been disseminated even after the dot was given to me says that the person who wrote it has an agenda that includes my success.”

  “Don’t you resent being shepherded like that?” he asked.

  “I am under no obligation to follow the words in it to the letter, and I will not, while most of the advice is sound, some of it I find unpatable,” she said with a sneer, “It is a tool, nothing more.”

  He seemed to pte her words for a moment before nodding, “I uand,” he said just as a rush of air and mana behind them drew their attention. A tear in space ripped through the air where they looked and pulled itself apart as if the very fabric of reality had been given a grievous wound. Red lightning danced on the surface of the opening for a moment before it stabilized and fures stepped out. Ellis and Kaered first, gng around at their destination before spotting her and dropping to a knee.

  Behind them came Craftsman with that same irritatingly smug smile on his fad another man with long bck hair and a carefully trimmed goatee. The man wore an immacute bd red suit that fitted his athletic body perfectly. He joihe other two in sing their surroundings before moving to join Ellis and Kant in a respectful line. Craftsman walked past the trio without a care in the world, humming to himself before he stopped o Liberty and shot her a gnce, “How’s the fit?”

  “The adjustments you made were good,” she said by way of a pliment, “You’ve served me well.”

  “I aim to please,” he said with a chuckle before turning to look at the trio with her. “They seem happy with their oys as well.”

  She gnced his way, watg how he fixated on Ellis with an expression that caused her guts to roil in disgust. “They are my round table, not fresh corpses to root around in, Craftsman.”

  “Sure sure, we’ll see,” Craftsman said without turning to look at her, “Just keep your end up and I’ll py nice.”

  “You call cutting one of my favorites open ‘pying nice’?” she asked.

  He turo meet her gaze again, his smile growing cruel, “Yes.”

  She scoffed and looked to the newly arrived members of her round table, “Rise,” she anded and they obeyed immediately. She gestured tht, past Craftsman, and made a being motion. A moment ter a pair of men in cult masks walked over, dragging another man with a blindfold over his eyes to where she stood. He was covered in bruises and cuts, both of his arms bent the wrong way and one leg limp beh him. He let out a low groan of pain as he y there on the ground. She scowled down at him and clicked her tongue before reag for his shirt and grabbing it, pulling him to his feet and waving the two cultists off.

  “This insignifit cretin calls himself Renegade, a so-called ‘vilin’,” she said and with quick motion grabbed his blindfold and pulled it off, tossing it to the ground. The disheveled man blinked several times, squinting his eyes against the sunlight before looking up into her fad goihly pale as he met her eyes. “He was caught attempting to pnt bombs in the main pound,” she expined before turning and holding him with one arm over the rapids below. He let out a gasp of terror as he hung over the fast-moving water.

  Renegade turned his head towards her, “P-please! I told you everything! Heal me! You promised!”

  She let him go and he fell into the water with a noisy spsh. “Ishtar has issued a bounty on you, my round table, as well as hard targets such as our important buildings, infrastructure, and holdings.”

  Halloway was the first to speak, “Will you use the other half of your ability?”

  “That won’t be necessary,” Liberty said before her perpetual scowl twisted into a horrible rictus of a smile, “Let’s focus on something more patable,” she turned back to her Round Table, “We are moving forward on the Seattle pn. Are you ready to reveal your refed selves?”

  Ellis, Kant, and Halloway all bowed their heads as one, “Strength from Liberty. We will bring them to their knees.”

  She raised her head high, “Strength from Liberty indeed.”

  –

  Liberty sat aloaring into the gloom of the room that had started to look less and less like a temple and more like an audience chamber for a monarch. She leaned forward ihrone of polished metal, her sword resting against her knee. She adjusted her grip and scowled as her thoughts ed over. She could feel her e to the locations she had decred as her dominion, the presences inside of them, their growing sense of veion givirength. Miicked by until, for one of the locations, a threshold was reached.

  I hought I would be put into a position where I had to use this fun, she thought, her instincts guidihrough the process of guiding the improvements to the location. Increasing their physical capabilities and the potency of their abilities isn’t necessary.

  She sighed, No one o know.

  “Vouchsafe my People,” she intoned and she felt the power seep into her bones before seeming to scatter. If it weren’t for her e to the pce she would have assumed that the ability had failed. She khat the walls of the buildings in that distant pound had grown strohe very air being heavy for those who entered uninvited. It would take a force of terrible power to breach her defenses, especially once she gave them time to build up.

  You know too much, Ishtar, she thought as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She flipped through the mysterious dot-the ‘guide’-again before closing it. It’s time to make my own statement.