“Are we done yet?” Mav groaned.

“In a moment,” Koda said, typing on the screen in his uniform’s left arm. It was already filled with a mass of tiny text. Anyone who might want to look over his shoulder to see what he’d written would immediately be forced to give up due to the block of information. For Koda, however, it was perfectly legible. He put in the last bits of data he’d found. “Done.”

“Finally!” Mav said, pushing off from the desk and standing up, his chair clattering to the floor.

They were sitting in an office with an ovular table and a dozen chairs. No windows to look outside, no large screen on the wall for presentations which likely happened in the room. The place was lit by only one working light on the ceiling. A perfect environment for Koda to work, so he hadn’t asked for a different room from the receptionist in the front hall. Mav would have preferred a brighter place, likely with a view outside, but would have felt it rude to ask for one, especially since the receptionist had already looked nervous enough giving them this space.

“Hold it,” Koda said.

“What now?” Mav said. “We have our info. Now let’s go find these bastards and take them down!”

“Rushing in will help no one, Mav.”

“And waiting for someone else to get kidnapped definitely won’t. Look, we have a good start. We wander the streets and inspect any service vehicles we see.”

In the four hours they’d spent scanning through last week’s video feed from various government and local business cameras, they’d found one common denominator between most of the twenty-three missing persons: service vehicles. Of the sixteen victims the cameras had picked up minutes before their capture, thirteen were seen with unmarked service vans nearby.

It could have been a coincidence, as city maintenance happened daily, but it could also have been a clever front: taking people under the guise of repairing the city. 

It was also their only lead.

“And how are we going to ‘inspect’ these vehicles?” Koda said. “Remember, we were only told to act when we have absolute proof of wrongdoing.”

“Easy,” Mav said. “I’ll ask them politely to open their trunks. They won’t deny a Peace Keeper.”

“Unless they actually have bodies in the back.”

“Then I’ll know they’re bad and I’ll act. Boom. Absolute proof.”

Koda closed his eyes, held, then opened. “That’s not how that works.”

“Then View around here and find a service vehicle. If there are people tied in bags or strung up on the wall, then we have our proof. And we can get them!”

So determined, so good-natured. Yet so naive. Sure, with Koda’s Gift, he could View the surrounding space, within reason, and possibly find people in the process of being kidnapped. If they acted immediately, however, then they saved one person. If Koda followed that van back to their hideout, then they could rescue them all.

And that was all if service vehicles were used as a front.

Regardless, Koda couldn’t explain that to Mav. He’d never let a defenseless civilian be used as bait, even if that meant they could hook a behemoth.

“Here’s what we should do,” Koda said, pulling up a map of the area. All twenty-three victims were taken within a mile-and-a-half radius of Linick’s largest administration district, which held both the terminal and the Spire. “I can cover a lot more ground, so you check this block, while I View the rest.”

A grin broke over Mav’s face as he punched his palm. “Perfect. Now, let’s go get these assholes!”

And, Titans willing, I get them first, so we can be done with this much faster.

Mav had to punch something. So it was a good thing the Titans blessed him with three evildoers just two minutes after entering the block Koda had told him to investigate.

Mav called Koda over his comms. “Found a car. Gonna go have a chat.”

Koda would come by to back him up in a few minutes, but Mav could handle himself before then. The service vehicle he found was driving down an alley off the main street right toward him. Perfect. He hopped into the middle of the path and the car stopped.

Easy.

“Excuse me, gentlemen,” Mav said. “Please leave the vehicle and open your trunk for me.”

The driver, a squat and wide man, looked at the man in the nearest passenger seat – who was much taller and had a gaunt face – and the other one in the farther seat – who seemed both short like the driver, but skinny like the middle passenger – then back to Mav. In a gruff voice he asked, “What seems to be the problem, Peace Keeper?”

“Got a lead about those kidnapped people,” Mav said. “Now open the trunk so I can prove your innocence.”

The skinny man inhaled, but the squat driver scowled. “Unless you got a warrant, I ain’t doin’ shit.”

Mav grinned. Absolute proof.

Mav rushed to the trunk, but it was locked. Instead of driving away, which Mav feared they would try, two doors from the van’s side opened and feet hit the ground. A slight chill settled over Mav as he melted the lock, then flung the trunk open. 

A man and a woman, both probably in their thirties, were gagged and bound to the walls. It was a deep trunk, which could allow these evil men to stuff several more people inside. 

“Shouldn’t have done that,” the squat driver said, coming from the left.

He raised his leg, preparing to stomp the ground. Inside the van, the man was unconscious, but the woman’s drooping eyes met Mav’s, pleading. 

“Flashfire...” Mav growled, his left arm whipping to the side. The chill intensified and a small, controlled blast escaped his palm, blowing the squat driver backwards. “... Burst.” 

The man in the passenger seat came from Mav’s right. The short guy leaped back, pulling bottles off his uniform belt, and threw them on the ground. A wave of water – larger than should have fit in those containers – burst forth, reaching to Mav. 

“Fire Shield!” Mav slammed his hands on the ground before him. A pillar of flame erupted before the wave, blasting the central portion into steam while the rest harmlessly passed by him. 

Before he could engage the skinny worker, the ground shook. The squat driver was on his feet, glaring at Mav as he quickly patted his smoldering uniform to put out the small flame that remained. Mav regained his balance, but the skinny worker was waving his arms in a circle, forcing the water to arch in the air. Mav took a quick breath, unclenching his left fist. The chill in his core worsened as a dozen points of concentrated fire dotted his palm. 

“Flaming Scattershot!” 

Mav thrust his arm skyward, sending the tiny fireballs at the gathering water. Large wafts of steam exploded outward, the rest of the liquid water raining harmlessly onto the ground. Then, a fireball the size of a fist pummeled Mav in the chest, forcing him several feet back. 

Mav smirked. “Thanks for warming me up!” 

The new assailant was the tall and gaunt middle passenger, standing atop the van, already holding another fireball. On the left, the squat man was lowering his foot to the ground to make it rumble again. On the right, the skinny man reached for two more containers from his belt – looked like he had four more after this. 

With renewed warmth, Mav brought his hands behind him, facing the road diagonally. “Short-burst Rocket!” 

His gathered energy exploded at his palms, propelling him toward the gaunt man as the muscular one stomped on the street. The alley blurred as Mav flew. Then he placed a well-timed kick on the gaunt man that sent him onto the main street. Mav’s momentum practically stopped, so he twisted in midair, body chilling as flames erupted over his arms. He landed on the van and extended his fiery palms at the other two. 

“Flamethrower!” 

A stream of orange fire engulfed the fake service workers. They screamed, backing and flailing away as their clothes caught fire. 

Mav descended as the men burned, removed the victims from the van, and placed them against a nearby building. Water spouted from beneath the burning men, dousing the flames that enveloped them. Mav gathered heat into his palm, forming a sphere of fire the size of his head. 

“Fire Blast!” 

The eruption of steam that followed whipped a hot wind down the alley. Caught in the middle of it, the kidnapper’s howls of pain were cut short as the explosive pressure blasted them into the alley’s walls. Two thumps sounded as they hit the ground, motionless.

Mav placed his fingers on their necks, in turn finding a pulse on both of them. Alive, but unconscious. Perfect. Now they could spend the rest of their lives paying for their crimes. But first…

Mav rose and faced the main street. It was time to deal with the gaunt Flame Dancer.