Captain Infinite landed between them and the man in the suit with enough force to crack the pavement.  Adam blinked away the dust and dirt kicked up by the shock wave.

    “Not very friendly,” Cap said to the man in the suit, “pointing guns at unarmed people.”

    The man lowered his gun.  “Not much use for a gun against somebody who’s bulletproof.  I know who you are – aren’t you slumming it here?  Do you enjoy bullying less powerful people than yourself?”

    “I’m not the one about to murder two people,” Cap stated.  “But, if you walk away, we can forget any of this ever happened.”

    “Now there’s the problem,” the man in the suit said.  “My associates have to deal with a god walking among men.  There is no world in which that is a fair fight.  There are few things I can stomach less than an unfair fight.  So, we need more allies to make it a fair fight.  And are you really going to try to convince me that these two are unarmed?  They’ll shoot me the minute my back is turned.”

    “But we are unarmed!” Adam declared.  He heard footsteps behind him.  He looked back to see Atria come into the alleyway, navy blue double-breasted overcoat open and duffel bag in hand.  “Atria, tell him we’re unarmed!”

    “Who’s he?” Atria said.

    “We don’t know,” Stella said.  “But he won’t believe anything we say.”

    Atria gave Stella’s shoulder a squeeze, and then turned to the man in the suit.  “I am Major Atria Silversword,” she said.  “I am in command of this mission.  My two friends here are solely acting in the role of negotiators.  They have been issued no weapons, and they are unarmed.  You have my word as an officer that they are noncombatants.  Will you permit them to leave?”

    “How gullible do you people think I am?” the man in the suit said with a smirk.  “Do you think this is the first time I’ve been fed that line?  There are no noncombatants here.  And this advantage you think you have will be short lived – my associates will be arriving shortly.  In fact, here is one now.”

    “Anime girl!” Adam heard a voice call out.  He spun to see Jenny Calhoun saunter into the alley, drawing her knives and grinning at Atria.  “Nice clothes.  I like the coat.”

    “You handle whoever this is,” Atria told Cap.  “I’ll deal with Jenny.”  She turned to face Jenny.  “There’s no need to fight.  Your creator is on our side, and she is very worried about you.  If you stand down and come with us, we’ll take you to meet her.”

    Adam saw a flash of hatred in Jenny’s eyes.  “She’s very worried about me?” Jenny spat.  “That’s rich.  A pity she didn’t feel that way while she was killing everyone I cared about.”

    Adam glanced at Atria, who had slipped her free hand into her duffel bag.  “If you’re willing to hear her out, I’m sure she can explain everything to you to your satisfaction,” Atria said.  “I know it doesn’t feel that way now, but talking to your creator helps.  Trust me, I’ve been where you are now.”

    “I’d rather get stabby,” Jenny said, brandishing her knives.  “And this time I’m not hesitating, anime girl.”  And then she leapt forward.

Inside the duffel bag, Atria’s hand tightened on the hilt of her sabre.

    “I’d rather get stabby,” Jenny said.  “And this time I’m not hesitating, anime girl.”

    In a smooth motion, Atria threw the bag and scabbard inside at Jenny as she rushed forward, freeing her sword at the same time and slipping into a combat stance.  Jenny parried the bag, sending it flying, and Atria attacked with a flurry of blows.  Jenny blocked each one, her blades flashing.  With a dodge of Atria’s sabre thrust, the two separated.

    “No gun this time?” Jenny asked with a smirk.  “Lost it, did you?”

    “You talk too much,” Atria said, evaluating her opponent with a glance.  Jenny was still untrained and wild, and based on their last encounter, became more uncontrolled the longer the fight went on.  She was also arrogant once the fight began.  Both were weaknesses that could be exploited.  But first, Atria needed to push her.

    She went in for another pass.  Their blades flashed, every attack parried, every counter-attack blocked.  A punch with Atria’s sabre hilt connected, stunning Jenny and driving her back.  Jenny wiped a bit of blood from her lip.  A plan began to form in Atria’s mind.  Jenny’s eyes became more wild, even hungry-looking.  Atria allowed herself an inner smile.  This could work.  She just needed Jenny to go on the offensive again.

    Atria slid back into a defensive stance, sabre out.

    “You really have no idea of who you’re fighting,” Jenny said.  “This won’t save you.”

    “You really do talk too much,” Atria replied.  “A real soldier just gets the job done.”

    “I’ll show you a ‘real soldier’!” Jenny snarled, pressing an attack.  Atria parried and hit her antigrav, rising twenty feet into the air with a wall behind her.  Jenny braced herself against the opposite alley wall and launched herself.  As she did, Atria dodged and swung as Jenny flew past.  She felt her blade connect with something, but there wasn’t enough resistance for it to be a deep cut.  She heard Jenny grunt in pain as she hit the wall.

    Atria turned just in time to see Jenny launch herself back towards her.  The impact drove both of them into the ground, with Jenny on top using Atria to break her fall against the pavement.  Atria gasped as the wind was knocked out of her.  Jenny brandished her knives.

    “It was a nice try,” Jenny said.  “But you really are too slow, anime girl.”

    And then she heard the gunshot.

“Quite a conundrum,” Adam heard the man in the suit say to Captain Infinite as Atria and Jenny fought.  “You are known in my world, superhero.  You could end the fight between our associates in less time than I could blink, but your friends still wouldn’t be able to draw their guns before I killed them.”

    “Just let them leave,” Cap said.

    “I haven’t lived this long by allowing people to shoot me in the back,” the man in the suit said.  “Threats get neutralized as soon as they are identified.  That is how it works.”

    “Will you at least give me your name?” Cap asked.

    The man smiled and shook his head.  “Against a god among men, a mere mortal requires every advantage he can get, wouldn’t you agree?  Speaking of advantages, I believe you have met my other associate.”

    Adam looked around, and then up.  Gliding to the ground behind Cap was the tall thief with the horns, the orb floating behind him.  As he descended, he raised his hand.  The masonry around them began to shake.

    “And now the fight is fair,” the man in the suit stated.

    “Adam, Stella,” Cap said quietly.  “I’m sorry.  As soon as you can run, run.”  He shot into the air, striking towards the thief with the orb.  With a crash they collided.  The masonry became still.

    The man in the suit smiled, and retrained his gun at them.  “Now, before we were so rudely interrupted, I believe you were going to try to draw your weapons before I shot you.  Shall we resume?”

    “You really have no idea of who you’re fighting,” Adam heard Jenny say.  “This won’t save you.”

    “You really do talk too much,” came Atria’s reply.  “A real soldier just gets the job done.”

    “I’ll show you a ‘real soldier’!” he heard Jenny declare.

    Stella held our her hands.  “Listen to me!” she said.  “We’re going to try to get everybody home!  That includes you!  Just let us help you, and we can send you home!”

    Adam saw the expression harden in the man’s eyes.  Adam’s body started moving on its own, pushing in front of Stella.

    “I am never going back to that hell world,” the man said.  “Anybody who tries to send me back will die.”  The world slowed to a crawl.  The man in the suit pulled the trigger.

    Adam felt the impact in the centre of his chest, but no pain.  The force of the bullet pressed him against Stella before he collapsed to the ground.  He heard Stella scream his name, but it sounded very far away.  His entire chest felt numb.

    As though in a dream, he looked around.  Daiki Yamato was nowhere to be seen.  Cap glanced at him in alarm, and then let loose with his laser eyes, a blinding light burning a line deep into the pavement and creating a wall of fire between him and the man in the suit.  Another blast of light drove away Jenny Calhoun and the tall man with the horns and the orb.  Stella was crying for help above him.  Atria ran towards them, barking something into her phone.

    Darkness embraced him.

NEXT: “Consequences”