The other truck hung back. J was hanging onto the driver’s side door, watching things while communicating with the driver. The people from the other truck were hurrying to get inside so they could get a ride away from the scene.

Rather than go to the truck, she went after Licit. She knew how he operated. He had a hard-on for her, like Edict did. He’d been a big city cape once, and he’d transferred to her town because he got his jollies making her miserable.

He rode around with police and did talks at schools, according to the stoners she talked to.

Oh, and he got in her fucking way.

“Licit!” she screamed.

“I don’t want to fight, Ashley!”

“Have the decency to call me Damsel of Distress, you genital wart!”

“Damsel of Distress,” he said. He was shaking his head.

A cone appeared at knee height, point touching the ground. She almost walked into it, avoided it only because she’d had this encounter far too many times already.

“Digging your grave every time you try that, petty man,” she said.

“Why don’t you stop right where you are, and we talk. I’m not looking to arrest you.”

He indicated the giant in the background, his head turning.

She used the opportunity to run toward him.

He created a barrier. She blasted it, stumbling off to the left, then resumed running. He created another barrier.

“Just stop, let’s chat. We have bigger concerns tonight, believe it or not.”

“No you don’t,” she said, her eyes going wide. “You got in my way, so you’d better believe I’m your biggest concern.”

“We’ll let you go with the trucks that can still move,” he said. “If you’re willing to talk.”

“Do you like having legs, Licit? I’ll let you keep them if you start begging for mercy now.”

“You’ve never hurt anyone that badly, Damsel. You’re not about to start now. Stop.”

More barriers. She blasted through each, changed the direction she moved as she tried to guess where each would appear and evade preemptively, and she drew nearer to him.

He began walking backward, keeping the same general distance from her.

As her second truck pulled away, he raised an arm for his buddies. Two took flight, flying toward the truck, leaving only two on the ground.

“Less witnesses?” she asked. She shook her head. “Your bosses are going—”

She blasted at another barrier.

“—to need at least three if they’re going to make sense of exactly what it is I did to you and your remains.”

“Did you or do you know about that giant?” he asked.

She blasted another cube to pieces, stalking toward him. He was walking through his shapes while they were solid for her. He was relying on the shapes he’d made in advance to help keep the distance.

“…Your robbery was suspiciously timed,” he said.