“One time I was caught in a situation that actually wasn’t what it looked like. It was such a novel experience I don’t know how to act. It’s really hard to convince people you’re not guilty when you don’t even believe it!”

  “Ok Jess?” I said. “Chill. First off, while I do have something to tell you about, I have no idea how it has anything to do with this attack.”

  ?Right? Back me up here, dude. Could anyone have sensed me using my powers or whatever??

  [Hmm. There are close range skills that can detect aether usage in general, and longer range skills that can detect specific aether fluctuations. It’s unlikely such a thing would have happened by chance.]

  Jessie scoffed, pulled out a keycard, and unlocked the cell door.

  “Wait, Jessie! You don’t want to–”

  Jessie grasped the bars to pull the door open and gasped. There was an audible sizzling noise as she withdrew her hand. Parts of her glove melted and stretched like cheese before snapping.

  “Corporal, are you all right?” asked De la Cruz. “Shones, are the cell bars hot? They’re glowing a little!”

  I pushed the cell door open myself, my hand touching the bars harmlessly and reabsorbing some of the heat. “One second, I’ll fix it.”

  “What the hell is this?” Jessie growled. “Jett, so help me–gah!”

  I decided showing might work better than telling, especially if we were under a time crunch. So before Jessie could back out of reach I lunged and grabbed the wrist of her burned hand. That was probably one of my dumber ideas, grabbing onto a trained and already pissed GPD Elite. Sure enough, she reacted on instinct, punching my own wrist so that it instantly went limp and numb. She pulled her gun on me as I recoiled, my health bar dropping slightly.

  “One more move like that and… huh?” Jessie looked at her hand, mouth hanging open. She studied the holes that had been burned into her glove, the now pristine skin underneath. “What is this?”

  Heal Burns has reached Tier 1 Level 2.

  I had pulled up the skill the moment I saw her moving toward the door.

  “Yeah, so, it turns out I’m a Fire Guardian Initiate,” I said, pulling the amulet out to show it to her. “Weird, right? I didn’t even know until I was in the cell. I guess it was encased in my mom's… the locket I was wearing.”

  “‘Fire Guardian Initiate?’ You’re a sorcerer? How?”

  “It all started maybe an hour and half ago. Well, it kind of started during that mess at Squid’s, but I didn’t know about it. And my lecti didn’t show up until later. I guess my locket was an… occluder charm?”

  “Shones. I’ve heard of those. They’re rare, and they break once they’re used. Was it your father?”

  My lips tightened. “Now that you mention it, it sounds like something he’d do. Anyway, look, I swear on my family’s empty graves that I knew nothing about this. And I certainly didn’t know it would cause that.” I pointed down the hall, where gunshots and shouting still rang in the distance.

  Jessie swore again. “Fine, I believe you, but it’s pretty clear you’re why they’re here anyway. You said you’re a Guardian? Damn. I need to get you out of here. Were… were you trying to melt through the door?”

  “Only because I heard the shooting,” I said defensively. “Otherwise I was gonna try to talk to you first.”

  “See?” said De la Cruz. “Told you he was a model citizen.”

  Jessie and I replied at the same time. “I’m really not.” “He’s really not.”

  “Anyway,” I continued, “looks like I didn’t even come close. Jett fuel can’t melt steel beams. Not yet, at least.”

  “Okay, can you shut the door?” Jessie asked. My cellmate, who had finally sat up and was groggily trying to navigate the hop down from the top bunk, made a confused, dismayed noise.

  “Don’t we need to get these people out of here?” I asked, but I reluctantly complied, adding, “Sorry, bud,” to my cellmate.

  “I’m escorting you out,” she said, gripping my arm. “If they’re after you, the best way we can protect the people here is to get you elsewhere. A team from G-Tech is on its way. We’ll try to meet up with them.”

  “Or…” I formed a fireball in my hand. Jessie recoiled, then glared at me. De la Cruz gasped. “I could help.”

  “Jett, this is not the time! You’re still under arrest! I should make you turn that amulet over to me!”

  “But you won’t. Because I know you. This is just like the old days when we used to team up against bullies.” I indicated her weapon and the fireball in my own hand. “Just with bigger toys. Besides, I’m supposed to bind a weapon or something, so I need to get my skidstick back. I won’t try to escape, ok? We’ll figure out what happens next once this is over. For now, if this all has to do with me, the least I can do is help.”

  “See?” De la Cruz repeated.

  Jessie groaned. “Fine. You can help, but we’re still getting you out of here. Stay behind Officer De la Cruz and me, keep quiet, and move where we do. Can you throw those fire skills over our shoulders without burning us to a crisp?”

  I scoffed. “Of course! Probably!”

  She sighed. “All right. Let’s do this.”

  At that moment there was the distant descending hum of power being cut, and all of the lights went out. A few emergency lights switched on in response, but by far the brightest thing left in the hallway was my fireball, casting all of our faces in flickering orange light as we stared at one another.

  “Oh, Jett Fulgen,” said a sing-song female voice from the darkness. “You have something we want.”

  Fu grimaced after clicking off her radio. “Damn it. It’s confirmed. The precinct is under attack, and the rest of my team is still several minutes out. You.” She pointed at the young man. Wally? This kid needed a nickname bad. She’d have to think of one. “Go inside that diner and take cover.”

  Wally said matter-of-factly, “I can’t, they finally kicked me out. Is Jett in danger?”

  “Probably, yeah. So I need you to–”

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  “Then I’m coming with you.”

  Wally produced a heavily modded tablet, pointed it at the ground, and tapped a button. A laser beam lanced into the pavement, blackening it and causing smoke to rise. When he stopped the beam there was a small but noticeable hole. “I can help.”

  “Dude. I mean that’s kind of cool, but… Damn it, there’s no time.” She smirked as she got an idea. “Ok, I’ll make you a deal. You can help if you can keep up with me.”

  Wally nodded. “Deal.”

  Fu turned toward the precinct building and charged. Her mechsuit shook the ground, but it moved amazingly fast even when she didn’t engage the jets. She glanced back… and didn’t see Wally behind her.

  “Sorry!” Wally yelped. “I’m still getting used to this!”

  Fu gaped. Wally was right beside her, his cybernetic legs pumping frantically. His upper body flailed like a rag doll, and he looked like he might faceplant at any moment. However, he kept his footing, and he kept up with her.

  “You’re really gonna hold me to this?” she asked.

  “Keep up and I can help! That was the deal, right?” Wally seemed genuinely confused.

  Fu shook her head. “Shit, you weren’t supposed to actually do it! I could get fired for this! Fine! Stay back for a second. You don’t have any armor, and I’m going to smash through the front entrance!”

  Fu could already see several cops in the lobby exchanging fire with some of those damned summoned grunts. A tall dark-skinned man in a suit was leading the enemy. Fu tromped up the steps, put the suit’s left shoulder forward, and exploded through the main entrance. The grunts were taken off guard, and she lunged and stabbed one with her broad blade before they could react. Then she brought up her other arm, pointed her rifle, and started firing.

  Jessie, De la Cruz, and I ran through the darkened jail, heading for an emergency side exit. A few terrified officers had taken up positions to protect the inmates. Jessie barked orders as we passed and yelled at the inmates to duck and cover in the corners of their cells. After three turns we skidded to a stop as we stumbled across a corpse. It was a GPD officer sprawled out in a pool of blood. His head was missing.

  “Damn it,” Jessie hissed. “They’re trying to cut us off!”

  Four blinking red lights slid across the floor.

  “Grunts! Watch out!”

  Before I had time to wonder what that meant, four freaking sci-fi soldiers appeared in place of the lights and rose to their feet. Their black armor was heavy, the eyes on their facemasks glowed red because of course they did, and they were all carrying deadly-looking assault rifles.

  “Get ‘em!” the high pitched female voice called from around the corner.

  They responded in distorted voices. “Yes, sir!” “Target acquired!” “Surrender the artifact!” “Stand aside, officers!”

  Jessie and Evan both took a knee and started firing, each pull of the trigger momentarily bathing the dark hallway in light. After several shots Jessie took one of the soldiers in the eye. The red light went out like a shooting gallery target, and he collapsed face down and spasmed.

  “Got ‘em!” shouted De la Cruz as he dropped his own soldier. “I mean uh, target down! Reloading!”

  As the soldiers began to return fire, I formed double concussive fireballs and hurled them. One missed, but the other took a soldier in the stomach, slamming him backwards into the bars of an empty cell. He groaned robotically, and there were visible cracks in his armor. I charged, unleashing two more fireballs. One clipped his rifle as he tried to raise it, knocking it out of his hands, and the third hit him in the face, snapping his neck back and popping one of his eye lights. I followed up with a highly enhanced punch to the helmet. I hissed as my own wrist cracked along with the helmet, but the soldier slid down the bars of the cell to a hunched sitting position. He didn’t move again.

  You have reached Tier 1 Level 8. Concussive fireball has reached Tier 1 Level 2. Muscle Memory has reached Tier 1 Level 2.

  [I will focus aether on healing your injuries, Mr. Fulgen. However, I wouldn’t recommend punching that armor with your bare hands again.]

  Crap. Oh, shit. I stepped back as I cradled my injured hand. Was the soldier just unconscious, or had I actually just killed a guy? My stomach twisted. A whirlwind of emotions clouded my mind. I had… I’d crossed a line. Just like that. No turning—

  A sudden bullet to my right bicep snapped me out of it. I cried out and dove to the floor as the last soldier continued to track me with his rifle. He was completely ignoring the two cops, who had scored his armor in several places but hadn’t gotten in a lethal hit. Jessie cursed and reached for her belt, grabbing something I couldn’t immediately see.

  There was a hollow yet piercing humming sound, like a wet finger on the rim of a glass causing microphone feedback, and something gleaming and white lodged in the final soldier’s helmet with a loud CHUNK. It was the hilt of a knife. Where the hell had that come from? Jessie had thrown it almost before I could register the movement, and I didn’t remember seeing a sheathe on her belt. The knife suddenly vanished from the soldier’s helmet with another feedback-like squeal. A trickle of blood leaked from the hole left behind, and he collapsed.

  “Are you all right?” asked Jessie. She now had the knife in her hand. She made it vanish, though again, I had no idea where it went. Was it a bound weapon, like my skills described?

  “I’m ok, I think,” I said. “I have uh, low resilience, but I also have a skill that speeds up my regeneration.”

  Jessie nodded thoughtfully. “Interesting.”

  “You know what that means? I barely understand crap.”

  “Don’t you remember what my dad did for a living?”

  Ah, right. Ol’ Reginald Faxton, the legendary artifact hunter. Jessie might know more about artifacts than my own lecti. She’d be a good source of knowledge if I lived more than another ten minutes.

  Jessie stooped beside one of the dead soldiers. “Taking this,” she said, almost by reflex, and she picked up his rifle.

  The pain in my arm surged, as if the wound had suddenly remembered it was supposed to hurt like hell. I grasped my injured arm, then let go as I felt something bulge beneath my hoodie. It was the bullet, I realized, being pushed out as my regeneration worked on the deep wound from the inside out. I shook my arm, and the bloody bullet dribbled out the end of my sleeve.

  “Not bad,” said a female voice. A petite woman stepped around the corner. She carried only a small gun, but I could tell instantly that she was far more dangerous than the soldiers.

  “Oh shit,” said De la Cruz. His gun started to shake in his hands. “Is that the Mantis?”

  “The serial killer?” I felt a chill. During my brief stint in college there was a writing class where I swear half the female students did a report on her. A lot of the boys spent most of that semester nervously rubbing their necks. “I didn’t know she was a sorcerer.”

  “No one did,” said Jessie. “It explains a lot though.”

  Mantis’s free arm suddenly changed, becoming an icy, jointed, insect-like claw, and she aimed her gun at me. Jessie fired her rifle. The woman casually deflected the bullets with her claw. Chips of ice flew through the air, but she restored her claw as quickly as it was damaged. She pulled the trigger.

  I ducked as bullets whizzed over my head. Mantis dropped her gun and formed a glowing blue ball in the same hand. It was like my fireball, except… well, the opposite. They’d sent an ice sorcerer after me. That didn’t seem like an accident.

  I shot another concussive fireball straight from my palm, not bothering with the throwing motion. She reacted instantly, throwing her ice ball. The two attacks collided in a burst of steam. I watched in horror, almost in slow motion, as her attack annihilated mine and kept coming. The ice ball struck me in the stomach.

  Instantly I felt colder than I’d ever been. Like I was caught in a snowstorm in my underwear. A layer of ice wrapped around me, pinning my arms to my sides, then started creeping both up and down.

  Oh Shones, I thought. It’s going to freeze me solid. I could already feel my vision starting to fade.

  “Only a tier 1, aren’t you?” I heard the woman’s voice as if from a great distance. “Pathetic.”

  [Powering up Guardian’s Resistance!] the lecti shouted. My eyes snapped open. I heaved, feeling the aether pour into my physical enhancement, and managed to shatter my icy prison.

  “Ow,” I groaned. My health had dropped by more than half, and my aether, which had already been half drained, was almost gone. The woman stared at me, shocked and… elated? Her face twisted into an evil grin.

  “Hmm,” she said, stalking toward me. “Maybe you’ll be a challenge after all. I’m going to enjoy this!”

  Jessie was suddenly at my side, grabbing my wrist and pulling me away. “Run!” she said. “De la Cruz, retreat! Now! She’s one of the strongest sorcerers I’ve ever seen!”

  I groggily complied and started running. De la Cruz shot at Mantis several times to delay her pursuit.

  “What now?” I asked as my head started to clear.

  “She’s cut us off from the exit!” said Jessie. “We have no choice! We have to meet up with the other defenders near the main entrance and try to escape that way!”

  “Can we grab my skidstick?”

  “If we have time you can search the evidence room, but I seriously doubt it’ll be safe enough! Though on that note…” She took on a thoughtful expression. “We will pass the armory on our way.”