“And they will burn in Hell for it!” Convert snapped.

“Women will burn in hell for having butts?”

Convert spluttered. “You,” he snarled, “need to close your mouth and open your ears and mind. Understood?”

Nathan said nothing.

“Well?” Convert demanded. “Do you understand?”

“I’m sorry,” Nathan said. “You said to close my mouth. But while I’m at it, I have a question.”

Convert glared. “What?”

“So you said that using superpowers is witchcraft. Correct?”

“Of course.”

“But you have the power to zap people and are using it.”

“My power was given to me by The Lord, not foul demons.”

“Okay,” Nathan said. “But you’re using it to harm people. Which is the Devil’s work.” Was he saying that right? He really didn’t get Christian ideas sometimes.

“I am not harming people. I am guiding them to the light.”

Nathan raised both eyebrows this time. “So then how do you know that other people with powers weren’t granted the power by a divine source rather than an infernal one?”

“Because they are using them for ungodly purposes.”

“Like kidnapping, assault, battery, and torture?”

Convert huffed. “Nothing done in the name of The Lord is infernal!”

Nathan took a deep breath. “Funny. I thought there was a commandment, like the third, about not taking His name in vain. Not just about swearing, you know. His names are sacred. Doing a bad deed in His name is to take his name in vain, to make it an empty promise of righteousness. And it’s said that the devil can quote scripture.”

Convert opened his mouth to respond, but he shut it when a cat’s meow echoed around the alleyway. He looked around in confusion. Nathan did as well. There wasn’t a cat there – in fact, there was nothing except for him and Convert. A few moments later, the meow was followed by a dog’s bark, and then the alley fell silent.

“Well,” Convert said, turning back around, “I suppose we should begin.” He snapped the bible open. “Leviticus 18:22…” he announced with precise syllables.

Vayikra, also known as Torat Kohanim, the Law of Priests. Even the English name reflected that. “You mean the book that tells Levite priests how to achieve purity for rituals and has no bearing on anyone else’s conduct?” Sure, not all of it was specifically directed at the priests, but that would lead to an argument and that would be a delay.

Convert lowered his bible and once more tried to speak, but instead a woman’s voice spoke. “Why?” it asked, broken and raspy.

This time, Convert jumped. “Show yourself!” he demanded. There was no one there.

“Why did you do this?” the woman asked.

Convert whipped around. “Are you hearing this?”

“Hearing what?” Nathan asked. Sure, Convert could be referring to the voice, but then he could also be talking about something else. Even if what he was talking about seemed very obvious. Nathan didn’t know everything and should take the position that he could be wrong.

“The woman from last night!” Convert said. Blythe Martins?

“They are coming,” Blythe said.

A deeper voice, precise in its pronunciation, spoke up. “You’ve been quite naughty, haven’t you? Hurting the innocent in your own self-righteousness.”

Convert looked around, truly terrified. Honestly, Nathan was right there with him.

“We are coming,” a multitude of voices whispered.

“Hating others because you hate yourself. Quite pathetic, really,” the deeper voice continued.

“We are coming,” the multitude said, louder this time.

“I think you truly belong with us,” the deeper voice continued. “Prepare yourself.”

“We are coming.” Now it wasn’t so much a whisper as a spoken chorus, rising in volume. “We are coming. We are coming. WE ARE COMING.”

After the final repetition, a scream that made his armor rattle, the alley fell silent. Nathan gasped for breath, the sound ridiculously loud to his ears. What was going on?

Fire erupted from the ground, forming into a hand that groped along the pavement. Another sprung up, and another, blindly searching. Convert backed away until he hit a wall, mouth open and shaking his head.

“We are here,” the multitude whispered.

A hand of fire came out of the wall beside Convert’s head and he scrambled back with a shriek. He made a run for the alley’s entrance, but a wall of fire sprung up, cutting off his escape. Convert fell to his knees, praying fervently.

Whatever was going on, Nathan wanted no part of it. He struggled against the ropes, and did they feel a little looser than before? He glanced up. Fire was eating through the rope holding his left arm in place. It was doing the same on the other side. Further up, he saw two silhouettes standing at the top of the building. As he watched, they dropped down.

One was blue. The other was on fire.

Nathan felt his whole body sag with relief. That was a little strange, considering he was now faced with two more supervillains, but he’d take whatever backup he could get. At least they’d never tied him up before.

The ropes holding him snapped free and Nathan swapped his pulse gun out for his taser. He pointed it at the back of Convert’s neck. “You’re under arrest,” he said. “You can come with me or you can go with them.”

Convert looked up, desperation on every line of his face… and then he looked over at Echo and Couronne and the spell was broken. “YOU!” he roared, pointing a finger at Echo. Lightning flashed between the two. Echo, seemingly unaffected, gave an exaggerated shrug.

“I think that’s enough,” Nathan said, and hit Convert with the taser. It sparked, but nothing happened. Great: someone with immunity to electricity. He should have foreseen that, given that Convert was on the other end of his zaps.

Convert turned to point at Nathan. Before he could do anything, though, Convert’s sleeve caught fire. He yelped and tried to smother it against his robes. By the time he managed it, Echo was behind him, their arms around his neck. Convert struggled for a few moments, but then went limp. Echo guided him to the ground, pulling a syringe out of their armor. They quickly pulled out two vials, extracting liquid with a practiced hand, and jabbed it into Convert’s neck just as he began to wake up.

“You know that’s illegal, right?” Nathan asked. “And also extremely dangerous?”

Echo shrugged, holding Convert down as he struggled. They turned to Couronne, and gestured toward the camera. Right, that was still running. Convert was babbling about the End Days and exactly how tortured all of them would be by his all-loving deity, but Nathan tuned him out. His heart was still pounding, and his clothes were damp and sticking to him. The suit was so hot and his knees felt weak. Only the suit was keeping him upright. He really needed to get to a doctor as soon as he could. Angelica was going to make him stay in the hospital for a month, he just knew it.

As soon as Couronne managed to turn off the camera, or at least turn off the red light, Nathan’s knees buckled. He held out his hand until he felt the wall, and slowly eased himself to the ground.

Convert finally passed out, or at least he stopped talking. Nathan was guessing the former, since he suspected only unconsciousness could make Convert shut up. Echo felt for a pulse and must have been satisfied, because they stood up and looked hard at Nathan. They pointed at him and then crossed their fingers in a t shape. Nathan frowned. Were they trying to ask if he was Christian? After a moment, they drew the infinity symbol in the air. Scope’s emblem. Oh, that first one was meant to be the first aid symbol. “I’m fine,” he said. He could hear the exhaustion even through the voice modulator. “Get him dealt with first,” Nathan said. “If he gets loose, he’ll hurt more people. Take him to the dropoff point. You know where it is.” They did know, right? He couldn’t think very well. Yeah, they’d brought in villains before, and it hadn’t changed.