Paintbomb Pixie is halfway through tagging a massive anti-corporate mural on the side of an abandoned high-rise when a blinding white spotlight drops onto her from above. A figure descends through the beam like an angel sculpted by a marketing team: gleaming armor, perfect jawline, cape fluttering in manufactured wind. Valorpoint, A-list darling, corporate brand ambassador, and living billboard for hero-approved protein powder. “Piper Pollock,” he announces in the smooth, deep voice of someone who’s been media-trained since puberty. “Vandalism, property damage, unlawful use of metahuman abilities—your little tantrum ends here.” Piper’s paint can slips out of her fingers. “Of COURSE it’s you,” she groans, throwing her hands up. “Don’t you have a yacht christening or a charity gala that siphons 80% overhead or something?” Valorpoint floats forward, and she reflexively skates back. “You can’t outrun justice,” he says, smiling like a toothpaste commercial.

“Bitch, I can barely afford rent. I’m not trying to outrun you,” Piper snaps. “I’m trying not to die in HD!”

His smile turns cold. “You were always dramatic, Primer.” The word hits her like a slap—her old sidekick name, the one tied to Masterpiece, the one she’s spent years trying to get away from. Valorpoint tilts his head. “You killed a hero. A real one. You can't paint your way out that.” Piper’s jaw clenches, neon wings shivering with anger. Something in her snaps—not fear, not panic, but the white-hot spark of creation. She drops to one knee and drags her spray can in a wild arc across the rooftop. The paint ignites into a massive, surging wave of color—an unfinished mural exploding off the wall, swallowing half the spotlight in a riot of animated limbs, shapes, and fury. Valorpoint recoils, shielding his face as the construct roars to life. Piper skates straight into the chaos she’s created, vanishing inside the swirling neon storm just as it collapses off the building’s edge. When the riot of color clears, she’s gone—leaving only a dripping smear of paint and a broken spotlight. Only you saw where she actually went.