Two streaks of black smoke and debris exploded from the roof of the warehouse, hurtling into the air and swirling around one another. One darted in close to the other as it spun out of the way. They rose higher and higher into the sky, weaving a coiling trail until they reached the clouds. They collided - a flicker of light and a crack of sound broke a brief silence, and the dust was blown away. Sonya’s fist ground against a cushion of concentrated wind as she leaned forward, grinning ear-to-ear. First Wind sneered back at her, his wild eyes glowing with fury.

“You aren’t here for Chernovna, are you?” he asked with a chuckle.

Sonya’s smile widened behind her helmet. “Oh? What gave you that idea?”

She felt something quickly enter the range of her senses from down below, and she pirouetted, spinning past him, her back against his for a moment before she threw her head back to crack her helmet against his skull. He dove away, and she turned, pointing a finger down and releasing a staccato pulse of rays of light. They smashed the boulders he’d brought up to hit her with, and he laughed as he drew back, raising his hands higher into the air. The debris kept moving, and she cocked an eyebrow.

The smaller the debris, the harder they are to hit, and the more he has to use, she thought as her sister’s presence rose up in the back of her mind. Time to turn this into an entrance.

I’m with you. Two for two, little sister.

Damn right, Sonya thought and rose up higher. She spread her glowing wings wide and cast her gaze over everything, the pink ring forming just beneath the rippling cloud layer. First Wind lowered his hands and cocked his head to the right. He shoved his hands into his pockets and floated, tons of rocks and debris levitating around him, each of them moving in different directions. He was showing off. Sonya sneered. Two can play at that game, little man, she thought as the fighting across the city slowed for just a moment.

”Hit that music, Amos.”

”Hahaha! Have fun, boss!”

Sonya broadcast her altered voice for all to hear. Her arms spread, portals forming in the sky, her Legionnaires swarming out in a cloud of wings, marble, and golden blades. “KNEEL!” she commanded. “WEEP!” she roared. “PRAY FOR MERCY, LITTLE HEROES!” An electric guitar rumbled across the city, and she conjured up panels of hard light, letting it all hang out and creating a grand throne in the sky. She folded her wings, sat down, and crossed her legs. “ISHTAR IS HERE!”

She raised a clawed finger and pointed at First Wind. “Kill him.”

“AS DECREED!” The Legion shouted as one, and like a host of angels, they descended, weapons at the ready. Two dozen armed statues swarmed towards First Wind while she conjured spears of light. She had no intention of giving him a moment to breathe. She would frustrate, infuriate, and torment him until he made mistake after mistake. Pressure him until he crumbled in her grasp. For all the people you’ve killed, in this timeline and the last. For all the horrors you’ve committed. For that timeline’s Japan that you wiped off the face of the Earth. For Sapporo, for Blight, and for all my friends in the resistance. Today is the day the Peerless Herald falls!

She raised her head high as he clapped his fist into his palm and popped his neck. “You wanted that rematch so badly, First Wind? Earn it!”

–

He narrowed his eyes as the swarm of statues came charging down at him. He glanced briefly up at the sky and could feel something from that pink ring she liked to form when she made her appearances. Showboating little… He growled as they drew closer. It looks like some kind of eye. Ocular power? I should assume that she can see anything it can. In that case, there's no reason in playing nice anymore. He whipped his chin to the right, hands still in his pockets, and sent the debris he’d collected in her soldier’s direction like a shotgun spray.

Material accelerated in an instant, one of the soldiers’ heads was punctured instantly, and it fell from the sky. Another lost a wing, while another’s arm and shoulder were completely blown off. He grinned. They’re a bit tougher than the first time, he thought as the first one got close enough to strike him. He darted out of the way and snapped out a lazy kick with his sandaled foot, a blade of wind cleaving it in half. He ducked beneath another swing that would have taken his head off and shouldered a blast of wind up into it. You’re going to have to do a lot better than-

He saw the flicker of light just as a spear shot through where he’d just been standing. Two flying statues charged up at him from below, looking to stab him through the heart. He threw himself backwards, two more spears of light crossing through his after-image, and he went into a spin, wrapping wind around himself like a corkscrew. Each layer grew thinner and thinner before he released an omnidirectional wave of razorwind. More marble fell from the sky, some of them surviving by using their fellows as shields.

He glanced up at Ishtar. “Not even good enough to get my hands out of my pockets!” he shouted at her.

The Supervillian tittered out a girlish laugh. “Oh? Is that so? Should I call in some more?”

He narrowed his eyes. “More?”

A wave of lines of light stretched out behind her, dozens, well over a hundred of them. She snapped her fingers, and they opened all at the same time, more and more of the damn things swooping down towards him. A cloud of marble and gold raced down in his direction, and his eye twitched as he pulled his head back from another spear strike. Those are getting annoying, he thought as he focused, clenching his fists in his pockets. Above him, the clouds churned. Before him, her army charged. He opened his mouth in a roar. “STOP PLAYING!” he bellowed.

A tornado came down like a whip rather than a solid wall of wind. He turned his head and ripped it across the front line of her force, obliterating dozens as more poured through. Glints of gold interspersed with pale, white light. His eyes widened. Those plants from last time! He kicked off the air and flew backwards, pulling a hand out as one of the statues tried to get close with what looked like a big flower. His instincts screamed danger, and he clenched his fist, increasing the air pressure around the statue’s entire surface area. It crumpled into powder, the flower disintegrating with it.

Throw all the numbers at me that you want, he thought. My control is better, my precision is superior, my power is everywhere!

The air shifted behind him, and he turned around in an instant, a wall of wind blocking as Ishtar swung at him with a laugh. “Surprise!”

she chortled, her armored fist pushing through his defense. He pulled his other hand out of his pocket and clenched his teeth. She’s physically strong too! Her claws reached for him, and he snarled, grabbing hold of the crumbling bits of marble and launching them in her direction. Bullets of white stone rose from the ground and hurtled at her from all angles.

She pulled away and crossed her arms, her wings wrapping around her. His attacks bounced off as he got some distance, speeding up faster and faster. He needed to get rid of the soldiers; they just kept coming. One of the flower bearers darted towards him, and he whipped his hand towards it, cutting it and several others behind it in half. “Fucking pests!” he barked and rose higher towards the sky. The air shifted to his left, and he tore it apart, the portal that had nearly formed closing. You can’t sneak up on me! He raged, nearly at the eye. He blasted through it and into the clouds before raising his hands up.

“DIE!”

–

He adapts quickly, Ishtar said. Well within expectations, though. The legion was not enough to handle him. Shame we used up so much of our build-up.

Sonya shrugged. I can always make more when I have some time.

She floated in the air and raised a hand, sweeping it to the right. She was about to dismiss them when thunder rumbled overhead. Rain began to fall with it, a steady downpour that doused her in a matter of seconds. Her eyes narrowed. Lightning bolt. He should figure I know-

A crackle of electricity raced across the clouds towards where he had entered them, then another, then another, drawing together as the static electricity in the air built and built and built. Her eyes widened. Oh, he’s gotten way better! she thought, and with a quick mental command, called her legion towards her. One bolt of lightning launched in her direction after another, a rapid-fire series of claps of thunder. She threw up a barrier of hard light as the first one struck, her legion moving in the way of the rest. She felt them get pulverized before sensing him break the sound barrier and charge at her, eyes wide with fury.

She dipped low beneath his fist, and he snapped around in an instant, his reflexes as fast as hers. His hand reached for her helmet, and she snapped a kick towards his chest only to get blown back. She flew several hundred feet, and she heard him break the sound barrier again; he was picking up speed. Yes, he’s definitely at the level he was at in the past, maybe even past it. He was in her face again, rings of razor-sharp wind driving down towards her. She coated herself in hard light and blocked as he drove his fists and winds down on her.

BOOM!

She hit the ground, crashing through the roof of a car and cutting it in half with the force. She coughed, a bit of blood splattering the interior of her helmet as she opened a portal and fell through it, reappearing a few feet away only for more blades of wind to come at her from above. She whipped her hand to the right and dispersed them with sheer force, throwing her superhuman strength into the blow. He was on her again before she completed the movement, and she ducked. He came in high with a fist, and she snapped up with her own. Instead of meeting her fist, though, his knee rose to meet her helmet.

Sonya was knocked off her feet again, and she caught herself in the air as he laughed. “This is what real talent looks like, Ishtar! You’re nothing!”

She grinned. “So you say, but I’ve still got plenty of tricks, little Luca,” she snickered. “Did you enjoy seeing Blight again, by the way? I happened to like that guy.”

He frowned and tilted his head to the right. “Did you turn him into that freak?”

She spread her will around her, preparing to activate Augment Reality. Let’s test how good your senses are, she thought. “Freak? That’s a bit rude. I was very proud of my work on him. You know how long it took him to travel around and get all those testimonies?” First Wind’s eyes narrowed, and she laughed. “A few days!”

He appeared in front of her, and she vanished from sight, copies of her appearing everywhere. He spun around, looking at them all as they pointed, laughed, made rude gestures, and taunted him. He closed his eyes, and a single stone struck her helmet. Her head whipped back, and she looked up at the sky with a roll of her eyes. He was above her, fist raised. “I can feel air currents, you bitch! Illusions don’t WORK!”

She snapped her hand out as his fist fell, and she pulled his wrist, flipping up and over him as he whirled to defend. Her heel came down with a crack of sound, and he hit the earth, the impact so fast he didn’t have enough time to form a thick enough cushion of air. He coughed, and she dove at him, a knife of light appearing in her hand. His eyes widened, and his hands snapped up, wind catching the semi-physical object and holding her arm in place. The tip grazed his throat. She willed the blade to extend, and he rolled out of the way as she landed on her feet and slowly turned her head in his direction.

He grabbed at his neck, his eyes fixed on her, his breath coming in fast and hard. She blasted towards him. “Don’t slow down now!” she bellowed. “WE’RE JUST GETTING STARTED!”

–

For the first time in First Wind’s life since the day of the flash, he felt the burn outside of training. Every day he had spent working harder and harder to hone his ability to something perfect had been for moments like this: a real challenge. He felt her grab onto his torn shirt as she collided with him, carrying him through the air. The shock of his blood being drawn for the first time wore off, and he growled, grabbing hold of her breastplate and grinding it down with wind like sandpaper. I’ll rip your fucking body to pieces! He raged as they accelerated. The wind picked up, and he felt it, the direction she was taking him.

His nostrils flared, and he drove a knee up, striking her armor and gritting his teeth. She spun him once, centrifugal force throwing his sense of direction off for a heartbeat before she threw him to the ground. He caught himself and looked up, scowling at the floating irritant, then he looked around. Eyes were on him. So many eyes. Heroes stared him down, many of them injured and tired but still with a fierceness in their gazes that made him… uncomfortable. He clenched his jaw. She’s playing mind games.

“Well?” he demanded to the heroes. “Are any of you brave enough to be the first cloud of red mist I make today?” He rolled his shoulders and turned to look up at the biggest thing in the area - a twenty-story-tall robot that had stilled its attacks against the heroes as everyone stared. “What about you? Going to back up your boss?”

It looked like something out of an anime, like a model kit made real. Yet despite its rigid shape, it actually started to shake its shoulders with laughter. It raised a massive hand and wagged a finger left and right. “N O P E!”

“It’s just you and me, boy,” Ishtar said from above. “I just wanted the heroes to get one last look at you before we moved on to the next phase of our fight.” She tittered out a laugh. “Also, I really wanted to show off a bit!”

First Wind snarled. “You’re using me as a set piece?” he demanded. “I’m the strongest thing you’ve ever fought! Don’t underestimate me!”

“I’m not, that’s the point,” Ishtar said lazily as the heroes rallied. He spotted some of the brats from the Dharan winners group face him as Ishtar held her hands out to her sides and tilted her chin up. “Allow me to introduce you all, since I have such a big audience! Take a good look at what you’re up against!”

He felt it then, that feeling all Mythics had when power surged.

“Arthur had Excalibur! Thor had Mjolnir! The Reaper has his Scythe! As for me?” A curved knife appeared in one hand and a gun in the other, both made of gleaming off-white metal that glowed, pale light rippling off of them in waves. “I have Verdict and Volition!”