“Captain Williams! Just so we are clear, I’m only doing this because I have to, and I fully expect that you will forgive me for what I’m about to do,” I shouted at my commanding officer while starting the process of converting the energy stored within me into a discharge.

  I started slow at first, building the energy rather than pulling it up all at once like I had done with Hammerdown. I wanted to control the flow, and as I pulled more on my reserves, I started to feel the now familiar feeling of heat building in my core. I looked down at the fuchsia and cyan energy that began to crackle and snap around my hands before racing up and down my forearms as I held the energy from discharging.

  My body absorbs ambient and direct solar and cosmic rays, which are then converted into a form of bioenergy. The energy I can discharge is mostly concussive but does have a low-level heat signature, so the more I concentrate the energy, the higher the intensity of the heat. Something changed during the fight with Hammerdown, though, and now I seem to be able to tap into a whole new level of power. Doctor Rokker is going to have a field day running me through a whole new gauntlet of tests when I tell him.

  I made sure to take a moment to get a stable stance, and once I had judged that I had built up a sufficient initial charge that should be strong enough to power through any gravity distortions and still be strong enough to affect Captain Williams, I let the energy I had been building discharge. Neon blue and pink energy beams erupted from my open palms and jumped across the gravity disk with minimal distortion, hitting Captain Williams to little effect.

  I had a sneaking suspicion from observing her earlier that when her powers were active, she was creating some type of field to protect her from the gravity her abilities created. I started slowly, inching up the intensity of the beams' output. I had the idea that I was going to need to stress her enough to force her body to shut off her powers. At least that’s what my non-scientific brain had come up with.

  “Captain Williams, I’m going to get serious now. I just wanted to give you a heads-up!” I yelled at the woman at the center of the gravity storm, hoping that maybe she could hear me.

  The top of Mount Horace Greeley was now awash in color, and shadows danced across the buildings as the gold of Captain Williams' ability clashed and fought with the fuchsia and cyan energy created by my ability. Odd patterns and flashes reflected off the snow, creating an unusual light show in the murky morning light.

  Almost as if she could sense she was under assault, I felt her gravity output increase incrementally as its pull on me increased. I could hear the surrounding buildings groan in response, and the debris in the air started to swirl even faster. I was running out of time. Deepening my stance, I continued to pour energy into the captain to the point that my vision was starting to tunnel as I focused on Captain Williams as a singular target. I had performed all sorts of endurance tests related to how long I could sustain and focus a beam of energy with Dr. Rokker, so I was well aware of when I was approaching my limits. Unfortunately, I was already starting to feel the telltale signs that foretold reaching the upper limits of my endurance. My head had developed the unwelcome ache that always accompanied hitting that wall, and far sooner than I had hoped. My fight with Hammerdown had clearly taken something out of me.

  There wasn’t going to be an easy out for this, though, so I pushed even harder on my ability and doubled the intensity of the energy beam to where it had been when I had stopped Hammerdown. Unfortunately, Captain Williams was still shrugging it off without showing any signs of being affected, but I didn’t let up, and I slowly realized that it wasn’t actually true. Captain Williams's hands, which had been open palms up at her side, were now clenched fists. Taking that as a positive sign, I decided it was now or never, and pushed my ability as hard as I could, only to almost falter immediately as it felt like an ice pick was driven behind my eyes as the pain in my head exploded.

  My vision blurred, and I felt like I was going to be sick as the pain behind my eyes became nearly unbearable. Adding to that, my core was now on fire with pain radiating out in waves. I could tell I was at my limit, but Captain Williams refused to go down. This woman was one of the toughest, most stubborn people I had ever met, and I had never once beaten her in training when we were on equal terms. But right here, and right now, I was not going to lose to her.

  I moved my hands together and laced my thumbs, so that both palms were side by side, causing the twin beams to merge into a singular beam. Even that small effort turned out to be agony, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through it. The intensity of the now merged beam became so intense that Captain Williams was now only a silhouette in an aurora of light. With a roar, I forced myself to take the intensity of the beam even higher. The pain was excruciating, and I felt tears running freely as I fought with everything I had to hold the beam as the edges of my vision turned black and everything blurred.

  Suddenly, there was a loud “CRACK,” and the golden light surrounding Captain Williams vanished, causing everything in the air to tumble back to the earth. In a panic, I pulled the beam up and away, lighting up the hazy morning sky and blasting apart the top of one of the old radar towers before I could cut off the beam. Ironically, the effort of cutting off the energy discharge hurt almost as much as using it, which caused me to sink to my knees and retch. Yet again, I found myself in the dirt and snow. The difference this time was that the cold ground felt amazing on my head as it threatened to explode.

  “Star, are you okay?” a shaky voice said from somewhere near me.

  When I didn’t respond, the voice tried again, “Dani?”

  “Callsigns on mission…” I replied weakly to the voice. Smartassery proving again to be my strongest ability.

  With a herculean effort, I lifted my head just enough to confirm that it was Captain Williams speaking to me and not another hallucination. She was sitting on her knees with her arms folded into herself, looking disheveled and a little glassy-eyed, but otherwise seemed to be ok.

  Speaking more into the dirt than to the captain, I said, “Ha, I beat you. Finally, I win,” before promptly passing out.

  Captain Williams was only vaguely aware of her surroundings. Her senses were consumed by a pull that seemed to pulse from her core. It was a pleasant feeling, and every time she felt like she was able to gather her wits, another pulse would hit and wash away her efforts. It was maddening to have no control over what was happening to her own body.

  At various times, she felt like she could hear people speaking to her, but she could never make out what they were saying. She didn’t even trust that they were even real, but this last time felt different, though. Instead of just feeling like someone was speaking to her, she started to feel increasing pressure. That pressure eventually turned into pain, and when that pain became unbearable, the pull from inside suddenly and painfully vanished with a deafening “CRACK.”

  Captain Williams' eyes snapped open as she fell to the ground from where she was floating, only to be blinded by a massive beam of energy that tore through the sky, blowing up part of the old base before vanishing. Sitting down on her knees and blinking away the fuchsia and cyan afterimages created by the light, she took stock of herself. She felt tired, and her back was sore for some reason, but otherwise, she didn’t seem to have any injuries.

  As her vision and head cleared, Captain Williams looked around and realized she was still between the Civil Engineering building and Building Twenty. Everything was a mess, with debris strewn everywhere and pieces of broken equipment scattered all around her in a circle. The enemy resistance seemed to be gone, and there wasn’t anyone shooting at her at the moment

  Captain Williams heard a sound from behind her, and when she looked, she found Star about ten yards away, looking worse for wear. She was on her hands and knees, and her uniform was dirty with abrasions all over it, but what worried Captain Williams the most was the spots of blood dotting it. What on earth had happened?

  “Star, are you okay?” Captain Williams called out to the young Supernormal. When she didn’t reply, she became worried. “Dani?” she called out again, this time using her name in a breach of protocol.

  “Callsigns on mission…” came the weak reply from the battered Supernormal. Dani managed to raise her head just enough to make brief eye contact with Captain Williams before mumbling, “Ha, I beat you. Finally, I win,” and crumpling to the ground.

  Captain Williams staggered to her feet as a wave of dizziness threatened to send her tumbling as well, but she made her way slowly and deliberately over to Dani, her face a mask of concentration. Evidently, she was a little less ok than she had originally thought.

  Captain Williams sat down hard on the cold ground next to Dani and gathered the younger woman into her lap. “Star. Star…you’ve got to wake up. We’re not safe in the open like this,” she said, trying to get a response out of her teammate while checking to make sure she was breathing.

  If Jasmine was honest, while this woman drove her a little crazy, she couldn’t deny she had some grit. Dani’s breathing seemed steady, so she carefully brushed some of Dani’s hair out of her face when she noticed the bruises starting to form on her exposed neck and face, and again wondered just what had happened. Captain Williams tapped her earbud, surprised that it had somehow managed to stay put during her ordeal with “Event Horizon.” It was unresponsive, though, and sure enough, when she checked her wrist-com, she found it unresponsive as well.

  Swearing at her luck, Captain Williams moved Dani’s arm so she could check her wrist-com, hoping it had heavier shielding than her unit, considering the woman it was attached to could throw around energy beams like it was nothing.

  Luck was on her side, and Dani’s wrist-com was operational, the screen illuminating as soon as she opened the access panel. Now she needed a new earpiece. Her backup was probably fried, and she didn’t fancy fishing Dani’s out of her ear when she remembered that Dani should have a backup. Checking over Dani’s uniform, Captain Williams found the backup earbud in a hidden pocket in the bolero jacket Dani wore underneath her cape. Finding it functional, she quickly paired it with the wrist-com and selected the team channel.

  “Wolf Leader requesting assistance. Star is down, and we’re in the open with no intel on hostiles. Location is just south of the Civil Engineering Building,” she reported over the team channel, hoping they were ok.

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  “Wolf Leader, good to hear your voice, we’re making our way to you now. Give us a few minutes to pick our way through the snow and debris,” Laurel responded immediately.

  “Roger that,” she replied, trying not to let the anxiety of sitting out in the open weaponless get to her. Fortunately, she was distracted by Overwatch.

  “Captain Williams, we just received word from Fox a few minutes ago that enemy combatants were ordered to pull back. This information is not verified, but we haven’t registered any troop movements in a little while,” Dreamboy informed the captain over the team channel.

  “Thank you, Overwatch. I’m still not comfortable sitting in the open, but that’s good to know. Keep me informed if anything changes,” she said to the pilot.

  “You got it, Captain,” replied Dreamboy.

  She didn’t love the causal tone Dreamboy had used, but she had bigger things to worry about, so she pushed her irritation out of her mind and checked on Dani again. She seemed stable, and there wasn’t anything she could do anyway. She didn’t think she had the strength to carry her, even though she was feeling a bit steadier. Captain Williams wasn’t someone who did well feeling impotent. Her eyes kept scanning the terrain around them, expecting enemies to pop out at any moment.

  “Bonjour, Wolf Leader. Quite the mess you’ve made up here,” came Andre’s voice as he and Heidi emerged from behind the Civil Engineering building.

  “Oh, thank god,” I was going crazy out in the open like this. “Where’s the rest of Wolf Unit?”

  “Wolf Five is covering us from the other side of the building and will be along shortly if it’s clear. Wolf Three is with Wolf Two on the RAID. Fox, as far as we know, is still doing Fox things up the hill,” answered Andre, who took up a covering position.

  “Why are Two and Three on the RAID?” she asked, concern lacing her tone.

  “Whoo, boy. You want to take this one?” Andre said, gesturing to Heidi, who had taken up a covering position opposite Andre.

  Heidi grimaced at Andre for throwing her under the bus. “How’s Star?” she asked, attempting to defer answering the question.

  “As far as I can tell, she’s okay for being passed out. However, the fact that she passed out in first place indicates that something isn’t right. Now answer the question. That’s an order,” Captain Williams said.

  “I’ll answer,” Laurel said as she approached their position, weapon up and ready. She noticed Wolf Leader’s eyes linger on it as she approached, or more specifically, Captain Williams' weapon that was still slung across her back. “The short version is that when ‘Event Horizon’ went out of control and you went unresponsive, Wolf Two got spooked. He tried talking to you, and when you didn’t respond, he said something to Fox over the com and fired on you.”

  Captain William’s eyes went wide for a moment while her eyebrows attempted to climb into her hairline, as she digested that her XO had fired on her. “I guess I did ask him to incapacitate me,” she said with a slight shake of her head.

  Noticing Wolf Leader’s reaction, Laurel continued, “Right, we all had the same reaction. Fortunately for you, and unfortunately for Wolf Two, Star arrived right at that moment and with no idea what was going on, blasted Wolf Two. Possibly a bit harder than she meant to.”

  “The jury is still out on that, considering their history,” Andre cracked from his position, causing Laurel and Captain Williams to both shoot Andre a look. “Right. Not the time.”

  “Wolf Two was knocked unconscious, and Wolf Three suspected a concussion. Since our position was at risk due to your ability, we determined it was best to evacuate him to the RAID while we moved back to a safer location,” Laurel continued.

  “Okay, but what happened to Star for her to be in this state?” Captain Williams asked while moving Dani’s hood so that the bruises on her neck were visible.

  “Star intercepted the Supernormal she fought at the LZ, attempting to ambush you and me. She re-engaged him and discovered he could split himself into three, with each version having an ability. One had speed, one had strength, and one could regenerate. When merged, he had access to all three abilities at once. Star had to dig deep to neutralize him. She took a pounding and almost lost,” Laurel recounted what Dani had told her.

  “I’m glad that didn’t happen,” Captain Williams said, looking down at the younger woman in her lap. “What happened next? How did she stop me?”

  “First, she tried talking to you, but just like with Wolf Two, it didn’t work. Our backup plan was to dose you with a sedative, but if she couldn’t get close enough, then just like with Wolf Two, she was going to shoot you. However, unlike Wolf Two, she was hoping to overload your ability, not to actively wound or kill you,” Laurel explained, her expression hard as a diamond when she mentioned Brunner.

  “That tracks. I have a vague recollection of snippets of voices and a blinding light. Then I regained my senses. Also, my back is pretty sore,” Captain Williams grumbled.

  “If you could have seen the size of the energy blast that Star pumped into you, you should be happy that you still have a back. I don’t know who I’m more scared of, you for tanking it, or her for knocking you down,” Andre said with a grin.

  “Me. Alright, any ideas why Star is still down, and how worried should I be about that?” Captain Williams asked the remainder of Wolf Unit.

  “I think she’s just exhausted. Wolf Four isn’t kidding when he described the energy blast she put out. She started slow and just kept ramping it up until it was so intense you couldn’t even look directly at it. When you snapped out of your trance, she pulled the beam off you and blew a chunk off one of the radar towers. I can’t imagine the amount of effort all of that took. And that’s after her earlier fight,” Laurel opined.

  “Four, can you carry Star? We can’t stay in the open like this. Five, help me up. Six, keep an eye out,” Captain Williams said, snapping out orders and retaking control of Wolf Unit. ”As soon as we’re up, we’ll move back to the Civil Engineering building and figure out our next steps. We might need to move the RAID up if Star is down for the count.”

  Andre, with some help from Captain Williams, was able to gather Star into a princess carry while Wolf Five helped Captain Williams to her feet once she was free from the unconscious Supernormal. Captain Williams had to lean on Laurel for a few steps before she was able to shake off the stiffness from sitting in the snow, but as soon as she did, she gestured for Laurel to return her weapon, which she eagerly did.

  It wasn’t the smoothest tactical maneuver, but they made their grand return to the Civil Engineering Building. The building was still mostly in one piece, but the roof on the other side of the building was now missing part of the roof. Andre put Star down as gently as he could manage and then took up the lookout position at the window.

  “Six, see if Three can do a consult. Five do a quick scout around the immediate area and make sure we’re safe here for the moment,” Captain Williams instructed her team.

  “I’ve got three. Do you want it on the team channel?” Heidi asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “No, route it to just us. I don’t want Fox to hear this. Oh, FYI, I’m connected to Star’s wrist-com since mine got fried,” Captain Williams informed the Communications Officer.

  “Are you okay, Captain?” Alessa asked in her earpiece a few seconds later.

  “I’ve had better days, but I’ll manage. How’s Two?” she asked.

  “Stable. He’s got a minor concussion and bruised ribs. He’s awake now, but with a massive headache. He’s pissed because I won’t let him go back out or tell him what happened. I don’t feel like either option would be a good idea at the moment,” she explained.

  “I concur. I’ll cut right to the chase. Star is down and unconscious from what we are speculating to be overuse of her abilities. Is there anything we can do or should be worried about?” Captain Williams asked.

  There was silence for a few beats on the line before the Medical Sergeant responded. “Well, assuming it’s truly just overuse, her body would have shut down as a safety valve after reaching her limit. Without examining her, this is just a guess that it’s nothing worse like a possible aneurysm. From having looked at her file, I can say she is extremely durable and recovers remarkably fast. If Wolf Six still has her medkit, I would try the smelling salts and see if an external stimulus jump-starts her back to consciousness. With any luck, she’s in more of a deep sleep state than a true unconscious state.”

  Heidi took her pack off and pulled out a medkit from a compartment, which she handed to Captain Williams. Kneeling next to the prone woman, Captain Williams opened the pack and retrieved an ampule from inside. “C’mon, Star. Upsee Daisy”, she said before breaking the ampule and waiving it under Dani’s nose.

  The effect was immediate. Dani’s eyes snapped open, and she sat up only to immediately groan and hold her head. “Owww, what happened?” she asked.

  “You passed out after knocking Captain Williams out of her trance, remember,” Heidi said from where she was standing, keeping an eye on the door.

  “Right. Glad to see you back with us, Wolf Leader,” Star said to Captain Williams. “Sorry, I shot you.”

  Captain Williams couldn’t help but laugh at that and shook her head at the Supernormal.

  “How are you feeling, Star? Let me know what hurts and how,” Alessa’s voice came through the com, interrupting whatever Captain Williams might have been about to say.

  “My head hurts and I’m sore everywhere…but I was sore everywhere before I passed out. The headache is new, though, and I feel like I could eat a horse,” Dani explained to Alessa.

  “Is the headache dull, pounding, or sharp? Any colors, flashes, or spots in your vision?” Alessa continued.

  Dani cocked her head and thought for a beat before responding, “Dull now, and no spots or anything.”

  “It sounds like you're exhausted and your body is trying to recover. Whatever your body does to make your energy is probably running on fumes. This isn’t an actual diagnosis, mind you, as I would need you to come back to the RAID to even get in the ballpark of that, but I have a feeling that isn’t an option. If you feel like you can continue, there should be some electrolyte gel in the medkit, and if there are any ration bars, try to get as many nutrients and carbs in you as possible. TRY not to use your abilities any more than you need to if you stay in the field,” Alessa explained to Dani and the rest of the team, since they were all on the same channel.

  “Thanks Doc, I’ll take that under advisement,” Dani quipped back.

  “That’s the second joke she’s made since she came to. I’d say she’s fine, Chere,” Andre quipped from the window.

  “You and the RAID stay safe, Three, and hopefully we’ll see you soon. Also, do whatever you need to do to keep Two on the RAID. Wolf Lead, out,” Captain Williams said to Alessa before gesturing for Heidi to cut the line and handing Dani an electrolyte pouch and a ration bar she had found in the kit.

  Star quickly drained the pouch and ate the ration bar, making faces the whole time. “Ugh, that is awful. They make you guys eat that stuff regularly?” she asked, still making faces.

  Before anyone could respond, Laurel came running in. “Something’s going on up the hill!”

  Everyone rushed to the windows just in time to hear gunfire and see a chunk of building twenty suddenly blow out in a cloud of cement dust and metal. A dark shape came flying out of the cloud, rolling part of the way down the hill before getting control of its fall. It was Fox, and when he popped up, his focus was already back up the hill, weapon at the ready.

  The subject of his focus casually crested the hill a moment later. It was the Phantom Queen, her white hair whipping in the wind. She wore a mask that covered her nose and mouth, but her eyes were visible, and they were an unsettling red. She carried two pistols casually but confidently, and if her red eyes weren’t enough of an indicator of her Supernormal status, the metal-looking shields floating and swirling around were all the evidence needed.

  “As I already told you, Master Sergeant Takahashi. I can’t let you take the boy, while I really would prefer that you surrender, I’m more than willing to see this to its conclusion,” Morrigan said to Fox as she started advancing.

  “We’ve got to help him,” Dani exclaimed.

  Captain Williams spared a thought to wonder what deity she had pissed off, before addressing her unit, “Alright S.T.A.R., no rest for the wicked.”