The Expository Bridge.

[Flux]

Flux lounged back against the hard, cold wall of his cell. A psychiatrist whose visitor nametag idenitified her as Dr. Sumpter sat across the room in a hard plastic chair, carrying a plastic clipboard and a pen that had been crafted without the use of metal. Her dark skin made a huge impression on the sterile whiteness of his surroundings, drawing his attention so completely he could hardly see the guards flanking her. Even after she left, she'd be ghosted on his eyes for hours. He glowered at the holes in her ears; seven in total. Seven weapons denied him. He glanced to her hands. Pale skin showed three rings missing. Ten weapons denied him. She saw him looking and took a breath.

"Felix," she began.

"Flux."

His voice cut across her firmly, as it always did.

"Why Flux?"

Her question was eternally patient, as it always was.

"It is my name. It is who I am. Flux. An object under a state of magnetism. The lines of force in a magnetic field. Flux."

The response was instant, as it always would be. The staring match between prisoner and psychiatrist fell into uncomfortable silence.

"How did you come to be here?" she asked. Here, the ritual deviated. He almost told her how he was feeling anyway. She'd never asked him how he came to be an inmate at Jericho's Federal Mutant Prison, not in all the months that she'd been making her visits, and not in the months while he was locked up in mundane prison, awaiting this facility's construction. She had the official report, of course. It hadn't been necessary to ask. Flux knew this. He knew that she knew. He didn't know what she could gain by this question.

In Flux's mind, the sessions were attacks on him. It was Jericho, the Government, the Mundanes of the world trying to figure him out, wear him down, make him turn against his Brothers or trick him into giving up some advantage. He played a careful game with this psychiatrist. She was spying on his mind.

Flux considered denying her a response. He'd spent several sessions in total silence, waiting out the one hour time limit with patience that had surprised her at first. Other days he answered in curt, quick bursts of words, using only one when possible, but never more than five. Very rarely did he genuinely respond, simply because he knew that was what she wanted, and rarely could he reason out the why of it.

He considered it at face value. She wanted his version of the events. The version the media didn't tell. A clearer one other than the offical transcript that the government had made almost unintelligible with black censor bars and brackets with the word "redacted" in them. She wanted a longer account than the laconic, reticent story Michael Stern handed out in interviews and press conferences. He decided she wanted to root out the cause of his hate and reverse it. Futile.

"Fine."

The word ground out of him slowly. It made him thirsty. He sat forward and reached for the glass of water she always provided for him.

"It happened in New York. I was acting as a costumed vigilante at the time, following the lead of the girl your media dubbed American Girl."

[Flux]

--New York City, several months prior--

Felix crawled along wall of a tall building in his dark-gray-and-crimson onesie, mask fixed firmly on his face, attached by the magnetic attraction between the building's framework and the metal coiled on his forearms and calves.

Patrols were starting to wear on him. Working with his Brothers was so much more enjoyable. They had drive. Direction. They always had a clear purpose, and they always achieved the objective. Patrolling for crime was aimless. He could go whole nights without seeing a single soul, and then on others work himself to exhausion in a few short hours stopping crime. Part of him regretted promising Banner that he'd patrol, but he'd keep his word to her no matter what.

He'd discussed it one night over coffee with Boomer. Boomer hadn't approved of these patrols, but he had felt it was right to hold his word as law, especially if Flux was going to make his strained relationship with Banner work. Flux wanted it to work. He fixed Banner in his mind and leapt across the street, crawling to that building's roof and running across it, jumping across a few blocks before he heard a promise of action.

"Nothing like a good burglary," he quipped to himself as he homed in on the sound of the alarm. "There's just something about smashing a handful of guys in ski masks and gloves, waving guns and making vague threats and yelling crap like "Get the money!" or "Let's scram!" or "I'll shoot!" that's so delightfully cathartic."

Felix jumped out to a street lamp in front of the grocery and peered in. Just two guys this time, and from the look of it, they were nearly done. He jumped in to attack, magnetizing their weapons to him as they noticed him hurtling through the air.

"Awww, you spawl da sapreeze," he drawled in a horrible Hollywood Swedish accent. "I'm gonna knock you out with your dooooooo."

The robbers had thoughtfully brought along their own bags to the grocery, and each was stuffed to bursting with paper bills and coins, tied off tightly to keep the haul from spilling out. Felix found it simple to use his powers to make those heavy bags into cudgels, magnetically attracting and repelling them to bludgeon the criminals into unconciousness. The mutant hero dropped the bags unceremoniously onto the masked mundanes as they tore, spilling money across the bodies and floor.

"Lewk at awl of your doooo! They're cahvered in doooo!"

Felix staved off further Swenglish as red and blue lights approached swiftly through the lot.

"Wuh-oh. The Fuzz. See ya, kids!" He leapt into a shopping cart, magnetized it, and soon was repelling and attracting his way through traffic.

[Stern]

Michael Stern finally had a night off. He was going to settle in early and sleep. He had enjoyed a wonderful meal with Anita, drifted in and out of sleep through a movie with her curled up beside him on the sofa, and now he was going to get some well-deserved rest.

He had been asleep for an hour at the most when suddenly his phone started to ring. Stern reached for it instinctively and and answered it.

"Michael Stern speaking. Chief? Sorry a mutant doing what with a shopping cart? No, I don't know how you would stop it either. I'll handle it. Yeah, I'm sorry too. I guess I'll just sleep when I'm dead. No, it's all right. Just keep me posted."

Stern put on his goggles, slid out of his sleep clothes, and hastily donned his uniform and put on his badge.

He light jumped out to the grocery store, where two other officers were taking care of the other robbers. Stern checked to make sure things were ok, then leaned into the patrol car to listen to the police scanner.

"Suspect is headed downtown on 5th. Be advised suspect is a mutant of unknown power. Suspect last seen going 75 miles per hour in a shopping cart."

Stern light-jumped to 5th and turned up his own light until he could cover nearly the entire street in one narrow, intense beam of light. There he was, headed towards Stern in the aforementioned shopping cart.

The officer made one last light jump onto the back of the buggy. "My name is Officer Stern, and I'm with the NYPD. Pull over now!"

[Flux]

Flux turned to the source of light, his transition lenses darkening rapidly, right on time to look into Stern's NYPD Badge as the mutant officer alighted on the back of the cart. Flux realized with astonishment that he recognized Stern. They'd broken into a construction site once to practice crafting and firing a coil gun.

"Stern! It's ME! Knock it off!"

A car horn blared and Flux manipulated his power, placing subtle energies on several cars to make his shopping cart zoom into the narrow gap between an SUV and a transit bus, out of the way of the muscle car that had nearly sideswiped him.

"I didn't do anything wrong," he continued as they navigated the streets. "In fact, I stopped those robbers. You can go on home and lie down. I got this."

[Stern]

"It's who? I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've run across you."

Stern might have recognized Felix had he not been dressed in his hero costume.

"Besides, if you really have done nothing wrong, then you'll cooperate with me and come in for questioning. We're getting statements and security footage. If they can corroborate your story, then you have nothing to worry about."

Stern tightened his grip on the shopping cart as Felix made it weave through the cars.

"Now," he said with more authority, "pull over."

[Flux]

"Oh, sure. And then it's all mask off, name out, family shamed...I'm not playing that game. Mask stays on, and you get off."

He reached with his powers to the road ahead and found a metal manhole cover, attracting the front of the cart to it as he curled up inside. The cart flipped and Stern rocketed off the back as Felix let the cart flip and keep rolling. He made a swift turn down a new street, intent on losing the mutant cop.

"Can't believe he doesn't remember," Felix grumbled bitterly.

--Jericho's Federal Mutant Prison, Present Day--

"You were upset that he didn't remember? Why?" asked Dr. Sumpter.

"He'd helped me construct a special gun that would run on my magnetic powers. At least, he tried to help. It was in the early days of my mutantcy, where I was still figuring it out."

"Did you?" she asked.

Flux ignored the question and continued his tale.

[Stern]

Stern flew through the air, light-jumped himself to a fire-escape. Luckily enough, the light-speed jump removed the inertia of his flight so he did not slam into the brick wall.

"Does anyone know where that magnetic mutant went?"

Stern climbed the fire escape the normal way, not wanting to risk cutting out any important communication if someone happened to give him the answer in mid-light-jump.

"Negative. We are continuing to sweep the area."

"Then I guess I'll just help it along."

Stern light jumped to the top of a nearby water tower and flared up brightly enough to illuminate several city blocks.

"Suspect spotted on the next street over! East of your position!"

Stern nodded, made another short jump and found Flux much more easily this time: traffic was lighter.

Stern regained his old perch on the shopping cart and swung the best punch he could manage at Flux's jaw. "Resisting an officer of the law is a serious offense! Why don't you come quietly? It would certainly help mutant PR."

[Flux]

Flux had navigated out to the highway and was just getting onto it when Stern returned and tried to hit him. The teenager stopped the punch by repelling the man's fist with his own metal wristwatch.

"The only PR we mutants need to get out of the mundanes is that we're better than them. They need to roll over and let us take charge. Look at me! I'm doing like...what, 120 miles per hour in a shopping cart!" He gestured around at the traffic that was crawling along at half his speed. "I am amazing. Our powers are astonishing! They need to bow down to how spectacular we are. Also, you really are gonna wanna jump off now."

Flux leapt straight up into the air as the cart barreled forward and plowed into the back of a dump truck, landing and perching nimbly on its rim.

[Stern]

Stern's eyes widened at the dump truck. He shut his eyes and forced himself to light jump just in time. He reappeared on top of the dump truck behind Felix just in time to see the shopping cart smash to pieces and begin causing havoc with the highway.

"As I understand it, the better man doesn't lord his greatness over those beneath him. You measure a man by how he treats his inferiors, not his equals. By that standard, what does it say about how much you're worth?"

Stern made to call in his position, but his walkie crackled with distortion and interference. Apparently Flux's powers were doing something to his equipment.

"Last time. Stand down, come with me, and let's get this sorted out. You can keep your identity a secret. We just need a statement to clear your name."

[Flux]

"I thought I treated them pretty good back in the store," answered Felix. "And I didn't cause any trouble leaving it 'til you got in my face. I don't wanna fight you. You're my Brother. But I will if you don't walk away. You can say you lost me. I could attach myself underneath the trailer of a big truck and hide out and it'd be like I'd disappeared. Your move."

Flux suited his actions to his proposition, leaping for a huge trailer with the Wal-Mart brand on the side and landed on the roof, crawling over it to the side where Stern couldn't see.

[Stern]

"And break my record for catching dangerous mutants? I don't think so."

Lacking Felix's capability to stick to surfaces, Stern decided it was best to light-jump, rather than try a regular jump. He looked over the edge of the trailer and saw Felix still clinging to it, no doubt reting to reach the underside of the trailer. Stern tried to dazzle him with a bright beam of light. There just wasn't time for an Archimedes Blast.

"I really need to find a new way to talk about that."

If he didn't do anything constructive soon, he would in fact lose his quarry. Not counting on his light beam to do much more than put stars in Felix's eyes, he began to make his way to the front of the tractor trailer. It would be hard, but he could probably convince the driver to pull over without tossing him off the rig first. Maybe.

Stern knocked on the driver's window. "NYPD! There is a mutant terrorist on the back of your rig! I need you to pull over now so I can apprehend the suspect!"

The mutant officer apparently startled the driver, who (thankfully) jerked his wheel in the direction of the road's shoulder. Luckily the driver got a hold of himself quickly and began to slow down and put on his caution lights.

"Thank you, sir! This won't take a moment!" I hope.

[Flux]

The lenses in Felix's mask darkened rapidly to compensate for Stern's light, but eventually the cop overwhelmed them. The teen shut his eyes and listened.

"NYPD! There is a mutant terrorist on the back of your rig! I need you to pull over now so I can apprehend the suspect!"

So now he was a terrorist, and not merely someone fleeing a crime scene. The label made Flux angry; angrier even than all the anti-mutant hate he'd been noticing more and more of since he'd joined the Brotherhood. Fine. Terrorist. Got it.

Flux magnetized the brakes to the axles and the truck jerked to a sudden halt. He repelled himself off the side as he leapt forward, throwing a right-handed punch at Stern as he went by, already tallying his so-called "crimes" in his head. They'd spin the robbery to be his fault, so theft. Then, fleeing a crime scene. Then, resisting arrest. Now, assaulting a police officer. But he could do so much more.

"You think you can arrest ME!? C'mon and have a go if you think you're mutant enough!"

[Stern]

Stern felt the punch hit him in the side of the head: it wasn't aimed very well, and didn't really do much except to tick off the mutant officer. But there it was. All Stern needed to pull out all the stops. The driver was fine, but the damage to his truck was going to take time. Stern radioed in a tow for the big rig and took off after Felix.

"If that's what you want, then here comes the sun!"

Stern met Felix in the air at the speed of light, grabbing him by the costume and offering the mutant a headbutt for his troubles.

[Flux]

Flux saw an explosion of color in his vision, not from Stern's power, but from his headbutt. He had presence of mind enough to punch back, really aiming it this time, going for the man's throat. He reached with his power, found the nearest, sturdiest metal he could get, and wrenched his body in mid-air, flattening Stern to the rear of a minivan. The vehicle jerked and inside children shrieked. Flux put his knees on Sterns hips and stuck himself by the ankles, his hands free to hammer the officer with punches.

[Stern]

Stern choked as the punch threatened to close his windpipe. Then it was his turn to see stars. His head slammed against the back of the minivan.

The officer could hear children squealing inside behind the tinted windows, could feel the van lurch side to side as the adult driving checked to see what happened.

Stern kept his guard up as best he could under the torrent of punches, light jumped backwards onto the roof of the minivan, and focused light into a pinpoint, right in the middle of Flux's forehead.

[Flux]

Flux suddenly slammed against the minivan himself, his knees complaining from the sudden stress, and swept the area for Stern. The man had taken the route that was simultaneously both obvious and clever; he'd simply moved straight back. Flux came up over the edge of the van, throwing up a wrist to block the light that was burning a hole in his mask, and tried shoulder-checking Stern off the front of the vehicle.

[Stern]

Stern saw the attack coming and dissipated, allowing himself to become incorporeal light long enough for Flux to pass through him. He returned to normal, turned around, and continued focusing the light.

Catch fire, dammit!

[Flux]

Felix stumbled onto the hood of the minivan, feeling the intense heat of Stern's focused light on his back. He jumped off the vehicle and turned, feeling the wash of heat make a trail across his flank and onto his sternum. The cloth ignited over his stomach and Felix swatted it, making a controlled fall onto his back to get out of line of sight for a short moment. Then, with a sudden, terrible burst of creativity, he repelled the mini-van off the bridge's structure, sending it flying off into the air, hurtling rapidly end over end toward one of the support towers as he turned the fall into a roll and took his feet again. Two lanes over, a quick-thinking and foolish college student was taking amateur footage of the move with his iPhone. Though the quality would turn out poor thanks to Felix's power, the entirety of his motion and intent came through clearly. To the viewing public watching the clip endlessly on 24-hour news stations, the whole thing looked horrifyingly casual.

[Stern]

Stern felt a brief flutter of panic as the minivan flew off the bridge. "Emergency! Officer Stern needs an emergency response vehicle to the Brooklyn Bridge NOW!"

He took the baton off his belt and started smashing out the windows as thoroughly as he could.

"Don't mind the glass! Better cut and alive than whole and dead! Get out of those seatbelts and get through the windows!"

The officer started pulling out the children and left the adults to get out themselves. He could only spare one hand to pull out the children. The other hand was busy acting as a spotlight to get the attention of the coast guard or someone. In the meantime Felix could be getting away.

"Any news on the runaway mutant? Keep an eye on him!"

Stern was quickly becoming overwhelmed. If he said it once, he had said it a thousand times: despite his powers, he could not be in two places at once. He could not deny that his powers lent himself to having to stick out these situations alone, but he couldn't help noticing that the rest of the department seemed to think that he could handle everything. At last he heard a boat signaled it with a beam flashed across it, and then returned to the bridge.

"Has anyone seen the suspect?"

[Flux]

Flux was flattened to the asphalt underneath a pick-up truck, focusing his powers on the bridge itself. He had an idea--a good one, he thought, one that should make Stern realize who he was dealing with--and debated how best to pull it off. He could stay hiding, and be caught prone and at a disadvantage if he were found, or get out and fight while he set himself up to win. Flux crawled out and climbed onto the top of a Volkswagen Beetle parked and abandoned in the middle lane.

"Nnnnnot hiding!"

Anger and effort tugged at his words, preventing them from entering the mocking sing-song tone of a quip. He found his ability to run his mouth waning, and his need to lessening. Let his powers speak this time. Seven personal vehicles leapt to Stern to crush him; a bigger version of a move he'd used testing Banner (http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=17919&highlight=train+in+vain) in an old junkyard long ago. The bridge creaked ominously over the racket of car horns and shouting.

[Stern]

Stern dodged the first car with a light jump. He materialized on the hood of the second car. The cop ran along the length of it, jumped off the back end and pancaked to the ground in time to miss the third. He could see the beetle Flux was standing on.

The only way to get him to stop was to knock him out. But how? He checked his belt and found what he was after: A magazine of rubber bullets used for stopping petty crooks. He loaded the magazine into his gun, ejected the real bullet in the chamber, and pulled back on the Glock to set up the new round. Stern had long ago developed a variant on the standard grip the Police Academy taught its trainees that allowed the use of his power. One hand gripped the gun and prepared to pull the trigger. The other hand steadied his shot, but his index finger pointed parallel to the barrel of the gun. Stern filtered out the colors of the light spectrum until he got the color red. A tight beam of light lanced out of his fingertip, giving him a sort of ersatz laser sight that he could use to inform his aim.

Stern opened fire on Flux.

[Flux]

It'd become one of Felix's signature tricks to magnetize rounds in a magazine to the magazine itself. Guns did delightful things to their wielders when they tried to fire ammunition that wouldn't move. The suspension cables of the bridge began to bow in towards the road as Felix tried this trick now; to his astonishment, he felt nothing in the gun to magnetize. Before he could reason out the why of it, Stern had shot him and knocked him flat on his ass.

Rubber bullets! The impact of it knocked him into a shining BMW. It's owner gaped from inside, too proud of the car to simply abandon it in the street. Felix made the BMW his cover, concentrating harder on the bridge. The suspension cables fairly shrieked as he stressed them. He wished his Brothers were here. He would've loved to have Banner, too, but felt a new pang of anger as he thought that she wouldn't approve of his fighting an officer.

[Stern]

Stern looked around with eyes wide behind his tinted goggles as the suspension cables began to flex. It was him. He had to end this soon.

"I need a lot of help here!" Stern shouted into his walkie. "Bring lots of boats and helicopters! If this is going to go bad, it's going to go as bad as it can."

There was nothing for it. Out of rubber bullets, out of ideas, and soon to be out of time. Stern took all the metal objects he had off his belt--even his badge. He even dropped his wristwatch. Flux would have to earn any material he wanted to use against the officer.

Then Stern was back across the ocean for a moment, fighting another mutant, trying to avoid a bounty hunter, burning a terrorist alive. The mindset that saved him from his exile.

It was time to be brutal.

Stern light-jumped behind Flux, grabbed him by the back of the head and pushed with all his might to connect the masked mutant's face to the BMW.

[Flux]

A few of the cables snapped loose of the support structure as Stern shed his metal. It complicated matters, but didn't much change the overall plan. The bridge shook as it lost suspension cables, and the droves of fleeing people all fell and curled up in panic or stared up in awe at the cables which now floated over the bridge. The ends snapped together perfectly at the Brotherhood mutant's command, and with a subtle weaving of power began to play out on the length of the bridge. The work was not slowed by Stern's disappearance, nor by his success in smashing the criminal into the BMW.

The vigilante--former vigilante now, he supposed--repelled the car away and used the room to put space between himself and the cop. Flux repelled the man's own gear into his face, still working the cables, checking their positions. Only a few more moments. He turned and began to sprint towards the near end of the bridge.

[Stern]

Stern brought his hands up to block his own gear from hitting him in the face, then cut Flux off.

He grabbed Flux by the shoulders and rammed his knee into the costumed mutant's stomach.

"You will not be leaving here unless you are in handcuffs. And seeing as I can't fasten metal cuffs to you as you are, then there's only one thing to do. Final chance. Give. Yourself. Up."

[Flux]

Flux couldn't help laughing. He could feel the necessary work taking place. He doubled up under the knee, the laughter pausing as air whooshed out of him, then continuing in a wheeze as the boy tanked a few more hits before sneering up at Stern behind his mask.

"NEVER."

The thick suspension wires finally settled into place, and Flux zipped away through the air, his body torn from the officer's grasp. He was a bullet, flying away through the enormous coil gun he'd constructed from the bridge. He exited the coil, bare shoulders scraping the top of a different tractor-trailer. He came up in a back-handspring aided by magnetism and fired the enormous truck through the coil.

[Stern]

Stern was so taken by surprise by the maneuver he nearly didn't avoid the tractor-trailer in time.

"YOU!" Stern bellowed, the realization hitting him, ironically enough, like a semi-truck.

Stern closed the distance, took Felix by the collar, and hoisted him up in the air. It wasn't that hard: Felix was somewhat scrawny and Stern had been working out regularly since joining the police force.

"If I had known this would be the end result of our chance meeting all that time ago, I would not have helped you out!"

Stern flung Flux bodily to the ground and followed that up with a hard soccer-style kick.

[Flux]

Flux laughed again, bitterly this time. He yanked the mask off his face to reveal blackened eyes and swelling cheeks.

"Too bad, Brother," he smirked. "Its too late to take it all back."

The next vehicle through the coil was a city bus, parked behind Flux, still dislodging its passengers. Several fell out the open doors and into the space between the mutants in the street. The red stopping lights flared to life as the driver futilely stood on brake, unable to stop his bus from flying across the bridge. Flux watched it sail overhead with hateful glee.

"Keep on. I'll shoot every fucking thing on this bridge through the coil til its all been obliterated. I'll kill and injure and destroy just to prove to you that I can, and that you can't stop me from doing it. You can't save these mundanes, cop. They're going under our heels, either figuratively or literally."

[Stern]

Stern's ambient light was getting brighter, hotter. He could hardly see Felix, but knew the mutant was there. He knew no one would be able to look anywhere but away from him, since his light was so bright.

Stern put his right foot on Felix's chest and lent his body weight to it. He swung his left foot at Felix's temple.

[Flux]

Flux got his arms up to save his head from getting kicked off and grabbed Stern's ankle. "Come play bullet with me, Brother." Flux let himself be carried across the bridge, dragging Stern along with him. Halfway through he let the cop go and reversed himself, pulling in a rusted old pick-up truck from the other end of the coil. It was empty, but it picked up speed at a great pace, rushing through to meet Stern.

[Stern]

Stern grunted in surprise at having his feet taken out from under him and his head dragged along the length of the bridge. The officer managed to snap out of it and light jump out of Flux's grip. Before he could orient himself and continue his attack, Flux sent a brutal follow-up attack at him in the form of an abandoned pick-up truck.

Stern avoided it in the usual way. Stern was not in bad shape, but the area was. "Ok," he panted. "At what point did I lose control here?"

He could hear the helicopters' rotors and sirens on the boats surrounding he bridge. His help had arrived. Maybe now he could get things settled.

All he needed to do now was find Felix and take him out. But how to find him? "Marco!"

[Flux]

Flux couldn't hear the call over the sirens from the end of the coil. He wished he could turn and aim his makeshift cannon, but as it stood, he likely wouldn't be able to shoot down the choppers or get rid of the boats. Well, he could, really. It was just a matter of range, and none of them were close enough for the moment. He pulled himself into the coil and dropped on Stern's head as the man searched for him.

[Stern]

Stern felt Flux's weight on his shoulders a moment before feeling his face hit the tarmac. He was sick of this. Too long, he had been doing this shit on his own. Overworked, underpaid, not the first day off in the last six months. And now what was supposed to be something minor and routine had turned into a gigantic mess. All because this punk-ass kid had some kind of odd set of ideals about the superiority of mutants over non-mutants.

The kid sounded like Aslan. Aslan, the Chechen assface that got him into all this to begin with. Stern placed his palms on the ground, felt his muscles tense, then pushed up with all the explosive plyometric force he could muster to shake Flux off his back. He could have light-jumped, sure, but he wanted to feel the resistance. He wanted to feel the weight of this asshat lift off of his shoulders. He wanted the kid to know that he could literally shrug him off.

He grabbed Flux's calf and felt the metal band there. Was that how he was moving himself about? It certainly wouldn't stop him from using the bridge and vehicles. Still, any disadvantage he could impose would be helpful.

Stern grabbed the coil and pulled.

[Flux]

The metal skinned Flux's calf and ankle through the suit as Stern yanked it off his leg.

"Ow! Hey!" Flux repelled the loose coil against Stern and stood paralyzed by indecision. Fist fighting would get him nowhere. The destruction he was causing would only work for so long, and Flux got the idea that it was starting to lose its edge with the mutant cop. Stern seemed to be taking a "cut the knot" approach with his attacks on Flux, and Flux realized begrudgingly that it was a good tactic. So...what? He tried to reel back his leg coil.

[Stern]

Stern resisted Flux at first. He worked damn hard to get that coil off of the magnetic mutant's ankle. Stern was amazed the thing wasn't stuck to the kid. He let it go and followed it, his fist reaching out to impact Flux's throat as the coil reached its owner's hand.

[Flux]

Throat punches hurt. He felt a little sorry for the one he'd landed on Stern earlier as his eyes watered up and his breath hitched up at the pain. Flux swatted away a follow up and swung the metal coil in his hand as a weapon, stumbling back.

[Stern]

Stern ducked the coil, took a step forward, gave Felix a mighty kick to the midsection, and continued to advance. He would have this bastard behind bars soon enough.

[Flux]

Flux hopped back away from the kick and repelled himself into the air. He needed space to fix his coil back on and get away, if he could. Though his pride would be wounded by having to make a retreat, he could at least take solace in the havoc he'd created. He raised his leg and put the coil back on. He would later wish he'd just tried to adjust to three points of contact.

[Stern]

Got you now! Repel yourself out of this!

Stern met Felix in the air and gave his quarry a huge axe-handle smash straight into the ground.

[Flux]

Flux looked up right on time to get his nose broken by the smash. He hit the ground HARD, seeing stars and coughing. He felt like a huge, living bruise. Maybe now his superpower was to be the dull throbbing sensation of a headache broadcast to the world at large. He saw spots, and thought fleetingly that the long drop had concussed him. Then, blackness reigned.

[Stern]

The other police officers had either end of the bridge blocked off, keeping traffic away and hopefully out of reach of anymore flying cars. Stern light-jumped to one set, retrieved a collar from one of the patrol cars, and returned to Felix's unconscious body. He clamped the collar around the mutant's neck without a single twinge of regret.

Other officers, emergency response teams, and paramedics started to approach the bridge to untangle civilians stuck in cars and make right the chaos Flux had caused.

"Good job, Officer Stern," someone said to him as he stood over the criminal he just apprehended.

"Yeah, thanks. Let's get him behind bars. Just don't take the collar off him."

[Flux]

--Jericho's Federal Mutant Prison, Present Day--

"And so you were arrested," said Dr. Sumpter. "I imagine you were hospitalized for your injuries?" Flux nodded, and the psychiatrist made a thinking sound. "So your trial happened later?"

"I was still all wrapped up in bandages and half-blue from bruising. Hardly anybody could recognize my face. All through the trial I never once saw the face of anybody I knew, save my immediate family. No mutants that I knew of attended it or the press conferences. I can't say I blame them; security was super-tight. It would have been...a bad place for appearances."

"I'm sure," said the doctor non-commitally. "So what did happen?"

"Well, the trial was so widely televised and publicized that you don't need the rundown. Of course, that's not what you're after, so let me just say that it was a total fiasco. My state-provided lawyer hardly tried to defend me. The judge was just going through the motions. He spend more time doodling than he did banging a gavel or sustaining and overruling things. So they found me guilty in short order, but the judge gave me the last say, out of mock-mercy. I'm sure he wishes he hadn't."

--New York City, several months prior--

"Well, boy," said the judge, smirking as he sat back and folded his hands over the watermelon-sized gut he was smuggling under his robe, "You are, by unanimous decision, found guilty of the charges brought against you. Got anything to say there, mutant, before you're sentenced?"

Flux stood up tall, already dressed in a prison-orange jumpsuit. The serial number that would mark his infamy was absent, but then, the prison that would hold him was still being constructed.

"You think you've won today, don't you!?" Flux barked in an accusatory tone. "You think that because you've managed to stop me, imprison me, that you are safe!? You. Are. Wrong! Look around you!" An uncomfortable shuffling took place in the over-packed courtroom. "Your friends, your neighbors! Your policemen, your judges, your clerks, your own family! Any one of them could be a mutant! A person with strange and wondrous powers! Each day, more are discovered, each with abilities surpassing your own, meager existence. We are coming! We will stamp you out! There is no place to hide! No place to run! The Mutant Age has now begun!"