11/23/80 (Nick/Eldritch)

I had no clue what time it was when I woke up.  We’d been up all night and late into the morning chasing down Shock and Awe.

It had been a spectacular waste of time though since Hive got involved and her splits harassed us, slowed us down dramatically.  The longer the night had dragged on, the more agitated Psycho ended up becoming.

At a certain point, Hive vanished and left us to cope with the unhinged Lunatic leader; eventually we’d had to fight off his horde of apparitions until Pacifism soothed him.  We were all glad when she stepped in; Psycho had refused to accept that Awe was incredibly fast, even without his brother giving him a constant charge. However, when Pacifism stopped subduing him, Psycho’s bloodlust resurged with a vengeance.  He continued forcing us to keep searching even when the trail went cold; it was a blessing for all of us when he finally started to fall asleep.

I got up slowly, surprised to see Bargain upright.  The man had given himself enough juice to single handedly beat the ever-living fuck out of both Shock and Awe.  Even though it had taken six of us to fight Beleth, he’d fought both lieutenants alone and won, convincingly too, for the better part of fifteen minutes.    

It begged the question of what his power ceiling was exactly.

However, even though he was awake, he looked haggard as hell.  Bags under his eyes, body bruised and his breathing labored.

“You gonna be okay?” I asked as I lugged myself over to the kitchen and avoided the pair of bodies on the floor.  Mutant hadn’t gone home but instead had to stay here to heal. Apparently damage translated between forms which made his travel form very vulnerable; Beleth hitting him had broken over half the bones in his body and damaged a good chunk of his vital organs.  Since he’d gone down, Mutant had been swapping between slug and slumbering human, his body desperately trying to mend the nearly fatal blow he’d endured.

Beyond Mutant, Roger had stayed the night at Murphy’s house since Yuki was still mostly bedridden and we hadn’t wanted to move her after our exhausting ordeal.   

Bargain nodded, “I put a lot of stress on myself to fight those two.  I’m basically an invalid the rest of the day.”

“How long were you supercharged?”

“About thirty minutes,” he said as he grabbed a cup of coffee in a shaky hand.  “Now I get to experience extreme fatigue, a palsy, effective hemophilia, and headaches for twenty hours.”

I knew that Bargain’s drawbacks were somehow tied to the gifts he was given but it begged the question, “Why headaches?”

“Electrical resistance.  Now I get to deal with a nervous system that doesn’t stop sending feedback to my brain.”  He looked up at me, “All due respect, be as quiet as possible. Existing is hell right now.”

I nodded and grabbed a cup of tea, quietly leaving the kitchen to sit out on Murphy’s back porch and try to keep it together.  

Two days since my fight with my dad and since I was kicked out of my house.  Two days since my world was turned topsy turvy and I had become another resident of Murphy’s growing halfway house for homeless Adapted.  

While he wasn’t thrilled for my circumstances, Murphy wasn’t exactly wrought with despair that his best friend was living with him now.  For as messed up as he was, Murphy did a pretty decent job looking on the brighter side of things.

I didn’t get much solace as the door opened a few minutes later with Roger coming outside.  

“Hey.”  

“Hey yourself,” I muttered mid-sip.  “How’s she holding up?”

“She’ll be alright.  Still a bit weak on her feet, but strength is coming back quick.  Another day or two and she should be normal.”

Four days since Menagerie had grossly Overexerted herself and lapsed into a small coma.  Even with the tincture from Organelle and ninety-six hours of time to heal, she was still weak and pale.  At least now she could draw; that meant a lot for her since she had burned up a whole notebook saving us from our first round with the king of Ciel.  

There was a moment of silence that I appreciated.  Roger didn’t have to always talk like Rebecca or Murphy, and Alexis and I had been a bit awkward if we were alone since she had kissed me and disclosed her affection.  Roger was the only one of us content to simply be.

“You know,” I finally said, “It’s weird what gets to us.”

He turned and raised an eyebrow, “How so?”

“Bargain told me that I’d killed nearly ten people when we fought with Suppression.  And I watched that kid kill another dozen…and I feel a little guilty, but it barely seems to register.  Isn’t that weird?”

“Maybe?  I’ve gassed people, beaten people with a club, and I don’t feel a lot of guilt.”

“Aren’t we supposed to feel remorse though?  I mean, we aren’t hardened criminals, are we?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know man.  You should have asked Big Picture.  If anyone would have had an answer, it would have been him.”

“Well,” I added, “My confusion is that I have extraordinary amounts of guilt for what happened with my parents.  I didn’t really hurt my dad…I just rattled him honestly. But even so, for endangering them, for scaring them, for acting out,” I trailed off, choked up.  

“I get it.”

“Shouldn’t I feel something else then about killing people?  Shouldn’t they matter?”

“Man, I just wanted to come outside for some air, I wasn’t expecting to get hit with an existential crisis,” he lamented.  “I mean, maybe. But maybe you’re only feeling bad over what is really important to you. Maybe, you just know that you shouldn’t feel guilty for protecting yourself and doing what needed to be done.  It’s lousy, but Suppression hardly had intentions of treating us well after all.”

It was as good an explanation as I could hope for I supposed.  

“What time is it anyways?”

“Nearly four in the afternoon,” he said with a yawn, “Goddamn Psycho is flipping our sleep schedule on its head.”  

“At least now we have the least threatening chaperone with us,” I pointed out, “Silver linings and all.”

He rolled his eyes, “Oh, yay.  We’re more trusted by a psychotic fugitive who has a sinister agenda.  I’m glad I don’t have as stringent a curfew to adhere to.”  

I let out a soft chuckle.  

“Hey, you know what you should do.”

“What?”

“Talk to your parents.  Between the lot of us, you’re the only person with parents you might be able to salvage a relationship with.  I say go for it.”

“I grew like fifty kilograms of mass and slapped my dad with it.  I don’t think he’s going to be thrilled to hear from me.”

“So go home with no mass and be open with him,” a new voice added.  Alexis dragged herself out and sat down, claiming the last seat of the concrete step.  “Your parents are probably spooked and scared of you. They can’t explain you and people are afraid of what they don’t understand.  If you go with no option to grow, that might make them less afraid and willing to start mending bridges.”

“You know my dad,” I muttered, “You think he’ll be willing to play ball with shit like this?”

“If you don’t try, you’ll never know,” Roger countered.  “For someone who has fought Beleth twice, this seems like a cakewalk.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes, “Fighting makes sense and feels almost more native now than trying to figure out what I should do with other people.”

“Nick,” Alexis said with a shake of her head, “Go talk to your parents.  Roger is right: you’re the only one with a possibility of keeping a relationship alive.  Go in ‘unarmed’ as it were and try to have an open dialogue. If you want some backup, bring Murphy along.”

“Not sure if that’s a great idea,” I said at length, “My dad is gonna feel threatened if I come with another Adapted right beside me.  Even if I can’t grow, my dad can’t hope to fight Murphy even if he was armed. Plus, my dad is an old fashioned sort of dude in a lot of ways; it’ll mean more if I come alone and talk to him man-to-man.”

Roger nodded, “Does not sound like a good time…but you should still probably do it.”

“You’re right,” I admitted.  “Alexis, I’m going to take a quick shower and then can you drive me over?”

She nodded.  “Anything you need.”

Inside, Murphy was still knocked out.  While I’m not sure he’d have pertinent life advice to give me, it wouldn’t have hurt to hear from my best friend about this whole situation.  However, he was the only one of us fast enough to catch up to Awe while he was carting around his brother; Murphy had done his best to stop both of them, but Psycho’s constructs had gotten in his way since the man was so out of control and desperate to kill something.  If he’d actually trusted us, I think my friend could have smacked the tar out of Awe.

But it had meant he was pressing himself and leaping atop buildings and running full tilt to try and keep up with a big name Enhancer who was known for being aggressively fast.  As strong as my friend was, he needed some rest.

I left him be and took a shower, trying to get my head on straight.  Even though I couldn’t lash out and accidentally activate my power this time, I hated feeling out of control and like I was about to lose my cool.

Fifteen minutes later and I piled into Alexis’ car, just as the sun started to dip.  

“You want me to wait outside?” she asked as she drove slow, cautious as plenty of people were coming home from work or leaving for a later shift at the industrial sector of the city.  “I know your dad won’t care for me being right next to you-“

“Go to a coffee shop and kill some time or something,” I said.  “I don’t think he’ll do anything worse than maybe rough me up some.  I get some mass, grow, and any damage he might have done will be mended.”

Alexis was clearly concerned, but I couldn’t give her a better response than to shrug.  

She gave me a conciliatory hug and took off as I steadied myself, adrenaline hammering through my veins as I walked up to the front door.  I looked at the handle, glad there was no blood on it this time as I twisted and pushed it open, hardly daring to breathe as I crossed the threshold.  

No angry greeting this time, no mom crying on the couch.  

In fact…no one at all.  The car was out front; someone had to be home.    

“Mom, dad,” I called out.

From the back of the house, a shout was heard. “Nick, RU-“

My world lurched forward as I found myself suddenly dragged into the entryway and the door slammed shut on its own accord.  I lost my balance as the ground shifted under me, falling hard on my ass as I was dragged across the house.

I tried to get on all fours, but the concrete molded around my hands and pulled them to my side, forcing me to smack my face against the unforgiving floor.  Blood filled my mouth as a I bit my cheek and continued to move back to the living room, guided by the animated concrete.

The world shifted and little hands of rock spun me around to see a familiar figure standing in my living room.  Beleth.

Behind him were my parents, both bound to chairs he’d constructed from the floor.  

“Nick!  You made it,” the kingpin said as he looked down at me.  

I was petrified and couldn’t find words as I gasped and left my mouth hanging open.  

“What, you aren’t going to grow?  No immense monster action today?” he asked, condescending.  “Surely you aren’t just going to roll over this time.”

“I-I-I-“

“Spit it out!” he demanded.

“I can’t!  No mass! No growths!” I shouted in earnest, doing my best to simply expel the words.  

His eyes widened in what looked like a paradoxical mix of frustration and relief.  “Well, isn’t that a shame,” he muttered as he made himself a chair and took a seat.  “I work so hard engineering a situation that gives me the drop on you, and you aren’t even in fighting shape.  Seems wrong to kill an Adapted who can’t hit back, doesn’t it?”

I managed to swallow a lump in my throat and slowly nodded, silently willing my heart to slow down.  

“Eldritch-“ he started and then stopped.  “It hardly feels right to call you that when you look like this.  Nick,” Beleth corrected, “Do you know why I’m here?”

“I-“

“It’s because you’re a pussy,” a gruff voice shouted from across the room.  

Beleth’s chair sank into the floor as I looked past the leader of the Surface Dwellers to my father.  That same anger that I’d seen last time I visited, there it was again, but this time directed somewhere else.  

Beleth’s initial surprise turned to a laugh.  “You’re going to shit talk the guy who is holding you captive?”

“Would you rather I lie to you?” he spat back, defiant.  

As he took a step forward, I finally found my voice.  “Beleth, wait! They have nothing to do with this! They didn’t know about me until Psycho came here a few days ago, okay?  Just…let them go. They won’t call anyone, I promise.”

For a moment, he stopped.  “Nick, I want to explain something to you.  You live to oppose me, I get it. I respect you for it.  You and your friends, you’ve been a complete pain in my ass for a while now and have made a hell of a show of it.”

I nodded, feeling decidedly uneasy.  

“But you’ve caused a lot of problems for me.  So, I’m going to return the favor.” With no additional warning, he spun back and punched my dad straight in the face a few times.  My father’s head snapped around as he could only do so much to roll with the half dozen punches he was forced to endure.

When he finally stopped and admired his handiwork, everyone present was shocked when my dad sat up and spat a glob of blood onto the crime lord, his gaze narrow and resolute.    

“You insolent-“

“Shut up you brat,” my dad snapped, actually cowing the Adapted villain.  “For all that machismo you can talk up, you had to ambush my son and take hostages?  All that power and you hit like a fucking toddler! If you let me out, I’d fucking wipe the floor with you, Adaptation or not!  You’re just a little boy pretending to be a big man, aren’t you?”

Even though I couldn’t see his face, I could just tell from Beleth’s posture my dad had managed to find a nerve.  But as quickly as the rage came, it was replaced by something much more frightening: laughter.

“You’re probably right, Mr. Weld, and in a fair fight, you’d wipe the fucking floor with me.”  Beside him, a little pillar of malleable concrete rose and Beleth dipped his hand in it. “But, life’s hardly fair, is it?”  The pillar sank back into the floor and left the Adapted with a gauntlet of stone.

“No!” I shouted and tried to get up; he didn’t even turn around but instead just erected half a dozen spikes that all pressed against me.

“Stay,” he demanded as if he was addressing his dog.  Horrified, I watched as he turned back to my dad. Beside him, my mother was crying but refused to turn away; she twisted her wrist to try and tap a finger on her husband’s forearm, a little reminder he wasn’t alone.  

And then Beleth swung.  

Even though it wasn’t graceful, even though it wasn’t elegant, there was simply enough weight on the man’s arm to snap my dad’s head to the side and throw blood from his mouth.  Before he could recover, Beleth threw his whole body into a massive backhand; my dad’s frame went limp. Bloody saliva oozed from his mouth and dribbled down his chin as his face began to visibly swell.

“Your dad is a tough bastard,” Beleth said as he turned back to me, gauntlet still equipped.  The spikes withdrew and he pointed to the ground.

I obliged and sat down.  

“Are you familiar with the term ‘breakage’, Nick?”

I nodded.  “it’s-it’s a loss of money because of damages.”  

“Good, exactly right.  Do you know what your little crew has cost me because of your shit?”  

“No,” I replied honestly.

“Moving my whole drug operation, huge.  Cost me one hell of a pretty penny. And you lot cost me my contract with Xandal which was going to set me up for life.”

Hearing him mention that man actually cut through some of my fear with a sudden surge of anger.  “You’d fucking work with Suppression?”

Beleth cocked his head, “He was going to pay through the nose simply to ensure I got rid of you guys.  Of course I was going to take his job.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  I knew Beleth was a bad guy, but working actively with Suppression as an Adapted?  “I wish Parasite had snapped your neck,” I muttered. “I thought Psycho was bad, but you’re worse.”

To my surprise, there was a flash of recognition and fear in Beleth as I mentioned our recent warden.  “You think I’m worse than that freak? You think I’m worse off than that psychotic nutcase? He’s just here to cause a panic, and you’re helping him!”

“Because maybe he’s right and knows that you need to be gotten rid of!” I snapped back, pulling myself to my feet.  

Beleth snarled and jabbed forward, hitting me square in the shoulder with his concrete gauntlet; it knocked me back a step and the ground slid out from under me like a tablecloth being yanked clear.  

I found myself landing hard on my ass once again.

“You really want to pick a fight with me when you don’t have mass to burn?” he shouted as concrete warped around me, binding my ankles to the ground.  “Are you serious? You might be scary as shit when you’re the size of a small building, but right now, you’re just some punk kid.”

I tried to sit up and was rewarded with a foot stomping on my chest, forcing me down.  

“You and you’re obnoxious little friends have cost me a lot of money, a lot of time, and a lot of credibility around this city.  And it’s because of you that people like Psycho have started showing up here! It was all-“ he stomped down on me, “going to be-“ he kicked me in the face, “perfect!”

“Enough!” my mother called out, her voice shaky.  “Please, stop.”

Beleth finally stopped and turned back to her, composing himself as I was finally given the room to sit up.  “Mrs. Weld, I don’t think you appreciate what your boy has cost me.”

“Is it worth what you plan to take from him?” she replied, doing her best to take up my father’s role of strong and unyielding.  He was still limp beside her, bloody saliva continuing to slowly drain from his face.

He stepped forward cautiously, as if afraid of her.  “I have a reputation to keep,” he said plainly.

“And assaulting a 17 year old boy and his family is really the reputation you want to uphold?  If you want to be the king of something, you need people to respect you; is this something you consider respectable?”

I was afraid he was going to smack her like he had dad; I almost let out a relieved sigh when Beleth took a step back from her and put his hands behind his back.  “With all due respect, Mrs. Weld, your boy is far beyond average. I have made it clear that there are consequences for those who would dare harm my business, and he has taken it upon himself to intrude on my trade numerous times.  Whether or not this is a respectable event, ma’am, I believe that I am to be a man of my word.”

“Even when your word is horse-shit?” my dad groaned as he slowly sat up, his words slurring.  “You’re just a thug pretending he’s something else.”

The kingpin turned to my defiant father.  “I see why your son doesn’t go down easily.  Good to know he came by his grit honestly.”

“Beleth!” I cried, “Let them go!”

He turned to glare at me, animosity radiating out.  “If I let them go, you keep working for Psycho. He gets to use them as leverage, gets to keep you coming after me, even if you promise me that you won’t.”

“I-I-I can figure something out.  They can run-”

“Don’t be naive,” he growled, “The second I’m not here, you go back to fighting me because Psycho scares you, you already hate me, and he’s clearly not afraid to get his hands dirty.”  Beleth took two steps towards me and leaned down, lowering his voice to almost a whisper. “I’m going to make sure you’re more scared of me from now on.”

My eyes widened as I took in his intentions.

I reached up and grabbed Beleth’s collar, as if keeping him from walking across the room would do anything.  More annoyed than anything else, he smacked me with the gauntlet he’d made and drove the wind out of my lungs.  Still, I refused to let go and took another slam to the gut for my struggle. With my body demanding air, Beleth was able to pull himself away and take a step back.  

I tried to get up but more concrete wove around my legs, ensuring I couldn’t wriggle free.  

“You should have really thought about what you kids were doing,” Beleth said reproachfully as he stalked back towards my parents.  “That shit you pulled with Big Picture, that was really where you guys went wrong.”

“Someone had to fucking stand up to you!” I shouted.  “At least when Imperium was around you were kept in check!”

“And I should really say thank you for helping get rid of Shockwave,” Beleth replied, “But then…you just had to keep going.  Attacking my informant in his legitimate place of business, bringing Suppression close to Pyre and Goliath, these are things I simply cannot abide.  You endangered my people by breaking those rules we had as Adapted, Eldritch,” he said, lapsing to my Reckoner name, “Did you think that was something I could forgive?”

“And working for Suppression doesn’t violate a rule?”

He sneered, “The upside of wearing no mask, I’m not the same as the rest of you.”  

“You’re right, you’re worse!  You rationalize being a spoiled brat who doesn’t have to play by the rules because you refuse to in the first place!  You don’t want to accept you’re just like the rest of us!  You’re no fucking king, you’re a fucking kid throwing a tantrum because something caught up with him!”  As the words tumbled out of my mouth, I barely heard myself. Instead, it sounded like the defiant and angry voice I only attributed to my father.  

I looked past Beleth and looked at my dad; despite everything happening around him, he was wearing a delirious smile.  Beside him, my mom wore a small grin as the two shifted to wrap their index fingers together.

Beleth was furious, seething as I looked back up to him, embracing my familial resolve and defiance.  His scowl deepened as he took a step to the side to allow better visibility of his captives. “And now you’re an orphan.”

From the ground a spike erupted and impaled my father.  He shook and looked down at the spire of stone that was coated in his blood.  

“Michael!” my mom screamed as she struggled against the bonds.  

Even as he was bleeding out, my dad didn’t seem too scared.  He looked up from the spike to me and nodded slowly.

The whole world seemed to be muted as I watched him rapidly expire.  I was dimly aware of my mom shrieking but, for a second, all I could think about was what I wish I could have told my dad.  He’d pushed me, maybe too hard, but when the chips were down, he didn’t screw me over. Even though I had assaulted him with my Adaptation, he had abstained from involving authorities.  Even when being threatened by Beleth, he tried to draw the kingpin’s attention to protect me. Even now, he wasn’t cursing me, but was happy to see his son grow a spine and get a glimmer of understanding and appreciation for his firm edge.  

He would never know how much I would miss him.

My mom saying my name pulled me back to reality.  “Nick,” she repeated, “It’s okay. You’re going to-”

A curved spire of concrete zipped through her brain, killing her instantly.  

The bindings around my leg faded back into the floor and Beleth lingered at the edge of the room, glaring down at me as I slowly pulled myself across the floor, as if getting closer would change the events I had just watched unfold.  

Getting closer didn’t change that I had watched my parents die.      

“You started playing with monsters,” Beleth said as he started walking away, “Next time Psycho demands something from you, remember what a real monster looks like.”

I barely registered what he said as tears streamed down my face.  But, as one last means of checking, I reached forward and touched my parents, as if somehow it might shock them out of it.  

One-hundred and fifty-three kilograms ready to consume.

My breath caught in my chest as my power affirmed they were irrevocably dead.  I could only consume decaying flesh, and now they qualified.

But, now I had something I could use to fight Beleth.  As I looked at my parents, my sorrow turned to rage.

Beleth had to be stopped.  He was too powerful a force in Ciel and too dangerous to be left alive; if he did something like this to me, what would he do to everyone else I cared about?  I wasn’t about to let anyone else experience this nightmare.

“You think you’re a monster,” I called out to Beleth as I willed my gift to consume the flesh before me.  

“What the-” I heard him sputter, horrified as my parents dissolved into nothing more than skeletons.  

“I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT A TRUE MONSTER LOOKS LIKE!”      

 Previous Chapter – Next Chapter   

    It was daunting being in a room alone with Titan.  Did he know what I had been doing before this?

    Still, I was used to saving face.  “Are you here to kill me?”

    Titan raised an eyebrow, “Why would I do that?  If I wanted you to die, I would have just let Psycho kill you.  Who do you think sent Playlist to go pick you up?”

    He had a point.  “If you sent him, you must know what I was doing.”

    Titan nodded, “I’m aware of your dealing with Suppression.”

    “So I’ll just ask again, you aren’t planning to kill me?”

    “Why would I kill one of my own?” he asked with genuine confusion.  “Have you ever heard of me killing another Adapted.”  Titan paused, biting his lip with agitation, “With one exception,” he added.  “And that was an act of self-preservation. But my incident with Manta aside, when do I ever attack Adapted?”

    “You don’t.  However-“

    “Beleth, let me be clear,” he interrupted.  “You are alive because I want you alive. I know of your dealing with Xandal, and I understand why you took the offer, or at least attempted to.  You will not be following through on his directions though.”

    I frowned, “Do you know why he wanted to employ me?  Do you know what’s fucking happening, Titan?”

    “More than you know.”

    Galling barely described this man and his dismissive nature.  “You sure about that? Last I heard you’ve been running around melting places down and fighting the government.  You’ve had time to look up in the sky and see?”

    “This coming from the guy tethered to the ground?”

    “The Trillodan,” I spat, “Did you know they are hanging around, investigating Tso’got?  I don’t care how powerful you are, do you think you can measure up to Protocol 37? Do you really think we would stand a chance against them if they decide to annihilate us?  You think Suppression is deranged to want those crazy fuckers go away? What is it you think you’re going to do, fight them?”

    “And who else is going to do it?”

    I paused a moment.  “What?”

    “Who else is going to fight the Trillodan?” he asked again, very matter of fact.  “I don’t see anyone volunteering.”

    I drew back, “Are-are you being serious right now or have you just completely lost your fucking mind?”

    The Projector-Conjurer shrugged, “Who knows?  Is any Adapted really all there in the first place?”

    He made a strangely valid point.  “Titan, this isn’t a fight you could hope to win.  They are the fucking Trillodan.”

    “Yes, I know, they are scary enough to make even the great Beleth turn traitor,” he said with a condescending smile.  “I’m well aware of how damnably terrifying they are, Beleth, believe me. But, have you ever stopped to consider the math behind us?”

    I frowned, “The math?”

    “The math that would have to correspond to our actions.  Consider what you do, how much rock and ground you casually shift around you like it is putty.  Have you thought about the force required to move tonnes of concrete and stone?”

    “No,” I confessed.  

    “People have shot rockets into the ground and done less damage than you can do with a single thought.  You leveled a building to prove a point when you claimed control of Ciel,” he pointed out with a dramatic wave.  “Have you ever taken a thought about how preposterous our gifts are?”

    I remained quiet, nodding thoughtfully.  

    “There has never been anyone like us,” Titan said, sobering up, “Be it because some strange cosmic fluke or biological mutation, nothing like us has ever been seen in the cosmos.  We’re significant enough to attract the Trillodan, that should tell you something.”

    “So you think that because we’re such a weird anomaly, we’re able to fight a race that has spent centuries killing planets and advanced civilizations?” I countered, pointing out the grandiose nature of his sentiment.  

    “No one like the Trillodan has ever existed, and no one like us have ever existed,” he replied.  “If we are eligible to actually stand up to them, who will be?”

    “Maybe someone who can actually go to war with those monsters?”

    Titan frowned, “And will the Trillodan ever allow a species to catch up with them in terms of technology?”

    I had no response to that one; their known pattern was to appear and eradicate anyone who was developing technology that would allow for advanced travel and warping capabilities.  Humanity had been on the cusp of faster than light travel, and then it was torn away from us. Tso’got lacked the infrastructure Earth had and much of the tools required to make such precise machinery simply didn’t exist now.  

    “And you believe Adaptations are nature’s answer to the cosmic tyrants?” I finally said.  “Do you honestly believe that?”

    He shrugged, “I don’t know.  But, I do know that no one like us has ever existed in recorded history.  We are unique, and we are extremely powerful. I think we would be doing the universe a disservice to not use our gifts to the fullest.”

    “And you believe that is a suicide mission?”

    “Beleth, your most trusted people, are they Zari?”

    I raised an eyebrow, “No.”

    “Are they humans?”

    “Yes.”

    “Wrong,” he said.  “They are Adapted.”

    My lip curled in a sneer, “You’re saying we aren’t human?  Last I checked, we all bleed red.”

        “But can all humans move the ground like you do?  Do other humans have a small reactor built into them like I do?  Can they split like Hive? Face it, Beleth, we aren’t normal in the slightest.”  He paused, collecting himself, “We all come together, unwittingly. Even before most Adapt, they connect with people who themselves are bound to Adapt later.”

    “You expect me to refer to myself as an alien?”

    Titan frowned, “No, not…exactly.  We’re human in a sense, but we’re also different.  We’re a tiny percentage of the population and we don’t mesh with the rest of our species.  All of us find ourselves subject to overwhelming adversity and instead draw upon the strength of others like us.  Do you honestly think there isn’t something more than just chance driving this?”

        “Talk of community coming from the nomadic bastard,” I harped, “That’s rich.”

        “Nomadic?  No, no,” he said with a laugh, “I wasn’t just wandering aimlessly.  I was recruiting.”

        My eyes widened, “You were recruiting for this silly crusade of yours?  Do the people you recruited know what they are getting into?  Or have I been blessed to be the first person who gets to learn about your zealotry?”

        His gaze narrowed, “You say it like I’m making a cult.”

        “Am I wrong?”

        “Being determined and with a cause in mind doesn’t make me a cult leader.”

        “Having to justify why you aren’t a cult leader only makes you sound more like a fanatic, you do realize this, don’t you?”  I stopped for a moment and widened my eyes, “You saved me so you could recruit me, and everyone else in Surface Dwellers, didn’t you?”

        Titan nodded slowly.  

        “You expect us to go along with your insanity?”

        “You’d really not care for the alternative,” he said quietly, “And neither would I.”

        “You’d strong arm me?” I demanded, enraged.

        “No,” he replied calmly, “But I would undo my interference.  Do you really want me to hand you back over to Psycho?”

        I felt myself pale, “No.”

    He paused a moment, “Who is he anyways?”

    “He was a low level gangster several years ago in the Stel cluster, along with a guy named Landslide. Originally, Psycho went by Empath and had the power to manipulate emotions of those around him; he had a surprisingly strong hold on people with mental illness, it made him invaluable in manipulating other Adapted since most of us have a screw loose.”

    “But?”

    “Snatchers caught wind of us and nabbed him along with two others. I,” I paused, ashamed, “I hid, afraid.”

    Titan didn’t say anything for a moment as I pulled myself together.

    “Titan, have you ever seen the inside of an Asylum?”

    He nodded. “I burned one down a year ago. Melted it down into a heap of smoldering metal. I am aware of what they do in there.”

    “If the Trillodan are after us, if they really are curious about what we do, they are gonna do worse stuff to figure out what makes us tick.” I looked back up and peered into his red irises, “Do you want to risk giving people over to those monsters? Empath was a good guy, and he broke; look at him now!”

    “Calm down,” he said softly.

    “How the fuck am I supposed to be calm, Titan? You’re blackmailing me into fighting them!”

    “Life for a life,” he replied tersely. “I saved you, now you owe me, or is the king suddenly no longer being good on his debts?”

    I wasn’t sure how to reply.

    “Beleth, the Trillodan were always going to get involved at some point. We are far too great a novelty to ignore; even if you do as Suppression wants of you, it won’t change the past or what they already know. They aren’t stupid, they’ll know we are hiding. All they do then is smoke us out.”

    It made sense, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow.  “So you want to fight them, how do you plan to do that? No one even knows where their home world is.  If you kill a scouting party and some observers, how long until a fleet comes and torches the atmosphere?”

    A little grin crept across Titan’s mouth, “For now, I can’t tell you.  If you were captured by the Trillodan, you’d blab and I can’t have that happening.”

    “Compartmentalizing, I respect that.  However, not a good way to assure people you aren’t mad.”  

    He sighed, “Perhaps I can convince you of my sanity.  You know of Clairvoyant?”

    I raised an eyebrow, “The chick who sees fragments of possible futures?”

    Titan rolled his eyes, “You’re grossly simplifying her gift.”

    “Yes,” I interjected, “I know of her.”

    “She works for me now.”  

    I massaged my temple as I tried to work out what he’d want with her.  “Did you recruit her as an early warning system of some kind?”

    “For someone who isn’t a Cognate, you’re quick on the uptake.”

    “I ran one of the larger criminal empires on the planet.  You can’t do that if you’re an idiot,” I countered.

    “Fair point.  But you’re only half right.  I brought her on early as both a means of early warning should a threat be coming, and as a means of probing possible outcomes.”

    “I’m not sure I understand.”

    The Projector-Conjurer smiled, “Do you know of someone called Command?”

    I shook my head.

    “Command is a Projector-Cognate who directly influences thought patterns and has an innate understanding into how Adaptations work.  When he exerts himself over regular people, his control is still there, but when he interacts with Adapted-“

    “He knows how to tinker with their gift,” I concluded.

    “Exactly.  He and Clairvoyant have been working in tandem since he can essentially use his gift to hypnotize her; it allows her to utilize her power more frequently.  On her own, she only gets visions while she dreams.  Before we had him helping, she nearly OD’d on sedatives in an attempt to be more useful.”

    “I’m not sure how this deals with checking probabilities of things.”

    “Instead of only getting a few small glimpses every night, we could have her seeing fragments for hours and days at a time, painting a fairly accurate picture of possible futures and giving us some idea for what to expect.  Based on how often she saw something, we could determine what was much more likely to happen. If something was only seen once or twice, low probability.  Seen over and over again, almost inevitable.”

    “Makes sense.”

    “Do you want to know the only constant across hundreds and hundreds of visions?”

    I nodded, now genuinely curious.

    “The Trillodan.  They WILL come to obtain our gifts for themselves.  Regardless of my influence or yours, they are going to make their presence known and collect what they don’t understand.  It was the only thing that remained constant in her visions, Beleth. No matter what we do, they are going to come for us.”

    I’d gotten very capable of detecting lies as I dealt with scoundrels on a regular basis.  It was unsettling to me that he was being completely honest. “When?”

    “Soon,” he replied.  “It depends on what happens, but likely within the next month or two.”

    “Protocol 37?”

    “No,” he said with a shake of his head, “That was only seen in one vision from hundreds, so almost an impossibility.  Our best guess is that they are going to send some kind of advance guard to collect us for study.”

    “So, a high tech version of the Snatchers.”

    “Yep.”

    I picked myself up off the edge of the bed and dragged myself to a chair to be seated across the table.  My leg still ached and I couldn’t imagine how discolored it was under the bandage Organelle had put on me.  “Going forward, what happens?”

    “Clairvoyant gives us fragments, partials for the future.  We don’t know exactly what prompts the Trillodan to touch down or anything like that.”

    “I mean more what do you want from me.  Until the world decides to stop spinning, I have an empire to run.”   

    Titan frowned, “You still plan to operate Surface Dwellers even with all this information?  You think your syndicate is going to survive once the Trillodan get involved with Tso’got?”   

    “Listen, Titan,” I muttered, “What would you have me do?  Sit around here and pretend everything is going to be okay?  If all you do is plan for theoreticals, the present goes by the wayside. For all we fucking know, the Zari COULD go full sycophant. So, forgive me but I’m not going to just going to abandon everything I’ve built because something COULD happen.”

    “I-“

    “You believe in the autonomy of Adapted, yeah?  Are you really going to go against your creed and hold me here?”

    Titan scowled, “Don’t push me, Beleth.”

    “It’s an honest question.  What would you have me do? If I depart from my normal routine, that’s going to be more suspicious than me continuing to be a gangster.”

    For once in the conversation, I’d stumped the man.  “Fine. But, Beleth,” he said sternly, “When I call for you, you will answer.  Is that understood?”

    I glared back at him, “You may be the oldest Adapted, but that doesn’t make me a kid.  Don’t talk down to me like that.”

    He nodded, “Fair enough.  But I’m not kidding. Beleth, when the time comes, I do expect you to answer.”

    “A life for a life,” I repeated as I got up and grabbed my shirt at the foot of the bed.  “I’ll talk to my people, but if they don’t opt to come with, I’m not making them. You didn’t save them, you saved me.  As far as I’m concerned they don’t owe you shit.”

    “One last thing,” he said as I grabbed the door handle, “Shockwave is here.”

    I turned, my eyes wide, “What?”

    “Don’t pick a fight,” he insisted as he got up and stepped forward, “Not here.  You cause trouble in my house, I’m going to see you as a threat.”

    I paled a little at the intensity in his red eyes; as much as I prided myself on being cool and level headed, this man was a monster if necessary.  Even the veiled threat was enough to trigger alarm bells in my head. “No trouble here,” I promised. “Besides, I’ve missed the guy. I’m sure we’ll get a chance to fight off campus.”

    Titan rolled his eyes, the moment passing, “See Organelle again before you leave.  Have her make a tincture for you.”

    I nodded and stepped out into the hallways, limping along.  

    There were plenty of the older generation from Earth who missed how things used to be, and some of those people could offer trade secrets to the industrial tycoons who really ran everything.  What did homesick people do with tons of money? They made their own nostalgia mansions. It was a two story monstrosity broken into four corners that housed two bedroom each. In the middle was common areas like a kitchen, a den, or a dining room.  

    And everywhere you looked, the resident Adapted were milling about.  

    Some were still in costume, like Clemency.  Still donning his blue cape and cobalt colored helmet, he and I regarded each other cautiously as I approached.  

    “I see Titan talked to you too,” I said with a nod.  

    “He is…compelling,” my former rival replied.  “You look worse for wear.”

    “Rogue Sentries with a dash of Lunatics,” I replied.  “I underestimated one and paid for it dearly.”

    Playlist walked beside us with someone who wasn’t bothering hiding their identity.  In a loose shirt and shorts, I couldn’t tell whether the person was male or female…

    “Interface,” Clemency supplied, “One of the other operatives that Titan left in Ciel.  Does a lot of work with Playlist and generally does a fantastic job with disruption.”

    “So…”

    “Oh, no idea,” Clemency said with a chuckle.  “If you ask, Interface doesn’t give you a straight answer either.  A few other people have started betting on it.”

    I rolled my eyes, “Fuck me people here are childish.  I heard Curtis was around.”

    “Curtis?”

    “Sorry, Shockwave.  Where is he?”

    Through the slit for his eyes, I saw Clemency narrow his gaze, “Why do you need to know?”

    “I want to get a cigarette, and I know that fucker smokes more than anyone else alive.  Titan already threatened me and told me to mind my manners. Besides, look at me,” I said, pulling up my shirt to reveal the layers of bandage, “Do I look like I’m in fighting shape?”  

    “Check the back patio.  He likes hanging around outside.”  

    “Thanks.”  

    It was strange talking to Clemency like that.  The last time we’d run into each other, he’d given me second degree burns and I’d broken his foot.  But now, no animosity, just a healthy dose of caution around one another.

    Was Titan’s influence that potent?  

    “Hey, Beleth,” a voice called out.  I turned to see someone with hand wraps like a boxer and a gel suit of body armor.  “We heard you were brought in. Who did this?”

    It took me a second, but I finally recognized him.  Ragdoll. Leader of the Correctors.  While I found their group markedly juvenile, Surface Dwellers had run into him once and they’d actually managed to tangle with Pyre and Goliath.  

    “Does it matter?”

    He picked up his hands defensively, “Sorry, but Armorsmith is tight with Dragoon.  We were curious if it was Sentries or not.”

    I shook my head; Titan’s haven for Adapted felt like school all over again.  “Yes, it was them. Eldritch steered me into Parasite and he beat the fuck out of me.  Happy?”

    He grinned, “I’d be lying if I said seeing you a little messed up didn’t make me happy.”

    “Oh, because I broke Mr. Magnificent’s legs when you idiots made a pit stop on my turf?”

    Ragdoll sneered, “Exactly that.”  He stepped closer to me to whisper, “Honestly, I’d love to swing and see if I could remove your head from your shoulders.”

    I grinned, “And I’m sure Titan would turn you into a puddle before you could bail.  You can hate me all you want, Ragdoll, but I’ve never been safer than right now.”

    A voice cut over us, “Ragdoll, come on.  That’s enough of that. Beleth’s here just like the rest of us.  Don’t do anything stupid.”

    On the edge of my peripheral vision, I could see Soliloquy predominately out of costume with the exception of the mask that covered everything above his mouth.  “Maybe you should listen to him, huh?” I suggested.

    I wasn’t sure if Soliloquy was using his power to soothe Ragdoll, but the Enhancer stepped away and scoffed.  

    I debated rolling my eyes to antagonize, but I was the new guy in and didn’t dare cause any more trouble.  The last thing I needed to do was piss off Titan given the thin ice I was already on from meeting with Xandal.  

    I finally found a backdoor and stepped out onto a large patio with various pieces of furniture strewn about.  A couple I didn’t recognize were keeping to themselves in a corner, and one familiar form was seated at a metal table with an ashtray in front of him and a lit cigarette in between his fingers.  There was a little pause as he saw me, clearly conflicted about what response he should pick.

    But, Curtis calmed down and waved me over politely.  As I sat down, he slid a half empty pack of cigarettes across the table with a lighter.  

    “Look what the fucking cat dragged in,” he said with a wry laugh.  “What the fuck happened to you?”

    “I’m surprised it isn’t the fucking talk of the town,” I replied as I lit a cigarette and took a puff, coughing a few times.  “Those fucking kids made my life complicated.”

    “Sentries?”

    “The same.”  

    The former head of enforcement for Imperium nodded and took another long drag, “They’re a resilient bunch, gotta give ‘em that.”  

    “Definitely,” I agreed.  “Bit like how you lot used to be.”

    He smiled sorrowfully, “Yeah, a bit.”

    “Sorry about Ironclad,” I said, “He was a decent guy.”

    Curtis frowned, “You fucking hated him and you know it.”

    I shrugged, “True, but he didn’t deserve to get his fucking head torn off by Rat.  No one should go out because of Vermin.”

    “We can agree on that one.”  He took another puff of his cigarette and then stamped it out, beckoning for me to pass back the pack.  “So, how has running the city been? I heard you flattened the old Imperium spot.”

    “For a while, pretty tame.  Two months unopposed, and then in a week I find myself here.  Fucking kids.”

    “Two months uncontested,” Curtis laughed, “God, you must have bored out of your mind!”  

    “Are you kidding, I was finally getting some money made!”  He and I stared at each other for a second before breaking up into raucous laughter.  It was short lived for me since my ribs were still incredibly tender. “It was awful man.  No posturing for anyone, no real challengers, nothing. Weeks of inactivity and everything going as it should.  Like two people fought me and got buried in a second. Nothing like what we used to do.”

    “I thought it was weird that Clemency didn’t come down to see you, but then I spotted him here,” Curtis said with a smile, “God, you have no idea how much I wanted to put on the costume and make a grand entrance to fuck with you.”

    “I almost wish you had.”

    He let out a groan, “It would have brought back too many Imperium people and Titan was pretty adamant about leaving them dead.”

    I cocked my head to the side, “Why is that?”

    “One of Clair’s visions,” he replied.  “Something Imperium did caused a whole hell of a mess.”

    “How do you feel about all of that shit,” I asked after I killed the cigarette and beckoned for the pack.  “The whole Trillodan, end of the world, apocalyptic visions shit.”

    He shook his head, “Come on, Bel, you know I’m not an intellectual like you.  I’m a gunman. I kill people. But people like you, like Titan, you think around corners.  And Titan has half a dozen Cognates feeding him information so he makes the best choices possible.”

    “You think he has the whole picture?”

    “If he doesn’t, no one does.”  

    My old nemesis had a point.  “You think we stand a chance?”

    “No idea!  That’s half the fun, isn’t it?  The unknown. That risk of losing and knowing it’s gonna be a hectic fight.”

    I couldn’t help but smile, “You’ve got me there.”  

    “Plus, something I have been thinking about-“

    “You just said you aren’t an intellectual,” I interrupted.

    “Shut up.  Think about how many people Titan has here, willing to do crazy shit for him.  Everyone is willing to fight. How weird is that? Most of us have been in life or death situations and aren’t any more broken than when we first Adapted.  It’s like we were custom made for violence.”

    I raised an eyebrow, “For someone who claims to not be an intellectual, you’re a surprisingly philosophical motherfucker.”  

    “I’ve had a lot of time to sit on my hands and do fuck all.”

        “Fair enough.” I took another rip and bit my lip, “So, you fought with Sentries for a while.”

    He nodded, “Where you going with this?”

    “What do you think of the big tentacled fucker?”

    Curtis nodded and ran a hand through his short hair, “Dude is a proper monster. He was taking hits from me like they were going out of style, and he didn’t have Rat’s cheats neither. Why?”

    I put out my second cigarette and slowly pushed myself away from the table, movement reminding me how much pain I was in. “Well, until fucking Titan decides to call in his favor, I have a cartel to run, and those kids are causing a hell of a problem for me.”

    He nodded, “I get it, honestly. And if you are really determined, I suggest you make a stop by to an old friend of yours.”

    I stopped before turning to go back inside.

    “Big Picture. He’s here.”

    That would certainly explain why the hell I wasn’t able to find him the last few days. “Hey, Shockwave,” I called over my shoulder.

    “Yeah?”

    “Take care of yourself.”

    He let out a soft chuckle, “Same to you, asshole.”

    I couldn’t help but smile as I crept back inside. Feeling out with my seismic sense, I detected a solitary wheelchair.

    It was an arduous process to limp across the mansion and past a half dozen Adapted still putzing around despite it being incredibly late. Then again, Reckoner or Scoundrel alike, we all tended to work on a more nocturnal sleep schedule.

    Before I could make it back to Big Picture, I hand caught my shoulder.

    Organelle in all her blonde glory stepped beside me. “Titan said I needed to give you another dose.”

    “I wouldn’t object to one now and one for the road.”

    She rolled her eyes and pulled a vial of yellow serum from a pocket.  “Drink, it’ll help the damage to your internal organs.” Before I could reply, Organelle put her hand to my chest and stared intently as energy flowed into my torso.  It felt like someone had injected fire into my body as I could feel cellular processes speed up.

    The more unsettling part was feeling and hearing some things crack back into place.  

    She finally pulled her hand away and relaxed.  “There. Ribs should be good enough since you refuse to stay put and do the smart thing.”

    “You’d fault someone for wanting to go home?” I pried.  

    “You were just beaten half to death, and there is literally no safer spot on Tso’got than this mansion.  You’re voluntarily leaving protective custody while there is a deluded psychopath on the hunt for you, provided Playlist is to be believed.”

    “He isn’t wrong,” I admitted.  

    She shook her head, “Beleth, just stay.  Your people will last a night alone. They aren’t fucking children.”

    I sighed, “Organelle, thanks for the fix.”  

    There was clearly more on her mind, but she kept quiet.  “I’ll let Titan know you plan to leave tonight.”

    “Thanks.”  I wasn’t sure if I was actually happy about her talking to him, but I’d live.  Around the corner and in one of the back rooms, I found my old informant pouring over a tablet.  He looked up, surprised to see me.

    “Beleth!”

    “Relax,” I said with a wave, “I’m not here to fight.  Besides, Titan would have my head since you’re officially under his protection.”  I sat down opposite him, wishing with every step that Organelle had given some extra juice to my leg.  “Psycho came after you, didn’t he? That’s how he knew where I’d be tonight.”

    Big Picture nodded.  “He did. And…he was going to kill me if I didn’t give up what he wanted.”

    “I know, I get it,” I replied honestly.  “He’s a twisted guy now, and it was reasonable to be scared shitless of him.”  

    “He made me give up information about the Rogue Sentries too.”

    “I’m pretty sure Psycho is blackmailing them to make them all zealous in their pursuit of me.  Them failing means he probably kills someone close to them. His insurance they work for him without complaint.”  I took another look at him; he seemed pretty well kept for someone who had been wildly displaced, but there was some fatigue showing.  Bags under his eyes, his posture not as correct as it typically was, those sorts of things. “Did Titan strongarm you into joining him?”

    “No,” Picture replied.  “He gave me an opportunity to join him and I opted to take it.”

    I scoffed, “Did he tell you what he plans to do?”

    “He said enough,” the informant replied.  

    “And?”

    “For once, I don’t know.  I’ll admit, I’m a little nervous about his ideas but he’s getting plenty of power behind him.”  Big Picture frowned, “He isn’t what you came to talk to me about though. Why are you really here, Beleth?”

    I smirked, “You probably already know.”

    “Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have to ask.”

    “Rogue Sentries, they’re dangerous.”

    “They’re dangerous to your organization,” Big Picture corrected.  

    I glared at him, “They used your real identity to go after you, Aaron.  Perhaps you shouldn’t be so hasty to defend them.”

    “Beleth,” he asked softly, “What are you going to do if you go after them?  You must know that Titan isn’t blowing smoke, things with the Trillodan will happen.  Is now the time to be picking more fights?”

    Earlier I had wanted to believe that he had concocted some sort of lie about them, but hearing it from Big Picture added authenticity.  

    “Until shit starts to go haywire,” I growled, “I am going to be the fucking king of Ciel and run the Surface Dwellers.  Rogue Sentries have one massive lynchpin I want to remove from the equation.”

    “Eldritch,” he supplied.  “You want to know where to find him.”

    “You’re damn right I do.”

    He shook his head, “Beleth, this is a bad idea.”   

    “Pic,” I warned, “Don’t test me on this.”

    “It’s against the rules.”

    “I don’t give a damn about that anymore!” I snapped.  “They broke the rules when they came for you, and then Psycho broke the rules when he threatened an informant.  Fuck the rules!”

    Bic Picture recoiled a little, surprised by my outburst.  “What are you going to do with the information when I give it to you?”

    “I don’t think you need your gift of intuition to figure this one out.”  

    “I shouldn’t give you the information, Beleth.  I shouldn’t do this, and you know that you shouldn’t do this.  Titan is going to see it like you’re taking Xandal up on his offer.”   

    “Fuck Titan and fuck Xandal too!” I barked.  “Tell me what I want to know!”

    This was my city, my fucking kingdom, my dominion.  I was not about to let some kids oust me like this. Not a chance.  

    “Three-one-six 45^th St.” he finally said, displeased with himself.  “One question for you,” he called as I moved for the door, “Are you sure this is what you want to do?  You have no idea of what the consequences might be.”

    I rolled my neck, “Pic, the kids nearly killed me twice, especially that monster.  They attacked my organization twice and are still standing; it’s a slippery slope if I just let this go.”  

    Whether his power informed him that I wouldn’t change my mind or whether he could figure it out on his own, he let the topic die.  

    Limping back outside, I borrowed a phone from Interface and called Kandar; once armed with an address, he told me he’d be there in twenty minutes to take me home.  As I waited out in the brisk evening, a second form walked up beside me.

    “Don’t you have someone else to go preach to?” I demanded as Titan looked up into the mostly blank sky.  “You said no fighting in your house, and I’m not going to.”

    “Big Picture told me what you’re doing,” he said, undaunted by my agitation.  “I have a request for you.”

    “If you tell me not to do it, I’m going to ignore you.  I don’t care how powerful you are.”

    “No, not that,” he replied.  “You were right about what you said earlier; I’m not gonna stop you from picking a fight with them.  My request, don’t kill him.”

    “Huh?”

    “Eldritch.  Don’t kill him.  I want him alive.”

    I sneered, “If I preserve him, that settles my debt with you.”

    Titan pondered it for a moment, “Sure.  And you leave the rest of his team alone.  We’ll call that even between you and Organelle.”

    “Are you planning to recruit all of them to your fucking cause?”

    “I plan to recruit everyone, even the Lunatics.”  

    My anger abated and was replaced with shock.  “A-are you serious? Did you see what those freaks were capable of?  Did you see how unhinged they were? You want to bring a ticking time bomb into your circle?”

    He turned to me, his face shrouded in the darkness, “All Adapted are family to me, Beleth, even you.”

    “So you’re what, the Adapted deity?”

    He actually laughed, catching me off guard.  “Oh, no. Definitely not. More like a big brother.”  

    “If Psycho comes after me again, I’m going to kill him,” I replied, “Even if you see him like your little brother.”

    “I understand.”

    As my car pulled up, Titan turned around, “Beleth, take care.  I’m still going to extend that invitation to you.”

    “And if I decline?  I’m not obligated to do it if I leave his head on, right?”

    “This is true.  But,” he smirked, “I think you’ll end up taking it in the long run.”  He turned and waved to me, “Have a good night, Beleth, it was a pleasure to meet you.”  

 I watched him walk back to his mansion and felt a strange sense of dread.  What was he so sure of that I was so completely oblivious to?

I’d deal with his cryptic parting later; right now, I had a message to send.  

Previous Chapter – Next Chapter 

    Darkness, immediately.

    Even with my seismic sense, being rendered blind was a shock to the system.  Like every other human alive, I relied quite heavily on my sight.

    Still, footsteps.  

    One set of immense steps, one unyielding an metallic, two normal footfalls trying to skirt around me.  

    One set missing: Mutant.  He was able to fly with his travel form.  

    I ripped the ground and pulled a curtain of concrete over my head, only an instant before a blow collided with it.  I was right, the bastard had been flying over me. Before I could reform the rock and grab him, he shifted back and flew away, out of my reach.  I tried shifting to move myself free from the darkness but with only one person to target, Lightshow kept me blind.

    Metallic footsteps, Dragoon.  Flanking.

    A wall of ground separated us just in time to block a few bullets from her power armor.  Nodding my head, the hunk of floor shot at her and forced her back; at the edge of my range, I morphed the ground into a field of spines, something to keep her away for a moment.  

Heavy steps, closing quick.

I bent my knees as I shifted the ground under my feet and glided away while turning the floor in front of me into mud.  As expected, the weight made Eldritch sink and bought me a precious second as I moved myself again, feeling Dragoon sprint around the edge of my spikes to try and get a new angle on me. 

Too much time since Mutant had dropped on me.  Another curtain of ground to protect me from him dropping straight down on my head, and just in time too. I wanted to twist the concrete around his arm, but Geyser split the ground and demanded my attention.

While I covered the crag he made, Mutant took flight again and escaped my range.

The ground is shaking, Eldritch is coming headlong.

The massive Druid had escaped the quagmire I had made and was barreling forward; while I could tell where he was coming from, I didn’t know what his arms were doing. Forced to play it safe, I erected a wall of concrete between us and shoved it back into him.

He stumbled, not braced for me to answer his aggression with my own.

Metallic footsteps. Behind you.

I barely put a wall between us as another salvo plinked against the concrete. In many ways, Xandal had made this infinitely easier for the Sentries to fight me; no walls meant they could run and keep clear of my reach while keeping eyes on me. And thanks to there being four of them attacking while I was deprived my vision, I couldn’t effectively counterattack; controlling the ground was natural but still required concentration. Doing different tasks at the same time was exceptionally difficult.

Every attack they made only allowed me a defensive response and wouldn’t let me properly capitalize.

As I turned to face Dragoon, for a moment, I could see. Even though the place wasn’t well lit, it was a bit of a shock to my system to be removed from the inky blackness Lightshow had subjected me to.

And then it was like someone detonated a flashbang an inch from my eyes. From complete deprivation to abrupt overload, it was agonizing. Even though I closed eyes immediately, there was an afterimage dancing on the inside of my eyelids.

No footsteps from Mutant though; he was the only one who could fly and would be swooping by soon to attack while I was still blind.

I wrapped a dome of concrete around myself and felt something impact the side for an instant.

Heavy footsteps closing fast.

While this little enclosure could likely tolerate a hand grenade being tossed against it, Eldritch would smash it like an eggshell.  Feeling the concrete beneath, I took a deep breath and moved the ground, sinking and essentially making a small channel to move through.  As expected, the massive Druid obliterated the small bubble of concrete as tonnes of Neklim muscle bashed it aside.

I wasn’t going to win if I couldn’t change the tempo of the fight. I needed to cope with Lightshow first. Being able to track Mutant would be invaluable with since I couldn’t follow him with my seismic sense.  Plus I needed to see to better deal with Eldritch since he could reconstitute his body and moving too much concrete risked bringing the building down around my head and I’d rather avoid that if possible. Being able to better isolate his limbs and strip the flesh away would be necessary.   

As I rose from the ground, I created a spike and aimed for center of mass, a bit surprised how quick Lightshow was to evade. Even though not regarded as an Enhancer, she was clearly faster than most. Still, she wasn’t quick enough to evade me turning a whole 4 meter section of floor into spines and jagged edges.

While the Projector stumbled and cut her legs, I felt the world suddenly shake and my equilibrium fail.

Dragoon hadn’t moved enough for me to notice, she had simply lobbed a stun grenade across the room at me.  Disoriented, I fell to my hands and knees, dimly aware of a crack in the ground opening as Geyser stomped down.  

It took a tremendous amount of effort to close the crack before it could quite make it to me, and even so I didn’t much notice Dragoon move around my barricade until a sharp pain radiated from my side.  

Bullet impact to my ribs, the armor plating in my coat preventing it from tearing into my flesh but it didn’t prevent it from cracking part of my ribcage.  

Heavy footsteps coming beside you.

My fear of Eldritch getting close to me helped snap me from my daze and provide clarity.  Turning to him, I warped the ground into a wall of concrete lances, many of them finding purchase and impaling the monstrous Druid.  

A little blur of movement caught my eye; shifting the ground, I pulled myself away as Mutant descended from the ceiling, his fist in beetle form smashing into the floor.  

If the hit had connected, that might have killed me.  

My response was sluggish and the pillars of concrete weren’t erected fast enough to hold him before he turned back into a bird and darted away.  A few meters away, Lightshow pulled herself free and leapt away from my twisted landscape, blasting me with another dazzling light.

My retinas thoroughly scalded, I shambled backwards, raising my arm as if that would somehow help dim the light.  

Footpads, right in front of you.

Mutant’s wolf form.  He was getting greedy, assuming I was off kilter enough to not retaliate.  

I threw myself backwards and moved the ground under him to try and maintain distance between us, but neither action happened quite fast enough.  Claws raked across my face and two gashes across my cheek began to bleed violently. As I fell, I came free of the light that Lightshow had surrounded my head with and got a glance at Mutant as he tried to shift back into his travel form.

Before he could flap back to the ceiling, I generated a pillar of concrete and slammed into the bird.  Mutant reverted to his human form and fell to the ground in a heap; too much damage had forced the shapeshifter back and meant I had one less problem to deal with.

Eldritch roared, the volume making my ears ring as I felt my knees shake.  I was dimly aware of him charging forward having torn through my array of spikes. Collecting myself, I shifted the floor and made his monstrous form try to do the splits, dropping him face first onto the unyielding floor with a thunderous boom.  I reallocated the floor and put the thickest walls around him that I could without collapsing the building. Wrapping it over the Druid, I encased Eldritch in a sarcophagus of stone. One more removed from the equation.

Gliding away, I pulled myself towards Dragoon and the edge of our arena, elliciting a small panic from her.

She tried to run, but I was done letting her linger around the periphery of the fight and take all the pot shots she wanted.  As she attempted to flee, I made a column of concrete and bent it down in front of her, forcing her to pause within my range.

Once close enough, I pulled her closer to me; the ground shifting beneath her feet immediately upset her balance and made her shot for my head go wild.  When she was closer, I wrapped concrete around her, like a cocoon before pulling her halfway underground. Despite the strength granted by her suit, she wasn’t capable of moving several hundred kilograms of concrete with her arms bound up even though I felt her struggling.  

Another threat dealt with.  

A squirming and tremendous amount of strain from below ground caused me to snap my head around at the immense mound of concrete I had buried Eldritch in.

Steam rose from his prison as an arm ripped free and an acrid scent filled the air.  Along the surface of his Neklim suit, there was something dripping free: Muriatic acid.  Last time we had fought, he’d mutated some kind of speed enhancement, this time he’d developed acidic excretions.  

And it was potent enough to dissolve the floor.         

“What the fuck,” I muttered as Eldritch rose from the floor, enraged.  Geyser tried to prey upon me being distracted and stomped down, creating a crack in the ground, but it was easily covered and negated.  

The Druid stomped forward and swung his arm, throwing a volley of acidic solution towards me; I barely erected a barrier in time and some still managed to splash onto my coat, chewing into the armored coat.  An obsidian colored arm bashed through the barricade as he continued forward, relentless. With an extra tool in his arsenal, I couldn’t contain him reliably.

My only course of action was to whittle him down.  It was fortunate it had taken him this long to mutate; now at least it was just the two of us in a duel and there was less need to hold him in place.  While Geyser was present, his gift was almost irrelevant. If I was ever incapacitated by the Projector, it was because I’d already lost the fight.

Another failed attempt from Geyser to gas me was easily paved over as I pulled myself away from Eldritch, erecting a number of blades that I thrust into his legs, cutting through a few layers of growth before he bashed it away.  As his arm was lowered, I raised arms of concrete that dug into his mass he called an appendage. With a little gesture, I pulled the hooks down, ripping swaths of flesh free as he stumbled.

Irritated, Eldritch threw another spray of acid my way, but I was ready to displace myself and avoid the caustic barrage this time.  Another bunch of spikes pierced into the mass of neklim and actually forced him to pause. Goliath had told me that he’d managed to damage the progenitor of the growth and it seemed to halt the suit, but the stop was short lived.  Eldritch spun and ripped the concrete spears free, throwing them at me with extraordinary force. Several of them slammed against supports and I glanced nervously at the ceiling. He stomped forward and I went for a more narrow focus, erecting spines to jam into his legs and hold him still for a moment.  Steam rose from his legs as he ripped himself free, the tendrils there equipped with the same acidic solution.

It seemed just like the bursts of speed from last time that utilizing his mutations had a slight buildup time required.  He needed time to replenish his acid storage.

Around me, the lights extinguished; I was hoping some of the cuts had been deep enough to bleed Lightshow dry, but no luck.  Still, I felt her stumble forward and try to escape my range.

It took effort, but a fist of concrete rose in front of her and slammed into her chest, cracking ribs and knocking her onto the ground, her whole body curling in pain.  

The darkness around my head faded, and just in time.  Eldritch had reconstituted himself and put a majority of his mass into one arm, extending his range while I had been blind.  As it came crashing down, I pulled myself underground, still feeling the absurd force of the impact as I distanced myself. Pulling myself back from the concrete, I saw Geyser stomp again, but this time he didn’t direct the crack at me.

He used the weakening in the concrete to help Dragoon pull herself free since Geyser knew his Adaptation couldn’t do anything to me.

“Clever,” I growled with a sneer; he tried to use his power with me, and I negated it with little effort, as he clearly expected.  A spire of concrete shot up and found a weak spot in his armor, piercing his side. I left him impaled, effectively rooting him in place.  

Metallic footsteps around you somewhere.  Heavy footfalls in front of you.

Eldritch was literally so damn dense I was having trouble differentiating other people’s footfalls from his movements because the noise was so great.  Still, it was obvious they intended to come from two angles at once.

Chunks of concrete rose to intercept Dragoon and keep her fire away from me while Eldritch charged.

What I wasn’t expecting him to do was deliberately swing and extend his arm like he was suddenly made of rubber.  His elastic tendrils whipped through and tore a number of supports around me, and I only had a moment to delve underground before chunks of the ceiling came tumbling down on top of me.  

It was known Eldritch could generate mutations as he stayed in his Neklim suit, no one had ever seen him with more than a single mutation.  Had he had the second mutation all this time and refused to use it?

As I reappeared, his massive arm took another swipe, but this time I was ready.  A bladed monolith of stone rose from the floor and carved into his arm; momentum ensured he cleaved through the massive limb completely.  Just like last time, once the arm came free, the mass of onyx colored tentacles withered and turned to dust.

“You never learn,” I scoffed as I jammed four different spikes into his torso, each coming out the other side.  “Now, stay put this time.”

Dragging myself back, I altered the floor beneath Dragoon and felt her heavy suit begin to sink in the muck.  “And you, it is high time you stopped-“

A little glimmer of movement caught the corner of my eye and I turned just in time to the see the end of a rod of metal coming down.  

I tried to pull away, and I kept it from caving my skull in, but the metal staff slammed into my clavicle and shattered the bone.  Pain nearly blinded me as I staggered back, unable to think clearly enough to burrow and get away from the last Sentry who had been waiting in the rafters, waiting until I had gotten bold enough to gloat and be self-confident.

They had lied about Parasite’s whereabouts to make me forget about the Enhancer who should be able to do the least to me.    

Stepping back to get away didn’t do any good, Parasite was far too fast with his inhuman agility.  A single bound caught up to me, and a fist slammed into my solar plexus, depriving me of air. I tried regain composure and straighten my posture, but the Enhancer swung the staff and slammed against the meat of my thigh; it was miraculous he didn’t break my femur.  

I screamed in pain as I sank to my knees and found no mercy at the hands of Parasite.  His hand gripped me by the throat as he hauled me up, his arm flush with the extra mass of the ‘passenger’ inside his body.  Dangling in the air, I felt perfectly vulnerable; I was denied my power and felt blind without my seismic sense. This was it, whether he even knew what he’d done, Parasite had ended the fight.  Instead of a sneer or an angry scowl, the prick was giving me a smug grin. “You don’t look so kingly now, do you?”

With a grunt, he tossed me up, like one would toss a ball right before you took a swing with a bat.  

Before I could land, he twisted and drove his heel into my midsection, launching me back into the rubble from where Eldritch had caved in part of the building.  

Metallic steps, regular, and heavy.

Parasite, Dragoon, and a regenerated Eldritch were all approaching slowly, confidently.  They knew I was beaten far too badly to fight on multiple fronts. Broken ribs, split clavicle, serious internal bleeding, and a concussion from being thrown onto the debris.  Blood trickled down my scalp and over my ear as if to remind me of the latest injury.

“Give up,” Dragoon demanded, “You’re done.”  

“I know how hard I hit you,” Parasite remarked, “You need a hospital, and soon.”

Eldritch didn’t say anything but was content to just loom and keep growing, reclaiming all the size I had stripped from him.  

I set my teeth and took a deep breath, commanding the ground below me to shift around me, ferrying me outside, away from the Rogue Sentries, away from my pathetic defeat.  

Emerging from the ground, I gasped for air and dragged myself down an alleyway, my whole body protesting movement.  My adrenaline was fading fast, and pain was setting in. I felt my seismic sense dim and grow hazy, my grip and control on my power dwindling as I kept pulling myself forward.  

“You know, you weren’t supposed to lose,” a voice called out as I leaned against the side of a building.  “I really thought that you’d be able to hold your own for longer, but you really weren’t expecting Parasite to drop down, were you?”

My eyes widened as I recognized that voice, a voice I hadn’t heard in nearly 3 years.  But…no footsteps, no feedback from my seismic sense.

I looked up and saw him flying around on what resembled a massive hummingbird made from vivid neon colors.  Around him, fog began spilling out and coating the surrounding area.

“Empath?” I asked softly, horrified.  

“Empath died in Asylum,” he called back, “Where you left him to rot!”

A new hit of adrenaline hit me as creatures took shape in the fog.  Monsters all generated in vivid hues, like they were made from a neon sign.  A pair of demonic looking canine beasts lunged and found the business end of a concrete spike, a few massive snakes were subject to being guillotined by blades of rock, and a harpy-esque monster was flattened against a wall by a pillar of stone.  

The fog continued to spread and I continued to pant; killing just those quickly made apparitions was exhausting.    

“You and I were such good friends,” he called out as his bird kept him above me, looking down, “But you left us to die, Landslide.”

Landslide, my old Adapted moniker, and the one I used before I shed my mask and remade my persona.  The name of the half-rate gangster who had lived on the other side of the globe.

The same man who had hid in fear while Snatchers had grabbed the rest of his squad and dragged them away to that hellscape they called a research lab.    

More brightly colored spectres formed around me and one that resembled a tiger managed to scratch at my chest; the claws didn’t rip through my armor, but they did remind me how many ribs had been broken earlier.

“And then I learn you’re running around without a mask on now, pretty bold for a coward!”  

Another wave of monsters, another group turned back to mist but not before one left a nice gash along my calf.  Another avenue for blood loss and fatigue.

Using my Adaptation was being more and more troublesome, more and more difficult to keep fine tuned and controlled.  

“Do you know how long I have been waiting for this, Tony?”

The name hit me like a kick in the chest, a reminder of my old life, a reminder of what a failure I used to be.  “Max, stop!”

I saw him recoil a little bit as he hovered overhead.  “Max is gone too, Tony. Psycho, that’s what my friends call me now.  That’s all anyone calls me now!”

“Psycho,” I said, raising my hands in surrender, “Let’s talk this out.  We were friends, maybe we can figure this out.” It made me feel sick to have to try and bargain with anyone, but there was no way I was winning this fight and…I owed him.  

He came a little lower so I could appreciate the intensity of his stare; the white coat was a new look, and his face had changed too, thinner, like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.  The only thing the same was his strip of cloth with the teeth printed on. Fog continued to spill out, solidifying his control over this area.

“You know, I hear voices when I’m like this,” he said with a tilt of his head, “And for once, they are all saying the same thing.”  Around me, neon colored beasts began to take shape, becoming more and more tangible as his steed quickly flitted back away, far from my reach, “All of the voices say you should die.”  

Around me, half a dozen creatures sprung to life and pounced.  Gritting my teeth in exertion, I warped the ground and created a wall of spears, impaling all of the brightly colored constructs except one.  A weird hybrid of a harpy and a snake bounded over and sank two rows of fangs into my arm before I could conjure another spike to impale it.

More pain blurring my vision, more blood loss adding to the fatigue that was occluding my senses.  

“You should just give up, Beleth,” Psycho shrieked as fog continued pouring out from his sleeves, “This only ends one way!”

Taking a deep breath, I moved the ground under my feet and went below ground.  While it seems like it should be an easy trick, it was the most difficult application of my gift by a longshot.  Moving the ground around me in a way to not distort the surface and give away where I was burrowing too while not crushing myself with the rock and dirt around me was not an easy prospect.  It was made more complicated by the fact that I had to part the ground by my head and push myself with the ground at my feet.

As battered as I was, there was a good chance me trying to burrow could go very wrong and I could end up crushing myself.  

For a moment, nothing else existed and I felt the ground cave around me, parting and shifting to guide me through the displace material…and it was incredibly relieving to emerge from the dark.  

I wasn’t entirely sure where I had ended up, I’d aimed to go under a building and hopefully make it out to the street; it seemed like I had managed to go under and just come out on the opposite side.  

Either way, it bought me a moment of reprieve from-

Fog rolled in around me, and shades of orange, yellow, and green began to take shape.  

“Where do you think you’re going?” came a shrill scream from the top of the building.  Psycho had simply gone up to perch and wait, willing to be patient to spot me.

Another onslaught of creatures materialized, these seeming to be more solid and less ethereal; all of them took more effort to bring down and contributed to my mounting fatigue.  As the initial wave died, more were created with the immediate instruction to end me. I stumbled back as what looked like a minotaur formed and charged, bulldozing through a wall I erected; an arc of electricity blasted it square in the chest.  

Both Psycho and I turned and looked across the street in surprise; Shock shambled out from a storefront with a chunk of rebar jammed in his shoulder and the face mask on his reinforced motorcycle helmet cracked.  Still, electricity arced around him and a trio of flashes spelled the end for a few more delusional monsters made by Psycho.

“You send, one guy after us?” Shock shouted, breathing heavy.  “That’s fucking insulting!”

Right on cue, Awe came flying out onto the street, slamming into the side of a car someone was unlucky enough to be driving.  The metal folded under him as another form followed right behind, glowing with long brown hair. Like Psycho he wore a cloth with the red teeth painted on.  

“Bargain!  I said to get rid of them!”

“Shock,” I asked, my voice shaky as I felt an oppressive wave of fatigue wash over me, “Who the fuck is this guy?”

“Bargain, don’t know more than that,” he said as shot a bolt of electricity into his twin and charged him, “But the guy won’t go down, and he’s beaten my brother basically to death twice now with no problem.  It’s all we can do to keep him off me.”

I saw what he meant immediately.  As Awe tried to exchange blows, Bargain’s hands glowed and a single hit collapsed Awe’s chest cavity.  He tried to fight through it, burning excess voltage to stay standing, but Bargain hit him three more times in rapid succession, flattening my Enhancer.  

“Who the fuck is this guy?” I repeated as he turned to look at us.  

“Boss,” Shock said, oddly serious, “You need to go.  You’re looking worse than we are.”

I wanted to argue, but another dozen apparitions were taking shape around us, these ones looking substantially more corporeal that the previous waves had; it seemed my enforcement refusing to go down quietly had enraged Psycho.  If he worked at all like Empath used to, stoking an emotional fire in him would only elevate his strength.

“Okay.  You two get out too, yeah?  Nikolai,” I insisted, “You and Vladimir get out of here.  I need my men.”

A wry chuckle escaped from Shock,  “My brother isn’t dead yet, and fortunately there’s plenty of friction going on with those two fighting.  You run, I’ll charge up Awe; he’ll carry me away and I’ll call for Goliath.”

What had happened to Stag?  I didn’t want to think about it honestly; Psycho had clearly brought monsters with him.  Hive would live if Stag had been ripped apart but…it wasn’t pretty when she had to rebuild a split.  

Electricity danced across Shock’s suit as it collected in his hand; a bolt went from each finger tip: one shot into the limp body of his brother while the other four impacted with the new brightly colored creations and exploded.  “Get ready,” he whispered to me. While I was still here, I gave what contribution I could and made some haphazard rock formations to slow down the creatures that were now taking their time closing in on us as more were forming behind them.

Psycho was making a small army to overrun us in one fell swoop.  

“Awe, backpack time!”

Knowing what came next, I let myself hit the ground for a moment as my enforcer threw his arms to the side and dumped every bit of electrical charge out; the air around us was energized and lit up as lightning bolts streaked around, searing buildings and demolishing the battalion of monsters conjured by Psycho.  Several fingers of electricity slammed into Bargain and forced him back a step as Awe was donated more electrical charge, his battery refilled.

Awe started to glow as he started burning through the excess power, zipping forward and kicking Bargain hard enough to drive him back to the curb.  As he turned and bolted to me, I put a wall behind him to separate us from Bargain. Kneeling beside me, Awe scooped up his brother and gave me a nod, “Get out of here, I’ll get Shock home.”

Shock couldn’t technically Overexpose himself, but he could use every bit of voltaic energy in his body which induced syncope; in the aftermath of the electrical storm Shock made, Awe  ended up overcharged and would carry Shock over his shoulders to safety since he could run away at absurd speeds.

Still, Awe could only ensure his sibling and he escaped.  I was still on my own, I’d just been give a moment to catch my breath.  

As Awe lugged his sibling away with massive  bounds, I could see wisps of fog coming back.  Shock’s storm of electrical discharge had pushed Psycho out of the area only momentarily much to my detriment.  I moved the ground under me and glided away, almost unable to walk with the swelling in my leg thanks to Parasite managing bruising my femur.  

I made it down the street, around a corner, and then collapsed.  The beating, the fatigue, the blood loss, it was all catching up with me.  I wasn’t durable like my lieutenants, I wasn’t built to withstand this sort of trauma.  

Parasite had effectively bludgeoned a regular person when he’d attacked me, and holy shit did he hit hard.  He wasn’t wrong about me needing to go to a hospital.

I crawled beside a dumpster and sat up, resting against a wall as I forced myself to breathe.  Each inhale was painful thanks to half my ribs being in pieces. I reached for my phone, hoping  I could call Hive, anybody…

Shattered.  My mobile hadn’t survived the night.  

I threw it aside and let my head fall back as my vision blurred around the edges some more.  

Maybe I had made it far enough away without Bargain or Psycho follow-

Fog began to creep around the edge of the alley.  

“Fuck me,” I lamented quietly as I could practically feel his insidious presence.  He was right, the Empath I had known was definitely no more; instead a monster had taken his place after Asylum broke him.  

I tried to stand, to at least die on my feet; instead I toppled and landed hard on the arm that had been bitten as my vision swam.  I groaned as constructs began to form and stalk forward, my demise imminent.

As all started to fade to black, I became dimly aware of a glowing blue light as my eyes closed…

—————————–

“Come on, wake up,” I heard from a voice that sounded far away.  “I know you’re still in there, wake up.”

My eyes slowly opened and I was dimly aware of a girl with short blonde hair staring at me.  “I-”

“That’s a good mob boss, there you are,” she said, somewhat sarcastic.  “Strongly suggest you don’t get up for a minute, you took a hell of an ass kicking.”

“Where?”

“La Mansion de Titan,” she said with festive flair.  She noted my perplexed look, “I’m not being facetious, Beleth, you’re in Titan’s house.”  

“Titan has a house here?” The more I talked to her, she seemed familiar.  

“His little hub for recent activity apparently.  He wants to talk to you actually.”

I felt suddenly very awake at the thought; Titan knew about my dealings and knew I was going to work with Suppression.  He was going to kill me, just like everyone else who worked for Xandal.

Struggling, I sat up and noted all the tape wrapped around my torso, arms, and leg.  “How long have I been out?”

“Four hours,” she replied as she rushed to my side, abandoning the table she had been sitting at, “Seriously, Beleth, stop.  You’re going to rip wounds back open. You have to give the stuff time to work. I’d rather you not have to fix your ribs again.”

What was she-

“Organelle,”  I finally concluded, looking at her.  “Didn’t recognize you out of costume.”     

“In the flesh,” she replied, “But seriously, stop.  I stimulated cell growth in your skeleton to deal with the eight broken ribs and to help your marrow replace the blood you lost.  But, you’re still fragile. It’s a good thing Playlist found you as fast as he did, otherwise you probably wouldn’t be with us anymore.”  

“Right place, right time,” a voice called from the corner of the dimly lit room.  

I turned slowly to see a kid of about sixteen loitering with a white tank top and a purple scarf wrapped around his mouth.  “You grabbed me?”

“Right about the time you passed out.  Got you to a Relay station as fast as I could.”

“Relay station?  What the fuck are you talking about?”

“It’s how we get around so fast,” Playlist replied, “Relay has little points set up; I get to them with someone and give him a call, he brings us here.  The more often he uses a gift in one set area, the easier it becomes. We set up a bunch of spots around the city for me to bring people in need.”

I shook my head, confused, “What the fuck are you all talking about?”

“Maybe,” Organelle said, jumping ahead of Playlist, “You should talk to the big guy yourself.  He should be here any second now to talk to you anyways. Let’s let our patient get his rest, Playlist,” she insisted.  The youth shrugged and followed her out, and I could have sworn I saw an earbud in his left ear…

Alone, albeit abruptly, I  had a moment to take in my surroundings.  Wherever I had been taken, it was markedly upscale.  The bed I was laying on was plush and had satin sheets which was almost unheard of on Tso’got.  There was actual wood work and proper baseboards around the room which was, again, something reserved for only the wealthiest of people.  Vinnel trees were one of the only plants native to Tso’got that provided usable lumber, and they really weren’t that common. A table sat in the middle of the room and a few comfortable looking chairs were scattered around the edge as if it was set to play cards.  

And then I felt my blood pressure spike as the door opened again and a man in a black leather coat stepped in.  

Short brown hair, a strong jaw, and a confidence that was nearly palpable; it was Titan, the strongest man on the planet.  

And I was in a room with him, alone, within hours of trying to deal with an organization that directly opposed our existence.  

“Beleth,” he said politely as he took a seat, “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

        Previous Chapter – Next Chapter

11/22/80

“Today’s the day,” a voice chittered beside me.  

Even though I’d seen her countless times like this, waking up to Ant standing over me was unsettling.  “Damnit, Hive,” I grumbled, as I pushed myself away from her on impulse, “Don’t loom if you’re going to wake me up while split.”

Ant took a step back and shimmered as my guardian reformed.  “Sorry, Beleth,” she replied sincerely, “But I’ve wanted to keep an extra close eye out after what happened yesterday.”

I nodded, “Good call, and I appreciate your caution.”

Yesterday someone had killed Rat.  Even though people saw Rogue Sentries around where it happened, people had seen someone else; a massive figure covered in blood with no other real costume.  I would have liked to ask Big Picture about him, but my informant had gone to ground after his own run in with Sentries. Strange he wouldn’t reach out to me though.

That obnoxious Reckoner group were quite the thorn in my side as of late.  Even though I owed them for helping topple Imperium, they had burned through my patience after trying to disrupt my Dart production.  

Our brawl had admittedly been telling; the difference between me being twenty four and them being probably eighteen or nineteen gave me an extraordinary edge in terms of experience.  Truth be told, if they had the practical training I had, they might have been able to win that fight.

I almost shuddered thinking about Eldritch and the horrifying size he’d made himself.  That had been far too close and more worrisome than I cared to admit. It was a good thing he opted to moderate his size.

“Beleth, tonight,” she started.

“No,” I replied, “I have Shock and Awe coming with me for insurance.  I need you here doing what you do best.”

Hive took off her mask and showed her explicit disappointment, “Beleth, I can do so much more than play guard.  Why don’t you want me to fight like the others?”

“Because you literally have the ability to be in multiple places at once,” I replied.  “If I lost you, I lose my only person who has eyes in the sky. You are simply too valuable to risk getting caught in a massive crossfire.”

“At least let me send Stag with you,” the dark skinned woman insisted, “Shock and Awe could always use extra help.”  

“Fine, Ekina,” I relented, “But should there be any trouble, I want you to recall him.”

She nodded, a hint of a smile forming at the edge of her lips.  I knew she would never admit to it, but playing either the role of Ekina or Hive, she loved being useful.  Like so many other Adapted, she had felt displaced, cast out, discarded by others in her life. Being useful, being desired, that kept her constantly straining for my approval.  In many ways, she was my most obedient and diligent subordinate as a result.

Though not the most powerful, she was also a very capable addition to the group.  Being able to be in three places at one time made her irreplaceable.

A peculiar upside of her ability to split was that Hive didn’t need to sleep in a traditional sense.  If she was divvied up, one form could rest for her while two continued to run around. Eventually she would have to coalesce but she would be rested.  Since people knew who I was, I ironically needed protection. Her being tireless meant I had her watch me when I slept.

No matter how powerful I was, I was as vulnerable and soft as anyone else when unconscious.  

Despite being the undisputed crime lord of Ciel, my lodgings were fairly mundane all things considered.  On the northern fringes of the city, I owned a moderate flat that was about 150 square meters with a small yard.  Most expected I would own some kind of fantastic penthouse or magnificent mansion.

I wasn’t an idiot; owning something like that was begging to be have my residence firebombed.  I was already being bold enough to walk around with no mask unlike the rest of my peers, I was not about to paint a larger target on my back.

In my living room, a smaller man was sitting watching Television in his usual hoodie and a pair of sweats.  John Green, better known as Goliath.

“John,” I greeted, “How long have you been here?”

“Few hours,” he said with a shrug, “Figured better if Sarah and I aren’t alone with someone helping the Sentries out.  With Picture missing, who knows what they’ve learned.”

Sarah Walsh, John’s girlfriend and my other headhunter, Pyre.  The two of them were driven by affirmation in some ways, but not to the same extent that Hive was.  Pyre and Goliath were more sure of themselves but less directed; they required a strong hand to guide them and give them assignment more than anything.  Goliath and Pyre were like bounty hunters who needed a contract and base of operations.

I glanced to the sleeping redhead curled up on the couch beside him.  “How is she?”

“Still mending.  She isn’t made to be riddled with bullets, not like me.  Stupid girl was shot six times and probably didn’t even feel it.  At least Dragoon was using non-lethal ammunition, otherwise I don’t think she would have lived.”  Despite his callous tone, John gently stroked her hair; even though I’d seen him literally rip people apart, John Green was a very gentle and caring man when allowed to be.  

But no one was Adapted because life was kind.   

“And you?”

About ninety percent,” he replied as he rolled his neck, “Still some muscle damage thanks to Mutant, but the skeletal damage is fixed.”  

“Good.”

“You want me coming tonight?”

“No, I think I want you sticking around the shipment coming in tonight and making sure Chem doesn’t get hassled.  With Big Picture missing, hard to know who might be vulnerable. Plus, I dare not re-injure either of you.”

He nodded, “Fine.”

Hive had been nice enough to make me breakfast, though it was a little disconcerting to know that she had done it with Ant.  Still, I wouldn’t say no to eggs and bacon…well what this planet called eggs and bacon.

What little I remember of my biological father, before being dumped into foster care, was his intense disdain for this world’s attempt to replicate Earth.  Zari shared much in terms of organic development with our home that they co-opted our technology and culture in many ways. Even though we’d only been in contact with our extra-terrestrial friends for five decades, the impact had been extreme.  

But for many who’d come from our old home, it was a cheap and offensive imitation.  

John came and sat down at my table with me, clearly having trouble with my plan, “You sure tonight’s a good idea?  Just the twins around?”

I gave my enforcer a glare, “You think I need additional protection?”

He shrugged, “I’m not trying to belittle you, but this is suspicious as fuck.  The last thing you should do is go in unprepared.”

“I’m hardly unprepared,” I replied, curt.  “I may not be a Cognate, but I’m not an idiot either.  This isn’t some Adapted trying to posture and prove themselves, this is a genuine invitation.  I might as well show up and hear what he has to say.”

“You can’t really trust him to be a man of his word, can you?”

I chewed thoughtfully, “No.  But how often do you get an invitation from Suppression as an Adapted?”

Nearly three years ago I had opted to live without a mask on, being the first—and so far only—Adapted to live without an alternate identity.  While it had done plenty for my reputation as a criminal and fighter, it had also made me a wildly accessible target for Suppression and Snatchers.  It was why Hive watched me most nights; even without other criminals or Reckoners knowing where I lived, Suppression was government funded and could find me anywhere if they really looked.  It’s why I made a point to live in the confines of Ciel and not out in the borderlands.

If I had strayed out too far, they probably would have dropped a bomb on me to be done with me.  Here I at least had other people around me to prevent them from turning me into a crater.

There had been seven real attempts on my life by Suppression and two capture attempts by the Snatchers, all but one ended with multiple casualties.  Incidentally, the closest attempt on my life was when Suppression had one lone operative jab me with a needle. No other people, no show of force, just one unassuming woman with a needle of designer poison.  

I’d had to pay Organelle handsomely to keep my alive.  Even my own chemist wasn’t able to make a counteragent fast enough to keep my organs from deteriorating.  

Since then I hadn’t let anyone close to me that I didn’t recognize.  Fortunately, my reputation kept most people far away; I was an object of fear and malice, not someone you opted to snuggle up to.  

Four days ago, Suppression had reached out to me in the aftermath of their bout with Rogue Sentries and the slaughter that had ensued. Over twenty dead and dozens injured.  For the new kids on the block, Rogue Sentries had really come to play.

Given our history, the difference in tactic was, at very least, intriguing.  How clever would it be to invite someone into a trap with something so simply as a piece of mail?  It was so illogical that I resolved to accept his invitation immediately. It was requested that I’d come alone and the head of Suppression would follow suit; I’m sure we both knew it was bullshit.  He’d have snipers watching me, I’d have Shock and Awe waiting in the wings.

If they shot me in the head, I would die.  Awe, however, would be back on his feet if Shock wasn’t dealt with.  

The amount he could restore while being charged by his brother was honestly unreal; most with a healing factor would still go down after being shot in the skull but he was back on his feet in a minute.  Literally. That wasn’t to naysay his brother or downplay the Projector, Shock was a threatening entity in his own right.

Truthfully, if those two ever wanted to try and usurp my position, they might be able to.  I was glad they weren’t more ambitious, instead content to take the jobs I handed them. While the others needed approval and accolades, the twins were eager to have a place where they fit in and weren’t judged for being hyper violent bastards.  Shock and Awe loved to fight, plain and simple. They had been orphaned at ten and for a short time were on the streets where they had to fight for everything. They Adapted young, at thirteen, leaving them dangerously unstable in many ways. I found them two years later and given them a place they fit in and weren’t despised for seeking conflict.  

All I had to do was ensure they had something to fight with.  They would often pick fights with Goliath for fun and to help sate that itch for an adrenaline rush.  I wasn’t going to bother insisting they grow up and act more professional since they did what was requested.  Even Goliath didn’t mind fortunately; I think he secretly enjoyed flattening Awe when the other Enhancer got sloppy.  

John debated continuing to argue with me but then opted against it, knowing full well I was already committed.  “I’ll at least make sure nothing goes wrong on our end tonight.”

“Appreciated as always,” I replied sincerely.  

“Ekina, good morning,” he said, turning to our other Adapted present.  

The dark skinned Peculiar sat down at the table, “Good morning, John,” she said with a fairly flat affect.  She and he had never entirely seen eye to eye since they were both after the same thing from me in a way. I didn’t mind; competition was a healthy thing in a controlled dose.  

Living nights meant that breakfast for me was a 3p.m. affair, giving me just a few hours to make a stop at the new Dart facility.  

Even though I was known for being the Adapted who didn’t wear a mask, I went to great lengths to keep my whereabouts fairly well disguised.  I had three drivers with three identical cars and every day they swapped license plates around from a pool of ten. Whenever I left my house, I never wore my hallmark trench coat but instead opted for something much more casual like what John always wore.  I just changed in my car.

When people got used to only seeing you as one specific look, it was amazing how easy it could be to hide yourself in plain sight.  With a pair of sunglasses and a wig on, I could walk around in public with almost no one pausing to look twice. Ironically, I wore a disguise to NOT be an Adapted.  

Today I was with my preferred driver of the three, Kanar.  He was the perfect mix of respectful and amicable in my mind: he would engage in conversation when addressed, but otherwise was content to drive in silence and not force anything beyond a greeting.  

“Good afternoon, sir,” he greeted as I climbed into the backseat and ditched my hoodie and slid into the familiar embrace of my armored coat.  “Where to?”

“New facility,” I replied, “I want to see how production is going since we had to move due to those pipsqueaks.  Seventy-five hours down time, three whole damn days.”

“At least you have a monopoly at this point,” my driver pointed out as he waited to be second to drive away.  “You don’t lose an awful lot being put a few days behind.”

“Breakage is still breakage,” I replied as I changed shoes.  “I’m not exactly thrilled about losing a fair amount of cash.  How else would I pay for three drivers?”

I saw the faintest hint of a smirk, “Of course, sir.  Still, I’m sure you’ll manage.”

“I’m sure I will,” I agreed as I looked outside, watching the grey tones of smog and city roll by.  Ciel was a cesspool the grand scheme of things: lifeless, full of petty criminals, polluted, and desperate.  No one who was in Ciel really wanted to be here. Even though it was the capital, it was a run down monument to the past.  As the Zari had embraced human’s culture for themselves, the old ways died out and Ciel went to shit as a result.

Despite its bloated population, they didn’t get additional government aid for industry.  Why would they? The tycoons who ran everything wouldn’t bother pumping money into this sewer.  It would cost too much to make it a truly modern and efficient city.

My new manufacturing site for Dart was a bit closer to downtown, meaning a longer drive for me, but a closer eye on anything that might still contain some Imperium influence.  Even though Shockwave and his enforcement had been driven away, that didn’t stop the human element of the gang to run. However, this meant less upfront conflict and more conniving methods of sabotage.  Despite Shockwave being the powerhouse of Imperium, he wasn’t the actual founder and creator of the criminal empire.

As we pulled up and into a loading bay of the repurposed grocery store, I took a moment to get myself into the proper headspace before exiting.  As soon as my feet touched the ground, I felt relieved as the world lit up with activity.

People assumed I had a danger sense but that wasn’t quite the case.  I had something more along the lines of a seismic sense. Vibrations in the ground told me a fair amount of information; people didn’t appreciate like I did how unique footsteps were or how their bodies could convey emotional just through little adjustments in their movement.

Inside there was a hustle of activity as a few Zari were shouting instructions to other laborers and chemists who were frantically setting the apparatuses back up.  Dismantling the lab had been costly, and a few pieces of equipment ended up being damaged which had delayed starting production back up, not a fact I was thrilled about.  

But I did find the man I was after.  

“Chemtrail,” I called, “How are we doing?”

My chemist and progenitor of the hit stimulant, Chemtrail was an acne riddled teenager who had a mess of unruly brown hair that refused to be tamed.  As expected of a chemist, he was wearing a lab coat and I insisted he wear a surgical mask to help protect his identity. He originally didn’t wear a mask because he didn’t see himself as an Adapted; I had to explain to him why being able to create a stimulant that kicked harder than meth was decidedly not a normal thing for a 15 year old.  While he never needed to hide his identity from other Adapted-since he never picked fights-I’d still rather not let the other people working here know who he was.

He was far too easy to exploit and blackmail; while the kid was capable of making chemical weapons, he couldn’t throw a punch to save his life.

The pasty teen turned to me with a surprised little jump before nodding to remind himself to answer.  “Right, we’re doing okay. The production should be up by the end of tonight with a fresh batch of Dart cooked and cleaned within the week.”

I frowned, “That puts me almost nine days with no new production, Chem.  Any way you can speed it up?”

He shook his head, “The only way I could accelerate the process would be to add more catalyst…and that risks blowing up in someone’s face.  Literally.”

I clicked my tongue, “Damn.  If you think of something, let me know.”

“I won’t,” he said, matter of fact.  “You know that.”

“You never know,” I replied as I started walking around the facility.  While more cramped than our previous location, it would be large enough to easily hide the activity and for a while we could attribute the coming and going of people to ‘renovations’.

Even though I wasn’t overly concerned with any other Adapted competition picking a fight with me, I knew that Suppression would still take out my money making schemes in an attempt to undermine me if I wasn’t careful.  Most people assumed I was an egotistical and arrogant ass because I walked around with my face exposed. Truth was it had made me more cautious than most.

“Boss,” my chemist called after me, “I heard about your thing tonight.”

I raised an eyebrow, “And?”

Chemtrail was a Cognate who understood chemical interactions and seemed to be able to facilitate some chemical reactions in his hands: to date his most notable achievement was performing electrolysis with a liter of water to make a fair share of Hydrogen and Oxygen in elemental state.  However, when it came to people and things not pertaining to hard science, he was a socially stunted kid.

“Suppression are bad guys, they hunt us, right?  Why make a deal with them?”

There were times his rather blunt and simple take on things could be good though.  He didn’t pander to anyone, even if he was afraid of me. I never told him that I could always detect the slight hesitation in his steps when he came in my direction and the quick scurry he used to  get away from me.

“They are,” I agreed, “But sometimes even bad guys can do something decent.  I never said I was going to work with them, Chem, just going to listen.”           

“I still don’t like it.”

“I still don’t care,” I said back, blunt, “To my knowledge, the head of Suppression has never wanted to have a sit down with an Adapted…ever.  Xandal Verak is a very reclusive individual; worst comes to worst, I kill him and Shock and Awe get me out of there.”

Chemtrail hadn’t seemed to consider that outcome.  “Okay. Be careful.”

“I’m always careful,” I assured as I took a quick walk around, letting my presence be enough to scare people into working faster.  Zari and human alike were intimidated by me. It was ultimately the reason I didn’t wear a mask; if I had the balls to not wear a mask when every other Adapted did, what did that say about me?

Shockwave had a more suitable power for commanding fear and respect, I had a more suitable persona in my opinion.  He had just been a bit of a mad dog though his bite was definitely worse than his bark.

Still, thinking about the Imperium enforcer, I smiled a bit.  He’d been fantastic fun to brawl with.

The whole ‘inspection’ took about fifteen minutes; I had no idea what I was looking at.  I didn’t pretend to understand the chemistry behind it or even what the equipment was. I was a mob boss, it was why I hired people like Chemtrail; all I’d needed to do was lend him my credibility and a heap of money to get started.  

As expected, Kanar was waiting politely for me; as soon as I got close, he put the book he had been reading into the glovebox and started the car.  

Right before I got in, I hesitated.  The second my feet left the ground, I felt blind.  No seismic sense, no ability to manipulate the ground, nothing.  

Most powers had some kind of shortcoming or weakness that you could exploit.  I had to remain grounded otherwise I was unable to tap my gift, to bend the world to my whim.  It was why I never owned a two story building, and why I had refused to meet Big Picture in his office.  Once I ascended a flight of stairs, I was powerless. If someone attacked me in my car, I would have to throw myself out before I could retaliate.  

“Kanar,” I said finally, “A question.”

“Of course, sir.”

“This meeting, do you think it’s a good idea?”  I knew my fellow Adapted would hate the idea, and they had good reason.  Suppression were a heinous group of low-life’s whose sole purpose was to hunt us.  While Kanar was my employee whose fiscal stability hinged on my well being, he would be less biased than any Adapted who’d dealt with the violent government organization.    

Kanar pursed his lips, scratching at his desaturated chin, “I’m not sure.  It’s a unique opportunity, but I don’t know if they are good to do business with.”

“How do you figure?”  Despite being my driver, Kanar was often my sounding board for ideas. What else was I supposed to do while moving around the city after all?  

“Adapted aren’t always driven by logic or money, many are emotionally volatile.”

“Of course.”

“Maybe people hearing about your dealing with the very organization who seeks to kill Adapted could mark you as a traitor.  It might draw people to town with the explicit goal of ripping your head off. It could bring a lot of violence to your doorstep.”

I scoffed, “I think I can handle myself should that be the case.”

“Titan is known for interfering with Suppression, sir,” Kanar noted, “I don’t think it’s smart to piss him off.”

That left me at a loss.  I hadn’t considered the nomadic powerhouse.  

There were two people on the planet I didn’t want to pick a fight with; he was one of those names.  No one ever beat Titan. There was only one Adapted who dared to brawl with the Projector; the fight had lasted fifteen seconds, and the man was reduced to a pile of ash.

“Sir,” Kanar interrupted my quiet pondering, “There is a box back there with you.  Ekina wanted to make sure that you were well fed before going in tonight.”

I chuckled, “Of course she did.”

One the floor beside me feet was a small box with a sandwich and bottle of water with a little note from Ekina

A fed boss is a happy boss!  And stay hydrated! >_<

As childish the gesture, I felt my heart warm a little.  It was part of why I kept her around; I’d never gotten time to appreciate childhood and loved the glimpses she gave me.  People had wondered why I was given a Zari name; being raised in a Zari foster home had been brutal, and the first thing the kids had done was strip me of my old name.  I wasn’t Tony to them, I was Beleth. In the tradition Zari language-the same language almost none spoke anymore thanks to universal common-Beleth meant ‘waste’. When I Adapted, it seemed fitting to leave my old name behind.  They cursed me with a literal trash name and I aimed to show people how wrong they were about me.

And now look at me; the Zari government needed my help.  

I wolfed down the sandwich and got myself back in the right headspace as we approached the destination provided by Xandal.  A single floor office park that looked like it used to host an independent doctor, a business consultant, and a few other things that I didn’t bother to read.  Once I stepped through the front door, I rolled my eyes; Xandal had the whole place gutted prior to the meeting. Walls were gone with only supports remaining. A place with large windows, no walls, he might as well have made a sign that said ‘we have snipers watching in the neighboring buildings’.

Even if he hadn’t made is this painfully obvious, I would expect nothing else than to have an army in the wings.  It was why I had the wonder twins hanging around. Neither one of us trusted the other, and for good reason.

Xandal himself sat at a table in the middle of the barren floor, waiting patiently for me to approach.

Like most buildings, this one had cement flooring.  Wood was fairly scarce and a luxury on Tso’got with lumber being a bitch to really harvest.  Concrete was cheap, reliable, and easy. It worked for me since wood was a bitch to warp and bend for my gift.  Thanks to Zari having thicker skin and a generally more ‘rugged’ physiology than humans, they seldom saw the point in seeking a  less harsh flooring material. Most would complain, I saw no need.

“Well, you haven’t had me shot yet,” I said with a grin as I took a seat opposite the older Zari.  He, like most of his species, had a fairly grey complexion with a weathered face that had clearly been overworked and stressed beyond belief.  His cheeks were shallow and eyes sunken slightly, but there was still an intensity to him that was unmistakable. If we were standing, he’d likely be a full head taller than me, but that wasn’t uncommon between Zari and humans.  

“Yet.  I’m still debating it,” he replied, no-nonsense.  

“You wouldn’t make an invitation and gut a building to just take a shot at me.  I know your antics better than that.”   

He narrowed his glare, “You don’t know a damn thing about me.”

I smirked, “I know a few things.  Definitely more than you’d like me knowing,”

He didn’t respond, but he raised an eyebrow, challenging.  

“You’ve tried to kill me…a lot.  None of them came with greeting cards or invitations, though the last attempt was a bit sneaky.  If you really wanted to kill me, I would have been shot on my way to the door…because you wouldn’t ever want to put yourself this close to me.”

Xandal scowled, “If I move my hand the right way, or say the right words, your head will pop like a fucking balloon.”

I leaned forward across the table, “And if I so much as think about having you killed,” I shifted his chair a centimeter, enough that he’d feel it, “It happens.”  

“Do that again, I have you executed,” he threatened.

“Execute me,” I replied, “And you’ll have to deal with Shock and Awe killing all your men.  Do you want to spend tomorrow making dozens of calls to families? Even if you put one through Awe’s head, he won’t die immediately.  Even if you kill Shock, you’ll have to try and put down a pissed off Awe. You should see the things he can do to people. It is…not pretty.  Oh, but you know that! You’ve sampled his handiwork, I almost forgot.”

He didn’t reply verbally, but I could see him tense at my jab.  

“We’ve killed what…thirty five of your men?”

“Forty-one.”

“Forty-one,” I whispered, “Oof.  That’s gotta hurt.”

“You have a point to this little song and dance other than proving you’re an asshole?” Xandal demanded impatiently.  

“I do!” I replied with a smile, “I know that since you haven’t taken an attempt at removing my head from my shoulders, you really want something big.”

“Maybe I just want to hear your brain hit the floor when a bullet rips through your skull,” he replied with a menacing growl.  “Have you considered that maybe I’m lulling you into a false sense of security so you’ll be an easy target?”

I smiled for a second, and then created a dome of cement around us as rapidly as I could.  The instant the ground shifted, I nudged my chair out of the way; sure enough a bullet struck where my head would have been.  As darkness engulfed Xandal and I, I turned on my phone to provide a little bit of luminosity; I didn’t need it since I could feel him moving around, but I was being nice.  

“Your boys missed,” I pointed out.

“What are you playing at, Beleth?”  He did a good job trying to sound confident, but I could hear his fear.  He had no leverage here, and his only hope of fighting me was to lunge; he knew how fast I could have made him a pincushion.

“I’m making a point.  I can kill you, and escape through the floor with your men none the wiser.  Now, I was respectful enough to attend your meeting, can we stop having a pissing contest that you cannot win?  You called me, erego, you need something from me. Stop pretending we’re on even footing.”

Xandal glared at me but finally nodded.  “Men, hold your fire and hold position. Beleth will put things back, just easy on the trigger.”

As he requested, I shifted the ground back to its proper place; if you hadn’t been watching, you’d never know anything happened.  “Now, can we talk without threatening one another?”

The head of Suppression nodded and straightened his shirt and tie, trying to stay composed.  

“Now, how about we try again: what do you want?”

He hesitated, reluctant to answer.

“Tell you what, how about I try to figure it out!  I’m not a Cognate, but I’m a clever guy. It’d have to be something so big that you’re willing to endanger yourself and swallow your pride to put up with me.  You’d have to go against the fundamental law of Suppression and work alongside and Adapted, which makes me wonder what could be so demanding within Ciel.”

“We want you to reclaim control of the city,” he expelled.  

“I have control of the city,” I replied, “All but a single Reckoner team listen to me.  There’s a few individual players around town, but none are violent or particularly active.”

“That team is causing problems,” he confessed, “Big ones.  Too much public conflict, too many big power struggles. Multiple fights between whole teams, all initiated by Rogue Sentries.”

“They aren’t doing anything too unheard of,” I replied, “We’ve had a few fights with Imperium in the past that involved full line-ups.  They don’t do near the damage that we do. Which begs the question…why now? What has happened that makes things different?”

He didn’t say a word.

“As far as I’m aware, nothing terrestrial has happened.  No government shifts, no huge ordeals happening. The only thing that I can think of that would prompt this was the bloodbath from earlier in the week.  You like what, two dozen people to Rogue Sentries and some mystery kid?”

Xandal nodded.  

“Still, not enough to warrant working with me.  Something changed or gave way…” but try as hard as I might, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.  “Something from another planet,” I finally concluded. My eyes widened, “No fucking way.”

He sighed and nodded, “Yes.  Them.”

“The fucking Trillodan?  Are you serious?”

“We heard from Vuuldar and Kelix, there has been increased chatter about the Trillodan and spottings of observation vessels.”

Vuuldar and Kelix, the other two planets that humans were thrown to in desperation.  Tso’got wasn’t set up to be able to handle literally hundreds of millions of exiles from Earth, so the population was divided predominately between those three planets.  

“And you think the Trillodan are after…what exactly?”

Xandal almost rolled his eyes, “The Adapted.  Clearly. The only thing we have in common with Vuuldar and Kelix is you lot.  The fighting, the spectacle, it attracts attention. It was only a matter of time before the Trillodan took an interest.”

“So, you want me to silence the Reckoners here?  You want me to make another fight break out? That seems counter intuitive.”

“We want you to retain control,” he replied, “We want there to be an absolute rule for a time so there is no more spectacle.”

Even though I hadn’t been around to see my own home turned to slag, the thought of the Trillodan was terrifying.  Cosmic tyrants that people knew very little about, other than their penchant for annihilating planets who seemed to make themselves too technologically advanced.  They did more marvelous feats with technology than the Adapted could ever hope to; why take an interest in us?

“You want me to suppress Adapted activity so the Trillodan lose interest and leave Tso’got alone, that about sum it up?”

“Exactly,” he affirmed.  

I shook my head, “Why are the Trillodan interested in us?”

“I’m sure I don’t care.  Observation vessels are generally a precursor to Protocol 37; I’m not about to let my planet be reduced to the same ash heap that yours is.”

I sat back from the table, taking it all in.  I knew that it must have been something important to get the head of Suppression to talk to me, but this?  Had there really been that much excess activity with Adapted lately? The Rogue Sentries had made quite the name for themselves and made a hell of a mess, but enough to finally get the Trillodan’s interest?

“Are similar conversations being had in other clusters?  Other cities? Is Suppression looking to weaponized people like me?”

Xandal sighed, “Suppression is utilizing every resource available to ensure stability.  Whether they know it or not, Rogue Sentries’ activities have started a surge in Adapted confrontation.  Otherwise passive Reckoner groups and criminals are getting more confrontational.”

“So, that’s a yes?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.  You guys are desperate,” I noted, pulling myself back to the table, “And you’re really hoping that the Rogue Sentries going away will help stymie a huge push of Reckoner activity.  You think they are really the catalyst here?”

“You’re a clever man, yes?”

“I like to think so.”

“In the last two months, since their confrontation with Shockwave and Imperium, there has been a 32% rise of Adapted conflict across Tso’got.  People are rising up since the new kids fought the old guard and are holding up; if someone can fight you and Beleth and live, there is hope for them to accomplish similar feats.  Since the Rogue Sentries are the ignition source of all this new conflict, we are hoping that them being crushed will stymie a majority of the rising conflict; with no inspiration to draw from, new Adapted will be less drawn to conflict and active combat.  Despite Suppression’s frantic attempt to recruit enough agents to cope with the threat, we can’t contain this spike in activity. Part of our problem is that we believe Titan is leaving Adapted scattered around in various clusters to thwart our efforts.” Xandal sighed and shrugged,  “Don’t you think the time has come to make difficult compromises?”

That certain did sound like him, but would he have done it if he knew the Trillodan were interested in us?  Then again, Titan was never a guy who was caught off guard; was he making sure the Trillodan looked into Tso’got?  But why?

“I admit, it does sound pretty dire.”

“So,” Xandal said, leaning forward, “Are you willing to work with us?”

I curled the corner of my mouth in a sly grin, “What’s it worth to you?”

The head of Suppression couldn’t answer for a moment.  “You…you’d exploit this?”

I returned a cold stare, “I’m a businessman.  I have something you want. Clearly, you are coming up short in results, and you’re desperate enough to come to me and dumb enough to tell me exactly what my services will get you.  Now,” I said as I wrapped my hands over one another, “I know exactly how valuable my services are.”

He was appalled, but what could he do?  Argue? Beggars couldn’t be choosers. “Your price?”

“Immunity.  I want to own the drug trade within the cluster.  Also,” I pressed before he could interject, “I want better lodgings for me and my Adapted and I want those paid for indefinitely.”

Xandal glared, “Is that all?”

I leaned back and snapped my fingers, “One more thing.  I want you to pay for a complete overhaul of my Dart production.  And I want you to bankroll that so I never see another penny of overhead.”  I reveled in the glare he gave me before adding, “Seems like a small price to pay for keeping your world safe, doesn’t it?”

“You’re a lowlife, a fucking villain.”

“You knew that before coming here,” I replied.  “I’m a drug lord and a scoundrel, and you need my help.  Now, is my help worth-” I paused and looked at the ground, feeling lumbering footsteps.  Even Goliath didn’t weigh that much when he was bulked up, which left only one option. Four other steps of steps accompanied it, and none were rushed.  Nothing opposed them, no hasty movements. Why were they being allowed to move towards us unaccosted? “Answer quickly, will you honor the agreement?”

“I need to-”

“Answer the fucking question,” I snapped, “Are you going to agree to my terms?”  Reaching into my jacket, I ripped my phone free. “Shock, Awe, what the hell are you doing?  Why aren’t you stopping them?”

No answer.  

“Your men outside,” I demanded, “Call to them.  Get them to answer.”

Xandal tried, and he had as little luck as I did.  “What’s going on?”

“Rogue Sentries are coming for me and they have help.  Now, from what I can feel,” I said, closing my eyes to better feel the movements in the ground, “They are all coming through the front door in about five seconds.”  I erected a barrier of cement in front of my contact keeping him from slipping away, “Now, do you agree to my terms, or not?”

He rounded on me, eyes wide with  panic. “Yes! For fucks sake, let me out of here!”  Even if I was being nice with him, other Adapted would kill the man on sight.  

“You’d better not screw me,” I cautioned as I opened the way for him and turned to the door, just in time to see the frame obliterated as Eldritch came lumbering through.  Mutant follow him, Dragoon next, then Geyser, and lastly Lightshow.

“Making a deal with Suppression?” Dragoon demanded as she stepped forward, taking point as I expected.  “That’s low, even for you.”

I smiled and shook my head, “You kids really don’t know exactly how much is happening around you, do you?”

“We know enough to know you need to be gotten rid of.  No Adapted should be working with Suppression, you fucking piece of shit,” Eldritch hissed at me, his voice affected by the suit he wore.  He wasn’t nearly as big as last time, but he didn’t start enormous last time either. I would have to make sure to keep him contained.

“You can’t win this Beleth, it’s five against one,” Dragoon warned me, “Even you aren’t that good.”

“And what are you gonna do with me, even if you win?” I said, making a sweeping gesture, “You gonna hand me over to Suppression?”

“We’ll dismantle your drug supply, fuck over your cash flow, and leave you with nothing.  You’re done making Dart, and done terrorizing people.”

I almost laughed at Lightshow’s idealism.  “You think it is just that easy? You think the lot of you will be able to just rip apart everything I have built?  Speaking of, you’re down a man. Where is Parasite?”

“Keeping an eye on Shock and Awe,” Geyser replied.  

The corner of my lip curled with frustration; how had they dealt with my enforcers silently?  How did they even know I was here? If Big Picture knew I was doing this, he would also have known why.  Would he send them my way if that was the case?

I put aside my concern as I stepped forward and put my hands behind my back, infuriating at least two of them with my seeming lack of concern.  “So, come on then. Take your best shot, Rogue Sentries. See if you can beat the king.”

Previous Chapter – Next Chapter

    I didn’t sleep much, that night.  Between dramatic reveals from Murphy and Alexis, I felt more overwhelmed with them than the fight with Beleth.  At least with him I knew what I was in for.  With them, I was worried about one having a panic attack and the other running away.  

    I hadn’t texted Xana last night, unsure what to say.  Did I tell her that Alexis harbored an immense crush on me? Hell, did she already know?  Ordinarily I would have said ‘no way she knows that’ but then again my friend had concealed affection for nearly five years.  

    My judgment and intuition seemed rather miserable all things considered.  

    I’m guessing I finally got some sleep around four in the morning, well after everyone else had managed to sleep with the exception of Bargain.  He’s granted himself some extra alertness for a while, likely in exchange for a whole day of fatigue and malaise.

    As amazing and versatile as his power seemed to be, it didn’t sound like fun to have.  

    I woke up to my phone buzzing, another message from Xana which felt like a slap of guilt first thing.  A great way to start my day.

    Xana: Hey, you alive?

    Me: Still kicking.  Stuff got complicated last night.  Extra players, new plots, the works.  I’ll tell you about it later.  

    Xana: You gonna be okay?

    Me: I’ll be fine.  

    Xana: Okay, be safe.  Love you.

    Me: Love you too

    Rolling over, I got off the floor and gave Bargain a wave as I trekked into the kitchen for some toast.  Admittedly, being up at six after a night of heavy drinking felt odd especially since walking around was like traversing a minefield of bodies.

    “Morning,” I said to Bargain who gave me a nod.  

    “You do realize you only get another hour or two before Psycho shows up and bosses you around, right?  I’d suggest getting sleep while you can.”

    I frowned, “Unfortunately, I’m up so might as well just get up.  Why did he come here to keep an eye on us anyways?”

    “ASPD wouldn’t keep him safe overnight, especially if he was around people who he was threatening.  Plus, knowing him, he went to scope out wherever Rig and Reflection were seen.  Regardless of which illness he takes, Psycho is always meticulous and thorough.  He’ll want to be sure he isn’t wasting time sending you out on a wild goose chase.”  

    “Comforting,” I said as I opened the fridge.  “You know, you seem far too decent to be working for an abject sociopath, you realize this, right?”

    He smiled, “Nick, I’ve killed eighteen people,” he said bluntly.  “Eleven of them were in employment of the Snatchers, but the other seven were not.  Maybe you shouldn’t assume the best or the worst of people so quickly.”

    I glanced over my shoulder cautiously as I grabbed a loaf of bread and some peanut butter, now nervous to be making toast nearby.  

    “Truth be told, you’re halfway to the body count I have,” he informed me.  “Maybe you should ask yourself why you’re working with someone as decent as Dragoon.”

    “What are you talking about?” I snapped, appalled.  I hadn’t killed anyone, I had only fought other Adapted…then it dawned on me.  “Suppression,” I finally realized aloud.

    “Yeah, you killed a handful of them,” Bargain said.  “You realize that when you hit people, even before you consider how strong the Neklim muscle is, you are simply hitting someone with an arm that weighs over ten times as much as a normal arm?  You’re basically inflicting a car accident on people when you hit them while super bulked up.”

    “How did you know about Suppression coming after us?”

    “Psycho has had an interest in you guys for a while; we watched you fight Goliath and Pyre, and watched your run in with Suppression afterward.  He wanted to get a gauge of your aptitude and whether or not you’d be decent candidates to fight against Beleth and help create his window of opportunity. You passed with flying colors.”

    He wasn’t exactly cavalier about this, but he wasn’t morose either.  For Bargain, this was simply normal. He had no problem embracing the fact he’d watched me kill people.  

My brain however felt like it was being lit on fire as internal arguments warred: they had been working for a heinous organization but did that make me killing them any better?  Sure, they had pulled the trigger and shot me, but I had super powers where they didn’t. Bargain was right about the absurd amount of force I accidentally exerted; was I being a monster  or were my actions justified?

    “Don’t overthink it,” Bargain insisted.  “You were in a life or death situation, you fought.  They used lethal force, you did too.”

    I took a gulp of air, realizing I had forgotten to breathe for the last few moments.  “How…how are you so calm about this?”

    He shrugged, “I’m sure some psychologist would tell me that I have lost a lot of empathy, but I don’t know that’s right.  I don’t see people in Suppression and Snatchers as people anymore. Big institutions like that, sources of controversy and conspiracy, they don’t deserve my sympathy.  People knew how hated they when they joined up; I feel no pity killing them.”

    “And the other seven?” I asked, nervous as Bargain stared out, clearly looking well beyond the confines of the room.  

    “I remember them vividly.  I don’t feel guilt, but I refuse to forget either; I killed them, I should own it and accept it.  But, they fought, they lost. Simple as that.”

    Taking a bite of my toast, I nodded.  “Are you planning to kill us when we’re done helping get rid of Beleth?”

    He shook his head, “Me personally, no.  I have no grudge with you guys; I’m honestly pretty fond of your rag-tag group.  But, I don’t know what Psycho has planned. It wouldn’t surprise me if he sent me after a few of you.  Knowing him, he’d have me execute Dragoon first if it really came down it.”

    “I’d really rather you didn’t do that,” a groggy voice muttered as Alexis came shambling in, pointing at the cup of coffee in his hand, “Did you make more?”

    She gave me a glance and blushed, looking down, embarrassed.  

    Bargain raised an eyebrow suspiciously, “Rest of the pot is by the stove.  Am I missing something?”

    “Definitely not,” she insisted, tight lipped.  

    The Lunatic chuckled, “You’re an awful liar.”

    “Fine.  It’s none of your business,” she snapped.  “Am I still lying?”

    Bargain raised his hands defensively, “No, that one’s honest.  Though it is always interesting to hear some juicy drama.”

    “My friend being ousted as gay wasn’t enough for you?” I asked.

    “It’s been a long and lonely night.  Forgive me for wanting some kind of distraction besides the never ending cycle of negative thoughts in my head.”

    Without a good reply, I opted to take another bite of toast while Alexis poured her coffee.  He eventually stood up and bowed as he exited, clearly not eager to be lingering in horribly awkward silence between Alexis and I. “Perhaps, I should go stretch my legs for a little while.  I have been sitting a long time.”

    Part of me was happy he was gone, part was very upset that I was now sitting alone with Alexis.  

    Eventually I couldn’t tolerate the silence.  “So, um, what now?”

    She put her head against the table and groaned, “Nick, I don’t know.  I wasn’t supposed to come apart like that last night…but between the fight, coping witrh Psycho, and Murphy’s ordeal, I just couldn’t take it.  I was so overwhelmed and needed to get it off my chest. I’m…sorry.” She looked up, clearly hungover and sleep deprived, “I really don’t wanna fuck up what you have with Xana, I mean that.”

    “So what do I tell her?”

    “Honestly, I’d rather you said nothing,” she admitted, “Hearing I kissed you would probably kill our friendship and give her some serious issues with you being part of Rogue Sentries.  Nick, it was a one-time thing. I’ll…I’ll figure my shit out. It isn’t your problem, okay?”

    I didn’t want to disagree, but I couldn’t help but feel it was partially my problem.  

    There was an awkward silence as we sat there, neither of us sure what to say.  It would have been nice if I could just let it go, forget it happened…but that sure as hell wasn’t happening.  

    Instead I chose to change the subject.  “So, what are we doing about our Lunatic issue?”

    With a problem to ponder, the scarlet color from her cheeks faded, and he eyes narrowed as she took another sip of coffee, deep in thought.  “Psycho has done his homework on us, and he really does have excellent tools to beat us. We are better in a prolonged fight: you can regrow, Parasite mends, Menagerie gets to make new creatures, and my armor repairs.  They have the exact opposite strengths with Bargain and Psycho himself… and we are seriously vulnerable to Dysfunction.  Hell, given what we’ve seen him do and what I know about who Wager used to be, there is a decent chance Bargain could simply kill four of us before dismissing himself.”

    “That isn’t a solution.”

    “We don’t have a good one,” she admitted, taking another drink, “Psycho’s right about us being unable to win a proper fight.  If we want to do anything, we have to split them apart. Divide and conquer.  But, he won’t hesitate to kill our families if we try to challenge him.”

    “And if we run into Beleth again, that’s just as deadly.”   

    “Yep,” she said, “Yes it is.  And soon, he’ll topple one of the last threats to him in the city.  Once Rat’s main sources of chaos are disposed of, Vermin will have to recruit someone new and that will mean they are off the table while they find talent out of town.”

    “But what does Psycho even want with the city?” I questioned, “He doesn’t seem like he’s driven by money.”

    “We don’t know that.  He could just be keeping that on the sly so we can’t sabotage him.  You have to remember that he regularly becomes a Cognate, and a devious one at that.”  She put her head in her hands, “But he’s right. I’m thinking so short term and narrow minded; for all I know, he’s playing an angle to involve himself with another city in the cluster, or maybe he’s working in tandem with some other organization elsewhere.  God, I suck at trying to do this mastermind and planning shit!”

    “It’s also 6:40 in the morning,” I pointed out, “Maybe give yourself a little bit of leniency?”

    She frowned, “I’m not exactly in a good place to be slacking off, am I?  If we don’t do something about this, I don’t think Psycho will leave us around to challenge him after his hostile takeover.  I’d rather have some idea of what to be doing now rather than later.”

    Her face went pale as Bargain walked back into the room.  He put up his hands, “Relax. I’m not here to hurt you or tell you what you can or can’t do.  I’m just here to make sure that you don’t bolt; I’m not here to make sure you don’t plot.  Dysfunction might be opposed to such conversation, but I don’t give a damn.”

    “You don’t…care that we may try to fight you?” I asked, confused.  “Shouldn’t you be worried about that?”

    Bargain shrugged, “If you’re going to fight me, it would have had to happen yesterday.  Pscyho didn’t have a combat illness but today he will. And Psycho isn’t as nuts as you two think; he likely isn’t seeking to dispose of you the second he can.  My guess is he actually tries to keep you around as extra enforcement.”

    “By blackmailing us?” Alexis growled.  

    “I didn’t say he was perfect, but consider what happened to us.  Psycho was remade just like I was in a literal hell of an environment that only he was strong enough to break free from.  Being nice, loving, trusting, it meant nothing in Asylum. Power, fear, strength, those could get you what you needed.”

    “How…how did he get out?” Alexis finally asked.  

“Schizophrenia,” Bargain replied.  “The most powerful, and least controlled of his disorders.  Like the rest of us, Psycho’s power was different before hand.  He told me once that the powers didn’t change, but they weren’t based on mental illness, he simply woke up and chose one.  But now, they have stronger applications, but he loses control of ordering, and often control of his mind when he takes them on.”  Bragain sighed, “As monstrous as he is, you have to remember that he wasn’t a mentally ill individual before Asylum.”

It was a sobering thought that he might have some kind of twisted morality that drove him, not just reckless ambition and a cruel streak.  

    “Do you know why he wants the city?” Alexis finally asked.

    “No idea,” Bargain said with a shrug.  “I’m his enforcement and main guy for hunting people down.  I’m not an ideas man. I’m far too blue collar,” he said with an honest smile.  “Pacifist and Spectre help with planning.”

    I paused a moment, “You said Spectre can copy powers, right?”

    “She can.”

    “Why isn’t she running the show?  Someone who can be intangible on top of having another power set to use seems unbeatable.”

    Bargain shook his head, “Think of it like this: how good are you at gymnastics?”

    “Um, probably terrible I guess.”

    “Okay, what about creative writing?”

    “Better but not amazing,” I confessed.

    “And how about classical dancing, are you well versed in that as well?”

    “Well, no, but what does this have to do with her?”

    “Powers are skill sets,” Alexis said for him, “And even though she gets to take a power, she isn’t necessarily familiar with it.”  

    “Her inherent knowledge gives her some insight, but proper application is a different thing entirely.  If she took Parasite’s passenger, she wouldn’t necessarily gain his balance or inherent knowledge of how much strength was enough or too much.  And then there is the issue of cost: she could take your power but couldn’t do anything with it since there is consumption required and she would have no existing storage.”

    I frowned, annoyed at my lack of forethought.  

    “Spectre is very powerful, no question.  But skill and training often is a better match against raw power.”  

    “Does she ever borrow your power?”

    “Only under duress,” he replied to Alexis, “No one really wants to use my power, but it gets results in a pinch.”  He frowned and looked out into the living room before having a start. “What the hell is that?”

    A grey amorphous blob the size of a large dog rested in the corner, content to exist and do little else.  “That,” Alexis said, “Would be Mutant. He’s mending the damage from yesterday. He had selected five forms before our fight was done with Beleth.”

    “It’s… certainly weird looking,” Bargain said with a laugh.  “Does it have a function other than regenerating?”

    “Nope,” I replied.  “But, if he stays in it for an hour, he can regrow a limb or two and several units of blood if necessary.”  Apparently the worst injury he’d undergone involved getting a leg ripped clean off; two hours of slug form and he didn’t even have scars.    

    “But he’s basically a sitting duck while recovering,” Bargain said to himself, “Interesting.”  With a yawn, he got up and stepped away from the table, “Oh, well, times up. It seems I’m needing to enter a couple hour coma.  Spectre,” he grumbled, kicking a figure sleeping on the floor, “Wake up and take over. There’s coffee by the stove,” he said mid-yawn, quickly losing coherence and  balance.  

    She got up with, all her grace from the other day absent as she trudged across the kitchen, seemingly oblivious to myself or Alexis.  Her hair was a mess of white going everywhere, the same clothes she had been wearing now stained with sweat and ruffled around the edges.  

    Taking a seat, she seemed to finally realize there were other people nearby her.  “Oh, hi. Good morning,” she whispered, meekly.

    “Hi,” Alexis said with a weak smile.  

    There was an awkward silence and Alexis finally got up and walked out back while I continued slowly eating my toast and Spectre drank her coffee.  

    “Did I do something?” she asked, clearly feeling guilty.

    “No,” I replied, “It’s…never mind.”

    People started slowly coming to, and by about 7:30 everyone was up…everyone except for Yuki.  Her color looked normal, her breathing was easy and peaceful. For all intents and purposes, she was just sleeping it off.  While she was recovering, she wasn’t recovering fast enough for Roger who hated the idea of leaving her alone.

    By eight, most people were at least somewhat fed and people started showering to wash off the grime and filth of yesterday.  Dysfunction and Spectre were watching us as we milled about, the morning routine the only thing to occupy our time.

    Once that was done, there was unrest due to apathy.  We were painfully aware again that we were being restrained and contained by a hostile force and wanted anything else to focus on.  

    I wasn’t sure if I was happy or sad to see the door open and Pacifist come through.  Another figure came in behind her, but I didn’t recognize him at first: absurdly tall, almost comically broad shouldered, with perfect blond hair, and a physique men would kill for.

    The only familiar feature was the cloth across his mouth with the neon red teeth.  

    “Psycho,” Alexis greeted, “Narcissism today?”

    He nodded, “Correct.  Now, you folks have plenty of work to do.”

    Even without any kind of foreknowledge, it was easy to tell that this form was dedicated to physical strength.  

Yesterday had been brains, today was brawn.

    “Maybe you can tell us where we’re going?”

    He turned, curling his lip in disgust at Roger, “I’m speaking to your captain, not you.”

    “Psycho,” Alexis said, loud, “He has a valid question.  Where are we going?”

    “South side of the city,” he explained, “Two of them are holed up in an old apartment building.  Not many tenants, but enough to give them hostages should Suppression or someone like you show up.”

    Alexis nodded, “Can you tell us more than that?”

    He narrowed his glare, “Are you so incapable you require more information?”

    “We can’t all be as perfect as you are,” she replied, placating his superiority complex with a straight face.  As much as she harped on herself, Alexis was getting damn good at this.

    It was hard to tell if Psycho knew she was playing his disorder for the day,  but in the end, he smiled.  “I suppose not. Pacifist has the address and will get you there.”

    “What are you planning to do?”

    “Well, I’m going to watch my investment work!  I want to see how you do against Rig and Reflection in their trapland.”  

    “Great,” Murphy muttered, “Just what I wanted first thing in the morning.”

    “People don’t expect someone to kick the door in at nine; it’s a perfect plan really,” Alexis said, still shamelessly buttering up Psycho.  While I didn’t care for her indulging his self-importance, I didn’t like the idea of him being upset either.

    I raised a hand politely and waited for him to nod to me.  “I am out of mass for my power. I need some kind of meat or animal protein to be useful.”  

    “And you think I wouldn’t plan ahead?  While you were being lazy in this house, I caught you a meal.  It’s in the back of Pacifist’s car. You’ll eat it on the way over.”

    I nodded in thank and remained silent, not wanting him to look over at me any more than was necessary; I could probably fight Psycho if I was grown, but definitely not before.  

    Apparently Pacifist’s car referred to a massive passenger van with enough room to hold probably fifteen people.  It had been retrofitted to be more comfortable with leather seating and a more aesthetically pleasing crimson interior.  However, the tarp and dead Liq in the back detracted from some of the elegance of the van-limo mashup.

Psycho nodded to it, “Eat up.”  

Placing a hand to the dead animal, it dissolved into non-existence.  

Eighty-five kilograms available for consumption.

Dragoon got suited up, the metal plates bolting together, binding the armor around her appendages and torso, the rest of the Sentries already back in costume and ready to fight…but we didn’t have the advantage of Dragoon’s drones scouting ahead of us.  

My phone buzzed.

Xana: You guys still at Murphy’s?

Me: No.  Had to go.  I’ll let you know when it’s safe.

Xana: Be careful babe.

I let out a sigh as Pacifist drove us through the slog of unfortunate souls who had to be working on a Sunday.  My eyes flitted off the road as my phone buzzed again.

Dad: Where are you?

Me: With Murphy and Alexis.  Sorry I didn’t call last night.  

Dad: Don’t do it again.  Be home today.

Me: Okay.

Beside me, Ted frowned, “Everything okay?”

    I nodded, “Just family wondering where the fuck I was last night.  It’ll probably blow up in my face, but not until later.”  

    “Your head on straight?”

    “Don’t you start worrying about me too,” I harped.  “It isn’t anything new, it’ll wait until later.”  I knew my mom would be worried sick about me, but there was nothing I could do about that right now.  She’d simply have to trust me.

The car ride was uncomfortably silent.  While I wasn’t unaccustomed to quiet car rides, there was generally music or something to distract you; with the Lunatics mixed in with us, we dared not speak.  It was a mercy when we finally split off from the main drag and wove down some side streets.

    “They are in the building across the street,” Psycho snapped, calling us to attention as Pacifist pulled over quietly.  “There are about a dozen other people living in that place, so try not to cause too much damage.”

        Our destination was an older apartment building consisting of a mostly cement exterior.  While it would probably survive any storm that could hit, the place looked frighteningly similar to a prison.  The windows were narrow and the whole exterior was a drab grey color. Completely lifeless.  Around it were a few similar buildings and a myriad of parked cars, some of which looked like they had been abandoned or simply neglected by some poorer tenants. Like most places in Ciel, the buildings were snug together, but there were alleyways that ran around the sides of the building that seemed to connect to a side street behind the complex.     

        Dragoon put a projection over us and I stripped down, growing a layer of material over my body, slowly building up mass as we crossed the street.  About the time we got to the building, I weighed about a tonne and had about half my storage left at my disposal.  Not an ideal growth rate, but hopefully this wasn’t too long lived a fight.

        The building was divided into four little inlets with two upstairs and two downstairs apartments, and none of them really seemed lived in.  If Psycho was right, there wasn’t even a person in every apartment, if all were living alone.

        “We start knocking on doors, we are going to attract attention,” Geyser muttered, cautious.  “We really don’t want to give Rig or Reflection any kind of leverage over people. I get that we have Psycho watching us, but these people are innocent.”  

“Mutant, find them,” Dragoon insisted.

    Mutant nodded, shapeshifting into a reptilian form, a thin form with blue scales covering his whole body.  His face pointed to a snout and a long, forked tongue slipped out, tasting the air. Around the sides of his head, a hood fanned out and enhanced his hearing with a pair of massive holes in the side of his head.  As all of his forms had one primary function, his reptilian one was a form dedicated to sensory enhancement. “I think I smell Reflection, or at least one of his clones on the left side of the apartment building. The other smells are muddling together, hard to track them all,” he said as he slipped back to human.

    “Who takes point?”

    Dragoon put on her helmet, “Parasite, you are most human looking, and arguably most dangerous in tight quarters.  Mutant, you still have three forms to pick, so make them combat forms and go with him. Geyser, you and I will hold the front in case they run.  Lightshow, Eldritch, you two wait around the backside of the apartment in case Rig tries to blow them an exit.”

    “And if they take a hostage?” I asked.

    “We try to have Geyser smoke them.  It’ll suck for whoever has to live through a dose of his fumes, but it beats dying.  You two take the hologram,” she said to me and Lightshow, “No offense, you’re the one who will raise the most alarm if you show up like that.”  

    Lightshow took it and nodded to me as we stalked around the side of the building, both of us quiet.  

    The little drone followed us, relaying the team’s communications.

    “Do it,” Dragoon commanded.

    I could hear Parasite kick in the door from behind the building, and then heard and explosion immediately afterward.  

    “He’s running back inside!  Eldritch, Lightshow, coming your way!” Dragoon shouted before another series of detonations sounded.  

    Right on cue, the back wall of the building erupted and debris went flying everywhere; I shielded my teammate and let the rubble smack against my massive wall of flesh.  From the hole made, two figures dropped down, immediately perturbed to be seen by another pair of Reckoners.

    Seeing Reflection in a non-mutated body was bizarre…especially since he was a surprisingly good looking individual.  My appreciation for his appearance vanished as a black vapor collected around him, and half a dozen twisted images manifested.  

    Mutant said he could store copies for an emergency, I only wish I knew how many I was going to have to deal with.

    Lightshow flooded our opponents in dazzling light, disorienting them as I thundered forward, getting to grab the first copy and break its neck in a swift motion.  She bent the beam of brilliance around me as I grabbed another twisted image and broke its arm; it still turned and raked along the surface of my suit with sharpened fingernails.  

    I forgot these things didn’t feel any pain.  

    Behind me, Lightshow let out a cry of alarm as a car door erupted sending a directed blast at her: Rig had made sure to set up traps beforehand.  Some of the rundown cars were undoubtedly just bombs waiting to be triggered.

    Lightshow wasn’t too hurt, but her break in focus bought a moment for Reflection and Rig to see.  

    From the hole in the apartment, Mutant bounded out, dropping down and ripping apart a Reflection clone in the wolf form.  Rig grimaced and scooped up a chunk of rubble, tossing it at Mutant and quickly doing his countdown.

    Even though he’d been quick on the charge time, it was still like a damned grenade going off.  

    The Enhancer staggered, disoriented from the concussion.  A pair of tortured clones pounced and began beating on my teammate as Reflection discharged another cloud, conjuring another five copies to get in my way.  Three more turned and piled onto me, biting, clawing, scratching, hitting, all attacking with reckless abandon as I tore another apart.

    Even though my tentacles would bite into their skin, the copies didn’t care about losing patches of flesh.  Since it wasn’t life threatening it didn’t even slow them down.

    Rig grabbed another chunk of rubble and tossed it at Lightshow as she blanketed him in darkness; his blast was close but she narrowly dodged to the side, beset by an aberration that had ran past me.  It swung with an oversized hand, and Lightshow nimbly dashed to the side, yanking a knife from her belt, stabbing into the creature’s armpit and ducking away before it could grab hold. Another copy rushed for her, but she was quick about blinding him and stepping forward, penetrating his guard and sticking the blade into his exposed throat.  

    A trash can lid slid across the ground towards her, Rig already doing his countdown.

    I threw the two clones off me and slammed my hand over the lid, right before it detonated.  

    My arm was blown apart, the blast even singing my real arm beneath.

    Burning some of my residual mass, tentacles erupted from the exposed skin and reformed the arm at my maximum growth rate, opting for immediacy rather than permanence since the copies were still adamant on swarming me.  

    Rig continued to backpedal, lobing charged rocks that exploded mid air, hoping to catch Lightshow off guard.

    Dancing with Dragonfly had given our Projector the necessary practice to bounce around and keep herself out of harm’s way.  With Mutant having joined the fray, the reflections were less intent on her since she posed the least physical threat, leaving her not a whole lot else to worry about besides dodging rocks.

    The fact that it was just the three of us made me worried: what the hell happened to everyone else?

    Another two clones were slow getting away from me, giving me a chance to ensnare them; one turned to goo after I crushed it against the cement, the other shriveled and curled up after I struck it square in the chest and flattened its ribcage.

    Scooping up a chunk of wall, I whipped it at Rig; even without any inhuman speed, he was quick on his feet and ducked out of the way.  Raising his hand, he did another countdown, but he wasn’t throwing anything.

    We’d followed into another trap.     

    Throwing myself at her, I covered Lightshow as one of the nearby cars erupted and riddled me with shrapnel, the heat killing a whole layer of tissue.  I had trouble getting back up, my body in conflict as a piece of jagged car body had pierced through and found my leg beneath.

    Get up, let her go.  Rip the metal out.

    I was hoping simple commands, clear directives to the suit, could be followed even when I was threatened underneath.

    To my surprise, it actually obeyed.  I rose and unfolded my arms to release Lightshow; the growths around my leg gripped the metal and tugged it free so they could immediately begin repairing their host.  

    More battery from the reflections, but I was hard pressed to do much more than endure while my body mended.  Being able to multi-task was something I would need to improve on in the future, but now at least there was a start.

    Behind the throng besetting myself and Mutant, Reflection emitted another small cloud of gas and spawned several more twisted copies.

    How many did he have stored?  

    As soon as the damage was dealt with, I roared and helped add to the sensory overload that Lightshow was inflicting as she blinded a handful of the copies.  As they were vulnerable, I smacked aside a few, maiming them and hopefully slowing them down enough to be a non-factor. Behind me, Lightshow wasn’t about to give them an option to rejoin the fight as she slit their throats, turning them to a set of twisted carcasses.  

    “Stop running,” Lightshow shouted, “Reflection, you’ve gotta be running out.  Just give up already.”  

    He laughed, “You think we’re the ones who should be afraid?”   

    We were the ones ambushing him and his friend.  Why wasn’t he more intimidated?  Unless…

    “Drag, they baited us!  They expected us!” I shouted.

    Rig started another countdown, and again I shielded Lightshow as the wall of a nearby building erupted and barraged me with shard of burning brick, ripping away a hundred kilograms.  

    Dragoon’s voice came over the little drone that had picked itself back up off the ground, “Eldritch, the other members of Vermin are here!  Rat is coming for you guys!”

    Rig’s traps were meant to do more than keep us at bay, they were made to scare the shit out of anyone nearby and incite an emotional reaction for anyone within the block.  

    All Rat had to do was wait for panic to spread and charge up his Adaptation.  

Of course he would be close by.  As powerful as he was, he needed these two to help him reach his potential.  Leaving them without appropriate protection would have been irresponsible.

Dropping off a nearby rooftop, Vermin’s lynchpin landed between me and Mutant who was ripping the head off another Reflection copy.

    “RAT!” Mutant screamed, shifting to wolf and barreling forward.  Before Mutant could close the gap, Rat changed into one of his nightmarish forms.  

    He was blue skinned with red eyes circling around his entire head.  An extra pair of arms sprouted from where his ribs should have been, all four appendages equipped with dangerous looking talons.  A duo of tails sprouted from the base of his spine and his whole body spawned jagged growths of bone, protruding at seemingly random spots.  

    Mutant charged, leaping and shifting into his beetle midair; Rat bent his knees and absorbed the blow, blocking with his upper pair of arms.  His bottom set struck, striking and pushing the opposing Enhancer back several paces. Undeterred, Mutant shifted back to wolf and charged again, rage driving him with the head of Vermin in his sights.  

    For now he was on his own: Rig and Reflection needed to be dealt with.  

    Burning more mass at a quick pace, I restored my size and thundered forward, getting enough speed going that I simply knocked the last few reflections aside as they tried to impede my charge.  Rig grabbed the side of a dumpster and charged it, doing a quick countdown as I continued my chase, not caring.

    Metal and heat bathed my left side, but I kept moving forward, momentum carrying me.  Reflection dove haphazardly out of the way and evaded my grasp, but Rig was ready.

    In a fluid motion, he discarded his shirt and tossed it to me.  

    It blasted my leg and sent me toppling to one side, my head of steam unable to be completely stopped.  I dragged and skidded along the pavement, sanding away layers of growth under my bulk as Rig took off a shoe and smiled nefariously.  

    Then, a little jet of glitter poofed around him.  

    The shoe exploded in his hand, blowing off his fingers and frying his face in a flash of heat.  He let out a blood-curdling scream, but was shut up soon enough by Psycho charging up the alley.  The Peculiar grabbed Rig and slammed his head against the wall, reducing it to red pulp. Almost disgusted, Psycho discarded the corpse, turning to grin at me before setting his sights on his real target:

    Rat.  

    He’d known that Rat would show if we threatened his tools for spreading chaos and creating disruption; Psycho had been waiting to lure him out before showing himself.

    While I wasn’t thrilled to see Psycho, I welcome him because Mutant…was not cutting it.

    Even with his beetle form to help mitigate the damage from his claws, Rat was obscenely fast, and each arm seemed to operate independently.  While the armor from his exo-skeleton was keeping the claws from cutting into him, the impact was taking a toll. More concerning, Mutant couldn’t make enough distance to dance between forms which left him very limited.  A few more hits from Rat and my teammate stumbled backwards; Rat turned and lashed him with the pair of long scaled tails which sent him skidding up the alley in a heap.

“Rat!” Psycho shouted as he leapt forward, bounding easily four meters and seizing Reflection as he tried to spawn more copies. “I’ve been looking all over for this cities pest.”

Psycho didn’t even blink as he snapped Reflection’s neck so it made a 90 degree angle.

“Who the fuck are you?” The leader of Vermin demanded as he sneered, showing off two rows of filed canines. “Who the fuck do you think you are coming here?”

“Eldritch, Lightshow, help me mop up this stain,” the Lunatic said to me as he stalked forward.  Even though I knew what to expect, seeing his Narcissism form in action was scary. He carried himself like he was indestructible, and something made him heavy.  Every step he took made the ground tremble a little, though it might have just been my perception.

Still, his opponent was Rat, and he was clearly set and ready to go.  His nightmare forms stood up to Beleth and Shockwave; he was the genuine article.

I burned all but five kilograms of what I had left and grew to  two tonnes, drastically larger than either of the major players present; even with all the added mass, I still felt small.  Rat stalked forward, eyeing both of us cautiously, eventually opting to lunge for Psycho in a blur of blue.

Even though I swung to intercept, he avoided easily, one of his arms striking my limb and shearing fifteen kilograms away. Those talons were sharper than Dragoon’s sword which she had taken hours honing the edge on.

Psycho didn’t bother dodging or moving away from the charge, but instead counterattacked. He willingly exchange a gash across the gut to hit Rat and launch him across the alley. The Enhancer slammed the wall and stopped abruptly, completely unphased.

“Shock absorption,” Psycho commented as he glanced down at the gashes torn in his shirt. “A neat trick.”

Rat regarded him cautiously, “Rig and Reflection were useful to me.  I don’t know you, but you’ve made my life much more difficult.”

“Which is why they needed to die. Ideally I was never going to fight you when you were glutted with emotional power; even so, you are only a mere inconvenience.”

Another lunge and this exchange went longer. Rat evaded a quick jab, rending gashes along Psycho’s legs and arms before leaping back to avoid a massive kick. As soon as he landed, Vermin’s leader shot back in and left another trio of slashes across his torso.

Just as it seemed Rat had the upper hand, Psycho seemed to speed up his movements. A big hook connected and Rat went flying back towards me.

“Seize him!” Psycho commanded.

I tried to do as asked, but Rat spun and was a ball of razors, ripping fistfuls of growth away, tearing entirely through my ‘hand’ before Psycho caught up. Rat turned for him, and howled with pain as a brilliant bubble surrounded his head, overloading each of his dozen eyes.

“You bitch!”

Enraged by his slander of my teammate, I took advantage of his confusion and wrapped my arms around his torso.

Given how slight of build he was, I half expected it to be easy to crush him; Rat felt about as dense as cement. While my attempt to squeeze the life from him wasn’t successful, it was clearly painful. However, it didn’t stop him from using his upper set of arms to begin ripping through my limbs to free himself.

Until Psycho smashed his face.

Even though Rat was able to absorb kinetic energy, I still felt the strength Psycho was wielding through him. As he swung again, Rat stopped demolishing my growths to counter the attack and parry, but grunted as I squeezed his lower set of arms with all the strength I could muster.  He tried to turn his attention back to me and endured another massive blow from Psycho.

Getting desperate, Rat changed his plan of attack and turned to my core.

Clawed hands dug into my midsection at breakneck pace as Rat weathered a third, fourth, and fifth hit from the Narcissism dosed Lunatic, all of them seeming to daze Rat for a longer and longer duration.

His ability to absorb kinetic energy seemed to have a cap, but  the wall of flesh between his claws any my chest cavity was quickly thinning.

As a sixth hit struck home, I had to let go.

    Rat spun and ripped chunks of skin free from Psycho, dashing around the Peculiar and evading another jab.  For a moment, he was a blur of movement, dipping in and out, making gash upon gash into Psycho; no matter how many hits landed, Psycho stood resolute, waiting for his chance to strike back.  

    It finally came when another flash of light bathed the alley.  

    For a split second, Rat hesitated as his eyes tried to adjust, but that was all the time Psycho needed to grab hold of an arm.  While the head of Vermin had speed on his side, brute force was hands down in favor of his opponent. The other three limbs clawed wildly, but a sickening crunch and a rending tear made the fourth arm come entirely free.  Rat pulled away, stumbling as he was plunged into darkness.

    Another two hits found their mark, throwing Rat back against the wall as a determined Psycho pressed onward like a shark who smelled blood in the water.

Three arms raised, Rat shot himself off the wall, slamming into Psycho and driving his hands into his midsection; I was expecting his clawed hands to sink into my warden, but they didn’t even go to the second knuckle.

“You think you’re the only one with tricks?” Psycho asked as he grabbed his opponent by the throat.  A deft throw sent Rat against the opposing wall, and the Lunatic was right behind: an uppercut, a heavy hit into the liver, a straight punch into the sternum, and finally a heavy cross to his cheek.  While Rat tried to block and retaliate against the onslaught, it was clear who was taking the brunt of the exchange.

Whatever little quirk of his Adaptation had given him the ability to absorb kinetic force was running dry way faster than Psycho was bleeding out.

An abrupt burst of speed saw Rat duck another blow and spring up, sinking his teeth around Psycho’s neck like some kind of wild animal.  A hunk of flesh came free and Psycho actually stumbled, sinking to a knee for a moment, giving Rat a moment to jam his lower set of talons into Psycho’s armpit, targeting a weaker part of the anatomy to exploit.   

Rat went to swipe for his eyes, but Lightshow surrounded him in brilliance before extinguishing all light around him.  Psycho was just able to move head head enough to endure a gash across the forehead instead of the pupil.

Enraged, Rat turned his aggression to her and sprung forward; his progress was halted as Psycho caught his ankle mid jump.

With a warcry, the Peculiar whipped him over and slammed him against the ground hard enough to shatter the concrete.  Unsatisfied, the Lunatic quickly dropped onto his chest; with someone so strong holding him, Rat had nowhere to go, and with his lower arms trapped by Psycho’s knees, one intact arm wasn’t nearly enough to stop the battery.  

For a while, Rat fought back.  He bucked and snarled, twisting to try and unseat his opponent but nothing worked.  Psycho was unshakable, and the head of Vermin wasn’t going to live much longer.

I contemplated stopping him, but Rat had removed almost a quarter of my mass in a matter of seconds; if I stopped Psycho from executing Rat and the bastard wriggled free, what would stop him from shredding the rest of me into ribbons?  Besides, he was the man responsible for killing dozens of innocents and good Reckoners all over the cluster… if anyone deserved to die, he did.

Right?  

The rest of Rogue Sentries approached in the alley, along with Dysfunction and Pacifism as Psycho slowed his assault.  There was little left of Rat’s face, and the fight had completely gone from the rest of his body. Even if he lived through this, it was likely there wouldn’t be any brain function.  

It was almost a mercy when Psycho snapped his neck.  

Coated in blood, he showed some fatigue and weakness as he wavered getting up.  Even though some kind of subdermal armor had kept Rat from cutting too deep, there were enough cuts adding up to serious trauma for the lead Lunatic.  

“Thank you, Sentries,” Psycho said with a menacing smile, “You made this easier than I thought it would be.”

It dawned on me now; Psycho had mentioned a second person who could threaten Beleth.  He’d also been thinking about who could threaten him as well. Eliminating Rat meant there were only two real A-listers present, and Psycho now had way more helping hands in the coming conflict.  

“Now we can talk about what is next on the docket!”

“No,” Dragoon snapped.  

Psycho rounded on Dragoon, looming over her with a menacing expression.  “What did you say to me?”

“I said no,” she replied, standing her ground.  “You want our help? You’re going to compromise with me.  Nick needs to go home. He has people who will call for him if he stays gone too long.  The last thing you want to do is get authorities involved, right?”

He raised a hand as if he was going to slap my captain and paused, “I escaped an Asylum once, I can do it again.  I’m not afraid of Snatchers or Suppression.”

“And will you be able to fight Beleth after fighting them?”

He lowered his hand and laughed, “You realize I could rip your armor apart and crush you?”

“I’m sure you could, but what would that do for you?  If you want us to be valuable, you’re going to give us a few things.  We go home, and we don’t go with a chaperone.  We’re Adapted, we don’t call the cops.”

He folded his arms, “What else?”

“Give us a day to heal.  Parasite and Geyser were rattled by Rig, let them recover before we put  them in another super stressful situation.  Plus, you look like you could use a day to mend anyways.”

“Superficial damage.  Rat couldn’t have killed me if he wanted,” Psycho said, obscenely confident.

“Sure, fine.”

Psycho slapped her and dented her face plate.  “Don’t speak to me like that,” he commanded, ignoring the five people around him who tensed up.  

Dragoon stood back up straight as the helmet began to undo the damage, waiting until it was fixed before responding.  I admired her in that moment, staring down Psycho even though she knew full well she couldn’t shine a candle to him. “Very well.  Don’t track us is my other demand. Let us go home, be unfettered for a day to truly rest and heal. If you want us to fight Beleth, fine.  We agreed to do it; I ask you be  willing to let us feel normal until then.”

He pondered her words, giving a cursory glance to Pacifist who was nodding.  “Fine. If you don’t answer when I call…”

Our captain nodded, “We know.”  

“Good.  Mend up.  We’ll deal with the preparation.”

“Preparation, for what?” Mutant dared to ask.

He glared, but finally shrugged.  “I was going to have you lot help in dealing with a few of the bit players around Ciel who are sticking around, but you’re better saved for the main event.”

“Main event?” I asked.

“Tomorrow night, I know where Beleth is going to be.  And he won’t have his cronies; it’ll just be him.”

None of us were sure how to react to that; Beleth alone was still a terrifying thought, but it would be a closer fight than when he had additional help.  More than likely, Psycho would send us in because it would be close.  It meant both parties would limp away bleeding and vulnerable.  

Content with the knowledge he shared, Psycho turned to leave and no one bothered stopping him; none of us wanted to give him an excuse to revoke the freedom we’d been given for the time being.  As the Lunatics departed, all eyes turned back to Dragoon and the battered corpse of Rat.

After his expiration, the shapeshifting had faded, leaving a demolished body of a man with olive skin.  Without him being adjusted into some horrific monster, Rat hardly seemed like the heinous villain who had assaulted and killed dozens for sport.  Instead, he was just the most recent casualty in the wake of the Lunatic’s arrival to Ciel.

“Five people dead,” Geyser muttered, holding his head, “Psycho and his cronies killed all of  Vermin with our help. I guess you got your wish, huh Mutant?”

He had shifted back to human, shaking his head, “Now that I have it…I don’t think I really wanted this,” he said softly, “It feels wrong.”  

“How are we going to stop him?” Parasite asked, speaking over them.  “I mean, truth be told the world is better off without Vermin around, but Psycho is unhinged.  He’s gonna be a way bigger monster than Beleth if he takes over.”

People looked to Dragoon for answers.  “I…I don’t know,” she confessed. “You saw him get shredded by Rat, he barely seemed to care he was bleeding everywhere.  There was a little weakness showing, but I wouldn’t want to test it. If he has Cotard’s he becomes functionally immortal, if he is Schizophrenic, he becomes a deranged and unfettered version of Menagerie.  Our best chance to fight him is when he is in his ASPD state, but then he’s too smart to let himself be vulnerable.”

“We should have fought him now,” Geyser muttered, “He didn’t have Bargain, he didn’t have Spectre.”

“But he had Dysfunction,” Mutant said, “That makes me pretty useless, and until a minute ago, Parasite and Geyser were still dealing with the concussion from a  bomb blast. Rig had set his door to blow, as well as half of the objects in the apartment. We weren’t ready for this, but Psycho isn’t giving us a chance to make things normal.”

“Rat ripped through me like butter, but Psycho was willing to let him just wail away.  I don’t think we could have done well against him, even before you considered Dysfunction and Pacifist tripping us up.”

“Enough,” Dragoon said, “We can postulate, but the moment is gone.  For now, we move forward and work with him. The fact he is giving us wiggle room means he isn’t worried about us, but it also means he isn’t viewing us like too big a threat.  Nick, you need to go home and check in, make sure your parents don’t get too worried about you being gone.”

I hated being the only person who really had to be accountable to someone else.  “Fine.”

“I hate to be the serious one,” Lightshow commented, regarding the corpses on the ground with an uncharacteristic sorrowful expression, “But we should get out of here.  Suppression is going to show up at any moment, and I’d rather not have another run-in with them so soon.”

“Wait, how are we getting home?” Parasite asked aloud, “Fucking Psycho took the van.”

Dragoon had us cloak and hide in an office building that was closed for the day, hoping that no janitors were unlucky enough to walk into us while we arranged transportation.  A number of awkward phone calls later, Xana had helped out and ferried people around town and back home. She was kind enough to bring us all a change of clothes so we didn’t have to hide in an office and look like displace Reckoners.  

I was especially grateful to her for bringing me a change of clothes so I could discard my growths and not get picked up for public indecency.   

As I climbed into the passenger seat with Xana, the last person she was shipping around, she immediately shot over and wrapped her arms around me.

“Alexis told me what happened!  Are you okay?”

I gave a weak smile, “Rattled, but alive.  I’m just glad we’re finally out from under his thumb.”

She let out a sigh and looked me up and down, “Listen, I know that we Zari are supposed to be heartless bitches, but I can’t stand the thought of losing you, okay?”

That look in her eyes, the sincerity of her voice, it felt like a needle being jammed into my brain.  I had kissed Alexis like 12 hours ago, and she had no clue I had committed such a betrayal. Part of me wanted to confess to her…but the other part won out.  “I’m doing my best,” I replied, “But we’re caught deep on this one. Alexis is trying to figure out a way to get us out of this, maybe she’ll call someone for help to get rid of the Lunatics and buy our freedom back,” I guessed, optimistically.  I knew she kept up with another group in Manda, whatever group Armorsmith worked with.

Xana shifted uncomfortably, “Alexis told me about your fight with Beleth and how massive you made yourself.  Are you…still you?”

I rolled my eyes, “Alexis is being melodramatic.  I lost control once because of emotional compromise, not because of size.  I maybe got a bit hyper-violent, but the situation was appropriate. I’m still me, okay?”

My response was enough confirmation for her to relax. “Good.  I like my alien boyfriend just the way he is.”

“Don’t worry about me,” I assured, “Your alien boyfriend is the same oddball he always has been.”  

She let out a sigh, “How are you going to explain to your parents about where you’ve been?”

I frowned, “I’m going to likely just take the slap on the wrist and admit to them we got drunk and Murphy’s, give them a half truth.”

“You look tired enough to pass as hungover,” she replied, “Might just puff that up and roll with it.”

“Not a half bad idea.”  

“If you were smart enough to listen, you’d learn I have good ideas all the time,” she insisted proudly.  

I gave her a smile; after the shit of the last few days, being able to simply sit in a car with my girlfriend and bullshit together was a fantastic blessing.  Even though I had been right about my life not being normal since Adapting, I was glad at least one fixture of my life before becoming a Reckoner hadn’t changed.  

Still, I had to man up and face the music as we pulled up outside my home.  “You’ll be okay?” she asked, “You’ve had a rocky few days and I’d rather not just send you to the wolves.”  

“I’ll be fine,” I assured her, “For once I’m not being faced with some dastardly overpowered Adapted.”

Xana let out a little laugh as I clambered out and gave her a wave before heading up the small walk to our house.  About the time she drove away, I touched the handle and realized something was wrong immediately.

There was blood on the door.  

Throwing open the door, I tore into the house.  “Mom! Dad! You guys okay?”

My parents were sitting on the couch, my mom looking like she was doing her level best not to hyperventilate.  Beside her, my dad was trying to coach her through breathing and calm her down…until he looked up at me.

I’d seen him angry, but this was different.  

“What have you done?” he growled.

“What…what happened?” I asked, swallowing a lump in my throat.  “I saw blood on the door.”

“We had a visitor,” he said, getting up, seeming to be much larger than normal.  “Some guy came in here talking about you, telling us to remind you to stay in line.  He wanted to let you know that seeing us was a luxury you were lucky he extended.”

My face paled.  Psycho. He’d come to threaten my parents and make sure I stayed in line.  Even though we were being true to our word, he wanted to let us know how much power he held.  It was his blood on the door since he hadn’t bothered to clean himself off, probably feeling presentable enough as is.  

“Nick,” my father said, slowly, trying to control himself, “Why was he here?  Why would someone like that freak be talking about you?”

“I-I-I’m not su-”

“DON’T FUCKING LIE TO ME!” My dad roared, his face contorted with rage.  “Now, try again, Nick,” he said softly, “Why was that man here?”

“Dad, you have to listen to me,” I started.

“No I do not,” he said firmly, “I listened to your mother though.  Now, think carefully about how you answer me, boy.”

From behind him, my mother took a deep breath, “I had to tell him, Nicholas.”

“Dad, don’t do this,” I begged, “That guy who came here, we’re gonna get rid of him.”

“We?” he demanded, “You are your friends?  You’re gonna get rid of him? Just like you assholes got rid of Beleth?  Just like you got rid of Imperium and got people killed downtown a couple months ago?  Yeah,” he said to answer my bewildered expression, “Your mother told me what you are and who you run with.  It’s why my son is gone so frequently, why he never bothers to check in or tell us much, he’s one of those freaks.”  

There it was, that word again.  This time though, he wasn’t referring to me in the abstract.  

This time it was me  directly. I was the freak.  My father had just called me a freak without batting an eye.  

“Someone has to fight back,” I said meekly, “And you can’t.”

“And the people who die because of it, huh?  Do you ever give a fucking passing thought to the chaos you assholes bring?  Did you think about your mom and I getting swept up into this fucking mess before you went out last night?  Did you think some gigantic bloody fucker was gonna throw open our door and tell us exactly how fast he could break every bone in her body?”

I couldn’t do more than shake my head.

“Congratulations boy, you’re a bigger idiot than I thought!  You are responsible for this. You are the boy responsible for someone threatening to kill his mother.  You are responsible for the deaths of dozens around Ciel because YOU needed to play superhero like some kind of ignorant fucking idealist child!”  He reached out and pushed me, “Do you know what we sacrificed to get here? Do you know what we endure so you don’t have to?”

Another push, and I took another step back.  “Dad, listen, I’m sorry.”

“You lie to me constantly,” he shouted, “For all I know you don’t even care about us anymore!  We aren’t your fucking superfriends, we’re just expendable like everyone else!”

He pushed again and I hit the wall.

“It didn’t fucking occur to me that you advocated so hard for them because you were one!  Congratulation, Nicholas, you kept your old man in the dark for so goddamn long about this. You finally pulled one over on me!”  

I felt my power bubbling beneath the surface, trying to respond to the threat, trying to fight back and preserve the host.  “Dad, please, I’m begging you, stop.”

“Or what?” My heart hammered in my chest as he raised his hands, mocking me, “Or you’re going to use your power to beat up a regular guy?  That sound very Reckoner-like to you?”

I looked past him to my mom, but she was staring at the floor.  “Mom-”

He slapped me.  

My face lit up with pain as my attention snapped back to my father. “Don’t you dare ignore me.  Don’t you dare try and get to her to pretend everything is okay!”

“You don’t want this,” I said, dangerous.  

For a split second my dad regarded me cautiously, and then full on hit me.  I lurched to the side as blood filled my mouth; the guy was strong and knew how to throw a punch, that was for sure.  He reached down and grabbed my collar, hauling me up before hitting me in the nose this time. “You’re going to threaten me, boy, in my own fucking house?”  He shoved me hard enough I fell over and he stepped forward, “You’re a big enough man to put us in danger, you’re a big enough man to fight for your place.”

“Mike!  Enough!”

I looked over to my mom and took a hit to the ear, throwing me back to the ground.  “Irene, if he’s willing to stand up to Beleth, he can fucking fight his own battles.  My old man would have given me all this and worse.” He stepped forward and drove his foot into my ribs, “Come on, get up!  You can’t protect yourself, let alone your mother! Why the hell do you think you could fight people like Beleth, huh? What kind of dumb shit is that?”

He reached down to grab my collar, and tendrils erupted from my skin, covering my arms and making a base layer on my torso and face.  A moment of shock and horror made him pause, enough time for me to throw myself at him, slapping him across the room into the stand our television was resting on.  

Tentacles grew and stretched my shirt and poked a few holes in my pants as I stalked forward, focused on him.  My blood was on fire, and I felt a grim satisfaction at seeing his horror struck face. “You want to know why I can fight?  Take a good fucking look!” I reached down and forced my arm to grow around him, encasing his torso as I lifted him up easily, “You don’t seem so tough now, do you?”  Pulling him close to my face, I moved the growths to expose my lips so my speech wasn’t distorted, “Can you protect her, dad?”

“NICK!”

My mom’s panicked voice was like having a bucket of ice water thrown on me, giving me a much needed moment of clarity to break my power’s hold.  The tentacles turned to dust and I stumbled back, distancing myself from everyone. “I’m, I’m sorry. I didn’t, I wasn’t-” I stammered, hyperventilating.  “I didn’t want to do that, I swear.”

“Just, go,” he finally responded, deflated, pointing to the door.  “Just get out.”

Those words hit me harder than Beleth or Psycho could have.  

“No.  No, no, no, no, no, please, dad, no,” I pleaded, tears welling up in my eyes, “This is my home.  Don’t, don’t send me away.”

“Not anymore,” he replied, sorrowful.  The anger was gone, the rage diffused. For once, I saw the truly broken person my dad had become, and how horribly hurt he was.  Once again, his home had been violated, but this time I was the problem that brought about the strange weirdness that threatened to take everything.  

I looked to my mom, but she had nothing to offer me but silence.  

“Please,” I begged, “Please don’t do this to me.”

“Goodbye, Nicholas,” my dad said softly as he walked to the door and opened it for me.  

No words were said as I walked out the door and heard it close behind me, the deadbolt sliding into place with a loud click.  That was it; I was ostracized from my family and homeless before it was even noon.

I only made it a few steps before I fell down, unable to breathe.  

For the first time in six months, I wished I that I never Adapted, that I had never been made one of those elite few who were ‘blessed’ with superpowers.

I would have given it all back just to be able to go home.     

Previous Chapter – Next Chapter

I was tense as Dragoon raised her hand at the interlopers, “Who the fuck are you?”

While I like Dragoon’s bravado, I knew she was bluffing.  Unless this guy was an idiot, he was not someone we wanted to fight.  Her armor couldn’t have tons more juice left, Lightshow was having issues walking, and I was tapped for mass.  One tonne wouldn’t protect me too well if he was as strong as any of the guys we had just fought. Even Mutant was beaten pretty bad and panting for air; he needed to sleep to reset his forms and grab the slug he used regenerate.  

The only ones of us who would be able to hold up in a fight right now were Parasite and Geyser…though I didn’t know if he’d be able to keep it together.  Even though the stranger assuring us she was alive was nice, it didn’t make stomaching Menagerie putting herself in a coma any better.

“Dig through that big Cognate brain of yours and think,” he insisted, “I know you do obsessive research for anyone who might come strolling into town!”

“How about you shut the fuck up,” Parasite snapped, grabbing his staff from the little pouch on his waist, extending the reinforced metal.  

He cocked his head to the side, “You know, this is the one day I can’t fight you.  But some of the people behind me could,” he said, confident.

“Parasite, don’t,” Dragoon cautioned.  “I don’t know that is.”

“I don’t give a shit who he is!” my friend shouted, lunging forward at alarming speed.

“Bargain!” the ringleader shouted, “Twenty minutes!”

Behind him, one figure nodded.  He was a big guy, standing nearly 6’3” and quite fit with shoulder length hair.  It seemed strange that he would just wear a tank top and cargo pants to go with a cloth around his mouth that mirrored that of Psycho.  

In fact, now that I could see them, they all had it.  It was the only commonality between the quintet.

Psycho skipped backwards and ‘Bargain’ took his place, letting the staff crack against his collarbone.  I knew how hard Parasite hit, and even with a tonne of Neklim on, it would hurt.

This guy didn’t budge.

Wordlessly, his hand shot forward and grabbed my friend’s collar, his fist smashing Parasite’s face hard enough to throw him onto the ground, the staff clattering against the pavement.  Our Enhancer growled and spun, pushing his hands against the ground to try and kick his silent opponent like a mule.

Again, nothing.  It was like Parasite wasn’t even hitting him.   

Bargain grabbed Parasite’s ankle, throwing him into a cement column hard enough it would have killed a normal person.  

“Had enough?”

Parasite groaned and pushed himself up to his feet, blood leaking from his lips, “Fuck-“

“Parasite,” Dragoon snapped, “Enough.”

“Drag, these-“

“ENOUGH!” she shouted, surprising all of us.  “That’s Psycho, the guy who escaped an Asylum.  Which makes them,” she said, pointing to the rest of the ground, “the Lunatics.  We die if we fight them.”

I could swear that Psycho was smiling under that cloth.  “See, I knew you could figure it out.”

Asylums were what people referred to as the Snatchers’ clandestine labs scattered across Tso’got.  Snatchers had to be careful when they apprehended Adapted since many were damn dangerous and hard to contain, but they were needed for study.  As a result, Asylum’s were made with more layers of security than a super-max prison and kept secret enough that you couldn’t find them.

It was speculated that most Asylum’s were kept in Tso’gots wilderness where no one would ever look.  

Psycho and the Lunatics were the only people who had ever escaped from one of those places.  Supposedly, before they were apprehended, they were completely different people; people guessed being subject to the inhuman conditions, it changed them.

Her epiphany suddenly gave an alarming amount of credibility to the interloper; given some of the people who had been abducted by the Snatchers and never been heard from again, Psycho wasn’t someone we’d want to cross.

“What are you doing in Ciel?”

Psycho stepped forward and patted Bargain on the shoulder, “I’m here for the same reason you are: I want to see Beleth deposed.  He seems like an awful arrogant prick on that big throne of his, doesn’t he?”

He didn’t seem dishonest, but that clearly wasn’t the whole story.

“So why threaten us in a parking garage instead of offering to help?” Lightshow asked, clearly sharing my suspicions.  

He turned to her, “Simple.  I want to replace him. I could hardly ask you lot to help me on standard terms.”  Psycho turned his attention to Geyser who was visibly seething, “Perhaps you have something to add?”

“You want to strongarm us, after we stand up to Beleth?  You want to antagonize me after she puts herself in a coma?”

He turned, glaring.  “I thought that was quite obvious.  Maybe the unfortunate circumstances have made you a little bit slow,” Psycho said, condescending.

Geyser screamed and stomped, but one of the other Lunatics extended a hand and shot what looked like a small jet of glitter around him.  Instead of the crag splitting across the ground, the ground split open underneath his foot and Geyser fell in past his knee, surprised. Then the gas erupted and he received a dose of his own medicine.  

“Dysfunction here,” he said, gesturing to the portly woman in jeans and a brown jacket, “Has the great little gift of making powers work VERY wrong.  Mutant, I wouldn’t,” he cautioned, turning to the Enhancer who was bracing himself, “Allow me to recommend you don’t test it. You rewrite your whole biology; who knows what could go wrong with such a complicated process!”

Mutant paused, clearly debating the validity of his claim; listening to Geyser gag and claw at the asphalt was enough of an indicator that he wasn’t bluffing about her power.  

“Smart man,” he said as Mutant relaxed, “And Eldritch, I really don’t want to know what would happen if you tried to grow mass while affected by Dysfunction; I’ve never heard of anyone being literally eaten by a power, but you could be a first!”  

I regarded her cautiously as the other two members slowly joined them, the collective squared off against us.  

“Psycho,” Dragoon muttered, “What do you really want with us?  If you wanted Beleth dead, you could go in after him yourself right now.  He’s distracted, injured, and his usual roster is cut by half. This seems like the best time to kill him.”

He shook his head, “Dragoon, do you know what your problem is?”

She didn’t reply.

“You are so short-sighted.  What happens when I go after him, and he simply slinks into the ground and slithers away?  Does he lose credibility from running away from me? No. Does he lose credibility from running away from you lot?  Absolutely.”

“What’s your point?” Parasite panted as a crack pointed out a rib snapping back into place.  

Psycho laughed, “Beleth won’t fight me, he’s smarter than that.  I’m one of two people in this city who can actually threaten him.  Even so, he is still bound by his reputation to some degree; you can’t be the king if you run away like a pussy.  However,” he lamented, “I’m the new guy in town. Beleth knows he can avoid a fight and people will simply raise an eyebrow.”

Who was the second?

“But you guys, you he’ll stand and fight; people know who you are, and people will question his authority if he doesn’t stand up to your little rebellious group.  If I was on a different illness tonight, I might do exactly what you suggested, Dragoon. But, alas, tonight was ASPD.”

Lightshow raised her hand, “Anyone want to tell me who the fuck this clown is and what he means by ‘different illness’?  I’m not as big a nerd as the rest of you with this Adapted encyclopedia stuff. What the hell is he talking about?”

“Psycho is a Peculiar whose power changes based on what mental illness he wakes up with,” Dragoon replied.  “Anti-social personality disorder, ASPD, makes him a Cognate who specializes in finding vulnerability. If there is something to exploit, he’ll find a way to do it.  It’s why he didn’t attack Parasite himself, he’s smart enough to realize he can’t get a stab through the passenger. That’s why he has extra help.”

“Look at you!  More than just a pretty face!”

“Don’t talk to her like that,” I hissed.  

He turned to me, “You ever talk back to me, monster boy, and I will have Bargain rip your fucking arms off,” he snapped. “Figure it out, you lot cannot win this fight.”

Parasite glared, “A bold statement from someone who can’t fight on his own right now.”

Psycho ignored my friend and addressed Dragoon.  “Now, let’s be serious for a moment. You will work for me, or I will destroy all of you.  Nicholas Weld,” he said without looking, “I know for a fact your mother is a great person, and a bit of a homebody.  Alexis Trent, I know your parents are still Imperium members, too resolute for their own good. What do you think Beleth would do if it was brought to his attention?  Roger, oh hell, you’re too easy to mess with since darling Yuki is in a coma, and probably will for for another two days. Rebecca Akins, your brother still lives in Manda, right?  And Ted, Murphy, you two are simply afraid to be alone again. If I take the team out from under you, you two get caught up in the despair without me having to do extra work.”

The leader of the Lunatics didn’t need to go any further with his threats.  He knew who we were, and true to what Dragoon had said, he knew where we all were weakest.    

“How the fu-“ Geyser started.

“Big Picture,” Dragoon whispered as she took off her helmet, no longer needing to hide her identity.  “You used him, didn’t you?”

Psycho shrugged, “Just can’t trust people to stay quiet, can you?”

“What did you threaten him with?”

He giggled, “Do you know the funny thing about him?  The guy really wants to live, but he knew you lot wouldn’t kill him!  However,” he said, menacingly, “He knew I wouldn’t lose any sleep cutting his throat.  Big Picture was really quite accommodating.”

“We shouldn’t have shown our faces!” Ted snapped.

“Oh please,” Psycho said with a dismissive wave, “You discredit the man.  He knew who you all were once you took him to your little hideout. He had you show him your faces as a show of good faith and so he could be ‘honest’ with Beleth.  There’s a reason people pay through the nose to talk to him.”

“So…why are you using us?  If you guys outclass us so much, why bother with the extra hassle?  You should be able to chase down Beleth if you are all as strong as you claim.”

Psycho turned back to Dragoon, “Because our power sets are perfect to deal with you, but not perfect to deal with Beleth and his goons.  Dysfunction can’t affect Hive after she splits, nor can she easily hit Beleth since he can make so many barriers. Once Goliath is sized up, he’s immune to her effects as well.  Sure, Bargain can probably take one or maybe two of them, Shock and Awe are tricky to deal with as well. Spectre,” he gestured to the slender woman beside Dysfunction, “can mimic people, but if she tried to get close to Beleth he’d make sure she couldn’t make good use of his gift, and if she was to grab Shock and Awe, she would only get a small fraction of what makes that duo so problematic.  Pacifist could stop one, but Hive inflates their numbers, and if Dragonfly is stopped, that leaves Stag to charge her. If Bargain goes to outmuscle Stag, that leaves Goliath running loose.”

“Rogue Sentires however, different story entirely,” he continued explaining, “Three of you are immediately crippled by Dysfunction.  Geyser drops himself for minutes at a time, Eldritch is locked into one size, and Mutant can’t do his famous ‘form dancing’ which makes him so scary.  If he’s limited to one shape, he is really not that threatening. While Parasite can win out over Bargain in a long fight, he will make sure there isn’t one.  Pacifist can keep you docile, Spectre can snag Lightshow’s power and could keep her from making us all blind. The thing you folks do well is a war of attrition, it made you much better suited for fighting with Imperium, but much less tailored to fighting people like us.”

Our captain kept a firm expression, but I knew she had to be worried; he’d thought this out long before approaching us; he wasn’t kidding when he said we couldn’t win.  

“I don’t know if you missed the show,” Lightshow laughed, “But we just got our asses kicked, even after Eldritch grew to be the size of a damned house.”  

“You say it like I’m expecting you to win.  I’m not wagering on you, but I am betting on you to do some damage.  All I need you to do is weaken him and make him vulnerable for me to hunt on a better day.  If I had a Schizophrenic or Narcissistic day, I can challenge him; if he is a bit weakened and beat up, I can kill him.”

“We’re here to make a vulnerability for you,” Dragoon muttered, “You know we can’t kill him and steal your limelight, but we can make taking his head possible.”

“And the girl gets a gold star.”  

“You’re forgetting something,” Mutant whispered, “We aren’t the only players still left in Ciel.”

Psycho frowned and then snapped his fingers, “That’s right, Vermin!  How could I have forgotten about Rat and his band of freaks,” mused, scratching his chin.  “Oh wait, I didn’t! Mutant, don’t worry, you’ll get your wish to go hunting. That’s the other reason I am bullying you idiots: I need some people to chase down Rig and Reflection for me.  Without his sowers of discord, Rat loses a surprising amount of power and makes him a non-factor for the time being.”

“You expect us to go after them now?”  

Psycho let out a bark of a laugh, “Oh, God no!  I’m not sending a broken bunch of toys to die, you’re way too valuable for me to just throw away like that.  You’re going to go back to your ‘hideout’ and get some sleep, with chaperones of course,” he added as Dysfunction, Spectre, and Bargain stepped forward.  “And here, for your leg,” he called to Lightshow as he snagged a vial of something yellow from a pocket. “A little boon from Organelle. It should fix your leg up in no time.  Give half to Menagerie and it should have her getting out of her coma by midday tomorrow.”

She snagged it from the air but still looked dubious.  Organelle was an Adapted who could repair cell damage and bodily harm; she wasn’t a Reckoner or criminal but a neutral player who simply made medical salves to sell..and they weren’t cheap, but they were better than any medicine in existence.  It seemed suspicious he’d spend so much on people he was keeping prisoner.

“Oh stop.  I need you able to fight for me; I’m not about to poison my prize workhorse before the job is done.”  

I wasn’t sure how I felt about being referred to as a workhorse.  

“So, will the Rogue Sentries behave?”

We directed attention to Dragoon, trusting our captain to make the right call, to determine whether or not we should try and stand up to Psycho.  But, she glanced at Menagerie, unconscious on the ground and Parasite who was still a bit rattled.

“We’ll play along,” she finally said, defeated.

“Smart,” Psycho replied as he turned to leave.  “Oh, one last thing,” he called over his shoulder, “If you pull any funny business overnight with my Lunatics, I’ll make good on my threat.  And do make my friends feel at home!”

He took his leave with Pacifist and snuck off into the gloom of the garage, leaving us along with our escorts.  

“Your boss is a fucking freak,” Geyser spat at the remaining bunch.

“How about we go somewhere else to talk?” Spectre suggested softly.  “I know it’s a lot to ask, but we’d really like to keep things civil tonight, okay?  We don’t want to cause any problems.”

Given how horribly brash and malicious her leader was, it was shocking she would be so weirdly polite and…genuinely nice.  

“Listen,” Bargain said, hands raised to be non-threatening, “We aren’t here to fight you.  We do what Psycho says, but all we are looking to do is make sure you don’t run for it and get help.  We don’t want to have to make this harder than it has to be.”

Another series of looks to Dragoon and she nodded; we were just going to let this happen.  “Eldritch, ditch the growths. Everyone play nice; we’ve had enough fight for one day.”

We had left today hoping to be conquerors, rebels leading the charge against Beleth’s tyranny over Ciel.  

We’d ended up prisoners, pawns in someone else’s play for the throne.  

The car ride back was silent, it was a little awkward to have a casual conversation with Bargain sitting next to me; even if seemed like a decent guy, he was still my prison guard.  To help distract at least slightly, I checked my phone, surprised to find a few messages.

Xana: Nicky, did everything go okay?  I haven’t heard from you guys yet.

Xana: Seriously, u ok?

Xana: Sweetie?  Please be there?  

My mom’s words felt like a slap.  I didn’t think about how nerve wracking it must have been for Xana to know I was going after Beleth.  She told me she was nervous when I went against Shockwave, but that wasn’t deliberate. But tonight we had opted to fight the Surface Dwellers on their own turf, knowing full well they’d likely be there.  

Me: Sorry for making you wait.  I’m okay. Don’t go to Murphy’s house tonight.  There’s been stuff.

“Who are you messaging?” Bargain asked, and then abruptly gasped for air, slumping in his seat like he’d suffered a stroke.    

“Holy shit!” Murphy yelled, undoing his seat belt to come back to help.

I reached for his neck to check for a pulse, but his hand slapped mine away, “Don’t, touch me.  Please,” he requested, his breathing shaky. “I thought we’d have gotten there before my time ran out.”  

“Time?” Murphy and I asked in unison.

In the driver’s seat, Alexis slapped the steering wheel, abruptly animated, “I knew I recognized you!  You’re Wager!”

“Was,” he corrected.  “I was Wager.  That guy died in an Asylum.  And I mean that,” he said, his gaze looking way beyond me, “Wager didn’t come back out of that place.  Bargain did. My powers didn’t even stay the same, just the core concept did.”

Wager was a name I recognized.  He had been a Reckoner a while ago in another city cluster, halfway around Tso’got.  He was an Enhancer who started every day with a point value sort of system. Spending points allowed him to access powers for a bit of time, or that was roughly how it had been understood.  But he’d gone missing two years ago, and now we knew where he’d gone.

“But, you were a Reckoner,” Murphy said, “Why are you working for that creep?”

Bargain shook his head, pulling down the piece of cloth to reveal a sharp jawline dotted with five o’clock shadow, “You don’t understand what those labs are like, what they do to you.  They carved out pieces of me to test my ability to regenerate. They literally put me in a hydraulic press to test my resistance and strength; that often broke bones as they continued to up the pressure while I struggled.  I had dozens of biopsies done to try and find what kind of genetic anomaly must be driving my Adaptation. I was living in a world of medical torture. Eventually, Snatchers kept me awake for six days in a row, leaving me fatigued and powerless since my old gift had a daily limitation that required sleep to offset…but I snapped.  It was like Adapting a second time, but way more unpleasant. I felt everything shift and the original gift was flexed, broken, changed to fit my scenario.”

All of us took pause, remembering just how alarming and disorienting Adapting was; a more violent version of that process sounded like hell.

“What do you mean?” I asked, horrified but intrigued.  

“Since they had denied me sleep that I so desperately needed for my old power, my new Adaptation removed those constraints and imposed a new rule: I could buy time of power at the cost of physical malady later.  I can theoretically use this gift more often, but overstressing it would kill me in a heartbeat. Earlier,” he said, looking to Murphy, “I made myself virtually immune to blunt trauma and aggressively strong for twenty minutes…but after the time was used, the cost came in.  Now, for the next two hours I’m basically a hemophiliac.”

“But what does that have to do with Psycho?” Alexis asked.

Bargain shook his head, “My new gift wasn’t enough to break free from the Asylum…and it meant a renewed battery of tests.  The scientists who were seeing to me were excited, thrilled to have such a phenomenon on their hands. Psycho,” he paused, “Psycho saved me.  He broke me out along with the others.” He shrugged, “I’m not delusional, I know he’s a bloodthirsty bastard. But, I owe him my life, and my debt to him isn’t paid I don’t think.”

Our captain frowned, “I heard all the Lunatics have some kind of mental illness.”

“We do.  You can’t survive an Asylum and not,” he said, blunt.  “And all of our mental illness reflect our powers now, fittingly enough.  I’m depressed and suicidal: self-harm seems fitting. Dysfunction is borderline and causes others to blunder and ‘act out’ of character as it were.  Pacifist has anxiety and makes everything stop and slow down around her. And Spectre, she has no sense of self or self-esteem so she takes on the powers of those she touches.  A means of gaining identity for her.”

“Do you know what they were like before the Asylum?”

He shook his head, “Never knew them before.  In an Asylum, you’re kept isolated. It keeps you more docile and from making any kind of escape plan.  I met them as we escaped. Psycho was a strong enough magnet for all of us to stick together, all of us so eager to escape the hellhole.”

As much as I wanted to hate Psycho, this almost made him seem like an almost decent guy.  He wasn’t just a nutcase who wanted to see everyone burn, he had saved these people. Right?

We pulled up about the time of the others and the nine conscious people piled into Murphy’s house, filling up the living room in an awkward and tense bundle.  

For a solid minute, no one spoke.  Roger was guarding Yuki as if his life depended on it, Rebecca and Alexis were glaring at the trio of Lunatics in the corner, and I was stuck in an awkward spot in the middle with Ted and Murphy.  I know they had claimed to now want to make problems, but it was difficult to not look at the trio of Lunatics and not feel threatened.

Eventually my best friend groaned, “Fuck it!  If we’re all gonna be trapped here, we’re gonna ease the fuck up.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Dysfunction said, snippy.  

He rounded on her, “I’m not going to be a fucking captive in my own house, not like this.  If you’re gonna stay,” he insisted, turning to everyone present, “You’re gonna drink and lighten the fuck up.”

“Listen,” she started again, “I don’t think you get it, dumbass.  We’re here to make sure you don’t run off. I’m not-”

“Dys,” Bargain, said, firm, “Shut up.  If they get drunk, they’re less likely to run off.”

“And I don’t know about you,” Murphy continued, nodding gratefully to Bargain,  “But I’ve had a long fucking day and plan to forget a lot of it. So, take a fucking glass and drink up.”  

Spectre stepped forward, “He, has a point, I think,” she mumbled softly.  “We might as well relax while we can. It would do us all some good to unwind, especially since we’ll be stuck together for a while.”    

Dysfunction glared at her sideways but waved her hands, “Do whatever, I don’t care.”

“Murphy, maybe this isn’t the best-“ Alexis started.

“I don’t care.  We’re in my house and we didn’t die tonight.  I’m calling it a win, and I’m having a fucking drink or six to celebrate.  Now, imbibe or shut the hell up.”

Taking the initiative, I walked up the impromptu bar between the kitchen and his living room, taking a seat on a stool.  “I’m pretty fucking jazzed to be alive; I’ll drink with you.”

He glared over at Rebecca, “You can’t tell me you don’t want a drink after trying to play exterminator.”

She shrugged and joined me by the bar.

Reaching into a cabinet, he pulled out two fresh bottles of whiskey and a handful of high-ball glasses.  Wordlessly, he poured a heavy handed double into each one and then took a massive rip off the bottle for himself after clinking against my glass.

Ted joined next, followed by Alexis, and then everyone else in the room partook.  

Another round was poured, and then inhibitions peeled away, removing the stifling atmosphere that had been superimposed thanks to Psycho.  

“We don’t hate you guys or anything,” Dysfunction said eventually with a slur, “We just don’t disobey Psycho.  Seriously, Asylum, a fucking shit show.”

“I told those three,” Bargain said with a wave, being markedly cautious about how wild he was swinging his arm.  

Alexis nodded, “It sounds…awful,” she said finally, lacking a better descriptor.

“But we’re out now, thanks to him,” Spectre said softly, nursing her second glass of whiskey.  She was so small, I was amazed she was keeping up.

“So why come here?” Rebecca asked, slamming her second glass and holding it up for Murphy to refill, “I mean, Ciel is a juicy city and all, but there are other places you could go if you want to lord over a whole place.  I mean, Teltin has way less Adapted clamoring around than we do in the Llendi cluster, and we attract the crazy powerful people. Shockwave, Beleth, Clemency, Vex,” she rattled off.

“And now Psycho, and possibly Titan,” Roger pointed out.  

“Right!  Add those two to the list.”  

“Does Titan really count?” Bargain asked thoughtfully, “The guy moves all over the place.”

There was a pause as we all kind of realized he was right.  “Still, decent chance he’s here.”

“Doesn’t change that he’s a nomad.  Maybe he’s too powerful to sit still in any one cluster for too long for fear of-“

“Stop being so philosophical, Bargain, drink!” Dysfunction insisted, slapping him on the back.  

“Oi, Dys!  Hemophiliac for another half hour!” he shouted, irritated.  “You think I want to have to develop a healing gift right after this one?”     

She shrugged, “No my problem, you’ll figure it out.”

“Not a good reason to make a giant bruise across my back,” he lamented.  

“Who said I needed one,” she snapped.  

He wasn’t kidding about her; Dysfunction was constantly abrasive it seemed.  Say the wrong thing or rub her the wrong way and she was instantly pissed.

Spectre slid off to the side of the room and sat down next to Roger and the still form of Yuki.  She was breathing audibly and her color had returned after being given the gift from Psycho. Bargain had insisted she was improving quickly; apparently he had been in a coma more than once as he’d learned the threshold of his newfound gift and stressed it.  

It was still perplexing to me that an Adaptation could change.  If stress prompted our Adaptation in the first place, did the mean enough stress would make it adjust again or was there something else to it?  If so, why hadn’t mine undergone some overhaul? I’d been in several near death scenarios in just a few days.

      Then again, maybe I didn’t want to get some kind of overhaul like Bargain had endured.  His gift was absurdly strong, but he was basically Overexposing himself every time he used it.  

I came back to my senses as Murphy tapped the bottle to my glass, adding to my cup.  “Nicky, you’re far too quiet. You clearly need more liquor in you. Hell, you’re the one who actually scared Beleth a little!  Man of honor here!”

Murphy was hamming it up; there was no way he was drunk already.  

“How big were you anyways?” Alexis asked, “You were…scary big when I saw you.”

I took another sip and felt myself blush, “Ten tonnes.”

“Good lord man,” Murphy exclaimed, “You should really stop compensating!  Xana’s okay with you as is!”

“Had you ever done more than six before?” Ted asked, ignoring Murphy’s juvenile joke, “Doesn’t that start toeing the line of losing control for you?”

Had I been close to losing control?  Our plan wasn’t necessarily to kill Beleth, but that had been my intent.  However, we’d also been in a life or death situation and it did warrant extreme measures be taken.  

“I still had control,” I finally decided, “Though it was a little crazy being that huge.  I felt…powerful. I mean, I could break cement apart.”

“Shame you kind of decimated your supply,” Roger pointed out, “You can’t hold that kind of weight for long before tapping yourself dry.”

“Unless he had a big reserve,” Rebecca pointed out, “I mean, he’s only bound by what he can consume, right?”

“Yeah, but where the hell am I gonna get all that mass?” I asked.  

“Wherever you get it,” she replied with a smirk, “Your girlfriend is gonna appreciate it.”

While I was glad her humor had returned with her leg already looking nearly restored, I hated that I was the one enduring the brunt of her jokes.  Dealing with Murphy was already torment enough. But looking around the room, everyone seemed to enjoy having a laugh at me, everyone but Alexis that was.  

She seemed, distant, almost hollow now that she could finally relax and didn’t have to command.  She was the most spent of all of us, and she kept glancing at me with a nervous gaze; it was a little odd, but I wasn’t going to call her out.  It had been a stressful enough day and Alexis had the roughest job of all of us.

“I’ll have you know that I don’t need any help making her happy,” I replied, raising my glass in defiance, “At least I’m not like Murphy, who couldn’t please a woman if he wanted to!”

To my surprise, Ted let out a bark of a laugh, “It’s a good thing he’s into men then, isn’t it.”

People turned to Murphy, expecting a quick-witted rebuttal, but none came.  Instead, it looked like someone had slapped him in the face. Murphy’s face flushed completely, and he stiffened up like he’d had sudden-onset tetanus.  “How-“

Ted sobered up instantly, his face horror-struck.  “Oh, oh my God, they didn’t know, did they?”

“Murphy!” I called out, but he grabbed the bottle and bolted out the back door before anyone could stop him.  “Good fucking job,” I shouted back, “What the fuck were you thinking?”

Our Enhancer slumped against the wall and let himself fall to the floor, putting his head in his hands.  “I thought people knew…”

I ignored his mutterings and charged out after Murphy, hoping he hadn’t hopped the fence and bolted; if he ran off that would make things way too tense with us supposed to be hostages.  

A sigh of relief escaped my lips; he was just sitting on the ground a few steps outside the door.  

“Hey,” I started, “About what he said-”

“He’s right, you know,” Murphy said, his voice strained, “because that’s what I needed.  Murphy Pell, he needed one more way to be a freak.” His sentence was punctuated with a another huge swig from the bottle.   

“Murphy, come on,” I said, sitting down next to him.  “Give me that, you’ve had enough,” I said, forcing myself to sober up in a hurry.  

He shook his head, a little ambient light betraying the fact he’d started crying.  “I want to be normal, you know? I didn’t ask to be this weird freak, and I certainly didn’t want this bullshit life.  I want to have what you and Xana do! I want someone to look at me like that, but no! I had to like men! And of course, we aren’t on Earth anymore where that shit was okay.  No, now we’re on Tso’got, a planet that loves to shit on freedom of expression. A place that has shit rules, shit expectations, and worse treatment for those who stand out.” He shook his head, “I’m so tired of this man, I’m tired of looking over my shoulder, for being afraid of who I am.”  

I lacked a good response to that.  On Tso’got, being homosexual was condemnable, much more so than crossbreeding.  In some city clusters, it was actually illegal and could get you tossed in a cell or fined at the very least.  

“I would kill to be normal,” he lamented, “To have a normal life, to have normal affections, to be a normal kid.  Instead, my parents left me on my own. The only good people in my life were guys…so I started liking them instead of girls like everyone else.  You, Basl, and a few teachers that actually gave a shit about me, that was all it really took, and I found myself looking at boys more than girls.  When you started dating Xana, it finally dawned on me that I was never gonna be like you; she’s the epitome of what a guy our age should be all over, but I felt no attraction for her, not even a little.  No, instead, I felt fucking jealousy for her because she was dating you! Yeah,” he said with a laugh, “How about that shit? But wait, we can up the ante! We can make this little fucker Adapt so his very existence is a defiance to nature!  Not only are his love interests criminal, he’s an illegal little brat because he has this dumb fucking thing running around under his skin!”

He went to take another drink and I put my hand over the top.  “Come on, that’s enough.”

“Nick, I’m going to get very drunk, and you’re going to let me.”  

“No,” I said, firm, “I’m not.”  

He grimaced and shoved my shoulder; even with him being a bit less coordinated, it was way harder than most anyone could punch and knocked me over.

I set my jaw and threw myself back at him, using my whole body to topple him and make the bottle hit the ground.  “I said, you’ve had enough!”

Murphy growled, “Goddamnit, Nick, get off me!”  He grabbed my shirt and twisted, stressing his passenger and launching me, throwing me back into the side of his house.  I fell to the ground in a heap, stars twinkling in my vision. “Oh, shit!” he hissed, my friend finally coming back to his senses as he charged over to make sure I was okay.  

“That hurt,” I groaned.

“Oh fuck, Nick,” he lamented, his voice breaking, “I’m so sorry, I-I-I just…I can’t…”

As he sat me up, I wrapped my arm around him in a hug, catching him off guard.  “It’s okay. You’re not a freak. You’re my friend.”

“I…” he stopped trying to talk and simply returned the hug.

I wasn’t sure how long we were outside, but eventually I became aware we were being watched.  Glancing to the side, I was shocked to see Spectre a few meters away, waving politely. “Sorry, but we do have to keep an eye on you.”  

Murphy wiped his face off and looked at her, and then to the door that still hadn’t been opened.  “How did you get out here?”

She smiled and her whole body turned into an apparition; she glided back through the wall of the house and then drifted back out beside us.  “Even though I don’t have any real offensive powers of my own, being able to fly for a little bit and drift through walls is pretty handy. I didn’t mean to interrupt though,” she confessed, pressing her fingers together, nervous.  “It’s just…Psycho did say to keep an eye on you…”

“It’s okay,” I said, “You have a job to do.  We get it.”

I wasn’t angry at her, but she was an obnoxious reminder that we were prisoners for the time being.  

“Hey,” I said, getting back up to my feet, “How about we go back in, yeah?”

Murphy nodded, “Alright.”  

I gave him a sideways glance, “You aren’t going to start hitting on me, are you?”

“You’re a fucking asshole, you know that?” he chided with a weak chuckle.  “Seriously though man, thanks for being…okay with this.”

“Dude, I grow an alien out of my skin.  I’m pretty sure I can handle the fact my best friend likes guys.  You’ll need a more dramatic reveal to really get anything out of me.”  

He smiled, “Maybe I should start hitting on you, you’re way too good for Xana.”  

“Aw, come on man!”  

He snickered as Spectre opened the door for us.  Everyone was waiting, pensive as we came back into the kitchen and dining room, the tension high as Ted stepped forward to Murphy, wearing a dour expression.  

“Hey listen, I’m-“

Murphy hit him hard enough to send him across the room.  Dysfunction started to step forward, but Bargain held her back, waiting.  Ted took a second and wiped blood from his mouth as he got back up, a bit shaky.  

“I deserved that,” he said, nursing his jaw.  “We good?”

“Yeah,” he said after weighing the idea, “We’re good.  Just, fucking think before you open your mouth.”

Ted nodded, “Are you cutting me off due to my blabbermouth,” he asked, reaching over to the table to pick up an empty glass, “Or can I get a refill?”

“If it makes you shut the hell up, I’ll pour you another.”  

“Now, kiss!” Rebecca said off to the side with a wicked grin on her face.  Murphy turned and gave her a glare, his cheeks bright red. “What, too soon?”

“Fuck you, Rebecca,” he groaned, “Is nothing sacred?”

“Certainly not when it has to deal with you,” she countered.  

I let myself fade from the center as Roger stepped away from Yuki, leaving her for now in effort to get another drink and try to relax.  He was quiet still, being hyperaware of his girlfriend and her state. However, Psycho might be using us, but he wasn’t kidding about keeping us in good shape.  That helped assuage a lot of the rage that he was expressing earlier.

A hand grabbed me and I was surprised to see Alexis beside me.  

“Hey, can I talk to you for a bit?” she asked, sounding strangely timid.  Ever since really embracing her role as captain, she had been so confident.  It was…odd seeing her like this again.

“Um, yeah?”

She tugged on my arm and dragged me back to what I assumed was the parental bedroom.  It was odd seeing a master bedroom that looked decidedly unlived in. Everything was a little bit out of place, surfaces dusty, and clothing a mess.  Murphy told us he refused to use the room, a last middle finger to his parents. They weren’t worth cleaning up after anymore.

“Nick, earlier tonight, I was afraid for you.”

I felt a strange urge to roll my eyes, “Alexis, you had us pick a fight with Beleth.  Of course things were going to get dangerous. But, we knew that going in.”

“No, not like that.”  She composed herself and stopped looking at the floor.  “You made yourself enormous. You grew so much mass, so fast.  I was afraid to shoot at Beleth any earlier for fear I’d piss you off.”

“Alexis-“

“I thought I was going to lose you in that thing,” she said softly.  “I was afraid it was going to eat my friend. I was still worried you weren’t you until you went after Murphy.”

“Hey, I’m fine!  I maybe got a little murdery and all, but I had a clear focus.  I was determined to bring Beleth down, not attack you or just anything nearby.  Trust me,” I said softly.

“I do but…it’s just…”

“Just what?” I asked, starting to get frustrated at her being nervous.  “Just spit it out already.”

“Nick,” she barely whispered, “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”

“You aren’t going to lose me,” I promised, “I had control over the suit.”

She put her hands on my shirt and balled up her fists, “You…you still don’t get it, do you?  How thick-headed are you, Nicholas Weld?”

“What are you-“

And then she kissed me.  

My first thought was that I should pull away…but I didn’t.  This was wrong, I had a girlfriend and Alexis was…well, Alexis!  There were so many more reasons this shouldn’t be happening, why I should pull away and stop this, pretend it never happened, see if we could keep our friendship the same.

But I kissed back, like an idiot.

Alexis finally pulled away, shaking.  “Do…do you finally get it?”

I nodded, overwhelmed.  “But, how long have-?”

She shook her head, “Nick, you idiot, I’ve loved you since I was thirteen.  I…I can’t lose you, okay? I want to hate Xana for dating you, but she’s so fucking perfect, and you two are so cute together.  It hurts, but I can deal with that because I see how happy she makes you. I’m not so petty I’m going to ruin a good thing because I’m jealous.  But, promise me I’m not going to lose you because of Rogue Sentry stuff, because of what I put you through.” She shuddered and forced her hands to stop shaking, “Nick, if I was responsible for breaking you, I’d kill myself.  I was terrified that you wouldn’t be the same after what happened tonight; that you’d push too hard and something would snap. I was mortified at the idea that I’d have to tell Xana what happened to you. Promise me,” she begged, “Promise me I won’t lose you.”  

“I….I promise,” I finally said.  

Alexis nodded and turned, leaving me to deal with the toll her confession took out of me.  How had I been so clueless? How had I never seen it?

And what the hell was I supposed to tell Xana?     

Previous Chapter – Next Chapter

   11/20/80

“Nick, sweetie?”

    I looked up from the floor and gave a glance to my mother lingering in the doorway, wearing a nervous expression.  “What’s up, mom?”

    “You’re looking depressed again.”  

“Sorry, just had a lot on my mind lately.  End of term coming up and all,” I lied. It was feeble, but hopefully she’d be willing to drop the topic.  Mom was generally willing to leave things if I didn’t immediately open up.

    Two days since our scuffle with Suppression, two days since I had almost been executed like some kind of wild animal, two days since some unknown Adapted had shown up to save me, and two days since we’d gotten a wealth of information from Big Picture that gave a grim forecast for our march against Beleth.

    Saying I had been distracted and distant was the understatement of the year.  

I’d stayed home yesterday since I had woken up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and sick to my stomach.  It had been easy enough to blame the upset stomach and fatigue on nerves, but the lingering depression and times I spent staring at walls hadn’t gone unnoticed.  Even my dad had been easy on me which was admittedly peculiar.

    “It’s more than that, isn’t it?” she asked softly, coming into my room and sitting down on the bed beside me.  “I’ve seen you worried about school or making sure we’re happy, and this isn’t that. Come on sweetie, you can talk to me.”  

    “You’re right, it’s something else,” I confessed, immediately angry at myself for being honest.

    “Are things with Xana okay?”

    “They’re fine,” I replied.  

    “Then what is it?”

    I looked over to my mother and was met with a sorrowful glance; she only wanted what was best for her son.  “I’d really rather not talk about it. Okay?”

    She hesitated before taking a deep breath, steeling herself, “No.  It isn’t.”

    I looked up from the floor, confused.  My mom almost never took on an aggressive disposition like this.  If I had been doing something inappropriate she would have called me on it, but she didn’t pry into emotional conflict.  She wanted that to be something I brought to her, something I was willing to talk about on my own volition.  

“Mom?”

    “You think I haven’t noticed you looking morose all the time when you think we aren’t paying attention?  You think I’m completely oblivious to the worry I see Xana show for you? You think I can’t see that this is more than just some nerves about a stupid test?  Nick, this isn’t a problem that started a few days ago, this has been going on for months!  You are constantly tired, constantly checking over your shoulder, paranoid and afraid.”

    “Mom I-“

    “Stop,” she insisted, “Stop lying to me.  Stop pretending you’re okay when you clearly aren’t!  Tell me what is wrong! I’m done pretending I’m okay with not knowing what’s eating my son!”

    I wasn’t sure who was closer to tears between us.  “Mom, please, let it go.”

    “You haven’t given me a lot of choice, have you?  Nicholas, either you tell me what is going on with you or, so help me God, I will shackle you in this room and beat the truth out!  Stop. Lying. To. Me.”

    “I’m Adapted!” I blurted out.  

    It was suddenly quiet.  You could have heard a pin drop.

    “You’re…what?”

    I dropped my head, looking back at the floor, ashamed.  “I’m Adapted,” I repeated, blushing, embarrassed, mortified to confess it aloud.  Even though I constantly rebelled against being called a freak, I felt myself ashamed to own my identity.  Risking a glance to see her face, I felt my chest tighten at her bewildered face.

    “You’re…an Adapted?” she said in disbelief.

    I struggled to swallow the lump in my throat and nodded.  

    “So, when you go to be with Murphy and Alexis, is it always a lie?  Are you out running drugs or being some hired muscle?”

    “What?” I said, affronted, “No!”

    Her fire wavered as I pushed back, but she stayed firm.  “Then, Murphy and Alexis, they’re Adapted too, aren’t they?”

    My look betrayed the answer.  “How would-“

    “Adapted tend to group up.  It makes sense if you’re one, you’re two best friends are too.”

    “How do you know that?”

    “You underestimate your mother.  I wasn’t completely oblivious about your obsession with Adapted.  You follow them and their activities; I wanted to know more about what my son was so interested in.  But I thought it was because of the awesome spectacle they could be, not because you were one.” She paused, and I swear I saw tears forming around the edge of her eyes. “Why did you change?”

    “Mom?”

    “Everyone who Adapts has some kind of trauma, something ripping them apart inside, usually familial abuse or neglect.”  Tears began to stream down her cheeks, “Are we that bad? Did we do this to you?”  Her voice caught in her throat, “Did we break our child?”

    On impulse I reached forward and wrapped my arm around my mom, “No!  Oh mom…no,” I assured her. “I changed because I almost died.”

    She embraced me and cried with what seemed like a mixture of joy and sadness at hearing she wasn’t the cause of her son’s transformation.  After a minute, she composed herself and pulled away, wiping her face, “What happened?”

    As I looked at her, past the remaining tears, there was a familiar spark behind her eyes that I’d seen in any number of reflective surfaces.

    My thirst and love of the strange and weird, it came from my mother.  She was the free spirit and the dreamer who was foil to my dad’s grounded and concrete realism.  And for a long time, she had no reason to find the absurd and fantastic anything other than dangerous… until now.  

    “Six months ago,” I said slowly, “It happened when Xana and I went outside the city limits during the day, thinking we’d be fine for a while.  A stray Neklim found us when we were going to have lunch and chased us down.”

    “But you lived.  How?”

    “I…I copied it.  It was like the floodgates were opened and I just knew how to manifest these.” I let growths cover my hand like a glove before dispersing them.  “It turns out Alexis and Murphy Adapted earlier, but that was because their home life was hellish.  Dad can be bad, but he’s nothing comparatively.”

    My mom winced at that, feeling sympathy for my friend’s plight.  “So, you’re Eldritch?”

    “Yeah,” I admitted, “Your son turns into a giant Neklim.”

    I was expecting shock or disdain for my power… something other than worry and a firm hug.  “I saw you get battered by Shockwave. It was all over the news, your fight.  It was so violent, so devastating. I didn’t know I was watching my son almost die.”

    “Mom, I,” I started but stopped.  I couldn’t lie to her and tell her that wasn’t the case.  “I lived though.”

    She ended the embrace but held my shoulders, looking me full in the face.  “And you’re fight with Goliath?  And you’re fight with Suppression?”

    How damn informed was she about Adapted happenings around Ciel?

    “Mom, listen,” I tried.

    She refused let me control the conversation.  “No, you listen, Nicholas. Adapted or otherwise, you are my son!  You need to stop endangering yourself to live out some kind of superhero fantasy!  Do you think about the people who would be devastated if something happened to you? Do you think of how I would feel if you never came home one night?  Before today, I would have never known what happened to my only son!”

    It hurt, but a counter came to mind immediately.  It was the reason we had started this mess, and it was why we intended to see it all the way through.  “And how many more people does Beleth need to kill before it becomes unbearable? How many people need to cower in front of him before it justifies someone fighting back?  How much longer do people need to be afraid of one guy who can snap his fingers and bury you?”

    “It isn’t your fight,” she snapped.

    “Yes it is!  Everyone else ran from him, but we didn’t!  Mom, I’m done running away from bullies like him!  I’m not about to be a coward and let this just keep happening!”

    I was expecting a harsh rebuttal, to be chastised, even slapped at my outburst; I wasn’t expecting my mom to laugh.

    “W-what’s so funny?”

    She managed to calm herself and smiled sweetly, “You’re gonna hate hearing it.  Nick, you sounded just like your dad.  Well,” she said whistfully, “How he used to sound.”

    “I…did?”

    “Oh yeah,” she said with a reminiscent smile, “he was always standing up for someone where he could.  Your father believed in fighting the good fight. He wanted to change the world, leave behind a good legacy, and was as altruistic as could be.  But, then they happened and it broke him.  Everything he’d worked for, everyone he had helped, all up in smoke and there was no fighting that.”  

They.  The Trillodan.  Scourge and silent tyrant of the cosmos.  At least it had taken something big to break my father.

Her smiled faltered as she turned her attention back to me, “I’m glad you kept the best parts of him.  It’s good to know at least that legacy will keep going.”

    “You can’t tell dad,” I thought aloud, “I don’t wanna know what he’d do hearing his son is an Adapted.”

    My mother nodded, “Eventually, he should know the truth. But for now, your secret should remain just that.”  She looked out my window and saw Alexis’ car pull up to the curb, “Your friends are here. You’re going to fight more of Beleth’s gang, aren’t you?”

    “We’re going after his drug manufacturing,” I divulged, seeing no reason to hide anything at this point.  “There’s a good chance he’s there and waiting for us.”

I could tell she debated arguing, but she held back.  Apparently I had been convincing enough to at least make her feel somewhat okay with my activity.  

    There was a knock at the door followed almost immediately by the door opening.  Murphy had little regard for decorum around my house, practically shouting as he entered, “Hey, Nick!  What’s the hold up?” He turned the corner into my room and saw my mom, “Oh, hey mom! Everything…okay?”

    He’d called her ‘mom’ for years now; I hadn’t properly appreciated why until just weeks ago.  That being said, she never seemed to mind. I think she enjoyed the prospect of ‘adopting’ my best friend.  

    “Nick was being very…forthcoming,” she said cryptically.  

    Murphy frowned, knowing something was up.  It didn’t take long before he glanced to me: I nodded.  “So, he told you?”

    “And I’m guessing that makes you Parasite.”

    He smirked, “Guilty as charged.”  

“Well, come on, show off a little,” she encouraged with a wave.  

My best friend glanced to me, “Yeah, it’s fine man.  She isn’t going to rat us out.”

Murphy shrugged, “Alright.”  Hopping forward, he landed on his fingertips; in a fluid motion he shot himself across the room and landed upright in front of my mother.  “Here, the best I can really show you,” he said as he bunched up his passenger in an outstretched hand for her to shake.

“Oh my,” she said, a little perturbed, “There’s something else living in you.”  

He blushed, “Kind of it.  It integrates with my cells.  Alexis and I tried to cut it and get a look once but it refused to be seen.  He’s a bit shy.”

“You’re very nimble though.”

“Exquisite balance and sense of gravity,” he replied, “My little bit of innate thought from my Adaptation.  Your son got a hyper sensitive awareness of proprioception and mass; it’s what lets him know when to grow more and where he is in relation to his suit since he gets…big.”

She reached over and pinched my cheek, “And yet he’s still my little boy.”

“Mom, I am 17 years old!”  

    “And still my baby!” she insisted as she let go.  But, the good feelings didn’t last as her smile fell.  My mom let out a sigh, “I never thought I’d ask this of you, Murphy: take care of my son.”

    “Mrs. Weld,” he said, more formal, “I don’t think you appreciate exactly how powerful your son is.”

    “Murphy,” she snapped, “Don’t argue.”

    He raised his hands, defensive, “Okay mom.  I’ll make sure Nick stays safe.”

    “Go,” she said, satisfied, “I’ve taken enough of your time.”  

    I grabbed my bag with a change of clothes and stopped, taking a minute to give my mom one last hug.  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

    She didn’t say anything more than, “I love you, Nicholas.”

    It was almost strange leaving now that she knew what I was doing.  For the first time since we’d started as Reckoners, I felt guilty.

    “What the hell took so long?” Alexis demanded as we finally got into the car.

    “Well, his mom knows what we are,” Murphy said, tactlessly.  

    “Wait, WHAT?”

    “Relax,” I insisted from the backseat, “She isn’t going to rat me out to anybody.”

    “Nick,” Alexis groaned, “You know I love your mom, but we can’t just go telling people what we are!  The fact that she knows makes her vulnerable to getting wrapped up in this mess!”

    “I know it just…slipped out,” I confessed.  “She got after me about lying and being deceitful and I caved.”

    My captain let out an exasperated sigh, “You know what, we’ll talk about this later; for now, get your head in the game, Nick.  We can’t have you losing control.”

    I nodded, not wanting to push my luck.  Alexis did have a point: if anyone needed to be level headed, it was me.    

    “You found the place?” Murphy asked.

    “Yeah. I was scouting and Dragonfly dissolved a pair of my drones.”

    “So Beleth knows we’ll be coming,” I thought aloud.

    “He likely had a hunch after we took Big Picture,” she replied.  “He knew we’d be coming for a confrontation anyways; we at least have the luxury of not encountering Pyre or Goliath.”

“No Goliath?” Murphy asked.

“Nick and Ted did a number of the big guy.  Even with all the excess muscle, he’s feeling it for sure.”  

    I could still vividly see Mutant dancing between forms, expertly dodging and positioning himself against Goliath to lacerate through layers of muscle against the brute.  Unlike me, Goliath didn’t have a healing factor; if you could wound deep enough in his muscle tissue, the damage stuck. While he did heal quickly, I’d likely battered some organs and Mutant had left easily a dozen deep gouges on the man’s torso.  

But to our knowledge, he didn’t recover nearly as fast as Murphy; he wouldn’t mend from such debilitating injuries in 50 hours like Parasite might have.  

    Pyre didn’t have a healing factor and had been shot a few times.  Even though modern medicine could get her upright pretty quickly, someone trying to brawl while healing was dicey as you increased risk of Overexposure.  Just like how overworking muscles could do damage, Overexposing yourself to an Adaptive power had serious drawbacks. While many powers had limitations built in, Projectors, Conjurers, and often Enhancers could push their gift to an unhealthy extreme and risk serious health problems.   

    If the pyrokinetic was to push hard in a fight while healing, it made that likelihood much higher even before you considered her propensity to lose control by nature of her gift.  

“So no Goliath and Pyre, still leaves Shock and Awe to contend with,” Murphy pointed out.  “We’ll get a rematch, and one they won’t make difficult for themselves.”

We’d come to grips with the fact that Shock and Awe had fought us deliberately backwards; if they were smart when they fought us, we wouldn’t have survived our debut as Reckoners.  

“I’m glad I have thicker armor now,” Alexis muttered, “Hopefully the bastard breaks his hand on it.”

“We know he won’t,” I replied.

“But hey, now you can control enough growth to be bigger so Shock won’t rip you apart so quick,” Murphy said optimistically.  

“I still feel it when he rips chunks of me off,” I muttered.  “Lightning bolts fucking hurt man.”  

As we drove, I kept thinking back to my mom; she knew now, and it was going to change how we talked.  Whenever I was going to leave, she’d know what I was doing. If Eldritch ever showed up in the news, she would know it was her son.  

Would she be able to keep my dad out of the loop?

I was glad Murphy and Alexis were able to entertain themselves as we got close enough to the warehouse that Alexis had lost several drones attempting to scout.  The others were already there, all somber, even Lightshow.

We were walking into Beleth’s house, and he was home.

“So, we’re two blocks away.  We have holograms to hopefully keep Hive fooled for a little while until we get closer so we don’t risk giving away Menagerie’s location.”

“All well and good, Dragoon,” Geyser said, “But what’s stopping his regular thugs from finding her?  What if they start sweeping the area?”

Our member in the cardigan patted her boyfriend affectionately, “I’ll be fine.  You guys are the ones at real risk.”

“Not exactly comforting,” Parasite muttered as he slid his top on, flexing the fingers to make sure the little spikes were working on his fingertips.  

“So, boss,” Mutant said, “What is the plan?”

Dragoon locked in her armor and put her helmet on before answering, “It’s a little hard to be entirely sure since I can’t see inside.  But, if we assume it is Hive, Shock, Awe, and Beleth, we’re going to need to split our efforts. Geyser, you’re best suited to deal with Shock.  Keep him moving, busy so he can’t fire on us and charge his sibling, try to keep him choosing one or the other. Lightshow, you’ll be mostly focusing on keeping him blind as well as Dragonfly.  If those two are left unchecked, they’ll rip apart Eldritch. Mutant, you’ll have to deal with part of Hive, probably the Ant and maybe Dragonfly as well.”

He nodded, “What about the Stag?”

“Eldritch will deal with the Stag.  He’ll be big enough the thing can’t fight him well as long as Shock is kept suppressed.”

“Did I ever tell you how much I hate bugs?” our Projector mentioned.  

“Well, make this one easier to squish and we’ll get rid of it for you,” Parasite replied.

“Parasite, you’re up for a rematch against Awe.”

He let out a laugh, “Are you serious?  He’ll rip me apart! Even at half charge he’s as strong as me and faster; with a full charge I might as well be standing still.”

“The whole point is to keep his brother tied up so he can’t really maintain a full charge.  Awe is going to instinctively protect his sibling and keep his power source out of danger. We need a threat to prevent him from attacking Geyser and Lightshow.”  

Menagerie raised her hand, “I can give you a beast to help.”

“And Eldritch will threaten him once Stag is dealt with.  ”

“I hate to be negative,” I said finally, “But what about the big problem?”

“He’s going to be kept at bay by Menagerie and me.  While we don’t have an aggressive projector to keep him backed into a corner, but I do have bullets and Menagerie can make some really quick beasties to keep him on the back foot.  We don’t have to necessarily fight him out the gate, just keep him away so he can’t dictate the rest of the fight. Ideally we overwhelm his subordinates and then can give him more to deal with than he can focus on.”

Her plan sounded good, and I wanted it to believe we could pull it off, but I also knew plans never survived contact with the enemy.  

“So, show us what we’re getting from the petting zoo,” Parasite insisted.  

“I’m hoping we can get some more tentacles,” Lightshow added, “The big guy just never quite has enough to please me.”

I blushed  and the two jesters snickered.  Geyser shook his head, but I was sure he was grinning behind his mask.  

Menagerie opened a sketch pad and ripped out three pages that quickly dissolved with a green glow.

Around her, reality seemed to distort as a trio of creatures came into being.  One resembled a silverback gorilla if it had been made with four arms, and was plated in jagged armor.  The second was a three headed dog that came up to my ribs while on all fours. Its fur was jet black with irregular streaks of tan scattered around; from each mouth, some different color leaked.  Knowing her, this meant each head likely had some kind of breath weapon. Her last spawn was what looked like a mummy with gray skin and freakishly long arms equipped with dangerous looking fingernails.  The rest of it seemed exceptionally scrawny, and it’s face consisting entirely of one massive eye that opened horizontally.

Menagerie wavered on her feet but caught herself.  “Those three should be able to do well at the start.  I’ll be watching to know when to send you more.”

I could practically feel Geyser’s apprehension.  Generally Menagerie made one or two beasts, and none usually this big.  That had to be taxing.

But knowing her, each of these would be strong enough to hold its own against one part of Hive, or in this case be a decent distraction for Beleth.  Dragoon had likely talked with Menagerie earlier, reinforcing exactly how vital she was for this.

Starting my growths, I discarded my clothing and grew about 200 kilograms as an initial coat, more to protect against the cold than anything else.  As we all got ready to go, Menagerie gave Geyser a hug and climbed back into her car, laying in the backseat with a sketchpad.

“Alright,” Dragoon muttered, “Showtime.”  

A bubble of hologram was cast over us; to anyone walking by, we looking like another group of disgruntled Zari workers with somewhere to be after our shift ended.  Sure, there were inconsistencies if you looked closely, little spots where colors overlapped, or spots where the creatures moved and the hologram didn’t quite adjust the color well enough.  Fortunately, Lightshow kept things fairly cohesive, bending light around us to keep the illusion.

She was capable of more than we typically saw, but bending color or a specific spectrum was challenging and not easy to do on the go.  Theoretically she could be a pretty good illusionist but that would require a lot more training on her part.

“I see Dragonfly,” Lightshow whispered.  “She’s flitting around the rooftops, and she’s spotted us.”  

“We knew she was on high alert,” Geyser muttered.

“And her being on ‘high alert’ has nothing to do with her elevation?”

Geyser didn’t respond, he just glared over at Parasite, his mask hiding it he was making any kind of face.  

“Dragonfly is still interested in us,” Lightshow whispered, “Seriously, why am I the only person who can watch the freaky bug?  Don’t you have night vision, Dragoon?”

“Not nearly as good as yours,” she replied.

“You should get suited up,” Mutant whispered.

Following the instruction, I tapped my supply and burned two-hundred kilograms, half of my storage.  It was all of what we could fit in the freezer I bought for Geyser and some extra from roadkill I had scrounged earlier; he’d admittedly been a little repulsed seeing me dissolve the contents of an entire freezer all away into non-existence.  

“Dragonfly is taking off,” Lightshow said with a sigh of relief, no longer having to watch the human sized insect flitting around above our heads.  “But, she went straight to where we’re headed,” she muttered as we walked passed yet another group of Zari heading to one of the many parking garages around.  The industrial side of the city was a concrete jungle that felt lifeless. Even though during the day it was bustling, the instant people could get away, they did.  Parking garages were erected every block or two and even so, during the day streets would be flush with commuters who drove North to work their shift.

We’d chosen to come later in the evening, when most people would have already headed home for the night, leaving only a few straggler groups of workers who might get caught in the crossfire should a fight spill outside.  It kept people from seeing us as we changed into our costumed personas and we wanted to minimize any kind of possible collateral; my dad had a point when he’d complained about Adapted causing far too much incidental damage.  As much of an ass as he could be, he had a reasonable gripe.

There was a tense silence as another walked by, dangerously close to us, almost bumping into one of Menageries creations.  Fortunately, they had somewhere to be and had no interest in getting involved with someone they didn’t know. After all, this was the wrong part of the city to be social.  Even though they couldn’t see the massive bug in the sky, people were well aware of Surface Dwellers influence on this side of the city. No one wanted to be here longer than they had to be for fear Beleth or one of his goons was feeling territorial… or just vindictive.  

It was strange as we approached the warehouse because it looked so normal.  When thought about logically, it made sense that you didn’t want an illegal hub of operations to stand out.  But I expected something more given the flair that came with most Surface Dweller activities as of late. Their first activity to prove dominance was to literally reduce a building to a pile of rubble and rip people apart.  

Compared to those ostentatious events, the existence of this warehouse seemed so mundane.  

“Knock, knock,” Dragoon said, gesturing to me.  

Hardening my cells, I slammed my fist forward demolished the slatted metal door.  

The first red flag was the absence of people.  For it to be this empty, Beleth had known we were coming long before Dragonfly saw us.  Arguably more distressing was the absence of any technology or equipment. Sure, there were some tables strewn around where people would normally be packaging materials or product, but there was none of the hardware required for making Dart.  At the far end of the warehouse, there was the king himself, sitting on a literal throne made of concrete.

Beleth, for as powerful as he was, really didn’t look very imposing.  He was slight of build, and usually settled for walking around in a brown trench coat.  Generally he was bald with a clean shaven face, and it didn’t bode well for us that he was smiling.    

“Two days,” he said, gloating, “I said two days, Awe, pay up!”

The rest of the group turned to see Awe and his sibling step forward, from one of the many rooms scattered around the periphery of the warehouse.  

“Did you kill Big Picture?” Dragoon asked, shouting across to him.

Beleth’s boisterous mood died as he got up, the cement throne sinking back into the ground behind him, “And why, Dragoon, would I do that?”

“Because he told us where your production would be.”

“The man’s an informant!  Of course he informed you!  While I don’t approve of how you found him, you kept him free from Suppression.  For that, you lot have my genuine respect and appreciation.” More surprising than his sincere sentiment was the slight bow he gave us.  “But for doing this, coming here,” he said, standing up straight, “My goodwill’s run out.”

Dragoon didn’t hesitate to raise an arm and take a shot at the kingpin, finding a wall of cement in her way.  

The reason we needed to keep Beleth away from everyone,  and what made him so unassailable was his gift: he controlled the ground around him.  While on paper that wasn’t a particularly glamorous power, it was hard to fight someone when you couldn’t trust the floor.  If Shockwave was an unstoppable force, Beleth was the immovable object. He’d proven able to manipulate metal, rock, even wood as needed.  Scarier still was how much control he exerted; it wasn’t an Adaptation that was crude in nature, it had been honed to an art by Beleth.

“Shock, Awe, go!” he barked as we fanned out, a plume of darkness enveloping his head.  “Hive! Kill the damned girl with the lights!”

Even though he couldn’t see, he still erected a new barrier before Dragoon could get a new clean shot, and swept away the three headed dog as well as the mummified thing in a ripple of the ground.  

Dragonfly flew through a window and hit the ground, transforming into a lithe woman covered head to toe in a leather suit with a bug mask.  She clenched her fist and re-split, moving all her forms to one location.

It was part of why she was so dangerous: if any one of her splits found you, they all found you.

Ant and Dragonfly were vaguely human in shape, maybe a little taller than your average person, both coated in a thick chitin shell that made her splits a bitch to break.  Ant had four arms and was known for being notoriously fast as well as a deft fighter. Dragonfly had a quartet of wings and was constantly producing digestive enzymes that could chew through metal, and Stag was the outlier who was closer to the size of Goliath and looked more like a beetle with sort of human limbs.  With thicker armor and incredible strength, Stag was the most bestial of the bunch, often opting to charge targets like a rhinoceros would have back on Earth.

I tried to charge Stag, and felt my leg buckle under me as forty kilograms were lanced off.  

Shock’s biker helmet was turned to face me, “We’ve been waiting for a rematch!”  Without looking, he fired a bolt and charged his brother who charged straight for Geyser, only to get interrupted by Parasite swinging the staff and forcing his fellow Enhancer to duck.  It gave our man a chance to stomp and open a fissure, forcing Shock to move. He tried to posture up and was immediately blinded by a flash from Lightshow who was ducking around, avoiding globs of enzyme.

Mutant swapped to a bird to fly and then into the grey-skinned form, wrapping a tentacle around the other flyers leg and lashing it down to the ground beside me.  

Focusing in, I blocked out the others conflict.  Being able to see all around me was as often overwhelming as it was helpful.  For now, I needed to focus on the fight I was a part of. My first goal was to take Stag off the table; Dragonfly being put at my feet like an offering drew the rest of Hive as Ant ran over and Stag dropped to all fours, charging me.  

I opened my arms and braced myself for impact; sure enough, Stag hit hard, but I was far too heavy to displace easily.  The horn didn’t pierce my midsection deep enough to threaten me beneath, and I was still standing; now I could effectively push the beetle’s face into the ground, though not without difficulty.  Even though this was only one-third of Hive, the damned thing was strong.

Nearby, Mutant found himself with his hands full dodging globs of enzyme while Ant displayed enough martial prowess to rival Parasite in hand-to-hand combat.  

Maybe I could give him a little help…

As Stag tried to pull away,  I dug my growths into nooks and crannies in the shell so I could slowly lift the immense arthropod, much to its surprise.  

Dragonflies attention immediately turned to me as a splatter of liquid hit my outer layer and began eating away at my arm, but there was enough muscle for me to ignore the thirty kilogram loss.  I turned, doing a full rotation before launching Stag at Shock.

Thanks to some darkness from Lightshow, he barely saw and had to throw himself to the side to avoid getting bowled over by the massive beetle.  

My feeling of success vanished as he raised a hand to me and let a mess of bolts slam into my chest, burning away 113 kilograms of mass and sending me staggering backwards.  As Stag got traction, the insect charge me again just as one of Geyser’s fissures opened up beneath Shock and bathed him in the caustic fumes.

Without the continued assault from Shock, I was able to steady and brace myself for Stag, actually gripping the horn this time and yanking the damned thing to the side.  It postured on one arm, trying to stand up despite being pulled down by something that weighed as much as a truck. Toughening my other arm, I slammed forward and bludgeoned the insectoid and sent it scrambling across the floor.  

Across the way, Parasite and the animated gorilla-thing were not doing great against Awe, but they were still standing, but Awe’s power would run out while Shock was still gagging, unable to focus on more than his bodies desperate need for air.  Still, until then, Awe was so fast that he was almost hard to track, making it all the more impressive that Murphy was managing to block and avoid some punches.

“Eldritch,” Mutant snapped, swapped into his beetle form to absorb a blow from Ant, “Beleth needs to be contained.  Help them! I’ll deal with Stag!”

While so far the plan we going according to plan, the most worrisome outcome was becoming a reality, and quick.  No matter how she moved, Dragoon couldn’t get a shot on Beleth; he was always a step ahead of her, casually erecting walls to absorb incoming fire.  Menagerie’s creatures couldn’t find an opening either, and the mummified thing was already missing an arm. The dog breathed a volley of icicles that found a  barricade; it stepped a little too close to try and breathe some green gas and found itself on the business end of a massive spike. The mummy darted forward, almost faster than awe.  Beleth waited until it was close, almost within striking distance…and then the ground in front of him erupted with spines of cement. Its movement was halted as it turned into a pincushion before disintegrating.  

Menagerie had sold Beleth short, hoping speed would be able to overcome his control of the battlefield.

It left trying to contain him all up to Dragoon and we hadn’t had enough time to fight his other Adapted.  Still, he walked, he didn’t run towards us. Why would he bother? We couldn’t threaten him.

From what I’d read about the man, he could manipulate the ground and mold it to shape whatever need he had in a range of about 20 meters.  Some people also claimed he had some kind of danger sense, but it was more likely he just had some sense that corresponded to his gift and let him sense vibrations through the ground.   

So how the fuck was I supposed to help fight someone who controlled where I could walk?  Dragoon skirted around, constantly finding a shifting array of barriers keeping her from getting a clean shot.  She tried to throw a grenade, only to have a hand of rock erupt from the floor and catch it, pulling it back into the floor to nullify it.  I started charging forward, building up a head of steam, hoping to be able to at least crash through any barriers that he would erect in my path.  

As the wall went up, I hardened my cells and slammed through like a massive battering ram; a handful of cement spikes impaled me as momentum carried me forward onto the new rock formation he’d constructed behind it.  Some came a bit close to impaling me underneath.

“Didn’t your mother tell you to look before you leap?”

I roared and swiped my hand, breaking the spines and pulled them free of my body.  I threw them back at Beleth, but he constructed a new wall with a casual wave. Without looking, he shoved a barrier off to the side and deliberately had it snap, launching a massive slab of concrete at my captain.  

Dragoon was thrown backwards and lay still, the armor around her torso smashed from the impact.  

Lightshow surrounded him in darkness as I tried to advance, but the ground seemed to turn to liquid under my feet, my dense form mired in the impromptu quicksand.  

“You think I need to see you?” Beleth laughed as he stepped forward.  He snapped and pointed at Lightshow; as if rehearsed, Shock caught his breath and re-charged his sibling; Awe skirted around Parasite, going straight for our Projector.  Geyser tried to make a network of fissures around her, but Awe jumped over them easily with a full charge.

Lightshow wasn’t given any kind of natural protection, though she was faster than normal…but Awe was running faster than most people could drive.  

In a panic, she flooded the room with light to try and keep Awe away; it faded as she hit the ground, clutching her side.  

“Lightshow!” Parasite shouted, throwing the staff at Awe.  

He spun and caught the four kilogram projectile, throwing it to the side before charging back to challenge Parasite.  Shock zapped him in the spine as his brother hit him staight in the gut, doubling my friend over before Awe threw a big hook into the side of his head.    

Growling, I ripped myself free of the quagmire that Beleth had made, his slow march forward still going.  It was like he was setting a timer for us to beat his subordinates, testing our mettle. It was a grim fight behind me, but we had a chance of winning that one.  If Beleth got involved…

I tried to rush Beleth again, but a literal wave of concrete rose up before me and crashed down; as I folded backwards, the floor came up to meet me, both sides trying to squish me.  “Stay put,” I heard him call out, muffled as he kept walking.

“Like hell,” I hissed softly, tapping into my remaining mass.  Even though Shock had ripped some of it away, I could retain 95 kilograms in storage and add another two-tonnes of efficient growth.  

Six tonnes of Neklim muscle ripped through the  impromptu prison Beleth had erected, getting me a turn with genuine surprise.  

Even though I was grabbing huge chunks of cement, I could still throw them with ease at the head of Surface Dwellers, blasting apart a few barriers he erected.  As I tried to stomp forward, the ground shifted between my legs, disrupting my balance. Nodes of rock erupted from behind my legs and pushed me down as the ground seemed to sink away and raise around me.  

Beleth was encasing me in a tomb of cement.  

Ninety-five kilograms available.  

I was done needing to be saved, I was done feeling vulnerable, I was done feeling powerless.  

I burned it all at maximum growth, and erupted from the ground, a towering menace made of ten tonnes of Neklim.  Nearly fifteen feet tall, I towered over everyone else and focused my malice on Beleth, who seemed genuinely concerned.  

One thing was clear to me, he needed to die.  No half measures with him. He was too dangerous to be left alive.  

“You want to bury me?” I screamed, my voice echoing through the warehouse as I stomped forward.  

Mutation: Adrenaline.

I tapped into it without thinking twice, I  felt my whole Neklim suit energize like someone had given me an injection straight to the heart; I actually ran forward, my massive stature making me alarmingly fast as the ground shuddered beneath my strides.  

Beleth’s composure returned as he shifted the ground under his feet, gliding away as he made jagged spires from the ground, dragging them along the sides of my legs to slow my progress.  The adrenaline kept me going full till and put him almost within reach…

A fist of rock shot up from the ground and slammed into my chest, pushing me away.  My hit of adrenaline faded and I felt slow again, but still strong enough to rip the column apart and throw the chunks at my prey.  

He moved himself out of the way, glaring intently.  I’d never seen him so intent on one opponent except when he was fighting someone like Shockwave or Clemency.  

Had I become that threatening?

Unfortunately, Shock had gotten back up, and avoided Geyser incapacitating him again; instead Awe had targeted the man and smacked him around a bit.  A few more creations from Menagerie had joined to help, and those were keeping the three splits of Hive preoccupied while Parasite and Mutant were both struggling against Awe who was just too damn fast and strong to stay down.  Lightshow was doing her best to keep Shock distracted and deprived, but she couldn’t go too close with the static field he’d made around himself.

Dragoon was still down from being hit with a massive slab of cement, leaving keeping Beleth occupied up to me; I wished she would get off the damn ground, I would have killed for something else to draw some of his attention away.  

I pushed forward, finding the ground turning squishy under me, slowing me down immensely.  Beleth stared intently as he skirted himself slightly closer to me, toeing the line around the fringe of his effective range like an expert.  I wrenched my leg free of the quicksand, and was impaled by a dozen massive spikes that immediately withdrew, forming a uniform layer of cement.  

Beleth had gotten more cautious; he wasn’t about to give a bigger version things to throw back.  

I tried to advance and he visibly strained, making a huge block of cement rise in front of me as the rest of the ground around him sank.  Momentum carried me into the tripping hazard and I had to plant an arm down, fairly close to Beleth.

While he could affect things up to fifteen meters away, moving enough rock to actually affect someone my size was undoubtedly a challenge even for him; he’d let me get a little closer to make it easier since range often heightened the physical cost for Projectors or Conjurers.  What was galling was that he barely even blinked as my limb slammed down nearby; he was still confident enough of his ability to dictate my movements.

As soon as my Neklim arm touched down, a sleeve of cement filled over the top and spikes speared into my arm as it drew away, shredding through three hundred kilograms of growth.  

Then I felt it: the adrenaline had reset and was ready to tap into.  

I lifted a massive leg and surged forward, throwing myself over the wall Beleth had constructed.  The first step was unaccosted, but the second step I tried to take was interrupted by the ground being shifted under my other massive foot.  Roaring in frustration, I slammed my arm down, letting the adrenaline push the muscle in my arm hard enough to launch the rest of me forward.  

An immense column erected itself and slammed into my side, pushing me away and keeping my outstretched hand only inches away from Beleth.  

For a moment, I could glimpse the terror he had just felt; unfortunately it was immediately replaced with rage.  No one like us should be able to threaten him, let alone make it that close a call; if I’d grabbed him, that would have been the end of the fight immediately.  He knew exactly how close that he really been.

I landed awkward, and felt hundreds of spikes spawn and pierce into my suit before the ground shifted towards me feet, effectively ripping away the top eight inches of my Neklim suit like a horrific belt sander.  

Even though it wasn’t my own skin and bone, I still felt it, and fuck it hurt.   

Fighting frustration, I  pushed myself up, only to feel spears of cement pierce into my legs.  Beleth jerked his head to the side, and the ground turned, moving the spears and function like a blender.

Removed from the host, another few hundred kilograms died and had me tumble back down.  No sooner had I landed than my arms were given the same treatment while Beleth glided around me, keeping me between one of the new constructs Menagerie had sent in since it was like an overgrown porcupine firing quills.  

I had fallen to all fours and the head of Surface Dwellers made effectively a giant spiked belt that he used to pull me to the ground, working to hold me in place.  As I tried to push back and lift up, the ground under me turned to quicksand, my efforts only working to enslave me.

As I sank in, and Beleth re-solidified the floor.  

Behind me, Geyser had found his footing again and was keeping Shock on his toes with Lightshow’s help, though no matter how many crags he spawned, Shock managed to keep running away and throw enough electricity around to keep Geyser enough on the backfoot that he couldn’t be precise or lend his help with anyone else.  Awe was fighting with Menagerie’s animated gorilla and Parasite, constantly staying a step ahead of either, his enhanced speed making him like a boxer on fast forward. The only real positive was that one split of Hive was actually down. Ant had two of its arms ripped free by Mutant…who was looking markedly battered.  In his beetle form, there were obvious cracks in the amber plate that protected him, likely from enduring a hit from Stag.

“Bigger doesn’t mean better,” Beleth said, condescending as I struggled and felt a new battery of spines jab into my torso, impaling a new swath of growths.

If there was a way for this form to grin, I would have done so as I felt my adrenaline threshold tip over.  My arms ripped free of the floor and I snagged a handful of the debris; swinging my right arm, I launched a volley of cement shrapnel to cover as I ripped free of his other bonds.  

As expected, a barrier erected itself in time to absorb the cloud of debris.  

Getting up, I stepped forward and fell down several feet, unable to pull back from the trench that Beleth had dug in front of me in an instant.  The barrier in front of him slid back into the ground as the sides of the trench filled in, squishing my legs like a trash compactor.

There was no way I was getting out of this…

Reallocate growths to the left arm!

A mass exodus of Neklim muscle elongated my appendage to nearly seven meters in length, leaving my right arm nearly non-existent and my torso emaciated.  

But, now I could reach him.  

I swung up and brought my massive limb down; with the adrenaline still powering me, it came with enough force to crack the floor at the point of impact.

However, there was no satisfying squish.  No additional mass for me to devour.

Sharpened crescents of cement shot up from the ground, wrapping over my massive limb before pulling down like a guillotine.  Severed from the source, the growths turned to dust and five tonnes of material died instantly.

A few paces away, Beleth’s figure emerged out from the ground as casually as one would get out of a bath.  “That’s right,” he said with a laugh, “A valiant effort, but fut-”

He staggered forward, his face contorted with pain as my friend in power armor got back up to her feet, her armor intact.  Even though Beleth’s trench coat was likely armored, it still hurt being shot.

“Eldritch, get free damnit!”

Her voice snapped me back to reality, pulling me from what had almost felt like a daze from the last couple minutes.  

Retain one tonne, discard the rest!

From the immense form, a seven foot section ripped free, leaving the rest behind and charged forward only to be lanced with a quintet of lighting bolts.  

A fifth of my remaining mass immediately died.  

Beleth rounded on Dragoon, getting a barrier up as she tossed a few extra grenades.  No sooner had they gone off than he began effectively throwing slabs and spikes of cement at my friend.  Fortunately, she was minding her distance more carefully.

Behind me, Shock charged another blast, and had thought Geyser was down after taking a hit from his sibling; with his little bit of superhuman strength and durability, Geyser was still conscious and able to stomp, dropping another fissure close enough to blast Shock.  While I was sure he’d get some kind of filter built into his helmet in the future, for now I could hear him sputtering as his airway nearly closed again.

I tried to run forward and found myself slammed in the midsection by a chunk of ground that shot up in front of me.  With less than one-tenth the mass I had earlier, I felt the hit so much more underneath. Before I could regain composure, another slab of ground shot up at an angle and smashed into my spine, pinning me between the two.  

“You can’t win this one, Sentries,” Beleth called out as Geyser tried to blast the man; Beleth simply dragged the cement back over his fissures, easily negating his gift.  Shiting the ground under his feet, he dragged himself close enough to Dragoon to put her within his range; she ended up in a prison made of cement like me.

“I’ll admit, you put up a good fight, but how were you ever going to compare to us?”

I saw it this time as a bird flitted through the air, transforming into a massive beetle and plummeting at an alarming speed.  

Beleth barely even looked up as he displaced himself and shot a column of cement up, catching mutant in the chest and letting his momentum work against him.  

“A valiant attempt, but not good enough,” he said as Mutant was given the same treatment that Dragoon and I had been subject to.  

Mutant had abandoned his fight with Hive, leaving Parasite and Lightshow to try and manage, but they were outmanned heavily; even though my best friend was a fantastic fighter, it didn’t let him fight both Stag and Awe.  I saw him get clipped by Stag’s charge and hit by a follow up kick from Awe. Even with his passenger protecting him, that was gonna hurt.

Beleth shifted himself and approached Geyser, covering a quartet of spawned fissures without so much as blinking.  Our Projector tried to run, but the ground shifted under him and saw him faceplant. “And you, you’d try to manipulate the ground against me?  You insult me!” A shard of stone grew from the ground, slamming him and tossing him onto his back with a groan.

Lightshow was the last person standing, and she was now facing off with Dragonfly, Stag, Awe, and the most powerful man in the city.  

“Come quietly,” Beleth said.

Lightshow shook her head slowly, “I don’t think I’m going to do that.”

Beleth shook his head and snapped.  Awe darted forward into a blast of light that disoriented him somewhat.  Stag was right behind and was snuffed into darkness as she leapt away from his charge while focusing a flash of light on the multifaceted eyes of Dragonfly, but not before he had spat a gob of enzyme that landed on her shin.  

She staggered and sank to a knee as it dissolved a layer of skin and chewed into the muscle and bone beneath.  Pushing up, she ran into Awe who opted to just shoulder-check heer back onto her ass.

I could feel another dose of adrenaline ready for use, but what good would that do me?  I was still close enough to Beleth he would feel the movement and immediately entomb me in a bigger sarcophagus.  

We were finished.  

Even if Hive had been dealt with, even if we’d deal with Shock and Awe, we didn’t have the tools to deal with Beleth.  I’d depleted my storage, trying to be a bigger threat than he could cope with, and he’d ripped me apart all the same.

Big Picture was right, we were in over our heads.

Beleth stood in the middle of us, looking across at the defeated Reckoner team with a smug smile.  “I like you lot,” he professed, “I really do. I think you’re a badass group. Standing up to Shockwave, damned ambitious!  Even with just three of you, you fought a lot of his squad and held your own! But,” he said slowly, menacing, “You know what I do with people who interfere in my business, don’t you?”

This was it, this was how we died.    

But then, a new sound reached our ears.  Screaming. Lots of it.

Even Beleth seemed surprised as he looked first to Awe and then to Dragoon as if to ask ‘do you know what’s going on?’

She shook her head, clueless.  

A stomping could be heard approaching the building, like an angry mob.  

Or…a stampede.  

The walls of the warehouse literally blew open as dozens of Menagerie’s creations thundered in.  Giant mishapen birds, weaponized animals, and grotesque humanoids charged through, all intent on causing as much harm as possible.  

Dragoon had suggested that she could do this at the beginning of the week, be a wildcard in terms of power…but this was way too much.  

Awe leapt over and grabbed his brother, dragging away from the onslaught of monsters that ran at Beleth and his crew.  

Tapping into my adrenaline stores, I broke free of my prison, praying that Beleth would be far too busy coping with the horde to pay me much mind.  Once free, I ran to Dragoon and slammed a fist against her prison, sundering the concrete and breaking her out.

“Fight or run?”

“We run,” she said, “Shock can breathe and Awe is still alive, the two of them could rip us apart with you being small again.  If she made all of these, they aren’t going to be full constructions and they won’t keep Beleth busy for long. If we stay, Beleth IS going to kill us if he doesn’t go down and I don’t like our odds.  And,” she added, “we need to get her.”

God only knew the damage that Menagerie had just inflicted to her body; the sooner we could get her to a hospital, the better.

Dragoon and I freed Mutant as I marvelled at Beleth’s ability to repel the horde.  He was constantly shuffling the floor and moving monsters away and altering the terrain to form a ring of spikes around him and his cronies.  Dragonfly joined him and recondensed before splitting, getting all of her parts free of the flood. The floor around them was a sea of movement, blades and blockades spawning to stop frenzies advances and bladed columns erecting to impale others.  Shock was standing beside his boss, on his feet again, firing into the crowd and picking off stragglers who were quick enough to evade Beleth’s stone defenses. Dragonfly helped cull stragglers while Awe and Stag bashed away those who slipped through the firing squads crosshairs.    

As much as I hated Beleth, there was no denying how impressive he and his crew were.  

But as powerful as he was, he was still busy coping with the unhealthy output from our Peculiar, giving us a window.  I helped Mutant to his feet and saw Geyser shaking; he knew as well as I that his girlfriend has just wildly Overexposed herself.  

Before Dragoon could stop him to get us all hologrammed, he charged away, frantic.  

“Shit, come on!” she shouted to Parasite as he scooped up Lightshow.  

Outside, she cloaked us and we ran, not looking back.  Menagerie’s rampage was more than enough of a spectacle to cover our exit fortunately, no one looking twice at a group running away from the site of an Adapted bloodbath.    

We got back to the cars a minute behind Geyser who was holding a limp figure in his arms.  He’d ditched his mask and taken hers off, trying to shake her awake as Yuki lay limp in his arms, her face void of color and lifeless.  

“Please, please, please,” he sobbed, “Please wake up.  Come on, please.”

Lightshow and Parasite didn’t have any witty quips, neither daring to make light of this.  Yuki had sacrificed herself for us to get away. All of us stopped, hardly able to breathe.  It seemed wrong that the one farthest away would-

“Oh, lighten up!” an unfamiliar voice called from the gloom of the mostly vacant parking garage, “Your friend isn’t dead.”  

A figure wearing a lab coat stepped forward, his skin glowing thanks to the glow from the old fluorescent light bulbs.  He didn’t seem physically imposing, being just a little taller than me, slight of build and wearing glasses. He wore a stylized bit of cloth around his mouth: dyed black and decorated with bloody fangs that seemed to glow a neon red.  

More alarming was how he carried himself with an air of confidence and arrogance.

Whoever this was, he was Adapted, and likely a damn strong one.  

“Your dear Menagerie  is just in a coma. She’ll be fine!  The rest of you,” he said as a quartet of figures joined him from the gloom, “Aren’t nearly so lucky.”       

Previous Chapter – Next Chapter

“Suppression?” Dragoon asked, alarmed.  “How-“

“You guys were lighting the street on fire,” Parasite pointed out, “It wasn’t like that didn’t call attention.”

Even in the most dire of situations, my best friend was still a sarcastic ass.    

Geyser stepped away from the window, “So, what do we do about him?”

Eyes turned to Big Picture who seemed to still be markedly calm.  “Well, you’re going to take me with you,” he stated as if it was a known fact.  

“Why would we-“

“You really should listen to him.”

Everyone, even Big Picture seemed startled by the interjection by an unknown voice.  All eyes turned from him to the phone sitting on his desk, which had started talking on its own.  

“Am I the only one who heard the phone talk back to us?” Lightshow asked.  

“Definitely not,” I muttered.  

“Um, and you are?” Dragoon asked.   

Despite there being no light up from the phone to indicate it was on a call, a voice emitted from the speaker.  “My name is Interface. I’m here to help you lot get out of there.”

I could practically feel Dragoon’s suspicion: Adapted tended to run the hell away from Suppression, not voluntarily approach when things looked hairy.  

“And why should we trust you?”

“Because,” Big Picture said slowly, cautiously even, “Interface is working for Titan.”

Even Menagerie was shocked at that conclusion.  “Is he right?”

Interface paused,  “Big Picture is correct, I am working for Titan.”  

The phone was suddenly regarded as if it might be made of C4.  Titan was the most powerful man on the planet, and yet he was someone who seldom involved himself with the common activities of Adapted.  He was part of no criminal schemes, Reckoner raids, etc. The only times he seemed to make an appearance was to thwart Suppression and Snatchers whenever they showed, but those were things HE did.    

I’d never heard of him recruiting, and I followed the guy’s doings almost religiously.  Who didn’t want to know more about the most powerful being on Tso’got?

“Why would Titan send you to help us?” my best friend asked, voicing the question we all needed the answer to.

“Because,” she replied to Parasite, “Everyone hates Suppression and Titan looks out for his fellow Adapted.”

While it was a  nice sentiment, something felt wrong.  The response time on this was…unreal. It was like whoever this ‘Interface’ was had been watching us, waiting for something to go wrong.  But for now, we’d go along with it. If Suppression was taking on a team as large as ours, they were coming armed to the teeth; we could use all the help we could get.  

“How are you planning to get us out of here,” Dragoon asked, impatient.  “You’re a voice on the phone; that hardly seems adequate.”

Raising an arm, I used my peculiar visual field to look outside and saw the situation getting darker by the second.  There were dozens of men in black and red body armor swarming around the building, each of them toting an automatic rifle.  There was a small blockade of SUVs forming along with a pair of large armored transports, undoubtedly meant to contain us should they take us alive.  

Snatchers were less threatening in some ways: they needed to take you alive to experiment on you.  Suppression’s only goal was to silence you and restore order. They weren’t opposed to using lethal force; there was no potential for fallout since the puppet government wasn’t about to hold them accountable for getting rid of the ever disruptive Adapted.  

“How about I show you.”

“How are you going to do that?” Geyser inquired, incredulous.  

There was silence from Interface.  And a moment later, we heard a huge clamor and a grinding of metal from outside.  One of the armored transports had come to life and proceeded to drive straight into various vehicles and knock them aside while running over several unlucky enough to be in its path.  

“There,” Interface said, coming back over the phone.  “That will stall their entry into the building and keep them guessing for a while.”  

“And him?” Dragoon asked.

“Bring me with,” Big Picture insisted firmly.  “I’d rather not stick around while they rip apart my building; it isn’t like I’m going to be able to run.”   

“We don’t give any of our own to Suppression,” Mutant said.  “We take him with us. We still need what’s in his head anyways.”  

Menagerie nodded, “Mutant is right.  We can’t abandon him.”

Big Picture visibly relaxed at hearing their resolve.  “Let’s go then,” Dragoon snapped, “Eldritch, take point.”

To my surprise, one of Dragoon’s little drones activated on its own and hovered around us, “It looks like there are a few different teams sweeping the floors, getting security guards out of the way and trying to set up dead ends for you lot to run into,” Interface announced.  

Dragoon turned, clearly agitated some commandeered her tech without asking.  

“Stairs,” Mutant said in his wolf form, his ears perking up, “Plenty of them.”

“Turn left,” Interface said, “No one coming down this hallway, at least not yet.”  

We followed her lead, relying entirely on her scouting and Mutant’s wolf-ears picking up what we couldn’t hear.  

“We need to go down and face them eventually,” Big Picture said softly, “Interface, there is an enclosed stairwell that can take us to the ground-“

He was cut off by bullets shredding through the floor below us.  Menagerie let out a surprised shriek, and Geyser shouted as he recoiled, holding his arm.  Parasite yanked Big Picture away, protecting our quarry as a few bullets pinged off Dragoon’s armor.  

I had been worried I was heavier than the building was built for; thanks to the structural weakness made, I felt the floor giving out from under my massive feet.  

“Back up!” I hissed as it finally gave way.  

I fell and slammed against the third floor.  The quartet of shooters who had heard my clomping above them were bewildered as I landed in their midst; they were more shocked as their footing gave under my momentum and dropped us down to the second level.  The avalanche I had started carried the lot of us to the first floor in a plume of dust and debris.

“Eldritch!” Dragoon shouted down, “You okay?”  

I didn’t have time to respond: the men around me were getting up to their feet.  

Still, she shouted down to me, “We’ll manage, just get yourself out of here and we’ll meet up later!”

With my marching orders, I prepared to fight.  I had sloughed off plenty of mass since my fight with Goliath but I was still eleven hundred kilograms of dense muscle, and these poor idiots were within my reach. The men around me were trained, but that hardly mattered.  

    Before the four could men could get to their feet, I hauled myself up and lurched forward, flaring open my hand and grabbing him by the arm, easily throwing him into one of his companions.  

    The pair of them went sliding down the hall.

    Sharp little nodes of pain lit up along my back as one Suppression agent got to his feet, spraying at the monster he found himself trapped beside.  

    Grabbing a fistful of debris, I spun and threw it at him, skewing his aim and distracting him while I bear crawled forward; we collided and I smashed the man against a wall, pushing him through into someone’s office.  

    Pulling away, the last had the good sense to run and make distance before emptying the clip.  

    My cells hardened, keeping most of the damage from going too deep and possibly finding me, but it still stung and punched holes in a number of growths.  While it didn’t kill much, losing about ten kilograms of mass wasn’t ideal.  As he went to reload, I roared and let the enclosed space act like an echo chamber.  While his helmet helped muffle the sound some, it did clearly intimidate the lone soldier.

    As he turned to run, I seized the assault rifle from his fallen companion and let the growths mold over the gun, almost incorporating it into my arm before pulling the trigger.  

    Several bullets found his legs and sent him to the ground.  

    “Eldritch!”

    I saw the commandeered drone flit around me, as if surveying the damage.  

“Is everyone else okay?”

“They’re fine,” she replied as a firefight came to life above me.  “Seriously, I’ll get them out, just like I’m going to get you out of here too.  Since you came through the floor, there are two groups looking to collapse on you, each with like a dozen people.  Their hope is to keep you isolated and bring you down before the rest can get down here. It wouldn’t’ surprise me if they are viewing you as the biggest threat right now.”

“Flattering.”

If Interface appreciated my sarcasm, I couldn’t tell.  “Here’s the plan, you’re going to break through a wall and attack the backup force waiting outside for you, okay?”

If I was capable of frowning in my Neklim suit, I would have.  “You want me to charge the firing line outside?”

“Waiting means you are subject to a horrible crossfire indoors where I can’t help you.  Believe me, you want to charge the back. If you fight outside, I can use their cars against them.  If you can get out of this building, I can help. Inside here, I’m no more than a pair of speakers and eyes.”

I turned and lumbered forward, my footsteps betraying my movement, hating that I didn’t have a better choice but to trust Interface.  One downside of my power: I was not made for small spaces. I felt graceless as I smacked against walls and clipped doorways that I was simply too large to fit through.  Going out to the men waiting for me would mean I was vulnerable, but it would also mean I could maneuver freely. If I got caught in a tight corridor, I would be unable to grow and replace mass too quickly for fear of wedging himself in.  

All the while, I continued hearing a firefight above me.

“They’re okay?” I asked the drone as I flew back beside me.  

“Mutant, Parasite, and Dragoon in close quarters.  I almost feel bad for Suppression. I’m going to direct down towards the back as fast as possible.  If all goes according to plan, we should be able to get them outside and put you lot in one of Suppression’s SUVs to make distance from the place.”  

“All that has to happen is I have to make it out of the building, fight the dozen guys waiting to fill me with lead, hope the rest of their force doesn’t come around the side after me, and pray we don’t get tracked when we leave, all with only twenty kilograms of extra mass to consume?”

“Turn into this room,” Interface insisted, ignoring my negativity.  “You’re going to bash your way through the glass.  Upsides of this building being so gaudy is that you can break out just about anywhere.”  

Looking through the glass, I could see movement distorted by the glass, but i could tell there were plenty of guys behind an improvised barricade of cars, another armored vehicle waiting to take us away.  “How fucked am I if I wait for the guys inside coming after me?”

“If the guys inside find you, they mark you and everyone will collapse on you.  And I need to be able to see the stuff I’m going to possess the first time; if you stay inside, I’m useless to you.  Once you breakout, you’ll need to hold on for about a minute before I can start using their cars against them.”

“And you can’t take the door to get ahead of me because?”

Interface scoffed, which sounded staticky over the little speaker in  the drone, “They’ve sealed the building up tight; the only way out is to punch a hole in the side.  The second you slam your hand through, they know where you are. At that point, you’re just as well off to fight them.”

“If I stay inside-”

“And they deem you too big a threat to capture, they light the building on fire or rig it for demolition while you and your friends are still inside.  Please, Eldrtich, I need you to trust me on this. Fighting them is going to be better than hiding. Zari understand a fight, and they will only get agitated when things don’t go as expected.”

I still hated this plan, but damn if Interface didn’t have a point.  “Fine, we’ll do it your way.”

Curling my hand into a fist, I smashed the glass and walked through the shower of shrapnel…and immediately felt the sting of bullets.    

Around me, a dozen operatives were peppering me with three round bursts, each one claiming a kilogram or two of my growth.  Even though I had twenty kilos left to consume, they were going to chew through it quickly.

Eight hundred, use all of it!  Protect the center!

My power replied to my command, churning out as much new growth as possible, with the full conversion rate of 40 to 1.  

It would decay in just a few minutes due to starvation, if it survived.  

“Bring this freak down!” someone shouted as a grenade detonated beside me, displacing me and catching the drone that was trying to gain elevation and survey the area.  As it shattered, I swore I heard Interface scream, as if right there beside me.  I staggered, off kilter as a new sound reached my ears.

There was a turret atop the armor truck, winding up.  

Another explosion, this one hitting closer to center and ripping away fistfulls of growths.  I didn’t get a chance to steady before the turret whirred to life and began shredding my torso, each bullet coming dangerously close to ripping into the real me underneath.  

I wasn’t a human, or even a person in their eyes… I was just a freak and a monster who needed to be put down.  

Well, this freak wasn’t going to go quietly.  

Turning to face the turret, I began running forward, keeping my arms in front of my torso to keep me from being shredded by the automatic fire.  By the time I got there, the semi-circle of men firing on me had shredded away the eight-hundred kilograms I had constructed as a buffer, the turret being responsible for the lion’s share of the damage.

As I got close to the transport the turret was sitting on, the operator quickly tried to get clear as I slammed against the side, letting momentum roll the vehicle onto its side as I roared, enraged.  

Most of those close to the gunner had scattered but one pair hadn’t run away; both went flying and slapped against the pavement some ten meters away.  One had dropped his gun nearby and I coiled my tentacles around it, emptying the rest of his clip and testing the body armor of a few more men as bits of hostile metal chewed away at my protection.  But now that I was behind their barricade, there was less target for them to prey upon; it was my turn to inflict some pain.

All the same, I was down to 850 kilograms of muscle piled onto my body, protecting me from the storm of lead.  Grabbing one of the unmarked cars, I rolled it onto its side, giving me the most unwieldy tower shield in history. Pushing forward, I picked up speed as the metal screeched and screamed.  

These men wanted to kill me, then they needed to understand exactly what they were up against.  

Giving it a last shove, I sent it rolling forward at an alarming speed, sweeping up two Zari soldiers who were unprepared.  

Reaching over, I ripped the bent fender off another unmarked car and whipped it at one operative, embedding the jagged piece of metal into his side.  One man went to grab his fellow as I kept running forward; I kicked the good samaritan and felt his ribs break. Seizing the wounded man, I threw him at a trio who were still peppering me.  

It didn’t connect, but it made them stop and relocate.  

“You think I’m a freak?” I screamed as I kept chasing.  All I could see was red as I grabbed a car door and ripped it free, throwing it like a discus at another operative who opened fire.  

His armor did little to mitigate it as his chest caved in.  

More chunks were ripped free, reducing me to 650 kilograms now, my suit doing less and less to mitigate bullets from hitting my actual person.  The only upside was my increase in mobility; another Suppression troop wasn’t ready for me to sprint straight at him, grabbing each of his arms and yanking them out of socket before casting him aside.  

Another grenade detonated by me, shredding one arm that I raised to protect my torso.  I hadn’t had time to solidify the cells; I was down to 600 kilograms.  

“Light him up,” I heard behind me.  

There were four men, all dressed in the same black suit but with purple accents as opposed to red; the firefight had drawn reinforcements from the front of the building.  I spun and felt a sting as one shot me with what looked like a modified harpoon gun.  It speared through my suits forearm, and then the cable it was connected to lit up with a massive dose of electricity.  

Pain seared through my body as I lacked the mass to disperse the electricity away from my real body.  Instead, I felt the real me convulse as control was pulled away from me; the only action that I could perform was to scream.  

Another modified harpoon gun was shot into me, this one piercing my leg and brushing against my own calf.  More electricity, more pain, and less control. I hit the ground, kneeling as a third electric barb speared my other arm; two Zari pulled and dragged me, stretching my arms out and forcing me to prostrate myself.  

“We’ve been working on countermeasures for huge brutes like you.  It seems to be working pretty well, don’t you think?”

I could swear he was grinning under his helmet as he loaded another grenade into the rifle and fired at my center of mass.  

More chunks of meat ripped free from around my spine, and my lack of control was allowing some of the most distant growths to die: 450 kilograms remained.  

“Shit, I think I can actually see someone in there!” their leader said with an air of arrogance that grated on me.  My suit refused to entirely concede though and tried to struggle, a few more kilograms turning to dust as more muscle mass fatigued.  

The leader approached me and procured a massive handgun, pointing it at my center, each bullet tearing into the person beneath the muscle.  I felt my ribs endure a quartet of impacts, each definitely cracking the bone beneath.

But my healing couldn’t start; there was no coordination while being subject to this voltage.  

“You’re the best humanity has to offer?  You lot are the supposed best variations of biology?” the Suppression officer laughed, “You’re just a ragtag group of freaks.”  

I wanted to reply, to fight, to do anything; my body denied me; my first priority was to mend the damage to my core but even that was an unattainable goal.

From what sounded far away, I could hear the rest of my team engaging the other Suppression soldiers.  Gunfire rang out, letting me know at least there was some fight in them still. But they were so distant, so removed…

They would never get close enough to save me.  As if to add insult to injury, one group of the Suppression soldiers who had gone into the building after me, joined the officer and his cronies, the lot of them slowly encroaching on their prey. Even if I could rip free of these voltaic tethers, I didn’t have enough mass to endure ANOTHER dozen men riddling me with bullets.  Not a chance.

Dread overwhelmed me; I hadn’t felt this helpless since my duel with Shockwave.  

The leader of Imperium’s enforcement had been able to blast me back and demolish me, he showed overwhelming might that I was simply too small to fight against.  This was different in some ways; I’d endured hundreds of bullets ripping apart chunks of meat off my body and slowly torn apart little bit at a time. Goliath had been able to find my vulnerability, though at great risk to himself, and left me vulnerable; my team had been there to salvage that situation.  

But now, now I was alone, isolated.  My team was fighting for their own survival.  Even my mysterious guardian angel seemed out of commission since the drone had been shredded while being controlled.  

“We were going to try and take you lot alive,” the officer spat as he approached, keeping a safe distance from the writhing mass that surrounded my torso, “But whoever was possessing stuff left us a banged up APC and you rolled the other one.  Well, I guess we’ll just have to do the world a favor the old fashioned way.”

He tracked my exposed arm to approximate the location of my head and loaded his hand cannon as two cronies approached beside him, both glaring down at me while holding assault rifles.  Fourteen men were going to watch the execution of a seventeen year old, and none of them would be held accountable for this. I was done fighting, there was nothing I could do but sit there and slowly bleed to death.  As long as those tasers were connected to me, I would eventually bleed out, even is this guy didn’t execute me.

But, I was dimly aware of being able to see another figure walking forward who was decidedly not enforcement.  He looked…like a kid my age with a tank top and shorts, a purple bandana wrapped around the lower half of his face.  

“One less freak for the rest of us-“

The Suppression troops saw the lone figure approaching.  

“Shoot him,” the officer insisted without pause.

A cacophony rang out as the clips were emptied, hot shells landing atop the mound of growths and burning me beneath.  But the kid in the tank top kept moving forward without injury, though he refused to do more than purposefully walk.

And once he was close enough, he swiped his hand to the left: one of the Suppression operatives shot backwards and splattered against the side of a mangled car.  Another gesture and the other followed suit.

The captain turned to run, but another gesture sent him flying; unlike the others, he didn’t splatter on impact.  

Other Suppression troops added to the hail of bullets headed his way but he gestured with both hands, ‘pulling’ forward with some effort.  Whatever telekinesis this guy possessed dragged the dozen soldiers closer to him. Another gesture and he smashed them all against the ground, literally flattening all at once.  

Finally my body could mend since I was no longer being zapped within an inch of my life.  The growths immediately turned inward, fishing out chunks of invasive metal and sacrificing their own mass to reconstitute the damaged tissue in my torso.

The officer growled and got to his feet, unloading the magazine from his handgun into the interloper, still to no effect.  He reloaded hastily, his jittery movement betraying panic and fear as the figure approached.

Confidently, the kid took the gun and put it to his forehead, pulling the trigger.  Smoke escaped, and the bit of metal hit the ground as he moved the barrel aside.

“You’re damn right we’re the best that humanity has to offer, Captain Velar,” the kid said. Without additional warning, he swung, his fist obliterating the Zari’s helmet and his bottom jaw beneath in a mess of blood and shattered teeth.  Captain Velar collapsed in a heap, though he was still alive from the looks of it. The newcomer to the party walked over to me, taking the harpoon in my leg and yanking it free.

“W-who are you?” I said, my original voice bleeding into the voice of my Neklim suit.  

He tugged the bandana away to show a clean shaven jawline and almost childish smile, “I’m a friend.”

Around him the air seemed to shimmer, taking on a slight blue hue as he seemed less…empowered for lack of a better turn.  He zipped beside me, his slow but purposeful walk replaced with blinding speed and he dashed between my arms and ripped the remaining spikes free with clear strain.  

“Are you with Titan?”

“Everyone is with Titan if you think about it,” he said with a shrug, “But yes.  Less philosophically speaking, I am working for the guy. Interface said I should come find you after the drone blew up; seriously did a number to the poor bastard.”

“And the-”

“Suppression sent a hell of a lot of guys after you lot but don’t worry, the rest of your team is fine.  Interface is finally up and working again and leading them down to you. All you gotta do is stay put and let Dragoon get one of these SUVs running.”  

“Why did Titan send you guys?” I asked as he turned to leave, “why would he risk you two for us?”

He smiled before tugging the bandana back over his mouth, “Maybe it was the right thing to do.”

And in a blur of motion, he sprinted away, leaving me alone with my frustrations.  

I’d needed to be saved, again.   

——————————————

“Alright, Big Picture, let’s talk,” Dragoon said as we took all circled around the man in the wheelchair while inside Murphy’s house.  We had put a bag over his head; while it felt markedly criminal, we didn’t want to give him too much information about where we had been hiding out.      

“A bit out of the norm for a Reckoner group to black bag someone,” he growled as he surveyed us.

As a group, we were definitely looking worse for wear: Geyser had been shot in the arm earlier, Lightshow was being treated by an ethereal nurse that Menagerie had conjured, Dragoon’s armor was marred, and I’d had to reconjure a small layer of growths to both hide my identity as well as finish mending my torso.  The only people who seemed fine were Mutant and Parasite.

Big Picture took a moment to collect himself and straighten up in his wheelchair.  “You lot have ruined my life.”

“Don’t be so-”

“Melodramatic?  Hardly,” he snapped at Parasite.  “You brought Suppression to my place of legitimate business; they are given amnesty from the government.  Since there is video of you guys escorting me out, I will be silenced under suspicion. When they torture me and inevitably get me to crack and confess to collusion, what do you think happens then?”

All of us felt some of the weight of his words.  He was right, we had just demolished his civilian life.  

“It isn’t like we wanted to bring them with us,” Geyser grumbled.  

“And yet, here we are,” he insisted, annoyed.  

“No one plans to bring Suppression along.  For what it’s worth, we’re sorry,” Dragoon insisted, “But we still need information from you.”

“Take off your masks,” he said after a pause.  “You used information about my identity to find me, fair seems fair.”

“I’m not-”

Dragoon answered by taking her helmet off and putting it under an arm.

“Drag!” Parasite hissed, “What the hell are you doing?”

As the Cognates stared at one another, I could feel a mutual understanding being reached.  “This is about trust. We have his real identity, but we aren’t going to spit it out. He deserves to have equal leverage.”  

Ted was the first to take action, shapeshifting back to his human form.  I dismissed the layer of growth on my face, and the others took off their mask; everyone was exposed to a man whose whole gift was to be able to expound upon existing information.  If anyone in the city could identify us from a single glimpse of our face, it was this man.

I hope our captain knew what she was doing.

“So remind me,” Murphy muttered, “What’s keeping us from extorting you and holding you prisoner here?”

“Mr. Pell,” Big Picture said, “I said that I was willing to entertain your price of my life.  It has a dollar value, and right now I’m going to declare it to be three-hundred thousand dollars.  I will not give information over that; I’m still a man of integrity, I assume you are as well. I assume you don’t claim to be a Reckoner in name only; even for those more bloodthirsty, holding a paraplegic man captive seems low.”  

My best friend was fairly cowed with that lashing.  

“First things first,” Dragoon said, “How did you know those were Titan’s goons and why did he send them?”

Big Picture rolled his eyes, as if that was so simply a kid should have  known. “Titan has a habit of keeping free of our commonplace squabbles; he’s far too powerful to be involved in any kind of conflict since a single appearance quashes any conflict.  Even against the likes of Beleth or Shockwave, he makes them look downright pedestrian. What he does seem determined to do it thwart Snatchers and Suppression.”

“We know that,” Alexis replied.

“What you don’t know is that an underrated value of Titan is that the man is markedly amenable and charismatic.  It seems only appropriate that he has followers who are interested in the preservation of Adapted. As powerful as the man is, he can’t be everywhere at once.  It makes logical sense that he would leave sleeper agents and recruits hidden around other cities on Tso’got to carry out his mission while he is moving around.  The man seldom stays anywhere for too long.”

It was true.  People reported spotting the Projector every now and then around different city clusters like some kind of divinely powered vagabond.  

Dragoon sighed, “Next: do you think we can fight Beleth?”

“No,” he replied, blunt.  “I can’t imagine a really good scenario for your team against him.  If you were to stack up against someone like Shockwave, you’d have a chance.  But Beleth is almost tailor made to rip your group to pieces.”

“Why?”

“Lack of flight for one.  You don’t have an aggressive enough Projector, and both you and Eldritch lack the mobility to be a serious threat.”  

Man, this guy was blunt.  

“How much money would you say that we’ve spent on our available tab?”

“About fifty grand down, Ms. Trent,” he replied.  “So far these have been fairly softball questions.”  

“Fifty grand?” Lightshow snapped, “Fifty grand for speculation on shit we already knew?”  Despite the spectral nurse helping our light manipulator, she was still clearly in a terrible amount of pain given her absence of humor.  

Big Picture wasn’t put off by her aggression fortunately.  “You must understand, Rebecca, that I am asked for information because I’m also a source of confirmation.  Plus, that second question was expensive because you’re asking me to effectively betray information about my regular customer.  While I am not loyal to Beleth specifically, I do make a point to not be turncoat too readily.”

Alexis raised a hand to stop our teammate’s next objection.  “Where can we find Beleth’s primary Dart manufacturing?”

Big Picture frowned, “Going after his financial assets.  I see. You do realize this will just about be worth the rest of the credit you have with me?”  

“I understand,” our captain said.

He procured tablet from a small sleeve put on the side of his wheelchair; after tinkering with it a moment, he pulled up a map of Ciel.  “Everyone know that the old hunting ground for Surface Dwellers was up in the north end of the city. As a result, it made sense that people would spot one split of Hive here and there; it was Dweller turf so it made sense for her to be skulking around.  Well, she wasn’t just skulking aimlessly. She was keeping an eye out for any people sniffing around and digging for their supply. Given a few places she was spotted,” he zoomed in on the map and marked down little points with his finger, making a loose ring stretching about six blocks in radius, “We can assume that she wasn’t protecting the turf as much as a specific building within this circle.”

“Beleth’s greatest financial gain,” Roger muttered, “She’s been playing guard duty since she can cover so much area and perfectly coordinate on her own.”  

“I’m not quite done.  A few chance sightings of Shock and Awe can take you a little closer into the radius,” he added, noting a  few more points, narrowing the locale to a four block radius. “Shock and Awe are generally used as offensive tools more often than not, taking the fight and leading the charge against other organizations.  For them to be within the confines of whatever Hive is guarding, it must be something both valuable to Beleth and vulnerable.”

“Shock and Awe are seen all over though,” Ted countered, “Seeing them on Dweller turf doesn’t mean a whole lot.”

“It does when you consider the dates they were spotted in costume.  About five months ago, a month before that, and about eight weeks ago.”

The last one had been when tensions were high with Imperium; if there had ever been a time they would have lashed out and done something irrational, it would have been then.

“The previous two occasions,” Big Picture filled in, “All relate to dates when the two heads of their respective organizations were planning to fight.  Lines between territories were blurry, and Shockwave wanted to move on the Dart facility as well.”

Alexis frowned, “He never told you where it was?”

Big Picture shook his head, “Of course not.  I’m an informant; if I was given information like that, it would be up for sale by default.  Though, Beleth isn’t foolish. It is more than likely he will assume you have obtained this information since Goliath and Pyre saw you at my office.”

“Is Shockwave still alive?”

Big Picture cocked his head, “You’d ask about the other tyrant this city saw?  Why?”

“If we overthrow Beleth, I must assume he is planning to come back and reclaim what he deems to be his.  Imperium may be beaten back and quieted for now, but they won’t remain dormant forever. Do we have to worry about a resurgence from Shockwave and his lackeys?”

Big Picture pondered for a moment, “He isn’t dead.  From the footage I saw and based on eye-witness accounts, he was injured by a blast from Rig, and subject to a number of injuries thanks to shrapnel embedding itself in his body.  But he was still up and fighting for a long while with Rat. If he was coherent enough to fight with someone at the pinnacle of his powers, despite being having suffered a blast, there are only one reasonable conclusion we can come to: the injuries were relatively superficial.”

“He had a chunk of metal in his thigh,” Parasite said, “I  saw it jutting out the top of his leg.”

“Embedded in the quadricep, while it would be painful, wouldn’t lead to copious amounts of blood loss.  That being said, I’m sure that the prolonged engagement would leave him weakened and possibly susceptible to a complicating circumstance down the road.”

“Except when you consider Toolkit,” I thought aloud.

Big Picture nodded, “She has some medical training and likely has something up her sleeve in case her superior was injured.  Whether or not he is in fighting shape, I can’t say. However, I can safely conclude that he’s alive. My guess would be that he is laying low in another city within the cluster until he is back to fighting form and ready to come home.  I believe that he has some ties in Manda, but those have never been confirmed.”

“What is Beleth going to do about us?” Dragoon inquired.

Big Picture shook his head, “That question will cost more than you can afford.  Again, betraying information from my primary employer is going to come at a steep premium.  I would suggest asking information pertaining to someone besides Beleth.”

Menagerie raised her hand as if she was in a classroom, not wanting to interrupt.  

Alexis rolled her eyes, “Go ahead Yuki.”

“What are Surface Dwellers planning to do with Vermin?”

Big Picture thought for a moment, “I believe that Beleth intends to hunt them down.  While he hasn’t voiced much concern, he is likely wary of Rat and his group of psychopaths.  Even though he didn’t care for Shockwave, he still respected the man as a fighter; since he saw a worthy adversary weakened, he’ll want to make sure that the same can’t happen to him.  However, given Vermin’s lack of clear agenda, I don’t think he’s dedicating many resources their way. More than likely, he’ll wait until you guys are done in to move against them and put any real effort forth into locating and dispatching Rat.”

“Alexis,” I ventured, “I have a question.”

She waved permission to me.  

“What is Titan planning?  If he’s networking, he’s clearly trying to do more.”

Big Picture leaned forward, “Have you ever met him?”

We all shook our head no.  

“I have been in the  same room with him once, and it was clear to me that there was something he had planned, but kept secret.  Everyone knows his objective to stymie the government and the mad scientists who seek to control the Adapted, no question there.  While that aim is still there, I believe his scheme to network out indicates to me that he’s planning some kind of revolution.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Roger asked in disbelief.

“If you think about it, Titan is the embodiment of an anti-establishment power.  Where he shows up, he leaves slag and corpses for those who would dare harm those he decrees to be his own kind.  Would you argue that doesn’t sound like the work of a revolutionary?”

The Cognate did have a point.

“Fine,” Alexis admitted, “But to what end?”

“In my short interaction with him, he mentioned that something big was coming in the future, something he’d need every extra hand he could get his hands on.  While that was a year ago now, I still remember that conversation, clear as day, and not just because I have perfect recall. I believe that Titan has intention to carve out a space for the Adapted on the planet,” Big Picture concluded.

Ted shook his head, “He’s never moved against the government except against Suppression.  If he was to do this, he’d be changing his operating in a huge way.”  

“And how many people on this planet are truly happy with the current state of affairs and being subject to the whims of industrial tycoons?  If Titan is recruiting, he may be looking to make a big enough show of force that there needs to be limited bloodshed to get his way,” he hypothesized.  “But, I can only make so many inferences with limited information.”

“So why isn’t he stopping our fight?”

Big Picture turned to Roger and let out a chuckle, “The same reason that he lets all sorts of gang violence continue across the planet.  He doesn’t involve himself in Adapted power struggle because that would be suppressing the autonomy of those he shares kin-ship with. Titan wants us to have all the freedom we can have; allowing us to brawl and fight to carve out our little nook is just an expression of free will.  He will likely never stop that.” He let out a sigh, “Well, I believe that is all you can afford for now. With all due respect, I’m going to call my driver and head home. Today has been…more harrowing than I was expecting.”

“One last thing,” Alexis said, a firm edge to her voice.  “What are you going to tell Beleth?”

“Why do you think I made you take your masks off?  I will tell Beleth the truth: I was meeting with a group of distressed youth who desperately wanted to know what was going on after the fire bombings downtown.”

As Big Picture began heading for the door, I was surprised when Alexis called after him.  “Do you think Beleth should be running the city?”

He turned around in his wheelchair, a sad smile on his face, “I’ve quit wondering about things like that.  I’m not a fighter, Dragoon, I don’t ask whether or not someone should be running things. Whether or not I want him in charge, I’m unable to threaten him.”

“But you must have an opinion.”

He sighed, “I think that there should be someone who can threaten him.  I think things are going to get worse and worse the longer he remains unopposed.”

Murphy opened the door for him and we watched Big Picture leave as a car pulled up to take him home, wherever that was now.  

There was a silence over the whole group as we looked to Alexis; Big Picture had dropped way more information than we had bargained for, notably that we probably couldn’t win against Beleth, and that Titan may be setting up a  coup of the government. We all felt small, almost insignificant in the grand scheme.

But still, Ciel was our home; even if our conflict wasn’t as grand as whatever Titan had planned, this was our fight.

“So,” I finally asked, “Now what?”

“Two days,” Alexis said, “Two days and we see if Big Picture is right.  Two days, and we’re going to kick fucking Beleth’s door in.”

Previous Chapter – Next Chapter

(11/18/2080)

“How nice of you to come around,” a gruff voice called out from behind me.  

Turning, I saw my dad lingering in my doorway, his usual scowl smeared across his face.  “Hello to you too, dad.”

He walked in and sat on the edge of my bed, staring intently.  “Aren’t you supposed to be in class right now?”

I turned and met my dad’s judgmental stare, “Last class was just a test and I finished early.  Shouldn’t you be at work?”

A wry chuckle escaped.  “We were sent home; boss said we shouldn’t be around while ‘the king’ came by.”

Beleth.  The bastard had been doing rounds of the industrial side of the city, likely seeing which warehouses and factories were suitable for churning out additional stockpiles of Dart.  I could see the animosity radiating from my father at the thought: Beleth was the epitome of everything he hated about Adapted.

About us.  About me. About his son.  

“Someone’s eventually gonna knock him down a few pegs,” I said, “I mean, that’s what happens, right?”

My dad’s scowl intensified, “And how many people are going to die when he faces a serious threat?  The fucker leveled a building on his own just to prove a point.”

I frowned, “It’s what Reckoners do, they fight for people who can’t.  If no one stands up to him, he can flatten any building whenever he sees fit.   Even if there is a cost, leaving it like this is ultimately worse, isn’t it?”

“Well maybe they should consider the terror everyone who can’t do the supernatural is going to feel and-“ he stopped himself abruptly, catching me by surprise.  “The last time we talked about Adapted, it got far more heated than was appropriate.”

I was caught off guard by his profound self-awareness; maybe mom had been right about dad.  There was still a decent man under there. “You aren’t wrong.”

“Instead, let’s talk about where you go.”

My good feelings vanished; sometimes I forgot that despite my dad’s coarse and callous demeanor, he was by no means stupid.  

“You show up home at odd hours, you have yet to really discuss anything about what you’re doing with Murphy and Alexis, and you have yet to disclose where you’re getting your money from.”  He nodded to the headphones I had bought, as well as a jacket, a new backpack, and some other token purchases I had made over the last handful of weeks. “You haven’t gotten anything extra from us, and you have made no mention of a job funding your new habits.  Care to explain?”

“Odd jobs,” I replied, not entirely lying.  “One-offs for a few teachers and Murphy’s instructor.”

“Instructor?”

“He goes to a fight school.  No one wants to clean blood and sweat off the floor and off the mats, so I do it for a little bit of money every now and then.”

“What else,” my dad pried, unsatisfied.

I gulped nervously.  Damned man was perceptive.  “I have done some computer work for Hosjon afterschool.  He likes seeing students gainfully employed, insists it builds healthy habits for later in life.”  

My father nodded, satisfied with that topic.  “And why you’re always tired?”

“You ever worked out with Murphy?  The dude is a monster.”

“You’re exercising until midnight several days a week?”

I paused, unfortunately affirming I wasn’t being entirely honest.  My dad was looking for something faulty, something that would warrant secrecy.  It wasn’t a good skill set to have obtained, but I’d gotten fairly proficient at fabricating excuses that fit what people wanted to hear.  And I’d learned the best lies had a bit of truth mixed in.

“We do…occasionally drink at Murphy’s place,” I confessed.  “School is a bitch, and his parents are hardly ever home, so we use the space to throw a few back and unwind.”

He cocked an eyebrow, “Is that all?”

I nodded, letting my head hang to sell the guilt I was faking.  And then, much to my surprise, he laughed.

“You aren’t mad?”

“Why the hell would I be mad?  If we were back on Earth, you’d almost be nineteen, an adult by most standards.  I was worried you were doing something more criminal like slinging Dart or something.  If all you’re doing is drinking a little, I don’t care. You still pass classes and I haven’t had to clean you up or bail you out.  Far as I see it, you’ve proven you’re responsible to handle your liquor.”

I gave a weak smile, “I have better sense than to go getting myself into too much trouble.”

He gave a quizzical glance, “Somedays I wonder about that, Nick.  Tso’got isn’t like Earth, and there’s a lot more poverty and mountains less opportunity to be your own man and independent.  I’ve known smart people who dealt drugs because it was an easy way to see a paycheck.” A sigh escaped his lips, “I guess what I’m saying is that some days I worry about you and worry what you might end up doing if you feel pressured.  You’re gone so much of the time, and sometimes it hurts a little I guess. It feels like I drove you away.”

A part of me wanted to shout that he did, but that wasn’t true.  While I was upset about the slap that had happened, that was two months ago.  Especially after what had happened with Shockwave, some family drama felt so trivial.  

I was still a little upset with my father, but it had been a one-time offense, and it paled in comparison to the horror show that was Murphy’s family.  

“You didn’t drive me out,” I assured him, “But, you’ve told me you moved out at 18.  I’m not gone, but is it so bad if I want to try and be a bit independent or at least with my peers, not so reliant on you and mom?”

He mulled the idea over, “No, I suppose not.”

Standing up, I grabbed my backpack and gave a weak smile, “But, right now I’m going to go get some coffee with Xana and then probably put in some time with Alexis on our projects.”

“Be safe,” he called out as I headed for the door, “Things have been a bit hairy downtown.”

“I’ll be fine,” I assured him, “I’ll have my escort!”

With that, I gave my old man a wave and headed out; as expected, my girlfriend was idling outside.  

“Any issues with the parental?” she asked, noting my dad’s car.  

“Nah, he did pry a little, but he seemed content to take it at face value that I just enjoyed drinking with Murphy sometimes.  No harm done.”

Xana rolled her eyes, “You realize a century ago that would have been heresy for someone your age.”

“Fortunately, a lot has changed in the last century.”

“Well, some might disagree with that sentiment,” she replied.  

It was like a slap to the face being reminded by her: this wasn’t my home world.  This wasn’t where my species had evolved and come to sentience. This wasn’t where our history was. We were visitors, exiled here because of the damned Trillodan.  

“You know how to ruin a good mood, don’t you?”

“Normally you’re the melancholic one I have to perk up,” she replied with a fake smile.  

“You okay?”

“Mom flew off the handle a bit today.  I had less than stellar marks on my last print out and she spent twenty minutes lighting into me about how I am failing to utilize my full potential, how I am wasting my time by lollygagging around with humans, etc.”  

My parents were okay with our crossbreeding, hers were profoundly against it.  I think that was part of her draw to me: a massive middle finger to her parents.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about that being part of the cause for our union, but I wasn’t about to go and ruin a good thing either.  

“At least this human you are palling around with can make himself…kinda less so.”

“Turning into a Neklim isn’t likely to win any points with my parents.”

“Hey, I don’t turn into one!  I simply grow one from my skin.”

“Yeah, that’s sooooo much better,” she replied with a smirk.  

I put a comforting hand on her thigh as she drove us to a coffee shop a few blocks away from the firm that the Rogue Sentries were going to pay a visit to.  As we ordered and sat down in a booth, I glanced out the window at the cold building. Even though it was a fairly high class establishment, it struck me as more of a prison than a chique place of enterprise.  

Steel columns ran the height of the building, spaced out evenly with tinted glass with the exception of the front door, the only part that seemed inviting.  It seemed to be me to almost be rather on the nose that the whole building was obscured; it was a front for a megalomaniac kingpin after all.

“Xana, Nick?”

Both of us perked up and looked over, surprised to see our teacher holding a steaming beverage just a few paces away.  

“Hi, Mr. Hosjon,” I said, surprised.  “What are you doing here?”

He raised an eyebrow, “I’m getting coffee.  I thought that was obvious. Actually, I’m here pretty often, but I’ve never seen you two.  May I join you?”

Xana nodded and pulled her chair closer to me.  

He gave a glance to me, “Nick, you seem a bit nervous.”  Hosjon clearly wanted to say more, but he gave a wary glance towards my girlfriend, silently checking to see what information he was allowed to dispense.  

“She knows,” I said with a nervous wave of my hands, “And yeah, we normally are downtown, not up north.”  

Our teacher nodded.  “I see, and are you over here for a job?”

“As a matter of fact,” I said slowly, wary of people around us, “I was hoping to have an interview in the consulting firm.”  

Hosjon cocked his head to the side, “In the middle of the day?  Any particular reason they scheduled your interview now?”

“He’s looking to meet up with a particular consultant,” Xana filled in, “A guy who is really good about seeing the whole picture.”

Our teacher nodded, understanding.  “You sure this is a position you can handle?  And what about people close to you,” he asked, gesturing slightly to  the other people around us, “Will they be okay with you taking a job there?”

Xana smiled, “With any luck, it is supposed to be a small gathering.  The real celebration will come later.”

It occured to me she was way better at talking in code than I was, and I was the one who seriously needed to be able to do it.  

He didn’t seem entirely convinced though.  “Some of your latest outings have been known for being a touch loud,” Hosjon finally said.  “What makes you so sure that this one will be more on the tame side?”

I frowned, “I don’t really have a guarantee, but I’m hopeful.”  

He sighed but gave a shrug as if to say ‘I understand unfortunately’.

“How long until your interview?”

“About twenty minutes, maybe a little less.”

“Excellent.  Enough time to bother my students,” he said with a more genuine smile returning to his face.  Xana was so comfortable being around the general chaos we made that it hadn’t occurred to me Hosjon wouldn’t be anywhere near as okay with the havoc we were liable to incur.  “Nick, I can’t help but notice that you have been a bit more quiet and reserved in my class for the last few weeks. Any reason?”

“Poor management of my schedule,” I confessed.  “Too many late nights, leaves me a bit ragged for school the following day.”

“I’d think you of all people have one of the more novel views on society to offer and I, for one, would appreciate you showing up a little more rested to class,” he said before turning to Xana.  “And you, you have been a bit too hostile lately.”

I gave her a perplexed look as she raised her hand defensively.  “I think Kelsey was being a stuck up prick who refused to listen to anyone else’s opinion besides her own; if she’s gonna be nasty, so will I.  And I’m bigger and louder.”

Hosjon was clearly torn between wanting to laugh and chastise my girlfriend at the same time.  He ended up finding a middle ground where he just shook his head. “Miss Aln, I must insist you tone it down a bit.  I understand you are a bit… polarized when it comes to the topic of Adapted and our social fabric, putting a poor girl in tears isn’t called for.”

“You put Kelsey White in tears?” I demanded, flabbergasted.  Xana was right, Kelsey was a bitch; to put her in tears would have taken deliberate and calculated spite.  What in the hell had she said to her?

“I simply spoke my mind,” she insisted.  

“Xana,”  Hosjon cautioned, “Time and place.”

She folded under his stern gaze and eventually mumbled a weak ‘yes sir’ as she sipped her coffee.   

Unfortunately, I couldn’t pry any more because another pair of figures approached, decidedly overfilling the table.  “Mister Hosjon, good to see you.”

Murphy and Alexis had shown up, which confused me since Murphy was never early.  

As if he could read my mind, he pointed at Alexis, “She dragged me along.  I still insist there was time for another round of Armada, but nooooooo.”

“You’d have made us late, you play too slow,” she shot back, squeezing in next to our teacher.

“Well, I finally have the whole gang in one location,” he said, “Not often I get to sit with a team like this one.”  

Alexis and Murphy weren’t surprised that he knew since he’d discerned who they were after our first fight against Shock and Awe; fortunately other people didn’t have his power of deduction.  

“We may want to recommend you leave soon, sir,” Alexis insisted, “The area may be heating up a bit.”  

“Oh, Nick told me that he has an interview over there.  I do sincerely hope you get the job,” he added to make it seem more genuine.  “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure not to linger. I wouldn’t want to be a source of any anxiety.  

Alexis smiled, “Thank you.”  

“I am going to ask something of you though,” he said slowly.  “Be careful.”

“Of course,” Murphy replied with a smirk, “Don’t tell us you don’t think we’re up to the task.”

Hosjon lowered his voice, “I know what you’re up against, and I have seen what that man can do.  Plus, his cronies are scary too and not to be trifled with. I’ve loved watching your rise to fame, but I would be sad to see it all fall apart.  Every time I hear about your actions, I have a moment of worry: what if the next one is the fight you don’t walk away from?”

He turned to me specifically, “I saw you get battered by Shockwave.  I was horrified at the thought I wouldn’t see you in class Monday. The apprehension that I had seen your execution on  film was…”

“Hey,” Xana said, “If this  idiot gets himself killed, he’ll have to answer to me.”

I gave a weak smile, “She’s a bit scarier than you are, sir.”

Our teacher washed down the rest of his coffee, smiling.  “Well, that settles that. Xana, I’m going to trust you’ll look after these other two as well.  Is that too much for you to handle?”

She gave him a glower, “Are you doubting my abilities?”  

He gave us a warm smile as he rose from the table, “Then, I am sure I must be going.  I have papers to grade. And I remind you that you all have an argumentative essay due on Monday; I am not giving any leniency despite your employment.”

As he walked away, Alexis leaned in, “Ted and the others are waiting in a store right in front of the place.  Murphy is gonna meet up with him and go inside to take a look around, see if he can find Big Picture’s office.”

“And the rest of us?”

“We’re going to hang around nearby in costume.  If something seems fishy, we siege the building and take it by storm to get them out.  Priority is keeping them alive; getting a face to face with Big Picture is a bonus if we can make it happen.”

I glanced warily at the other people in the coffee shop, completely oblivious to the group of super-powered teenagers within a few feet of them.  “And everyone else?”

“You’re the big scary guy,” Murphy said with a smile, “Scare them away.  That’s kind of your specialty.”

“I never asked to look like that,” I grumbled.  

“But we’ll make do with what we’ve got,” Alexis insisted.  “Come on, it’s showtime.”

Most buildings in Ciel were wall to wall, with space between shops or businesses a luxury that most couldn’t afford.  The only buildings you saw that were really set apart were government buildings or buildings that could afford to show off and proclaim their opulence.  Some of the bigger slums didn’t share walls, but only had a tiny alley separating them from one another.

Big Picture and his analytics firm was one of those opulent buildings that was set apart, dwarfing any nearby front as well as making them look downright cheap.  Even though I found it to be a cold building, I couldn’t deny how much brighter it was when stacked against the gray cement and brown brick of the surrounding buildings.  

Alexis dragged me over to a convenience store that seemed closed for the day,  one with a good view of the firm; Murphy split off, with his mask tucked under his shirt, just in case he needed to hide his identity on the fly.  As he approached, Ted joined beside him and the two stepped inside, each armed with a smile as they approached the receptionists desk.

“And now, we wait,” Alexis said as she slid into power armor.  

Geyser was there, as was Lightshow, both already in costume… and playing a game of cards.  “Nick, you might wanna bulk up a bit,” he said as he growled at Lightshow, her quick hand slapping cards on a pile before he could.

“Where’s Menagerie?”

He grumbled as she repeated the process, effortlessly playing circles around him.  “She’s a block away with Alexis’ car, drawing. She wanted the quiet to focus until we got going.  And goddamnit, Lightshow!”

“Too slow,” she snickered, “You really should pick a new game.”

“I’ve told you, I’m gonna beat you at least once at this,” he insisted as he shuffled and began to deal around round.

“You know the definition of insanity, right?” she asked with a smug smile.   

Listening to my teammate, I stripped down and tapped into the 200kg  I had at my disposal. For now, I kept a small coat on, enough to hide my identity.  Lately, supplying my consumption demand had been made substantially easier with Geyser take a part time job with a slaughterhouse; while the job itself was disgusting, he was tasked with disposing of carcasses and discarded meat.  No one paid attention to what happened after they were passed off, so he could easily take home huge chunks of animal protein for me to ingest later.

To help enable this deal, I had bought a freezer chest for storage, and paid him for the service.  

About twenty minutes went by with nothing happening.  Xana had taken the opportunity to go move her car to avoid a parking ticket, Lightshow and Geyser kept playing Speed (with Geyser getting progressively more frustrated with each loss), and Alexis was focused on refining a gun she had started tinkering with earlier in the week.  The only conversation I had was when I asked why the store wasn’t open in the middle of the afternoon on a Thursday: simple bribery had gotten him to close the store. The man was a known supporter of Reckoners and detested the Surface Dwellers ownership of the city. All it took was a little sweet talking from Lightshow and enough money to cover what he’d normally get in a day to buy us a front row seat to spectate.  

Though she was apparently trying to offset our investment in the place.  Lightshow hadn’t bothered holding back in terms of helping herself to the snacks readily available, evidenced by the crumpled chip bags on the floor.  

As I watched the firm, growing progressively more bored, I saw an oddly familiar figure walking towards the building: while I didn’t know the  girl with red hair beside him, the smaller guy in a hoodie was recognizable.

Why was he… oh shit.

That was Goliath before his transformation.  I had seen him outside my house two months ago in a freak run-in with Beleth.  

“Guys,” I hissed, tapping my power and demanding my suit to grow, “Parasite and Mutant have been made.  That’s Goliath, and someone else with him. Probably Pyre.”

Dragoon put on her helmet and turned to me, “How sure are you?”

“I’ve seen him once before his transformation.  So, pretty sure of it.”

“Here’s hoping you’re right, and we don’t attack some random guy heading to work,” our captain muttered, “Geyser, you’re up!”

Roger stepped out the door and stomped on the ground, a crack in the pavement opening up and shooting across the road, cutting along in front of the pair before they could get to the door.  A burst of noxious fumes were let out, but both drew away before any harm could befall either.

The two of them turned, and I felt a mix of relief and dread as the girl showed herself to be wearing a crimson mask around her eyes and across the bridge of her nose.  We hadn’t just attacked normal people, they had in fact been other Adapted.

But on the other hand, these were two of the most dangerous Adapted in the city.  

“You’re playing a dangerous game here,” Goliath shouted.  I had to collect myself after hearing him; when I heard him speak in his fighting form, his voice was like someone had gargled with gravel.  In his regular state, he sounded a lot like me, like some guy whose voice hadn’t finished changing. “Pyre will blow this whole place sky high if she wants.”  

She didn’t talk, just nodded with a smug smile.  

“There’s four of us out here, and only two of you,” Dragoon shouted back.  “You like your odds of walking away from this?”

“I think so.  But even if I don’t, how long until Beleth flattens you lot, huh?  You ready to deal with him?”

On the street, people were excited; they were watching the preamble to an Adapted confrontation, something there hadn’t been much of since Beleth’s rise to power.  

Dragoon ignored the onlookers, her focus solely on Goliath and Pyre.  “Maybe not,” she replied, “But I’m pretty damn sure we can fight the two of you.”  In a hushed tone, “You need to keep Goliath busy; I’m pretty sure she’s going to enrage and it’ll take a lot to bring her down.”

“You got it,” I muttered, letting my body go from two tonnes to something more around two and a half.  Goliath replied in kind, swelling beneath the hoodie that he quickly cast aside. Even though I outgrew him, being nine feet tall to his seven, I didn’t feel particularly overwhelming.  Most people regarded me with a degree of concern or at least apprehension; Goliath stared at me like he had a single mission: destroy.

“Pyre, do it.”

“Lightshow, now!”

Our projector raised her hand and sapped away the light from around both members of Surface Dwellers, blinding them for a moment as Dragoon gestured for me to charge.  As I approached, I was pushed backwards by a wall of heat.

Flames erupted from the void of light and Pyre darted out, her earlier expression replaced with something more fit for a feral animal.  Her eyes were literally white, her head snapping to Dragoon as our captain took a shot.

Blood erupted from the woman’s shoulder, but pain didn’t seem to bother her; a shriek left her lips as a massive ball of flame streaked towards Dragoon, missing only by a hair.  As Pyre showcased her berserker state, people began sprinting the opposite direction. She’s made enough appearances for people to be smarter than to wait around to attract her attention.  

My attention was seized as Goliath charged forward from the dusk that Lightshow had made, slamming into me, carrying the two of us away from the rest.  

His intentions were clear: keep me away from her.  

He was confident in Pyre being able to incinerate the other three all by herself.  

Despite weighing over two tonnes, Goliath didn’t have much issue literally carrying me, bellowing as he lumbered forward, eventually slamming us into the side of a truck.  It compressed like a tin can, and gave me a moment to wrap my appendages around the other Enhancer, using the barbs to get a grip and keep him from drawing his arm back to strike me.  

It was a struggle to hold him as he dug his feet in and pulled, slowly stretching my limbs out.  

And finally, he ripped chunks of his arms free to get out of my clutches.  Just like how Awe had degloved his forearm, Goliath was willing to give up chunks of bicep to extricate himself.  Though, the second he was free, layers of sinew overgrew the area, immediately compensating for the lost tissue. Several people had made the comparison between us since we were juggernauts built for a war of attrition.  The difference in how we mitigated harm was almost identical: we both over-grew our original body in excess muscle that we would do away with later.

I lumbered forward, hardening my left arm and swiping; Goliath was surprisingly quick for being a wall of muscle and ducked under, stepping in to plant a blow straight into my center of mass.  

Staggering back, I opened my right arm like a maw and tried to grab hold; Goliath gave me a  forearm and was content to land another blow into my midsection. For a moment, I felt my control waver as my physical body felt a blow against my thigh.

Goliath pushed and ripped a few layers of tissue from his forearm, leaping back nearly five meters to avoid letting me get a hold of him with both arms.  No sooner had he hit the ground than he barreled forward with enormous strides. Two steps carried him the entire distance, his obscene strength making each step more like a long jump.  

I braced myself as he collided with me, but damn he had picked up some serious speed in a short distance.  As we collided with a brick building, he pulled far enough back to strike and began targeting my midsection again; again several of his strikes were hitting me hard enough underneath to hurt the real me.  Enduring it, I changed my attack pattern and grabbed a handful of bricks to weave between my ‘fingers’.

He was expecting me to try and ensnare him again; instead I slammed the debris into his side with a satisfying crunch.  As Goliath stumbled, I opened my other arm and added a hundred kilograms to it, making it big enough to ensnare his abdomen.  

Despite him thrashing, I  fought up to my feet, holding him in the air with one hand.  

Even though he was large, he was probably only three-hundred kilograms and really wasn’t too hard to lift.  Goliath had actual super strength and didn’t need the absurd amount of size and mass I required to be so powerful.

Everyone else’s fight against Pyre was going poorly.  Lightshow had clearly been on the receiving end of a blast as evidenced by her clutching her side where her costume had been burned away. And to make it worse Pyre had ignited the air around herself, making approach for Dragoon impossible.  A few of Menageries creations had tried to get close – more of the fireproofed boars she made for Sear – but they had turned to slag. The disparity of power between the two was absurd, and something Menagerie hadn’t accounted for when she was manifesting her creations.  Around Pyre, the street had begun to melt and there were several spots of brick that were glowing after she had bathed them in heat.

No wonder Goliath had been content to run away from her; as durable as he was, it would still be hellish being near that.  

Geyser was running around, trying to make a fissure under her, but the fumes seemed to scatter when he tried to release them near her, the air being drawn to her dispersing his fumes far too quickly.    

Even seeing her was almost impossible.  Even though she’d landed a hit earlier, Dragoon was firing blind at the force of nature Pyre had become as a column of flame danced around the Projector in the center.   

Goliath growled and shot his hands to my appendage, grabbing handfuls of my growths and tearing, trying to destroy the limb holding him aloft.  I roared in his face, which dazed the Enhancer, before lifting him higher and slamming down into the pavement. To my surprise, the cement cracked before his chest did.  Lifting again, I slammed Goliath down, using my stature to my advantage. Even though he was ripping chunks of my arm free, I directed my growth to keep the area intact.

After the third slam, Goliath shot his hand down, grabbing a section of the cement I’d broken with his body; ripping it free, he threw it at my torso like a javelin.  

It grazed my ribs underneath and I lost control for a moment as pair flared;  he seized the opportunity and tore himself free, hitting the ground and scrambling to his feet, blood dripping freely down his chest.  

As I went to pursue, a fireball hit me dead center. My roar at Goliath hadn’t gone unnoticed by his partner.  

While the Neklim suit insulated me, I hadn’t manifested any mutation to cope with temperature extremes.  The heat made me stagger as I felt nearly two hundred kilograms of mass on the surface of the suit wither and die.  Before I could recover, Goliath came back with a light pole he’d ripped up from the ground, swinging it like a bat, knocking  my legs out from under me.

Behind him, Dragoon was running around Pyre, attempting to take pot shots while Lightshow alternated between blinding her with flashes of light and subjecting her to complete darkness.  The sensory assault against her berserker state was making her wildly inaccurate, but it hadn’t stymied the sheer volume of fire she was emitting.

Goliath brought down the post and I caught it with both arms, ripping it away from his grasp and sending it flying up the street.  As he tried to make distance, I rolled onto my side and swung my leg clumsily at him, catching him in the side and knocking him back several meters.

Each of my legs weighed nearly two-hundred kilograms; even though I lacked finesse, enough mass simply made things hurt.  

Getting up on all fours, let out another roar and barreled forward, hoping to get a hold of Goliath and see if I couldn’t simply break his arms.  

To my surprise, he didn’t run, but he actually launched himself at me, extending one hand with his fingers pointed like a spear.  As we collided, he forced his hand through the lattice of growths and closed his gigantic fingers around his prize.

He’d managed to get a hold of the real Eldritch.

I had both hands near his face but stopped, mortified as he smiled, “Found you.”

“That won’t kill me,” I hissed, “But I’m pretty sure if I rip your hear off that will kill you.”

“If I close my hand,” he challenged, “You’ll have some difficulty controlling your getup for a second.  Shock and Awe noticed if you were threatened under there, you seemed stunned, almost passive. I doubt you’ll be able to actually grab me.  Plus, I’m pretty sure I have a hold of your liver; do you think you’ll be able to endure that being crushed?”

My only saving grace was that Goliath had no idea that I possessed a healing factor while I was inside the growths. While Shock and Awe had armed him with information about the real me, no one knew that the growths would work overtime to heal their host.

But, I wasn’t eager to test the upper limits on its restorative powers.  Against Shockwave, the suit had endured the brunt for me, and been able to knit bones back as they were battered. Having an organ crushed, this would be entirely different, and I had no idea whether or not I would be able to mend.

“I thi-”  

And then he squeezed.  

Pain ripped through me and I roared, sinking to my knees.  But what I hadn’t noticed was why Goliath had pulled the trigger; even with panoramic vision, I had paid little mind to the bird flying straight for us.

Mid-flight, the bird transformed into a massive purple and amber beetle, slamming a massive fist into Goliath’s chest as the enforcer didn’t turn fast enough.  As he stumbled back, Mutant changed again into the wolf and bounded forward, leaving a slash along his opponent’s belly. Goliath retaliated and swung; Mutant swapped back to beetle to absorb the blow and immediately turned into something that looked vaguely human but with strange grey tentacles for arms.  They extended and wrapped along Goliath’s limb, letting my teammate pull himself to the Surface Dweller and swap mid-travel into the wolf to jam talons deep, just belong the collar bone of his opponent.

Watching the incredible dance from Mutant almost distracted me from the pain radiating from my side.  As Goliath predicted, my ability to control the suit was fairly compromised, instead survival instinct overhauled and robbed me of control.  While I wasn’t taking any aggressive action, all effort from the Neklim suit was directed to the site of my injury. Tentacles grew small, specialized arms to adjust bone and cut away dead tissue.  I felt the growths integrating with my biology, donating something that must have been like stem-cells to compensate for the liver damage and restore its function.

All the while, Mutant continued his dangerous dance, slowly bleeding my opponent in a case of speed against strength.  I had known that our shape shifter had been a Reckoner for a lot longer than the rest of us, but this was amazing to watch.

This was what a professional really looked like in action.  

I shambled back to my feet, feeling sluggish, like all my strength had been sapped by the growths having to change purpose to saving their host.  

I got upright just in time to see Mutant slip up.  Even though he managed to turn himself into the beetle, he took a hard hit that sent him flying across the street, giving Goliath a moment to catch his breath.  

Goliath turned to me, and then stopped as the air suddenly felt cooler.

As Pyre had continued blasting indiscriminately with the sensory deprivation that Lightshow kept her subject to, Dragoon had finally managed to pinpoint where she was in the vortex of flames; even though she refused to register pain in her berserker state, her nervous system was still human at its core.  A taser round had found home and interrupted her regular function, and by extension, her firestorm.

Geyser saw his opportunity and stomped on the ground, a crag opening and blasting her with a cloud of toxic gas.  Pyre got a full dose and threw herself to the side as she started sputtering, coughing, and shaking while her body couldn’t get any oxygen.

My teammate’s gas wasn’t lethal, but it certainly felt that way if you were unlucky enough to take a sample.  The best we’d been able to deduce was that it basically induced a short term anaphylaxis; even though your throat would open before you croaked, it was debilitating to say the least and could often make you black out.      

“Goddamnit!” Goliath shouted, closing the distance between him and the shuddering form of Pyre in a few massive bounds.  He scooped her off the softened asphalt and leapt away, his massive strides carrying them away at an alarming pace.

“Do we go after him?”

“No,” Dragoon answered.  “Whenever Pyre comes back to, I don’t want to test and see how much flame she has left.  Plus, Lightshow isn’t looking so good.”

Our Projector was walking slowly, trying to move as little of her midsection as possible since her entire right oblique was basically free of skin, the exposed tissue a nasty red color.  And that was just what was visible; there were likely burns across most of her torso.

Lightshow was a tough bitch when push came to shove, and she was shaking with pain.

Mutant stalked up next to us, back in his preferred wolf form.  “Parasite is inside, last I saw he was dealing with security left from Surface Dwellers; no other Adapted though.  He should be fine.”

“Come on, let’s get off the street,” Dragoon insisted, shepherding us into the building.  Menagerie sprinted to catch up with us as we walked through the door.

As expected, most people had evacuated the firm when a pyrokinetic has been bathing the street in fire.  Though, there was clear evidence of a fight as we found a number of people in security uniforms knocked cold as we walked up to the top floor.

“Sorry I wasn’t more useful,” Menagerie said softly, “I didn’t think she’d be that powerful.”

“Do you have the notebook with the medical assistant,” Lightshow said through grit teeth, “I’d kill for that right now.”

Our Peculiar-Druid didn’t started flipping pages quickly, looking for the right bit of artwork.  

Stairs threatened to break under me, but as I went to release my suit, Dragoon shook her head.  “Keep it on. In case Hive or someone else shows, I want you ready to fight. Shrink down a bit if you have to.”

“Fine.”  Letting about half of the my remaining growths decay away, I kept myself with about a tonne equipped, and still had some storage left if I needed it.

“Plus, you’re a lot more intimidating as a Neklim than a nude teen,” Geyser added, trying to compensate for the absence of Lightshow adding a lighthearted quip.  

Not having her or Parasite’s wit did feel strange come to think of it.  

“Eldritch,” Mutant whispered, “Are you okay?”  

It occured to me he had actually seen what happened with Goliath; no one else had been aware I had been actually attacked.  “I’m okay.” Physically speaking, that was true. But, it was disarming to know that Goliath had been able to simply attack the one real vulnerability of my form.

Me.

Mutant sensed I wasn’t being completely honest, but he didn’t push.  We had other things to worry about.

On the top floor, we heard a faint echo of our favorite chatterbox, rambling.

“Parasite!” Dragoon called, “You okay?”

“Just fine and dandy, back this way!”

As we followed back, we were led to a corner office where Parasite was standing behind someone in a wheelchair, a trio of guards around the room looking like they had gone ten rounds with a heavyweight champion.  

“I found our man,” Parasite said proudly, “And it looks like things got a bit heated outside.”  His shirt had a few holes that exposed the grey and red tunic underneath.

“Fuck you,” Lightshow snarled, unamused.  

While the pictures we had seen weren’t the best quality, it was strange to see the man in wheelchair…since the pictures we had seen of him showed him clearly standing.  Big Picture, Aaron Edwards, according to his name-plate on the desk, would be fairly tall if he was upright. He had a bit of a beer gut and a brown beard that matched his curly hair.  

“How do you stand?  We’ve seen you doing it.”

“Specialized leg braces let me walk if I’m careful,” he replied, his tone betraying no sense of anxiety of nervousness.  For someone surrounded by a hostile Reckoner team, he was unnaturally calm.

“Who made them for you?” Dragoon asked.  

“Does it really matter?  I get the sense that isn’t what you came here to talk about,” he replied, still maintaining that air of smug relaxation.

“You’re calm,” I hissed, “even though we just beat down Goliath and Pyre.”

Big Picture looked at me for a moment before answering.  “I’m an informant. We know Beleth pays me, but I’m not exclusively his property or underling, he isn’t going to kill me because I talked to you.  And no offense to you lot, but do you think this is the first time someone has tried to shake me down?  Besides, you’re Reckoners. Are you really going to execute someone in a wheelchair? Even if I was in costume, no one has ever seen me fight, and it’s because I make a point not to.”

“You keep yourself distanced from violent confrontations through non-involvement,” Menagerie said quietly, appreciating the delicate way he positioned himself.

“Exactly.  So, unless you can pay more than Beleth can, you’ve waste-”

Parasite grabbed him and squeezed around his throat, “We probably can’t pay more than Beleth, but we do have something very valuable to barter with: your life.”  He let go and then hopped nimbly over the desk to join the rest of us, “We’re not playing under normal rules; those went to shit when Beleth took over the city. And yeah, most Reckoners wouldn’t kill you, but most Reckoners also left Ciel once he put several of them in the ground.”  Parasite leered across the desk as the Cognate tried to catch his breath, “How about it, Picture, what’s your life worth? How much information can we buy with that?”

After coughing a few times and massaging his bruised windpipe, Big Picture grinned, “That, Parasite, is an excellent question.”

“I hate to interrupt,” Geyser said, looking out the window, “But we have a big fucking problem.”

“What is it?”

“Suppression,” Geyser said back to us, “They just pulled up outside.”  

Previous Chapter – Next Chapter

(11/13/2080)

Two-tonnes, full coat.  

I was grateful to the Neklim suit as it grew around me, insulating me from the biting cold as we approached the ramshackle complex surrounded by barbed wire and cement walls.  

While Ciel was a fairly modern city, the outskirts took on a rough tone.  It was like the wild west, or so I was told by my dad. What was certain was that police no longer came out this far and it was for a number of reasons.  

First off was the Adapted.  Inside of Ciel, the Adapted were fairly metered with occasional exception.  People looking to flex influence wanted to leave something left to lord over; while many ruled with fear, they knew the balance between scaring people into submission and making them panic.  There was general respect paid to government agency and it kept a decent amount of the warfare between syndicates to a minimum. But when you escaped the zone where police would interfere, the only contender besides other Adapted was Suppression and Snatchers who had no jurisdiction.  Out here, there was no oversight and no rules.

And since it had been this way for a few years, it wasn’t likely to change.    

The second reason was the environment.  While Neklim were the apex predator of Tso’got, there were plenty of other monstrous things outside the city limits.  Since most predatory species on the planet were solitary hunters, none typically ventured near cities since it was too large a gathering of people with too much noise; out here with a lot less light and population density, they felt more free to approach and see if they could find a lone human or Zari wandering about.    

It was why most of the cities on Tso’got were made within a day of one another: traveling for a day was safe, but traveling at night was often a death-wish.  Often referred to as city clusters, there were a dozen or so around Tso’got, each one consisting of half a dozen massive cities within a day of driving. However, to get between cluster, you had to take a flight.  There weren’t even roads between clusters.

“Ready big guy?”

I didn’t need to turn to see the little disk floating beside me, one of Dragoon’s newest additions.  While the others could wear the earpieces to communicate and stay coordinated, I wasn’t so lucky. We tried once, and it had gotten chewed up by the growths, seen as something impinging on the host.  Dragoon’s alternative was to create a little drone to follow me so she could relay instructions quickly It was programmed to trace me specifically, so even if it was damaged, it would fix itself and zip back to me, keeping me in the loop.  

“Ready,” I hissed as I felt myself reach full size.  I had another forty kilos of meat ready in my supply, meaning I could easily grow back nearly half of my size should it get maimed and chewed up.  

“We’re ready for you to make an entrance.”  

I stomped forward, the frozen ground rumbling with each heavy stride of mine.  Beside me, a pair of monsters strolled forward, each looking like a boar from back on Earth but covered in metal plates with literal flames coming from their nostrils.  

She had seriously outdone herself this time.  

Leaning forward, I formed my appendages into fingertips to get better traction as I effectively bear crawled forward, lumbering at the wall to this complex, building up a head of steam before colliding.  

The poorly made concrete was no match for a two-tonne battering ram.  

Inside the complex was a pair of small buildings that had the lights on with a generator beside each one.  These guys were completely off the grid, and rather deliberately.

As we’d expected, two figures came out from each abode.  Unlike us, they weren’t in costume, but we knew they were Adapted.  One clenched his hand and flames began rolling out, illuminating the compound and melting away the snow on the ground by him.  Beside the bastard was a girl with a shaved head and a ton of tattoos covering head-to-toe. From the other shelter came another couple, though they seemed role-reversed.  She was substantially taller, nearly seven feet tall with the immense stature of a bodybuilder; the guy next to her wasn’t small, but he seemed meek by comparison as he stared intently at me.  

“What the actual fuck?” the pyrokinetic growled as he opened his hands and let fire begin to network out, tracing lines in the around him like a massive spider web.  

“I recognize him,” the man next to the massive woman exclaimed, “that isn’t a Neklim!  That’s that Adapted, Eldritch!”

“Now,” Dragoon’s voice hissed beside my head.  

I was ready for there to be a sudden change in lighting, but they weren’t.  The compound flooded with a burst of light, like someone ignited the planets largest pile of magnesium.  All four of them had to cover their eyes, blinded.

Now unseen, I trampled forward and let my hands reconstitute, giving up digits for a spreading maw at the end of my arm to let me sink my teeth into more of the skin of the giant woman.  She went by the alias “Strongarm” and was a known mercenary who had no issue doing dirty work for others. Her Adaptation was one that essentially never turned off: she simply WAS massive and strong.  

But, strong and big as she was, I was much stronger and larger.  She was able to lift cars above her head, but I weighed twice what most vehicles did, and I fought back.  Strongarm strained, but I had put her on the backfoot from the get-go, and I refused to relent.

Increase the legs.  Grow six inches. Eighty kilograms per.  

The tree-trunks I called legs grew in size and gave me a little extra elevation, letting me push her into the ground, her knees buckling as I let my bulk pin her against the cold ground.  

My target was dealt with; now to watch.

The two boar things charged the pyrokinetic, who went by the name Sear.  While he directed jets of flame to engulf the creatures, they were made to be heat resistant. One gored him and threw the disoriented man into the side of the building, the other hit him a second time to ensure he wouldn’t be tempted to get back up.

Beside him, the woman got her bearings and tried to leap away, jumping an enormous height and landing on top of a building.  As soon as she had landed though, she leapt away as Parasite popped up on the roof beside her. Lithe, as she was known, had better acrobatic skill than our resident gymnast and a strangely divine knowledge of timing.  She was always around when people were vulnerable, and always knew the opportune time to strike.

It made her tricky to pin down but, we’d planned for her to slip away from Parasite; it was why Mutant was waiting in his travel form on the other roof.  Despite looking like an ordinary bird, as she was midair, he changed into his scorpion form, stinger at the ready.

She was helpless to avoid a quick sting.  

The last man faded from existence and showed back up behind Parasite, kicking him off the rooftop before disappearing again.  As he materialized at the back of the complex, there was a cry of surprise and a zapping sound.  Popping into existence a stone’s throw from me, a fissure split along the ground and he screamed before having a coughing fit as a blast of noxious fumes spewed in his face.  

From the other side of the complex, Dragoon came along in a bulkier suit, flanked by one of our newest additions, Geyser.  He was in a grey outfit with white streaks running along the length from head to toe, his mask covering his whole face and looking like a fractured rock.  

Parasite grabbed the Traveler, hauling him to his feet and twisting an arm behind his back.  “Enough running, Blink. We’ve got someone who wants to say hi.”

Geyser stepped closer, and another pair of figures slowly made their way into the complex.  One was wearing a thinner suit, very similar to Parasite’s old costume, but hers was a checkerboard of black and white with a mask that covered all of her face but her mouth and chin.  Beside her, a small girl came forward, wearing a coat and jeans. However, there was a plain black mask obscuring her features which seemed odd with her lack of costume.

Lightshow and Menagerie.  Our Projector who could manipulate light, and a Druid-Peculiar who could bring her artwork to life.  The fire-proofed boars were her design.

Blink, the man being held hostage by my best friend, was why we were here.  

Mutant had been in touch with a number of people he knew in Ciel, and these three had agreed to join us.  Lightshow had been a bit of a single act for a little while after her team had been killed by a gang over in Manda.  Ciel had been a bit of a clean slate for her outside of the odd little Reckoner act here and there. She was more than happy to join up with a formal team, hungry to do something worthwhile.  

Menagerie and Geyser had originally be part of a quartet, but that was before Blink had killed the other two.  It had happened while they slept, and the guy had the nerve to firebomb their shared living space once they woke up to resist.  

The fire had burned dozens of notebooks for Menagerie.  Months of prep work for her Adaptation, up in smoke. Literally.  

They had joined us on the condition we could make a pass at Blink.  While Dragoon was hesitant to accept, they had proposed that we ambush him, just like he had ambushed them.  Especially since he was far removed, it was easy enough to pull off. Blink had to bring anything touching him with, provided it wasn’t much bigger than he was.  While he could have teleported away from me, he definitely couldn’t get away from Parasite without having to drag him along. Our captain was willing to okay it, provided we didn’t do unnecessary damage to anyone else besides Blink; they were criminals and mercenaries, but that didn’t mean we should stoop to their level.    

My buddies suit glinted as Lightshow illuminated the whole compound in a soft light; just like how Dragoon had buffed her armor, she had done some overhaul for Parasite’s garb.  There were small armor plates woven into the silk, and it was more form fitting while still giving enough room for his passenger to move around easily. Around the fingers of his gloves were little metal plates that could give him improvised spikes which let him climb on walls more easily.  

Now held captive, Blink was unable to do much as Geyser and Menagerie walked forward, neither one saying a word, letting the terror work him over first.  

Reckoners fighting with Adapted criminals led to an interesting question: what did you do if you won?  There were no police to hand them off to; if you were to give them over to the cops, you were handing them to Suppression.  That would be tantamount to putting a kill order on yourself since Suppression and Snatchers were a different and completely heinous kind of evil all Adapted could despise in harmony.  

Often times, it became about depriving the villain in question of material goods since financial gain was what motivated many gangsters.  However, Reckoners weren’t like comic book heroes and many had no problem getting their hands dirty as long as the ends could justify the means.  While Dragoon was not one to advocate an eye for an eye approach, she wasn’t going to deprive Menagerie and Geyser of what they wanted. Blink was a killer, and from all accounts a despicable mercenary who was willing to do the unspeakable for a quick payday.  

Geyser and Menagerie had made a point to set up this mission with Dragoon to replicate that sense of dread and panic that had befell them when they woke up to the sounds of their friend screaming.  They wanted Blink to be afraid, to experience that distress.

I had felt it when we’d fought Shockwave six weeks ago.  That hadn’t been a fight; that was a drawn out execution interrupted.

That panic and being blindsided at two in the morning had kept blink off his game, unable to properly capitalize on his Traveler abilities.  After all, Adaptations were only as strong as you could make them; most people didn’t think well after a rude awakening. We had counted on that and Dragoon had planned, knowing exactly where he was going to run.

After all, who the fuck wanted to run towards a gigantic monster?  

“Remember us?” Geyser snarled.  

“Remember what you did?”

He turned to Menagerie, whimpering and wincing as Parasite kept the pressure on his shoulder.  “I-“

Geyser screamed and swung, slamming a Kevlar studded glove into his cheek.  Blink’s head snapped to the side, blood staining the snow as Geyser hit him again, and again, and again.  

Parasite let the man fall, still holding his arm to ensure he couldn’t teleport away.  

“You fucking stabbed them, in their sleep!  You coward!” Geyser screamed, now resorting to kicking the Adapted in the stomach, repeatedly driving the toe of his boot against his torso.  Blink was well beyond being able to give a cogent reply, blood drooling from his mouth, his eyes glazed over. Parasite had taught the man how to throw a punch, and even though he wasn’t an Enhancer, Geyser was very strong.  

Eventually, Menagerie reached forward and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him away gently.  It was clear Geyser wanted to beat Blink to death but he moved so she could kneel by the delirious Adapted.  

“You’re never going to kill anyone else again, do you understand?”  

It almost looked like Blink nodded, but it was hard to tell if the movement was deliberate.  

“And we’re going to give you a reminder.”  From her pocket, she procured a switchblade sharp enough to cut through the bone in his thumb cleanly.  The sharp pain seemed to buy some clarity for Blink who managed to focus as he screamed.

“I’m gonna, make you, pay!”  

Menagerie didn’t reply, she just took his other arm and pinned it against the ground with Parasite’s help before cutting off his remaining thumb.  “Geyser wanted to kill you; I talked him out of it. But Blink, if you go around killing more people, we’ll find you again.” The fact she said it as a solemn whisper made it more intimidating than the loud rage coming from Geyser.  

Blink had the good sense to stay quiet this time.  

Dragoon stepped into the middle of the pack, turning her head to get a look at the rest of the Adapted we were restraining.  “We have no problems with the rest of you, we were just here for him. You come after us, you won’t win.”

“Fine,” Strongarm growled, “Just get this big fucker off me!”

Our captain nodded and I let go, removing myself and taking a step back.  “You’ll want to make sure he doesn’t bleed out,” Dragoon suggested, “He took a hell of a beating.”

“We’ll deal with it,” Lithe responded, “Just call off your animal here.”  

Another nod and Mutant stepped away, pulling his claws away from her throat.  Sear wasn’t willing to give an answer, but he didn’t object as we walked away from them, the boars that Menagerie had made slowly backing away and then fading out of existence much the same way my growths did when dismissed.  

After 10 or so minutes of walking, we all relaxed and I finally let my suit fall off, grateful to Parasite who was ready with my clothes.  

“That went well,” Dragoon said, pleased.  “Geyser, Menagerie, how are you guys?”

The couple gave each other a look as they took off their masks.  She was cute and had an Asian complexion as both her parents had lived in Japan before the Trillodan slagged Earth.  Her black hair was kept short on purpose, her features petite and graceful. Beside her, Geyser was the tallest of us now that Mutant shifted back down.  He kept his head shaved and almost worked out as much as Murphy did; with dark skin and piercing green eyes, it seemed to exaggerate his already impressive height.  

“I think we’re okay,” he said, giving a look down to his significant other for a nod.  He often spoke for them as a couple since she was so soft spoken and quiet. Often she would tune us all out, turning to a notebook with a box of pencils and pens, drawing for hours without interruption.  Roger – Geyser – had warned us about interrupting her: Yuki got dangerous if someone interrupted her drawing, especially after Adapting.

It apparently had some of the same consequences like Alexis and building.  Once a project was started, it had to be finished.

Lightshow crept up beside Roger and took off her mask, shivering a little now that our groups adrenaline was spent.  “I should have been smart like Yuki and just come in a coat.”

Rebecca – Lightshow – was nearly a polar opposite to Yuki.  Like Murphy, she was a complete chatterbox who couldn’t help herself when there was an inappropriate joke to be made, a snide comment to mutter, or a sarcastic rebuttal to throw around.  She was a little bigger than Alexis, with black hair she always kept in a braid. Initially there had been a bit of friction between her and our other resident jokester, but now the two were getting along thick as thieves.  

Ted was still quiet and withdrawn a fair amount.  While he was undeniably the most experienced Reckoner among us, he was content to let Alexis lead.  Instead, he seemed intent on looking after the team, ensuring our well-being between fights and such.  Whenever we were simply around one another, he was content to people watch most of the time. Even now he lagged a step behind and hand his head down, quiet.   

“I was an idiot and got rid of mine,” I whined.  Even back in my sweats, the initial cold shock of being in my birthday suit hadn’t faded.  

“But at least you’re girlfriend’s dreams of an exhibitionist boyfriend are coming true,” Murphy said with a grin.  

I spun and shoved him; the guy barely moved.  Sometimes I forgot exactly how strong he was.

With taking new people on, Alexis had mandated that everyone learn basic close quarters combat with our expert since Murphy was the most experienced by far.  Even Mutant was made to do it, despite his forms giving him odd tools and rather unconventional means for close quarter combat. Menagerie was given the lightest duty, but she was generally a block or two away when we actually moved on a location, controlling several of her animated drawings from a safe distance.  

If she ever had to use the training Murphy gave her, we were in deep shit.  

Rebecca smiled, pointing at me in the gloom, “Monster boy is blushing!”

“You guys pick on him way too much,” Roger said with a playful scoff, “It isn’t fair to pick on someone who can’t stand up for himself.”

“Bastard took hits from Shockwave.  A little ribbing from us should be easy to withstand,” she replied, animated as always.  

I wanted to deny Rebecca’s statement that I was blushing, but she had perfect night vision.  Everyone would, and should, take her word for what she saw. “I still have some mass left,” I threatened.  

“But then you’d have to get naked again,” Alexis pointed out as we approached a trio of vehicles parked on the side of the road.  “And then you’d be putting on a show for Xana as well as us.”

Our one Zari member, Xana was our emergency driver and helped serve as a good devil’s advocate at times when we discussed about plans moving forward.  The rest of us were Adapted which inherently altered how we saw the world; Xana was a valuable voice for reminding us how regular people felt when we showed up.  While the other newcomers were initially suspicious, it was hard not to find her likable. She embarrassed me regularly to amuse Lightshow, helped Roger with his mask to give it a more unique aesthetic, and bought high-grade colored pencils to win Yuki’s favor.  

With Murphy essentially owning his own house, we had utilized the space regularly as a ‘hideout’ and it had served as a hostel for Rebecca and Ted initially.  Roger and Yuki had their own apartment towards the downtown area that we had never seen; the two of them were paranoid about their living space since their last home was firebombed.  

We didn’t press the issue.  

Even though I didn’t see much of it, having four Adapted under the same roof had been a little stressful for all parties. Fortunately, we managed to plunder a small gang’s headquarters and get enough money to put Rebecca and Ted up for a while in their own space and get them off Murphy’s floor.  

It wasn’t before we’d run into his parents last month; just as he had expected, they only came back when the money had run out and they’d sobered up.  Murphy gave them some of his earnings from the fight club, finding it easier to effectively send them away than to try and help them deal. I had been there when it happened, along with nearly everyone else of the Rogue Sentries.  A few of us had tried to suggest he do something else, but we’d been talking to a wall, and honestly I could understand why.

His parents hadn’t even asked who we were.  We were like furniture to them, nothing to care about.  They saw him like a coin purse, a thing of convenience to look into when it was needed.  He didn’t say it, but I was pretty sure Murphy quit seeing them as his parents at this point.    

That had been three weeks ago, and it was just now Murphy was finally sounding like his old self.  For a while he’d been quieter than Ted, and spent more time than usual working out, shutting us out.  Having an assignment like this had brought him back out of his shell, which I was grateful for; I’d missed my best friend.    

“Hey, are we meeting back up at his place to talk things over?”

“And for victory pizza,” Alexis added.  

A small roar of approval went up from Roger and Rebecca.  

We split into our respective vehicles based on living space: Rebecca and Ted, Yuki and Roger, Murphy, Alexis and myself.  Xana was waiting in the driver seat as we got in, Alexis taking the back where the seats had been put down to give her room while taking off the armor.  

“So, how did it go?”

“It was a cinch,” Murphy replied, stripping off his spider-silk top, “I was a little worried about Blink getting away, but our captain read him like a book.”

“I mean, he is going to want to get away from the massive Neklim; easiest way to make distance is go the opposite direction.  All I had to do was hit him with a taser round and screw up his neurology a bit. I knew he wouldn’t wasn’t going to get far while he was that discombobulated.”  

“Geyser hitting him with the fumes sealed the deal,” I added.  “That shit hurts to breathe in.”

Geyser was a Projector of sorts.  His gift let him stomp down and create small fissures in the ground that expelled noxious fumes.  The harder he stomped, the more range and greater number of cracks he could create. However, they did fade over time; the ground would simply reset after a few minutes if he didn’t keep actively making new crags.  He was a little bit stronger than your average person, but I wasn’t sure if that was just because he was a big dude or because he actually had augmented strength.

Murphy was pretty sure he had a slight tweak on his strength, but not enough to seem superhuman: along the lines of 1.4x as strong as he should be.  

I trust his intuition with these sorts of things.  Still, he wasn’t the one we wanted really engaging in a fistfight.  His role, one he excelled at, was making any kind of staging area wildly advantageous for us.  That being said, Roger was more that happy to stun someone with his fumes and move in with his kevlar-lined gloves or sometimes he carried a metal baton and a taser.    

“I’m just happy you guys are getting along as a team.  Since it was just the three of you for a while.”

“You say it like we can’t make other friends,” I said at my girlfriend, a little hurt.  “We don’t bite.”

“You bite all the time,” she replied without hesitation.

Even Alexis let out a surprised chuckle.  I glared and she pretended not to notice as she folded her armor into more manageable pieces.  After our encounter with Imperium, Alexis made a point to bulk up her armor, and make it so the damn thing could collapse and better fit into a duffel bag.  She added a second gun with non-lethal ammunition – notably electric rounds – and upped the output of her actuators. Now she could stress her system to give her an 8x multiplier on kinetic output.  While she lacked the speed and agility of Murphy, she was finally able to come close to hitting as hard as him.

“You also bite other people all the time,” Murphy added, “Just a little bit ago, you were biting Strongarm.”  

Xana reached over and punched me in the shoulder, “You lecherous man!”

“What the hell!”

“Am I not big and muscular enough for you?  For shame!” she chided.

I gave her a flat expression, “I’m not going to win this, am I?”

“Oh, definitely not,” she replied with a beaming smile.  “Accept defeat, mister monster man!”

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head enough so everyone could see in the dimly lit interior.  “Fine, but only this once.”

It was a decently long trek back into town, our little convoy fortunately unimpeded on our way back to Murphy’s home.  We got back around three a.m., and the fatigue was starting to show, though people’s faces brightened since there was pizza waiting for us on the doorstep when we all piled into his living room.  Being the considerate host he was, Murphy poured drinks for people as we all looked to Alexis.

The others would have likely gone home for some sleep, but she wanted to meet up before we split for the night.  

“What’s up, boss?” Rebecca asked as Yuki finally sat down, all six of us now giving her our undivided attention.  

Alexis put on a more serious expression as she took a swig of some soda.  “Well, first off, I want to compliment everyone on tonight. Our coordination, it’s gotten way better, honestly.”

“Oh, why thank you for noticing!” Murphy called out, “I’ve been rehearsing my dance routine.”  

“And I think it’s time we talk about what we’re doing next.”

The jovial tone immediately died out from the room.  

All of them knew that we intended to go after Surface Dwellers, but it didn’t make the prospect any less daunting.  

After that day with Imperium, Alexis’ prediction had come true.  Beleth and his cronies had asserted themselves and taken over in decisive fashion.  The morning after, the head of Surface Dwellers had leveled the Imperium distillery to prove a point; the few remaining Imperium gang bangers tried to take a shot at him, but Goliath had literally torn six people in half.

Both actions sent the same message: They owned the place now, end of story.

A small crime family had tried to fight back with a few hired Adapted, only to discover how overwhelming Shock and Awe were.  No Reckoners had been dumb enough to step against Beleth and his crew for the simple fact that he now controlled the strongest group of Adapted in the city by far, in fact many had fled the city.  The only other gang who might have stood a chance, Blue Quills, bailed out of town. With Beleth on the warpath, they didn’t dare step up and risk a visit from his terrifying crew.

There was limited information about the damage done to Imperium with Vermin’s attack, but a few tidbits had gotten out.  Ironclad was dead, that one was certain. He’d had his head ripped off by Rat, sacrificing himself to ensure Shockwave had a chance to get away.  Rumor had it Mizu been spotted in a hospital getting surgery for the arm that Parasite had demolished; it was speculated that his shoulder being destroyed had likely messed up his ability to use his power.  Shockwave was alive as far as we all knew, but we’d seen him take the hit from Rig’s explosion, seen the bloody stains in his suit from the shrapnel finding weak spots in his armor.

Adaptations were almost always tied to your well-being and current state.  If you were tired, it was hard to utilize the gift. If you were injured, it became more taxing and you wore out substantially faster.  Shockwave wouldn’t be at full capacity for a long time; there was nowhere for him to go in Ciel so we were pretty sure he had fled to Manda or another city in this cluster to go to ground.  

“Surface Dwellers are a far cry from the guys we hit tonight,” Roger pointed out.  “Beleth aside, they are packed with heavy hitters. Even though they don’t have the biggest roster, they don’t need it.”

“Shock and Awe took out four Adapted on their own,” Ted muttered softly, “And I’m not sure if they scare me more than Goliath…or Hive.”

Hive was a Peculiar, arguably a Peculiar-Enhancer, who could split herself into three distinct insect forms.  Each one had a specific role that it played: one was durable and strong – not unlike Mutant’s beetle form, one was built for speed, and the last was a flier that could vomit out acid.  Hive was fairly underrated in my mind; while she didn’t do anything flashy like Goliath and his ripping people in half, she had beat Siphon in a duel and had tangled with the leader of the Blue Quills and walked away.  

“I won’t deny they have a lot of heavy hitters,” Alexis conceded, “But they don’t have a lot of utility players.  Besides, there are pretty distinct limitations on what they can bring to the table. Hive is an expected value, Goliath is a fairly expected value, same with Shock and Awe.  The only wildcard in terms of power is Pyre.”

A pyrokinetic who stored flames over time and had an interesting quirk with emotional involvement.  While people like me needed to be level headed to stay in control of their Adaptation, Pyre deliberately let herself go crazy; her output skyrocketed if she went into a berserk rage… but she didn’t seem able to distinguish friend from foe.  Because of this, she generally operated alone or with Goliath since the massive Enhancer could withstand the heat.

“Sure, Lightshow can blind them,” I admitted, “But for her trying to keep that many people blinded would be impossible. There’s effectively nine people on their side to keep track of, too many moving pieces.”

Rebecca flicked her head my way, mouth full of pizza, “You sayin’ I can’t do it?”

“He’s right,” Yuki whispered, “You can’t keep everyone selectively blinded if a brawl breaks out.”  

She pouted, but quit protesting.  

“We, however, have more wildcards,” Alexis replied.  “For example, what happens if Yuki empties a notebook?”

Roger scowled, “She could lapse into a coma for weeks.”

“I’m not saying we go that extreme, but she CAN do it if needed.  Surface Dwellers have no way to predict how much firepower she can bring.”

“Or how big the monster man gets,” Murphy added.  “We’ve made him as big as six tonnes with pretty good control.  As strong as Goliath is, I favor the guy in our corner.”

I felt a bit flush as so many eyes turned to me.  Xana put a reassuring hand on my shoulder, encouraging me.  “Six wasn’t too bad. A little awkward to get used to, and I’m getting better about making sure my legs are large enough to move around more quickly,” I said reassuring, feeling a strange need to prove I was up to snuff.  “I also have the mutations which are inherently unpredictable. And they don’t have a Cognate like Toolkit to plan for contingencies.”

“They do have Big Picture though,” Ted countered.  “I’d argue he is more of a problem.”

Rebecca scoffed, “He’s a precog, but he isn’t that accurate.  He sees trends and can extrapolate, but he doesn’t have exact outcomes.  So what if Beleth knows we’re coming for him, he won’t know where we’re gonna show up.  Lighten up, roomie.”

Ted scowled at her, “You’re underestimating how insightful he can be.  Beleth pays a high premium to keep him on the payroll, and there’s probably a damn good reason for it.”

“That’s why we’re going to snag him first,” Alexis said, speaking over them.  

Roger frowned, “We’re going to hit Big Picture?  How?”

“Big Picture is an information broker, working on the north end of town at the consultant firm Analyst inc.”

Everyone fell silent; information about an Adapted’s personal life was almost taboo to have.  Identities were sacred and something we didn’t betray; that was the rule.

“How do you know this exactly?” I asked.  

“Lot of drone activity, keeping an eye on him and Beleth over the past few weeks.  It seems like Beleth owns the whole company and uses it to launder money and provide a valid front for his information brokering.”

While Imperium had essentially been anarchists and societal dissidents, Beleth and Surface Dwellers were more focused on the control and pulse of the city.  It was well known that Beleth made a point to keep hold of people’s secrets. He employed people like Big Picture to ensure he kept good information, and he was known to pay a lot of civilian informants as well.  He knew about every Adapted in the city, ensuring he could never be blindsided by a visitor who came to take his throne.

The thing was, no one knew exactly where he’d operated from; he’d been careful to keep his shady dealings under wraps which was no mean feat since Beleth refused to hide his identity.  

People like information brokers were in a strange neutral ground for Reckoners and scoundrels alike: both of us wanted the information, so it became more of a bidding war to buy their services.  However, the one’s worth their salt never talked about how they sold info to. If they did, at best their reputation was ruined forever; at worst they pissed off a hot-headed Adapted who would feel betrayed.   

Not a great plan to ensure job stability either way.   

“So even if we know where Big Picture is and where his day job is, are you saying we go storm the building in broad daylight?  We’d look like terrorists!”

“I hate to be a buzzkill,” Murphy added, “But Roger’s right.  We be effectively unmasking him, and that’s a big no. Even if we don’t, we’d appear to be attacking a perfectly normal business.  That is decidedly not what we should be doing as Reckoners. If we hit a drug warehouse, that’s one thing. But hitting an actual business-“

“A front,” Alexis corrected.

“Still, if the public see us – which they will –  they will see us raiding an office.  Thanks to the last two months, we aren’t a small name; we don’t need to lose face like that or give the cops a reason to pursue.  I’m all for being flashy and putting on a show, but that’s one I’d rather not star in.”

While police would get involved with Adapted sometimes, they tried to leave Reckoners alone as much as possible; many cops were content to let us go after known criminals and do their dirty work, especially when it came to dealing with other powered people.

Alexis bit her lip, “I know it isn’t ideal.  But, I’m pretty sure that one of two things will happen if we go through with this.  The first option is that Beleth has been loaning him some enforcement. If that’s the case, we are immediately vindicated in the public’s eye; Surface Dwellers are VERY well known around Ciel right now.  Damage caused by Reckoners fighting with a criminal empire is pretty standard and won’t draw any additional attention. If there is no enforcement, we can keep things quiet. Ted and Murphy do well in close quarters and won’t set off any alarms walking through the door.”

Murphy perked up and talked with a mouthful of pizza, “He won’t be wearing a mask.  How are we supposed to find him?”

“I have pictures of him out of costume.  I figured he is looking for big trends and changes to occur, little minutia like a persistent dragonfly won’t bug him.  I was right.”

To my surprise, Rebecca was first to reply, “Don’t get me wrong, that’s great.  But, should we be going after this dude when he’s at work? That seems really underhanded.  Aren’t we supposed to be better than that?”

“Becca, we just ambushed people in their pajamas at two in the morning, we clearly aren’t entirely above some underhanded tactics.  Plus, Beleth has driven away a lot of Reckoners because the only guy who could reasonably fight him is holed up two hundred kilometers away.  Now Beleth can make appearances all he wants since Shockwave isn’t around to challenge him. I’m not thrilled about using this information, but someone needs to take them down a peg, and if we want to keep our heads doing it, we are going to have to play dirty.”

She opened her mouth to object…but instead slowly inserted a crust of pizza.  

Xana waved to get Alexis’ attention.  “Do you want me to weigh in on this?”

“Of course.”

“I think you guys should do it.  Surface Dwellers own the city, but their Adapted enforcement hasn’t expanded.”

“All thanks to Beleth being paranoid,” I noted.

“Exactly.  You guys are going into this…a little outgunned.  I don’t want to discredit any of you, but he fought Shockwave, he’s fought Rat, and he’s fought Clemency.  Standard rules shouldn’t be what stop you from helping to depose him. People are spooked by him and his brash attitude; at least when Imperium was around, they acted like a check and balance for each other.  This is one of those few times where I think he really should go, no real argument against it.””

Yuki nodded, “I agree with Xana.  We’re fighting an uphill battle. We should take what we can for free.  Big Picture probably won’t expect someone to come to his office.”

Ted and Roger didn’t like the answer, clearly, but neither voiced an opposing opinion.  Rebecca seemed fairly neutral as did Murphy. A few eyes turned to me.

“What do you think?”    

I frowned, “I don’t like the idea of taking someone hostage or confronting them out of costume, but I don’t like the idea of him being able to feed information to Beleth as soon as we start moving against them.  And hitting a place where he launders money would be a blow to his organization as a whole. As scary as he is, people don’t work for free and Beleth still needs manpower to make Surface Dwellers run. Sure, his Adapted enforcement is scary, but the money comes from people making and running his drugs.”  

Alexis turned to everyone, “It’s gonna be rough, but Beleth has done a good enough job pushing everyone else out, that there is no one who is going to be able to immediately fill the void.  If we can depose Surface Dwellers, I genuinely think we can hold the city long enough for other Reckoner teams to help us.”

“We also might be able to pay some people enough to be Reckoners,” Murphy noted, “A lot of people are after financial gain; Beleth is rolling in drug money right now.  If we can take that, we could buy loyalty from some for a minute.”

“Won’t we then just be the new tyrants?”

Alexis turned to Ted, “No, definitely not.  We won’t be peddling drugs and secrets for copious amounts of money in order to extort and control a vulnerable population.”  

He seemed satisfied enough with that answer for now.

“But, it’s late as fuck.  Let’s go home, get some sleep, and tomorrow we’ll make some more formal plans.”

There was a murmur of agreement as yawns began to escape.  Nearly 3:30 a.m., people were fading fast. Taking a spot on the couch, I relaxed, trying not to worry about what the next few days would entail.

We were taking on Surface Dwellers, and this time we had no tricky plan to pit one kingpin against another.  There wasn’t going to be any competition for the throne; Rat had seen to that unfortunately.

This time we were going to war against the current regime for the good of everyone in Ciel.  

I hoped we were strong enough to survive the storm we were heading into.  

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