April 11th, 2011

Elesis Sieghart woke up coughing and spluttering as several gallons of water dumped themselves on her bed.

It wasn't the first time she'd started her mornings like this, but that didn't make it any more pleasant.

She sat up, blinking water out of her eyes and flipping a strand of wet hair over her head, glancing over at the clock on her bedside table, which was thankfully out of the fallout zone.

12:15 A.M. It was morning only by the loosest definition. Barely two hours of sleep - the closest she'd come to a full night in at least two weeks.

Everyone had noticed the dark circles under her eyes. Ethan told her she looked like a raccoon, and even Colin said she needed to take a break. It was Hannah who'd finally convinced her to go back to the PRT therapist, which she'd done only to get a prescription for sleeping pills.

She'd hoped they were strong enough to knock her out for the night, and had finally dared to sleep in her bed instead of stealing 20 minute catnaps in the Protectorate lounge.

All they'd gotten her was two hours of sleep and an unpleasant wake-up call.

At least it wasn't containment foam. Back when she first joined the Protectorate, before Armsmaster had reconfigured her room's sprinkler system, she'd spent a few nights down in one of the holding cells, which would foam her whenever her power started acting up. Nothing was quite as awful as waking up to that.

Elesis climbed out of bed and flipped the lights on, taking stock of the damage. Her blankets were mostly intact; the top ends were singed, but she could probably get away with flipping them instead of buying a new set. Her metal bed frame had come through just fine. She stripped the blankets off her bed, letting out a sound of frustration when she saw what was below. Her pillow and bottom sheet were ruined, charred and blackened from her unconscious power usage, and she didn't want to know what state her mattress was in.

A year and a half as a cape and she still couldn't keep her power off while she slept. She felt a surge of anger and self-loathing, and smelled smoke as the tips of her hair began to sizzle, kept from bursting fully into flames by the water that was still dripping from the ends.

She wanted to cry, to scream, to rage against whatever deity or quirk of the universe that was responsible for giving her such an awful power.

Instead, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, focusing on shoving down the wave of emotion before it started to burn out of control. In, out. In, out. You control your power, it doesn't control you.

For a year and a half she'd managed to keep herself in check through all her waking hours, and she wasn't going to break that record now.

Elesis grabbed her phone off the bedside table and opened the PHO boards, searching for some sort of distraction.

The Incarnate Appreciation Thread had three pages of new replies. She resisted the urge to click on it; reading them would only make her feel worse. Incarnate was everything Elesis Sieghart wasn't: proud, beautiful, confident, composed. Every time she put on that mask she wondered if today would finally be the day that they realized she was a fraud, that everything they loved about her was just part of the carefully-constructed public persona.

What kind of hero still had nightmares about their trigger more than a year later?

She could still remember it like yesterday. Dad shoving her out of the way as the ceiling collapsed, the fire, her brave, stupid brother trying to shield her with his body. They all tried to save her and died for it, but it wasn't enough.

As she lay dying, through the blaze and the collapsed wall, she had caught a glimpse of Lung. Lung, who didn't even look in their direction, didn't know or care that three lives had just been extinguished with a fourth soon to follow, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Every day Lung remained at large was a reminder of their sacrifice, of her failure.

Elesis took her weight off the wall, and retrieved her costume from the closet. If this was going to be another sleepless night, she may as well get some work done.

Her hair was still damp as she entered the Protectorate lounge. It was probably the nicest room on the Rig - the long north wall was a window overlooking the Bay, with a TV screen mounted on the wall and a ring of couches facing towards it. Behind the couches was a table with a coffee machine, a microwave, and a rotating supply of takeout. Tonight, there were a pair of empty pizza boxes. In the corner was what was intended to be a casual conference table, but most people just used it as a place to dump their unfinished paperwork.

Most nights Elesis would wander in at around three or four in the morning, and she'd usually have the place to herself unless Miss Militia was around.

The night was still young, so the lounge wasn't completely deserted. Assault and Battery were sitting on the couch in front of the TV, unmasked but still in costume.

"You gotta stop eating all the pizza, Ethan," Elesis remarked.

"Hey, don't pin this all on me," Assault defended, turning around on the couch to look at her. "Puppy helped. Don't let her cute face fool you, she's vicious."

"Oh, shut up," Samantha - Battery - swatted him. "Check the bottom box, I think there's a slice or two of pepperoni left."

Sure enough, there was. Elesis grabbed a paper plate and loaded up the last two slices, then settled on the couch adjacent to theirs. The pizza had long gone cold, and without thinking about it she held a hand above it and shifted her fingers to flame.

As she heated her pizza, she turned her attention to the TV. The channel was set to some sort of cape-themed soap opera, starring what was clearly supposed to be the Triumvirate. Apparently Eidolon was cheating on Alexandria with Legend.

"I don't know how you can stand watching this crap," Elesis motioned towards the TV, then carefully tested her pizza for temperature.

Good enough - she took a bite, savoring the taste of pepperoni and grease.

"Too good for my soapies, too good for the microwave. Is there anything that will pass her judgment?" Assault sighed dramatically.

"Hey, it ruins the texture," Elesis defended through a mouthful of pizza. She swallowed, then spoke again: "What brought you two in at this hour?"

"Ran into Cricket and Stormtiger on patrol," Battery answered. "A few bystanders got injured, and the PRT intern on console insisted we couldn't wait until tomorrow morning to submit the report."

"Are you actually gonna file it tonight?"

"Nope," Ethan interjected. "We only went to the Rig to shut him up."

"Better hope Armsmaster doesn't hear about it. You know how he gets about deadlines."

"Armsy's still trying to get the last of March's paperwork from Dauntless, he won't care if we turn this in twelve hours late."

The door to the lounge opened and Armsmaster strode in wearing full battle regalia, halberd, helmet and all.

"Speak of the devil," muttered Sam.

"Assault, Battery, Incarnate," he greeted them with a nod, making his way to the conference table and searching through the stacks of forms.

"We should probably take off," Ethan said, standing up from the couch and stretching as Battery followed suit. "It's late and we've got an early morning tomorrow."

"Catch you tomorrow, then," Elesis replied as they left.

The door opened and closed once again, leaving her alone with Armsmaster.

Elesis and Colin had a good professional relationship - he seemed to have misinterpreted her living on the Rig and extra patrols as dedication to the job rather than running away from her problems. She respected his leadership and his work ethic, even if his people skills occasionally left something to be desired.

"Going on patrol?" she asked. "Mind if I come along?" Maybe that would be a good way to clear her head.

"I'm going after Lung," he replied, grabbing a form off the table and walking back towards the door.

"Oh."

She could feel the beating of her heart, the rush of anger and adrenaline mixed with frustration and disappointment.

The PRT had made it very clear that she was supposed to stay far away from the ABB's leader. Out of all the capes on the Protectorate team she was most capable of matching a ramped-up Lung, and the least capable of decisively ending the fight. She would only draw out the battle to the point where either one of them could do irreparable harm to the city, and keeping Brockton Bay habitable was much more important than a shot at revenge.

She couldn't let herself become a second Ash Beast.

But that didn't stop Elesis from asking the PRT to reconsider. She'd failed her family when it mattered; if she didn't at least try to avenge them, their deaths would be even more in vain.

Then the implications of Colin's words sank in.

"Wait, you're fighting him alone?" her voice was incredulous. Facing Lung solo without some sort of defensive power was suicide.

"I've prepared a tranquilizer. It should be sufficient to stop his ramp-up."

"But what if it isn't? What if it doesn't work, or you get hurt, or Rakshasa and Oni Lee are around? I swear I won't interfere with Lung, but you need backup in case something goes wrong. If nothing else, I'll keep the perimeter clear of civilians."

Armsmaster considered it for a minute, then sighed. "Fine. You can come to keep Lee and Rakshasa off my back, but that's all. Don't engage Lung unless I give specific approval or I'm unconscious, and even then your top priority will be to safely disengage. If you try to fight him it's both of our careers on the line."

"Yeah. I understand. I won't get in the way."

Even though she wouldn't be the one to take Lung down, maybe this would at least quiet her ghosts.

Elesis followed Armsmaster to the garage where they picked up their motorcycles. Hers was a standard black PRT model, but it kept up with his tinkertech bike just fine as they sped across the forcefield bridge towards the Docks.

"Any idea where we're going?"

"There was a call-in not long ago with a Lung and Rakshasa sighting, then another with a third, unknown villain. Looks like you were right about him having company."

"I'll distract Rakshasa and the new recruit, then, and keep an eye out for Oni Lee. If all goes well then the ABB is done for. Lee can't hold it together on their own, not once the other gangs catch the scent of blood."

"We get Lung and Rakshasa, and the ABB's as good as dead," Colin agreed.

A scream broke the silence of the night, panicked and desperate, before abruptly cutting off. Incarnate exchanged a glance with Armsmaster. They were deep in ABB territory; a woman walking alone at night would be easy pickings for any gangbanger with an itch to scratch.

"I'll take care of it," the pyrokinetic said grimly. "Go find Lung. I'll regroup with you after I've made sure she's safe."

Gripping the handlebars of her bike and gritting her teeth, Elesis sped off in the direction of the scream, hoping she wouldn't be too late.

A/N: Actually wrote this about six months ago, but a sudden spark of inspiration where I stalled out on Chapter 2 brought me back to it. Gotta write a fight scene and then it'll be ready. Not sure how far I'll actually continue this considering I haven't decided which of two ways I'm going for Chapter 3 and onward, but this world's fun to explore and I may as well post it instead of letting it gather dust on my hard drive. Doubt how many people will actually see this considering it's a fusion with a pretty obscure game, though.