Alec didn't immediately register the fire. He looked at Tony for several seconds; he seemed to be shouting something, but Alec didn't catch a word he said. A strange, piercing ringing was filling his ears. A split second later, however, a torrent of sound came crashing against his eardrums: Tony yelling at him that they had to move, screams echoing from all around, the telltale crackling and rustling of something burning.

Then Alec turned, and he saw the raging wall of fire to his left, climbing along the treetops. A half-charred wooden sign hung from the gates beside it told Alec where they were.

"We're in the park?" he said to Tony.

"Yes, but we have to go now!"

Alec's senses were quickly catching up to his surroundings. A sense of urgency swelled inside him at the sight of devastation around him: people darting past, trying desperately to get to safety; the steadily growing wall of fire consuming the park's vegetation; patches of torn-up earth and collapsed buildings.

"What is this?" he questioned, even as he allowed himself to be steered off behind Tony. "What's happening?"

"It's a long story, you can hear it later!"

They cut across the part of the park that the inferno hadn't yet reached, while hordes of citizens streamed past them, going in the direction they were running from. Then Alec realized something.

"Uh — shouldn't we be running the other way?"

"Nope, our ride's this way!" Anthony said, pointing into the forest. They arrived at the top of a faint slope past the edge of the park, then Tony began to wind his way downwards, dodging between the trees.

Alec followed him, confused, and frustrated that he was confused.

"Can you at least tell me where we're going?" he yelled at Tony's back.

"Where do you think? School!"

A great explosion sounded somewhere in the distance, and as Alec looked around, he saw a plume of smoke billowing towards the sky. Yet Anthony pressed on, ignoring it completely.

"Why are we going to Helix now?"

"It's not safe here. We've been compromised."

Compromised?

Alec hurried to catch up to him, then grabbed his arm, stopping him in place. "I'm not taking another step forward until you tell me what the hell is going on!" he said angrily.

Anthony shook his head. "They told me you'd react like this." He sighed. "All right, fine. Cliffnotes version is, a group of Villains showed up in the city a little over an hour ago. Wreaking havoc, causing devastation and mass panic — you know, the usual Villain thing. But Maddison noticed that they didn't really seem to be trying to hurt anyone. It was like they were doing it — just to do it."

"Also a very 'Villain' thing to do," Alec pointed out.

"Yeah, we know that. There was a swift response from the Hero League, but then our suspicions were confirmed when we realized that the Villains weren't actually fighting. They were pulling back, trying to lead the Heroes away from the city. Hence the trail of destruction." He gestured in the direction of the park, and at the plume of black smoke in the distance.

"But why?"

"We don't know what their main goal is, or if they even have one, but we do know that they definitely seemed interested in getting to your house."

Alec was taken aback. "What would they want with my house? Wait —" A dreadful realization had just struck him. "My parents —"

"Are fine," Tony assured him. "Hartley got the memo about where the Villains were headed before they arrived at your house. Handy, these things," he said, plucking a League communicator out of his pocket. "He warned your folks, got them out of there just in time, but you weren't back yet. He tried to contact you through the communicator he gave you, but something seemed to be blocking the signal, which is why I came looking for you. Your folks were escorted to a safe house by League members, along with a few other people from your neighborhood, as a precaution. But Hartley is waiting for us right now, to bring us to school. Looks like the Villains damaged the Hydraloop, so we'll have to take the long way there. Which is why we need to go, now."

Alec felt a leap of relief to hear that his parents were safe, but at the same time, his bewilderment rose tenfold. A group of Villains had come to Bluebell City, gone through all the trouble of confronting the League and luring them away, just to find him?

"It's a lot to digest, I know —"

"No, that's not it. The Villains didn't leave when they realized that Hartley and my parents were gone. I met one of them, when I got back. Imrys."

"The one that can make those weird tentacle things?"

"Yeah. I managed to get past her, but then . . . Shadow Shifter showed up. Right before you pulled me into the portal, he just appeared in my house."

"Yeah, I saw," Anthony said grimly. "Scary dude. Anyway, can we go now?" He gestured forward, where their transport was allegedly waiting.

"Yeah, okay."

They took off again.

"Who else is with Hartley?"

"Everyone," said Tony. "I portaled them all back a while ago. Pretty draining, but I managed to do it. It's why we have to be running now. Honestly, I don't know how you people go anywhere without portaling. It feels so . . . barbaric." He shuddered.

Alec shook his head, but at that precise moment, a vision of someone else came rushing back into his mimd. He had been worried all this time about his parents' safety, but he had completely forgotten the very person he had set out to meet with only over an hour ago. "Wait!" he said, coming to a halt yet again.

Anthony let out a loud groan and turned to face him with a "what is it now?" expression.

"We have to go back. My friend is in danger."

"Uh uh. No way. We wasted way too much time talking here already. We need to leave for Helix now. We won't be safe until we get there."

"I can't just leave my best friend to die!"

"And what if he doesn't? For all we know, he could be perfectly fine in a League safe house right now."

"I'm going back," Alec said in a tone of finality. "If you're that desperate to get to school, then go on ahead without me."

Anthony threw up his hands in exasperation, then dug into his pockets once more and pulled out his communicator. Alec watched him curiously. There was a frizzle of static, then Hartley's voice issued from the device: "Did you find him?"

"Yes, but he doesn't want to come with me."

"What?" Hartley exploded. "Put him on!"

Anthony held the communicator out to him with a sarcastic smile. "It's for you."

Alec grabbed it from his hand and held the device to his mouth. "Listen, I know what you're going to say —"

"But you're still going to make me say it?" said Hartley, in a tone oddly reminiscent of Alec's father.

"I didn't find him, Hartley. He was gone before I got there, and I don't know if he's all right now. I can't leave not knowing."

"The League is already on the scene, Alec. If anything happens, they'll take care of it. But right now, it's my job to take care of you. So —"

"I'm not leaving until I see for myself that he's okay," Alec said stubbornly.

Alec heard a long, slow exhale from the other end. Anthony stood before him, his hands on his hips, wearing an unimpressed expression that Alec imagined Hartley too must be wearing wherever he was.

"Do you even know where he is?" Hartley said at last.

"Well . . . no, but — I know where he usually hangs out."

"Oh, for God's sake —"

Hartley's voice was cut off abruptly. There was the sound of heavy breathing. Then: "You have thirty minutes — not one second more — to look. Whether or not you find him, you're coming right back here. Olsen, you have full authority to drag him back kicking and screaming if you have to."

"With pleasure," Anthony said, stowing the device back in his pocket.

"Well, then," Alec said, gesturing up at the park behind there, where another explosion had sounded. "Shall we?"

The city was in total ruin. Buildings all around were either crumbling or on fire, or both. The streets were, for the most part, empty, but every now and then they passed a small group of people hurrying away from the site of devastation.

"See, they're running away from the danger," Tony said, indicating yet another knot of bystanders who were scurrying past them. "Because they're sane."

"We're almost at the donut shop, he loves it there," Alec said, ignoring him. With nineteen minutes left on Hartley's clock, they had already checked the bowling rink, which was now a pile of rubble, the mall, whose entrance had caved in, and the movie theater, which, ironically, had been left unscathed, though it had been closed for months for repairs. The donut shop too was empty, and had sustained immense damage.

"Okay, your friend isn't here. Nobody's here! Can we go back now?"

"No, we still have fifteen minutes, and there's one place I still have left to check."

Disregarding Anthony's grumbling, he turned around, ready to set off for the last viable place he could think of where Dusty would have been on a day like this. But he had no sooner taken his first step than Tony hurtled into him, pushing him to the floor.

"What was that for?" Alec yelled, pushing him off.

"That!" Tony shouted back, pointing. Mere feet away from where they were now lying, a massive black quill-like object protruded from the ground, embedded into the spot where Alec's foot had been only seconds ago. He looked across the street, aghast, and saw, perched on top of a neighbouring building, a woman clad entirely in black, with bleached white hair, dark red makeup, and a glittering grey sash tied around her waist.

She held up her arms, and a number of black spines blossomed from her body like some kind of absurd porcupine. With a smirk, she made a wide, sweeping movement with her arms and launched the spines forward as if they were bullets. Anthony seized Alec by the scruff of his shirt and jumped sideways, diving into another portal.

The gateway opened up a short ways away from their last position, where they stared up at her from behind a large, grey slab of stone. The Villainess was staring around, shrieking in frustration.

"She hasn't spotted us. Let's go," Alec said. He turned to Anthony and saw that he was clutching his stomach. "You okay?"

"No," Tony said, glaring at Alec. "Now let's just find your friend so we can get out of here, preferably before somebody else shows up to skewer us."

Alec helped him to his feet and, moving quickly and quietly, taking care not to draw her attention, set off down the path towards Rumbanks Comic Book Store. They arrived with eight minutes on the clock. It seemed to be deserted. Alec stared through the dark-tinted, transparent windows, his heart sinking. This was the last place he had imagined his friend would be. . . .

Even Tony, as angry as he was, managed to be sympathetic. He laid a hand on Alec's shoulder and said, "I'm sorry. And for what it's worth I do hope he's all right."

Alec nodded absently, but then noticed something: a flicker of movement beyond the glass.

He barreled forward, flung open the door, and burst into the dimly lit interior. Cracks had spread along the walls, shelves had been overturned, and a thick layer of dust coated the floor, trickling from the ceiling. As Alec looked around, someone's head peeked out from behind a shelf, and their gazes linked. Then the little boy's mother looked around too, and after deciding that clearly these two young boys were no threat, whispered, "Is it over?"

Alec wished he had another answer for her. "No," he said. "They're still out there." The woman let out a wail of despair and clutched her child's head closer to her chest. "But don't worry, the Hero League is taking care of it as we speak. This'll all be done soon —"

"Alec?"

Alec spun around at the voice, quiet and tentative, yet fortunately, familiar.

"Dusty?"

There he was, on his other side, standing behind another shelf, his sandy brown hair smattered with dust, staring wide-eyed at Alec. Dusty scrabbled around from behind the shelf, over the wreckage littering the floor, and before Alec could say another word, had pulled him into a rib-cracking hug. Alec, stunned, stood frozen for a mere second, then found himself returning the gesture just as firmly. He supposed this meant that Dusty had chosen to disregard their disagreement of the previous week, and he wasn't complaining.

"I'm sorry," said Tony, when they had broken apart, "your name is 'Dusty'? As in, your parents actually considered that name, then put it on your birth certificate?"

Dusty looked curiously around at Tony, then back at Alec.

"Oh, he's a friend from school," Alec told him.

"Ah. Well, no, my name's Daniel, actually. But everyone calls me Dusty. It's what my dad used to call me."

Alec steered them closer to the door, out of earshot of the rest of the store, and checked his watch. "Listen, I'm almost out of time. I have to be somewhere in a few minutes, but when we get there, they'll be taking us back to Helix. You should come with us."

"What?" Tony said. Dusty looked simply taken aback.

"You want me to —?"

"Come with us, yeah. The Villains are still out there right now, a lot closer than you might think. The Hero League is trying to round up the remaining civilians, but they're doing a pretty lousy job by the looks of it. You'll be much better off at Helix. Their technology can keep us safe far better than the walls of this little comic store."

The Dusty he remembered of a few months ago would have jumped at the chance to explore a high-tech institution brimming with superhumans, regardless of the obvious consequences that would have followed. But the Dusty standing before him looked speechless, and not in the awed, excited way Alec had expected him to be. "Wow, um . . . Look, I'm glad that you came back to check on me, and I'm touched that you're inviting me to your school, don't get me wrong. But I don't think right now's the best time for me to go."

"What are you talking about?"

"My mother is still here, somewhere. And I know we don't really see eye to eye most of the time, but she's still my mom. I don't know if she was moved to one of these safe houses, or whatever, and I can't just leave her here alone. Or Bullet, or any of my other friends. Besides . . . I don't belong there."

"Oh come on —" Alec began, exasperated.

"It's true," Dusty spoke over him. "It's a school for superhumans. Not for their perfectly ordinary sidekicks. And truth be told, as cool as that place sounds, I wouldn't want to go anyway. Some things in life just aren't for everyone, and that's okay."

Alec looked at him, at a total loss for words. It was like he was speaking to an entirely different person. The timer on his phone went off, jolting him back to reality. He exhaled deeply, then forced a small smile. "Okay. It's your decision. An oddly mature one," he said, with a little, genuine chortle. "But yours nonetheless. Just — just stay safe, all right?"

"Come on, you know me. I'm too stubborn to die," Dusty said, flashing his signature grin. They shook hands. "Take care."

"You too." They pried their hands apart, then, with a final nod, Alec left with Tony.