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“‘for it might end, you know,’ said Alice to herself, ‘in my going out altogether, like a candle. I wonder what I should be like then?’ And she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember ever having seen such a thing.”

- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

The motorcycle roared down the street, weaving in and out of traffic without slowing down. For all of his risk-adverse ways, Oz could handle the vehicle in a dangerous situation better than anyone else she’d ever seen.

The man was really good at being a Cape.

“What’s the plan?” She shouted to him over the sound of the icy wind and the crowds of people which were lining the parade route.

“They’re after the kids.” Oz yelled back. “The Horizons Academy students. They’re all marching in the parade. They’re going to grab them so that they can experiment on them, then do something to cover their escape.”

“What?”

“Masterson didn’t know.”

“With weird tech involved, it could be anything.” Her mind raced, trying to figure out the Agletarians’ next move. “Do you have any idea how many trucks filled with floats and machines are arriving in town for the parade? One more isn’t going to raise any red flags.”

“We’ll deal with it.” He informed her with complete confidence, jumping the curb and speeding through a plaza area to avoid a barricade. “I’ve discovered that I’m a ‘shoot the fucking bear’ kind of person, by the way. Which is surprising.”

“Kind of in a ‘let the thing live’ mood today.” She squeezed him tighter. “I’m strangely excited by hearing you swear, incidentally. It’s really hot, baby doll.”

Ahead of them, the parade came into view.

“Which float are they on?” She yelled. “Do we know?”

“Nope.”

“How many of them are there, do we know?”

“Nope.”

“Have we figured out a way to counteract their armor yet?”

“Nope.”

Natalie started laughing. “You know, I think I’m gonna like working with you for the rest of my life, baby.” She rested her face against the comforting muscles of his back. “You are the right kind of madman.”

Oz gunned the engine again and the classic motorcycle went faster, tearing through a police checkpoint and speeding after the slow-moving parade ahead of them.

Craning her neck, Natalie got a look at something which caught her eye: a dozen floats in a row, slowly making their way south. A dozen floats which formed a gingerbread train .

The Agletarians’ train was right on schedule, leaving exactly when their coded message had said it would.

She squeezed Oz tighter, and he saw the train at the same moment. He steered the motorcycle towards the floats.

She readied herself for the looming fight. “How we handling this, Kemosabe ?”

“We do this your way.” He yelled back, over the sound of the parade.

“Protect the civilians at all costs. We don’t know which of the train cars has their weapon, so we’ll take them all.

Start at the caboose and work your way forward.

I’ll head for the engine. Anyone on the train who tries to stop us… ”

“ Combat fucking mentality .” She supplied with a grin.

“Exactly.” He steered through a crowd of people struggling to control a huge “Lotti the Ocelot” shaped balloon in the icy wind. The large form of the cereal mascot looming overhead like a smiling, brightly-colored god. “Anyone in one of those power-suits, leave to me.”

She remembered the devastation just two of those men had caused at the hospital, and what killing one of them had done to Oz. He had used so much of his powers saving her, that it had almost knocked him out and made him crazy. “We might not make it through this, you know.” She warned.

“I’ve spent my whole life dying. I have no intention of continuing that today.” He tore through the intersection, racing towards the gingerbread train. “Today… I’m going to fucking live .”

The Agletarians on the train recognized the threat, and it instantly increased in speed, trying to make it to its destination.

Ahead of the train, the empowered children from the Horizon’s Academy scattered as the floats crashed into their marching formation.

Men inside the floats ran out and started to grab the kids.

Mull swore, recognizing that this was about to get bad.

Oz pulled up next to the caboose and she jumped off the bike, grabbing ahold of the railing and pulling herself onto the train.

“Be careful!” She yelled after him as he accelerated towards the engine.

She turned to face the first wave of Agletarians, as the soldiers moved to stop her.

The men were dressed in colorful gingerbread themed costumes, which made fighting them a unique and utterly enjoyable experience. Mull always liked it when bad guys were visually interesting. There was nothing worse than being bored during a fight.

She ducked to the side as one of the soldiers swung at her, then punched him in the face.

The man staggered back on the roof of the moving train, and she kicked him in the side of the knee, then broke his neck.

The man’s body slid from the train and went sprawling into the crowd of surprised parade watchers, who vainly tried to scatter away before the dead gingerbread man fell on top of them.

It was a tie.

Damn.

Wyatt was going to be pissed about that.

Another soldier appeared in front of her, bringing an automatic weapon to bear. Mull didn’t even have time to think before he opened fire, and she braced herself for the wounds… But the bullets simply bounced off her.

She grinned, recognizing what her powers were today.

Her weird glitchy “bones vanishing” power was of limited use, but it was so broken that it gave her access to… well… everything.

Every power she’d ever had.

All at once.

Today was going to be fun.

She reached out with one of her powers and used telekinesis to toss the soldier from the train and into the wall of a nearby building, shattering every bone in his body.

The train came to a crashing halt, no doubt from Oz somehow taking out its engine. The cars behind it crashed into the back of the tender, jackknifing .

The caboose she was standing on rolled to a stop next to the engine, which Oz was standing in front of like an unmovable barrier, protecting the city. Behind him, the students raced for cover.

“Consortium of Chaos, here to make an arrest!” He announced in a stern and commanding heroic tone, which made her insides melt. “ Throw up your hands and deactivate your weapons! ”

The crowd of parade onlookers and the children from the Horizons Academy continued to flee the scene, running in all directions.

A man exited the cabin of the train engine, laughing.

“You’re out of your league.” General Skrlj warned him, ponytail blowing in the wind. “You really…” He trailed off, noticing Oz’s fox hunting attire. “The fuck are you wearing?” He sounded confused and vaguely disgusted.

“It’s a complicated story with no bearing on this conflict.” Oz assured him, straightening his jacket with as much dignity as he could muster.

Skrlj blinked several times, processing that, then returned to his original thought. “You really think I would come all this way, to kill the people responsible for my father’s death, and I wouldn’t have every eventuality covered?”

Oz didn’t budge. “I’m going to tell you one more time to surrender peacefully, or I will be forced to take action.”

The side of the float next to them opened and a dozen soldiers in high-tech armor leapt out.

Fifty men in the crowd of parade onlookers suddenly stopped their panicked flight and pulled out weapons, leveling them at Oz and Natalie.

“So make your move.” Skrlj taunted.

Oz and Natalie exchanged glances, recognizing that it was a bad situation. Luckily, she had no doubt they could handle it.

She dropped her hand to her waist and subtly held up three fingers, as a countdown for Oz to coordinate their attack, then two…

She didn’t reach one.

****

In the Agletarian’s base, Poacher was stalking back through the control room, blood dripping from his skin. Which was fine. Because it wasn’t his. It wasn’t his blood or his skin.

He’d worked his way through the Agletarian forces until he’d found the cells where the prisoners were being kept, and made sure all of the kidnapped people were safe. Now, he was backtracking to deal with someone.

Amy and Emily watched him go by, looking amazed by something.

“Wow.”Emily breathed.“Now that’s …”

“…a fucking man .” Amy finished for her.

Emily pointed at him, looking thrilled. “What’d I say, huh!

?! What’d I say!?! ” She gestured at him emphatically.

“‘Can only hold out for 36 hours,’ HA! That’s some motherfucking Terminator shit, right there!

And not that weak-ass ‘now I know why you cry’ bullshit, either.

I’m talking full-on, old-school ‘shootin’ up police stations and killing Michael Biehn’ Terminator shit!

He’ll be fucking back !” She pumped her fist. “ Yeah! SHIT YEAH! ”

Amy looked less excited, her pretty face now contorted in concern. “Are you okay, dear?” She asked him softly, reaching out to touch his arm.

Poacher rounded on her, not expecting to be touched, baring his dragon teeth.

Amy pulled back. Emily’s smile faded and she stepped forward to protect her twin.

Poacher swore at himself, and ripped the bracelet of dragon skin from his wrist and tossed it away. The fucking thing was a nightmare to control. He didn’t like it. It made him want to hurt everything and everyone.

He opened his mouth to apologize to her, but recognized that there was nothing to say. He simply wasn’t the kind of man who should be around nice people.

Amy took his silent attempt at an apology as an apology, and nodded at him in acceptance, smiling.

But Emily stayed where she was.

Poacher kept walking.

Sprawled in the corner of the room was the man he was here to see. The Agletarians’ alien friend.