“I’m sorry, what?” Alexis asked, oddly defensive.  “You need a NEW team? We’re a commodity now? Something available for mail order?”  

    Our newfound friend let out a weak laugh, “I didn’t…I didn’t mean to sound like I was trying to take over.”

“You could have fooled me,” she shot back.

“I-” he stopped himself and took a moment.  “Dragoon, listen, I need help. I can’t fight against Vermin alone; you guys aren’t ones to shy from a rough fight, clearly.”

    “And you think we’re going to give up what we’re doing to help chase down a group of psychopaths led by Rat?  You want us to derail what we were doing against Imperium?” She got up and marched over to Mutant, getting right up in his face, “Tell me then, what are you hoping we do?”

    Nick and I shared a glance, neither of us enjoying being a spectator to this dressing down. However, it was good to know Alexis was willing to defend her spot and push back.

    “Vermin is here, we might as well see if we can kill a member or two,” Mutant said, caught off guard by how stalwart our captain was.  

    “No! And you know why? Because we can’t!  You’re looking at a guy who is out of fuel for his Adaptation, a girl with power-armor in desperate need of repair, and a guy who has probably had all his ribs broken twice over in the last half hour.”  She jabbed a finger into his chest, “How dare you waltz in here and start insinuating that we’re simply onboard to help you because we were crazy enough to fight Imperium!”

    “Drag,” Nick finally said, “I think he gets it.”

    He looked decidedly uncomfortable with the verbal lashing administered.  “I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I um…I thought you’d share my enthusiasm.”

    “It isn’t that we are against the idea,” I interjected, not giving Alexis another chance to chastise immediately, “It’s just that we’re pretty tapped out.  Right now man,” I laughed, “We wanna get the fuck out of here in one piece.”

He nodded and turned back to Alexis.  “If I can get you guys out of here, can we talk about it?”

She was oddly put off by his persistence and it finally dawned on me why: she’d always been second rate in the eyes of her mother.  For someone to want to join us, to think we were doing something good and noble was an outlandish concept even though she had planned for others to rally people behind our cause and help tip the scape.  While Mutant seemed to come with his own issues and questionable motivation, he still knew who we were and clearly had some respect for the fight we had put up thus far.

While another Enhancer probably wasn’t the best option for our lineup, beggars couldn’t be choosers.  

    “If you abandon your desire to kill Vermin, you’ll have a place with us,” she replied at length.  

    Mutant seemed stunned, caught off guard by her giving him a place and by her requirement.  “They killed my last team!  You want me to just let that go?”

“Personal obsession is going to kill you.  I won’t have you drag us into your mess,” she shot back.  “I almost got Parasite killed because I got far too invested in our fight with Imperium.  If you are willing to let your vendetta go and you can get us out of this building, we’ll talk about you joining the Rogue Sentries and about what we might be able to do about Rat and his crew in the future.”  

He exhaled slowly with clenched fists, “They killed my friends.”

    “And they will kill you the second you slip up.”  She let out a huff, “Listen, you seem like a good guy and probably a beast of an Enhancer.  But if you want to hold a grudge, you’ll get us killed right along with you. If you wanna join us, it isn’t about hunting Vermin, understood?”

    Slowly, he nodded, “If Reflection gets in my way, do you mind if I kill him?”

    “Is he the one making those freaky things?” Nick asked.  “If yes, please.”

    Mutant nodded, “He stores copies of himself that manifest like a twisted image of him.  Each one lasts for about half an hour and he adds one to his stockpile every ten minutes.  They have no survival instinct, no pain receptors to speak of, and they are super awkward to fight against if you don’t catch them by surprise.  More problematic is that they relay information to the source; he knows we’re here, and he’ll know I’m with you.”

    “And you’re the only one of us who can really fight,” Alexis muttered, “Great.”

    “Dude, eat them,” I thought aloud, pointing to the disgusting messes on the floor.  “They should be made of protein, right?”

    “Are you fucking serious?”

    “I can’t exactly take one for the team here, otherwise I would.”

    He approached with some reservation before touching the first copy we had killed.  While it did disappear, my friend immediately turned to the side and heaved, emptying his stomach violently.  “Oh, fuck no. Not again. Never again.”

    The new guy’s eyes widened as he watched the corpse simply fade to non-existence.  “What the fuck?”

    “Eldritch is powered by consumption of organic material.  Specifically dead stuff,” I explained, “But, he does taste what he breaks down.  Not your favorite meal buddy?” I asked with a laugh that reminded me of my broken ribs.

    “It was like eating moldy bugs,” he said, retching again.  “Oh, fuck me, I am not eating the other one!”

    “At least it’d be fresher!”

    He turned to me, his face void of any color and coated in a cold sweat.  “Seriously, you cannot fathom how disgusting that shit was.”

    “We get it,” Alexis said, stepping in, “How much?”

    “About thirty kilograms, but I’m not sure how long this stuff is gonna last…or how big I can get in this building; I don’t trust the floor to hold me if I go past 300 kilograms.  And I won’t go back outside with my suit.  Someone is doing some serious fuckery with my brain. Losing control was…unpleasant.”

    “Dissonance,” Mutant supplied, “She interrupts thought and concentration.  While it sounds stupid, when you forget you’re in a fight for a second there can be serious consequences.”  

“Why isn’t it hitting us in here?”

“Limited to line of sight.  She’s great in a wide open area, which is what you guys made as the playing field.  Unfortunately, Shockwave just stood in the middle like a jackass.”

I sighed, “So we go out the back and take a bit of a detour, away from the main event.  Alexis, pack your armor and let’s go. The long we stay here, the more likely we are to meet more of Reflection’s duplicates.”  

Nick threatened to vomit at his name.  

“Mutant, what exactly do you do?” I inquired.  “The name ‘Mutant’ doesn’t really seem right for a guy who turns into a wolf.”

He grinned and the air around him warped again, this time leaving a massive insect in our midst.  While it had the form of a person, it was clad in purple and amber colored chitin armor. His frame was bulkier, his arms and legs littered with threatening barbs and daunting claws.  “I’ve got ten different forms I can change into, each with a specific purpose. This one is defensive and strong, but way slower than the wolf.”

Mutant shifted back to human, “I can technically merge forms, but it puts a huge strain on me.  Though once I lock five in, I can only access those five until I sleep to reset.”

This guy’s power seemed surprisingly A-list for us to not have heard of him.  

He shifted back into the werewolf form we had seen already and began sniffing the air.  “We have company.”

“Grow,” Alexis commanded.

Nick hastily ditched clothing and grit his teeth, skin erupting in the black growths that formed a muscular suit over his body.  

I glanced over and saw our lupine newcomer recoil.  “That is…. really unsettling,” Mutant said with a shudder as my friend grew a foot in height and bulked up.  

“You get used to it, sort of,” I told him as Alexis finished throwing the rest of her armor into a gigantic duffel bag.  “Here, gimme. I can’t fight, at least let me mule.”

I took her bag as our two combat-ready Adapted lead the way.  

Sure enough, his nose wasn’t wrong; there was a number of twister aberrations waiting for us, each with its own horrific spin on the progenitors biology.  Some had extra arms, some had lopsided limbs, one had massive teeth and a jaw that opened all the way down to his sternum. Eldritch led the way, lurching forward and immediately found himself beset by a trio.  Mutant jumped against the wall and around the roadblock, shifting forms into the beetle again and hitting one of the reflections hard enough to cave in the left half of its rib cage, though it didn’t seem to mind too much.

While Eldritch was strong, these things didn’t seem to care much about broken bones and his growths sinking their teeth into skin; even though he ripped chunks out of several, they didn’t seem bothered and lashed out at him, grabbing, kicking, and biting as much of his Neklim suit as possible.  All they had to really do is make sure he couldn’t grab their head or do too much damage to their chest.

Mutant shifted again into the werewolf to increase his speed, bounding forward to slash the eyes out of one clone before changing to a third form.  Like the beetle, his torso was covered in chitin plates but his limbs were unprotected and his hands changed into pincers that looked like they have been sharpened to a razor edge.  A tail sprouted from the base of his spine with a nasty stinger on the end; this form’s face was more foreign as it was equipped with faceted eyes and mandibles that made him look like a proper scorpion.  

While not as well defended as his beetle form, it was quicker and the tail moved with blinding speed, impaling a clone and tethering it so he could step in and slice the throat.  As it shriveled, another leapt forward with its awkward arms swinging like a top; Mutant was quick enough with his shapeshifting to change into Beetle and take the hit, using the strength of the form to pull the clone in and pound his head flat.  

Eldritch had found his stride, using some of the excess mass stored to extend his arms, allowing them to open like some kind of freakish mouth and utilize the teeth on the tentacles; with more exposed surface area, he could dig the barbs into more skin, eventually coating enough skin they couldn’t tear free.  One ended up being pressed into the floor until his torso was completely flattened while another was held still… and then had his head torn off.

But true to form, they didn’t seem to show any kind of survival instinct and insisted on attacking even after several were culled.  Their persistence was rewarded as one slipped by our guards, seeing our captain and I as weaker prey. Alexis was quick on her feet and narrowly avoided being grabbed by an arm that was almost three times as long as it should have been. Dropping her bag, I pulled the staff free and dug deep for what little bit of strength I had left.  

After ducking under a swipe, I slammed the staff into his elbow and shattered the joint, rending the arm fairly useless.  An oversized leg tried to kick, but the movement was incredibly telegraphed and easy to avoid. I jabbed the staff forward into his chest to push him back a pace before swinging the staff straight down, an overhead crush that found its mark.  

Even without my passenger helping me much, the  weight of my staff and force of the efficient blow crushed my opponents skull.      

    Especially after spending so much time fighting Ironclad, I forgot how easy it was to break people.  

    “That should have bought us a few minutes,” Mutant muttered, reverting to human form.  “Everyone okay?”

        “Fine and dandy,” I said with a huff.  “I could do without the stench.”

        “Imagine eating the shit,” Eldritch hissed at me.

        Mutant recoiled, alarmed that he could talk.  “Holy shit that sounds freaky. You are undoubtedly the weirdest Adapted I have seen.”  

        “Our resident weirdo,” I said with a grin.  

        “Focus, please,” Alexis snapped, “We’re almost outside, but once we get out we lose Eldritch since I don’t want him losing control again.  At that point, it’ll all be on you, Mutant.”

        Our newcomer nodded, “I’m pretty sure we’ll be fine.  Reflection isn’t likely to send too many more clones after us since I’m sure Rat wants a handful helping fight Imperium’s backup.”  

I was sure that Mutant did know what he was talking about, especially given his obsession with Vermin, but I still stayed alert and ready for a fight.  Being smacked around earlier and caught off guard by Reflection had been embarrassing.  

Alexis passed a pair of pants over to Nick as the tentacles all dissolved, leaving him naked for just a split second as he flew into some sweats.   

      “What’s the plan now?” he asked, his suit no longer imposing an affect on his voice.  

    “The hologram orb has about another six minutes of charge left on it; we look like normal people and try to get far enough away that both Vermin and Imperium lose track of us.  Ideally, we make it most of the way to my car without anyone’s identity being any more exposed.”

    “At least Vermin aren’t known to share information,” Mutant noted, “So no one else will be coming after us.”  

    “And just seeing us doesn’t tell someone a lot,” Nick pointed out, “It isn’t like we’re celebrities.”  I could have made a point that for some Cognates would be enough to find us, but it wouldn’t help at this point.

    “Either way, let’s go. I need to eat more so my damn thing can keep fixing me.  I’m pretty sure I still have a few cracked bones I could decidedly do without.”   

    Alexis nodded, “And, hologram up.”

    Our cue to exit a backdoor and scurry out an alley.  

    As we went south, we were given a quick glimpse back into the fight that was still going on between Imperium and Vermin.  Other members of Imperium had shown up with Reappear, and Kudzu was back in commission, slowly overgrowing the area and trying to build enough of a gap to let them disengage.  Shockwave was still on the steps, blasting back Rat, but clearly tiring. Blood was still seeping out and Ironclad was done being a deterrent for him and now was nowhere to be seen. The tar guy was having chunks frozen by Toolkit lobing customized grenades and simultaneously slapped around by Collision’s battery of debris, but all it seemed to do was slow him down.  Siphon was looking worse for wear, running around with a pyrokinetic keeping him at bay and out of range of his drain.  

    It seemed like the best that Imperium could get was a clean retreat; the worst would be a myriad of casualties if not a full rout.  We kept our collective heads down as we scurried away, taking a longer route away from the brawl that broke out, leaving us woefully uninformed of whatever the outcome might be.  

    We’d have to find out later.  

    Vermin taking advantage of the window we had made presented a few problems that we’d need to address: the biggest was that they had some kind of Adapted with precognition feeding them information.  Rat was a crazy bastard, but he clearly wasn’t an idiot and didn’t charge blindly into a fight with one of the most powerful men in the city.

   “Who do you think is gonna win?” Nick finally asked, breaking the silence as we felt confident we were far enough away.

    “I don’t think there is going to be a clear winner there,” Ted replied with a sigh, “Whoever wins, there’s gonna be fallout.”  

    The hologram fell and showed the four of us, back in regular clothes, all battered and bruised.  Fortunately, the exception was Nick; since re-activating his Adaptation, he hadn’t endured any otherworldly blows that could damage him under an extra layer of alien muscle.  It was probably for the best that his alien growths helped to maintain their source since he was the only going home where people would want the bruises explained.

    As we piled into Alexis’ car, we all exhaled a massive sigh of relief.  

    Regardless of what happened between Imperium and Vermin, we were in the clear.  With a successful disengage, we were back to being regular people.

    Most of the drive back to Nick’s place was pretty quiet since the exhaustion and disappointment had caught up with us.  Today had seemed almost poised to be a win at the start, but it had gone downhill so fast.  Shockwave had been an issue we truly weren’t ready for; even though Vermin had technically saved us, this had tremendously upset our greater plans to bait Surface Dwellers into a fight with Imperium.

    I could tell that Alexis was mulling over the same thought as she drove: if there was no Imperium, who the hell could challenge Beleth and his crew?

    As shown today, we certainly weren’t capable.  Shockwave had dismantled us in a matter of seconds, just like he had with so many other Reckoner teams.  Unfortunately, Beleth was on equal footing: in a league way above our own.

    Still, I gave a sideways glance to my best friend; he’d endured a beating from Shockwave and been able to repair his body.  Whether he was aware of it or not, he was alarmingly powerful. He could completely overshadow my finesse with limitless brute force, and he’d been durable enough to stand in front of the second strongest Projector on the planet for several minutes before going down.  

    What if he had been twice the size?  Three times? Was there a size where he wouldn’t go down?

As we pulled up, Nick hopped out and gave us a salute, leaving the three of us alone.  “So, Ted, where are you staying?”

    “Nowhere,” he confessed, “Vermin lit my last apartment on fire, so I’m homeless.  Part of why I followed them here. I was displaced and angry… in retrospect it was a little short-sighted.”

    I rolled my eyes, “Alright, come to my place.  I have floor space, though it isn’t too comfortable it beats a curb.”

    Alexis looked over at me in the passenger seat, “Murphy, your parents?”

    “Likely still on a bender,” I replied with a dismissive wave.  At her puzzled expression, I told her what I’d told Nick yesterday: about my parents being drug addicts who would disappear for weeks at a time, and how I hadn’t seen them in over a month now.  Both her and Ted were horrified when I told them about how I fought for money regularly and had been paying my own bills with Basl and his fight club since my parents had squandered what little wealth they had.   

    It felt a lot better to finally be upfront with my friend and captain.  

    “Fuck me, Murphy, I’m sorry,” Alexis said after letting me finish.  “I assumed it was bad, but this is…”

    “Fucking awful,” Ted finished for her.  

    “Getting your apartment lit on fire thanks to a handful of psychos sounds a little higher ranked on the ‘shitty scale’,” I replied.

    He shook his head, “At least we picked a fight with them.  It wasn’t my parents who did it.”

    It felt like a blow to the gut, hard enough to wipe away my grin.  You shouldn’t expect the people who gave birth to you to abandon you, but here I was.  “Yeah. It sucks. But there are worse things I suppose. It was probably why I Adapted, so at least I’ve got that.”

    There was an awkward pause.  “Maybe Adapting isn’t really a good thing,” Alexis thought aloud.  

“Wait, what?” I asked.  “Are you serious?”

“Think about it. We all come from fucked up families, have these twisted views of reality, and then we are given fucking super-powers to go run amok with.  Maybe people in Hosjon’s class were right, maybe we should be put away entirely.”

    “Sorry, Hosjon?”

    “Our ethics teacher,” I supplied.  “Alexis, you’re tired, and you hurt.  Of course you think we’re a lousy sect of people and should be thrown in the bin.  Let’s get some food, get some painkillers and you’ll change your tune, okay?”

“Murphy, seriously!  What if we’re making a huge mistake?”

“And Suppression are on the right track?  The answer is simply to incarcerate people and subject them to inhumane treatment and experimentation?” I asked sarcastically.  “Alexis, take it down a notch, yeah? Let’s at least table this discussion until you’ve had a chance to wash the blood out of your hair.  Sound reasonable?”

She gave a grudging nod.

    Ted shifted uncomfortably; I’d entertained the idea of getting new teammates but never really thought about how awkward it would be getting used to the three of us since we’d known each other for nearly eight years.  He wouldn’t know her like I did: instead he’d just seen his prospective team captain worry about whether Adapted were bearable for society.

Definitely not something that would inspire confidence.  

“Don’t worry, she’s really fine,” I insisted.  

He just shook his head and smiled weakly as we pulled up in front of my house.  I opened the door and they piled in, Alexis immediately heading to the bathroom to clean up and get the blood off her face.  

It left me alone with the new guy, and a bit of an awkward silence.  

“I, um, don’t normally invite people to live with me on a first date,” I finally said as I opened the fridge, need for more nutrient winning out over loitering for small talk.  “But I guess for you, I’ll make an exception.”

He let out a chuckle, “Yeah, I know that this was a bit… sudden.  But, thanks.”

I shrugged, “I don’t have parents to impress with the guys I bring home, which I guess is good for you.”

Ted took a second, stunned, before giving a genuine laugh.  “You’re a cheeky fucker, you know that? And for the record, I’m a terribly impressive guy to bring home to the parents.  How many guys do you know that can totally change species?”

“The guy we dropped off kinda can,” I countered as I began wolfing down leftover pasta and lunch-meat straight from the package.

“The dude grows stuff on top of his skin, hardly counts as changing his own biology.”  

“It’s close.”

“Bullshit,” Ted countered.  

As I felt my passenger return to duty, my smile crept back across my face.  “Someone is just jealous that he can’t be as big.”

“Your friend is compensating.”  

“And compensate he can,” I replied.  “Though, I kind of doubt it. He has an insatiable Zari girlfriend who has yet to complain about impotence.”

Ted blushed and it was my turn to laugh.  

“It never turns off with him,” Alexis called out as she walked out of the bathroom, changed into a pair of sweats and a loose white shirt.  While the dried blood was washed away from her mouth and out of her hair, it was clear she’d been on the receiving end of a beat-down.

Our newcomer nodded as she walked in, “I believe you.  So, I have some idea of what you guys can do, but no one has entirely nailed down specifics.”  He looked at Dragoon, “I know you clearly do stuff with machines and tinkering, but is there a kind of gimmick to it?”

“Self-repairing stuff.  Even while Ironclad was beating the shit out of me, the armor was trying to fit itself back into place so I could take another hit.”  

He gave me a look, “You’re nimble and strong, but I’m not totally sure why.”

“I got a little guy living in me,” I muttered between bites.

“Pardon?”

I forced my passenger into one arm, “Alien thing running around under my skin.  When it is used, it gives a ton of resilience to my cells and strengthens bone and muscle function.  Also fixes me up when I get beaten too damn badly. I’m pretty sure it’s fixed over a dozen broken ribs today.”

And as soon as I mentioned that, a flood of emotional distress washed over me as my brain replayed everything that happened in the last hour and a half on fast forward.  Immediately overwhelmed, I felt the world start to spin. My hands shot to the kitchen counter for balance as my breathing quickly went shallow, my body unable to regulate, my passenger unable to counteract this with a hit of serotonin.  Wobbly knees, blurring vision, and a profound throb rang through my head.  

“Murphy?”

I started to laugh, a nervous giggle that sounded like I had forgotten what laughter was for.  Except, from there it ballooned, my laughter turning into a fit that I couldn’t stop.  

“Murphy!” Alexis shouted as I slipped and fell onto my ass, my laughter quickly devolving into tears as I became acutely aware of every hit I’d received.  “Murphy! Come on, snap out of it!”

She reached forward and grabbed my collar, and I thought of Kudzu.  

My head slowly shook, “I could have died today, I…could have  killed someone. I had her neck in my hands, I had her life between my fingers…”

“What?”

“Kudzu.  I could have snapped her neck.  I could have killed Mizu when he was  down. I almost killed him on accident anyways!”

“Murphy,” Alexis pleaded.

To my surprise, Ted put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her off, though she refused to move too far away.  

Tears streamed down my face as I shook, “I should be dead.  Ironclad should have killed me! I shouldn’t be standing, I shouldn’t be breathing! I should have died in a tree!”

A wave of cortisol and adrenaline fueled something between a panic attack and a bloodthirsty rage; as Alexis reached forward to touch me, to comfort me, to show she cared about her friend and teammate, I shoved and threw her all the way across my kitchen.  Ted got between us so I couldn’t chase her; they said something, but it was just noise to me.  My chest felt like it was tightening and I was painfully aware of something.

I couldn’t breathe.  I needed space.  

Outside.  

I followed my gut and went out the sliding door, staggering forward a few paces before falling to my knees and sucking up gulps of air.  

I had no right living through today.  I should have died…. and I wasn’t sure how long I was out there alone before I heard someone approaching.

“Hey,” Ted’s voice called out, the door closing behind him.  “Drink.”

“I’m-”

“Motherfucker, shut up and drink.”  

I looked at my fellow Enhance who was holding a bottle of rum for me, a firm expression glued to his face.  He was clearly not going to take no for an answer.

Eventually, I obliged and took a swig of the firewater.  It was decidedly rough going down, but it did help pull me more center and get me out of my own head.  “Another,” he insisted as I tried to pass the bottle back.

I reluctantly obeyed.  

This time, he took the bottle and took a massive swig of his own.  “When I was attacked by Vermin, when my team died, I remember falling apart like you did.  Rat hit my beetle form hard enough to break the armor in several places and it messed me up, made me feel weak and vulnerable. But, for a while, it was just a little  voice in the back of my head. I was focused on escape, on getting home, on making sure I’d live. The second every basic need was taken care of, I lost it, just like you did.”

I nodded slowly.  It made sense: I was home, I was safe, and my passenger was functioning again.  I had everything I needed to feel secure.

“You’ll be fine,” Ted assured me, “Considering what I saw you go through today, I’m amazed this didn’t happen earlier.  You’re a tough bastard.”

“I don’t know,” I replied.  “I’ve had a handful of life and death situations in the last week and it’s just…”

An audible flick caught my attention as he lit a cigarette and took a puff before answering.  “It’s something I’m used to. Believe me, I get it. There’s days I’ve fallen apart and been a mess.  Trust me, be happy that you have these moments.”

“Huh?”

He gave a grim expression, “Mate, it means you survived. You lived long enough to have a breakdown, which beats the alternative.”

It was a sobering thought but still, “I wish I didn’t have to.”

He shook his head, “Trust me, better to let it out.  Keep it in, you go crazy. It was a rough day, but now you’re going to drink with your teammates and mellow out, yeah?”

My extended hand got a light chuckle from him as he passed the bottle.

I rolled my eyes and took the bottle back from him as Alexis walked out and took a spot next to me.  “Sorry.”

She shrugged, “You had a bit of a breakdown after being blown up, beaten silly, and almost suffocating.  It’s acceptable. Don’t push me again, with you that’s like a punch and Ironclad’s bruises still hurt. And don’t apologize again,” she snapped before I could open my mouth.  

I donned a weak grin which got a proper smile from her.  

“So today was a shit-show,” she lamented as she took the booze.  “Throws a huge wrench in our plan.”

“Plan?  Imperium is going to be gutted by today,” Ted replied, confused.  

“We were never supposed to really bring down Imperium,” I told him.

“We were supposed to make them look weak enough to encourage Surface Dwellers to move in.  But, since Shockwave is – at best – gonna be markedly worse for wear, there isn’t going to be a fight between the two.  If Shockwave fights for his turf, he’s going to die. Since he isn’t an idiot, Imperium is going to disappear for now and lose tons influence.”

“And Surface Dwellers is just gonna fill that vacuum after crushing the small fry who try to lay claim to the now  empty turf,” Ted extrapolated.  “You wanted to pit the two against each other and let them slug it out so both could be brought down at the same time.”

“We’d make a vacuum big enough that Reckoners could help fill it,” she explained, “But the hope was we’d make enough of a name and spectacle to attract some additional Reckoners to help us.  Today was supposed to showcase us mounting a decent fight against Imperium, or at least showing we could go properly toe-to-toe and not lose.  It was going to be a beautiful bit of PR for us…and instead it almost turned into a snuff film.”

“Hey,” I noted, “It is working, at least a little bit.  We do have one foolish volunteer.”  

He nodded as he slugged down another gulp of the rum.

“Didn’t get us a Projector or Conjurer though,” Alexis lamented as the bottle was handed back to her.  “We are still a woefully lopsided group all things considered.”

Ted took another drag on his cigarette, “I know some people that I can ask.”

Both Alexis and I looked to our new Enhancer.  “Wait, what?”

“I mean, you have to realize that there are other people without teams.  They don’t make headlines like you clowns have now, but lots of smaller teams scattered around Tso’got, hell, even in Ciel get crushed and have a survivor or two.  When you are lonely, you find a few people like you, people who get it.”

“A lot of those people go to ground though,” I replied, “People without a team are an easy mark for Snatchers or Suppression.”

“The bigger fear isn’t about them.  Sure, Suppression is scary, but generally if you run into Suppression, it’s because they have been on your trail for weeks.  The bigger cage is psychological honestly. People get afraid to reach out, afraid that someone else will die on them, or that they’ll let someone else down.  But Server’s set up for communication is safe and makes it fairly easy to get in touch, and people like me have used it to reach out to someone else like them… someone else who can empathize.  There are a few survivors like me around Ciel; I could reach out and see if some people are willing to come out of hiding.”

Server was an enigmatic Adapted who seemed to facilitate nothing else than the message boards only Adapted could use.  If anyone else tried to access them, no dice. How his program could distinguish who was Adapted versus those who weren’t, no one knew.  And no one had been able to find him to ask either. The guy was a complete ghost.

Alexis and I looked to each other, mulling over Ted’s proposal.  “We’re gonna need extra hands,” I said.

“We are,” our captain admitted.  “Can you vouch for people?”

“As well as you can vouch for any other Adapted.  We’re a bunch of fucked up people, and many of the ones I am in touch with are extra broken.  They’ve seen people die or had more close calls than they reasonably ever should.”

She frowned, “We’re gonna be going against Surface Dwellers.  I need to know that people aren’t going to crack on me or break down mid fight.  We need people who can stand their ground, Ted. Can you vouch for the people you know?”

Another drag on his cigarette bought him a moment before he replied, “There’s a few I can reach out to.”

“You should probably let them know what we’re going to be up against,” I said with a grand gesture, “Toppling criminal empires and the like.  We don’t want someone coming on with us because they believe we’ll be nice and tame.”

He let out a weak laugh, “You think you can really stand against Beleth?”

“He isn’t invincible,” I pointed out.  “He has lost before. Shockwave showed him a good what-for the last time they had an engagement.”

“And how did going up against Shockwave work for you guys?”

“Bad,” Alexis replied, “But largely because we were woefully outnumbered.  Eldritch took a number of hits from the bastard without going down; how different would it have been if he had Parasite and Dragoon helping him?”

Ted didn’t have a great response for that and instead opted to finish his cigarette.  

“I mean, I’m not saying we could have won, but it would have been a very different fight if we could have isolated him.  Truth be told, we aren’t push-overs,” Alexis stated plainly.

I swooned, she glared.

“But we aren’t on their level.  We will need as much help as we can get.  So, if you can bring more people to us, please do.”

He smiled and took another swig of rum, “Does this mean I’m in?”

Alexis smiled and extended a hand, “Welcome to the Rogue Sentries, Mutant.”    

“We’re gonna have to train with new people,” I groaned, “I’m going to have to teach CQC to so many clueless people!”

“Oh, shut up,” Alexis snapped at me, playfully.  “We both know that you’re going to thrive on being the badass instructor.”  She took another hit from the bottle, her cheeks already rosy, a determined look coming to the forefront.  I recognized that look: it was the same one she had donned when she resolved for us to fight Imperium. “Surface Dwellers are probably gonna own the city by morning; We’re gonna have to take it back.”  

Previous Chapter – Next Chapter

  Most Adaptations were decently well rounded gifts, giving a mix of defensive ability and offensive capacity at the same time: people like Dragoon and Toolkit could make creative solutions to most problems, Eldritch could make himself stronger and more durable through sheer size, and I could use the strengthening of my body to be inflict or endure a heavy hit.   

And then there were people like Shockwave.

If someone took aim and put a bullet in his brain, he was done.  There was no regeneration for him, no toughened skin, nothing. But…what he sacrificed defensively was more than compensated for with his absurd offensive capacity.  Possibly scarier still was how fast he could read his opponents and figure out their patterns; Shockwave had lost a fight with Beleth once when those two behemoths clashed but managed to keep himself alive.  In a rematch, he’d been able to keep Beleth on the back foot the whole time. Time and time again he had proved that the longer a fight went against him, the lower your chance of winning.

“Kudzu, go get Mizu and take his ass inside.  He’s gonna need some painkillers when he comes to.”  As she ran by, I got up slowly and was petrified as his head snapped to the source of movement in his peripheral vision.  “Oh, I almost missed you thanks to your big monster.” As he waved to me in sarcastic greeting, his hand began to glow.

My body locked in place, paralyzed with fear.  He had nonchalantly thrown my friend—who weighed 50 times what I did—all the way to the street.  Even with my passenger guarding my organs, I didn’t want to discover the outcome when he finally released the energy he was collecting in his right hand.

Shockwave was the epitome of a pure Projector.  His gift was simple: he stored energy in his hands and released it.  The longer he held it, the more difficult it became for him to hold without his fingers breaking, but it had more payoff.  You could get an idea for how much impact you were in for based on how bright his hands were; as his digits grew in luminosity my panic followed suit.  

But before he could send me to the afterlife, he turned and blasted the energy to deflect a yellow blur.  I turned to follow Shockwave’s glare and saw Eldritch getting up off the car he’d flattened; he’d torn a door off and returned fire against the Projector.  

“It looks like you have some fight left in you,” Shockwave laughed as both his hands charged with potential energy.  “No wonder Collision couldn’t bring you down.”

Shockwave threw one hand forward and then the other; both ripples of energy hit my friend and shot him across the street, into the car that was pressed halfway into the diner.  Eldritch slamming into it pushed it the rest of the way through. Still, the hulking Neklim pulled himself free of the rubble, roaring in protest. “Well, I’ll be damned,” Shockwave said, turning to me with a wild light in his eyes, “Your friend is a beast!”  He turned, “Ironclad, come kill this one, I am gonna have some fun with the monster man!”

I wasn’t sure which horrified me more: the fact he’d casually called for my execution, or the fact that he was planning to enjoy himself while he blasted apart my best friend.  

As Eldritch ripped himself away from the building, I saw him flick an arm one way, gesturing down the road.  

Dragoon.  She was still fighting with Collision.  

While I wasn’t happy about Shockwave gleefully charging up another volley of concussive blasts for my friend to endure, I was happy his attention wasn’t on me.  As I bolted forward, I narrowly avoided a chunk of rubble being lobbed at my head.

While Shockwave didn’t care about me saving my teammate, Ironclad was done with being overlooked.  

“Where the fuck are you going?” he growled, his forehead still not quite back to normal from where I had stove his head in.

There were at least three times in the last fifteen minutes that I should have been crushed to death but I was still on my feet.  Fighting Ironclad would just exhaust what little strength I had left. “Get out of my way or I’m gonna have to bend your fucking face in again,” I spat, hoping to antagonize.  “Dragoon,” I whispered, “If you can send your drone over to me, do it.”

I was tired.  Being suffocated had given me an extra hit of adrenaline, but I had been abusing my passenger with how much damage it had mitigated.  There was no way I could have a prolonged fight with him and bend his face out of shape enough to take him out of the fight for a while.

The next best thing was tie him up and make him immobile.   

“Okay,” was her curt reply.  I could only catch glimpses of what was happening over there, but it likely wasn’t going well for her; her first bout with Collision had been awfully close but this time he hadn’t had any real pressure put on him.  Even though he had thrown a lot at Eldritch, Dragoon had been smacked about by Mizu and Ironclad which had her gasping for air.

Around the fringes, most were longer spectating.  While it was fun to see Adapted fight, fun to witness the spectacle of a huge brawl like this, someone like Shockwave made it exponentially more dangerous.  

His raw power could threaten to simply level a building if he got pissed off; most with sense vacated to prevent being caught in any artificial landslide.  Only the most stalwart people hung around the periphery, and I could swear I saw a younger guy with black hair walking forward, creeping in, like he wanted a closer look at the elusive Imperium champion.  

Turning back to Ironclad, I rushed forward, letting go of my concern for the idiots who were hanging around.  Right now, my priority was getting Dragoon clear and figuring out a way to save Eldritch.

Ducking under a hook, I jammed my staff into his knee, forcing him down.  As soon as he was off balance, I dropped the staff and flung myself onto his back.  My arms snaked under his and trapped him in a full nelson as the little robot approached.  Ironclad tried to stand up, but I pulled as hard as possible and tripped the metal man.

While it kept him immobile and let me trap his legs, it did mean I had an 800kg man land on my chest.  

I needed the strength to keep him from slipping free which limited how much my passenger could help absorb the blow.  A cry escaped my lips as several ribs cracked under his weight, but I refused to let go as the drone began scurrying around his feet, binding his ankles together despite his protest.  

“You little fucking coward,” he snarled.  “The second I’m out, I’m gonna rip your fucking-“

I jammed my staff into his mouth and set my jaw, no longer smiling.  “Fuck. You.” I ripped it free and slammed it against the bridge of his nose, again denting part of his face before springing away and evading his grasp.  

My breath caught as I saw Eldritch get thrown into the parking lot in front of the slum.  Shockwave was slowly walking forward, charging his hand; he casually blasted the slab of rubble that Eldritch threw back at him before blasting my friend back into the side of a van that basically collapsed around him.  

Even though he was basically built to withstand blunt trauma, he wouldn’t last long against that kind of abuse.  And I had suggested we let Shockwave run himself out of juice; what the fuck had I been thinking?

Vaulting over one of the many thrashed vehicles Collision had used thrown around, I finally got a good look at the downhill engagement that my friend was caught up in.  There was no forward momentum, no attempt to mount an offensive, just a girl in power armor trying her best to not fall over.

She was hurt, favoring her left side as Collision continued to pelt her with scrap metal that he could whip around fast enough she couldn’t evade, basically creating a small storm of metal and debris.  “Hey!” I shouted as I launched myself at the Projector, hoping to buy her a moment of breathing room.

Collision turned his large frame and stepped back, narrowly avoiding me slamming my staff down on his head.  But his shock wore off as his torrent of projectiles changed focus to me. Normally, I might have been able to dance around him and bait his shots… but I was too tired and sluggish.  A car tire hit my legs and up-ended me; while I did land on my hands, a door found my midsection and tossed me back into the middle of the street.

Dragoon had taken the minute of breathing room to refill her zip gun, but he hardly seemed concerned as he dragged a car between them, making his own cover.  

I got up to my feet and was immediately subject to repeat assault via rubble that Kudzu had broken free from creating her forest.  A chunk caught the side of my head and saw me stagger, my equilibrium disrupted for a moment before a car slapped into me and knocked me back towards the distillery, back towards Shockwave.  

Turning, I saw the Projector furrow his brow and shift his stance.   He was agitated, annoyed that something could take so much punishment and show no signs of damage.  His posture and what little I could see of his face effused discontent; I liked seeing that look in someone’s eye in a fistfight because it meant they were off kilter and easy to predict.  

But if Siphon was annoyed, he was only going to up his output and stress test my friend.  

As he charged both hands, something stuck out to me.  His palms were open, not in a closed fist like they had been so far.  Shockwave was going to change the flavor of blast he would hit my friend with and Eldritch had no way to stop him.

Grabbing a spare bit of broken cement, I threw it and nicked his arm to skew his aim, right before he clapped his hands together.  As soon as his palms touched, a visible wave of energy shot out like a missile, smacking aside cars through the parking lot and eventually coming into contact with the slum.  

The instant it did, it erupted into a cone of demolition that ripped through several walls in the blink of an eye.  

As tough as Eldritch was, I didn’t want to see what would have happened if he’d taken that headon.  

Imperium’s heavy hitter turned to me and glared, charging a hand for a quick moment before thrusting his fist my direction.  I tried to dodge but was still tagged in the midsection. As the little distortion of air popped, I found myself hurtling backwards and crashing through a window.  

The next thing I was dimly aware of was coming to amidst a scattered pile boxes.

I tried to get up to my feet but stumbled and fell back to the floor, the world still spinning as my head throbbed.  Blood was flowing down my scalp and my whole body screamed in agony. While the spider silk had kept glass from lacerating, it didn’t help take the blow Shockwave had slammed me with.

The passenger had manage to reduce impact enough to let me live, and was now hastily forcing ribs back into place while feverishly accelerating cell growth.  It was like my torso was trying to light on fire as bones knit in seconds instead of weeks. This wasn’t something my metabolism could handle, and I’d have to check later with Dragoon to see if this did any lingering damage.  

Again I tried to get up, again I flopped to the floor of an electronics store that had been down the road.  Dragging myself across the floor, I aimed towards a chair that I could use to help get to my feet.

It was sheer dumb luck that had kept me alive.  If Shockwave had shot me into a brick wall or something with less give than shelf of computer parts packaged with bubble wrap, I would be a corpse.  If he had his a limb or my head, he would have torn it off and the blood loss would have killed me. Even so, even with the miraculous and almost pillowesque crash pad I was given, it had taken all the wind out of my sails and sapped all the will to fight out of me.

He hadn’t even charged it all the way up.  I was given maybe a one-third dose of what Eldritch was enduring.      

“You’re not looking so hot, Parasite,” a condescending voice called as the door opened, ringing a little bell.  I gave a look and saw heavy boots…and a black and white mask. “Maybe you shouldn’t have pissed off the boss man.”

I groaned as he grabbed me by the collar and started dragging me away.  I tried to fight, but my passenger wasn’t able to give me any assistance; it was dedicated to damage control, trying to stop the internal bleeding brought on from the trauma to my torso.    

Never mind that I wasn’t going to be needing my lungs, heart, or anything else rattling around in my chest soon.  

What perplexed me was that Siphon hadn’t killed me yet.  

“What are you doing,” I managed to groan weakly as my head started to clear.  

“Ironclad has a flair for the dramatic.  He isn’t happy about you being a pain to him and wants to break you himself.  I just enjoy watching the big guy work.” He seemed to notice me carry more of my weight and perk up slowly as my  body gave me a feeble hit of adrenaline in desperation, “Don’t run. I feel you getting your feet back; you insist on being a pain I’ll flip on my power.”  

“You got it,” I mumbled as I tilted my head up to see what had happened in my absence.  

Eldritch was still on his feet, but it was peculiar seeing a Neklim that looked…punch drunk.  He was staggering around, unable to move in a completely straight line as Shockwave continued to pepper him with more targeted blasts.  While he had been agitated earlier, he seemed to be enjoying himself now that damage was clearly being dealt to my friend. Just as he had been able to modify his attack with the clap, he was able to focus energy into his fingertips for a more localized shot; he had started chipping away chunks of growth from Eldritch with one hand while repeatedly blasting his whole body with the other, keeping him unsteady.  

More concerning was the fact my friend was smaller; he’d either run out of mass to consume or he was so beaten up he properly use his Adaptation.  

Worse was Dragoon.  Ironclad had ripped free and she had been forced into a fist fight with him.  If she tried to run, Collision would smack her back towards the enforcer who was adding dents to her armor with every hit.  She tried to raise her arms to guard, he went low and slammed her torso; as my captain doubled over, he planted a hook into her helmet and she went down like a bag of rocks.  For good measure, he stomped on her side a few times before lifting her and throwing her against the ground as hard as he could.

She didn’t move, and there was no auditory cue that she was even alive in the suit.  

“Drag-“ I started before Siphon hauled me upright and pushed me forward.  

“Here you go, Iron,” he said with a laugh, “The second course!”

What blew my mind is that there were still people watching.  Shockwave showing up had scared off a lot of them, but many were still filming what had likely been my captains execution.  Cameras rolled as my friend was shot back into a wall before five small blasts ripped off his suit’s left arm. There was even a guy coming closer to record…

I think it was the same dude with black hair I had seen earlier.  Was I delusional or did he look… happy?

“Give him the staff,” Ironclad snapped at Siphon.  

The assassin opened my hand and slapped the four kilogram hunk of metal into my hand.  

Was it always this heavy?  

I twisted and it extended, but it felt so unwieldy as I raised it and took a swing at Ironclad.  

He blocked with laughable ease and didn’t even bother hitting me.  All he did was push and I tripped, falling onto my ass with no poise.  My balance and natural agility were shot, leaving me feeling painfully out of sorts.  

It was exactly how the end of my fight with Siphon had felt.  Right before I had been left at the mercy of a psychopath.

This time, there was no Dragoon to save me and bargain for my life.  

I got up to my feet, barely able to stand as Ironclad marched forward, smacking aside my staff and slapping me in the face.  My jaw threatened to dislocate and I fell back to the ground, dazed.

All my fitness and strength training hadn’t been enough to let me keep fighting after taking a single hit from Shockwave, and all of Eldritch’s size wouldn’t save him either.  Rogue Sentries were going to be another name of failed Reckoners who had stood against these madmen and had been cut down like dogs.

Ironclad grabbed my tunic and effortlessly dragged me up, hitting me in the stomach and cracking some of the ribs my body had fixed only moments ago.  Pivoting, he whipped me around and let me fly into the rear windshield of a parked car that had almost survived the carnage of the evening.  The glass spider-webbed under me as my vision blurred due to pain.  With effort, I ripped myself out of the divot and slid off the trunk of the car.  

“I told, you were out of your league,” Ironclad growled as he sauntered closer.  

Gritting my teeth, I avoided his first punch but couldn’t manage much more than weakly shoving against an adult-sized slab of steel.  He laughed as he shoved me back against the trunk of the car and drove a fist into my guts.

“But you had to prove yourself, didn’t you?”

I turned to glare at Ironclad, “Fuck. You.”

A metal fist slammed into my jaw and pitched me to the curb.  Without the cars intruding on my view, I could see everyone watching at the end of the block.  And I saw… the same guy. Closer this time. Dangerously close to Shockwave. For a moment, he simply stared at me.

Then a sly smile crept across his face, like he was in on a joke that no one else knew.  He winked at me slowly and raised a hand.

At first I thought he was waving, like saying goodbye since my time was definitely short but then he slowly drew a finger in… like he was counting down.  

Ironclad picked me up and heaved me back against the trunk.  “Ironclad,” I panted, “Behind you.”

For a moment, all of the Imperium members looked between each other, and then they laughed.  “Do you think we’re gonna fall for that?”

“Ironclad, there is an Adapted out of costume here.  I’m fucking serious! Please,” I begged, “Turn around.”  

While he didn’t let go of me, Ironclad did turn and see the oddly enthusiastic guy hit two on his finger counting.  “What the fuck?”

A new wash of adrenaline hit my veins and I pushed Ironclad’s hand off my tunic as the mysterious figure counted to one.  I rolled off the trunk of the car and threw myself underneath the chassis as the last finger closed.

And then everything exploded.  

Cars erupted in fireballs and several buildings around the arena we had made burst into flames as a thunderous BOOM shook the whole area.  Glass shattered and people screamed as chaos suddenly reigned supreme.  

A metal hand snaked under the frame and pulled me free.  “Did you fuckers do this?” Ironclad shouted in my face as he slammed me against the side of the car.

One of the cars that had detonated had been pushed in the middle of the road and had only been a stones throw from Siphon and Collision.  While Ironclad wasn’t at risk thanks to his composition, those two decidedly were. Both were stumbling forward, dazed, disoriented. Siphon’s suit had a few tears and the skin underneath was bright red from the sudden burst of  heat.

But the real damage was done to the strongest member of Imperium.  

Even though Shockwave had blasted away anything Eldritch threw back at him, this had completely blindsided him.  He was still recovering from the initial concussion, staggering back into the road with a sliver of metal embedded in his thigh.  Around his crimson suit, there were patches that darkened thanks to additional shrapnel nestling in.

As I looked, the man responsible was gone, but I knew exactly who it was.  

“Did you fuckers do this?” Ironclad asked again, slamming his fist into the trunk beside my head.

“No,” I replied, shaky, “We’re Reckoners!  You think we’d do shit like this?”

He glanced at the still form of Dragoon, “She could have set something up.”

“It wasn’t us!” I insisted, “That was Rig!  He was the one here out of costume!”

Ironclad withdrew like he had been bitten, “You sure?”

“Fucking look around!  This is what he does!”

He took a moment before letting go of my collar, “Don’t fuck with us.  Deal?”

“Deal,” I agreed hastily as I got to my feet and bent over to grab my staff.  

Rig was a member of another Adapted team that neither of us wanted anything to do with.

Vermin.  

While all but Beleth abstained from showing off their Adapted powers without a mask, someone like Rig would be willing to do it for effect and to gain the element of surprise.

After all, no one would ever expect an Adapted to do something like this out of a costume and risk compromising their identity.  But if they were a deluded criminal, all normal rules and trends quickly went out the window.

Rig’s gift was a mix of Peculiar and Projector.  When he touched inorganic objects, he could imbue a charge that would trigger when he did his ‘detonation sequence’; the longer he drew out the countdown, the stronger the blasts were.  

Since no one recognized him as an Adapted at all, there was no reason for him to hurry.  

He was a perfect fit for Vermin: he was psychotic, he had a power that lent itself to causing mayhem and pain, and he had a magnificent sense of timing that kept him from being caught.  Since they were hated by everyone, the ones who survived for any length of time in Vermin were dangerous bastards. A perfect description for Rig.

“But, they always operate in a group,” I whispered to myself as I stumbled over to Dragoon.  

Sure enough, where everyone else was trying to run, a handful of people surged forward, donning masks and hoods.

We thought Rogue Sentries was setting up to make Imperium look like a group of disorganized idiots; we’d only been the lure for Vermin to go fishing.  They were obsessed with killing the big names and Shockwave was one of the biggest and most elusive fish in the city.

And we’d brought him to a killing field.   

“Shockwave!  It’s been a while!” a manic voice screamed out across the confusion, seemingly amplified to be audible amidst the sounds of the havoc Rig had unleashed.  

I froze, knowing that voice only by reputation and from videos.  Rat, the head of Vermin, and the only consistent member for the last seven years, was a Peculiar/Enhancer combo.  When he used his Adaptation, he drew from the emotional energy of the area around him to augment his body. Unlike most who had some kind of body alteration, he wasn’t remotely consistent with what he changed into.

The only uniform aspect of any monstrous form he’d taken was that he didn’t go down.  Very few had beaten Rat, and none had ever managed to do any permanent damage to the psychotic freak.

Dropping from the roof of the general store, Rat had already started mutating.  His left arm was turned red and horrifically oversized while the right arm had transformed into a lengthy tentacle that dragged behind him.  The rest of Rat was the wrong consistency, as if his skin had been replaced with a layer of clay.

All of Shockwave’s casual demeanor had vanished as he stared down a real threat.  His hands began to charge…and then he took a step back, glancing around.

I was confused why he would do that, and then I realized that I had dropped my staff to the ground.  

What…was I even doing?

Dragoon.  Eldritch. My friends, I needed to get them out of here.  Vermin had set this up as an attempt on Shockwave’s life; if we didn’t get out now, we’d get swept up along and end up in the blender.  

“Dragoon,” I pleaded, “Come on, please be alive in there.”  Reaching under her arm, I dragged the suit of armor up to its feet, struggling to do so.  “Hey, Dragoon! Come on!”

“I’m alive, Parasite,” I heard in reply.  “Ironclad broke my power cell and beat the rest of me banged up enough that my auxiliary batteries broke.  The armor is heavy, but I can walk it inside if you get me up.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, “I don’t know how long you’ve been awake but-”

Rat came flying by us, slamming  into a car. Instead of properly transferring momentum though, his torso kind of squished against it and then congealed back together.  He wasn’t bothered, and was content to smile as he wrapped a tentacle around the vehicle and sling it back at Shockwave effortlessly.

“Vermin are-” she stopped mid sentence.

…what had we been talking about?

I was holding my friend’s power armor.  That was right, we needed to get out of here.  “We need to get Eldritch,” I insisted as I scooped up my staff, noticing it sitting on the ground again.  Why would I have left it there? I shook my head and slipped it into the pouch and helped her up.

“Where is he?”

“Last I saw, he was being meshed with the wall of the slum.  Come on.”

As we moved, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Rat leaping around before eating another blast from Shockwave, but the Imperium powerhouse hadn’t been able to get a full charge.  Rat was fast and seemed content to take the smaller hits that kept him at bay but couldn’t completely obliterate him.

But as he was hit one more time, I swore I saw him glance at us and sneer.  

He’d have bigger pro-

Why was I in this parking lot?       

“Dragoon,” I said, shaking my head, “What are we doing?”

“I don’t remember,” she replied.  And then a lightbulb seemed to flick on, “I-we need to get Eldritch!”

            How on earth could we be forgetting my best friend?  

“Something is fucking with our head,” I said to her.  “Like some Adapted is messing with our thoughts.”

“More reason for us to get out of here.”  

As we approached Eldritch, I was mortified.  His immense stature had been reduced from ten feet tall to only seven or so, and the left arm hadn’t regrown from where Shockwave surgically blasted it off.  While normally the tentacles formed a consistent lattice layer over my friend, they were all disorganized, buzzing independently and teeming like an angry swarm of bees.  

“Eldritch, buddy,” I muttered, “Come on.  You okay in there?”

There was a bit of a shift in the mass of tentacles, “Alive.  Can’t, control it completely. Stuff messing with my brain screwed up control and Shockwave’s beating weakened my hold.  Don’t get close, it’s really reactive.”

Dragoon tested it and moved forward, and I had to pull her away from a wild swing by the Neklim arm.  

“We gotta get you out,” I said, “Vermin showed up and Rat isn’t losing to Shockwave.  I think the other members are dealing with Imperium people, but I don’t know who…or where they are.”  

Around the distillery, flames still raged, a few more detonations by Rig being triggered to ensure that chaos and fear ripped through anyone close by.  Even if the police or Suppression wanted to show up, Rig being able to lay traps around the staging ground would keep anyone from interfering for a long time.

It ensured Rat had plenty of emotional energy to fuel his horrific transformation.  A glance showed me that his fight against Shockwave was going much too well for the psychopath.  There was some other Adapted with Rat who seemed to basically be made of tar that was chasing Siphon while Collision was trying to fight with some pyrokinetic that was pulling from the flames Rig had so kindly started.  Ironclad was trying to be a deterrent for Rat, but the weird malleable body seemed to make him nearly impervious to brute force.

And that massive red arm of his was strong enough to bitch slap Ironclad around like he weighed no more than a toy.  

“Eldritch, how can we help get you out?  We need to get inside and change out, go back to being regular people.  If we loiter, Vermin will just see us like another target, and I don’t know how long Imperium are going to hold out.”  

It was a little odd to be cheering for Imperium.  

“Need to snap control back.  Dragoon, I need you to shoot me; I think the threat to the host will give me back control or at least make it act in my best interest and let me get up.”  

“Eldritch-“

“Alexis, fucking shoot me,” he hissed through the suit.

“Nick, I-”

I reached down and fished out the staff, extending and jabbing it forward with as much force as I could muster.  While the suit revolted instinctually and grabbed my weapon, half a second later there was a strange calming of the individual tendrils.   

And then they all faded into a fine powder as my friend reappeared, battered and bruised in his birthday suit.  “Thanks.”

I helped him to his feet and we hurried inside the slum, finding the hologram orb that Dragoon had left for him.  

He was audibly relieved to not be walking around completely naked anymore.  

Up a flight of stairs and we slithered back into the apartment we had commandeered for the time being and all collapsed.  

“Vermin were waiting for us to do this, bring Shockwave out,” Dragoon hissed as she ripped off chunks of armor that were still trying to shift plates back into place.  “We just did their fucking dirty work!”

“At least he isn’t too tired from beating the piss out of me,” Nick muttered as his illusion fell, revealing him now clad in sweats and a t-shirt.  His face was mottled bruised as if he’d been in a nasty fist fight; it was probably safe to assume the rest of him wasn’t looking so hot either.

I tried to smile even though my face hurt still from Ironclad slapping me, “At least we managed to get away.”

Alexis frowned as she slipped out of her kev-silk bodysuit; even under that she had a few bruises already formed.  One on her ribs was especially bad. The fact she wasn’t more damage after going ten rounds with Ironclad and Collision was a testament to Armorsmith’s work with her extra layer of protection.  “I don’t know that we’re out of the woods yet. I know you saw Rat look at us, I saw it too. If there’s one thing that Vermin do well, it’s chase.”

“But he’s busy with Imperium,” Nick said, “We’re small potatoes compared to them.”

“Vermin are obsessed with their head count,” our captain pointed out. “We’re beat to shit, and we were enough to bring Shockwave out to play; we’re an easy target worth picking up.”  She sighed, “And of course, we don’t know how many members of Vermin are here…or what we’re up against.”

“And some of them might be out of costume,” I mentioned.  “I saw Rig before he set off the first round of explosions.  He was letting his lack of disguise hide his intentions; he just looked like a spectator who wanted to get dangerously close to the fight.  While not usual, it isn’t the craziest thing. He probably slipped around the whole time setting up his charges and no one paid him any mind.”

“We couldn’t spare the attention and Imperium simply didn’t care,” Nick sighed, “I should have noticed.”

“You were constantly fighting two on one,” I laughed, “This isn’t on you.”

An awkward pause came over the room as we all tried to collect ourselves.  Today had started pretty well, and it would have been just fine if Shockwave hadn’t showed up.  But, we hadn’t been prepared for extra interference; Alexis bit the inside of her cheek as she looked us over, “This is on me for not thinking about Vermin.  We saw them the night of the dog fight and I should have been more mindful. Now we just have to hope that Imperium can handle themselves and that Shockwave stays alive; if he dies I don’t want to imagine how much damage the power vacuum he’d leave behind might cause.”  She let out a tired sigh, “For now though, the best thing we can do at this point is get the hell out of here.”

“Well, we can’t have that.”  

All of us stiffened as a ghoulish figure opened the door to our little hideout.

He was malformed in a way that nature didn’t normally manufacture.  While there weren’t any properties to him that made him seem necessarily inhuman, like Rat possessed, he was disturbingly asymmetrical.  Half his jaw hung open with a massive tongue hanging out, one of his elbows bent the wrong direction, and his legs were weirdly oversaturated with muscle where the rest of his pale body seemed awkwardly anemic.  

“What the-“

“Eldritch, grow!” Alexis snapped, “Now!”

“I can’t!”

“Parasite, get rid of him!”

Grabbing my staff, I was alarmed at the aberrations speed as he bounded across the room and drove a foot into my hip.  Tossed off balance, I managed to find my footing quickly but my weapon was tossed out of my hand. Growling, I threw a quick strike to his face, but the freak just bent backwards as if he didn’t have a spine.

Except, you could hear bone crack and snap as he made the jarring movement.  

His foot shot back up into my torso and knocked me against the wall; I was still slow and my body had endured so much abuse that the pain made my eyes swim.  

Who the hell was this guy?

Alexis was out of her armor and I couldn’t ask her to help with her power supply broken; while I would have loved Nick’s help, without mass to grow, he wasn’t going to be of any assistance.  

I willed my passenger into my arms and slammed both hands under his ankle, hoping to lift his leg and knock him over; his hip opted to dislocate his hip and he wrenched his leg straight vertical while his torso now touched the ground, adding extra balance.  

And then he brought his heel straight down.

Muscle memory had me dodge to the side and it was a good thing since the malformation kicked hard enough to shatter the floorboards.  His head, still on the floor, turned to me with a sickening crack of his neck breaking… again. “Imperium really did a number on you, Parasite,” he cackled, “I thought you’d be a challenge!”  

I was going to reply, but a pneumatic hiss heralded a bullet entering his chest.  As his head turned, Alexis fired another eight rounds into his torso without blinking.  She held her gantlet with a grim determination, one of the panels torn free so she was able to quickly realign her power supply.    

The thing howled and twitched on the floor, curling into itself like an insect in its death throes.

And then it turned completely grey, like it was decomposing at an incredible speed.  All of us gagged as a putrid smell filled the apartment; the body had started liquefying and slowly seeped towards the break in the floor.  

“Who the-“

“Miss me?” the same voice asked as another figure filled the doorway.  

It was clearly the same base person, but he was twisted a different way this time.  One leg was longer than the other, both arms long enough they dragged on the floor, and hair down past his waist but thinned out.  

As he stepped forward and I braced myself, it stopped moving.  A confused grunt escaped the freak as a red stain trickled down its chest; a pair of claws had literally torn straight through the creature’s ribs.  

It looked down, just as surprised as we were.  

It tried to turn and something resembling a werewolf leapt onto the twisted form and bit out the neck in a swift motion.  It toppled without another sound and went through the same convulsions that the other twisted figure had endured.

Alexis trained her glove on the new figure in our midst.  He was maybe 6’ tall but layered in muscle with a coat of thick brown fur over the top.  Massive claws would likely limit the use of his hands for anything other than killing, and his blood-stained snout revealed twin rows of sharp canines.  

“Who the fuck are you?” our captain asked.  

In a blur, he seemed to distort and quickly shrink back to a regular looking guy clad in shorts and a plain white t-shirt with a mop of black hair and deep green eyes.  “I’m a friend.”

“And why should we trust you,” Alexis prodded, unconvinced.  

Hands still raised, the shapeshifter slowly knelt down in clear surrender, “Listen, Dragoon, I know this is abrupt, it’s sudden, but please let me help you.”

“Why are you here,” she demanded.  

“And how do you know who we are?” Nick inquired.  

“You’re fighting Imperium,” he said with a chuckle, “It is hard to not know who the Rogue Sentries are.”

“Why are you here,” our captain asked again, agitated.  “Tell me why I shouldn’t put one in your head. We don’t know if you’re Vermin and just fucking with us.  They are a bunch of freaks who love playing mind games.”

He nodded, “My name is Ted, or Mutant if you want the Reckoner title.  I’m here because Vermin killed my friends,” he divulged. “They were my team…. and Vermin fucking cut them down like they didn’t matter.  Everyone but me,” he managed to croak.

I could hear the audible snag in his voice; his grief was either real or he was a phenomenal actor.

“That still doesn’t answer my question.”  

Mutant’s dark expression lightened and he let out a laugh, “I’m here because I can’t do it alone.  I’m here,” he looked up and met Alexis’ challenging glare, “Because I need a new team.”

Previous Chapter _ Next chapter

    9/33/2080

    Today was the day.

    Alexis and I were sitting across the street, effectively squatting in a vacant apartment – if you could call this shithole a living space – in the slum a block away.  Six in the evening and people were slowly filtering away from the area, heading home or going out for dinner after a long day of industrial toil for most.

    Both of us were focusing on a screen that was giving us a live feed from a trio of her dragonflies that were circling around the area, watching the drawn-out exodus.  One of the feeds was showing the drone circling around our target, the old police station turned hangout, but without any ability to see inside. Even with thermal imaging, we got nothing.  

    “Toolkit must have made something to stop me from seeing in,” Alexis lamented, “Stupid Cognate bitch.”  

    “I mean, how many could they have total?” I asked.  “Like…six Adapted?  I’m figuring if they know we’re showing up, they aren’t going to use a bunch of typical soldiers.”

    “If their whole lineup is here, nine,” she corrected.  “Mizu, Ironclad, Kudzu, Collision, Siphon, Toolkit – though she isn’t a fighter – Reappear, Collector, and the big man himself.”

    “Okay, hopefully not everyone is in attendance then,” I replied.  “I don’t think we could reasonably take a 3 on 1 for each of us…especially considering one of those would be Shockwave.”  

    She shook her head, “Definitely not.  Last time we had trouble with the straight dueling.”  

    “We will have our big boy Eldritch here with us to alleviate a fair amount of the pressure.  I don’t think they have a good answer to a four tonne Neklim, do you?”

    Alexis pondered for a minute, “Kudzu is good for slow targets.  As strong as our friend is, he isn’t going to be strong enough to rip free of endlessly growing tree roots.  I mean, Kudzu has ripped down entire buildings when given enough time.”

    I frowned, “You make a point.  But, if we can give her a little bop on the head, she’ll take a nap and it’ll be okay.”

    “You say it like attacking someone who makes can create entire makeshift buildings will be easy.”  

    “She’s got no extra mobility, and I’m a bouncy bitch.  I’ll make it work.”

    She rolled her eyes, “I’m just hoping Nick comes well enough fed.  If he gives out, we won’t last for long against half of them.”  I saw her do another look over her armor, as if looking for flaws or breaks in her self-repairing suit.  

    “Alexis, take it easy.  Nick isn’t going to let us down.  Since Siphon kicked my ass, he has been itching to prove himself.  For a guy who is generally pretty complacent, he has been especially motivated the last few days to get his storage in order.  I’m sure he’ll be well stocked.”

    “I hope you’re right,” she whispered.  

    “At least if I get injured this time, you’ll be in good conscience about it,” I said, far too chipper.  

    “You really aren’t helping,” she grumbled, not looking up.  

    “And your armor is still intact,” I pointed out.  “I can safely say that it hasn’t broken in the last ten minutes since you checked.”  

    “I’m trying to not think about how many people there are still milling around on the screens.  If Collision misses us and hits them with a car, they die. Poof. Dead,” she said, looking away from her suit for a moment, “I…I’m afraid to go through with this.”

    I flipped over and balanced on my hands to put my face in front of hers, “Last week there was a fight between Shock and Awe with Ironclad and Collector.  Four bystanders killed and thirteen injured as a result of the fight. The only reason that fight broke out was because of the turf war started over Surface Dweller’s Dart production.  A few other minor gangs are challenging, but the only one to really cause problems is Imperium. We knew it would get ugly before it could get better.”

    “Yeah, I know.  But hypothetical ugly and seeing people that we’re putting at risk are different things.  I know cops are reluctant to get involved with the bigger named gangs, and Suppression is careful going after big organizations like Imperium, which means they run around without government opposition.  But it doesn’t make me feel better that we might cost some people their life because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Hell, no one is going to stop this fight because no one in their right mind is going to want to get involved! Everything that happens is gonna be on us!”

    “Hey,” I said, moving my face within an inch of hers, “Stop.  Don’t feel guilty for being a Reckoner and doing your best to help people.  When cops and criminals have a firefight, there is collateral. We’re just trying to depose the guys with superpowers so the police can actually do their job.”  

    “Get out of my face,” she groaned and shoved; I corrected and took a few steps back on my hands.  “You know I hate that you can do that, right?”

    “Of course I do.”

    “I hope the blood pools in your head and you pass out.”

    “It won’t,” I replied, confident.  “My friend will force it to circulate so I can’t black out like this, no matter how long I am on my hands.”  

    She groaned, “Oh, eat shit.”

    “I’ll take a firm pass!”  

    Alexis tried to swipe an arm out from under me; I lifted it and kept balancing on a single limb.  

    “So violent for someone who doesn’t want to cause collateral!”  

    “And you wonder why no girl ever wants to date you,” she said as she swiped at my other arm and forced me to hop away.  “Oh my God, STOP BEING SO FUCKING BOUNCY!”

    “Never!” I exclaimed with a cackle as I planted my other hand down and launched myself across the crummy bedroom and twirled, landing on my feet, facing her.  

    As she was about to charge me, the door opened and our last member strolled through, taking a seat on the only bit of furniture in the foul smelling room which happened to be a markedly uncomfortable recliner.  

    Before he had said a word, he opted out of the recliner and just flopped onto the floor.  “And people live in this shit show?”

    “Over 200 people live in this building,” Alexis replied while looking back to the displays from her drones.  All three had been assigned a new goal of trying to get into the Imperium stronghold; none had been successful given the grim look on her face.  “Fucking Toolkit must have made sure that the building was sealed up nice and tight.”

    “Nothing?”

    “Nothing,” she affirmed, “No open windows, no cracks in the walls, no outlet for a ventilation system, nothing,” she groaned, “And every angle of the damned building is hidden with that interference.  I wish I could talk with Toolkit and get her to give me pointers on making some stuff, it would be awful helpful.”

    “Well,” I finally interjected, “Not that waiting around for you to get us more information isn’t fun, but we are eventually gonna have to move out.  Shall we get down to it?”

    She gave a huff, “I hate when you’re right.  Nicky, how’re you feeling?”

“Took a while, but I have four hundred ready for consumption.  I figure I can do 200 initial and have 200 left for repairing my suit as the fight goes on.  Should keep me big and strong for a long while.”

Alexis scanned him up and down, “You good to control it?”

He nodded, “I’m here, and we’ve got a job to do.”  

I smiled, glad to hear my friend was level headed even after our little scuffle yesterday.  “So, captain, what’s the plan?”

You could practically see the wheels spinning as she looked at the target in question.  “Our goal isn’t really to bring down the building or the distillery,” she began, “But our goal is to make Imperium look like they aren’t up to snuff.  We only take the building and storm it if there is minimal Adapted resistance, agreed?”

Nick and I nodded.  

“Given what Toolkit did with the building, I’m assuming they are likely paying some Cognate to get some idea of where we might be striking next, maybe Big Picture since he is willing to work with anyone who has enough money.  So, with that in mind, I’m expecting that we’re going to be up against probably five Adapted, maybe six. Xana may have been right and they may go for the option to utterly annihilate us and show Surface Dwellers that they are still a big threat.”  

“Who are you thinking?”

“With any luck, they are assuming that we are intent on sabotaging them as an organization.  Their first goal is going to be to protect their investment as opposed to killing us.  So, Kudzu is one I am pretty sure about. She is best suited to cage us in, keep us from getting to the building in the first place.”

Part of the reason we chose this location to attack was because it offered Imperium an advantageous stage to fight on.  The old police station was up on an elevated plinth with a wide walkway and three lane street separating it from the closest building we could hole up in.  While there were some storefronts in that were directly behind Imperium’s stronghold, Alexis was wary of traps set in there by Toolkit since someone at Imperium had to recognize the danger of someone tunneling in or to gain access through that wall.  

Besides, we wanted to be seen.  We were deliberately doing this at a time when we could be recorded, ensuring we were going to be watched by tens of thousands around the city.  

“Who else are we going to be contending with?”

“I’m fairly sure Ironclad will be here,” she thought aloud, “As well as Collision.  Both of them are decent countermeasures for you, or at least can stand against Eldritch.  While Kudzu can ultimately overpower you, she takes a while to get online and you’ll need immediate attention.”  

“You said five, that’s three.”

“Siphon isn’t the most likely, but given how much he loves a good fight, he might show back up and wait for one of us to be isolated.  Reappear is more likely though since he’d be able to split us apart and help cause chaos.”

Reappear, a Peculiar whose Adaptation let him temporarily phase something out of sync with the world for a few seconds.  While he could see and interact with what was removed, others couldn’t. If he phased people, he could move them around and they were powerless to stop him.  Alternatively, he could de-sync himself and set himself up to materialize behind you.  Even thought he couldn’t repeatedly affect the same target, but he seldom needed to.  

“At least he can’t sneak up on our trump card,” I noted, “Most people aren’t aware that Eldritch has panoramic vision.”  

“Mizu isn’t unlikely either.  There is a fire suppression system on the corner; if someone like Ironclad broke that open for him, he’d have a lot of liquid at his disposal.  I’d say he’s probably 50/50 on showing up. Collector is another fairly likely one, one more method of obstructing and making the battlefield harder for us to maneuver around.”  

Collector was a Conjurer/Projector combo who stored objects of seemingly any size in a little pocket dimension, like the one that Nick had for his food supply.  While there was supposedly some criterion for what she could and couldn’t absorb into her stockpile, no one really knew since she kept that information close to the vest.  What was known was her ability to rapidly materialize objects from her storage, creating obstructions and hazards in an instant. It wasn’t a power that let her be a solo player, but she worked incredibly well with someone like Siphon or Ironclad.  She would trap you and give no option for escape from one of their bruisers.

Nick fidgeted, “You seem to have neglected the big one.”

Alexis frowned, “I’m guessing 50/50, but not because of the setting.  For Shockwave, it is all about the posturing that will determine if he is present.  If he thinks we are a threat, he does give us credence and will show. But, I have no way to tell if he perceives us as more than an annoyance.  While we haven’t necessarily had a solid win against Imperium, we haven’t had a real loss either. Depending on his mood, we might warrant squashing, or maybe he doesn’t care.”  

“The flip of a coin is what we’re wagering on?” I asked, “Not sure I love those odds.”

She shook her head, “He doesn’t play by the same rules we do.  Guys like him, their cred is as strong as their actual power. The other guys we’ve gone up against have some reputation to protect, but we aren’t in the same league as Shockwave plain and simple.  He tangles with people like Clemency, Armada, and even Pandora.  That’s why we want Beleth to come in and clean up, we’re just lighting the fuse to prompt them to have a round three. We really don’t want to tangle with Shockwave…at all.”

“So, how do we play this?”

“Our goal is to draw them out, let them believe we’re being stupid Reckoners and are in over our head.  We want them outside, visible and public.  The more people recording us, the better.”   

I frowned, “Sure, but when do we run?”

“If we can bring down one of their projectors or do some damage to another member, and then incapacitate Kudzu, at that point we run.  Collision and Ironclad, assuming they are present, are going to simply wear down on us. Ironclad will be nearly impossible to kill for anyone besides Eldritch, and even then he won’t go down easily.  The guy has run into Goliath, who didn’t have a lot of luck ripping him apart. Once we have done the easy damage, we bail. To help with that, since there is a decent chance we get split up, I made us some microphones and earbuds to help keep in touch.”

Nick frowned, “I can’t use one of those.  My suit would break it.”   

“No, but Parasite and I can.  If you see one of us frantically waving, you know it is time to go.  In a perfect world, you’re going to charge back towards this slum and shed a lot of the growth as you go, leaving just enough to obscure yourself.  Once inside, I’ll leaving one of my hologram projectors by the door. You click that on and hide in this room, pretend you’re a resident hiding from the horrific Adapted fight happening just outside.”  

“What about us?”

“Being the nimble bitch you are, you’re going to bail over a rooftop to the North.  Try not to go too far since the mic only has a range of about a kilometer. Ideally, you run for a bit and lose them, then make your back here over some rooftops on the sly and join Nick.”

“And you?”

“I have my car parked in a public parking lot three blocks south of here. Once I’m clear, I use my own hologram projector to hide me ditching my armor in my car and turning back into Alexis Trent.  We meet back up in this room and leave together later when they aren’t on the prowl.”

I frowned, “I’m quick, but no offense to you, you aren’t the fastest gal ever, even with your armor.  Are you sure you can manage getting away?”

“I’ve upgraded a lot of my non-lethal measures to hopefully make a dent on the people here.  My concussion grenades should stop anyone besides Ironclad in their tracks, and it still might give him a nasty headache depending how his brain works when he’s transformed.  I should be able to make enough of a gap between anyone chasing me to be okay.”

“And if Shockwave shows?” I asked.

Nick let out a nervous exhale, “He’s gonna look at me first at least.  I mean, I’m going to be ten feet tall,” he said with a shrug, “I’m aiming to be too big to ignore, remember?”

Alexis pursed her lips, almost ignoring Nick’s attempt at levity.  “He…complicates things if he shows up. If he is there right out of the gate, we run immediately.  We don’t dawdle and pretend we have a chance. Assuming he’ll wait until later, once Kudzu is down we need to try and make a break for it.  Once Murphy and I can rip ourselves away, Nicky, you’ll kind of have to figure out your own escape route.”

“And if we can’t get out?” I inquired.  “What then?”

“Then…we make a call.  I’d rather not entertain that thought.  I want all of us getting out of this in one piece.”   

A moment of silence passed as we all looked at each other, each of us a bit nervous, really feeling the weight of the situation.  

“When do we start?” Nick finally braved.

“We’ll move out at seven,” she replied, “It gives us half an hour to have a little snack, hydrate, and get in the right headspace.”

While normally there might have been a little cheer between us, a joke made, some teasing, it was all absent; instead there was an oppressive silence.    

Another thirty minutes, and most of the time each one of us spent getting ready in our own way: Nick seemed to be meditating, Alexis was making sure she was loaded up, and I quickly ate and began stretching.  My passenger swam through my body, reacting to the stress I was feeling as the time drew nearer.

Rogue Sentries’ first real public brawl.  

The alarm chimed, and it was showtime.  

“Alright big guy,” Alexis said as she finished sliding her armor on, “You’re up.”  

I pulled down my mask and didn’t even bother throwing my staff in the little holster we’d made in my suit.  With the little earbud slipped in, I opened the door as Nick passed through, growing a layer of Neklim muscle and turning into Eldritch.  As we approached the front door of the tenement, he was almost too big to fit through.

Alexis had set a hologram like a bubble as we walked outside, hiding us in our Reckoner apparel until we were a good distance from our little ‘hideout’ before she turned it off.  

Once the little distortion in the air was gone, the reaction was immediate.  A scream pierced the general din of the city as we strutted forward, looking as done up as possible.  Eldritch lead the way, already eight feet tall and still growing with each step. As I’d expected, he threw his arms to the side and roared, a prompt for most people to run, and a metaphorical knock on Imperium’s front door.  

I took a quick glance around at our surroundings.  To the north was a three floored general store with a diner adjoining it.  A parking lot separated those two structures with the slum we had exited. Not a lot of places to run and hide in there, but I’d be able to make due when the time came.  If nothing else, there was a line of old metalwork places and machine shops that were single story; like Alexis had pointed out, I could just skip over the roof of those and run for a while.  

As we expected, a great many people started running and driving away as fast as possible, but a number around the periphery pulled out phones and paused on the sidewalk catacorner to where we had made our entrance.  People wanted to watch, but maintain what they thought would be enough distance to not get swept up in the chaos that was bound to ensue.

“Have you lost your fucking minds?”

Imperium had answered us as we were almost to the steps leading up to the Distillery.  Each one probably three meters long and raised about six inches. With seven steps between us, we had to look up at our opponents as they scowled down at us.  While the old police station had been constructed to be set apart from the bustle of the city, it would now serve as a stage for a group of people who were ‘set apart’ to fight.

Ironclad had been the one to talk, and he was flanked by Mizu and Collision with Kudzu hanging behind the trio.  

So far our captain had been right about who we were likely to face.  

“You three really do have a deathwish, don’t you?” Mizu asked with a laugh, “You aren’t walking away from this one.”  

Eldritch took a defiant step forward, “Prove it,” he said in an eerie screech.  

I took one last steadying breath; we didn’t need to win this fight, just surviving was a victory for us, literally.  

The juggernaut made of cement let out a warcry and bounded forward, picking up a head of steam as he leapt forward and slammed himself into Eldritch.  As the pair of them went tumbling back into the street, Collision turned his attention to the right and clearly struggled for a moment before a slab of reinforced metal came whipping by.  

While it didn’t hit anyone, he had ripped the fixture off the fire suppressant system, just like Dragoon has suspected would happen.  

“Move backwards, now,” Dragoon whispered to me.  

I powered my legs and shot backwards, and not a moment too soon.  Mizu whipped his hands and dragged a torrent with it as he walked forward, calm.  A jet slammed into Dragoon and knocked her back into the road as he pulled with his spare hand, making a massive ring of churning water around himself.  

“Collision, help deal with that thing,” Mizu snapped, gesturing at Eldritch.  “Kudzu, get your forest going.”

The girl in the black bodysuit with green stripes sat down, her plain wooden mask staring at the ground as she placed her hands against the stone and remained still.  

Our timer had just started.

In the instant I looked to Kudzu, Mizu capitalized, a blast of water lifting me bodily and tossing me into the windshield of a car.  As the glass cracked, Mizu drew his material back and kept a massive ring around him in constant motion; the bastard had created a perpetual deterrent, making it impossible for me to approach.  

As Dragoon scrambled to her feet, Mizu flicked a hand and blasted her, practically washing her across the street.  He smiled and turned his attention back to me as I threw myself onto the roof of the car, unsure how to proceed.

When we had fought him last time, he’d only had access to a few gallons of liquid, if that much.  Now he had hundreds of gallons and his supply was growing by the second. “What are you going to do, little man,” Mizu laughed as he made a wipe sweep with his hands.  I managed to jump away as he hit the car with enough force to roll it into the middle of the street. “Gonna keep running?”

Another blast, and another narrow margin of my dodge.  

Our only saving grace was that he didn’t seem as able to redirect the flow of such a large body of fluid where at the dog fight he was able to rapidly adjust the trajectory of his attacks.  Still, as he moved forward with an ever expanding ring of water creating a whirlpool around him, I was forced to keep dodging backwards.  He was in no rush, I had no way to hurt him, and he was effectively growing stronger over time.

Watching the flow of water from the broken fixture, I moved towards the north, trying to lead him away from his source of ammunition.  

“Is that all you can do, Parasite?” he challenged as he blasted Dragoon casually with enough water to fill a small pool, throwing her the rest of the way across the street.

For a moment I got a glance of Eldritch against Ironclad and Collision…which was a peculiar stalemate.  Despite Ironclad likely being a literal tonne of rock, Eldritch was so much bigger that he was smacking him aside without any real trouble.  But he couldn’t take the time to try and rip the villain limb from limb because Collision kept throwing cars at him. If Eldritch gave up use of his arms, he couldn’t slap the massive projectiles into the ground and negate the brunt of the damage.

Dragoon tried to take a shot at Mizu, but her bullets were literally swept away in the torrent he kept in motion.  His head snapped to her and I took the chance to make more distance between us, heading towards the general store and the height it offered.  “Hey, Mizu, are you actually going to manage to hit me?”

My jeer caused him to miss Dragoon with a watery blast that launched a car into the parking lot in front of the slum.  Fortunately, my captain had the good sense to take cover and let me bait him away from her.  It was clear that we weren’t going to get close enough to land a hit as things stood. He had too much water at his disposal.  

The best thing I could think to do was literally tire him out.  Drag him around long enough that carrying around hundreds of gallons of water tapped his power dry.  Not an ideal solution, but I didn’t have a better option in mind.  

Another blast that I leapt away from, this one smashing a cars roof flat.  “You’ve gotta do bet-”

My arrogance caught up with me as a spear of water drilled me in the chest and launched me back to the general store, the wall cracking with my impact.  If my passenger hadn’t taken the blow, I’m fairly sure it would have flattened my ribcage and everything beneath.

“Where are you gonna go?” he laughed as he drew his hand back, making another sweeping pass to throw a barrage my way.  

Extending the staff, I empowered my legs and leapt about four meters vertically; while airborne, I twisted and jammed the staff against the wall of the store, embedding it and giving me an easy grip.  I put my foot in a windowsill and ripped the staff free, vaulting about two meters to the right as another deluge crashed against the building and demolished the glass and another chunk of the exterior wall. Clearly agitated, he didn’t bother recalling his other expended volume before firing a lance of liquid for me.

Up I went as more of the storefront was battered by Mizu’s arsenal.  Again I used the staff to give me a spot to hang on, but the height didn’t seem to be a limiting factor for the Adapted to attack.  And if I kept baiting him into blasting the building, I risked being buried in a heap of rubble when it inevitably collapsed.

Dragoon fired off a few more composite rounds at Mizu, which earned his ire for a moment as he turned and launched a small wave at her that lifted my captain up and smacked her against a lightpost.  

We needed him to go down, otherwise Mizu would be able to simply overwhelm all three of us with ease, even before Kudzu became the complicating factor.   

“Fuck it,” I muttered.  Pressing my feet against the wall, I tugged against the staff and ripped it free.  As my body twisted in the air, I funneled my passenger into my arm and shoulder as I let the momentum whip me around before I launched the staff.  

Like Dragoon’s bullets, it collided with his whirlpool; however, it weighed four kilograms and was able to piece through like a spear.  Mizu turned back to me just in time to see what was going to hit him.

His torrent nudged it away from hitting him square in the chest, but it still slammed into his shoulder at somewhere near 150 kilometers per hour.  

The force lifted his feet out from under him as his arm was torn violently out of socket.  Mizu’s ragdoll frame was flung awkwardly, head slamming the pavement, momentum dragging him face first along the asphalt.  His ring of liquid was released and splashed against the street, flowing immediately for the nearest storm drain.  

As I landed, I rushed over and picked up my staff, ready to fight until I got a look at Mizu; the poor bastard wasn’t getting up anytime soon.  It looked like his collarbone had shattered and his shoulder had been pushed backwards out of socket.  His mask had fractured from his face slamming into the road, and it looked like one cheek had lost all it’s skin thanks to the road rash. To be sure, I checked and felt breath escaping his lips.  

It was a lucky shot, but we had one down.  

Except, another had come online.  

Eldritch roared as the road around him cracked and tree roots grew rapidly, ensnaring his feet while Collision continued to throw anything he could get his hands on at the gargantuan Neklim.  A volley of broken chunks of road, more battered cars, etc.

Still, for all the abuse he was taking, one of his massive arms pointed away; I tracked and saw why.  

Ironclad was chasing down Dragoon, and she was having a rough time trying to cope with the Adapted who had changed his composition from cement to steel.  

I hated leaving Eldritch like this, but this was what he was built for.  

“I’ll help as soon as I can,” I promised my friend as I took off to help our team captain.  “Dragoon, can you stun him for me?”

As I barreled over to join the fray, she snagged a little orb from her belt and threw it smack in Ironclad’s face.  A visible shockwave rippled around his head as he staggered back as I launched myself.

Legs empowered, I sprung over the hood of a car, planted my hands, and kicked like a mule against the Adapted’s chest.  Dragoon followed up on my attack, striking Ironclad as he stumbled from the force of my kick. Her fist connected with his cheek, which bent slightly around her gauntlet, but seemed to help him regain his bearings.  

“You’re out of your league,” he growled as he smacked Dragoon’s next strike away and threw a lazy hook my way.  Easy enough to duck under, and he didn’t even try to stop me as I tried to punch him in the ribs.

And I soon felt why.

Even with my passenger reinforcing my knuckles, it hurt me way more than it did him.  Skipping back, I evaded a kick that would have likely sent me into next week.

Dragoon threw a couple blows into his body which still didn’t seem to do more than annoy the enforcer.  

Ironclad was someone you could either reliably harm, or couldn’t hurt at all.  Eldritch might be big enough to literally tear him apart, but neither Dragoon or myself were strong enough to do any real damage.  

Well, not with my hands.  

“Weak points, joints,” I hissed to my teammate, “Target those.”  

I yanked the staff free and extended the weapon, springing back into the fray, forcing Ironclad to turn and face me, pulling his attention away from Dragoon.  

The staff came down in an overhead strike, one Ironclad could raise an arm to deflect, but it bought a moment for Dragoon to step behind him and kick his knee.  

Even though he was made of metal, his body was still inherently human and his joints were going to bend when pressure was applied.  He growled and swung blindly at her, leaving himself open for me to move the staff and jab it into his armpit to keep his off balance. As he tried to get up, Dragoon and I each targeted a knee and struck, keeping him rendered immobile.  

Finally, he’d had enough.  Completely turning his back on me, he spun to face Dragoon and shot an arm forward, grabbing her.  In a crude motion, he threw my friend back towards where Mizu was still laying in the street.  While I got to slam the staff against his head in reply, it only warranted a casual swing, enough to make me take a step back so he could charge after my teammate as she tried to run away.  

“Dragoon, look out!” I cried.

“I got this,” she replied, her helmet keeping the sound muted.  I knew she had something planned, but Ironclad didn’t hear anything but my concern.

With a body made of steel, the guy was easily 800 kilograms and content to just let mass work in his favor.  Eldritch had issues moving around because he was trying to pilot a foreign body where Ironclad was still driving his standard self.  

It meant he could still run alarmingly fast despite being the weight of a car.  

Even knowing that she had something planned for him, I panicked and threw myself at the enforcer, bringing my staff down against the top of his head as I landed a pace behind him.  

Ironclad turned, frustrated at my persistence, and then abruptly tripped.  

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the little spider drone that Drgoon had made; she’d used him to make a tripwire out of synthetic spider silk using a light pole and a delivery van as anchors.  Despite the fact that Ironclad’s weight had torn the thread, the change in his balance was one he couldn’t compensate for. As he skidded along the pavement, I leapt up and collapsed the staff, giving me a denser instrument as I landed on his chest and jammed it down into his face.  

The initial hit found the bridge of his nose as we slid a few more paces, my weight acting like a brake for the metal man.  Before he could raise his hands to push me away, I slammed the bit of metal into his orbital socket and made another dent in his face.  His arm raised, and Dragoon grabbed his wrist, pulling his arm back down.

It dawned on me that Ironclad wasn’t really all that strong; a majority of his power simply came from his ability to build momentum.  He didn’t have the raw power of someone like Eldritch, he just leveraged his own body weight to crush people and could afford to take hits most wouldn’t endure. But on his back, starting from a standstill, he wasn’t really stronger than either Dragoon or myself.  

And from his sudden frantic struggling, he knew it too.  

Dragoon held down one arm and I kept one trapped as I hammered away at his face, slamming the collapsed staff down on his forehead, then his nose, then into his teeth as he tried to buck me off.  Stressing my passenger, I kept his other arm trapped but didn’t account for his other limbs.

Ironclad kicked his legs straight back and nudged me hard enough I had to put a hand out to avoid face planting on the sidewalk.  In the instant his hand was free, our opponent swung, effectively clubbing me more than anything else.

But since his arm probably weighed forty kilograms, it did the job.  

I rolled away and he turned up to his side, shoving Dragoon in much the same fashion he had with me, fighting up to his feet, his vision was clearly distorted with how marred his face was from my beating.  But he wouldn’t stay bent out of shape for too long; already his face was starting to reconstitute and his eyes were a top priority.

My staff swung up, but found a barricade of metal protecting his face.  Dragoon hastily fiddled with a panel on her armor as I kept striking, trying to find an opening.  

Ironclad refused to attack, content playing defensive and letting his visage reform while I wore myself out smacking a suit of armor.  

“I’m going to try and tie him up,” Dragoon whispered in my earpiece, “Because we need to help Eldritch pretty quick.”  

I focused in on my peripheral vision and saw things weren’t going well for our massive tank.  

As big as he was, Kudzu was slowly overwhelming him and overgrowing him. As he ripped himself free of a tangle of roots, another sprang to life, growing right over the previous obstacle.  I’d known that Kudzu wasn’t someone you wanted to draw out an engagement with, but seeing her begin to overpower my friend was downright scary. To add insult to injury, Collision had started throwing jagged bits of metal or glass at our friend, forcing him to guard his torso and avoid his real body getting impaled by a chunk of rebar, speeding up the projected time before it was all over for Eldritch.

We had decidedly little time before he was in a wooded prison.  

As I swung at the metal man with my staff, Ironclad blocked and finally came out of his shell a little, glaring at me as he stalked forward, grinning.  “That was your  guys’ shot, and you blew it.”

“That’s what you think,” I laughed as I swung at his neck only to find forearm.  

“I’m sur-” he paused as Dragoon’s stun grenade triggered an inch from his ear.  I was a few paces away with my passenger helping insulate my brain and ear drums from the blast, and it still hurt like hell.  Ironclad staggered forward, disoriented as Dragoon’s drone scurried out from under a car and frantically started to bind his feet together.  

Except…a chunk of rubble smashed it to pieces.  

I spun to face Collision as a car flew square into my chest.             

My Adaptation was built to withstand small impacts like bullets, stabs, or punches.  However, the bumper of an automobile colliding with my entire torso was a bitch to mitigate.  It was further complicated by my body being forced through the wall of the diner behind me.

The momentum pushed me halfway into the room, pushing a few tables and chairs out of my way as I came to a halt.  

“Guh,” I groaned as I clumsily tried to get up to my hands and knees, my passenger hurriedly wrenching my elbow back into socket since I’d landed awkwardly and dislocated it.  “Fuck that hurt.” As much as I wanted to catch my breath, Dragoon was now left alone with Ironclad, and without a way to really slow him down.

My equilibrium returned about the time a heard a footstep behind me.  

I turned and barely evaded the flash of a silver mallet being swung down at my head.  Having to fall back, I managed to spring off my hands and land, my breath catching as I saw who I’d been thrown into a room with.  

A half smile greeted me as Siphon sauntered forward confidently, his power tugging at the periphery of my awareness.  “Round two,” he said with a laugh, darting forward and swinging that mallet again.

Despite the pain that Collision inflicted, not much was damage.  I could fight through this, I could deal with—

I stopped myself and the bravado.  The reality was I had spent a lot of energy already with Mizu and Ironclad.  Siphon was fresh and I had gotten trounced by him last time I wanted a straight fight.  My best bet was to run and get back to my team.

Bouncing back, I went to open the door but stopped as Siphon clicked his tongue.

“The good people here would be upset if you did that,” he warned, pointing his hammer at a couple who were cowering in the corner.  Despite the stature of the Zari, they looked just as small and afraid as humans did.

“Let them go,” I insisted with a growl.  

Siphon shook his head, “You walk out that door, they die.  Blood will be on your hands.”

I set my jaw in my usual smile, quickly trying to think of a way out of this without leading to the deaths of innocents.  “Well then, bring it.”

He didn’t take his eyes off me as he closed the gap, swinging the mallet at my collarbone.  

I blocked, and he’d already reached to his belt for a knife, taking a swipe at my midsection.  For now, I let it hit me; he hadn’t taken enough strength to rip through the spider silk suit I wore.  I struck, he essentially punched my hand away while still holding the hammer. Even without superhuman strength, the gauntlet on his hand hurt as it cracked against my forearm.  

Pressing my foot against the doorway, I empowered my legs and shot myself forward, effectively shoulder-checking Siphon back into a table and the two of us toppled over.  Using the motion, I reached my hands forward to springboard away from him.

Before I could go, he grabbed my wrists and tugged, making me land in a heap on the tile.  

I flipped to my side, and he was already back on his feet, driving the toe of his boot into my sternum.  A grunt escaped my lips as he pushed me back into a stool.

He was already getting some of my passenger’s strength.  

Pushing myself up with a backwards handspring, I landed and grabbed a chair, launching it at Siphon; it didn’t make contact, and I wasn’t expecting it to.  

All it did was keep him from sprinting forward to stop me from bounding over the tables towards the back door.  

“Get back here!” he roared and gave chase.

As strong as Siphon was, he used the people as bait to keep from taking the easy exit, but he wasn’t after them as much as he was after me.  He wanted to fight, and fortunately he wanted to fight me bad enough to leave them be.

Besides, he’d just said I couldn’t go out the front door.  He never mentioned the back.

Instead of trying to open the door at the back of the kitchen, I powered my left leg and kicked it off its hinges in a single blow.  Behind the diner was a small street, a paved alley more like between this and some run down residential buildings that were hugging the slum we had set up shop in.  

I could run to them, try to reset Siphon’s influence, but I knew he didn’t give a damn if he killed a few Zari while chasing me.  

A trio of sharp pangs knocked me forward a few steps.  My moment of indecision had let him catch back up; a smoking handgun accompanied his smirk.  

Four more shots hit me in the chest and knocked the wind out of my lungs.  Even though my passenger could absorb a brunt of the impact, they still hurt.  And thanks to Siphon’s ever mounting tax, each one threatened to crack a rib.

“You gonna run, Parasite,” he cackled, “I thought you were a better fighter than this.  Last time you managed to hit me a few times. Here, maybe you need this,” he mused as he tossed my staff back at me.

I knew I shouldn’t fight him, but he was literally giving me my weapon back…how could I not?

His smirk stayed put even after I extended the piece of metal; he had dissected me once while I was using the weapon, even while I hadn’t been drained.  While his effect wasn’t nearly complete yet, I could feel it slowing me down, making it feel like I weighed more. Still, I was stronger than he was, faster than he was right now.  I could-

Another roar rang out, Eldritch.  

My friends were struggling, and I wasn’t in a place to help either of them. And this is exactly what Dragoon had said Siphon would want: to isolate a target.  There was a reason Ironclad hadn’t chased me.

He knew Siphon would be able to kill me on his own.  

I let out a cry as I charged forward with the staff, letting Siphon think he was getting the fight he wanted, but then jammed it into the ground.  

“Wha-“ Siphon growled as I stressed my passenger and vaulted over him, up to the roof of the diner.  

A second later though, he hopped up and pushed himself over the lip.  “This was your grand pla-“

I spun and let the staff slide to extend my reach; it connected with the barrel of his gun and knocked it away.  Caught off guard, I pressed and took advantage of him having no way to backpedal. Three quick hits connected: one was absorbed by his gauntlet, a straight strike found his gut, and a last hit his elbow where there was no protection.  

The last hit galled him the most, as I had adjusted ever so slightly at the last second to strike the joint.  

“I got smarter, Siphon,” I laughed, deliberately galling him, “It looks like you got slower.”  

His half smile turned to a sneer.  Perfect.

What wasn’t perfect was him ducking under my swing at his head.  He bounced off one hand like it was second nature and popped up with a new blade in hand.  I was slow to block and felt the blade press against my neck; the passenger effectively caught the blade and kept the cut surface deep, but the sheer force of the stab pushed me to one side.

I went with the motion and twisted my hips, driving my shin into his side.  

Siphon caught my leg and turned, heaving me by my limb and lashing me against the roof.  As he fished another blade from his belt, I took my free foot and jammed it into his lower abdomen, using every ounce of strength I could get from my passenger.  

For a moment, Siphon was pushed back and I was free.  

Snatching my staff, I collapsed it and launched myself towards the wall of the store next door, climbing up and away.  

“I didn’t say you could run,” he snarled.

While he had managed to copy some of my ability, he wasn’t as quick to the top as I was, not quite yet.  For a moment I could survey the battlefield with a bird’s eye view.

The first thing I noticed was extra movement.  As our fight raged on, and Collision seemed more narrowed in his focus, people were getting more and more bold.  While there had been an initial evacuation for most, some had returned. People were hanging around shop windows, apartment balconies, watching the fight and recording.  For them, this was a spectacle they would talk about at work the following day, and some people were probably putting bets on Rogue Sentries vs. Imperium.

I was more interested in what was happening to my friends.

Kudzu’s ability to ensnare Eldritch had been stalled as he had gained his first mutation with his Neklim suit.  It seemed like his tentacles were almost elastic as he would reach out with an arm and lash his ‘fingers’ around slabs of cement, or rip a car door free to slingshot at the opposing Druid.  Collision’s role had turned to damage control, throwing a continual barrage of metal and stone as a deterrent and to knock aside my friend’s projectiles and try to maim his arms. Still, his biological change had only prolonged the inevitable.  Eldritch wouldn’t be able to cope much longer, and then Kudzu would look to spread her influence out and ensure neither Dragoon nor myself could flee.

“Hang on buddy,” I whispered.    

Almost directly below me, Ironclad was pursuing Dragoon in a slow and methodical chase.  It was like watching a boxing match between a heavyweight and a flyweight: while my friend was a little faster thanks to her suit helping exaggerate how far her strides could be, the Imperium enforcer was willing to let her land a hit so he could exchange blows.  Even from this height, I could see dents in her armor.

“Now where are you going to go?” a condescending voice called from behind me as Siphon joined me on the rooftop.  

I flashed my smile, immediately quashing his.  “Siphon, you’re a fucking idiot,” I laughed. I turned and threw my arms out to the side, taunting him.

“What-”

“How are you planning to get down?  I’m planning to take the quick route!”

Even though he stole strength and natural ability, when I had hit his elbow Siphon clearly felt it.  He didn’t have the protection brought on from my passenger; he may be stronger, but he was vulnerable.  Armor would keep him safe from me, but gravity would still make him splat.

Before he could move to stop me, I threw myself from the roof and plummeted towards Ironclad, collapsed staff in hand.  

The poor brute look up, right as I drove the chunk of metal into his forehead, knocking him over and crushing his whole forehead.  

He collapsed and I rolled, getting up to my feet to face Dragoon, “You okay?”

“Yeah, we gotta help him though.”  

Eldritch had most of his torso coated in tree roots, the wooden growths anchoring him in place.  One of his arms was overgrown, leaving only one limb free to try and rip the roots away which were sprouting faster than he could tear them away.  

Behind her plain, wooden mask, Kudzu stared at her quarry and kept her palm held to the ground, honing in, refusing to give our friend an inch.  

“How do we get him out?”

Dragoon started running for Collision as she replied to me via mic, “If Kudzu goes down, it should theoretically stop the growth.  Knock her out and Eldritch should be able to rip himself free. I should be able to keep Collision busy for a minute, but I’m not sure how much more abuse my suit can handle.”

“Roger,” I replied with grim determination; I was not liking how many ‘shoulds’ she was banking on.  

Adaptations were predominately wired into our neurology.  While some would function even when you were asleep, most needed you to be conscious and provide direction to the gift.  Even mine had remarkably limited application when I was asleep: all it knew how to do was reset me back to normal conditions.  It couldn’t fight on my behalf, and I wasn’t about to test and see if it would defend me from injury while comatose. While the plants wouldn’t disappear, as long as we could stop their growth, even for a few moments, we could get our big threat free.  

As I pushed forward, I was aware of the fatigue that was plaguing me.  

I had been stressing my passenger hard, especially when I’d been attacking Ironclad.  Despite my fitness, I had limits and so did my Adaptation.

“Come on,” I said, hitting my chest, “We aren’t done quite yet.”  

Kudzu turned her attention to Dragoon for a moment and then saw me rushing forward.  Bending down, I scooped up a broken chunk of cement and whipped it at her head. Silently, she crouched down to avoid the projectile and erected a barrier of new root growth.  Now closer, I could see, the cement step she was standing on had a number of cracks spread throughout where she undoubtedly had her power lying in wait, ready to be activated.  

As I set foot into her zone of control, my suspicions were confirmed as the concrete shifted and a number of roots burst forth.  They grasped at my ankles, forcing me to rip away and keep a safe distance back. More roots snaked their way from the ground, giving fewer and fewer places to stand without being subjected to her constricting grasp.  

It was maybe six meters between us, but I couldn’t reliably throw my staff at her like I had with Mizu while she had her own barricade.  Water hadn’t knocked the staff away, but tree roots would definitely stop it.

As I dawdled though, her influence spread as the roots slowly grew outward, turning more area into a floor littered with traps.  

She poked her head up from behind the barrier she had erected, keeping me in her line of sight as she continued to hold down Eldritch and guard against me.  All the while, she said nothing, made no noise. It was eerie.

“Parasite, whatever you’re gonna do, do it quick!” Dragoon hissed into my ear as a slab of stone stair pitched her into one of the trashed cars Collision had thrown earlier.  

We needed to get Eldritch out of his cage.  One he was free, we could get away.

I took a deep breath and got a running start, getting ready to do something stupid.  

Right before I reached the edge of her creeping influence, I threw myself into the air at her, knowing full well I wasn’t going to make the jump.  

Midair I extended my staff and jammed it down against the ground.  The impact jarred my hands, but it served to propel me an extra little bit.  

Kudzu was caught off guard and tripped over her own mass of growth as I landed within reach.

The second my feet touched down, the roots rose to action and wrapped around my legs, immediately removing my option to run.  I shot my hands forward and grabbed her suit; as I dragged her forward, my hands found her throat and squeezed. As she struggled, her roots wrapped around my body, encasing my legs and started wrapping around my torso without a hint of slowing down.  

She tried to pull my hands away, but I willed my passenger to make my grip unbreakable.  Even with all the strength it could give me, I wasn’t anywhere close to strong enough to rip free of the growths she’d confined me to.  For better or worse, I was committed to this plan.

Now it was a test to see which would give out first: her oxygen supply or my life.  

A second later, the growths reached my face and then the panic set in.  She wasn’t unconscious yet and her power seemed almost stronger in her adrenaline fueled panic.  I had to close my mouth so nothing grew down my throat, and soon my eyes had to close so I didn’t scrape them on the tree roots that were smothering me.  

I had been in the dark, been without sensory input before, but never like this.  

The only stimulus I was getting was through my hands as I felt Kudzu continue to try and pry apart my iron grip.  

My only other awareness was my burning desire for air.  Panic rapidly set in as I felt Kudzu weaken, her feeble attempts to alleviate my grasp faltering…and then stopping entirely.

I let her go, hoping it was enough.  

With Siphon, there had been fear of death, but it was one I could at least try to fight back against.  As futile as it might have been, there was illusion of hope for me to turn the tide. There was a chance I could land a lucky shot and knock him cold, something.  

This time, there was no fighting it.  There was only a desperation I couldn’t even express to the outside world.  No one could hear me, no one knew I was suffocating. My hands shook violently as stars appeared in my vision, even with my eyes closed.  I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t scream, couldn’t move.

Dragoon was fighting Collision, and I’d seen her take a bit hit.  She couldn’t come to save me.

My life was in my best friend’s hands.  But, could he tear himself out? He was wrapped up tight in these tree roots…and as strong as he was, would it be enough?  

The stars were growing more frequent, swimming with more intensity in my eyes.  In vain, my passenger tried to empower my muscles, tried to struggle against the bonds and leverage something, find some vulnerability in the tomb that she had erected around me.

An exercise in futility.  This wasn’t something I could run from, something I could use wits and agility to escape from.  There was no reasoning and pleading…this simply was.

The stars began to fade to black entirely as my strength and oxygen gave out, expended completely.  Even my passenger gave up, realizing there was nothing to be done for its host. It was kind enough to slither to my brain and give me a calming dose of serotonin as all began to fade to black.  

I was oddly calm as I felt myself shut down.  It was okay, I’d done my best.

…it was short lived.  

A horrific rending of wood welcomed oxygen back into my lungs as my whole form heaved, trying to suck in as much air as possible.  

With help, I pulled myself from the tree that I had been contained within and sank back, hitting the mess of roots on the ground, taking frantic gulps of air.  Above me, Eldritch towered, tossing aside the top half of the plant that Kudzu had formed around me.

“Holy…fuck,” I stammered out, “You could have been a little quicker on that.”  

“Sorry,” he hissed as he offered me a massive arm to help me to my feet.  “We need to help Dragoon and get out of here,” he said. “Come-“

He was cut off as a bubble of distortion in the air tapped him and seemed to ‘pop’ with some invisible force.  I was thrown on my ass but Eldritch was launched off the steps and all the way back to the road, landing on a taxi that folded under his immense bulk.

“You lot have made one hell of a mess,” a new voice called out from the door of the distillery.  

Oh no…

I looked up the stairs and saw him only a handful of meters away, his crimson colored suit oddly fitting for his bloodthirsty attitude.  A golden mask covered three-quarters of his face, much like Siphon’s mask, but his showed an eye that took stock of the damage we interlopers had caused.  

“But hey, you did it!” Shockwave said as he let out a low and menacing chuckle, “Welcome to the big leagues.”        

Previous Chapter _ Next chapter

7/1/2078

“Just, leave me alone,” I begged as Keldan and his crew followed me, snickering as I turned to complain about their obnoxious persistence.  

Keldan smiled as he stepped forward and towered over me.  He was a fairly tall Zari for his age, and I was decidedly not the biggest human around, which made the disparity nearly a foot in height.  “What are you gonna do it we don’t? You gonna call mommy and daddy on me?”

I could see it in his shitty smirk, he fucking knew.  “Leave me alone,” I repeated as I turned around and kept trudging.  

A firm hand caught my shoulder and yanked me back around, “I didn’t say we were done,” Keldan replied with a grin, “I asked what you’re going to do if we don’t leave you alone.  You never answered.” He leaned forward and put his face centimeters from my own, “You of all people know exactly how much Zari hate being ignored.”

On impulse, I shoved my hands forward and pushed against his chest, trying to force him away.  

It worked, but Keldan’s face twisted into a livid sneer, furious that I had touched him.  “What do you think you’re doing, Murphy?”

“I-“

“You what?” he demanded as a meaty hand slapped against my chest, pushing me back a step.  “You think you’re better than me? Is that it?” Another push, another step.

“No,” I insisted.

“Sure fuckin’ seems like it,” he snapped as he used both hands and hit more than shoved.  My heel caught an uneven part of the concrete and I fell onto my ass. Before I could get up, a foot smacked against my chest and pushed me down.  Keldan loomed over me, taunting. “Is the little bitch boy gonna cry? Too bad mommy and daddy are too busy getting their mellow on to care.”

He-he knew…but how?  

Keldan grinned as he towered over me, “Surprised?  My cousin saw them buying. Pathetic humans need a fi-“

A foot slamming between his legs cut him off; Zari and human biology was fairly similar, and it meant some of the vulnerabilities were similar as well.  Sure, they had tougher skin thanks to the harsher weather of Tso’got, but that hardly mattered when a foot slammed your nuts.

Keldan sank to his knees with a bewildered expression, caught completely off guard.  I kicked him in the face to topple the ringleader before scrambling back to my feet and sprinting, frantically trying to escape his stunned entourage.  

A pair of hands grabbed me and yanked me off my feet before I got far; Zari were faster and stronger than humans, of course they were going to catch me.  

Panic overwhelmed me as a pair of Zari started dragging me to an alley; if Keldan got up, there was a decent chance he might kill me on accident in a fit of rage.  

“Someone, HEL-“

A hand gagged me and held firm despite me biting down.  Despite my best efforts and the blood filling my mouth, no one came to help me, and no one let go.  The hands holding me threw me down to the ground as soon as people on the street didn’t have immediate view of the beatdown that was about to take place.  

My eyes widened in fear as Keldan walked between a pair of Zari, his face contorted with rage.  “You little shit,” he snarled as he kicked me in the face.

I’d never had my nose broken before then, and didn’t appreciate how much it hurt or how much it would limit my vision.  A foot connected with my sternum and I turned to my side, desperately sucking in to try and get another breath of air.

Another kick slammed into my back where my kidney should be; the area flared with pain as I curled into a ball and felt my heart hammer in my chest.  What little I could see, there was only rage mixed with a frenzied glee on the faces of the four Zari who were beating me.

They weren’t going  to stop…and no one was going to help me.  I wasn’t a bad guy, was I? I didn’t deserve this.

I just want it to stop hurting.

….and then it did.  

They were still kicking me, but the pain seemed to have abated, the blunt trauma muted as if I was wearing armor; I became acutely aware of a new sensation, something squirming around my insides.  While it was strange, I was still focused on the beating I was taking.

Without the pain occluding all my senses, I felt enough courage to turn and straight kick Keldan in the abdomen.  I wanted him to stop, to leave me alone.

Everyone was shocked when he was lifted off the ground and launched back nearly two meters.  

In the moment of shock and confusion, I scrambled up off the ground and distanced myself from the baffled Zari.  “Please,” I begged, “Leave me alone.”

Keldan got up, clearly nursing where he’d been hit while trying to save face and suppress his shock.  He regarded me with a mix of confusion and trepidation before finally addressing his cohort. “I think this bitch learned his lesson.  Come on, this pussy isn’t worth our time anymore.”

The others were confused by the sudden change in plans, but they followed the leader and he decreed that was enough.  As they filtered out and left me alone in the alley, I felt the thing inside me move around and rush up the side of my arm.  I lifted my hand and my eyes widened as I saw my hand visibly swell.

Where someone had stepped on my hand and split the skin, the thing inside me was repairing the damage, knitting the skin back together faster than someone could with needle and thread.  the wound mended so well there was no indicator I had even been injured.

“Holy shit, holy shit,” I hissed to myself as I frantically hid my hand in my pocket.  

Who did I tell?  What did I even tell them?  

My mind first went to Nick.  He was a fanatic about this stuff, he loved the Adapted: the grandeur that came with their fighting, their epic conflict, and their crazy powers.  But, could he keep his mouth shut if his best friend was one of them?

Normally someone would tell their parents about this, but that wasn’t a good option for me either.  

I settled on Alexis.  She was the smartest of us, she would know what to do.  

Running to her house was…unnaturally easy.  The thing inside me, I felt it empowering my strides, making them longer, making each step easier with a foreign sense of strength.

It felt awesome.  

Knocking on the door, Alexis seemed confused to see me.

“What are you doing here, Murphy?”  

I wrung my hands, anxious, my usual smile gone.  “Can I come in?”

She raised an eyebrow, but didn’t ask anything else; my absence of humor and grin telling her something was decidedly amiss.  Once the door closed she turned her attention to me, “What’s going on, Murphy? You’re making me nervous.”

I paced in a quick circle and tried to steady my breathing which was nearly impossible.  “Just, be cool about this?”

“About what?” she demanded, starting to get agitated.  

Glancing at her table, I willed the thing-whatever it was-inside me to empower my arm as I reached under and pushed up.  

My shoulder swelled unnaturally as I lifted the dense piece of wood overhead with alarming ease.  

Alexis’ eyes widened like mine had earlier and she sat down, bewildered.  “Holy shit, you’re an Adapted.” She leaned forward to study me, as if I was some kind of lab rat.  “What’s it like? Did you feel it happen?”

I set down the table and stood back up straight, “There was nothing that really happened, no flashing light or anything.  It happened when Keldan came to beat me up again,” I disclosed.

She shook her head, “Fucking pig.”

“I kicked him in the nads but he didn’t um…take so well to that.  He had his cronies drag me into an alleyway and might have beat me to death.  But after a few kicks, it stopped hurting, like something else was taking the hit for me.”

Staring at my hand, I willed whatever was sliding around to fill in.

Sure enough, the skin swelled as I felt a strange amount of reinforcement to my bones and joints.  

“Did you tell Nick?”

I shook my head, “Ran straight here.  I don’t know that he’d be able to keep his mouth shut about this, and I don’t want to attract any more attention.”  

Alexis smiled and extended a pinkie, “I’ll keep your secret.”

As I reached out and clasped her pinkie I smiled again.  “It’s a promise then.”

9/32/2080

A day before we raided Imperium’s distillery.  A day before I was liable to run into Siphon again.  

More than enough reason to leave me a little anxious.  

School hadn’t been much help either, if anything it had just forced me to sit still and think about the fight that would break out tomorrow and the battery of unknowns we faced.  Would I run into Siphon again? How many members would be there? Would there be a bunch of idiots hanging around and at risk? Would my friend lose control mid-encounter?

Most important though: would Shockwave show up?  

While my passenger would occasionally tinker with my neurotransmitters, I didn’t want to be completely reliant on it drugging me to cope.  Instead, there was one place I could go reliably to help alleviate my anxiety, and my friend was waiting outside.

“There he is!” Basl yelled out at me as I hopped nimbly up the last few steps.  The Zari man wasn’t as imposing as many of the native residents on Tso’got, but he held himself with an uncharacteristic calm most didn’t display.  Most Zari were aggressive, always posturing with something to prove. Basl didn’t and it made him more intimidating in my opinion.

“I had a bit of a…incident,” I replied with a shrug.  

He frowned, “It doesn’t have anything to do with that bank robbery a few days ago, does it?”

I regarded his ashen face with a moment of caution before smiling, “Maybe.”   

Basl let out a laugh before clapping his hands together, “Shit, the little man taking the fight to Imperium.  What a badass!”

“Hey, easy,” I replied, “Keep it down.  You rat me out, we ‘re gonna have a hard time doing business here.”  I was still smiling, but Basl was clever enough to recognize when I was being serious.  “So, what is the job today?”

While the man did run a self-defense studio—predominately catering to humans—a majority of his money came from hosting fights between hot headed Zari.  The way he saw it, people were going to fight anyways, they might as well do it somewhere that no one was going to die. It kept police from getting involved…which was an added bonus since a lot of people liked to have bets going. Basl figured that he might as well host and  make things easy for all involved, especially since it let him take a cut.

Today had a good crowd, nearly thirty people in, and I saw why.  A handful of women were going to fight which drew people like a moth to flame.    

As we watched a fight proceed between a pair of Zari women, Basl leaned over to me, “I see at least twelve new faces, six of them Zari men who haven’t seen you fight.  Nothing different or special, but the blood is hot and people are stupid.”

I gave him a sideways glance, “Use it or no?”

He shook his head, “No gift.  Beat them fair and square. I know you’re capable.”

My smile wavered; Siphon’s ass kicking still came to mind and made me doubt my own ability.  He had been…so much better than me.

But, he was a trained assassin; these were just some Zari punks who wanted a fight.  Basl was right about me being able to handle myself, passenger or no.

The women’s fight lasted another few minutes with an eventual submission brought on by a choke which lead to a round of raucous applause.  As Basl walked forward onto the 3×3 meter square of mats, he waved me forward. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he announced with all the pomp and circumstance of a professional promoter, “I present today’s special challenge!  My student here wants to see how his skills fare in a real bout, so I am offering him a round with any takers! Come one, come all who want to take a shot!”

Among the crowd of people, there were a few who had seen me fight and shook their head, knowing better than to take the bait.  However, as Basl had mentioned, there were plenty of hot blooded and hormone driven men who were visibly overconfident.

“What are the odds?” someone asked.

“Straight bet,” Basl replied which only upped the appeal for several.  In a typical fight, no human was beating a Zari. The muscle mass, the thickened skin, the sturdier bones, it was just too much to overcome.  But, as I had come to learn from Basl, skill beat size every time.

A challenger finally stood up and sauntered forward, taking his shirt off and throwing it aside.  He was about six inches taller than me, and probably weighed a hundred kilograms to my seventy-two.  His grey skin has clearly been weathered from hard labor; he wouldn’t be a pushover, but he was clearly out of his element: back straight, on his heels, muscles all wound tight, and jittery with anticipation.  

This poor bastard had probably never been in a fight that wasn’t a typical Zari slug-fest.  

“What’s your name?”

“Adersi,” my challenger replied.  “And I’d like to put a bet on myself.  Two grand.”

Basl nodded, “Anyone else want to put money on Adersi?”

There was a clamor as several others hastily fronted money and Basl made notes before stepping forward to the ring.  Some who had seen me fight before put money against Adersi, but most had trouble envisioning me walking away with a win.  It helped that I made myself as unassuming as possible. With a loose white shirt, no one in the audience could appreciate that I was basically void of any fat.  Despite our size discrepancy, I could bench press my opponent even without the benefit of my passenger.

Basl gave me a pat as I stepped onto the mats, reassuring.  He knew this was a shoe-in, and so did I.

With a wave, the fight commenced and the brute stepped forward, flat-footed and overeager.  The first swing was easy to dodge, the right cross that followed was easily pat aside. I kept stepping circling away from his backhand, giving no window for him to throw a wild haymaker.  

At the edge of my mind, I felt a little tug from the passenger; it wanted to fight, to end the confrontation in a single blow.  I willed it to relax, to not engage. I probably couldn’t stop it from helping absorb shock should I slip up, but I could avoid letting it help me level this poor sap.  

He kept pressing forward and I was content to simply pat aside punches, letting them come close enough to make him feel like he was on the edge of victory, like he was just a few more blows away from a nice payday.  

Basl gave me a nod from the sideline.  

I ducked under an ambitious left hook and stepped in close, replying with a hook of my own.  Unlike my opponent, I aimed low and jammed my fist just below his ribcage. While on a human, that would be a shot to the liver, Zari were structured a little different internally and that was where something like a Pancreas was.  

Either way, it was still incredibly debilitating to take a near direct hit to an organ.  

Surprised, he bent over a little and stumbled; I followed him and drove a fist into his jaw, snapping his head to the side and sending him to the floor.  To my surprise, he didn’t stay down, but hopped back up immediately, enraged.

There was no call from Basl; the fight was still going.  

His strikes were faster, but also more choreographed.  More wind up, and each one threatened to rip my head off my shoulders if I slipped up.  However, he was still flat on his feet and stepped forward with a shitty base.

Evading a punch, I drove my heel against his knee in a straight kick to disrupt his balance; his leg turned to avoid his knee coming apart and he stumbled.  To regain his balance, his hands splayed out and left his face completely unprotected. A quick jab, a heavy cross, and a heavy uppercut all landed before he could take a step back.  He was clearly rocked, but refused to go down, throwing a wild haymaker my way.

Snaking under, I ducked low and got behind my opponent, wrapping my arms around his waist.  Despite the weight difference, I lifted him and dumped him to the side, disorienting poor Adersi.  As soon as we hit the ground I pulled myself on top of the Zari, using my weight to help hold him down as I raised a fist and slammed it into his head.  He tried to guard, but I was good at finding openings and rained a series of blows down before Basl got in the way and forcibly pushed me off.

As always, I popped right back up to my feet.  

Adersi looked worse for wear as scarlet blood slowly trickled down his face, his nose clearly broken.  While he glared at me, he eventually extended a hand after he caught his breath. “Nice fight.”

I accepted his hand and nodded, “Good round.  Same time next week?”

He scoffed, “Fuck you.”  It wasn’t a hateful comment, but no one liked getting their ass handed to them.  

While there was another offer put out from Basl, no one else dared take that challenge.  Adersi wasn’t a small guy, and I’d dismantled him without breaking a sweat; no one wanted to see what I could do when actually exerting myself.  

However, as I took a seat around the periphery of the room, I nearly came out of my skin when my best friend sat down next to me.  

“Nick?  How did-“

“Our mutual friend, who is living with you, makes drones that Reckoners pay through the nose for.  Usually these things are used for surveillance and stealth reconnaissance.” He gave me a condescending glare, “You really think she can’t track you?”

I frowned, “I thought I told her to keep her nose out of this.”  

My best friend narrowed his glare, “Murphy, come on.  You had to know that we’d eventually check out what you’re doing.”

“That doesn’t mean you should just go digging around in my personal life.  I don’t pry about your and Xana’s personal issues. I don’t pry about how things are with your dad.  I certainly don’t stalk you to figure out either.”

He recoiled a little, caught off guard by my abrupt hostility, “Fine, but my relationship doesn’t keep me from doing Reckoner stuff, or make me miss school regularly.  Meanwhile you’re part of a fight club!”

As if on cue, Basl strolled up and cast a sideways glance at Nick, “You aren’t a regular.”

“Friend of your hustle,” Nick replied with a challenging glare.  “He’s never mentioned you though.”

“Basl,” he introduced without missing a beat, “Owner of this establishment.”

“Nick.  How long have you been using my friend to rob people?”

My instructor grinned, “Getting right down to business, I like it.  Murphy picked up quickly, and in about six months made progress that most people don’t see in several years.  So…yes,” he admitted, “I may take some liberties with his uncanny aptitude.”

“He knows,” I admitted to both.  “You can both stop dancing around it.”

“Are you fucking serious?” Nick hissed, “You told someone else?”

“Nick I-”

Basl put a hand on either of our shoulders, “All due respect, but have this conversation somewhere else.  It sounds like you two have a lot to figure out and I’d rather no one overhear things. Just because I know doesn’t mean everyone else should.”  His comment seemed to give Nick a little reassurance, but he was still livid. “Murphy, see you tomorrow?”

“No,” my friend replied for me.  “He’s busy.”

I hesitated but finally nodded, “Nick’s right. I’m spoken for.”

Basl nodded and extended an envelope to me, “I thought as much.  Well, here’s your cut for the week then. See you when you have time, and good luck to both of you.”  

As we walked out, Nick was practically exploding.  “Are you kidding me, Murphy? You’re casually in a fight club?  And you had the fucking audacity to tell the owner you’re a fucking Adapted!  What in the fuck are you thinking?”

My smile vanished as I faced my friend, “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”  

“Murphy, we’re supposed to launch a raid on a fucking Imperium institution tomorrow, and you’re casually having a fist fight the night before.  You risk exposure, you risk injury, you-“

“It isn’t like that idiot could have hurt me,” I replied with a laugh.  “The fucker didn’t even touch me.”

“And what if he did and felt that weird shit under your skin?” he replied.  

I scoffed, “Do you enjoy being outraged with your teammates?  First you were angry at Alexis, and now you are all pissy with me.  Maybe you’re the one we should be worried about, Mr. Self-control.”

As soon as the words slipped out of my mouth, I regretted them.  

“Don’t you dare,” Nick warned with a growl, “That’s low, even for you.  You know what that was, and you know why I was pissed with Alexis. This is fucking different.   This is you holding out on us.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I insisted as I tried to walk past him.  Nick maneuvered in the way and put his hands out to grab my arms.  “And we shouldn’t get into it here,” I added quietly as I noticed a few Zari across the street looking at us.  Even with the typical industrial din and noise pollution of Ciel, people still noticed conflict and flocked to it.  

Nick had the good sense to relax his posture and lower his voice.  “You were late once, and more concerning is that you wouldn’t tell us why.   You had to know we were gonna check.”

“And I said you don’t need to know,” I insisted.  

He shook his head, “Man, you can’t keep us boxed out like this.”

“Yes I can,” I replied.  “Alexis didn’t tell us her parents were Imperium.”

“But she did!  Can you imagine the earful we’d give her later if we learned that her parents were Imperium AFTER we picked a fight with them?”  

I bit my tongue, frustrated that I didn’t have much of a foot to stand on.  

“Murphy, I’m your best friend.  Can you seriously not trust me with this?”

Why wouldn’t he let this go?  Why did he have to keep pressing for fucking answers?  “Let’s go to my house, then I’ll talk,” I finally conceded, knowing this wasn’t something that would go away.    

It was two kilometers to my home, and neither one of us said a word the whole time.  Nick occasionally glanced at me cautiously, like I was going to bolt and make a run for it.  As we walked up to the door I sighed and let him in…feeling my throat close, the presence of my best friend making me more anxious than the prospect of fighting Siphon did.  

“Out with it,” he insisted.  

I shook my head as no words came out.  “I…I can’t.”

Nick looked around my living room before looking back to me, “Murphy, where are your parents?”  

“They…”

“Murph, you told me you’d talk.  I can keep this between us if you don’t want Alexis to know.”  

“No, I just…I…”

Nick’s expression changed from angry to concerned.  “Murphy, where is your family?”

Years of lying, years of dishonesty, years of keeping it to myself, I felt it all coming apart.  Tears began to slowly trickle down my face as I looked him square in the face and replied honestly, “I don’t know.”  

“What do you mean, ‘you don’t know’?”

I shrugged, “I-I haven’t seen my parents in four weeks.”

My friend’s jaw dropped.  “And…you have no idea? Where the hell do they go that they don’t tell you?”

Tears started falling off the edge of my chin, “My parents are junkies, Nick.  Even before they were using, they were a bit disconnected. Your dad got angry, your mom’s depressed, Alexis’ parents found people to commiserate with and got violent.  My parents dissociated with reality as best they could, trying to not feel…anything. I noticed when I was about six, they didn’t interact with me like parents normally did.”  

Nick just nodded and let me keep talking.

“About six years ago, they started using heroin or meth, depending on what their dealer was peddling that week.  Anything to feel better. It didn’t help my parents came into a bunch of money thanks to some settlement or some shit.  They never told me, they just suddenly had money…well…had.”

“What happened?”

“They burned through it in record time.  It turns out that when you have tons of money, dealers like offering you product.  So, my parents would make a withdraw from the bank account and disappear for days on end, enjoying a bender where they forgot who they were, or that the Trillodan had turned Earth into an unlivable slag heap.  I…I guess I wasn’t worth remembering either.”

Nick reached forward and pulled me in for a hug, as if to let me know I wasn’t alone.  “Fuck man, why did you tell me earlier?”

“I didn’t want anyone to know,” I admitted, glad for the little bit of physical contact while it lasted.  “I’m ashamed of my parents. They’re…failures. I don’t want anyone to see me and think of them or assume I’ll grow up to be negligent shits like they are.”

It took a minute for me to compose myself and wipe my face clean as Nick pulled up chairs for us to sit down.  “So, what I saw today?”

“When I Adapted, I was afraid of what I could do.  I kicked Keldan and threw the guy nearly two meters; I wanted to learn control and Basl had been kind to me before…I had nowhere else to turn to learn how to control myself.  I went from being a bit of a scrappy but scrawny kid to being able to set the world record in high jump overnight.”

“How did you even know him?”

“I’d gone to a few of his self-defense classes years ago but got bullied by Keldan for it and felt too pressured to show back up.  Basl was nice though and seemed…trustworthy. I knew he did some shady stuff on the side, so I figured maybe he would be as good as any to trust helping me harness my gift.  It wasn’t like he’d go to the cops and risk exposing himself, right? And, I needed to learn to fight, all he wanted was for me to earn my keep in another fashion.”

“He exploited you,” Nick said, disgusted.

“Yeah,” I acknowledged, “But I don’t care.  My parents abused their settlement money and would still go disappear for days or weeks at a time; notices of repossession started coming in the mail and I desperately needed the money to pay the bills. Basl gave me a way to keep my home.”

“But-”

“Nick, how long is a homeless human going to last in Ciel?  If I didn’t freeze to death in the winter, some Zari would pick a fight with me and then I get recognized as Adapted and rounded up by Suppression or the Snatchers.  I wasn’t about to let that happen. So yeah, Basl uses me. But he trained me too; he’s how I learned to fight. Lessons, training, every day of the week like clockwork for months.  There’s a reason I’m so good at this stuff, and it’s because I train at least fifteen hours a week.”

He finally relented and was content to let us sit in silence for a minute.  “You still should have told us. It isn’t like we wouldn’t understand. I mean, Alexis’ situation was royally fucked even before we made it worse.”

“Yeah,” I admitted.  “You’re right.”

“I get it.  Well…sort of.  Man, family shit is such a headache!”  My best friend finally donned a smile of his own, “Hey, I think we need to unwind a bit, so how about we go pretend we’re ten again and visit an arcade?  We might suck less at the games now.”

It was so childish I couldn’t help but laugh as I wiped the last remnants of stress from my eyes.  “Alright, fine.”

As my friend headed to the door I equipped a more genuine smile than usual.  Maybe it was easier to let my friends help me than to just try and soldier on alone.  

I was going to have to rely on him tomorrow, why not today as well?

“Hey Nick,” I called, “Um, thanks.”

He scoffed, “Don’t get too soft on me now.”

“Phrasing,” I quickly noted.

“God, you’re hopeless,” he moaned.  

I could feel the anxiety surrounding tomorrow lift for now.  

Tomorrow the Rogue Sentries would clash with Imperium.  Tomorrow Parasite would risk life and limb to try and bring that group of mad men down another peg.  

But for today, Murphy Pell was content going to an arcade with his best friend.  

Tomorrow would come soon enough, why rush it?  

Previous Chapter _ Next chapter

(9/30/2080)

That half smile loomed above me, sneering with malice as his hand gripped around my throat, squeezing the air from me.  My passenger couldn’t alleviate the pressure and I couldn’t push him off, no matter how hard I tried.

I could feel my heart slowing, my vision swimming as he whispered a single word to me, “Pathetic.”  

With a jolt I sat up, my breath shallow.  As soon as I went up, I almost went back down as I came to a groundbreaking conclusion:

I fucking hurt…everywhere.  

Such a plain thing, but for me it was almost extraordinary since I hadn’t woken up in pain since Adapting.  

Today however, I felt like my body almost couldn’t move.  While the thing under my skin had made a point to fix up the gashes and perforations in my skin, it hadn’t gotten time to fix the muscle damage yet.  

I sat up, feeling light-headed and dehydrated.  “Protein, water, and a shower. Not necessarily in that order,” I groaned as I rose, a bit shaky.  However, as I shambled through my living room and back to my kitchen, I forgot that I wasn’t alone in my house anymore.  

Alexis was already up and making breakfast.  She turned to me…and immediately noticed my lack of pants.  Her eyes went wide in a mix of confusion, shock, and teenage awkwardness all meshed together as her friend stood before her in nothing but boxers.    

“To be fair,” I preempted, “I’m used to being alone.  You have only yourself to blame.” My face still felt it’d been hit with a brick, but I put on my usual grin to assuage her feelings of guilt.  I knew she felt remorse for her brash actions and borderline bullying me into the fight with Siphon. It didn’t help that I was showcasing the vast array of injuries I had sustained from the night before.  

It  was going to be hard to really let Alexis know that it wasn’t her fault.  Either way, I had little to offer against either opponent. It might have been better if I’d fought Collision, but if I had made a single mistake, I wouldn’t endure being hit with a car as well as she would have.  So, I stayed quiet and hobbled forward to join her.

“I made you breakfast.  Eggs and bacon. You need protein, right?”

“Someone’s learning!”  She shot me an annoyed glare which made my smile feel a little more genuine; I didn’t want her making this weird with one bad night screwing up our dynamic.    

Grabbing a chair I didn’t so much sit down as I collapsed.  My passenger was tapped, completely out of food to consume. I’d never lost nearly so much blood before and replicating multiple units of the stuff had done a number of my metabolism as well as its.  

“How are you feeling?”

“Never better, can’t you tell?”  I took the glass of apple juice and drained it, glad for the liquid and sugar to help refuel the alien mending me.  Feedback was immediate for the passenger as it jostled inside me, shifting from legs to my stomach, sapping some of the excess sugar like someone siphoning fuel from a car.  

I cringed, even thinking of the word ‘siphon’ immediately dredging back memories of the beating from last night, as if the nightmare hadn’t been enough of a reminder.  

It had been close at first, my enhance balance and sheer power from the organism giving me an edge when I was at full strength; within a minute Siphon had almost closed the gap in power between us.    

He’d endured, the gauntlets on his hands allowing him to take the staff strikes comfortably.  Even though I put a few kicks into his torso, he didn’t go down and it should have cracked ribs at bare minimum.  

It was almost like he didn’t feel pain once he flicked his power on.  

“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?”

I chided myself for letting my smile slip, “Yeah, a little,” I admitted.  “Never been thrashed like that before. It was…humbling.”

“We should just be happy we got out alive,” she replied meekly as she put a plate in front of me.  

I didn’t wait for her to sit down and quickly gorged myself, again feeling that draining of resources as the passenger took in its own sustenance and began moving throughout my body to continue repairing damage.  

Alexis looked…sad, which was not a good look for her.  While normally she was a little melancholic, this was different.  But then again, how often did you lose connection with your family?  

Still, no one died, she was right.  That was enough of a reason for me to smile.  

But, apparently it wasn’t all that was on her mind.  

“Murphy, where are your parents?  We’ve been meeting at your place all week and never even seen them a single time.  I get them avoiding us and whatnot, but it’s like they don’t exist.”

I opened my mouth to lie but she stopped me.

“Don’t just say they are out of town.  We’d see some evidence that they at least lived here or bought their own food, something.  Either they have been gone for weeks on end or are fictional. Also, you, me, and Nick have been good friends for like six years now.  Neither of us have met your parents which seems…improbable, bordering on impossible.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed, “I have a fucking alien living under my skin.  We dabble in the impossible regularly.”

“But to the rest of the world we are normal, at least the kid known as Murphy Pell is.”

My smile wavered, “Alexis, don’t push this.”

“Murphy,” she started.

“Alexis, please,” I whispered, “Not…right now.”  

She hesitated, the damage to my body on full display as I sat in front of her.  “Nick and I need to know. We’re teammates and we need to trust each other.”  

Here I had a choice: I could railroad her with guilt about nearly getting me killed, or I could just disclose the truth and come to grips with reality.  

Or option three, the doorbell could interrupt the conversation.  

Alexis looked at me, inquisitive.  “You expecting anyone?”

“Before noon on a Saturday?  Seriously? I don’t even make it to morning classes most of the time.”  

She rolled her eyes and walked to the door; as it opened, Xana barged her way in with Nick in tow.  “Hey look who’s still alive!”

“My plans to play rope-a-dope didn’t play out so well,” I admitted, raising my hands in surrender.  I didn’t bother getting up to greet my guests as I still felt a bit unsteady on my feet which was by far the most disconcerting thing about the beating; my agility and mobility let me feel free and alive…but now I felt almost caged with how off-kilter I was.  

Nothing had taken me this long to heal thought according to Alexis this should have taken weeks to mend with how much abuse I endured.  I guess healing a majority in ten hours meant I couldn’t complain too much.

Nick took a seat across from me at my small dining room table and let out a huff, “You look like shit man.”

“You know, I generally avoid saying that to you most days.”  

“I see your wit wasn’t beaten flat at least,” Xana replied.  “That might have made last night worth something.”

“Less than a minute and we’re already ganging up on me,” I lamented playfully, “Haven’t I suffered enough?” Even though it was a joke, I noticed Nick flinch. “By the way, what is everyone doing in my house?  It’s Saturday morning, shouldn’t you all be asleep or fucking like rabbits?”

Nick’s face went from downtrodden to a scarlet hue of embarrassed in an instant; to her credit, Xana gave me a mischievous grin and took the comment in stride.  “He said we should see you. I was definitely opting for the latter.”

“Xana!” Nick hissed, his face finding a way to turn a shade brighter.

“What?  Don’t act like your friends don’t know what we do behind closed doors.  That’s just rude!”

I nodded thoughtfully, “She makes a good point.  You really should be more open about these sorts of things; I don’t even know if-“

“Okay, stop,” Alexis finally cut in.  Her own cheeks shared a hue with Nick, embarrassed on his behalf.  “I don’t need to hear about Xana slobbing my friend’s knob.”

I didn’t think Nick’s horrified expression could be more exaggerated; I was wrong.  

“I might want to hear about it,” I chimed in, smiling proudly.  “Plus, Xana might have useful tips and tricks for you, Alexis.”

She slammed a fist into my shoulder; I was grateful that the passenger was absorbed the blow.  

“Well, glad to see someone is feeling a bit better at least,” she remarked as my ‘parasite’ swam away and refocused its attention reducing swelling and inflammation around my ribs.  

“No thanks to you,” I said with faux offense.  “The thing still has a bunch of muscle damage to repair, I don’t need you piling more onto its workload!”  

While my Adaptation did have some magnificent aggressive properties and enhance mobility, the real upside was the innate healing factor is bestowed.  Nick’s healing factor had an activation cost and only ran when he was in his Neklim suit, but mine didn’t require thought or too many resources all things considered.  Anyone who had endured the beating that Siphon put down on me would either have been dead or out of commission for weeks; I’d be out and healthy by the afternoon, less than a day after a near death experience.  

Of course there were exceptions with people like Awe who could regrow limbs in a matter of minutes, but fuck that guy.  

“In all seriousness,” Alexis started, “We should talk about what to do next.”

Nick nodded, “I don’t think that Murphy or I really know what Imperium is bound to do next, and it can’t be long until we end up biting off more than we can chew.  After all, if Shockwave shows up, we don’t have a good answer for him.”

“He won’t want to show up,” our captain countered, “The second he does, he looks weak.”

“But if you guys keep hammering them, something is going to give,” Xana shot back, “If you keep pushing, they are going to push back.  Besides, if they come out and make a big show of eliminating you guys, it won’t be a show of weakness, it’ll be a show of strength. You guys did go toe to toe with Shock and Awe, you aren’t regarded as lightweights.”  

“Personally, I think we should challenge him.  If he shows and we escape, then he looks weak as all hell.”  Everyone looked at me like I was a deluded nut and I just smiled.  

“How the fuck do you propose we don’t die?”

“Simply,” I replied, turning back to Nick, “We make sure we pick a fight where we can get away.”  

I could see Alexis’ wheels turning, “Shockwave is a powerhouse, but he’s not great for a chase.”

“If we pick a fight in a big open area, he’ll see it as an advantage for him, and it is under any normal circumstance.  But it also gives us plenty of room to run away and let him come up empty handed.”

Alexis nodded, “Most of their heavy hitters are Projectors, if we give them an open arena, we put ourselves at a disadvantage but we can probably sucker them into a fight.  As long as we make sure there is some cover to fall back to, we bait them out and get away and punch another hole in their rep.”

“I know causing collateral damage isn’t ideal, but if we fight in a courtyard downtown, that’d work nicely,” I suggested.  

“We’re newbies, we don’t really have a rep to protect like they do,” Nick added, “the emotional impetus is gonna make them a little reckless.  If we can disengage, I can shed my coat and Murphy can grab me to run. The only person I can think of who really chases on Imperium’s lineup is Siphon, but if we don’t give him an juice, Murphy can outrun him no problem.”  

Xana frowned, “Okay, sorry to piss on everything-“

“Nick might like that,” I added quickly.

“But you’re assuming you can just run,” she continued, with a glare at me.  I smiled innocently as she rolled her eyes. “This is Imperium, they aren’t just some pushovers who are showing up on the scene, they have eliminated rivals before with extreme prejudice.  There’s also people like Kudzu who could make running away extremely difficult. And Nick, you’re assuming you can disengage, but you don’t run all that fast.”

“I’m getting faster,” he said quietly, “But it’s like running on stilts.  It is a challenge.”

Xana put a reassuring hand on her boyfriend, “And you are, but you’re not going to going all that quick with a pair of Projectors laying into you.  And even then, what would you do if Shockwave showed up? Your armor has gotten better, Alexis, but do you want to really give it that test?”

Our team leader frowned, clearly not liking that option.

Leaning in, I voiced a crazy idea.  “What if we let Shockwave punch himself out?”

All heads turned to me like I was out of my mind.  

“Think about it!  Eldritch is basically built to take blunt trauma like no one’s business.  Shockwave does huge, sweeping blasts that crush cars and blast the sides of buildings.”

“You are making this sound really unhealthy for me,” Nick replied.

“My point is though, the bigger you get, the harder it is to just bludgeon you down.  If we put you in a two or three tonne suit with plenty of excess mass to consume, you’d be able to basically endure a bomb going off and shrug.  Shockwave doesn’t have the heat to cook chunks of growth off like Shock did, all he’d be doing is essentially hitting you with a massive boxing glove.”  

“But he’s been refining his skills for years,” Alexis commented, “Sure, Adaptations have metabolic constraints, but he isn’t going to just run out of juice.”  

“And I’d rather not be his punching bag for an extended period of time,” Nick added.  

I rolled my eyes, “I think we’re all forgetting something very important here.”  All eyes were focused on me, a morbid curiosity plain on all of their faces. “Nick doesn’t have the same metabolic limitation that regular Adapted do.  He is only bound by his external food supply, not his bodies own need. If there was ever a gift built to win a war of attrition, it’s his, provided we do enough prep work.”  

Everyone paused to give it some thought, and it was suitably Nick who broke the silence, “I still don’t like the idea.  Sure, my ‘suit’ can withstand the abuse, but under it, I’m going to be eating a huge chunk of the blasts. I’m literally connected to my suit, I will be feeling every hit.  Under duress, maybe we could try to outmatch and outlast him, but I don’t care for the idea of weathering a beating against one of the most powerful Adapted in the city.”

I shrugged, “Fair.  Then, I suggest we avoid Shockwave until we can recruit someone else.”  

“Wait, what?”  Alexis seemed perplexed by my idea.  “You don’t want to just stick to a trio?”

“We’d need more people in the end,” Nick said, coming to my aid, “We have holes in terms of coping with various power sets.  Even with the updates to your suit, the three of us are woefully unsuited to cope with someone like Shock and Awe. Shockwave isn’t someone we can easily fight, etc.  By and large, the three of us are built to fight up close and personal, and we need someone who can fight from the back line, take better advantage of the distraction and disruption Murphy and I can provide.”  

“Besides,” Xana added, “You’re hoping to avoid a big fight with Imperium or Surface Dwellers, but you should plan for the worst.  If that happens, you’ll want more friends around to watch your back.”

“Xana’s right, no plan survives contact with the enemy,” Alexis said to herself as much as us.  “Okay, we’ll have to start looking around and snooping for Adapted willing to join up. You’re right, we can’t expect to get much farther against big names without extra hands.”  

I knew it hurt her to have to admit it, but the bigger named teams had more people than three with only one exception that I knew of.  

For about a year, there was a super-group of Reckoners in Manda that called themselves “The Unstoppables” like a bunch of jackasses.  Though, to be fair, it was comprised of three of the most intimidating Adapted who walked around on Tso’got: Clemency, Innate, and Co-conspirator.  

An emotional manipulator who could harness energy from people around him, a master fighter/extraordinary cognate, and someone who could rob people of information and duplicate herself to spread her influence; it had put the scare into numerous people cartels in Manda and beyond.  However, it seemed that the group had issues when it came to leadership and identity: too many obscenely powerful people in a room created plenty of friction.

I knew Alexis wasn’t keen to introduce other people into the group since we were all friends. Adapted tended to clique up and if we found anyone, we’d likely find several; it wasn’t a stretch to think someone might challenge her claim to leadership.  But, if and when we ran into Shockwave or Beleth, we needed extra hands. Those two had literally dismantled small teams, like ours, on their own. Beleth had survived attacks from Suppression more than once, and Shockwave had been filmed taking a fight against three Reckoners and ripping them in a matter of minutes.  

“You said you’ve done some networking, right?”

She nodded, “A little, but nothing like this.  I’ve been effectively selling some of my drones to help Reckoner teams with scouting, but the people I talk to are already in set teams, and often in another city.  I doubt we’re a big enough pull to draw someone to us.”

“That and we have no patronage,” Nick added.  “No one wants to show up here if we aren’t bankrolled.”

“We are chasing down well bankrolled gangsters and we’ve already shown we aren’t afraid to take a bit off the top.”

“But there is a certain air of legitimacy given to people who have someone looking out for them,” Alexis replied, “Even though you swiped 30 grand, Murphy, it doesn’t keep the lights on for long if people are trying to live off being a Reckoner.”

While being a criminal Adapted was an easy way to make a living, being a Reckoner and living off your work was a bit more difficult.  Barring skimming off the ill-gotten gains of criminals, many people would try to find a Zari or human benefactor who essentially employed them; while this was a great development for most, occasionally that money came with some uncomfortable strings attached.  

After all, they were paying you.  It was your job to see to their best interests.  

You also ran the risk of a patron being a plant by either Suppression or Snatchers in an attempt to make contact and capture you.  

“For now at least we don’t need any additional,” I remarked, “We’re set for a bit and don’t have tons of upkeep cost with the exemption of your armor.”

“Yours is going to cost a few hundred for me to fix up since Siphon made you a pincushion,” Alexis noted and then immediately regretted mentioning last night as we both glanced at our third member who was…displeased.  

Nick leaned forward, “Are we going to talk about last night?”

Alexis cringed, clearly dreading the conversation.  “I’d rather not.”

“Nick,” I interjected, “It’s cool.  Trust me, yeah?” I gave him an authentic smile and nodded, knowing full well that Alexis wasn’t going to do this again.  She had beaten herself up enough; piling on was only going to make it worse.

He didn’t like my answer, and I knew why: he couldn’t help but blame himself a bit for what had happened to me.  

I probably would have felt more frustration about it if I hadn’t knitted eleven broken bones over the course of a night.  

It was easy to forget that Adaptations were all so different and had their own strengths and drawbacks.  While Alexis could make a suit to withstand a bomb, she couldn’t endure her person being stabbed, let alone recover from what I had endured.  Nick could maybe remake his body, but we had never tested to see what his Adaptation would repair; neither of us could stomach hurting our friend to see if he would heal/how much he would heal when he grew.  

“So, what now?”

“We keep hammering Imperium,” Alexis replied, still a little shaken at the thought of the prior night.  “Even though last night was…a bit of a setback, it wasn’t without some merit. I still put heat on Collision.”  

“But you lost your in with Imperium,” Nick pointed out, “We don’t have your parents unwittingly feeding you information.”  

“There are still places where they are a bit outspoken about their workings,” Xana pointed out.  “They have that distillery downtown. It’s even in the old police station, as if to flip off the city and remind people they are above the law.”

I let out a giggle, “What?” I replied to their disapproving stares, “You have to admit it is a little funny.  Gotta admire their gall as to put an illegal distillery in the middle of the city, in an old police station. If nothing else, they have balls.”  Alexis stomped on my foot under the table and I winced; my passenger hadn’t raced quick enough to stop the blow. “Easy, I’m not quite up to snuff.  Predictive responses are a bit slow still.”

“Oh, sorry,” she muttered, ashamed.  

Just like we had tested Nick’s powers, we’d tested mine to put it into more quantifiable terms since Alexis was very much science minded.  While I could direct the organism to assist me with specific muscle functions, the organism also reacted to threats seen and unseen. The tiniest changes in the air around me would prompt the organism to shift and shield something, even if I hadn’t seen it.  It even seemed able to move around quick enough to respond to gunfire; the faster it had to adjust though, the more I felt it internally. Feeling a block of tissues shift locations within a heartbeat felt like the strangest kick in the torso.

“I’ll be fine, honest,” I said with my smile equipped.  “I’m just salty I lost my fight and you won yours.”

“Getting back on track,” she replied, shooting me a glare, “Attacking their distillery is a bold move, and a very public one.  It’s basically right downtown, and there’s no way there isn’t at least one Adapted guarding it nightly. But,” she added, “It would make a nice staging ground.  It’s by a few taller apartment buildings and there are some slums a few blocks away. It would give us somewhere to run.”

“But, lots of clubs and nightlife spots around it, people are going to film us, regardless of what happens.  People will get hurt if we get into a big fight.”

Nick shrugged, “I’m likely to scare them away to a safe distance.  No one wants to be near a four tonne Neklim.”

“Four tonnes?  That’s a lot…you compensating for something buddy?”

He blushed and Xana reached forward to slap me.

“Ah, ah!  I’m a hurt boy, remember?”  

She glared and I stuck my tongue out at her.  “I don’t think you’re nearly as hurt as you let on, you’re just milking it.”

“Maybe,” I replied with a wink.  “But seriously, Nick, that’s a lot of mass.  You good to control that? Until recently you’ve been doing a quarter of that.”

“I know, but even at two I wasn’t doing enough to Ironclad.  And sure, I could probably take some abuse from Collision, but if you hit me with a few cars at a usual size and I’m going to start losing focus.  I’m just going to need to be bigger to endure the heavier hits.”

Alexis and I exchanged a glance: was this a good idea, especially on the heels of me getting hurt and him feeling a bit guilty?  I still vividly remembered him being out of control before thanks to him being emotionally compromised.

“If you get that big, my compound won’t stop you, it’ll only slow you down,” she cautioned.  

“I know.  But, Murphy was right.  I don’t have a limiter on my Adaptation besides consumption, we should be willing to take advantage of that.  If I can just take the abuse, it leaves you two unfettered to run around and flank threats.”

“Let’s let him feel like a big man,” I suggested, “If he’s that big, he could smack around Ironclad like he was a toy.”

Xana sighed, “Sure, but it won’t make him immune to Shockwave.  He will eventually show up and no matter how big Eldritch can be, he won’t be big enough to withstand that guy.”  

I noticed a little unspoken communication between Xana and Alexis: it seemed this wasn’t the first time they had talked about this.

“Maybe not,” I offered, “But he will still be able to take a huge hit or twelve from Shockwave and keep running.                   

Nick smiled, “Well, maybe not a war of attrition, but it’d at least be enough to buy time.  And that’s if Shockwave is there. He’s still probably not going to want to show his face since all of the criminal Adapted scene is about posturing and proving yourself.”  

He seemed strangely emboldened, not the usual muted Nicholas Weld I was used to dealing with.  Maybe it was more than guilt driving him; maybe he needed to prove himself and us as a team since he had been absent from the last fight.  Either way, it was good he was at least pumped up and excited to contribute.

Better than wallowing.  

“Well, we have to let Murphy heal,” Alexis concluded, “And we’d probably want to move against their distillery in the middle of the week.”

“Why?”

“Less people out and around,” she insisted.  “Sure, you roaring will scare them again, but we’re less likely to have collateral damage if people aren’t out getting hammered on a weekend.  I’m sure there will be a handful of people lingering and still getting a drink on a Tuesday, but not so many as to cause a mass panic and get tons of people trampled.”  

My phone buzzed on the table:

Basl: You gonna show today?  

Me: No, I’ve got stuff today.  Tomorrow should be good.

Basl: Money is good today.  

Me: Sorry, seriously swamped.  Can you put it off?

Basl: …I’ll let you know.  

Nick took a look at me, inquisitive as I put down my phone.  “How long do you think you’ll need to heal fully?”

I let out a laugh, “When you consider that I’ve already knit almost a dozen bones, sealed up seven different stab wounds, and repaired the damage in my liver, the remaining muscle damage and inflammation should be a cinch!  I ought to be ship shape by tonight. Provided the damn thing doesn’t get too tired.”

Xana raised an eyebrow, “It gets tired?”

“It is an organism.  It has its own metabolism to look after.  Eventually it will wear out and need to take a nap.”  

She seemed surprised, “I just thought it was some weird supernatural goo that was inside you.”

I looked to Alexis, “Want to let her know?”

“We had…trouble figuring out exactly what makes his Adaptation work,” she admitted, “I don’t know how to make an MRI or anything like that, so we had to guess and do something a little more…hands on as it were.”

For a second, Xana didn’t realize what she meant.  “Wait, you tried to cut him open to see what it was?”

I snapped and pointed a finger gun at her, “It can quit snowing, she’s caught the drift!”  

“That just seems, barbaric.”

Alexis blushed and looked away, “Well…I was curious.  And it was before I had Adapted so I didn’t know how to make any better precision stuff.”  

“Our best guess is that the stuff essentially meshes with my cells and somehow charges them up.  Because even when we cut me open, we didn’t really notice something that out of place…it just looked like overdeveloped muscle tissue.  Even when I congeal it all into one spot,” I added emphasis by willing the passenger to inflate my forearm, “There isn’t that much to it but it still finds a way to reinforce my bones, raise capacity on muscles and tendons, etc.”

“The best approximate we got was that, if seriously concentrated, it would yield about a 10x greater output than just his muscle alone.  But, that is only really doable for things like a single punch, a single kick. Start talking in terms of movement, it needs to balance out or he’ll flop over,” Alexis added.  

Xana cast a look my way, “That’s why you’re always working out so much.  Your power is directly linked to your own strength.”

I widened my smile, “Unlike some people at this table, I have to work for my power.  Someone here cheats.”

Nick rolled his eyes, “Oh yeah, I’m sure you’ve never used a little hit of your strength to finish a lift.”

“That would defeat the purpose of hard work,” I said, putting my hands and equipping a stern expression.  All of a second later, I chuckled and slipped back to my smile, “No, but seriously, the only time I use it is if I’m dumb and almost crush myself.”  

I caught my friend looking at me, still noticing some of the damage as my passenger wriggled under my skin and effectively massaged the muscle, reducing the swelling and repairing the muscular damage.

There was an awkward silence and Nick glared up at Alexis; he was clearly not okay with the small explanation of what happened that I had given him.  He was angry at being left out, and it wasn’t going to be contained for much longer.

Best bet was going to be getting ahead of the whole ordeal.    

“Hey,  Xana, do you mind giving us a minute,” I asked, ditching my smile.  

She sighed, knowing full well what was going to happen; hell, she probably would have prompted us to just get it over with if I didn’t.  “I get it,” she said. “This is between you guys. I’ll be out back fucking around with my phone. Take your time.”

As soon as we heard the door close, Nick’s frustration broke out.  “What the fuck happened last night?”

Alexis winced again which didn’t help.  “I shouldn’t have listened to myself and we should have stopped.  I beat Collision, but Murphy…”

I let out a wry laugh, “I got my ass fed to me.  I went up against Siphon thinking he would be a pushover; all I had to do was end the fight quickly and he’d be toast, his Adaptation would be effectively bypassed if I could knock him cold before he had a significant drain on me.  But, he had read my movements like a book. Even with superior speed, strength, agility, it all paled when stacked against his experience. A few hits landed, but most were blocked by gauntlets made for shock absorption; even though I broke a rib or two, he’d trained himself to move well enough that I didn’t do more damage.”

Nick frowned, “Why didn’t you run away when he didn’t go down quick?”   

“With the staff Alexis had made me, some of the hits would have shattered bones and done enough damage underneath to be life threatening.  When I hit Siphon, he took it and rolled, almost comfortably so. His lack of injury, lack of panic at being so clearly outclassed physically just…got to me. I let my pride cloud my senses.”  I paused, “Since I Adapted, I’ve never lost a fight. I didn’t want last night to be my first.”

While he heard my explanation, it didn’t seem to sink in.  He glared at Alexis,” Why didn’t you help him if you could see he was losing?  Surely you could have done something!”

“Nick, she was busy with Collision,” I interjected but was almost completely ignored.

“He was throwing cars at me!” she shouted, frustrated.  Last night was still a raw nerve for her, and, come to think of it, Nick didn’t know why.  

“You could have made distance to help!  You shouldn’t have left him on his own!”

“Nick,” I cautioned, putting a hand against his bicep, “Enough man.”

“No, it isn’t!” he snapped.  “Alexis, I said to not make me regret encouraging this, and you did!  My best friend nearly died! He recovered from the ass kicking Shock and Awe gave us within three hours, but it’s been a whole night and he still isn’t 100% yet!”

“So you what, think I wanted this?” Alexis snapped, “Yes, I fucked up, Nick!  I’m sorry, but Murphy is an adult and came with.”

“Because you bullied him into it!”

“I am right here,” I reminded them.  

Alexis shook her head, “Nick, stop, that’s enough.”

He raised his eyebrows, affronted.  “I’m sorry, but it fucking isn’t! You’re supposed to be the leader of the team, and you almost got a member killed because your stupid vendetta against your fucking parents! You’re supposed to fucking care about your friends!”

“THEY KICKED ME OUT!” Alexis screamed, shrill, right back in his face.  “Collision broke my helmet,” she finally whispered after catching her breath, “I had to expose myself to finish the fight and bargain to keep Murphy alive.”  She took another deep breath and an intense glare almost pushed Nick away from the table, “Don’t you ever say I don’t care about my friends. Don’t you fucking dare.”  

With that parting comment, she got up and walked towards the back door; Nick tried to get up to follow her but I empowered my grip and pulled him back into the chair.  

“Murphy what-”

“Nick, enough.  Give her a minute, okay?  She’s gone through a lot in the last eight hours.  She lost her home, nearly watched me die, and got the piss beat out of her herself.”

My friend growled, “That doesn’t mean she should be off the hook for what happened to you.”  

“Let it go,” I insisted, my smile gone as I tightened my grip to the point of being painful.  “My own ego did more damage than she did.”

“But-“

“Nick, stop!” I insisted and finally got his undivided attention.  “I got dumb, and I got punished for it. Alexis showed herself, lost her home, and risked exposing her identity to the psycho who stabbed me to make sure I lived.  She fought through Collision taking the staff and slamming it into helmet hard enough to lift her off the ground. Our captain has whiplash like she’s been in a major car crash and refuses to complain because of how bad off I am.”

“She-”

“Is right about me being an adult.  I knew the risk, and I let myself get pushed around.  If I had balked, she would have stopped. Maybe I should have, but I didn’t.”  I took a deep breath, “She shouldn’t have pushed, but ultimately it was my own damn fault.  I could have fought smarter, and I should have. Siphon kicked my ass, and that is on me.”

My friend let out a huff, his fists clenched with no real outlet for his anger.  “I’m just…pissed I wasn’t there.”

“Let it go,” I reiterated.  “Besides, better I get injured and not her.  I heal quickly; this should have put my ass down for weeks and I’m up in less than a day.”  

He took a few deep breaths and nodded, “You’re right.”

“I’m always right,” I replied with a wink as my smile crept back.  

He scoffed and shook his head, caught off guard by my casual behavior.  “Oh, that is some shit and you know it,” he shot back. “You might know how wrong you are if you went to class more often.”

I rolled my eyes, “Come on, I’m smart enough to make it by with only half the lessons, what would happen if I was there all the time?  It would be wildly unfair!”

Nick just shook his head, “The perpetual truant, Murphy Pell, doing everyone a service but not exploring his full potential.  What a saint!”

I rose and gave him a bow, only to get punched in the shoulder.  “Ow,” I said with a wince. Nick recoiled in horror as I smiled wider and started cackling.  “You fucking fell for it! Oh my goodness, too damn easy!”

My best friend rolled his eyes at me, “You’re hopeless, you realize that?”

“Fully aware!”  I sobered up a little before continuing.  “Seriously man, Alexis made a mistake, but she’s human.  We lived, we learned, and we get to try again. This time when we take the fight to Imperium, we get to have a big monster-man with us.”  

Right on cue, Alexis came back in, looking much calmer.  A silent exchange was passed between her and Nick as she sat down.

I wasn’t satisfied with that.  “So are mommy and daddy going to fight any more?”

“No,” she and Nick replied at the same time.  

An awkward pause settled over before I nudged Nick under the table, “I’m sorry,” he confessed, “I’m sorry I snapped.  I’m…I’m pissed I let my storage spoil and couldn’t help. That should have been much easier last night and none of us should have gotten hurt.”  

“I’m sorry I let myself run wild with my emotions and get crazy,” she replied.  “I’m sorry I fucked up as captain of our little squad.”

Another silence, another uncomfortable pause that settled over the room.   “So,” I asked to break the stifling calm, “What’s the plan?”

“We fought Imperium without our biggest threat,” Alexis said with a nod at Nick, “I think we give them a threat that can’t be pushed around.”  

Nick and Xana gave me a glance, “You’ll be good to fight in a few days?”

I grinned, “Looking forward to it already.”

Previous Chapter _ Next Chapter

(9/30/2080)

“I was right to be suspicious of you, you little rat,” my mom snapped.

“You raise your gun, I will fucking end you,” I warned, “I beat Collision; you really want to fight?” I growled as I curled my fingers into a fist.  

My dad shook his head, “Enough, let’s calm it down.”

“And why should I be calm, Tom?  Your fucking daughter is an Adapted and living right under your nose.  She beat Gregor into a coma! Maybe I shouldn’t be calm, maybe I should shoot her in the fucking face for going against Imperium!”  

 As her voice raised, so did my arm, pointed dead center of her chest.  “Mom, for once in your fucking life, SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

Her eyes widened and she recoiled, used to her daughter being soft spoken and easily walked on.  I was done being walked on, I was done being her whipping post, and it was time she figured out.  

“Lexi,” my dad whispered, “If we throw away our guns, will you take off the armor.”

“No,” I replied, blunt.  “Two of you, one of me. I want insurance.”    

He bit his lip and shook his head with indecision a moment before throwing his gun down and kicking it away.  “We’re not here as members of Imperium.  Ditch the gun, Mary.”

“If she won’t-”

“I SAID DITCH IT!”  

Both my mom and I were started at my dad raising his voice; I’d never seen my dad be truly angry, only disappointed occasionally.  Hearing him snap like that, it added another level of weight to the situation.

Even now, he cared.

My mother reluctantly complied, dropping her gun to the floor but didn’t kick it away like he had.  

“I’m going to sit down, and I suggest you do the same. We need to relax and talk like adults. That’s what you want, isn’t it?” he asked.   

“Yes.”

“Good.  Sit at the table with us and we’ll listen.  I think you have some explaining to do.”

My mom wanted to say something snide, undermine me, belittle me, but she was still cowed from that outburst my father had let out.    

Slowly, we all approached the table and sat down, my mom glaring at me and my dad still unsure how he should be presenting himself.  It was nice to know he still gave a shit about me, but it almost made this more unpleasant.

“So,” he asked finally, breaking the awkward silence, “How long?”

“The night you guys dragged me to the dog fight,” I replied, “I Adapted right there, and no one noticed.  I was almost trampled that night because I fell over and threw up; the only reason I didn’t die was because Gregor picked me up off the floor.”  

“And you still beat him into a coma,” my mother growled at me.  “Maybe he should have let you die.”

“Why didn’t you tell us,” my dad said quickly, speaking over her again.  “Why wouldn’t you confide in your parents?”

I glared at my mom, returning every ounce of poison she was sending my way, “Because mom is a dumb cunt and would have reported me to Imperium.  I didn’t want to be another Toolkit and be making weapons for psychopaths. The second you two learn I’m Adapted, Imperium knows and I have to work for them or they threaten to kill me and my friends.  Why the hell would I want to work with a bunch of supremacists and anarchists?”

“We aren’t anarchists,” she snarled, “You’re just too naïve to understand that.”

I set my jaw and glared at her, “Mom, do yourself a favor and close that stupid mouth of yours before I break every fucking tooth in your face.  I’m wearing metal gauntlets that I can effectively make into a taser. All I have to do is touch you and you won’t be fighting back.”

She closed her mouth but her glare intensified.  

My dad shook his head in frustration, “Stop threatening your mother, Alexis.”

“Don’t call me that,” I snapped at him.  

He withdrew a little, caught off guard.  “That’s your name.”

“No, that’s my proper name.  That’s what friends call me. You call me Lexi, you have for years, and now isn’t the time to change that.”  

Even my mom seemed to feel the impact.  

“Lexi,” he started over, “You don’t know for sure whether we would have sold you out to Imperium.  We are still your parents, and we care about you.”

“No, you care about me,” I corrected, “That bitch beside you only cares about herself and the gang she works with.  I’ve been a second-rate citizen to her for my entire life because I had the audacity to make a Zari friend or two.”

She sneered and exposed a canine to me, “You watch your mouth!”

“Or you’ll what?” I snapped back at her, “You’ll go for your gun and shoot your daughter?  You’ll wake up the neighborhood with a gunfight a bit after midnight? Grow the fuck up.”

“And you wouldn’t?  You threatened to shoot me too you cur! You’d sully your precious Reckoner status with a gunfight?”

I grinned and shook my head, “My gun is powered with a small air compressor.  It makes about as much noise as a nail gun and wouldn’t wake up anyone sleeping upstairs.  If you’re going to threaten me, at least know what I’m bringing to the damn table. You saw me shoot Collision, but you should have noticed it didn’t make an awful lot of noise.”  

“Enough,” my dad growled, growing more and more frustrated by our prattling.  “Mary, threaten Lexi again and I’ll drag you away from the table. She’s right, be a fucking adult.  This is important enough for you to stop with all the fucking dramatic posturing. We aren’t impressing anyone, and we aren’t about to win a fight with an Adapted who is still wearing part of her power armor.  If our daughter really wants to hurt you…” he trailed off before letting out a huff, “I’m not going to get in the way.”

I should have been more satisfied that he’d opted to side with me, that he had finally stood up to my mother and chastised her for being so unrepentantly mean to me.  

But…what did it say that it took this long for it to finally happen?  

“Even if you’d never sold me out, she would have,” I said solemnly.  “If Imperium knew I was an Adapted, do you think they would have ever stopped monitoring me if I had declined helping them?  Or, would they have ever even gave me a choice?”

He looked down at the table, crestfallen.  “No. If they knew what you were, that would have been enough prompt for them to invade your life.  If you aren’t with Imperium, you’re against them.”

It dawned on me his wording, ‘If they knew’.  

They still didn’t.  He hadn’t ratted me out.  

“Why haven’t either of you told them?”

My dad let out a weak laugh, “You’ve attacked Imperium twice now; if I told them who my daughter was, the two of us would be killed for being insubordinate.”

I frowned, “You didn’t know though.  I never told you. They’d still kill you?”

To my surprise, my mother answered.  “They’d say we should have paid more attention to our children, should have made sure that we’d been attentive parents.”

“Well, at least they have some sensible parenting advice,” I muttered.  

She growled and my dad put a firm hand on her shoulder before turning back to me, his blue eyes drilling into me.  “Lexi, stop antagonizing. If you want to talk like adults, be one.”

As I looked at my mother, I felt myself mirroring her glare.  We hated each other, we had all this time, and yet there was so much of her in me.  My defaulting to baser instincts, my impulsive and foolhardy decision making was all inherited from her.  Taking her proclivity for rage, for anger, for mistrust, it was poisoning myself and it had almost cost me a friend.  

My mother was responsible for giving me the worst parts of myself.

But, she’d also given me the killer instinct that had let me push through the pain, let me fight through the fog of the concussion Collision had inflicted two hours ago.  For better or worse, she was part of me, a dangerous part, and always would be present.

However, in the end, my dad was right; I didn’t want to be like her, I didn’t want to be a feral child who lashed out at everything.  If I was forced to emulate my parents, I would choose to be mature, to be able to give a shit about people, to be more like him.

“Fine,” I replied, collecting myself.  “And, thank you for not turning me in.”

“As much as you and your mother can’t get along, you are still our daughter.  We aren’t just going to hand you over because you are one of them.”

I winced involuntarily as he referred to me as something else, something foreign.  Nick was right, it stung being thought of like some kind of outsider.

“I’m just as human as you are,” I replied defensively.  

“Are you?”  I turned to my mother, caught off guard by a tone that wasn’t so much accusatory as it was questioning.  “I don’t know a lot of humans who can move a car, let alone through one with their mind like Collision. I saw Eldritch at the dog fight, I don’t know a lot of humans who can turn into a massive Neklim either.”  

“I still have to eat, breathe, and sleep like you guys do.”

“And you still are wearing power armor you made by yourself.  You designed a system to literally project a hologram to disguise your workbench that you made in your room, all with no formal education in terms of electrical work let alone robotics.”

I wanted to argue with my dad’s comment, but he had a point.  “That doesn’t change that I still bleed red when you cut me.” As if for emphasis, I moved my hair to reveal the split in the skin on my forehead.  “Adapted aren’t inhuman, we aren’t monsters or freaks, we’re just…different,” I said for lack of a better way to define us.

“The Zari are different too,” my mom replied.  

“Every sentient species on another planet is different,” I shot back, “That isn’t enough reason to hate them.”

My dad raised his hand to quell my mom’s retort.  “We aren’t here because Imperium told us to be. We don’t need to rehash this argument for the thirtieth time,” he growled.  “We need to talk about what happens next.”

A lump formed in my throat; I was dreading him saying it.  I knew my mom would be thrilled to find an excuse to get rid of me…but he was dad.  He’d want me to stay, right? I’d come to the conclusion that this part of my life may well be ending, but he’d prove me wrong and have me stay.

Right?

With effort, I pushed the lump down and managed to talk.  “What needs to happen next?”

He let out a slow exhale, his hands trembling slightly.  This was as difficult for him as it was for me. “Are you planning to attack Imperium again?”  He looked up and stared me in the face, silently pleading for me to say anything but yes. In that moment, I was sure he’d have killed someone to hear me say no, that I’d put aside our campaign against their criminal empire, that he could keep his daughter home, that everything could go back to how it used to be, that all this madness could be undone like a bad dream.    

But, I couldn’t lie to him or to myself, I couldn’t poison the well between us.  I owed it to everyone here to be honest, to own my actions.

“We’ve started our fight, and I’m not going to end it on a loss,” I replied weakly.  “We’re not done fighting Imperium, not until they are gone.”

That feral rage returned to my mother’s face in an instant but my dad squeezed her shoulder, keeping her in check.  “Why?”

“Imperium is a blight.  It makes everyone more violent and spits out as much drugs as the competition does.  Surface Dwellers are at least controlling and don’t endorse reckless violence; Imperium preaches xenophobia and a complete disregard for anyone who isn’t ‘with them’.  It is an unsustainable philosophy. All you accomplish is tainting the image of humans for the populus and make your own views on the Zari a self-fulfilling prophecy. Of course they hate us with you guys killing security guards and robbing banks!  Plus, how many tens of thousands of dollars in property damage did Collision cause while smacking me around?” I demanded. “He threw like a dozen cars at me, and massive slabs of cement. A lot of innocent people are going to have to try and figure out why their ride is broken and then try to deal with insurance, and Zari are not known for having good bureaucratic systems!”

My mother clearly wanted to scream, but she deferred to my father; I don’t think she could stand losing her composure if her daughter was able to keep it together and outshine her.  

“You don’t understand how miserable things are compared to how they used to be,” he said in a whisper. “It’s hard for us to not want the old glory days back when we were on Earth.  But, when you see the world die, when you feel it begin to burn, you change,” he said plainly. “And maybe you’re right, maybe we are a bunch of assholes running around and causing chaos.”  He flashed a sad smile, “But we can’t just walk away. The rest would see us as a liability, people who know too much.”

I nodded slowly, understanding.  Of course he couldn’t walk away, Imperium wasn’t about to allow loose ends.  

“Things were…different back then,” he continued.  “When we came to Tso’got, so much of life was the same.  The Zari mimicked a lot of human’s technology, in large part because we are so similar in a lot of ways, in terms of biology.  Once communication was established between our races, their technology and culture became an even closer copy,” he conceded. “But, even with so much being like it was back on Earth, it feels different.  It feels wrong, incomplete. And that sense, that gnawing knowledge that nothing will ever be the same, it haunts you. It changes you.”

“You joined Imperium because they were angry like you were,” I realized aloud.  “You didn’t join because you were criminals or monsters, you were just….hurt.”

“Exactly,” he confessed.  “It was like finding a new family, all with a collective identity.  A small tribe who missed the old days and hated this false world we were stuck in.  You’ve grown up here so you don’t truly understand what it feels like to be in exile, to know you can’t go home.”

Even my mom’s anger seemed to be replaced by a vulnerability, the harrowing experience still shaking them to their core.  

I was expecting more violence, more screaming, more of a fight from my mom; instead I just felt sad.  For so long I had assumed that I was the product of a pair of angry individuals who were completely unjustified.  They were supposed to be lunatics, people I found it easy to hate and run away from. When I had suggested we fight Imperium, I knew that it would inevitably come to this.  

But now with my mother’s anger quelled, there wasn’t hate, just disappointment and loss.  

“But I made my choices,” I finally said, “And so did you guys.  We can’t go backwards.”

He nodded, solemn.  “I know. Tonight you’ll need to go.”  

I thought I had been prepared to hear that: I wasn’t, not even remotely.  

My mom stood up nodding curtly and walking away from the table, leaving my dad and me alone.  For a moment, I waited, unsure of what to say, what to do, or even how to feel. Should I feel guilty?  Should I feel relief that it was over?

“I’m sorry it came to this,” he finally said in a hushed whisper.  “I’m sorry we weren’t better parents to you. Even if she’ll never say it, I know she is too.”

“She sure has a funny way of showing it,” I muttered with a wry laugh.  

He reached forward and grabbed my metal gauntlet, “I’m glad you’re not working for Imperium.  I’m glad you aren’t angry like us.”

“Yeah,” was all I had ability to say in reply.  

“If we run into you…”

“I know,” I acknowledged.  “Be smart and don’t get in the way.  Eldritch is the scary one and might accidentally crush you.  Me and Parasite are a little better contained. Less collateral.”  

He nodded, squeezing as tears welled up in his eyes, “Where are you going to go?”

“Probably to Murphy’s house,” I replied, “His parents are almost never there.  It’ll be a place to hide out until I can make enough money to afford my own place.”  

“How are you going to-“ he stopped himself.  “Maybe better I don’t know. Plausible deniability and all that.”

I chuckled, “Yeah, definitely better you don’t know about what I’ll be doing, and probably best for you not to tell me anything.  I was using you guys earlier,” I confessed, “And it was part of why I chose to go after Imperium.”

My dad nodded, “It makes sense.  We told you about what we did with Imperium, you only used information that was freely given.  So few people Adapt, it would be absurd to think our own daughter was one.”

“Exactly.”  

“Your Adaptation?”

“Machines,” I explained, “Self-repairing machines.  General purpose, no singular specialty like others have.  No physical component either, pure Cognate.”

“Are your teammates good people?”

I remembered what Murphy had asked and took a minute to answer carefully.  “They are good people. I think if you ever met them, you’d like them.”

A bit of motion caught my eye as I saw my mom come back into view, her gun in hand.  I hadn’t notice her scoop it up off the floor when she had left earlier. “No physical ability, that means no protection without your suit.”

“Mary, what the hell are you doing?” my dad hissed, but he didn’t raise his voice.  

“Mom,” I growled, feeling my anger bubble up, “Put down the gun.”  

“Imperium will reward us for bringing you in, alive or otherwise,” she said, cold.  “If you’re going to work against us, even after you leave, you need to get out of the way.”

I noticed a slight tremor in her hands as she stared me down; this wasn’t rage driving her, this was something else entirely.  She wasn’t herself, and it was making me more nervous since I didn’t know what might set her off.

Slowly, I folded my arms and face her, subtly tapping the button in my armor to activate their auxiliary power supply.

My five minute timer had started.  

“Are you really going to do this?  You’ll have to explain what exactly I was doing in your house,” I cautioned.  

She shook her head, “We move you somewhere else, say we tracked you down.  As much as your father doesn’t want me doing this, he isn’t going to turn me in and risk his own skin.”  

This time it was my father without words.  He just sat there, silent.

“Mom,” I said slowly, “Put down the gun.  I’m not coming after you guys.”

“You heard him, Imperium is family to us. You are going to come after them, you are going to dismantle all of what we built.  I have the chance to stop you, to stop any potential damage you inflict to us. Why wouldn’t I?”

Still, that shake.  She was anxious, maybe even afraid.  I’d told her exactly what my gantlets could do; was she afraid of my arsenal?

“But are you really going to shoot your daughter?  Are you going to stoop that low for the sake of a bunch of gang-bangers who you don’t really know?”  

Her lip curled in a sneer, but that hand continued to tremble.  I set my jaw and slowly pushed the chair away from the table.

“Goddamn it, Alexis-“

“NO!” I snapped, “You don’t call me that.  Don’t you dare.”

In the moment she was stunned, I raised my hand and fired my zip gun.  A pneumatic hiss rang through the room and my mom jumped way, my shot embedding itself into the wall.  Getting up, I seized the chair and swung, the actuators helping me finish the motion; I didn’t hit my mother, but one of the legs caught the barrel of her gun and threw it free.

While my arms were to the side, my mom charged at me, striking and catching me in the cheek.  I stumbled back against the table, raising my hands but my mom had already adjusted her next attack.  A blow found my side and I groaned.

All the abuse I had taken from Collision, it felt like I was trying to drag myself through tar to move.  

I swiped a hand to grab her, but my mom was quick, uninjured and she’d had more time fighting than I did.  While Murphy was a good teacher and remarkably well trained, little did better for the art of combat than repeat exposure.  

She’d been in Imperium for years, getting more and more acclimated to violent confrontation.  

As she backed away from my swipe, I raised an arm to use the zip gun and she reacted quick, ducking low and shooting forward, slamming her shoulder into my legs.  I toppled and my back slammed into the table, making me cry out.

“Mary, stop!” I hear my dad shout.  I glanced at the sound and saw him holding his gun now, training it on her, but that didn’t stop her from hitting me in the face.  

I debated grabbing her and turning on the electric output of my gauntlet, but that would just tase me as well since she was sitting on my chest.  The actuators wouldn’t help me hit harder, just the density of the gauntlet would add to my striking power.

But I did have increased grip strength thanks to the armor.  

My hands reached up and fastened around my mother’s arms just below the shoulder, halting her ability to strike me as I squeezed.

While I didn’t have my friends strength, I had almost five times my own power thanks to the armor, and my mother wasn’t much bigger than me.  

Her eyes widened as she realized exactly how much pressure I could apply, bruising the muscle and the bone beneath as well.  Through gritted teeth, I pushed her to the side, letting go with one hand to let me strike her abdomen.

The unforgiving metal gauntlet cracked a rib and let me shove her body to the floor.  Scrambling away from her, I stood up and pointed my arm at her torso. “Mom, stay on the floor.”

I didn’t let her know that I only had two more minutes of power on my armor.  

She nodded slowly, shaky, “I needed to know.”

“Needed to know what?” I spat.

She wouldn’t answer, she just lay there, shaking.

I looked over to my dad, “I think it is high time I go.  I’ve clearly overstayed my welcome.”

He nodded, “Let me help take this stuff to your car.”  

“I’ll go grab some clothes from my room. And don’t give her gun back,” I muttered, still staring down  at my mom who was…was she crying?

With a shake of my head, I went upstairs and started throwing clothes into my backpack before I turned off my hologram and make sure he grabbed all the pertinent materials of mine.  They’d been thorough in scouring my workbench; hopefully neither took any pictures to share with Imperium, but I doubted it.

“Lex,” I heard as a whisper while I was loading my backpack.

Spinning to the door, I saw my mom standing there, looking dejected.  “What the fuck do you want?”

She couldn’t look at me, instead stuck staring at the floor.  “I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

I laughed, “It took this many years for you to finally say you’re sorry?  It took me having to leave to say you’re sorry? And you have the gall to apologize after attacking your daughter.”

“I had to be sure,” she whispered.

“Sure of what?” I demanded.  “Sure that my machinery worked?  Sure that Collision hadn’t lost to a complete pushover?”

“I had to be sure you could stand and fight!  I had to be sure my daughter was going to survive!”

My jaw almost dropped as I laughed.  “You saw me get hit by a car with Collision, more than once.  That wasn’t enough of a test?”

“I had to know for myself!”

“Get the fuck out of here,” I snapped at her, “Just, go!  I’m done with you!”

I’d wanted to say it for so long and now that I finally did, the words felt empty almost.  And despite my yelling, my mom didn’t scram, she walked forward. It was a tense few seconds while she cross the room to me, tears adding a sheen to her cheeks as she reached up and wrapped her arm around my shoulders.  “Be safe, be strong,” she whispered.

For the first time in as long as I could remember, I hugged my mother and realized how long we had been at each other’s throats over the pettiest stuff.

And I’d never get a chance to see what could have been if we had this moment earlier.     

As the moment ended, my mom turned around and left me to finish packing up the essentials into my backpack; luckily my parents had missed the money stashed at the bottom of my beds fitted sheet.  

Outside, my dad had loaded the boxes of my tools and metal scrap into the trunk of my car and was waiting for me.  I threw my backpack into the seat and looked at him awkwardly.

“She told me,” he said before I could open my mouth about mom.  “She doesn’t hate you, Lexi, she just doesn’t know how to love you either.”

I nodded, “I think I get it…but at this point does it really matter?”

He frowned, “I think it might.  But, don’t worry about us, you take care of yourself and your team.”  

We met for an awkward hug as tears began to stream down my face.  “I’m going to miss you, dad,” I sobbed as I squeezed tighter.

“I’m gonna miss you too.”  He cried too, not bothering to put up a manly façade as he embraced his daughter for what might be the last time.  “You’re going to do good things kid,” he assured me as he let go and placed his hands on my shoulders, looking me up and down, “You’re gonna do so much more good for the world than your dumb parents ever could.”

I sniffled and nodded, “Of course I am.”  

We gave each other one last hug before I had to say those dreaded words.  

“Goodbye, dad.”  

His voice caught in his throat as tried to compose himself.  “Goodbye, Lexi.”

Tom Trent waited for me to drive away, watching his little girl leave and give up claim as his daughter.  Our lives had to separate, and it hurt so much more than the damage Collision had caused earlier.

Driving back over to Murphy’s house, I felt numb.  I thought the rough point of my night would be fighting Collision or even the pressure exerted by Siphon; turned out the hardest point was having to accept that Alexis Trent was more than just Dragoon.

Being human had turned out to be so much more difficult than Adapted.    

I pulled up to Murphy’s house and staggered up to his door with my backpack in hand, trying to open the door like I lived there.  Surprisingly, it was locked. I thought my friend would have still been down but clearly he’d been up.

“Murphy, open up,” I begged as I hammered on his door.  I hadn’t even realized I was still wearing my gauntlets as he opened the door, balancing with the staff and barely standing.  Still, he looked better compared to where I left him an hour ago.

Largely in part because he had ditched his bloody clothing and was just in a pair of boxers.  Still, all the stabs in his torso were on display, not completely closed and the regions still swollen.  I could see where his ribs were broken and the discoloration around his midsection. Despite all the injury, he looked more energetic and had more color though he was panting with the exertion of having to get to his door.  

“I wish the staff weighed less,” he lamented as I walked in.  “It doesn’t do well as a walking stick.”

“Here,” I said, forgetting about myself for a second and putting his arm over my shoulder to help walk him back to his room.

“It…it didn’t go well, did it?”

I shook my head.  “I’m officially homeless.”

“Do they know about us?”  I hated that he had to ask, but he still had to look out for himself and his best friend.  

“No.  And my parents won’t rat on me; Imperium might drop the axe on them if they learned about me turning traitor.  Their lack of a tolerance policy is keeping us in the clear.”

Murphy nodded, clearly relieved.  “I had to tell Nick,” he informed me, “He asked me what happened, I couldn’t lie to him.  He’d find out eventually.”

“You’re fine, and it’s better he hear about it from you.”  

As if on cue, my phone chimed and I saw a text from our third member; I ignored it for now.  I wasn’t about to deal with additional headache for the night. There had been enough upheaval in my life.  

“Mind if I crash on your couch?”

He waved casually, “What’s mine is yours.”  

Leaving Murphy in his room, I fixated on a couch and the prospect of sleep.  I threw my backpack down by the armrest and flopped down, the emotional and physical fatigue that I had been pushing to the back of my mind coming to the forefront.  

My eyes slowly closed as I replayed the last words my father would ever say to me.

Goodbye, Lexi.  

Previous Chapter _ Next Chapter

(9/29/2080)

Murphy and I stood there, baffled.  “What do you mean you can’t be Eldritch tonight?”

Nick sighed, “I mean as in it all went bad!  I can’t consume rotting meat, it doesn’t let me grow!  You can’t, make new muscle with a corrupted food supply!”

I put my head in my hands and groaned—we needed this win to keep our momentum going.  We knew the threat, we knew the location, and we had the element of surprise. Having Eldritch with us would make it easy to cope with Siphon and leave Collision to flounder in a two versus one scenario.  

Without him though, I didn’t like either Murphy or myself against Imperium’s infamous assassin.  

“Can we get you some new stuff?” Murphy asked.  I was sure he had come to the same conclusion as I had.  

I frowned, “We don’t have time.  They are supposed to be hitting the bank and its closer to downtown than not.  If we got out to fetch him material, we might miss our chance to interrupt them.  And the best way we can hamstring Imperium is to cut their income and morale.”

“No criminal likes a hit to the bottom line.”

Both of us turned back to Nick, “We need to know what we’re doing here.  You don’t have any material to use?”

He shook his head.  “I’m sorry, but I have to sit this one out if we don’t have the time.  I only have five kilograms of useable mass. I’d be a detriment.”

Unfortunately, Nick wasn’t wrong.  With so little to draw from, he could only a 200 kilogram Neklim for 15 minutes at most.  While that would be a fearsome predator for a normal person, the Adapted in question would tear through him.  

“Come on, let’s go,” I said to Murphy.  

He seemed as surprised as Nick.  “We’re going without him?”

“We can’t give up this opportunity.  We know the fight we’re in for, and we don’t need to stay around for long.  We just make enough noise that the cops show up unprompted and force Imperium to scatter.”

Nick and Murphy both looked uncomfortable; we couldn’t call the cops because my parents had told me about their heist.  If police showed up first…suspicion was bound to come my way in a big hurry. This had to be done by Rogue Sentries, not an anonymous tip since it was almost inevitable they had ears within the police department.  

“Alexis,” Nick started.  

“Murphy, let’s go.  We can do this.”

Murphy was visibly torn.  His bravado and machismo almost demanded he sign up, but his logic and intellect screamed that it was a bad idea.  With the trademark grin wavering, he looked to his best friend, silently trying to communicate and come up with a conclusion.  “I think this is a bad idea. We can get another shot at Imperium later.”

“This will have serious impact.  Denying them two huge paydays back to back will cripple morale and faith in their leadership.  We need to make them weak enough for Surface Dwellers to take interest, a single disruption won’t do that.  Constant pressure is the best answer.”

Nick looked between us and finally hit his friend in the shoulder.  “Go on man, you two got this.”

Albeit tainted with clear sign of anxiety, Murphy’s trademark grin returned and he nodded.  “Let’s go stop a heist.”

As Murphy turned and went to my car, I gave Nick a nod.  “Thanks.”

He narrowed his gaze, “Don’t make me regret this.”

“I won’t.”  

While I would have loved to stay and discuss with Nick about my motivations, time was definitely of essence; Murphy was already slipping into costume as I got into the car and put my foot to the floor.  It was late, meaning plenty of the usual riff-raff was out of the way, letting me comfortably speed.

Despite all his misgivings, Murphy couldn’t fight how the adrenaline was making him feel.  He exhaled slowly, getting set, getting ready for a brawl. “So, crowd control?”

“My specialty, I’ll take care of the rest of the crew if they bother interfering.  Given who they are bringing, I think they want the crew to exclusively empty a vault; we’re likely just going to be occupied with Siphon and Collision.”  

He hesitated, “They aren’t going to just go down from a flashbang, especially since we showed our hand with the dog fighting ring.  You confident in your new tricks?”

Generally when Adapted groups went to war against one another it wasn’t settled in a big climactic brawl.  It was generally won over a series of skirmishes, testing the others and seeing who could, simply put, adapt better.  I’d done it twice now, using flashbangs and stun grenades to help subdue people; while normal thugs wouldn’t be equipped with gear to deal with me, their Adapted would.  

In many instances, power discrepancies between Adapted and a regular person were almost insurmountable, especially if the normal person didn’t get the drop on the Adapted in question; even with a fully automatic rifle, there wasn’t likely to be any real damage dealt to me under my armor.  If I didn’t miss my guess, the rest of the crew would pack to be mobile and make the job as expedient as possible. The Adapted were there as security, not to facilitate the robbery. While the other people weren’t likely to interfere, Collision and Siphon wouldn’t be distracted either.

Still, I now had a firearm and a sword that doubled as a taser.  That was bound to make an impression, or at least I certainly hoped it would.  

“I think you’ll fare better against Siphon than I will,” I postulated.  “You’re ability to brawl is better than mine, you’ll just do better in a straight fight.  I’m a little worried he’ll try to suffocate me in my suit if I tangle with him; if he managed to disconnect my battery pack, he could literally entomb me in the armor.  Plus, my suit should help me cope with Collision.”

Murphy pursed his lips, “That makes sense I guess.  You deal with being hit by something larger than I do.”  

“True,” I acknowledged.  Murphy’s passenger was most efficient when it could localize itself and stay in a clump or in a single area; if his entire body was taking a hit, the thing would try to cover all the vital areas which spread it thin.  Try to stab Murphy though, you didn’t get much farther than skin deep.

”I just need to get what, five meters away from him?”  

“Ten,” I corrected.  “And the longer you stay in the pocket, the worse the effect will be.”

He patted his chest, “Hopefully it doesn’t affect the little guy.  If it doesn’t, I should be able to manage for as long as you need to deal with Collision.”

Deal with Collision.  I admired his confidence.  Even more suspect was Murphy’s hope.  But it begged the question of whether Siphon’s Adaptation affect an alien living within my friend or not?  It hadn’t even crossed my mind that Murphy might have the best answer to the assassin out of all of us.

Still, it was a longshot, at best.  

Three blocks away, I parked my car and hopped into the backseat, sliding my kev-silk suit on and grabbing the pieces of my armor.  Each section was its own isolated piece but all interlocked to help maintain the integrity of my armor as well as the flexibility while leaving as few weak points in the finished product as possible.  My gun had already been loaded thanks to a hunk of scrap metal being fed to the assembly, and the sword rested on my back, the weight becoming a familiar and pleasant reassurance.

Even in renovated armor, I still felt nervous, antsy.  What if it wasn’t enough protection? Without Eldrtich, we lost a lot of our overwhelming force and presence.  Collision was Imperium’s newest addition in their Adapted line-up, but he was still as dangerous as anyone else I’d heard of.  His power was a peculiar form of Telekinesis; he could apply force on an object but only in a singular direction. If he tried to manipulate objects that were in motion, it took an extraordinary toll on him; like most projectors, he couldn’t manipulate organic matter and fling that around willy-nilly either.  

Instead, he shot chunks of rock, debris, street poles, or sometimes even cars at people like bullets from a gun.  There wasn’t any real way he convoluted his power. In a way, I liked the simplicity and straightforward nature of his gift.  

Simple but still incredibly effective.  

As we rounded the corner, the bank was in sight…and so was the crew.  They had already parked and were now looking to gain access to the building.  On the ground by the door was a pair of figures laying face down on the ground, unmoving.  Guards, undoubtedly. And given the fact that we hadn’t heard gunfire or any loud clanging, it was likely the work or Siphon.    

Now breaching the door, I counted seven people for the job, all in black with bandanas covering their mouth and nose to help obscure identity.  Still, two people stood out to me in the crew and I felt my heart drop.

My parents.  

Twice now they would be put in harm’s way because of my actions.  Twice they would unwittingly hate their daughter for interfering with their plans.  

Murphy seemed to cue into my distress, “You’re good?”  

“Yeah,” I replied, “Just, I see my mom and dad in the mix.”

Murphy pulled down his mask, taking on the mantle of Parasite.  “They brought along the thugs so they don’t have to fuck with us.  Plus, we have our own mountain to climb. If we get to the point we have to deal with them, the hard part is over.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I acknowledged as I discarded the identity of Alexis and donned the persona of Dragoon.  I wasn’t the trimid high schooler with a crush on my best friend, I was a badass Reckoner with a job to do.      

A little distance apart from the group I saw our main challenge.  Collision had a green armor-plated vest with a red reticle spray painted on rather crudely to the dead center of his chest.  His helmet looked almost like a modern welding mask, though the sides seemed to be more open to not impede his vision so much.  

Siphon could have almost belonged with the rest of the crew since he opted for mostly black getup.  Without the streetlamp illuminating him, the only parts of him I would have noticed were the steel gauntlets he wore that had been painted white.  His costume was less bulky, sacrificing durability for speed as he was more sprite-like, similar to Parasite. Along his belt was a ring of knives, a handgun at his side, and a small hammer on the ground beside him.  His mask covered three quarters of his face, leaving the left side of his jaw exposed. It was a molded piece of black metal with the eye-slits highlighted in white paint.

Taking a deep breath, I stalked forward and entered the light of the street lamps around the edge of the property and was immediately spotted by Imperium’s members.  Parasite stood beside me and no one spoke, everyone just stood still.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”  I looked to Siphon who had seemed to take point.  For an assassin, he had a surprising amount of stage presence as he sauntered forward confidently, now twirling the hammer casually.     

Defiantly, I walked forward.  “I think that’s pretty fucking obvious.”  

He let out a laugh, “Just the two of you?  You kiddos sure you’re up for this?” For how arrogant he sounded, I was amazed at how suave his voice came across.   

Still, it felt a little insulting being called a kid by someone who couldn’t be much older than twenty, if that.  “Ask Ironclad and Mizu how they feel.”

Collision laughed, the big man’s voice gruff, “All they did was serve as distraction so other members could get out before the cops showed up.  You let people run right past you to help them, and you had your third member; where’s the big freak anyways?”

Beside me, Murphy bristled, pissed at the insult.  

“Besides, the two of them walked away just fine.”  Siphon leered forward, “What exactly are you proving?  That you can fail harder as a broken collective?”

I was glad my helmet didn’t show emotions as I grit my teeth, angry.  Have Eldritch present carried weight since he was literally so large you couldn’t ignore him.  Parasite and I didn’t have the same presence or clout, not yet anyways.

Parasite stepped forward but I put a hand out, I wouldn’t let him answer for me.  “You seem to be confused, thinking we need him to kick the shit out of you.”

Siphon leaned back and laughed, turning back to us to shout at the crew, “You lot, finish up.  I want to be ready to go in ten minutes. Collision and I will deal with them.”

He turned back to us, enthused there was a reason for him to be present.  Most people wanted to avoid fights with Adapted; Siphon was so confident that he smiled as he stepped forward, eyeing the two Rogue Sentries present.  

“Be careful,” I cautioned, “I think you have the more dangerous option.”  

“I’m pretty sure I do,” he replied with grim determination as he extended the staff and twirled it around.  

“Not too late for you to turn tail and run, just let this one go,” Siphon invited as he twirled the mallet casually.  “I guarantee you and your buddy there will be better for it.”

I ignored him and turned my attention to Collision, knowing he couldn’t be ignored.  Projectors weren’t people you could leave sitting unopposed; the only way to really deal with them was apply pressure, keep them moving and force them to stop functioning as a turret.

Gulping down my anxieties, I started walking forward, breaking away from Siphon and trying to head as straight as I could for Collision.  

Siphon debated moving to intercept me, but my friend flung himself forward, swinging the staff down in a powerful overhead blow.  Forced with a decision, Siphon raised a gauntlet and blocked, quickly driven back by an empowered kick as Parasite pressed the attack, demanding his attention.  The two of them fell out of my field of view as I picked up the pace and rushed the other Adapted present, keeping an eye out for anything moving around me, getting ready to dodge.  

I wasn’t expecting something to hit me in the back.  

Adaptations were metabolic functions and therefore had some kind of inhibitor limiting their use.  For most cognates, we had to balance use with the risk of overloading our brain and getting migraines.  Projectors were limited by range, the farther they had to reach meant more strain and more fatigue that would gnaw at them.  

Collision knew I was expecting the first blow to come from in front of me, something sensible.  He was aiming to shatter my expectations, prove himself. He was posturing still, trying to prove himself to be of value to Imperium and relay to me exactly how outclassed I was.  

Just like me, he had a lot riding on this fight.  

The unexpected impact had me falling over as a pair of metal poles landed nearby.  He laughed, “Get the fuck out of here. You aren’t good enough to play in the big leagues.  You’re nothing. Worthless.”

A wave of rage ripped through my body, my heart hammering as I hopped back up to my feet.  

Everyone insisted I was incapable.  Everyone insisted I wasn’t good enough.  Gregor had believed me worthless. So many Zari thought I amounted to nothing.  My mother and father thought so little of me. I was done being worthless, done being lesser.

I screamed as I got back to my feet and charged forward, my brain and body in agreement over one thing: I would make Collision eat his fucking words.  

Blindly charging, I almost missed the motion as Collision lazily swiped his hand in front of himself.  I turned and my eyes widened as a parked car launched at me. Too big an obstacle to avoid, I tucked my chin and shielded my torso with my arm, bracing for impact.  

The momentum carried me into the side of the bank and the car bent around me, effectively ensnaring me in a metal net.  

“No,” I growled in defiance.  I would not go down like this; I would not be casually dismissed.  With a strain, I tested the strength of my renovated suit and folded the roof of the car, giving myself and avenue to climb out of the wreckage.  Vaulting over, I landed and raised my arm, firing twice at the criminal.

A two meter section of pavement ripped itself up from the ground and shielded him; it subsequently came hurtling towards me at a breakneck speed.  

Unlike Mizu, Collision was a more straightforward opponent; his projectiles were just that, projectiles.  However, the complication came with the fact that he was able to use damn near anything he could yank off the ground to assail you.  

After the block of concrete, a light pole was ripped from the ground.  No sooner had I dove over that, than another car came hurtling my way. While I was able to keep myself from being hit by anything, I couldn’t make any forward progress towards actually catching Collision.  He wasn’t tiring fast enough for me to win the war of attrition, and especially with the fight Parasite had on his hands, we didn’t want this drawn out.

A glance showed me that things weren’t going well for my teammate and friend.  

Siphon’s Adaptation was something along the lines of vampirism in that he stole energy from people around him, slowing their metabolism and reactions the longer they stood within his range of influence.  At first it was subtle, but if you didn’t put him down quickly, you simply weren’t going to win.

Parasite was doing his best to try and break some bones with the staff, but what was winning out for Siphon was better training.  Every move my friend made, he was always a step ahead. In reality, Awe had been a crude fighter, relying solely on strength and speed which allowed him to simply outshine anyone nearby.  Siphon, however, was expertly trained; he was beyond a proficient killer even without his Adaptation feeding him burgled speed and strength.

I watched for a moment as he casually deflected a staff strike with his gauntlet and stepped in, striking twice in rapid succession before my friend could make distance and allow for better use of his range.  

If Parasite went down, there was no way I was fighting both.  And the same for him if I faltered. While Eldritch could have covered us and given us room to breathe, I had made the dumb choice and insisted we come without him.  

Murphy had been right: I was emotional about this and I’d let it make me stupid.  I’d lead us knowingly into a lopsided fight, and I’d bullied him into coming along.  

I owed it to him as the leader of this team to keep us alive.  

Ruminating over my failures had tapped my focus for a moment and I grit my teeth as a smaller street sign collided with my shoulder and made me take a knee.  Taking advantage of my posture, I raised my arm and steadied, firing another two round burst, forcing him to rip up another slab of concrete from the sidewalk around the bank.  

His shield put me in a blind spot.  As fast as my feet could carry me, I leapt to the side and began sprinting, running an arc around him, trying to close the gap.  The slab of concrete shot to where I had been, and he didn’t seem alarmed.

Behind him, there was a pile of bricks left by a construction crew, another detail I had overlooked tonight.  

A handful shot forward, like a claymore going off and peppered my body and forearms as I shielded my face.  

I was grateful for the kev-silk that Armorsmith had made for me; without it I think I would have been rife with broken bones.  As it was, each impact was bending the plates of my armor and driving me back a step until I tripped.

Before I could get back up, the car he’d used to pin me against the building came to life, carrying my body into the street with a clatter.  Groaning, I picked myself up and threw myself to the side as Collision sauntered into the middle of the courtyard, keeping me within his effective range.  A car beside me flipped and I only managed to avoid it squashing me by a hair’s breadth. A mailbox sprung loose from the cement and slammed into my chest, knocking me back over as the Projector laughed.  

“Is this the best you can do?  Endure? I want a fight, you pussy!”  

I snarled as I reached to my belt and threw a stun grenade towards him; it was shot out of the air by a manhole cover.  The detonation was nowhere close to him, and he just kept laughing, taunting me. I stood and fired; one shot found his chest, but once he knew where I was, the car in front of me shot backwards and clipped my hip.  I landed hard after doing a full pair of rotations in the air, the fall hurting despite my layers of protection.

“Do better, Dragoon!”

Actuators sprung to life and I pushed myself up to avoid another car sliding forward; another leap and I avoided slab of pavement that bent the frame of another innocent vehicle.  Springing up, another car slid under me and bashed into another vehicle.

I needed to get off the street, I was just sitting in a minefield where Collision had an endless supply of heavy object to slam into me.  Even though my armor was doing its best to mend, it wasn’t close to keeping up with the damage he could deal.

Leaping away from an animated light pole, I grabbed a manhole cover of my own and tapped my suit for all its additional strength as I threw it like a discuss.  A slab of cement was thrown straight upward, deflecting the steel; but he didn’t have a way to stop me firing a half dozen shots from my zip-gun. Without the huge squares of concrete to turn up as a shield, he had no way to cope with the incoming fire.  While he tried to drag a car in front of him, the damage was done.

One bullet found his leg and a vulnerability in his armor.  He swore as he stumbled, dragging himself back towards the middle of the courtyard, back towards the entrance and where he had that convenient pile of bricks.  I tried to take a few other cheeky shots, but Collision was smart enough to keep displacing cars and refused to make the same mistake and give me a clear shot again.

As soon as he was comfortable with the distance between us, the cars stopped lurching at me and sat still.  Sure, I’d now ‘escaped’ his range, but we were back to square one. He was a Projector and I needed to apply pressure; the wound in his leg limited mobility but he could still fight, and I was the one with a time crunch, not him.          

But since our fight had started, I had space to think about what to do.  Charging headlong into Collision was fruitless. He was too well situated with open area between us and had too many things he could use to impede progress.  Besides, there was no hurry for him and no reason to be sloppy or go for a risky tactic.

Eventually Siphon would beat Parasite, or the rest of the non-Adapted crew would finish up the job and be ready to make their escape.  All he had to do was keep me at bay, away from them.

Taking a breath, I focused, relying not on bloodthirsty instinct but on something much more potent: my own intelligence.  

“Collision put himself next to those bricks for a reason.  If I can apply pressure, he is able to just rely on those to quickly deter me.  He can grab from a consistently close source and fling them with reckless abandon before gathering them back up.”  Even now, I could see them zipping back to the pile, his way to re-load.

A plan came to mind, not a great one, but it was leagues better than my prior strategy of being obnoxiously headstrong.  

My removed vantage let me catch a glimpse of Parasite and his protracted duel with Siphon and it…wasn’t going well.  

Siphon’s effect was building, and my friend was slowing; our hope that his alien traveler would remain immune to the draining effect appeared to be entirely wrong.  Instead, Siphon moved with renewed vigor, mimicking much of the zany acrobatics that Parasite did with his incredible gymnastic ability.

Siphon swung down with the mallet, and Parasite struggled to get the staff up to block fast enough; even so, the hit was strong enough to force my friend down to a knee as he grit his teeth and grunted.  The assassin immediately changed his angle of attack, jamming a kick between my friends elbows, slamming his heel into Parasite’s solar plexus. He toppled and should have been able to easily bounce back to his feet.

He managed to roll and regain his footing, but not fast enough and his hands were needed to balance.  Without the protection, Siphon brought the mallet down and slammed it into Parasite’s clavicle with a painful crack.  

My friend screamed, and Siphon shut him up by driving a gauntleted hand into his jaw.  With visible effort, Parasite retained some composure and countered, swinging the staff in a fluid motion and creating a little space between them.  Still, the form was rough around the edges and Siphon sprung backwards with agility that rivaled a cat.

Parasite wasn’t just losing strength and speed, he was losing dexterity as well.  As Parasite tried to run and escape the effect–to reclaim some of his lost ability–Siphon bounded after him, taking unnaturally long strides, refusing to alleviate the pressure.  

“Shit,” I muttered.  Collision waited patiently, in no hurry; he also got to see the fight between the other two and appreciated that I was the one under pressure.  He could wait by his pile of bricks and in the middle of a courtyard with objects on all sides to throw at me.

Still, I took a moment to breathe, to collect myself and center.  If I fucked this up, I would be damning Parasite. “I am a Reckoner, I help those who can’t help themselves,” I said quietly, feeling a strange calm wash over me.  This was doable, he was beatable. If I got close to him, Collision would be a pushover with his bum leg.

“You might want to hurry,” he shouted, “Parasite doesn’t look so good.”  

I didn’t reply, not wanting to give my adrenaline fueled brain an excuse to engage.  Instead, I used the gloom of the street to my advantage and dropped my spider drone; it went one way and I ran the other, advancing in an arc and firing another quartet of projectiles.  

Another square of concrete from the courtyard was ripped up out of the ground to intercept the projectiles, almost making a kind of moat around Collision where packed dirt was left behind.  

Using the cover, I rushed forward again and cut straight towards him, waiting for the inevitable toss of the slab.  As it hurtled my way, I lunged to the side and shot a tube of adhesive compound at the pile of bricks. He seemed confused and his body stiffened, bracing for impact.  Then, he seemed confused: the projectile wasn’t nearly on target to hit him. And then compound expanded and landed, binding the pile of bricks together and gluing it all to the ground.  

Collision growled as he understood my intent; no more quick projectiles, no more safety net for when I got closer.  

Another light pole was ripped from the ground, narrowly missing me as I charged forward in the ever dimmer square.  Without my rage driving me, I was getting used to his general method of attack and evaded another chunk of metal as well as the road sign he had first hit me with flew by.  He tore one of the doors off the bank, but it missed as my drone hopped up and started binding his hands together.

A power tool left sitting out by the thieving crew animated and clobbered my drone, but it had served its purpose of letting me get closer and ensuring he’d be agitated, enraged, and, more importantly, predictable.  

Another feint and I baited him to launch a car in the wrong direction.  Raising my arm, I peppered him again with a volley, except I had moved to where he’d already torn up the immediate concrete slab, leaving him no immediate wall to erect.  

Before he could drag one into place, two shots found his chest and he let out a satisfying grunt as his armor plating cracked visibly.  Launching myself to the side, I evaded a nearby slab being thrown, again reading his attack pattern. I couldn’t help but smile, I was making headway, getting closer.  Each little avoidance was wearing on him, grating the nerves, making him more and more agitated, a marvelous and self-perpetuating cycle.

And then I saw something flying at my face.  Thanks to him tearing out several of the streetlamps around the courtyard, the thing hurtling forward was nearly invisible in the gloom thanks to the titanium carbide it was coated in.

Parasite’s staff; he’d dropped it and Collision took full advantage of the collapsed staff.  

The metal rod slammed into my helmet and my face mask crumpled around it.  Unlike most things that he had thrown at me, this was made from a metal dense enough and hard enough to not give around my armor.  First to go was my display, the screen giving me output cracked and went black as it crumpled in towards my face. Next was my balance as I was lifted off my feet, my head snapping back so hard I thought it almost broke my neck.  Last, I hit the ground with a clang and my vision blurred as something sticky ran along my cheeks.

My breathing went shallow and my heart palpated as I was thrown into darkness.  The world was ringing and my head continued to bleed as I couldn’t seem to get enough air into my lung.  Spots dotted my vision and I felt like I was still falling even though I had hit the ground already.

“I’m a Reckoner,” I panted, my words sounding hollow.  “I’m a Reckoner,” I repeated, more definitive. “I help those who can’t help themselves.”

And right now, that was my friend.  

I knew what needed doing, but I hesitated.  Identity was one of the few things Adapted had and all agreed it was important to protect.  It was an unspoken area of sanctity between Reckoners and criminals; we didn’t unmask one another and didn’t rat each other out.  But, my parents would recognize their girl and I would risk indirectly identifying Murphy and Nick the second I showed my face to the world.  After all, they weren’t bound by the same code.

But I couldn’t fight if I couldn’t see, and I wasn’t about to let my friend die because of my carelessness.  Even if there was indirect risk, I needed to take it. I needed to fight.

No, I needed to win.    

The clasps undid as I engaged an override and threw my helmet to the side.  I stumbled up to my feet and Collision seemed surprised that I would dare take my helmet off, baffled an Adapted would risk identity.  However, his body language didn’t scream recognition or rage; he didn’t know I was a traitorous girl from a loyal Imperium family.

Around me, the world seemed to waver, the hit to my head having done more than I would have reckoned.  Still, his surprise ran out and he gestured again, launching another car at me.

Logic went out the window, no longer trusting my faculties entirely, I relied on muscle memory and instinct to carry me forward now.  

Collision wasn’t expecting me to sprint straight at him after enduring a hit like that and I saw him take a step back, surprised.  I raised my arm and fired the laser at the visor on his mask, getting a moment of him turning his head, caught off guard by the change in heat.  

His visor was made to deter light from my flashbangs, but my lazer would still have some impact despite the polarized lens.  

My arm raised, I fired twice and caught him in the chest both times, knocking him down to his ass; a chunk of the banks doorframe flew past me thanks to his aim being skewed from the tumble.  Using the enhancement of the suit, I leapt forward and drew the sword from its sheath, swiping down for his torso.

Collision threw himself away so all I could catch was a little bit of his shin.  The cut itself didn’t do much, but the electricity along the blades surface made him spasm violently.  Before he recovered, I stomped on his chest and placed the blade to his throat, my position clear. “Don’t you fucking move,” I growled.  

No witty remark, no shit talking this time.  

Movement caught my eye as I saw the rest of the crew departing the bank, duffel bags in tow.  Two of them stopped in the doorway, the pair I was waiting so long to confront, the pair I’d been wanting to get to notice me for so long.

Now they noticed, and none of us said a word.  

I waited for them to say something, to identify me, but neither talked, they just stared for a moment.  A tense silence passed between us, and to my surprise they didn’t shout or exclaim who I was. No one else from the crew inside made mention or pointed, they just stood off to the side, not wanting to get too close.   

“Little girl, I think you want to let him go.”  I was almost grateful for Siphon giving me something to think about…until I saw the mess he’d made of my friend.  

Parasite was bloody, all over.  While the synthetic spider silk should have kept him safe from a knife, it seemed that Siphon—after stealing enough strength—was able to perforate his suit.  Numerous cuts bled slowly, and my teammates jaw hung open limply, and the grey of his suit completely turned red. The only thing keeping Parasite off the ground was Siphon holding him up by his hair, a knife to his neck, putting us in a standoff.

“How about you put the money back and we deal?”

Siphon showed half a smile, “I think you don’t appreciate your position.  If I kill your friend here, I keep his strength for about a minute. Do you think you’ll manage to hold out against me for that long?  I saw that hit you took, you’re looking a little shaky.”

I was spent, dizzy, and the only way I could possibly beat Siphon was a lucky hit…but if he had all of my friends strength, there wasn’t a guarantee that shooting him in the chest, or even the face would bring him down.   

“Give me back Parasite,” I finally demanded.

“Give me back Collision,” he replied calmly.  “We keep our money, everyone keeps their head.  Otherwise, you will go one for two and we’ll still walk away with our payday.”  He lifted Parasite like he was no heavier than a paper bag as Siphon pressed the knife against his jugular.  “Dragoon,” he said, acknowledging me, “You and your friend put up a good fight, but you should learn to quit when you’re ahead.  You have three seconds before I kill your friend…and then you.”

“Fine!” I shouted and lifted the sword a fraction.  “Put him down, I move away from Collision.”

Siphon nodded and dropped the ragdoll; it was disconcerting that Parasite hit the cement with a wet thud.  

Was he even alive?

“Step away from him,” I instructed.  

“You first,” Siphon replied, snide.  “At some point, you’re going to have to trust me.”  

“I don’t trust you, assassin!”  

“Well, now’s a good time to start.”  He knew he held the cards and I had to listen; more posturing, more appearances to maintain.  Unfortunately, I lost my ability to talk back; Siphon knew exactly how much leverage he had.

Reluctantly, I walked away from the cowed Collision and put my friend’s life, and my own in the hands of a cutthroat.  

“Relax,” he said with a light chuckle, “You’re human.  I don’t like you, but I do respect you. You’re a fighter and I’ll keep my word.  Besides, you made tonight enjoyable.”

I felt my stomach shift uncomfortably as he talked; it shamed me to know that we were both seen as the same thing by so many people.  We were Adapted, and people like him reinforced we were all monsters. Scooping up my helmet and the staff, I walked towards the still form of my friend and scooped him off the pavement, wishing that he an I weren’t lumped into the same group.  

“Have a good night, Rogue Sentries, I’m sure we’ll do this again!”

I ignored Siphon’s last call and dragged my friend away, both of us bloody.  

It was…disconcerting to see Murphy lose.  Even against Shock, Parasite had been bouncing around and seemed nearly untouchable, hard to pin down.  At the end, there was determination and grit that kept him on his feet. In any fight at school, it wasn’t a contest, and every time I tried to spar with him it felt unfair.  

Seeing him like this was a painful reminder that we weren’t the cream of the crop.  There were people so much stronger than us, and there were people more powerful than them.  

“Hey, Murphy,” I whispered, “Come on man, wake up.”  

He didn’t stir; the fact he had a pulse was the only reason I knew he was still alive.     

“Come on you stupid thing,” I hissed, lighting hitting his chest, “Fix him.  Keep your fucking host alive!” I couldn’t take him to a hospital since that would make us account for our actions and risk exposure for Murphy if Imperium had any taps in hospital records.  Siphon was a ruthless assassin; I didn’t dare risk giving away information.

That was presuming my parents didn’t rat us out already.  

No…they would have done it earlier, right?  Unless they were too stunned to confront me there.  

I threw off the shackles of doubt and got Parasite back to the car, focusing on the present and removing his spider-silk tunic to inspect the damage beneath.  

A hand stopped me.  “Alexis,” he wheezed, “Water.”  

Frantically I grabbed a water bottle from the front console and opened it, pouring slowly over his lips.  “Murphy, I’m so sorry. You were right, I should have listened. I got emotional, I got stupid, and I put you against the worst fight possible.  We didn’t even really stop them.”

His swollen eyes cracked just enough that I knew he could see me, “Home,” he managed to whisper.  

“You’ll heal from this?”

Ever so slightly, he nodded.  

“Murphy, you’ve been fucking stabbed six times and have like…a dozen broken bones.  Are you sure?”

He nodded again.  

“I’m so sorry,” I apologized again, feeling futile.  “I’m so sorry.”

A bloody hand touched my cheek as he nodded.  There was no verbal communication, but I felt his intent.  

He forgave me.  Bleeding, broken, and half dead in my back seat, he forgave me.

I stripped off my body armor but left the gauntlets and metal sleeves on; I was paranoid about Imperium coming after me and wanted to have a small layer of defense available should they show up.  Murphy’s house was about thirty minutes away thanks to the lack of traffic, and about halfway home he sat up, still looking delirious.

“Murphy?”

“Alive.  Water.” I passed him the bottle and he chugged the rest.  “It needs liquid to make more blood,” he explained as he tossed to the bottle aside.  

“Murphy, I shouldn’t have made you fight Siphon.  I should have let you take Collision.”

He shook his head slowly, “I wasn’t going to be of much help against those two.  I don’t see you doing any better against Siphon than I did. I was just…a bad match against either of them.  We needed him,” he said weakly as he laid his head back.

“Yeah, we did,” I confessed.  Eldritch would have been able to simply overwhelm Siphon and nullify his martial arts expertise or endure an onslaught from Collision since blunt force trauma took a long time to do any real damage to his Neklim suit.  

Murphy nearly fell over as I took a turn which gave me a start.  It was still disarming seeing him so beaten, so damaged. “You’re sure you’ll heal?”

“It stimulates cell growth and can supplement my blood production.  I’m already done clotting and it can feel it setting bones. By morning I should be intact and pretty well mended.”  He frowned, “It was weird. For a while, I was going toe to toe with him, even getting a few hits in here and there. But…then I just got slower, and it got slower.  It couldn’t move fast enough to keep up with the strikes I was taking and give me enough strength to fight back…”

It occurred to me that Murphy had never been beaten that badly either.

“Are you going to be okay?”

For a moment, I saw Murphy at his most vulnerable.  He wasn’t the joker or even the badass fighter I was friends with; he was a scared kid.  “I…I think so. I don’t even know how I’m still alive at this point honestly. I remember being choked out and then I woke up as you laid me in the back seat.”  He started a little, “The staff?”

“I grabbed it.  After you dropped it, it collapsed and Collision hit me with it.  Broke my helmet.”

“Your parents-“

“They saw,” I replied.  

A moment of silence before he lurched forward awkwardly, grabbing both front seats to stay stead, “Did they sell us out?”

“Not yet at least.”  

We finished the drive in silence and I parked in front of his house, “Your parents?”

“Gone, as usual.  I don’t think I can walk yet, help me inside?”

I opened the backseat and dragged my friend with me, forgetting how dense he was when I wasn’t wearing my power armor.  I opened the door, seeing nothing had changed from the usual mess, like no one else was living in his space.

Where the hell were his parents all the time?

“What do you need me to do?”

“Set me on the couch.  In the fridge, meat, sugar, and more fluids.  I need to get more fuel for my friend.”

Putting a jug of fruit juice down alongside some leftover meatloaf, I took a step back, feeling guilt eating at my insides.  “Murphy, I’m really-“

“Alexis, stop,” he insisted.  “We made mistakes, but we’re alive.  We get to try again. Just…don’t do this again.”

It stung, but he was right.  Beating myself up wasn’t going to help anyone.  We had already started our campaign to undermine Imperium, I needed to be clever about where we struck and make sure we wouldn’t be fighting bad odds. “I won’t.”  

“Alexis,” he muttered weakly between bites, “I think I am gonna get some sleep.”  

“Yeah,” I replied, still feeling a pang of guilt at seeing him so battered.  “I should probably go home and deal with them.”

“Maybe wear the armor,” he suggested.  “Just in case.”

I wanted to scoff at the idea, but if there was ever a time my mom might try to kill me, it’d be tonight.  “I think you might be right. I’ll leave the gauntlets on, give me a little extra kick and the zip gun for emphasis.”  

“Hey, whatever happens,” he panted, “Don’t give up me or Nick.  If they don’t know, don’t give them an idea.”

I rolled my eyes, “Siphon must have hit you harder in the head than I thought.  I’m not giving up my friends.”

Murphy relaxed, laying back onto the couch, careless about the blood that would stain the cushions.  His eyes fluttered and closed, his body lapsing into a small coma.

Paranoia nagged and I hovered my hand over his mouth to make sure he was breathing before I finally got back into my car and sat down.  

With no one around me, no one to console, I fell apart.  

Tears streamed down my face as I shook, gripping the steering wheel, struggling to find enough breath to fill my lungs.  Everything came slamming me in a flash, and I felt a wave of fatigue collide with my body as I finally let go of the wheel and screamed, hoping I wasn’t too loud as to be heard by a neighboring house.  Either way, I didn’t care, I needed to let it out.

That mess inside, that horror show I had put Murphy through, I was responsible.  I had fucked up so bad it almost cost my friend his head. I still saw that satisfied grin from Siphon as he held my friend hostage, knife to his throat like he was having fun.  That sound of my teammate hitting the ground like a wet lump of meat.

I was responsible, I was accountable.  This was on no one’s head but my own.  

I wasn’t sure if it was just a few seconds or several minutes before my breathing finally calmed.  

“I’m a Reckoner,” I said aloud, “I help those who can’t help themselves.”  

But given how tonight went…was that really what I was?  I thought about calling Xana and asking her, but then I’d have to tell what happened.  Of course she would tell Nick, and I couldn’t face him right now if he was equipped with the knowledge I nearly got his best friend killed.

He’d find out eventually, but not tonight, not yet at least.  

I had my own issue to deal with.  

Taking a deep breath, I ensure the gauntlets still had their auxiliary power available; I’d made each piece of my suit to have a small battery backup in case I had to do away with my central power core or it was damaged in a fight.  

It meant I would have about five minutes of access to my firearm should I need it.  Even though I was only protected to the elbow, there was at least something available.  

A glance showed my helmet in the passenger seat had already fixed itself from the damage Collision inflicted earlier.  “At least you’re working as intended,” I muttered as I drove home.

Another repetition of my mantra in the driveway.  Another repetition of my mantra as I put my key into the door and unlocked the house.  

Inside I saw several boxes of metal scraps and resources I utilized when making drones and my suit all piled up beside the door.  Farther back, my parents were standing by the kitchen table, both staring intently.

“I think we need to talk,” my father insisted, his usual, warm tone absent.  

I nodded, “I think we do.”     

Previous Chapter _ Next Chapter

(9/29/2080)

I couldn’t stop kicking myself.

My father’s confession to me made me realize I’d overlooked something in my plan to attack Imperium: they weren’t going to sit idle and be happy with the status quo.

The second we attacked the dog fight, we’d wounded their pride and the guys in charge weren’t going to let that stand.  Banks were essentially fortresses and the act of robbing one would reaffirm Imperium’s status.

We had inspired them to posture, and there were likely to be casualties.

Especially with only a single day to prepare; at best it was a messy rush job that relied on noise being made and extra hands to make light work.

“Or…it relies on one of Us,” I thought aloud in a whisper.  But who would it be?

I knew about most of the Adapted on Imperium’s payroll.  While Shockwave would be the obvious choice for a bank heist, the man didn’t make a ton of public appearances.  Like Beleth, he recognized the power of mystique and being unseen. Besides, there were still more than enough capable hands who could fill in.  Ironclad, Kuzu, Mizu, Toolkit, Collision, and Reappear were all capable of helping pull off a heist in one way or another.

Finally I got up in a fit of unrest.  Adapted or not, they were bound to do some scouting and case the joint, right?  “And if they do, I think I can leave someone to see.”

Imperium was mostly active in the central region of Ciel, terrorizing a fair number of downtown businesses into paying protection money and keeping quiet about their various criminal enterprises.  While they opposed Dart, vehemently, that didn’t stop them from trying to proliferate their own drugs and wares, notably in the form of drug-laced liquor. While I wasn’t sure what they kept in solution, the bottle was enough to keep people giggling and falling over themselves for days, and plenty of people paid a high premium for it.

Fortunately, they kept things pretty close to home, keeping most of their criminal activity confined to their little nook of the city.  While often they would step outside of their turf for a fight or a raid against another enterprise, something this rushed wouldn’t likely involve them going off their own turf and risk retaliation.  Just because Surface Dwellers was the other big name cartel didn’t mean other small groups of Adapted couldn’t pose a problem.

“Which begs the question of where we’re going.”

There were two options that I could spot, both downtown, both seeming to be a little bastion of security.  A perfect mark for Imperium to smash down to broadcast that they weren’t to be trifled with.

As much as they were a group founded in an older mentality, they recognized that social trending and perception was as powerful as their fighters.  Thanks to the internet and how many people recorded the spectacle that was a fight between Adapted, you needed to prove your strength quickly after a loss.

It was another reason neither Imperium or Surface Dwellers wanted to have an all out war; whoever fell would never be able to regain the same standing.

Taking a pair of surveillance drones, I quickly input coordinates into the little dragonflies and tossed them out my window, watching them unfurl and zip away into the night.

Now with at least something being done, I let myself relax and grabbed my phone.

Nicky: What are we going to do?

Me: I mean, we have to stop them.  We can’t just let them get away with this.  We have pressure, we keep pushing. Two losses in a row is a serious blow.

Nicky: Any idea who they are going to have there?

Me: Not yet, but I have a few drones looking to see who scopes out the place.  With any luck it is one of our friends.

Nicky: Okay, get some sleep Alexis.  We need you to be sharp.

I tossed my phone aside and laid down, wishing that sleep could come easily.  I felt like the adrenaline from the dog fight was gone, and now replaced with a weaker second wave that left me not quite awake, but decidedly not asleep either.

For a few minutes I debated trying to build, but I dared not try and test the boundaries of a technical skill given my state.  I’d be asking for a migraine on the day of one hell of a job.

Still, I found myself waking up to my alarm; I’d not realized that I’d dozed off and I’d forgotten that I had class.

Fortunately my first class was Hosjon’s, by far the best teacher at the school and decided favorite of our group.  Hell, Murphy even showed up consistently. That was telling.

It was enough prompt to grab lousy coffee from my kitchen cupboard and wake up as I drove to class, my hair still a mess and me without a shower.  Fortunately, Zari didn’t have nearly the same personal hygiene standards that humans did; occasionally it was beneficial when you were running late or felt like being lazy.

Hosjon’s class was a delight as usual.  I found a seat next to Xana who noticed that I looked a bit disheveled but didn’t call attention to it.  Instead she gave me a small smirk; Nick told her, but that was hardly surprising.

Still, despite it being my favorite class, I felt myself incredibly distracted and almost irritable at being tethered to a chair in class.  I needed to be doing something, some kind of prep work, anything! Sitting here was infuriating.

While the discussion was an interesting one, regarding whether or not it was ethical to be rich; I found it difficult to say more than a few words on the topic, my attention taken. Unfortunately, Xana wasn’t the only one who noticed my lack of effort put forth during the discussion.

“Excuse me, Alexis, a moment?”

It gave me a little start hearing a teacher say that to me at the end of a lecture, but there wasn’t anger in Hosjon’s eyes, only concern.  I walked up to his desk as everyone else filtered out.

“Xana, I’ll catch you later?”

“Sure, I gotta go bug Nick anyways.”

She slipped away and gave me a nod as if to reassure me.  

“How can I help you sir?”

He stared down at me before asking, “What’s going on, Alexis?  You seem exhausted. Out late on a Thursday?”

I raised an eyebrow; the way he spoke sounded like he already knew the answer and was just asking to test my honesty.  “You seem to already have your own opinion,” I replied, cautious.

Hosjon sat backwards in the chair in front of me.  “You’re fatigue would have nothing to do with this, would it?”

He set his phone on the table and slid it to me; he’d pulled up a news article about a dog fighting ring being broken up with suspicion of Adapted interference.

For a moment my eyes perked up, the reaction slipping before I could control myself.  “Why would that have anything to do with me?”

Hosjon smiled sweetly, “Alexis, it’s okay.  Your secret is safe with me. I know you’re Dragoon.”

My eyes widened and I hastily flipped my head either direction to make sure no one could have heard.  “What? How the fuck do you know that?”

“Guilt by association,” he replied.

It then started to dawn on me; he’d learned from either Nick or Murphy, and no one was going to be able to identify Nick in his Adapted form.  “You figured out it was Murphy, didn’t you?”

“The smile is a giveaway if you know him and are willing to entertain the improbable.  Nicholas was nice enough to confirm it for me and announce himself as Eldritch.  You know the running theory; Adapted clique up with those close to them. It makes sense for you to the be third member of the Rogue Sentries.”

A slow and deliberate exhale passed my lips to help calm me down.  “I’m guessing from the fact that I am still standing here that you have no intention of turning me over to the authorities…or should I run home to get my armor?”

My teacher recoiled, shocked.  “Alexis, I’m hurt.  I thought you and I were on excellent terms.”

“Sorry, but I’d rather be safe than sorry,” I replied, unapologetic.

He raised hands in surrender, “Fair enough.  But, rest assured, I have no intention to proliferate this information.”

Still, it nagged at me, “How did you know we had anything to do with that?”

“A bit of intuition and lucky guesswork on my part.  Nick was polite enough to show me his capabilities in small part.  They showed pictures of the front of the fighting ring and the way it had been torn apart seemed like his handiwork.  It wasn’t bludgeoned or blasted, but the metal was twisted as if the entire door frame had been grabbed and crushed in.”

“That’s our boy.”

“Given that there are three members of the Sentries, and given how haggard you look-”

“I’ll avoid taking offense.”

“I made the conclusion it may well be you.  After all, if Nick and Murphy both fit the bill, the odds of you following suit go up exponentially.  While I don’t know what makes you clique up, that theory does seem to have a fair amount of merit.”

“All due respect sir, but I do have another class to get to, is there something you wanted to talk about?”

He nodded, “I’m making sure that my star pupil is okay.  Are you? Honestly?”

The way Hosjon was so damnably honest and polite, I couldn’t lie to him.  “No, I don’t think I am.  My parents are Imperium and I pushed our group into picking a fight with them.”

“That is quite the fight you picked,” he replied with a surprised chuckle.

“And now, I don’t know if I want to fight because I want to punish my parents or because I want to actually help the city.  I try to rationalize my actions by saying that we can do both, but I’m worrying that I’m falling into a trap Murphy was worried about with me being too emotionally invested.”

“Rebelling against one’s parents is an inherently emotional action,” he affirmed.  “I don’t think that Murphy’s concerns were ill-founded.”

I nodded, “So far we are managing, but it is going to get more difficult as we keep fighting.  We haven’t even seen some of their bigger guns yet.”

Hosjon frowned, “If you fight Imperium and actually win, Surface Dwellers will simply move in.”

I smiled, “That’s sort of the hope.  We don’t want to beat Imperium, just get enough blood in the water to make people scared, and to make Beleth confident.”  It dawned on me after speaking that I should not be so forthcoming. “Sir, I’m going to need you to never say that to anyone.  I’d rather our plans not find the wrong ears.”

For a second, he just stared at me before laughing, “Lexi-“

“Alexis,” I corrected, “Sorry, just, humor me.”

“Alexis, I think you have me grossly confused with someone else.  If I knew what Mr. Weld and Mr. Pell did in their off time already, why would knowing about one more Adapted change my actions?  You are all my students; your secrets are safe with me.”

I frowned, still suspicious.  “You seem too nice to not have some ulterior motive.”  

He raised an eyebrow, “Do I strike you as a fool?”

“No…” I trailed off, confused by his question.  

“Do you think that I would be willing to confront someone such as yourself and Nicholas in such bold fashion?  I may be Zari, but that hardly makes me a contender.”

“That wouldn’t be your smartest play,” I confessed, “It would make way more sense to just drop a hint to the police about suspected Adapted activity.”

“Exactly.”

Still, this felt off.  “Why are you being particularly nice though?”

His expression softened, “Ms. Trent, I believe you are assuming I don’t care about my students like many of the staff here.  Adapted or otherwise, you are still my pupil and I care about those under my tutelage. Though, I confess,” he added with a coy smile, “I do find you and your friends’ extracurricular activities to be most interesting.  I’ve never had such personal investment in such things before.”

I almost laughed in his face.  “Mr. Hosjon, are you saying you’re a fan?”

He gave a wink.  “I’m sure I’m not the only one.  Rogue Sentries made quite the debut for themselves taking on Shock and Awe after all.  They are fairly big names and you lot managed to weather the storm.”

“Not entirely sure I agree with that sir,” I confessed.  “We got lucky that they wanted a challenge and not to just take the free win.  Eldritch couldn’t handle Awe’s electrocution and Parasite nor myself could hold up against Awe with a full charge.”  

“Why do you call him that?” Hosjon interjected.  “Parasite, that is. I’ve never understood exactly what his Adaptation is.”  

“There is basically an alien under his skin, that acts as internal armor and a strengthening system,” I informed.  “You can actually see it ripple around when he winds up for a big hit.”

Hosjon shuddered as he did what Nick and I did constantly while around Murphy: he tried imagining how it must feel to have an amorphous blob of matter rapidly running around your body.  “He seems oddly adroit, almost unnaturally so from what little I’ve seen.”

I furrowed my brow, “I’ve read a few things that most Adaptations come with some kind of odd implicit knowledge that help with your gift.  For Nick, he knows the exact mass of detritus and has a hypersensitive knowledge of his own mass. It lets him know when to grow or shrink while he is ‘suited up’.  For Murphy, his little traveler seemed to give him a weird gymnastic knowledge; he doesn’t fall, he doesn’t trip, and he knows exactly how to bounce around regardless of environment.”  

“And you?”

“I’m a Cognate…which makes things a little different.  Instead of getting implicit knowledge, it was more like I was given a bit of an implicit skill.  My Adaptation is all about machinery; when I changed, I seemed to get a base level of technical skill to help facilitate building my creations.”  

He nodded, “I see.  Every time I hear more about Adapted I find myself more and more interested in their abilities.”

“Unfortunately, you aren’t the only one,” I noted.

“It’s true.  But you have to admit they are fantastic in so many ways.”  

I stopped for a second, biting my lower lip in thought.  “Sir, the night after the altercation with Shock and Awe, you mentioned that theoretical that the Trillodan might find Adapted interesting enough to warrant as a threat.  I know it was a hypothetical, but do you think that could really happen?”

He shrugged, “Honestly, I doubt it.  While Adapted can do remarkable things on their own, I doubt they will ever be perceived as threatening enough to truly scare the Trillodan into acting.  Sure, there have been altercations that have leveled buildings, but there is plenty of modern weaponry that can do that just as easily. And the Trillodan are leagues beyond us with their ability to traverse the universe at seemingly unreal speeds.  And, they have the power to destroy planets. I feel that even people like Clemency and Beleth wouldn’t be a big scare to them. Truthfully, I think the government actions with Suppression is a foolhardy endeavor.”

It was a bit sobering to think about: the Trillodan had the power to simply be anywhere coupled with the ability to level entire civilizations.  What threat could anyone pose to them?

“And Ms. Trent, while I do appreciate this conversation, I do believe you mentioned having other classes to run to?  Though, one more thing,” he called as I turned. “Be careful, please. I’d hate to hear about something ill befalling my students come tomorrow morning.”  

I gave him a dismissive wave, “We’ll be fine.  Thanks for the time sir.”

The rest of my time in class was a blur, a mixture of restlessness and apathy towards my studies made the remaining six hours of classes feel excruciatingly long and drawn out. My eyes continuously flitted to the clocks, praying more than thirty seconds had gone by since last I checked.  

I was regularly disappointed.  

Lunch at least offered me a time to check what footage my drones had picked up.  It was a challenge to try and sort out who might be Adapted since everyone—excluding Beleth—had a secret identity, but there were indicators that I could use to help give me an idea.  I’d seen a number of the Imperium Adapted in video and in person and been able to get pictures to give me rough approximates for their sizes and builds.

While they could be using something made by Toolkit to observe from a distance that hardly seemed Imperium’s style.  They were known for being bold and in your face, a relentless group who never shied away from a fight. Even this bit of subterfuge was likely pushing it for them.  Scrolling through footage, I looked for people who seemed to linger around the front longer than usual or anyone who seemed very alert about the cameras on the sides of the building.  

Fortunately I was only looking for humans, and younger people at that.  The oldest Adapted I knew of was 24, born the year that humans had started our exile on Tso’got.  

Still, it was hard to tell who might stick out, but one candidate caught my attention.  He was walking around the perimeter while wearing a hat and making a point to remain looking down at all times.  While there were other people who did this, his gait was peculiar. He didn’t so much walk, as stalk around.

“Who in Imperium would stalk aroun-“ I caught myself.  I knew who I was looking at, and I wish I didn’t. “Siphon,” I whispered, “What is he doing here?”  

Quickly combing through the internet for footage of Siphon in action showed me a man who stalked around and hardly seemed able to walk flat footed, instead always up on his toes to minimize surface area that could rub on the ground.  

Siphon was Imperium’s boogeyman, an assassin and cleaner they only called in to deal with problems.  He wasn’t someone who would be able to help with a bank robbery. “But he is definitely someone who could help ensure that no one else could interrupt,” I concluded.  

I tagged him and looked through all my footage to see where he went or who he met up with around the proximity. The more I watched, the more I realized that he wasn’t scoping out the bank; he never even went inside the institution.  He was mapping the outside, checking the perimeter like he was surveying a battlefield.

“But who are you with?”

He did eventually meet up with someone who held a more confident stance, standing a bit away from the entrance, looking over the busy little square that was directly outside the bank.  He was doing the same thing, looking around at the stage for a possible fight.

“Imperium is expecting us,” I whispered aloud as I zoomed in and tried to get a better idea of who he was.  Taller guy, a little heavyset, and his stance screamed confidence where Siphon’s clearly was engineered to escape notice.  “Which one of their Adapted is way too confident for his own good? Shockwave wouldn’t show up, that would show he’s intimidated and feels threatened enough that he needs to deal with us personally.  The second he stoops to deal with us, Beleth senses weakness. Toolkit wouldn’t be brought in for interference and Mizu has to be hurting still.”

Ironclad was an option, but I sort of doubted he’d go another round with Eldritch.  While it had been a stalemate, he had to realize the futility of trying to bludgeon a Neklim into submission.  Even when he was pulverized by a fully-charged Awe, Eldritch could take a savage beating and endure. Ironclad lacked the speed that actually made Awe a threat to my teammate and was much more likely to become ensnared by something that essentially never tired.

Collision was the last choice, and it fit.  A wide open space for him would be a solid arena for him to claim ownership of, and he’d compliment Siphon’s ability to duel people.  Plus, what little I remembered, Collision was too confident for his own good; that stance seemed like it was made for him.

“Collision and Siphon,” I mused aloud, “Not impossible.  Tough, but doable.” This information in mind, I sent off a message to my teammates.  

Me: We’re going to have to siphon some time tonight because I have a collision to tell you all about.

A bad attempt at being cryptic, but it was better than just stating ‘hey, we’re fighting Collision and Siphon tonight’ in case someone was checking our texts.    

I finally checked the time; I’d entirely missed a class while scouring the video archives my drones had given me.  “Oh shit,” I hissed aloud and sprinted to my last class, though I wasn’t entirely sure why. I was ahead of the curve, I knew the subject matter already, and the teacher couldn’t give two shits about who showed.  

Habit was a hard thing to break it seemed.  

Afterward, I slipped away from campus and grabbed a drink at the store on the corner, surprised to find Xana there.  

“I figured you’d be here,” she said, proud of her detective skills.  “So come on, tell me what the deal is! I saw you at lunch staring at your phone like it held the secrets of the universe.”  She leaned closer as I opened a fridge to grab a cream soda, “You were looking at drone footage, weren’t you?”

Looking either direction, I glared at her, “Not here you idiot.”  

Still, I was dying to talk about someone with what I’d seen and neither Murphy or Nick had acknowledged the text I had sent after I discovered who we were likely up against.  Once we were outside, we slinked along the side of the building and she looked at me, expectantly. As our unofficial getaway driver, Xana loved hearing about what we did as Adapted.   

It was…nice to feel interesting.  

“So, come on, out with it!  What are you doing?”

“I don’t know if Nick told you, but last night when my parents got home they had been drafted to help rob a bank.”

“Whoa, heavy.”

“Today,” I added.

Her eyebrows lifted in surprise, “No shit?  That’s a quick turn around.”

I nodded, “I’m pretty sure Shockwave doesn’t want to look weak because Beleth and the Surface Dwellers are watching.  So, I scouted banks on their turf, since I figured they probably aren’t bold enough to go elsewhere with us having shown to antagonize.”

“Makes sense.”  

“I’m pretty sure I saw Siphon skulking around Ciel’s Regency Bank downtown.  And, I’m guessing that I saw him talking with Collision.”

Xana frowned, “Siphon isn’t someone who could help pull off a heist.”

“No,” I agreed, “but he is definitely someone who could act as security against other Adapted.  I think Imperium is waiting for us to come attack them. They are banking on them holding their own against us while a human crew does the heist.”  

“You sure this is a good idea?” Xana asked after a pause.  “I mean, Siphon is dangerous. Whenever he shows up, he comes with a body count.  Are you sure you want to tangle with him?”

“I know exactly how dangerous he is,” I admitted, “But I like Eldritch against him.  It leaves Parasite and me to dance circles around Collision; all either of us need is a good hit on him and he’ll go down.”  

Something still seemed off to Xana as she shifted her weight, uncomfortable.  “Alexis, are you worried you’re being too reliant on Nick?”

“Wait, what?”

“Against Shock and Awe, you left him in a duel while you and Murphy fought the other.  Against Mizu and Ironclad too. And now you’re proposing the exact same thing.”

“Well, of course,” I replied with a laugh, “Your boyfriend is built to take a wallop.  He wears a literal tonne of extra mass to protect himself. He’s more protected than I am.”  

“But you’re putting him at risk, a lot,” she insisted, the worry and anxiety ringing clear.

The implications were like a slap in the face to me.  “Do you think I’m going to risk Nick’s life? He’s my fucking friend, Xana,” I snarled.  “I would be devastated if something happened to Nick, but he’s doing this with us. He hasn’t voiced any issues with how I’m suggesting we fight.”  

“Alexis,” she whispered, “I just don’t want him hurt.  I’m…scared.”

That lifted much of my aggression, leaving me awkwardly emotionally charged with no outlet.  “Xana, your boyfriend is a beast. He’ll be fine. Trust me, okay?”

“Promise?”

I gave her a condescending look, “Seriously, we’re doing this now?”

She hit me in the arm, “Fuck you.”  

I smiled and hit her back, “Fuck you too.”

Still, I looked away, guilt gnawing at me.  Did she think I really didn’t care about Nick?  Was she really oblivious to how much I cared about Nick?  I mean, I know he was a slack-jawed male moron, but Xana was Xana.  Surely she noticed….right?

My phone going off saved me from spiraling more.  

Idiot: I’ll admit, I’m not liking those evening plans.

Nicky: It’s a rush job, we just gotta take it in stride.  I think Xana is busy tonight, you mind picking us up?

Me: No problem.  I’ll grab the idiot first since you’re closer to town.  How are you doing on your stuff?

Nicky: I should have plenty from earlier.  Didn’t have to use any extra.

Idiot: But I see you don’t ask how I’m doing.  I’m almost hurt.

Me: I’ll see you clowns tonight.  

“Hey, I’m gonna run and make a few last minute adjustments on my stuff since I’ll have some time alone.”  

Xana gave me a smile, “Alright.  Be careful.”

I shrugged, “I’m a Reckoner, I can’t afford to be that careful.”  

Racing home, I gave myself a three hour timer to get myself entirely ready.  Reloading the gun, ensuring the charge on my battery pack, making sure the dynamic feedback was working appropriately, and ensuring my optics for the helmet were all green.  

With all that taken care of, I picked up the sword and followed advice Murphy had given me.  I spent about an hour getting used to the weight, feeling out how quickly I could move the blade and how readily I could change the direction of the cut at a moments notice.  When I had drawn it against Mizu, it felt almost foreign to use.

Murphy could just pick something up and let it flow into his graceful fighting style, but I didn’t get that luxury.  

And then, to my surprise, I heard the front door burst open.  

Hastily I placed the sword on the table that would be obscured and stepped out of my room, hearing my parents shuffle around downstairs, clearly in a hurry.  “Hi,” I called down, “Everything okay?”

“Just fine!” my mom snapped.  

“What are you guys looking for?”

“We’re just fine, sweetie,” my dad replied.  

Still, I walked down, hoping to glean some last minute information.  “You guys heading out for your…’job’?” I said at length as I saw them scrounging in the living room.  

My mother glared, suspicious, “What if we are?  Are you going to stop us?”

I finally saw what they had been looking for: firearms.  Both of them were brandishing a handgun. It made me wonder how the fuck I’d never found guns in our living room before.

“No,” I replied, raising my hands and backing away slowly, “Fuck, mom do you have to point that at me?”

She cocked her head to the side, “Maybe you should stop being such a suspicious little brat and I’d be nicer.”

I was glad my dad stepped between us, “Enough.  Come on, Mary, we have to go. Sweetie, don’t wait up.  We’re going to be out late.”

For a moment I debated asking which bank they were going to; my mother brandishing a handgun deterred my want for confirmation.  I was just going to have to trust my gut that I had seen Siphon and Collision snooping around.

“Okay,” I finally replied.  “I’m probably going to head out and go work with Murphy and Nick.”  

“Knock yourself out,” my dad invited, a bit dismissive.  His head was already other places and so was mine. A glance at my phone showed it to be almost seven which meant there was probably another hour or two before I needed to head out and interrupt their progress.  

As soon as my parents whisked themselves away into the night, I took a look at the bank and the buildings surrounding it: all centers for commerce, but nothing for entertainment.  Imperium had undoubtedly chosen this because it would be almost completely deserted after 10 or 11. With no Adapted doing the actual robbery, there wouldn’t be a ton of noise or commotion to attract onlookers and cops.  

Imperium was erring on the cautious side; we’d actually spooked them a bit.  

For confirmation, I reactivated a drone that I had programmed to stay in the area and did a quick sweep, noticing the vast majority of the populus filtering out, heading to a nightclub or simply going home for the night.    

“Good for us,” I muttered as I started dragging my armor to the car and steadying myself mentally.  “Alright, let’s go grab the crew.”

I pulled up to Murphy’s house and was relieved to see him coming out with his suit under his arm.  “I was worried you’d be late again,” I remarked with a snide grin.

“I said I was sorry, let it go, mom.”  

“Fine.  I still want to know where the hell you go though.”

“And I still am not going to tell you,” he said with finality.  If there wasn’t a big job to do, I would have pushed.

As it was, I was glad he took a moment to steady himself, closing his eyes in an almost meditative state.  Nick wasn’t too far away fortunately, though I wasn’t opposed to my quiet car. Once I pulled up, I walked up to the door, surprised when he answered and hastily shut the door behind him; his face betrayed alarm as he looked around nervously.  

“What’s wrong?” I asked as Murphy seemed to detect a problem and walked up the drive to join us.  

“I-um,” he sputtered.

“You what?”

“My storage,” he started, nervous, “It spoiled.  Like an hour ago. All of it.”

“Wait, what?” I hissed.  

“Nick, are you fucking serious?” Murphy exclaimed.  

Our friend nodded, petrified, “I can’t be Eldritch tonight.”  

Previous Chapter _ Next Chapter

(9/28/2080)

“Alexis?  Alexis!”

I snapped back to reality as the teacher waved a hand in front of my face.  “Yes ma’am?”

Ms. Carn was a good-natured lady: decent, good natured, and didn’t discriminate against her human students.  “You okay? You are normally one of the students I can count on to participate in lecture but you didn’t say a word yesterday or the day before.”  She didn’t comment on me basically being asleep a second ago.

“Trouble at home,” I confessed, “I haven’t been sleeping particularly well.”  Another white lie; I’d gotten good at telling half truths.

“Well, be sure to get it taken care of, Alexis.  Now, off you go.”

“Thank you miss.”  Without further prompting I slipped out and hurried out of the building towards the parking lot.  

Of course I was a bit off my game; how was I supposed to focus on school when I was going to raid an Imperium dog fighting ring in just a handful of hours?

As expected, Nick was already waiting beside my car…and for some reason alone.  

“Where’s Murphy?  He was supposed to be here.  I find it hard to believe he’d play hookey on us.”

My friend shrugged, “No idea, just said he needed to take care of something.  Said we can pick him up after we get me all set up.”

I rolled my eyes, “Sometimes he’s more trouble than he’s worth.  Seriously, we agreed on this, what the hell is he doing?”

Nick and I got in the car, driving initially away from my home and instead towards the fringes of town.  We wanted to get Eldritch to be big, we needed him to have plenty of raw material. Besides, if there was any Adapted enforcement, the last thing we needed was him being run out of juice prematurely.  

“How much do we need to get you?”

“I would say probably 150 kilos would be more than enough.  It would let me grow at about 20 to 1 comfortably with plenty left to regenerate and stay fed for about two hours.”

“God willing we don’t need you up for anywhere near that long.”    

While Eldritch could do a full 40 to 1 conversion of meat into his growths, we had found that about half of that was optimal in terms of making the growth sustainable and giving it extra duration for a prolonged engagement.  Every time he had used his pinnacle growth rate, the stuff had started cannibalizing itself after about 15 minutes. If he did half the growth rate, it lasted nearly an hour.

A thirty minute drive got us far enough away from the city that bigger animals could be found on the side of the road.  Within half a mile we found a pair of liq; each was consumed by my friend and I shuddered as I watched the body simply de-materialize at his touch.  

For Murphy, seeing Nick transform was the weird bit.  For me, it was seeing him erase flesh from existence.

He got back in the passenger seat and relaxed, closing his eyes to check his ‘storage’.  “One-hundred and forty-five kilograms. Close enough.”

“Good, one problem solved.  A two-tonne Eldritch won’t go down easy, regardless of who’s trying…and still no word from Murphy.  What the fuck is that idiot doing?”

Nick shrugged, unsure.  “He doesn’t tell me where he goes when he isn’t at school.  Never has, probably never will.”

I frowned, annoyed.  We were his team mates, what was so bad that he couldn’t tell us?  He was literally trusting us with his life but he wouldn’t let us know where he went when he played hooky?

“Worst comes to worst, we wait a week, right?”  

I frowned and let out an exasperated sigh; the notion of waiting another week to move on Imperium seemed terrible; waiting out this week had been excruciating enough.  If Murphy genuinely ruined this for us, I was going to find a way to get through his thick skull.

As if he heard us talking about him, both of our phones chimed.  

Idiot: Sorry, had to wrap something up.  The big man all juiced up?

Nick: Good to go.  Where are we picking you up?

Idiot: I’m going to be at my place.  

“I’m gonna kill him,” I growled, “Like, what the hell is his problem?”

Nick clearly wanted to defend his friend but found himself conflicted as well.  “Maybe he was just…”

“Nothing.  He screwed up and don’t try to cover for him,” I replied with a grimace.  “Fortunately, we have our plan and all he needs to do is show up in costume.  No prep required for him.”

My friend winced at that comment; Nick hated needing to gather resources to feel useful.  Without his power he felt fragile.

Then again, I felt fragile even when I was in my armor.  Shock and Awe had been a sobering wake-up for all of us about how vulnerable we were.  

“Hey, you’re all prepped, okay?  We’re gonna be awesome tonight.”

“Sorry just…nervous.  What if we run into some of Imperium’s muscle?”

I thought for a minute before answering.  “The worst case is that we run into Ironclad and Kudzu together.  Both can do a fair amount of damage without risking hurting the other members of Imperium and Kudzu would make fighting in a closed environment a nightmare.  Shockwave won’t be there, he doesn’t ever gamble on the dogs.”

He visibly relaxed hearing that Shockwave wouldn’t be present and I couldn’t blame him.  

It wasn’t a long drive to grab Murphy who seemed like he had been in a fight already.  A cut on his lip hadn’t quite healed yet, and he looked disheveled, like someone threw him in a mound of dirt.  

“Dude, what the hell were you doing?”

Despite the obvious signs of a scuffle, he was wearing that smug-ass grin that never seemed gone for long.  “I was just busy. Don’t worry about it.”

Taking a deep breath, I put on my ‘team captain’ hat and rounded to face the man in my backseat, “We agreed on a time to meet, and you held us up.  Don’t do that to us, Murphy. Don’t just drop shit on us last minute. If we are setting up to pick a fight, you don’t bail on us or suddenly change around the schedule, especially if you don’t fucking tell us why.  Understood?”

Smile was replaced with a frown for a split second, “Okay, yeah.  Fair’s fair.” And just like that, it came back. “So what is the plan tonight, boss?”

“We’re gonna ditch my car about four blocks away and cloak up, head ourselves to the back of the building when things are in full swing.  Then, we’re gonna kick in the door and make a hell of a racket.”

“I know he’s making the racket,” Murphy replied, “But what are you and I doing specifically?”

“You’re going after money and I’m going to free some dogs.  Those poor mutts don’t need to be in cages anymore.” Thinking about it brought back a shiver.    

Nick gave an approving nod, “So what about the people who want to try and get rid of me?”

“I mean….they are members of Imperium and are attending a dog fighting ring.  I think you can smack them in good conscience. Just, not too hard. You are going to be absolutely massive.”  

“More importantly, where am I going to find the money?”

Murphy raised his eyebrows high enough I could notice in the rearview and I shook my head.  “You’ll find the money with anyone accepting bets. Generally speaking there are a couple people who handle the money, and you can find them on either side of the room wearing a bright red shirt.  Last time I scouted the place, they were wearing a belt with a bunch of pouches, those have the money. So, grab what you can.”

“What, are we robbers now?”

“No, Nick,” Murphy replied, indignant, “But we don’t exactly have patronage so we’re gonna skim a little off a criminal organization and treat ourselves.  I know Xana will put out if you buy her a dinner with illegally acquired currency.”

Both Nick and I blushed…albeit for different reasons.  In the backseat Murphy howled with laughter.

There was a pause as we got closer to the arena.

“So, what’s our excuse for tonight?”

“I’m actually a fan of piling on Nick’s alabi,” I replied.  “We’re meeting at your house to work on a project for extra rank with the school.  Your parents aren’t around to vouch against us and it is something Nick has already fed his mom and dad so it’s got credit if my parents weigh in against it.”  

“Glad to…help?”

“You’re only doing your civic duty,” Murphy teased his friend.  “And to think I normally lie because I’m a terrible person! Your deception serves an actual purpose!”

“You are an insufferable brat,” I snapped.  

“You love it.”

“I still haven’t forgiven you for earlier,” I replied.  The edge of his grin faltered.

“I definitely don’t love it,” Nick replied with a roll of his eyes, fortunately injecting a bit of levity back into the atmosphere.  

Murphy clearly was expecting me to voice objection but hadn’t prepared for his best friend to turn traitor.  “Nick…you wound me, man! I thought we were friends! Comrades in arms!”

I ignored the two of them and drove us a few blocks from the venue and parked in the basement level of a parking garage which was predominately empty.  Each of us took a cloaking device and sobered up, getting more into character. While Murphy was content changing in the back seat, I had to go back to the trunk and snag my armor, sliding each chunk over the kevsilk suit with a nervous exhale as the plates interlocked and powered up.  

In the back of my mind, there was a concern I couldn’t push aside.  My parents were going to be there tonight; they were supposed to be somewhere else, anywhere else!  Was I ready for this?

Maybe a good whack upside the head was what they deserved, but it still didn’t feel right; they were my parents after all.  

Last to go on was my helmet, augmenting my field of view to 270 degrees, distorting slightly at the fringes to help me focus on what was directly ahead and keep perspective.  I still wasn’t sure how the hell Nick put up with being able to have a panoramic view and remember which way was forward.

As my suit powered up, I felt Alexis slip away and felt a strange surge of strength that came with being Dragoon; I was a Reckoner who had gone toe to toe with Shock and Awe and lived to talk about it.  A dog fighting ring should be a cakewalk.

Eldritch and Parasite came over beside me, each of them using their active camouflage devices.  “We turn them off when we’re about a block out.” With that said, I turned mine on and went back to looking like regular Alexis; hopefully no one noticed the little pneumatic hiss of me walking around.  

We set off, walking by a few people heading to their car, most a bit intoxicated and not paying us any mind.  Us being in a group kept Zari from pestering us beyond some cat-calling directed at me; Nick turned to defend my honor but I silenced him.  The last thing we wanted to do was draw attention to ourselves.

A block away, Parasite and I discarded the camouflage.  Nick’s simply turned to a picture of someone else while he grew under the guise.  

“I look fucking stupid compared to you guys right now,” he lamented.  

Murphy smiled, “You always look stupid.”  

“I am working with idiots.  How long do you need to grow?”

“With the first layer on already, I probably need two minutes for the slow growth.”  

“Start growing, we’re here.”  

The building didn’t look like anything special; the dog fighting ring hid in a large building where that posed mostly as a gym.  Not only did the front act as a convenient method for laundering the money gained from the dogs, but it helped explain away some of the smells that lingered around the place.  About the front two-thirds of the place were open to the public, except on Thursday nights, when it was closed and they dropped the blackout curtains early. Enough hands made light work for moving exercise equipment to clear room, and they had tinkered with the floor: it was a stage set to adjust at the press of a button.  The floor would elevate towards the back and turn into an impromptu colosseum.

The only part of the building that never opened was the very back where the dogs were held, the place I had been forced to wait that fateful day.  

My heart hammered in my ears and I wasn’t sure if my memory was driving it, or if the current situation was making me a nervous mess.  

“How are we playing this?”

“You and Nick go in the front, I’m gonna loose the dogs and incapacitate anyone looking to slip out the back.  You ready?”

Nick’s projection turned off and revealed a nine foot tall form.  “Let’s do it.”

“Don’t wait, just go,” I insisted as I dropped my own projection and began sprinting around the edge of the building.  

I heard the glass shatter and the scream of the metal being torn from the frame as Eldritch made his entrance to the building, right as I reached the back door.  

A firm kick broke the frame and let me walk in.  

One man was back with the dogs, guarding the kennel and readying them for the next fight.  

Gregor.  

He rounded and pointed a handgun at me, fearless.  There was a second where we stared at one another, no one making a move.  Finally, he broke the tension, “Do you know who we are?”

“Of course I do,” I replied, “Put that down. You don’t need to lose a hand.”  

“Listen, little girl, I don’t know what you think you’re doing here, but you should take a sec and really think about who you’re fuckin’ with.  You and your friends’re dead.”

I clenched my fist; Gregor wasn’t a bad guy, but he needed to get out of my way.  People were going to be breaking through any second now, I needed to play crowd control.  

A roar from Eldritch shook the room and Gregor stumbled forward, clutching his head; I took the opportunity and rushed him, smacking the gun aside and heaving him by the collar, throwing him away.  I ripped open the door into the arena and tossed a flashbang and a stun grenade that would each trigger multiple times in six second intervals. It kept the mob at bay for now as people stumbled back, dazed and disoriented.  

A bullet ricocheted off my armor; even with the kev-silk suit, I still felt the impact.  I turned, “Don’t be stupid.”

Another round hit my helmet and forced me to take another step back.  For a moment I just stood there, dumbstruck; Gregor had protected me when I was younger.  He had saved me from being trampled in the crowd, he had tried to defend me against my mom.  

He’d just tried to kill me, no glimmer of guilt present.  

Another bullet to the chest and I took a third step back.  Rage flooded through my blood and I took two long strides and hit Gregor hard enough to throw him bodily against the wall.  Blood streamed down his face as I struck him again, dropping him to the floor.

“Why didn’t you just stand down!?”

I stomped down on his foot and none of his bones survived.  

“You were one of the better one’s!  You weren’t supposed to get hurt!”

His attempt at a rebuttal was quashed by me driving a fist into his teeth.  

“But you tried to kill me!  You. Fucking. Dumb. Idiot!”

Each word was punctuated by a hit to the abdomen.  

Underneath my helmet, I was panting, and I finally realized exactly how much damage I had just done.  Gregor’s face was almost unrecognizable, his breathing ragged and rapid. He didn’t move, he didn’t speak; the way his eyes were glazed over, I don’t think he knew where he was anymore.  

I stood up and backed away slowly, as if somehow he was going to leap to his feet and reprimand me.  But nothing happened, he wasn’t going to get up…and he might never get up.

We’d scolded Nick about it, reminded him over and over again that he couldn’t misuse his power and that people were fragile when stacked against the arcane abilities of the Adapted.  

Here I was being the biggest hypocrite alive.  

Another roar ripped through the enclosure and the dogs started baying, trying to make him shut up.  Remembering my initial goal, I ripped the cages open as people were recovering from my initial sensory onslaught.  

I reached to my waist, grabbing for another concussion grenade but then paused.  I saw Parasite and Eldritch clearly involved in a fight. Even the people at the door didn’t seem like they were eager to stay, ready to defend their turf.  No, everyone clamoring towards the door was in a panic.

No one wanted to get caught up in the crossfire between Adapted.

Still, a figure in power armor gave the crowd pause and I had to ask myself what I was going to do with them.  Were they worth restraining?

But when I saw who Eldritch and Parasite were up against, I knew they weren’t going to be worth the trouble.  

“Shit,” I snarled, “Get the fuck out of my way!”  I waded forward and most were content to get the hell out of my way.   

One tried to grab me, but a slap knocked a pair of teeth free of his face; the rest of the throng didn’t try their luck and were eager get the hell away from the conflict I was joining.  As the throng went past me, I saw a pair of familiar faces mixed with the bunch.

My parents.  

She was so close, just a few small paces for me being able to scream in her face and prove I was worth something. I yearned for the confrontation, I longed to shatter her notions about her daughter, but that wasn’t tonight.  

Rogue Sentries needed me.  

The inclined room had been leveled, the ring in the middle knocked over in the panic and mass exodus; a few bodies were scattered around, either trampled or smacked around by Parasite.  

More pressing to me was the other pair of figures still standing upright.  

Parasite leapt to the side, avoiding a blast of water that slapped against the cement wall as Eldritch tossed a figure who seemed to be made entirely of cement to the side.  

Two of Imperium’s Adapted had been in the crowd, eager to gamble: Ironclad and Mizu.  

Ironclad was an Enhancer who was able to change the makeup of his skin and muscle into some inorganic substance he could touch in ready supply.  Mizu was a projector who could manipulate and condense water from the air around him. With all the sweat and blood lingering in the place, he had a fair supply available.    

Parasite narrowly avoided another blast of water, but he couldn’t avoid Mizu retaining control; the jet of water changed direction and blasted my team-mate square in the chest and knocked him onto his ass.    

While Ironclad didn’t really wear a costume–since it wouldn’t serve him much purpose–Mizu was clad in a deep blue shirt and pants, lined with armor plates.  His face was obscured by a pair of goggles and helmet that covered his skullcap, leaving his sharp jawline and five o’clock shadow visible.

I raised my arm and fired my newest addition to my arsenal.  Mizu and Ironclad had been too distracted, they hadn’t been aware of me.  

A pair of nearly silent projectiles shot from my wrist and drilled Mizu in the side; he immediately crumpled and sank to a knee as a rib or two likely broke.  Parasite saw his opportunity and extended the staff, rushing forward, ducking and rolling to avoid Mizu’s quick counterattack. Still, the Projector split the orb of liquid and caught Parasite with half and pushed him away.

“Ironclad, incoming!”

The stone man turned to see me, incidentally ignoring Eldritch for a moment; a massive arm ensnared him and sent him flying across the room into a wall.  While that would have killed most, Ironclad got up from the impact and dusted himself off like nothing happened. As fast as he had been displaced, he charged back in and threw himself bodily against Eldritch, keeping him from advancing on Mizu.    

I fired another two shots at the Projector, one finding the mark in his shoulder.  Without the Element of surprise, he seemed less phased. If anything, it just seemed to piss him off.  

Parasite skipped around, dodging more of Mizu’s blasts and I started moving to join my teammates.  

His smile was off putting, and eerily confident like my friends, but I didn’t notice it fast enough.  

Projectors and Druids generally couldn’t interact with other people or sentient organisms as if there was some kind of built in limiter with most powers.  However, most powers didn’t stop you from tinkering with yourself.

Mizu flew at me, yanking on the liquids within his own body.

With distance from Parasite, he yanked the whole ball of liquids he had been using and shot me with it like a shotgun blast.  

It hit me hard enough to pick up my suit and throw me back a meter.  

Raising my arm to shoot, the ball of liquid turned into a more concentrated ring of rapidly spinning liquids; with a deft flick of his hand, Mizu shot the high pressure water into the housing of my gun and scrambled the workings.  

“Pathetic,” he laughed, drawing the water back and blasting me in the face.  “To think Shock and Awe lost to you punk-” He suddenly stopped as if he’d been jolted with electricity.  

A metallic clang rung out as my staff hit the floor; Mizu stumbled forward back still flexed from the impact of Parasite throwing the nine-pound hunk of metal with his supernatural strength.  Frustrated, Mizu took his focus off me for a moment and I intended to make him regret it.

My right hand gripped the hilt and ripped the blade free; Imperium’s Adapted only managed to make himself clear by a few millimeters at most.  The jet of water slammed into my hand, more to keep me from swinging again than anything else. But it wasn’t enough liquid to hold both me and Parasite at bay.  

He and I worked in a silent unison, each recognizing the other’s strength.  Parasite’s best attribute was his incredible agility and grace, letting him almost dance forward as he continued to avoid blast after blast from Mizu.  I was able to eat hits from the Adapted without taking any real damage and became a consistent pressure on the wounded enforcer.

Mizu, still, managed to hold us back, but he was slowly getting backed into a corner.  Finally he opted for a change of plans, turning his aggression on Parasite and slamming him with a narrow jet of water, attempting to bore a hole in his chest.  

While it knocked my friend back across the room, the synthetic spider silk held and the organism under his skin would undoubtedly mitigate even more of the damage.  For a moment, he was without liquid nearby and I took advantage, charging and swinging the blade again. Mizu dodged away, but staggered as Eldritch let another roar echo through the chamber.  In his moment of weakness, I planted a firm punch into his side and knocked him back a few paces.

My opponent growled and blasted the back of my knees with his water supply, bowling me over before drawing it back to repel Parasite who had leapt back into the fray.  

This was working; Ironclad and Eldritch were practically at a stalemate as they couldn’t seem to hurt one another, but if the two of us could bring down Mizu…

“Ironclad,” he bellowed, “It’s time!”  

For a moment, I was confused.  Then it made sense; they didn’t stick around for a lopsided fight, they had been stalling to ensure everyone got out.  People had been knocked aside by Parasite and Eldritch but we hadn’t noticed them slipping out.

Giving our massive friend a push, Imperium’s other present Adapted disentangled himself from the Neklim mess and ran a direction I wasn’t expecting: straight at the wall.  

“See you kiddo’s later,” Mizu said with a disingenuine salute before displacing himself, haphazardly flying towards the hole that Ironclad made.  

Parasite started to chase but a massive limb cut him off.

“Let’s go after them!”

“No,” Eldritch hissed, “Sirens, cops.  Suppression will be with them.”

It was easy to forget at times that he had exquisite senses when he was powered up.  

“That’s why they aren’t going to pick a real fight with us.  We made a lot of noise ripping our way in here and causing a panicked evacuation.  We have to go,” I insisted.

Parasite hated seeing a fight go unfinished, but he resigned himself to listen to me.  The three of us darted out the back–or lumbered in the case of our monstrous third. As we went through the room, I was grateful to see someone from Imperium had grabbed Gregor off the ground.      

Two minutes later and we had slipped back out and looked like normal kids just skulking around at night.  Walking back to my car, we were quiet, nervous as if someone was going to hop out and try to stop us, accuse us for being involved, something, anything.

One commonality between Zari and humans: no one liked sticking around when the cops were coming around.  It gave us a bit of amnesty as we hurriedly walked back to parking garage. We all felt so much safer once we climbed down a staircase and were no longer visible on the street.  

Once the car door shut, Murphy and I took the cloaking down. He passed Nick a pair of pants and finally broke the tense silence, “Alright, am I the only one who was hoping they’d actually commit to that fight?”  

“I think I was finally doing some actual damage to Ironclad,” Nick lamented, “And I was just on the cusp of getting my first real mutation; anything acidic and I destroy him.”  

“Either way, we still injured Mizu.  He can talk a big game, but I shot him and smacked him in the ribs and Murphy hit him in the spine with the staff.”

“And dragging himself around using his own blood…that can’t be comfortable.  I know a thing or two about messing with the stuff inside you.”

Nick nodded at Murphy, “We can still probably call this a win.”

“Definitely,” I replied as we slipped out of the parking lot, driving away from the flashing lights and authorities, “We got the cops dragged to their fighting ring; that makes it a dead spot.  That’s a big revenue stream cut.”

“Shame we didn’t get any of it,” Nick lamented, “I was onboard with stolen dinner.”  

In the rearview I caught a glimpse of Murphy’s sly grin creeping back across his mouth.  

“How much,” I finally asked, not wanting to see how long he’d be fucking smug about his quiet pick up.  

Procuring a stack of bills from his waistband, “About 30 large.  Only got to his one of the bookies before Mizu and other people started getting in the way.”  

Chump change for Imperium but massive windfall for us.  

“How are we going to split that?”

“I’d say do it even split, but that’s hardly fair since she’s the one making me toys and needs her own materials.  You take half we split half?”

Caught off guard by Murphy being thoughtful I just nodded.  

Fifteen thousand?  I could definitely settle up with Armorsmith and look into a better power supply to integrate with my suit.  

“Whoa, whoa, look,” Nick insisted.  

“What?  Why?”

A pair of figures skulking by the mouth of an alleyway, both wearing masks.

“Adapted, so close to the cops?”

“Thrillseekers?”

I shook my head, “Thrillseekers left Ciel and are nearly 500km away. This is someone else.”

“Vermin?” Nick suggested.

“Maybe. But I thought they were quashed a while ago.”

“If Swarm survived, he is bound to bring more people around. It isn’t impossible they are making a resurgence.”

A grimace spread across my face; Vermin was a group that thrived on chaos, capitalizing on violence and helping the damage spread out. There was no agenda for them, no desire for material gain, just a sick want to raise the body count.

Their moniker came from the fact that everyone said they were like a group of rats; their leader, Swarm, took the statement with pride and forged an infamous identity out of it.

Unfortunately, that could mean a wrench in our plan. Vermin were an unpredictable variable in the midst of all of this. They preyed upon chaos, capitalized and had zero issues with killing anyone. If they started piggybacking on our strikes against Imperium…

“Do you think they have a Cognate feeding them information?”

I frowned, “I know that Big-Picture will sell information to anyone, so they could be using him. Or maybe they were just in the right spot at the right time.”

“Or maybe not Vermin at all,” Murphy pointed out optimistically.

Both Nick and I shook our head.  “This seems like their kind of place to be.  We just attacked a gang and started significant conflict with one of the biggest players in the city.  Might as well have just set off a flare for them.”

Murphy seemed unsatisfied with that answer and changed the line of conversation.  “So what’s next against Imperium?”

“Depends what I hear from my parents and depends what I can see from my drones.  I’ve tagged a handful of the bigger names and been watching where they go to try and see if they are casing something or someone.”  

Nick nodded beside me as we pulled up to his house, “Don’t overwork yourself.  I get that this is a big deal for you, but if you overdo it, I don’t want to know how bad that could get.”  

“I’m fine,” I assured him as I continued driving.  “You worry too much about me. I’m tougher than I look.”

“Still.”  

A disapproving ‘tsk tsk’ carried from the backseat. “Nick, Nick, Nick, you have so much to learn about how to talk to women.  You gotta stop caring so much! That gets you friendzoned!”

“Should I even tell him how many dumb things are wrapped up in that sentence?”

Nick shook his head, laughing, “That’d only encourage him.”

It wasn’t much longer before we pulled up in front of his house and I gave him an awkward hug…and Murphy piled on to just make it weird.  “Good shit tonight,” I said, attempting to be affirming.

He gave us a salute as he got out of the car and traipsed back to his house; his mom was at the doorway and gave us a wave as I drove away, shepherding Murphy back to his place.  

I was a bit glad that Murphy was content to be quiet for the last few minutes of the drive, it let me ponder and dwell on if I was overdoing it like Nick expressed concern for.  

No,  not at all.  This was simply work that needed to be done.  

Murphy and I said our farewells and I took myself home, somehow beating my parents.  They must be recuperating and doing a quick meeting to sort out what they would do next to cope with this.  Truth be told, it wasn’t a huge hit to their bottom line, but a big hit to their morale. No one fucked with Imperium; Rogue Sentries had.  There was blood in the water now.

As quickly as I could, I dragged my armor upstairs and tucked it along the wall so my projection would conceal its existence from my parents.  

It had been surreal seeing them, being so close but so far at the same time.  As soon as I made sure my armor was stashed, the door downstairs was thrown open and my parents came in, screaming.  

“Fucking dumb-shit no good kids!  Who the fuck do they think they are?”

Well, we’d made an impression.  

“Did you hear Shockwave?  Nothing changes! We just make sure there is security with us!”  

“Mary, did you fucking see that thing?  It was throwing around Ironclad like he was made of paper!”  

“Of course I saw it you pussy!  Everyone saw it! Thing filled the fucking doorway!”

“And you’re fine with being on the crew for this job?”

There was a pause, and something muttered I couldn’t quite make out.  Hastily changing in my pajamas, I walked downstairs and saw them huddled together in the kitchen, “Hey,” I called out, “What’s going on?”

My mom glared at me, still assuming I was a rat.  Dad, however, gave me a warm smile, “There was some…excitement tonight at the ring.”  

“Exciting enough to warrant a shouting match this late?”  

“Some fucking punk Reckoners showed up and made so much noise the cops came too.”  

I did my best to look surprised.  “Sounds like you guys had…a hell of a night.  I’m glad you’re okay.” That was easy enough to deliver since I was glad they didn’t get caught in the crossfire.  

Mom still looked skeptical, but I was used to that being her default.  

“So, what were you guys arguing about?”

“Nothing,” my dad replied with a dismissive wave, “We were just having a little disagreement about what we’d be doing next with…them.”  

“You can say Imperium,” I said with a roll of my eyes, “It isn’t like I don’t know.”

“Tom,” she growled.

He turned to her, “My daughter isn’t a fucking narc.  If she wants to know, I’ll tell her.”

Of course he’d be thrilled I showed a modicum of interest…and of course she would be inconsolably paranoid.  “So, what are you doing?”

“We’re going to rob a bank. Tomorrow.”      

Previous Chapter _ Next chapter

(9/24/2080)

I gave a grimace at my old suit and the armor plating that had re-constituted itself.  

“What a piece of trash,” I said with a sad shake of my head.  In some ways I envied Murphy and Nick; their Adaptations were so simple and straightforward in terms of application and enrichment.  Murphy’s was all based on his physique and cellular integrity, Nick was based around consumption. Elegantly simple and straightforward, each equipped with innate knowledge and only needing simple practice to improve upon the skills imparted by…whatever made us Adapt.  

Of course what I was given wouldn’t be so damn easy to work with.  

“What are we gonna do with you,” I asked the vacant room and let my power flick on.  It took weeks to finally figure out how to shut off my power, to cut the incessant buzz and white noise it seemed to emit.  Every project I wrote down, every schematic I drew became this angry voice in my head that demanded completion.

After several days of wonderment and awe, of drawing and conceptualizing, I finally had enough and hadn’t realized the damage I had done.  Even without new drawings and ideas, the old ones lingered like a weight on my psyche, the Zeigarnik effect in full swing.

For weeks I had become irritable, cursed with a perpetual migraine until I finally figured out how to make it shut up.  It was oddly responsive and was easy to make a binary function; I hadn’t had the good sense to simply command the power specifically to stop functioning.  While I lost some of the innate knowledge it gave me, it took the edge off the migraines and let me feel more human.

Over the following month I learned how to flick on my power in doses, limiting myself to a solitary idea,  or something small enough to complete in a timely manner. It kept me from repeating my initial blunder and overtaxing myself, crippling me for weeks.    

However, despite the cool schematics and all that the Adaptation injected into my brain, it didn’t exactly give me instructions.  All I was given were blueprints and a rough idea about assembly and parts required. The actual finesse and figuring how to obtain the resources was all up to me.   

Trickiest for me was learning to direct my gift in a manner that wouldn’t overwhelm.  I could ask it for a suit that could fight Beleth, but then I wouldn’t be able to make it because its requirements would far exceed what I possessed or had the skill to create.  The process was only further complicated by my inability to completely translate the information my Adaptation fed me. I understood it but had trouble retaining or sometimes interpreting the directions.  Previously, I had attempted to write them down to try and get insight into my powers exact function; it was like a dyslexic person trying to be a stenographer.

Still, as the switch flicked, I tuned out the noise around me and honed in on my armor.  

“Improvements needed,” I commanded my gift, “Shock absorption, additional strength, tertiary weapons.”

Answers came in a flood and I began to scribble in my notebook as fast as I could.  

Easiest improvement was shock absorption, and not something I was going to build.  I could still fill the requirement and make my Adaptation happy by simply buying a Kevlar lined bodysuit.  Peddling a few more surveillance drones to another Reckoner team would likely let me foot the bill.

More muscle strength was dependent upon building in more magnetic actuators and beefing up my power supply.  While I had managed to get a solid battery pack in my suit and made a feedback loop to let my motion help restore it, I was inevitably going to need something more potent as I increased my armors weight and output.  Currently I could run my armor at peak efficiency for about two hours but my current strength amplification was only about a 250% increase.

Shock and Awe had been an eye opener for me; I wasn’t weak, but that was still leagues short in comparison to how hard Murphy could hit with an empowered punch and Awe hit substantially harder than he did when fully charged.  Even his half charged stomp had cracked the breastplate. I’d need to eventually add more plating to my suit and bulk it up to endure hits from brutes like him. But that issue and the need for a better power supply would have to wait; that was more than I could chew today.  

More scribbles regarding actuator placement and their wiring.  From the looks of it, this would about double my kinetic output and would likely increase battery consumption by 25%.  Still about ninety minutes; it’d have to do for the short term. Getting a new power supply wasn’t something I wanted to contemplate at present.  And like Murphy pointed out, most fights weren’t going to last long. Our team was time dependent besides him, we either won quickly or were likely to die out slowly.      

“It won’t make me as strong as Murphy, but closer,” I mused.  I could only squat about my own body weight, something I would need to address.  Maybe I could start exercising with Nick and get myself in better shape. “Yeah, but he’d bring around Xana, and then I’d be the awkward third wheel.”  

I felt a little nagging; my power didn’t like when I was distracted since I had it turned off so often.  Recentralizing my thought, I focused on weaponry. Several options began to rise for a mixture of projectile weapons or stuff more engineered for close quarters.  The initial ideas I simply took and ran with, not wanting to let the floodgates open too far and impose a demand I make myself a small armory.

On my gauntlets I could route an electrical charge and allow it to be a contact taser.  As long as I wasn’t up against Awe again that would work as another good non-lethal measure.  The other two ideas I now had to engage with were much more anti-personnel.

The second was a sword made of individual metal squares all coated in magnetite and other alloys to make it selectively magnetic and keep from getting stuck to my armor.  An electric charge could stimulate the shards and have them quickly assemble into a meter long blade. In the hilt there could be a power supply to heat up or electrically charge the blade, making it a more potent tool.  

Last was a projectile based weapon, one I wasn’t sure if I was entirely comfortable with.  The core concept was to build a mechanism into the arm of my suit that could reconstitute metal or another just dense enough material into makeshift bullets.  Rigging a pair of hoses, I could easily engineer an air compressor and the gun would just load itself, and I’d always be able to make ammo as long as I had access to scrap metal and power to operate my suit.  

“Violent, but effective,” I muttered to myself.  

I wasn’t a fan of lethal measures, but on our first outing I had been quick to threaten Shock; it nagged at me that I had told Awe Eldritch would be the one to do it.  Putting him on the spot like that, it wasn’t okay.

But Murphy and Nick were both right when they pointed out we were inevitably going to have times where we may need to put someone down who doesn’t want to go down.  Some of the heavy hitters, I’d need what would normally be lethal measures to even make a dent. “Hell, even my compound wouldn’t necessarily be enough to stop Nick if he ran rampant again.”  

Hearing about that from Murphy was distressing; if enabled, Nick was scary powerful.  Part of the reason he’d never gone much larger than a tonne was because he realized how intoxicating it felt.  When we had been experimenting with his gift, we’d had him grow to three tonnes and he said it felt a bit like getting high.  He was controlled, but still.

If he was ever emotionally volatile, he was to be sidelined, that much was for sure.  

Maybe not exercise then, but yoga and meditation?  

A stab from my head as my power prompted me to get back to work.  “Yes, yes, I get it,” I replied and grimaced as I penned the last detail down.  

With ideas in mind, the next step to sate my contract with the Adaptation was to get to work.  Rummaging through the materials I had on hand, I couldn’t help but frown. Limited supply and resource made my Adaptation tricky.  

I started with the gun for my suit since that was the easiest.  A small compression chamber was similar to the usual design of the genesis machinations that I integrated into all of my creations, this one was just slightly re-purposed; instead of gathering itself back up, it simply collected other material on demand.  Making a small bandolier that pulled itself around my wrist, it functioned as a loading system and gave an effective 20 round clip if I came prepared. I built a small housing to contain the mechanism, knowing that my power wouldn’t be happy until I knew it worked.  

Four hours gave me a functional firearm that I was admittedly nervous to test.  Still, I walked out into our ‘backyard’ with one arm plate on and pointed it at the ground, giving it a shot straight into the dirt beyond our patio.  

A projectile zipped out with a pneumatic hiss and burrowed deep into the ground.  “Holy shit,” I muttered to myself as I reached into the ground and fished out the metal shrapnel; it hadn’t held together upon impact which did make me question its efficacy against armor.  

Still, for now, one less thing I had to contemplate.    

Next easiest to address was the suit.  

Message boards existed to talk about Adapted, that was common knowledge.  However, there were places you could go to talk with fellow Adapted. Other technology related Cognates or Peculiars had made chat rooms specific for Adapted that they had a way to check.  

I wasn’t sure how, but no one had been picked up by Suppression or the Snatchers so I was willing to trust them.  

Among Adapted, we all looked out for one another when it came to those assholes.  Even members of cartels and criminal syndicates didn’t give up Reckoners to Snatchers or Suppression.  Adapted only had two things that were sacred: autonomy and identity. No matter how bitter the rivalry, you didn’t breach that contract.    

Looking on, I found one of my standard contacts in Manda, a city about 200km away.  Her Reckoner alias was Armor Smith and like me, she was a cognate that seemed rooted in tinkering, though hers was based more around metal work and refinement rather than machine construction.  Her Adaptation allowed her to produce materials that seemed to defy physics and other limitations but she was fairly narrow in her production.

Unlike me, she was very central on armor of some capacity.  Technically, she could imbue material for other purposes, but it seemed to lose a lot of its potency.  

I sat down at my computer and shot her a message:

Me: Hey, smithy, you there?

There a short delay before the site informed me she was typing a reply.

A.smith: Hey!  Those drones you sent us are working out great!  Ragdoll has been kicking ass with them paving the way.  

Me: Good!  So, I need a favor, I need a Kevlar suit.  Something to slide under my armor. lightweight…and maybe supped up?

A.smith: Too much abuse?  

Me: Armor is holding for the most part.  I’m not.    

A.smith: Gotcha.  I saw your fight with Shock and Awe, does look like you guys took a beating.

Me: Yeah, it was…a bit of a wake up call.

A.smith:  Everyone has those.  How soon did you need it?

Me: Today if possible.  

A.smith: I’d have to bug Transport.  It’d cost you.

Me: I’d give you a trio of fresh drones.  One has infrared vision.

There was a pause and I could practically feel her mulling it over.  

This was one of my private struggles that the rest of my team didn’t know about.  Nick was too focused on getting his power ship-shape and controlled. Murphy’s ‘parasite’ seemed to work entirely off his body which meant the guy worked out constantly to increase his base physical attributes.  

Neither of them needed additional resources to be productive.  Even the little bit of stuff they needed, I made it all.

My power had necessitated I start figuring out how to network to get resources and outside expertise with my construction.  The group in Manda, Flagbearers, had proven an invaluable resource. Comprised of Armorsmith, Ragdoll, Transport, Mr. Magnificent, and Soliloquy, they were a fairly popular group who functioned very differently than we did which had been eye opening to me to realize how different teams could be.  

Flagbearers operated like a support group for Ragdoll.  From what I heard, he had the ability to selectively adjust the mass in his body without any outward changes.  So he’d make his hands weigh nearly 50 kilograms right before he hit someone; he’d also fling himself around in the strangest and most drunken looking display of acrobatics ever, but I couldn’t argue with his results.  Mr. Magnificent seemed to upgrade people and primarily seemed to remove limitations for Ragdoll, increasing his speed and strength dramatically. To top it off, Armorsmith decked him out in the best protection that could be made.  

Murphy had taken some of his inspiration for the way he moved from the somewhat drunken and unpredictable stylings of Ragdoll, even he insisted otherwise.  

Transport and Soliloquy played support roles in a more indirect manner.  Transport was able to teleport inanimate objects and would help arrange the battlefield so Ragdoll could get around more readily as well as make it a more treacherous landscape for the opponents.  Soliloquy seemed to be an emotional manipulator that affected train of thought. Whenever he talked, you seemed drawn to him if he put power into this voice. Given a megaphone, he could make it difficult for anyone to focus except Ragdoll.

Maybe later we could start researching other Reckoner teams and see what kind of tactics people used and apply them to our own game plans.  Right now we were just being a bit haphazard and charging in, relying on an overwhelming display of force to win out.

Finally, her little chat bubble lit up.  

A.smith: We can do it.  Can you make a drone that conveys audio?  

Me: For Soliloquy?

A.smith: It certainly isn’t for me.

Me: Should be pretty easy.  

A.smith: Transport will start prepping.  Have a place in mind?

Me: Same place you mailed stuff to.  Just look up a satellite image. Does he want to move the drones?

A.smith: No, that’ll be too much for him.  Even moving this suit is going to basically knock him out.  200 kilometers is a long ways to blink something.

Me: Tell Transport he’s a gentleman and a scholar.  

A.smith: Don’t do that, he might want to hit on you and he’s a god awful flirt.  

Me: Noted.  I’ll mail these drones out to you tonight if I can.  

A.smith: Thank!  You’ll get your suit in about 5 minutes.

Me: You’re a lifesaver.  

A.smith: Power being a pain again?

Me: A bit.  I have to do more with it, so gonna head off.

A.smith: Good luck!   

Like another load of weight being taken off me, I felt my mental strain reduce as another problem was solved.  

The sword was a bit trickier as I had to begin dismantling part of a spacecraft I had managed to recover.  Industrial junkyards didn’t seem to care about much of their material and didn’t notice when a few broken chunks of spaceship exterior went missing after a failed launch attempt.  Tso’got wasn’t exactly the best with reusing metals and other materials since their biggest industrial venture was metalwork.

Proper recycling would make things more streamlined and screw up the status quo for the tycoons who ran everything.  Instead their ‘recycling’ was a haphazard operation that was maybe 40% efficient if that. For once though, I wasn’t going to complain.    

It meant there was plenty of titanium carbide for me to recover.  

While difficult to dismantle, it was fairly easy to bind onto small slivers of serpentine compounds that were lined with magnetite.  I started working on the sword at noon and didn’t realize how fast time went by as I kept slowly dismantling the ship fragment and rebuilt it around the new blade.  

My stomach grumbled and I finally checked the clock: I’d been working for the last seven hours with no interruption.  

“Mom and dad should have been home an hour ago from work.”  Since they weren’t though, it left an easy conclusion.

They were out with the gang again.  My parents were punctual most of the time, kind of an admirable quality and one of the few positives they had gifted me.  However, when Imperium was involved, it all went out the window.

Their usual winning formula was cast aside to reveal a pair of animals who hardly resembled my parents.  It was like being out with other Imperium membership removed all inhibitions…that or the alcohol did. Most times when they came home late they reeked of rum.  It was as if they did depressants as a protest to the Dart epidemic that the Surface Dwellers had released on the city.

I wolfed down a sandwich to placate my hunger and set back to work, knowing I would have limited time to build until my parents were home…and I didn’t want to have this tugging at my psyche all night.  There was a chance my phone was laden with messages, but I didn’t check. Distractions would cost valuable time that was possibly fleeting.

The handle was almost easier to make than the dozen pieces of metal I had to plate and rig to all attach end to end when the handle was charged.  All I needed was a similar serpentine/magnetite core and hope to high heaven that they resonated appropriately when I turned on the power supply.

First test, a failure.  Metal just kind of slapped together in an awkward heap around the hilt.  

“Take two,” I muttered, scrapping the idea of magnetically drawing a sword together.  Too messy. Still, the selective magnetism could act as additional support for the metal in terms of holding it in place and weathering structural damage.  

Option two was to try and get the thirteen sections of metal down to three long shards.  While I could make this one assume the right shape, there wasn’t a good way to hold the metal in place when I swung or had a collision of any substance.  

A trial against my armor had the sword fall into three distinct pieces.  

“Maybe just wear it like a regular sword; you did take the name of an old infantry soldier,” I muttered to myself.  Defeated, I opted for simplicity and set to joining the parts into a continuous piece of reinforced metal. Joining the titanium-carbide was slow going since it was incredibly heat resistant.  “Because how else is it supposed to survive re-entry you idiot,” I muttered as I held a laser to the edges of two slabs. Focusing my suits laser through a narrowing lens, it produced a beam intense enough to bind the magnetite core of the blade.

Still, it took several minutes for each little point of contact between the metal.  

Ten at night and I still hadn’t checked my phone.  My parents still weren’t home…had something gone wrong?  

Within the week we were going to be interfering with Imperium’s operation.  But still, they were my parents. Was pulling the trigger on this a good thing?  

“No,” I replied, “They are part of the biggest power struggle in the city.  They have to be debased.”

Nearly eleven now, still no parents and I had almost put in 16 hours working on my suit.  Fatigue started to threaten me as I joined the third section of blade to the whole. I jammed the blade down into the hilt and activated the revamped power supply.  A sheen of electricity danced across the surface at what should be about 25000 volts.

Not only would the blade cut deep, but it’d be as effective as a taser while the battery charge held.  

“I guess since it isn’t magnetically bound anymore, the weapon is still a weapon even when the power supply kicks the bucket.”  My rumination was interrupted by a loud opening of the door downstairs.

At first all I heard was shouting, but then I recognized the timbre of the voices, their manner of speech.  

Excitement, drunkenness, frivolity.  They had an excellent night; someone else had a miserable night because of them.  

“Just a few more days until they being changing their tune.”

Was that really what I wanted though?  Sure, it was awful having a few gang bangers as parents, but they weren’t the worst people on the planet.  They fed me, didn’t beat me, kept me clothed and sheltered, what more could I really want?

I was interrupted by a tromping of feet up the stairs.  As soon as my dad made it up to the second floor, a laser sensor was tripped and projected an illusion across my workspace to look like a regular desk with papers scattered across it.  My initial application of this technology had been to keep my parents from discovering I was an Adapted long before I used it to cloak Nick in his Neklim ‘suit’.

A knock at the door; mom would have burst in which meant it was dad.  

“What’s up dad?”

The door opened and he swaggered in, already a bit tipsy.  “It was a good night sweetie, shame you weren’t there!”

I feigned interest, “What did I miss?”

“Good old fashioned robbery!  Squad of six, we stuck up a place and made out like bandits.”

It took effort to hide my disappointment; my mom I expected no less from, but I hoped my dad would wise up.  Still, at least he tried to be pleasant and warm. Mom had accepted I was a failure in her eyes, he at least made an effort to include.  

It made for a conflicting vibe: in many ways I found it easier to deal with my mother because we hated each other and we knew that we hated each other, but he was trying to be nice while doing something awful and it made it almost paradoxical.  

Did every Adapted have a miserable home life like mine?  

“Dad, you do realize you just ruined someone’s night, right?”

He rolled his eyes, “Fucking Zari punks don’t deserve to have a good night with how they treat us.  Plus, it was a club, probably insured to the teeth anyways; all they are going to be out is time having to fill out some forms and deal with bureaucracy.”

“Did you…?”

He shook his head, “Victimless crime.  Though, not sure why that bothers you. The Zari are aliens anyways.”

“Dad, this is their home.  We’re the aliens.”

That sentence seemed to take the edge off his buzz instantly.  “Listen, Lex, you don’t get it. Zari took lots of our technology and failed to make it decent.  Now they treat us like second class citizens. I know your friend,” he paused, trying to recall a name.

“Xana.”

“Xana is a good egg.  But there are so many who treat us like shit.  People die, people get hurt, and more often than not it is them doing the hurting.  We’re just here to balance the scales.”

I shrugged, letting it go.  I was never going to convince him that he was wrong, that his warped view  of reality in black and white was far from the truth. “You and mom gonna drink more?”

“Of course!” he replied, boisterous.  “Would our little girl care to join in the festivities?”

“No thanks.”  

He sighed, clearly expecting to be snubbed.  “You know, it’d mean the world to me and your mother if you’d join us.”

“Mom made it clear to me a year and a half ago I was a failure.”  

Even drunk, I could tell that hit him like a brick.  Still, he composed himself, “Fair. Just know, you’re still our girl.  We care.”

Did they?  I knew he did, but did she?  

Probably not.  

“I know dad, but it just isn’t something I can do.”  

“Okay,” he conceded.  He turned and closed the door behind him.  While we didn’t have a backyard like Murphy, there was a little fenced off patio where my parents often drank and smoked in the early hours of the morning, annoying the neighbors.  Both of them would likely try to OD on caffeine to wake up the following morning and resume working like good employees; no one would be the wiser.

If there was nothing else I could learn from them I could definitely take away tactics to be subtle about my two different lives.   

Now that they were home, I dared not work anymore and retired to my bed, checking my phone for the first time all day and seeing a slough of messages from my two teammates and friends:

Nicky: Before we head out Thursday, are we doing another meet up?  

Idiot: Doubt it.  Don’t want to push our luck with your parents.

Nicky: Fair enough.  Still feel like we should all be on the same page.

Idiot: Didn’t see our fearless leader at school.  Alexis!!! Answer me!!

Nicky: She actually took a page from your book and played hookey.

Idiot: Of course on the same day that I didn’t.  The juxtaposition here is real.

Nicky: Maybe she just wanted to avoid you too.  You are annoying.

Idiot: I can be so much more annoying than you mortals believe.  

Nicky: Alexis, help me!  He’s out of control.

Idiot: Bwahahahhaha

Nicky: It’s been like 12 hours and she hasn’t answered the phone.  She must be building. Can’t wait to see your progress!

Idiot: I echo the big guy.  Hope it is coming along well!

I smiled as I heard the downstairs door slide open and shut again.  My room was against the back of the little town house which made it obnoxiously easy to hear everything they said, especially when they were drinking and being loudmouths.  

“Of course she’d sit this out, Tom, that girl is a mistake.”

“Mary, she just isn’t cut out for it, let it go.  Ever since that night, we’ve known she doesn’t have the balls for it.”

I heard my mother sigh, “Such a waste.  Could have done lots of good shit for us; instead she’s just a complacent little bitch.  Girl will never accomplish anything like that.”

“Mary, let it go.  We had a good night!  We have a little extra scratch to bet on the dogs.”

I almost fell onto the floor after hearing that: they had told me that they had a work function that night, they had to make appearances elsewhere and would miss the dog fight.  

My first instinct was to call off our mission, do something else to hurt Imperium and start our campaign against them…but I stopped myself.  

“They made their choices,” I reminded myself.  “You told Eldritch and Parasite what we’re doing and when; you owe it to them to be as good as your word.  Own what you are,” I insisted aloud. A steadying breath in, a relaxing breath out, the process repeated a few times.  

“I am a Reckoner, I help those who can’t help themselves.”  Quietly I repeated my little mantra in defiance of my parents drunken yammerings.  It took work to keep calm, stifle my urge to curl into a ball and cry.

I’d had issues with panic attacks, fortunately Xana had showed me how to mentally center myself when I felt them creeping up, though at times like this it was still challenging.  Come to think of it, it was what really helped us bond and grow closer together…despite my initial mistrust of the girl.

Maybe it was because she was a Zari and my parents being members of Imperium had more influence than I wanted to admit, or maybe because I was skeptical of anyone dating my friend, but initially I threw all the shade her way.  

Instead she turned out to be…damnably perfect.  

“Come on, Alexis,” I muttered to myself, “Focus.”  

Taking down the cloaking, I took another look at my suit and the updated arsenal I had given it.  My Adaptation seemed to help me give it a once-over and subsided, the demands I had given it to fill all met.  

I gave a sigh of relief; sleep would be easy.  Sixteen hours of work had left me exhausted now that I let myself relax.  

With the illusion replaced, I laid down and sent a reply to my friends:

Alexis: Updates all made to the project.  I think you’ll like it.

I set my alarm for school tomorrow morning and felt my eyes start to close, fatigue hitting me like a ton of bricks.  

Just a few days until everything started to change.  Just a few days until I could prove to my mother exactly how wrong she was about me.  

I wasn’t a worthless girl who would accomplish nothing.  

I was the girl who was going to tear her whole world apart.  

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