The fire roared around them, casting long shadows that danced like dying things. The ruins of the bunker stretched in every direction, a graveyard of steel and concrete waiting for more bodies to bury.
Eva's voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
"Dibs on Superior-1."
And then she was gone.
Superior-1 didn't move. Didn't flinch. Didn't even turn his head. He simply raised one arm, and when Eva's fist materialized from the space where his skull had been a moment before, his palm was already there to meet it.
*BOOM. *
The impact sent shockwaves rippling outward, flattening what remained of the nearest walls. Eva hung in the air for a frozen moment, her fist pressed against his palm, her body suspended by the force of her own attack.
Then she dropped, landing in a crouch, and looked up at him.
She was smiling.
Not her smile. Not the controlled expression of the leader, the protector, the sister. This was something else—wide and wild and utterly, terrifyingly happy. Her eyes, those mercury-sheen eyes, gleamed with anticipation.
"This is going to be good," she breathed.
Behind her, Wolfen's voice rang out, dripping with theatrical frustration:
"That's cheating! I wanted him!" He threw his hands up, his golden eyes fixed on Eva's back with genuine indignation. "Can't even have any good opponents these days. It's always 'Wolfen you're too strong' or 'Wolfen please stop burning everything' or—"
Superior-2 appeared beside him, her arm extended, a long blade of condensed energy sliding from her wrist like a second bone. It hummed with power, aimed directly at his throat.
Wolfen didn't even look. Umbralite flowed from his palm, forming his signature scythe in an instant. He brought it up, blocking the strike with a CLANG that sent sparks flying.
"—'Wolfen don't eat the last ration.'" He glanced at Superior-2, his expression shifting from frustration to mild interest. "Nevermind. You'll do."
They clashed again, blade against blade, moving so fast they became blurs of black and grey.
---
Leo vs. Superior-3
Leo saw Superior-3 coming before he moved—the subtle shift in weight, the tension in his shoulders, the way his eyes tracked Leo's movements like a predator sizing up prey.
When the attack came, Leo was ready.
Lightning erupted from his fists, meeting Superior-3's charge head-on. The impact sent them both skidding back, trenches gouged in the burning ground by their heels.
Superior-3 straightened, his grey mask revealing nothing, but his posture said everything. Respect. Interest. The particular focus of someone who had finally found a challenge worth his time.
Leo cracked his neck, electricity dancing across his biopolymer filaments. "You know," he said, "I've been wanting to hit something important for days. Thanks for volunteering."
Superior-3 didn't respond with words. He responded with speed.
They met in the middle, and the real fight began.
---
Derek vs. Superior-5
There was no finesse here. No dance, no strategy, no subtlety.
Derek and Superior-5 stood ten feet apart, staring at each other across the burning rubble. They were the same kind of fighter—the kind who solved problems by hitting them until they stopped being problems.
Superior-5 moved first.
Derek met him halfway.
Their fists collided with a sound like mountains breaking. The shockwave cratered the ground beneath them, sending chunks of concrete flying in every direction. Neither gave ground. Neither flinched.
Superior-5's masked face was inches from Derek's stone-hardened one. Behind that grey surface, something that might have been a smile was forming.
"Finally," he growled, his voice distorted by the modulator. "Someone who hits back."
Derek's lips pulled back from his teeth in something that wasn't quite a smile.
"You haven't seen anything yet."
They swung again.
---
Superior-4 and the Empty Space
Superior-4 stood apart from the chaos, her grey mask tilted, her posture relaxed. Around her, the battle raged—fire and lightning and stone and steel—but she paid it no attention.
Her eyes were fixed on the shadows.
On the space where Jordan should have been.
She waited. Patient. Watching.
He was there. She could feel him—that analytical presence, that calculated precision, the weight of a mind that never stopped processing. He was watching her too. Waiting for the perfect moment.
A smile curved behind her mask.
Come on, she thought. Show me what you've learned.
But she didn't move. Didn't attack. Didn't give him the opening he was waiting for.
Because she wasn't here for him. Not yet.
She was here to see if he was worth her time.
---
Prime 10
In the center of the chaos, untouched by flame or fury, Prime 10 stood motionless.
Her dark grey mask gave nothing away. Her posture was relaxed, almost casual. The battle raged around her—Superiors clashing with anomalies, fire consuming everything, the very air thick with violence—and she simply... watched.
Her eyes moved slowly, tracking each engagement. Eva and Superior-1, trading blows so fast they were barely visible. Wolfen and Superior-2, their weapons singing their song of death. Leo and Superior-3, lightning meeting shadow. Derek and Superior-5, two mountains trying to move each other.
And Superior-4, waiting.
She was assessing. Learning. Cataloging weaknesses and strengths, patterns and tells.
When she moved—if she moved—it would be with purpose. With certainty. With the absolute knowledge that her intervention would end this.
But not yet.
For now, she watched.
And the battle raged on.