I frown, looking back on that memory. One day is all it takes to change your whole life. One bad day shattered our team, turned Throttle into a rogue, made Salt into a runaway, cost us the life of a dear friend, and ultimately made me see the inner workings of the League and just how full of it Tina Cade had been all these years. Made me realise how much I wanted to get away and not have to work with a team again, much less the League of High School Superheroes.

So NATURALLY I'd be sitting on the roof of a building in New Simone, sister city to St. Jean, looking for Salt because the League asked me to. Well alright, it's more complicated than that, but in the end, that's what's happened. And poor Starslip would have to watch St. Jean all by herself if not for my being able to stay in regular contact with her due to Strix letting me use the communications network of her newly formed Hexagon, which I joined because of course I HATE the idea of working with a team again, and how many negatives and contradictions was that in that last jumble of thoughts, anyway?

"Got anything yet, Outrun?" I ask into my mic.

"Notta," I hear Stan reply. "Closest I've got is a sale on table salt at the market...It's actually a pretty good deal. I'll have to come back for it later."

I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to keep from groaning in irritation. "...Any word from Wishingstar or Reacher?"

"They last spotted Throttle on the main highway to New Simone," Stan answers. "...She says hi, by the way."

"Understood," I reply, hoping to cut this particular line of conversation off before it can start...Naturally, I should know better with Stan.

"I mean, seriously bro," Stan goes on, "you two were BFFs and-"

"Stanley, don't put an s at the end of BFF," I say to him, getting binoculars out to investigate a crowd down the street. "It's already pluralised."

"My point is that you two were really tight," Stan continues, "and what, now you need me to be the middle man? You guys WERE just pretending to be dating before, right?"

My eyes widen as I see a girl's hood come down for a split second, just long enough for me to spot those sharp-edged glasses. "Got her!"

"Where?!" Stan demands as I leap off the roof to another roof.

"75th and Madison Lane!" I answer, running across the rooftops. "How far away are you?!"

"I'm never far from anything," Stan replies as the mic cuts, likely because he can't talk right now...and he's right, there isn't time to talk right now.

Landing on another rooftop, I hide behind a door leading down into the building as I see a female form float up alongside the edge of the roof. I try to control my breathing as Salt floats past. I move around the doorway to avoid being spotted as Salt makes her way to the next rooftop, then suddenly heads down the fire escape and into an apartment.

"Outrun, got her hideout," I say as I hit the mic button. "791 Madison Lane."

"Got it," Stan replies. "So, you going in first, or is this a good cop/bad cop break in?"

"Stay out unless I need you," I answer, albeit a bit colder than I had originally intended. "I'll take this."

Switching the mic off, I check the window with my binoculars, turning on the scanning lens. Not detecting any kind of traps hooked to the window, I think it over in my head: Subtle, or not-so-subtle? This thought lasts for a few moments before my mind goes ahead and decides to flash an image of Sugar's face for me.

Leaping from the roof, I curl up in my cape and crash through the window, tucking and rolling across the floor before spinning and turning, my hands crackling with electricity as I come face to face with Salt, her eyes turning ice blue as she prepares a frosty blast for me.

"...Geoffrey," Salt says to me coldly.

"Sally," I reply, just as coldly.

"...So, they sent YOU?" Salt asks, sounding genuinely surprised.

"Sorry to disappoint," I respond. "You have no idea how much trouble you're in."

"Oh what, is Miss Cade coming to spank me?" Sally ponders, trying to stifle a giggle.

"Throttle's coming to KILL you," I answer, and immediately any trace of amusement is gone from Salt's face. "You know her, Salt. She was your mentor. And what she starts, she finishes."

Salt's eyes return to their usual colour as she looks away. "...So, it's protective custody, then?"

"Let's not go TOO far," I say, trying to hide my anger. "You split from the League."

"From what I heard, so did you," Sally shoots back, getting a little surprise from me. "...C'mon, Geoff, you think I don't have any friends left in the League?"

My eyes narrow as she lets out a small scoff before turning serious again. "The League of High School Superheroes. God, it's so corrupt. But you know that already, don't you?"

"This isn't about what they want," I say sternly, cutting her off. "And for the record, when I split from the League, I didn't try to start my own gang war in an attempt to control organized crime."

"No, you left to try and help your old home-town that's gotten SO corrupt, there are members of the government that are honestly contemplating turning it into a No Man's Land," Salt counters. "And if this isn't about the League, then why are you here? Owed them a favour? Needed more tech?"

Salt smirks in that vindictive way that she has, that way that we should've known from the beginning that she would be the type to betray us someday, as she looks back to me. "...Oh, I know. It's Cassie, isn't it? Your little favourite, right? You need to help her out?"

Salt's smirk turns wider as she stares into my eyes, and I can feel parts of my mind peeling back somehow. "Tell me something, does she still have that helpless crush on you? The one that even she knows is hopeless? Do you know how much it hurts her to have you shoot her down time after time? And why is that, Geoff? Is it because you really find it inappropriate? Do you only think of her as a friend and pupil? Or maybe there's some part of you that likes being a jerk?"

I stumble backward, groaning as I hold my hands to my head. "No...You...what are...Stop it..."

Suddenly, Salt is over me, eyes glowing again. "No, it's not that. I'm thinking maybe, JUST maybe, your subconscious was holding out so that someday you could let Liz bend you ba-!"

Salt doesn't get to continue that line of thought, as immediately a blue blur knocks her off me and into a wall. I look up, groggily, and see Stan standing above me, looking concerned.

"Bro, you okay?" Stan asks me as I shake the cobwebs loose from my mind.

"Be careful," I reply to the best of my ability, "she's got some kind of telepathy now..."

"Got it," Outrun says as he looks back to Salt, "then let's not give her a mind to lock onto."

And with that, Stan becomes a blue blur again that whips around the room, being chased by icy eye-lasers, all far too much for me to follow in the state I'm in. I just lay there, trying to collect myself, knowing I'm only a hindrance if I try to get back in the fight at this point, but knowing I NEED to get back in it before-

"Fight's done!" I hear Stan declare.

I blink, sitting up as I look to the direction of his declaration. Sure enough, there's Outrun standing in a purposely dramatic pose over Salt, who is sitting unconscious in a corner of the room.

"And all in less than a minute," Stan goes on, walking over to me. "Bet'cha wish you'd waited for me now, huh?"

I nod as he helps me to my feet. "Like you wouldn't believe...It was some kind of mental attack. I didn't even see it coming until she was too far in."

"Yeah, Strix guessed she might develop telepathy at some point or another," Stan replies, looking back to Salt. "Of course, you'd know that if you actually TALKED to her like a civilized human being instead of using me as the middle-"

Stan is cut off as something flies in through the busted window and sticks to the wall. I don't even need to be able to see it clearly, I can tell from the way it stuck and the beeping noise it makes to know it's plastique set to a timer. I can also tell from similar beeps just outside the window that it's not the only one.

Stan turns to me, looking VERY pale. "...SERIOUSLY?!"