Better not linger in her starting place too much longer. Yellow's faster than her and may have already come home to a wreck. Thorn might have a habit of checking up on the place, even, just in case. She's invisible, inaudible, unsmellable - that won't help if he sends someone thorough. Or comes in person.
She sets out.
She's been flying for about thirty minutes after her shopping trip when she falls through a tear and squeaks inaudibly and lands in the middle of -
Blue whoops and rockets up to meet Shatterbird fists first.
Her target shatters like glass. Exactly like glass, in fact. When nothing is left of it but fragments, the real Shatterbird rises to meet them from behind.
Blue charges Shatterbird.
Mannequin breaks off from the fight. He's carrying Vista in one of the far too long limbs he has attached to his body by chains. He walks away, apparently unworried about the increased pressure on his teammates, and beckons to Promise to follow him.
His name snaps correctly when she looks at him, he's not a decoy - does he know? He didn't hear her yell but maybe he doesn't know -
"Cooperate with Alexandria," Promise tells the clones, "catch up with me or rendezvous at the hospital after -"
And then she chases Mannequin.
He's not exactly running. Each stroke of a limb looks more like a flop than anything else. But on balance he ends up making good time, if not as good as Promise can. Once satisfied none of the clones are following, he turns a corner and heads straight down a particular alley.
Well, if he's not going to run, she can try landing on him and trying to pull Vista away, just in case the obvious thing works for once.
After a brief interval of no harm on either side, he opens a door.
"Let her go," mutters Promise, not with much hope, and she heals Vista, because she's seen Vista enough before to do that. How is he even seeing? Is he seeing? If she knew where to put a fairylight order -
He lets his hostage down, and leaves through another exit to rejoin the fight. Vista is awake and standing under her own power, but doesn't try to leave.
Space is rippling; Promise won't be able to make a gate stay.
"Do? Bonesaw did mess with my power so it'd keep doing this on its own, but I can forgive her for that."
"- I'll try not to take too much offense at that. Anyway, your test presented me with a bit of a problem. Because you see there's nobody you really like. It tops out at the sort of distant concern for your fellow living things that, say, Vista over there gets. You'll chase supervillains into dark alleys for her, but you'd do that for most anyone. And this means that you just - don't - have - any - friends."
"I want you to have friends. In fact, I want it so much that I'm not even going to make you do anything for this test. It's basically a free pass and you aren't even my candidate - although we do have room for more than we did back when we were nominating, so it's not necessarily so zero-sum. You'll have more friends eventually, but you're going to start with me."
Promise tries the door. It will not, of course, open.
"Vista, do you have any control over your power?"
No, she needs to concentrate and brute force at least one of their names.
Ni. Paige; pay; age. Mcabee; mc; cab; ab; bee. Pig; pih; ig -
"This will be easier and faster and pleasanter all round if you don't fight me," purrs Cherish. "Come on now. Nothing to be afraid of, I'm not going to hurt you."