I was sitting on the couch in the main-room, with Sophia curled up next to me, and reading a paper, regarding possible gravitational interference in the red-shift of distant objects. As Sophia consumed one of her beloved evening-entertainment shows, I was trying to comprehend the theory and the underlying math behind the paper. It was either a thing of ingenious beauty or a thing of madness, maybe both. The implications could be far-reaching, at least in a specialised field of physics and could fundamentally alter our knowledge about reality. If the author was able to make more of it than a paper-plane. Without some sort of testable predictions, it was sadly only a paper on mathematical elegance, not a new, descriptive model for our reality.

I had managed to convince Sophia to at least keep up with her studies, so she could take an educational competence-test and she was doing fine, but I worried. She had yet to set a goal for herself, something other than ‘existing’ that she wanted to achieve in her life.

I was shaken out of my mathematical deliberations when Galatea flashed my glasses and Sophia shook me at the same time. Galatea had interrupted her program with a read-out of the model used to predict the Omegas’ actions. Either the model was utterly wrong or they were planning something big. Working together with Galatea, I looked over the available data and realised that there was a worrying trend happening. The Omegas had retreated over the last few days, consolidating their forces in the poorest part of town and it seemed as if Detective Kendall was planning an operation right into their heart.

It was a bold move, but the conversations our bugs had picked up indicated that the Powered wearing Omega-Colours were planning to make a stand, to give the police a black eye to buy themselves some time. The rhetoric used made me worry, them talking about frying pigs like bacon, making bets how many bastards would go to the morgue, while it was almost routine tough-talk but the models predicted a decisive move by the Omegas and my highly unscientific gut-feeling told me to worry. If it was only the gut-feeling I would seek more information, but when instinct and theoretical models were in agreement, I felt that taking action was a good choice.

Calling off the raid would be a bad idea, but what if the League had their fingers in the pie, assisting the officers?

Pulling up my contact-list, I tried to call the Shadowbroker. He had played go-between when the League had wanted something from me, so I had no doubt that the opposite should work. Sadly, I only got a mail-box, telling me that I had the wrong number, if I did not know whom I had reached and to leave a non-classified message after the beep. I asked to be called back, but looking at the timing, I had my doubts that it would be quick enough.

I had never tried to get the personal numbers of any League-member, I had Voltic’s since she had called me once, but the numbers of Skylar and the rest I had ignored as possible personal entanglement.

So, my next step was calling the League directly, they had a hotline.

“You have reached the Heroes League’s Emergency Hotline. Please specify your emergency.” a male voice greeted me.

“Greetings. This is Metis, a group of Police-Officers is about to be attacked by a mix of Powered and mundane criminals. The ambush is being set-up in the abandoned building, corner Church-Street and Lowe-Street.” I told them, using my voice-changer.

“What? Yeah, right, kid, try pulling the other one. Abuse of the Emergency-Hotline is a misdemeanor, carrying a fine. Do not prank-call again.” The voice told me in a mocking tone, before hanging up.

I was taken aback that they instantly assumed it was a prank but hoped that they would at least check if there was any veracity to my claim. Trying to find another, direct number would take time, time I was not sure I had. So, I either had to hope, or do something else.

But hoping was not my style and a quick check showed me that the police-forces had already rolled out, so intervening now, trying to call them back would either burn Detective Kendall or fail altogether.

“Sweetie, I think we need to suit up. Looks like we have to make sure that the police does not get lead-poisoned.” I told Sophia.

“Hm? Ok. So we finally can go out and do something? Sneaking around is fun and all, but I want to take my anger out on them. They’ve taken my brother, I want to take something from them. Not just watch from afar as they lose, I want to be right there, when they are losing.” Sophia said, with a vicious smile on her face.

She got up, walking towards the armoury, while I was looking at the current data, if we even had a chance. I was not sure if we could deal with the opposing Powered without hurting them, quite possibly seriously hurting or killing them but I was confident that we would manage to take them down. Taking them down while protecting the police-forces was a long shot, so most likely we would turn it from a mass police-killing to a disaster on both sides. That was fine with me.

As I suited up, I realised something else, the house was only a few minutes from Sandra’s house, so she would manage to get there, even before Anath and I. It was worth a call.

“Yes?” a wary voice greeted me, slightly thick with sleep.

“Greetings, Voltic. It is I, your old friend, Darkness.”

“Hrm? Metis? Why are you calling me?” a confused, but a lot more alert, voice asked.

“You once asked me for information on a specific Powered. I thought you might want to know that the Powered you asked about, is currently preparing an ambush for a group of police-officers. And he is not alone, he has two Powered and about twenty un-powered accomplices.” I explained.

“What?! Shit? Where?” my explanation seemed to have given her enough of a jolt to get going, so I continued, “I assume you have been briefed on the success the police-force is currently enjoying against the Omegas? Well, their Powered have been laying low but it seems that will change tonight. They are preparing to ambush the police, using the abandoned house on the corner Church-Street and Lowe-Street.”

“Shit. Ok, thanks. I’ll call in the cavalry. Hopefully, they can make it in time. Really, thanks.” with those words, she hung up. Sophia looked at me in confusion, most likely wondering why I had that number, while I continued suiting up.

If she was able to get the League in on that, Anath and I could remain in the shadows, which I preferred. But if not, I did not want to lose Detective Kendall, she was a useful chess-piece. So, I would armour up and Anath and I would get into position somewhere in the area, just in case we needed to coincidentally show up to help.

Just as I had put on my helmet, the phone rang, using Voltic’s number.

“Greetings.” I said, right after picking up.

“Hello Darkness, my old friend.” a slightly worried voice greeted me. If she was playing my games, she must be seriously worried or needed something from me. “I’ve come to talk with you again. Because the League will not come. They say that every information given by a criminal is to be regarded as deception to lure us into an exploitable position. They think you are pulling something at the other end of town and want everyone to look the other way.”

Hearing that, I had to bite back a few choice words, most of them very un-ladylike.

“I understand. What do you expect me to do about it? Saying, I do not plan anything would not do any good, would it?” I asked, hoping that she would take the bait and ask me for a favour. It was only a thing of honour, but I felt that Voltic took her word very seriously.

“You and your partner. Can you come help? I’ll owe you one.” Voltic asked, slightly desperate. Her breathing had quickened a little, as if she was running.

“Yes, I think we can help out. We will meet you there, as soon as we can. Try to limit police-casualties.” I said, before hanging up.

“Let us leave. We do not have that much time.” I told Sophia, moving towards the bunker-exit.

“Yeah, okay. But why do you have Voltic’s number, and she apparently has yours?”

“I managed to trick some information out of her and afterwards I kept the number, for cases like this one. She is rather reliable and useful, you know?” I explained, as we sped away from the bunker.

Our run through the city did not take long, and soon, we were close enough to hear the commotion. Just from the sounds, I wondered what we were running into. At least, I only heard pistol-fire, no bigger arms.

Rounding a corner, we saw the battlefield.