“Stay in touch, don’t hesitate to engage,” I said to Fidel and Richard as I loaded my carbine. “The plan, one more time?”

  “Our vans will be at the van and rear. We’ll block either end of the road,” Richard said, confirming his part.

  “My team will be following your rear vehicle,” Fidel said to me. “We’ll take positions outside the building to hold your exit.”

  “Good,” I said with a sharp nod. “We’ve got to be quick. We always have to be quick but especially tonight. If you really need to run, tell me first. I really don’t want a surprise Nazi enema.”

  “I have yours and Nadir’s phone number,” Fidel replied. “We’ll make sure you have notice.”

  “Shouldn’t need to retreat though,” Richard added quickly. “Our formation should allow us to respond appropriately to any incursion. Unless we become badly outnumbered, this plan should work.”

  “Alright,” I said. I wasn’t totally convinced, but it would have to do. We didn’t have time to argue any longer. “Let’s move then. Good hunting.”

  “Good hunting,” they echoed together as we all turned towards our cars.

  I joined my team in the newly armoured sedan. Minutes later, we were off. The cars and vans formed together into a convoy, running with lights dimmed down the slushy roads of Brockton Bay. We were all quiet, tense, but ready for action. The guys kept their eyes scanning out the windows, and their weapons were at the ready.

  That made me feel a little better. Even if I couldn’t be sure of our allies, my team was sharp and prepared as ever. I spent the time considering what we were up against, and how exactly to go about tackling it.

  There were two parahumans supposedly stationed there, according to the info Cauldron fed me. Nifelheim and Muspelheim had been with Purity’s group, remaining with Werwolf after we had killed her. Fire and ice powers apparently, though the data hadn’t been specific. I could have called Tattletale for a hint, but our last conversation had left me little doubt we weren’t on speaking terms.

  We could deal. I’d be fine in any case, and they weren’t likely to go wrecking their own operations if they could help it. As long as we got our asses in the door, we could threaten them with their own merchandise. Besides, there was no mention of Brute powers between them. It shouldn’t be a problem, using our guns.

  The PRT’s response might be a problem, if they decided to get involved at all. I really didn’t want to fight them, and I hoped the feeling was mutual. After all, they were playing hero while we were fighting a war. We couldn’t work together being that far apart in doctrine. That was fine, I could do better with the people I had on hand.

  “Getting close,” Jeep said as we turned down the last street. “There it is.”

  Our target was obvious. The only warehouse on the street, with a wide parking lot out front. The building was all paneled, plain steel. No signs or anything to say what it was, but the address matched our info. The van ahead of us raced down the road as we pulled to a stop outside the building. Seconds later, I was out of the car and running towards the double doors of the entrance. No handles on the outside but I pointed J-Dog, with his shotgun, to the hinges.

  Bang-bang-bang! I pulled the door down and charged in, carbine raised and ready. Two stunned Nazis dropped their weapons at the sight of us and were bludgeoned unconscious by Reese and Wick as the rest of us continued down the narrow hall. I shouldered my way through a door ahead, barely suppressing a flinch as a hail of gunfire struck me. I took a knee and returned fire, yelling for my team to move in.

  The space they ran into was a wide warehouse floor, tables taking up half the space while racks lined the back wall, full of boxes and barrels of god only knew what. I ducked behind a table as Nadir pointed a hand, and three gunmen collapse behind a toppled shelf. Out of sight, out of the fight. The others were taking up cover where they could, exchanging fire with the Nazis inside.

  I used my invincibility to raise my head and look for where the shots were coming from. A round hit my temple and I snapped my head to see a pair of Nazis with rifles peeking from a doorway further back. I switched to automatic and fired a couple bursts, dropping one to the floor and forcing the other to take cover.

  A scream of fear rang out and a blast of heat washed over me, prickling my skin. I whirled just in time to see a masked figure vanish in a wall of flame that roared over the table we’d taken cover behind. I grabbed Jeep’s vest and pulled him away from the fire as he frantically slapped at his burning pants.

  The figure appeared again and I leaped towards them as they raised a hand. We both crashed to the ground as my body suddenly weighed a ton. They disappeared again as I pushed myself up, shaking my head to try and clear the dizziness.

  “Sorry,” Nadir gasped in my ear. “You okay?”

  “Fine,” I barked. “Jeep?”

  “Hurt, but okay,” she answered. “What was that?”

  “Muspelheim, I bet,” I said, wiping sweat from my face. The fire was gone but it was damned hot. “Focus on the gangsters, take out their support base. Then we kill them.”

  “Got it.”

  I ran from behind the smouldering table to draw fire and figure out where it was coming from. I was quickly rewarded with a hail of bullets, slapping me all over. Shooting left them exposed though, and I took down one with a quick burst, another falling to my team. I was making space, and could see Reese pushing towards a small side room. I fired a few rounds towards the door he was approaching to keep heads down, then kept scanning for targets.

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  It was quickly becoming a mess. Stray bullets kicked up clouds of white, sparkling powder, making visibility poor. Smoke was starting to hang in the air too, from Muspelheim’s assault. The cape was nowhere to be seen, for now, but I knew they’d be back. That’d have to be mine and Nadir’s fight. We could handle it, just had to—

  “Amaranth!”

  Flames roared around me, and I let out an involuntary shriek. A silhouette loomed in front of me, and I dropped my gun, reaching out towards it. The world turned white and utterly frigid. Goosebumps rose on my skin, and I tried to move but found myself frozen fast. The fuck? With a sound of shattering glass, I was hammered down to the concrete floor. There was a flash and burst of heat, then I found I could move again.

  “What happened?” I groaned as Nadir helped me up.

  “The other cape,” she said tensely. “Turned the fire into ice, froze you solid, then turned it into fire again when I broke the ice. You okay?”

  “A little cooked,” I said, coughing. I touched my face and grimace; my scarf had been burned badly, down to the skintight balaclava under it. “Okay, we’ll have to work together. I’m going to bait them out. When they go for me, you take the shot. Shouldn’t be too hard, since you can’t hurt me.”

  “That’s…” Nadir swallowed hard. “Are you sure?”

  “No other way,” I said with a shrug. “Get ready.”

  She nodded and hefted her carbine. I peeked out from the edge of the battered table, looking for my chance. I saw a pair of gangsters dash out from cover, running forward, and sprang up. Both reacted as I charged towards them, yelling and raising their weapons. They collapsed without warning, leaving me clear to continue running towards the back of the room.

  A wall of fire flared up in front of me, making me skid to a halt. I turned to move away, but found it burning behind me as well. Twisting my head, I realized I was surrounded. I turned again and saw a silhouette step out of the fire. Their costume was black, with the red outline of flames all over. Its goggles glowed and eerie red, and the figure loomed over me, easily a foot taller.

  The glow of the fire vanished, replaced by a cold light, and the cape changed too. Now their costume was an icy white, with spikes of frosty blue, matching the colour of the goggles. The flames around us had turned to a thick wall of ice, warping my view of the world outside.

  “It’s good to finally meet you, terrier,” they said, or he judging by how low his voice was; and cold, cold as the Crater Lake in winter. “You have caused us issues. We will be well rewarded for killing you.”

  “Is that so?” I growled, raising my fists. I had my pistol still, if it wasn’t cooked, but I’d save that for an emergency. “You know I don’t get paid a cent for killing you guys? It’s a crying shame, I could be wealthy.”

  “Oh you won’t kill us,” he said, chuckling. ‘Us’? He’d said ‘we’ too.

  “Want to test that?” I asked. “Because the way I see it, you’re the one who’s trapped in here.” He laughed again.

  “Nifelheim,” he said, settling into a fighting stance. “Now you can die.”

  His fist flew forward, and I held fast as a spike of ice extended from each knuckle. The pseudo-brass knuckle shattered harmlessly against my jaw, and I snapped my hand up. I managed to grip his elbow, but as I began to squeeze a flare of heat made me flinch back. Nifelheim was gone, as was the ice, and once again I was trapped in a circle of fire.

  “Two for one,” I spat as the fire cape, Muspelheim, brushed his elbow off. A Case Seventy, had to be. “Lucky me.”

  “You’re an annoying little thing,” Muspelheim hissed, like a steam vent. “I can handle you better than my brother.”

  “Try me.”

  Fire roared around me, but I’d been expecting the light and heat. I charged forward, sending a quick jab at Muspelheim’s stomach. It connected, then he vanished in a roar of flames. I jumped back to the center of the circle, eyes scanning back and forth. So he was like Burnscar, moving through his power. That could be an issue.

  There was a ‘whoosh’ behind me and I whirled just in time to catch a burning fist in the face. I went low, throwing a wild strike without looking. It worked, connecting with his ribs and drawing a huff of pain. Heat engulfed me, then I was frozen solid, unable to move. I took a deep breath and focused on my projection.

  No guarantee this would work, after all ice was a far cry from bugs. I began to oscillate my projection back and forth rapidly, hammering it against the frigid walls that kept me in place. A crack loud enough to make my ears ring split the air, and I was quickly engulfed in fire once more.

  I stumbled out of the flames and caught a fist to the stomach. It didn’t hurt, but I found myself swallowed by the fire as more burst out from Muspelheim’s hand. I didn’t stop, continuing to move back as the flames suddenly turned to ice, managing to avoid getting stuck this time. I flinched as the ice wall in front of me exploded, sending chunks and shrapnel my way. It nicked my face and arms, but otherwise I was left untouched.

  “Bitchmade,” I spat, panting heavily. That hurt pretty bad, but nothing I couldn’t handle. “Come on. Can’t handle a little girl?”

  “Keeping you busy is an acceptable alternative to killing you,” Nifelheim said coldly. “More are coming to make sure you can’t escape.” My teeth creaked as I ground them together.

  “Guess I’ll have to hurry up,” I growled.

  I dashed forward, swinging at his head. He blocked it with a shroud of ice over his face, then reached out to grab me. I let him, taking the opportunity to finally draw my pistol while Nifelheim was blinded. Ice began growing over my neck where his fingers wrapped around it, but he was right where I wanted him. I jammed the pistol against his ribs and pulled the trigger before he could react. The gun exploded in my hand, and I felt shrapnel patter harmlessly against my projection.

  And a hot gush of blood sprayed against my hands.

  “Hurk,” Nifelheim gagged, stumbling back and clutching his stomach. “You—”

  I didn’t let him finish, swinging a fist at his belly. I hit something soft and fleshy, then a burst of fire blinded me and he vanished. The circle of fire that had cut me off from the rest of the warehouse was extinguished too, but I had no time to breathe a sigh of relief.

  The fight had devolved into a shitshow while I’d been dueling their villain backup. At least three of my team were down, hidden behind the limited cover in various states of injury. A semi-circle of gangster were taking shots at a trio of tables, and I saw Nadir poke her head out and shoot back. I heard the Nazis yell to move in and realized I had to make a move.

  No gun, but I didn’t need one for their little shitheel minions. With a bellow, I charged towards the nearest ones. Two masked skinheads whirled towards me, raising a pair of shotguns. Pellets crashed against my projection, doing nothing but pissing me off that much more. I caught the first one’s forearm and swiftly crushed it in my fingers. He shrieked and I let him go, reaching for his friend. I caught the barrel of the shotgun, rewarded with a blast to the face. I yanked on the gun and caught the fucker by the throat, destroying his trachea with a squeeze.

  With the two gangsters down, I grabbed one of their guns and sprang on the others. They reacted poorly to the ambush, returning fire only after pellets started flying downrange. I killed three of them before they really began fighting back, and by then Nadir had joined in on the counterattack. Within just a few minutes, we reduced them to two quivering, wounded skinheads who surrendered as fast as they could. Nadir jogged over, holding my carbine out.

  “Thanks,” she panted as I took my gun. Only one mag, but it would have to do. “J-Dog is back there helping Jeep. Reese and Wick both got hurt, they need to get out. What happened to the villain?”

  “Pistol blew up in his guts,” I replied. “Don’t think we’ll be seeing him again.”

  “Good, then—”

  “What do we have here?” a loud, irritatingly familiar voice boomed through the warehouse. “A little dog in need of a beating?” I raised my head and felt my blood pressure spike behind my eyes.

  “Victor,” I spat.

  “Oh shit,” Nadir groaned.