Lucien met up with Serena on a park bench. They both wore ordinary clothes, and nobody gave them a second glance. "Well," he hissed as she sat. "Do the cops have the amulet?"

Serena narrowed her eyes. Getting this information hadn't been easy, and the news she had wasn't good. "There's no mention of it in the reports, it's not in the photos taken at the scene. It wasn't there."

"Impossible!" he spat.

"Unless Mainstream took it, but he's such a straight shooter he'd have handed it in."

"Could the champion have taken it?" he seized on the idea. The champion was drawn to the amulet, it made sense if you thought about it. Serena shrugged.

"Possibly. Have you found a way to locate the champion?"

"I have cast the bones, but each time it points me back to the warehouse. I think the portal tore open something metaphysical." He paused to allow a group of joggers to pass. He gave them a thin smile and a nod, seething inwardly until they were out of earshot. "The residual energy from our summoning lingers, making scrying impossible."

Serena sighed, glancing around to be sure nobody was listening. "Great. So we're dealing with a mystical black hole that messes up our magic. And the champion could be anywhere by now, with or without the amulet."

Lucian clenched his jaw, his fingers twitching as if he wanted to throttle something - or someone. "That amulet was our key. Without it, the champion is unbound, unpredictable, a wildcard. And if Mainstream gets involved, or any of the other heroes, they'll ruin everything."

"Relax," Serena whispered, shooting him a warning look. A mother with a stroller wandered by, eyeing them curiously. Lucian shoved his hands into his coat pockets. Serena sat back, a posture of exaggerated relaxation. "Mainstream knows nothing about magic. He won't know what the amulet is or what it does. To him, it's just a shiny piece of evidence."

"But if he finds out," Lucian growled, lowering his voice, "that amulet could reveal everything about our plan. We need it back - before the champion even understand what she's carrying."

Serena crossed her legs, a calculating look in her eyes. "And you're sure the scrying failed? She wasn't actually at the warehouse? She could be there right now, waiting for us to collect her."

"Don't be ridiculous," he snapped. "We need a way to draw her out. Make it happen."

= = =

Sam waited with Zar while Ty flew off to get ready. He claimed he had a plan, though they both knew that explaining the whole concept of codenames and secret identities to Zar was going to need a delicate touch.

"Zar," Sam began, choosing his words carefully. "Do you understand that I'm actually? a man inside all this?"

"Inside?" Zar echoed, tilting her head as she studied him.

He rapped his knuckles on the metal plate over his chest, he thick tungsten making a dull <I>clunk</I>. "This metal? It's just, well, kind of like clothes. Underneath it, I'm human."

Zar shrugged as if this was obvious, or irrelevant. "I thought this was the case. All you humans look different, but much of the difference is decoration. You are all made from the same matter, I think."

Sam chuckled, nodding. "You're exactly right. We're all the same under the surface." He couldn't help grinning - leave it to a complete outsider to look past all their social constructs and grasp the essential truth.

"I wear this armour so that I can protect people, but I cover my face so that my enemies will not recognise me."

Zar frowned, confusion flickering in her eyes. "But I recognised you immediately."

Sam chuckled. "Because of the armour. If I took it off, you'd have no idea who I was. You've never seen my face."

Zar paused, mulling this over. "This is true. I recognised your dense covering, not the human inside it. That is very confusing. Another human could wear a similar coating! How do you identify one another?"

Sam looked a bit sheepish. "It takes practice," he admitted. "Our brains are specially developed to recognise faces, and body language, and tiny, subtle nuances in language and behaviour. It's instinctual, but also something we learn. Tell me, how did you recognise one another, back in your home?"

She opened her mouth, but stopped. There were no words to accurately describe her former life - how could she convey the formless, boundless connections of her world? "We had no permanent form, no continuous characteristics you would recognise. We simply? were. And we just knew one another."

Sam gave her a curious, gentle look. "You just knew? that sounds simpler, actually. Maybe that's why all of this is so complicated for you. You're used to seeing straight into the essence."

"Yes." Zar looked away, wistful. "The essence."

Sam caught the distant look in her eyes, and asked, gently, "Did you have friends? Back home?"

Again she shrugged, searching for words that seemed to small, so insufficient. Her past life hadn't involved such difficult concepts. "We were all the same. We had no need of names, or words. In my world, one flame knows another without deception or distrust, and there is no possibility of harm." She sighed, a quiet ache pulling at her. The world here felt to complex, layered with hidden intentions she didn't yet understand.

Sam put a hand on her shoulder, hoping she'd recognise it as a reassuring gesture. "It sounds like a good place."

"Will I ever return?" Her eyes were downcast, fearing the answer. "I have a purpose here - to be a champion - but I do not know what that entails, or how long it will take."

A man walked past the alley, eyes widening as he took in the sight of a tall, armoured figure and a woman with a fiery tail. He quickly hurried off, muttering about freaky superhero stuff. Sam watched him go, suppressing a chuckle.

"Well," he said, meeting her gaze. "I'm a champion, Zar, and so is Mainstream. We'll teach you what that means."

Zar felt a ripple of relief and offered him a faint, genuine smile. She recalled a phrase she'd recently learned. "Thank you."

Sam's mobile buzzed and he glanced down at it, reading the message with a frown. "Zar," he said, slipping the phone back inside his metal armour, "can you teleport, back to? your master?"

Zar paused, feeling for the strange pull that had been guiding her since her arrival in this world. She could feel both ends of the path, one leading to the great rift that had brought here, while the other end tugged at her, pulling toward her master's location. "Yes," she murmured, almost to herself. "The path is clear." With a nod to Sam she yielded to the pull and slipped through space, somehow between and beneath, following the line that connected her to her purpose.

In the span of a single moment, she cleared the distance and emerged back into the world of solids, but it wasn't her master who stood facing away from her. It was the masked figure from the alley, Mainstream.

Mainstream was expecting her arrival, but flinched when he glimpsed her shadow on the ground. He spun around to face her, eyes wide. She crossed her arms, her tail flaring bright as she scowled. "Where is Ty? What have you done with him?"

There was a pause, and then, slowly, Mainstream lifted his hands and pulled back his cowl, revealing a human face. Broad, friendly, blue eyes, heavy brows, brown hair.

Zar narrowed her eyes. Something was wrong here. She put her hands on her hips and studied the face, there had to be some reason behind Mainstream's display, but for the moment it eluded her.

He spoke, then. "Zar? Are you okay?"

She gasped, sudden recognition in her eyes. This man was Ty! Her friend! "Ty! You? you are here!"

He nodded, scratching the back of his head a little nervously. "Yeah, I'm here, Zar." He glanced at Zar's tail, swishing back and forth with surprising vigour, and he smiled. "Listen, it's not as simple as you think. Mainstream is? a title. Ty is a man, but Mainstream is a champion. A superhero. Do you understand?"

"You change?"

"In a manner of speaking. Ty can do things that Mainstream can't, like walk down a street and not be recognised."

"I would recognise you!" she claimed, boldly ignoring how long she'd just stared at his face without making the connection.

"Mainstream's enemies would not recognise me. Mainstream and Ty have to lead separate lives, in order to keep my friends and family safe." He paused, and pulled on the mask, to illustrate. "When I wear this mask, I am Mainstream. You must never mix up the two."

"I see. But? Mainstream knows who I am? Because Ty knows me." She nodded to herself, she had it figured out, sort of. "Ty is not a champion, but Mainstream is, and they are secretly the same person!"

"Exactly," Ty confirmed, relieved that she seemed to understand.

"And Steel Sentinel."

"Yes?"

"He is also Ty."

"What?" Ty blinked. "No, no, that's not-"

"He is a champion, and he knows me well. This explains why you were together, in the same place at the same time."

"Zar, I promise you, I am not Steel Sentinel."

"Of course not, he looks very different."

"Y'know, usually the fact that you've seen us together would prove that we're not the same person."

"Why?"

"Humans can't be in two places at once, Zar."

"You were both in the same place, though. We were talking."

He squeezed his eyes shut and took a breath. "I think we need to define the word 'place' a little better."

= = =

When Steel Sentinel turned up at Ty's basement, he let himself in and called out to announce himself. Ty appeared on the stairs, looking frazzled, with Zar bounding down just behind him, grinning like she'd uncovered a grand secret.

"Hello Steel Sentinel," she greeted him, her bright eyes twinkling with a mischievous gleam. Sam raised an eyebrow, shooting Ty a questioning look. Ty, out of his costume, stood there in jeans and a plain white T-shirt, looking exhausted and close to defeat.

"Hi Zar," Sam replied, cautiously. "How's it going?"

He turned to Ty, lowering his voice, "Why's she looking at me like that?"

Ty sighed. "Zar has decided that because <I>Mainstream</I> and I are the same person, then <I>Steel Sentinel</I> and I must also be the same person."

Sam blinked, taken aback by the flawed logic. "Oh? Wow. That's? creative. But, no, Zar, that's not how it works at all. Ty is only one person, so he can either be Ty, or he can be Mainstream. But he can't play both roles at the same time."

Zar's smile faded a little. "So? you are not Ty? But you are still a champion?"

"That's right," Sam said, softly. "When I take off my armour, I'm just? Sam. Can I show you?"

Zar nodded, as curiosity overtook her confusion, and Sam held out his hands. A well-practised flex of his metal-shaping power turned the metal armour into a rippling, liquid mass that flowed backward off his body and formed into a dull tungsten pillar, balanced on one end like an obelisk.

Freed from his metal casing, Sam was revealed to be an ordinary-looking human dressed in a dark blue one-piece garment and heavy brown boots. He took a deep breath, placed a hand on the slab to make sure it was stable, and then gave her a warm smile.

"Hi Zar," he said, extendnig his hand. "I'm Sam Brooks."

She was staring at him in mute amazement, so he winked and jokingly added, "I mean you no harm."

This snapped her out of her daze, and she laughed, a sudden bright burst of unrestrained glee that echoed in the quiet basement. The sounds startled her, and she quickly clapped her hands over her mouth, wide-eyed, to silence this new thing. A moment later, she let out another laugh, softer this time, as though testing it. The men exchanged amused glances, chuckling.

"That sound means you're happy," Sam explained calmly. "It's called laughing."

Zar kept her hands over her mouth, eyes still round with wonder. "It? it happened by itself."

Ty nodded, smiling. "Yeah, sometimes it just sneaks up on you. It's natural, though, nothing to be worried about. It's actually? nice to hear."

"Oh." Zar lowered her hands slowly, glancing between the two of them as if seeking reassurance. "I've heard sounds like this before, Ty did it this morning." She gave him a searching look. "I thought you were defective."

Sam laughed at that, deep and booming, while Ty grimaced a little.

= = =

They needed to know what Zar could do, to catalogue her superpowers. If she had been summoned here to be a champion, it stood to reason that she must have some special abilities. Zar herself had no idea what counted as "special" in this world; from her standpoint, even mundane things like walking and talking and touching solid objects felt like a novel and strange experience.

"We could head over to Mercer's place," suggested Sam. Ty frowned. Elias Mercer, a retired hero and Ty's former mentor, owned a spacious patch of land in Evanston that would be an ideal spot to test Zar's powers. With years of experience as a hero, Elias' insight would be invaluable.

"Fine," conceded Ty, reluctantly. "But how do we get her there without blowing his cover? You and I can travel incognito, but Zar's kinda conspicuous."

"I could wear a mask, like you," Zar suggested, the finatest glimmer of excitement in her eyes as she touched her face. The tall, grey-skinned amazon looked at them expectantly, eager to try out this idea of a "disguise".

Sam chuckled. "Yeah, or maybe we just get you some sunglasses." He rolled his eyes at Ty. "Seriously, think it through, man - we already solved this problem. You and I go there in our day-clothes, and then Zar can just teleport to your location when we arrive."

Zar nodded, catching on. She might not grasp every detail, but she understood the word 'teleport'. That was their word for her slipping beneath the solid world and gliding to one of the two anchor points.

"Right," Ty mused. "We'd just need to arrange a signal, like, maybe leave the TV on, or set an alarm clock?"

"Or, you know," Sam interrupted with a grin, "Just buy her a phone. She's going to need one, sooner or later, even if it's just a disposable."

Ty walked over to a nearby box of gear, digging around until he pulled out a small handset, still in plastic. "No need to buy one. I've got a few spares, for emergencies."

Sam cracked a grin, watching as Ty tore open the packaging. "A burner phone," he joked. "Appropriate."

Ty powered it up and waited for it to start up. A few minutes later he'd made a note of the number and added it to his contacts. He quickly sent it to Sam, who did the same, and then he added a single contact for Zar to use..

He handed her the phone. Zar turned it over, examining the plain, simple casing. "Nokia," she read, slowly and carefully.

Ty blinked. "Wait - you can read?"

Sam's jaw dropped, then he burst into laughter, slapping his thighs in delight. "No way! Holy shit, you can read!"

"These markings are words, yes? Like sounds, made solid?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"I understand words. Most words, I think, and I am learning more all the time. I assume there cannot be many more left to master."

Chapters...