I stand on the ramp, the glare from the lights blinding me. They flash red for blood, 

yellow for caution, then green. Green for grass, green for go. The ramp drops open with an oiled whir, and wind whips up at me as I stare at the ground far below. Go, go, go, time to go, no time to waste; they’re waiting, down below. I take a deep breath and leap into the void, trusting my body to the winds. To the Suit.  

I plummet downwards, the wind whistling past my helmet and whirring around its edges. My eyes fix on the figures below me. Honestly, how could they not? They’re wearing the gaudiest, most ostentatious costumes. They’re all color coded, all primaries and contrasts. Form-fitting bodysuits, emphasizing muscles that you couldn’t help but notice anyway. Their figures get closer, closer, until I can see them almost at real size. They’re walking in a V, like they’re supposed to, their leader at the front and one member trailing behind.

<0.1 seconds elapsed. slow your descent> 

Thanks, GrAI, you’re an asshole. I know I’m falling fast, and I don’t care. Doesn’t matter. Their leader seems to sense something’s wrong, seems to almost feel my presence- then a crash, a shockwave, and I’m right in front of them. The crater I made is the size of a car, and they almost seem confused. 

<0.5 seconds elapsed> 

GrAI, leave me alone. I don’t need to measure time. 

<no.>

 Jerk. I’d scoff, but I’m not capable right now. I get up and walk up out of the crater, and there he is- Dawnsfire, bright and orange as a bad spray tan. We’re almost close enough to touch noses, or we would be if he wasn’t freakishly tall. I stand up straight, look up to his eye, and say the spiel- 

“Dawnsfire, you and your gang are under arrest for the violation of Night’s second edict: ‘No person shall take justice upon themselves; only Night can dispense judgment.’” 

<three seconds elapsed> 

He scoffs. “You know, I’d listen, but you’re only a lackey. I only speak to people like myself, people of importance.”

“Must make for some boring conversations.”

He seems confused by that one. Got him. He quickly wipes the look from his face, and checks over his shoulders at his minions. They’re all ridiculous. So confident, so arrogant, all except one. He’s less muscular than the rest, less brightly colored, and he looks scared. I recognize him- he’s seen my work before. He knows what’s coming, and so he hesitates when Dawn’s hand twitches, signaling the time to move. Like that, his lackeys surround me, a pentagon around my crater. Like their numbers make a difference. 

<ten seconds elapsed>

The scrawny one is the first to go. A twist, then a sickly crunch; he drops in less than a second before me, neck snapped clean. I feel a little bad to see him die, but he seems to smile as the void takes him. Looks like the poor kid was just following. I smile sadly. At least he doesn’t have to see the next part. 

<focus> 

I shake my head, as if that’d rid me of GrAI. Dawn seems to take a second to process my movement, ‘cause it’s been less than two seconds since they formed up, and one’s dead. The weakest, yes, but still. At another twitch, they all deploy, and I’m sure it’d shock me if I weren’t used to the sight already. Four Heroes in the throes of their power, and they’re all beautiful and deadly. Dawn himself glows like a bonfire, and that’s just the beginning of him, I’m sure. He sends one of them after me, a simpler looking man with metal fists- weaker powers, lower standing, probably expendable. He thinks I killed the little one because he was weak. 

<cute> 

Couldn’t be more wrong. The one he sent dies fast too- hands removed, then hard impact to the face. Brain activity drops off and the Void takes him silently.

<twenty seconds> 

Slow. Too slow. I leap up the edge of the crater and take the next one- she puts up more of a fight, but she’s weak for a Hero. Class three inferno, I’d say, and she doesn’t even char my armor. Her body flies a few feet before thudding down heavily, and the void takes her too. The next two come towards me at once, and they’re both powerful. Class ones, at least, but not coordinated enough. New group, no training. They try to throw up walls and bring ‘em together to trap me, but they’re too short and too slow. I jump over one, flatten its creator and tip his wall onto the other. Two hundred kilos of solid rock- That’s five down, easy. Just me and Dawn now, and he’s sweating. He’s not used to being Deployed for this long, and it’s showing. 

Also, I killed all of his lieutenants. That’s gotta sting. 

<thirty seconds>

To his credit, it doesn’t slow him down. He sends arcs of fire towards me, and man, they’re hot. Solar flare hot, so hot they melt the rock behind me. The suit saves me, but it’s definitely taken a beating. It whines as I take my next steps. One, then another and another, faster and faster as I close the distance between us and throw a shoulder into his gut. He flies backwards into a rock and falls heavily. He’s still alive, though, his head cracked, just like the rock. Won’t be long, even if I leave him here. He’s conscious enough to look up at me questioningly. He coughs, and some blood seeps up out of his mouth.

“Who -- who are you?”

I don’t give him an answer- not my job, and he wouldn’t live to process it anyway. His head’s on the ground before the sentence is done, staring through dead eyes. 

<await extraction>

I sit down on the half-melted slab of slag and close my eyes, breathing in the sanitized air through the Suit’s filter. This place will be sanitized soon, this incident forgotten. All in the name of peace. Blood for the Void, peace from the void. That’s Night’s way. My way.