“What?” Connor asked.
John Paul Lincoln looked at Connor, his eyes cold and devoid of emotion.
“I ordered Jericho to kill Pinstripe,” Lincoln said. “Shadow Leader is next. Better stay out of my way, unless you want to be number three.”
When Jericho started marching forward, Pinstripe’s men opened fire. Every bullet proved useless as it hit Jericho’s chest and fell to the floor.
Quickly, Connor ran in between Pinstripe and Jericho.
“You can’t do this, Jericho!” Connor pleaded. “Pinstripe may be a terrible person, but you can’t just kill him.”
“You’re wasting your time trying to reason with him,” Lincoln said. “He’s no longer aware of what he’s doing. He answers to me now.”
“Then I’ll have to deal with you,” Connor said.
When Jericho was only a few feet away, Connor held up his hands and said,
“Please. I don’t want to fight you.”
“You won’t,” Lincoln smirked. “For him, it’ll just be swatting away an insect.”
Once Jericho reached Connor, he stopped for a moment.
“Move him out of your way,” Lincoln ordered.
Jericho hesitated.
“I said move him! Now!” Lincoln shouted.
For a moment, Jericho’s eyes winced before he backhanded Connor.
The force of Jericho’s hand caused ripples across Connor’s skin that ran over and around his chest like waves chasing around the lake. Connor looked at Jericho with deep sorrow and said,
“I’m sorry.”
Then he loosed a blast of kinetic force from his hands. The shock wave cleared the room and sent Jericho flying backwards through the wall.
“You saved me!” Pinstripe said, placing a gloved hand on Connor’s shoulder.
Connor slapped away the hand and growled,
“Don’t touch me, creep. I didn’t do it for you. And you’re not saved yet.”
Connor saw that Jericho was already getting up.
“Come on,” Connor said.
“Where are we going?” Pinstripe asked.
“Out the window,” Connor said, grabbing Pinstripe by the arm.
“We’re fifty stories up!” Pinstripe exclaimed.
“So you’d better hold on,” Connor warned. “I’m not sure if this will work.”
Despite Pinstripe’s protests, Connor held him in a bear hug and jumped through the window. In midair, he turned himself so that his back faced the street.
Suddenly they slammed into the pavement at one hundred twenty miles an hour.
Pinstripe lay still for a moment then got to his feet.
“I’m okay,” he said.
“I’m not,” Connor answered.
Connor lay very still, his arms and legs frozen in place.
“What’s wrong with you?” Pinstripe asked.
“Feels like one big muscle cramp,” Connor explained.
Connor struggled to hold back the energy he had absorbed from landing. Innocent people and the Shaman’s mindless puppets were all around him. There was no good direction to release the energy.
Fifty floors up, Jericho leapt out of the window and began plummeting towards them.
“That’ll do,” Connor said.
Connor held back for a moment longer until Jericho was almost on top of them then he released all his stored energy straight in Jericho’s direction.
The force not only threw Jericho high into the air but it also shattered windows.
Watching from high up in Pinstripe’s office, an angry vengeful John Paul Lincoln stepped back from the shattered glass.
“What now?” Pinstripe asked.
“Why ask me? You’re the crime boss,” Connor said as he struggled to stand.
“I’ve never had to fight off a titan like Jericho. Usually he’s here to arrest me, not rip me in half,” Pinstripe said.
“Well I just woke up from a coma a few hours ago. I’m still catching up,” Connor said.
Suddenly from out of a nearby storm drain, long hands of shadow lashed out and grabbed Pinstripe. As he fought with all his strength, the hands dragged him into the darkness of the storm drain.
Connor watched in shock.
“What just happened?” he asked.
“I took that mewling little rodent far from here,” a voice said.
Connor whipped around to see Shadow Leader.
“Why would you protect him?” Connor asked.
“I may not like Pinstripe, but I’m not about to refuse a champion of the gods,” Shadow Leader said.
“Who?” Connor asked confused.
Just then Elizabeth flew in carrying Nathan Nichols.
“Will you stop calling him that?” Elizabeth complained. “He’s already cocky enough.”
Nathan walked over to Connor and said,
“We’re here to help.”
“Thanks,” Connor said. “What’s the plan?”
Nathan turned to Shadow Leader and said,
“I need you to summon an army to keep the civilians back. Then go after the Shaman.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Shadow Leader said.
“No killing,” Nathan added.
“Rats!” Shadow leader replied.
Nathan turned to Connor and said,
“You and I will keep Jericho from hurting anyone.”
“Why can’t I do that?” Elizabeth asked.
“Because I need you to do something else. The timeline has changed, and if we don’t fix it, Burnt Hill will be wiped off the map,” Nathan explained.
“How do we fix it?” Elizabeth asked.
“By stopping Jericho. For that, I need you to go and get some help,” Nathan said.
“Who can I get? Jericho’s the strongest hero Crescent Bay has!”
“Start by telling Edison Poole what’s going on. Then head to Bluebell Hospital and find a patient named Victor Vine,” Nathan instructed.
“What do I do then?” Elizabeth asked.
“Bring Vine back here,” Nathan said.
At once, Elizabeth spread her wings and shot up into the air.
Just as she disappeared, the ground began to rumble and the pavement crack.
Connor looked around nervously.
“Is he back?” he asked.
“Not yet,” Nathan said.
“Then what is that?” Connor asked.
Nathan pointed to Shadow Leader and said,
“Back up.”
Shadow Leader’s skin grew pale and his eyes white as he held out his hands. All around them, wave after wave of the dead crawled out of the ground, driving back the Shaman’s followers.
Looking around at the newly formed army, Shadow Leader ordered,
“Keep them back, but do not harm them.”
Then he looked at Nathan and Connor as he stepped into shadow.
“Is he on our side?” Connor asked.
“Not really,” Nathan replied.
“Now what?” Connor asked.
In answer to his question, Jericho landed on the street just in front of them. His fists were clenched and his eyes blank.
“Now we survive,” Nathan said.
“For how long?” Connor asked.
“For as long as we can,” Nathan answered.
The Masthead 
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