Hannah patrolled Hammerton’s district of Indus with her partner, never walking slow enough to invite conversation. Magnus was powerful, but he wasn’t trustworthy. He seemed to act entirely separate from the way he spoke. Sometimes even his power would contradict himself. But she begrudgingly brought him along, knowing her work wouldn’t attract many other members of HUE. Her patrols weren’t flashy, and they wouldn’t do well to give someone a public image. At best, they were dangerous.

  They wandered the streets of Hannah’s deteriorating childhood neighborhood, scanning as she strode. Scratching nervously at her newly minted HUE jacket, she paused when her fingers ran across the felt top of the newly emblazoned “3A” sewn onto her shoulder. She wasn’t used to the new Ranking designations and wasn’t sure if it would be a disadvantage to let an opponent know your potential right on your sleeve. Tossing her brown braid over her shoulder, she determined to ask Naomi later.

  Magnus tripped, and she turned to look at him. His clean-shaven face would have made him look well put together if it wasn’t for the gaudy red cape and neon orange jumpsuit he insisted on wearing when on patrol. He had a tall black top hat that looked as absurd as the rest of his outfit, including a pair of rubber boots on his feet. Fluttering in a malodorous breeze, his cape showed off a massive “1B” etched into the back. Not that Hannah believed that his power was actually at a level worthy of Grade B. Then again, the Grade system was pretty fresh, as well, and she wasn’t sure how the magician stacked up against clay dummies.

  Picking himself up from pipes poking out from the street, Magnus looked up nervously, shining a bright smile as he stood.

  It was no surprise that Indus was in disarray. Hammerton Central’s main government branches had long abandoned the area after the Silent Scream. The few newer projects lay as abandoned buildings with no roofs, construction companies fleeing the area when Awakened appeared and robbed them for money and material. The hot stench of garbage wafted through the area, large trash bags left on several curbs buzzing with insects. Awakened that had run amok in the area left cracks and holes in some streets. The open pipes allowed for the raw filth to mix with the water supply, meaning no one was drinking anything that came out of a faucet.

  Despite that, people still lived in the district as their permanent residence. Some unable to move away from their old life. And others, often Awakened outcasts, were moving in. Away from the regular, droning life of the rest of Hammerton.

  As far as Hannah knew, Awakened people only came from the city proper of Hammerton and its weather districts. Indus rarely showed signs of people Awakening in the district itself. They were mainly immigrants from Central, as far as she understood. Even Hannah Awakened when on a trip to visit friends in Upper Hammerton. The only one in her friend group. It didn’t make any sense to her why one part of the city was singled out, nor was it clear why she was singled out to be Awakened. Magnus took a crinkly sip from a plastic water bottle, sighing lightly.

  “What’re we looking for again?” Magnus asked, his breathing elevated as he kept up with her brisk pace.

  “I told you, we got a call. Someone said an Awakened man in a cowboy hat was stealing from the few places still open in the area. A lot of people have made that call, actually.”

  “I know, but no address. We’re just going to roam around until we find a guy in a hat?”

  “You’re the magician, Magnus. You could magic him out.”

  “I don’t know how.”

  “I’d really appreciate if you learned,” Hannah said, an edge in her voice.

  “I told you I’m trying. I’ll use my most powerful magic on this next guy, I assure you,” Magnus said, determined.

  Hannah hummed in acknowledgement. She knew Magnus was trying to figure out his power over magic, but hadn’t seen him do anything useful when under pressure. It was why she couldn’t fully trust him as a partner. She felt like she had to protect him as much as she protected herself.

  Like watching someone fail at a magic act, Magnus wouldn’t know what magic-inspired action would happen when he used his power. When he was stress free, he could do some impressive things like pull clean water from out of his hat for them to drink. As soon as a hostile person showed up, Awakened or not, he would start doing something like filling his pants with flowers. But, as much as Hannah would never admit it, his company brought some ease to her heart. She couldn’t imagine patrolling Indus on her own.

  Hannah’s ears perked up.

  A scream? Followed by a faint crash.

  She looked at Magnus, who nodded, his face serious. They started running toward the sound, filthy puddles splashing as they dashed several blocks down. A musty breeze caused Hannah to squint as she found herself in front of a corner store with its lights on. Even from the window, she could tell they were barely in operation by the sparse items on display. Regardless, it seemed they were victims of a robbery. The sounds of an altercation followed by a smash made her glance at Magnus.

  “I got this,” Magnus said, holding out a hand with open fingers.

  Concentrating and flexing his fingers, a fart sounded from Magnus’s hand, followed by a glob of confetti-covered whipped cream plopping out of his open palm. He and Hannah stared at it oozing away on the ground.

  “You got this?” Hannah repeated in a flat tone.

  “Hold on, let me just…” Magnus whipped his cape to better concentrate.

  When the cape descended, it kept falling. Giving the fallen cloth a double take, Hannah realized Magnus had just made himself disappear. His cape folded over in a dirty breeze. With a roll of her eyes, she was certain he hadn’t intended to do that on purpose.

  Hannah blew the hair out from her eyes to get a better view as someone bashed the door open and stepped outside with a large bag over his shoulder. Clearing her throat, Hannah immediately called him out as she got herself into a fighting stance.

  “Pete the Plenty. Up to no good.”

  Standing confidently, she projected her voice as she’d been trained to do by Apex. News of Pete’s thefts had reached her days ago, and she was able to study his features, but this was the first time Hannah stood face to face.

  Pete stopped in place, tutting in annoyance. Flicking up his cowboy hat, he sneered at Hannah with a stubble-hair smile. Four silver revolvers floated out of the shop behind him and drifted into the space around him. Each pointed at Hannah, and she braced herself tightly, but showed no hesitation.

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  Guns? Where did he find guns in Hammerton? Did he bring them himself? It had been so long since the city had seen guns. She was more shocked to see them than she was to see them floating.

  “Indus has a sheriff? What’s a 3A?” Pete asked, amused.

  “Sheriff or no sheriff, you’re dealing with me. Put down the bags and put your hands up,” she replied, her hand glowing a faint blue.

  “Don’t s’pose you can up and pretend you didn’t see this here visit, so I don’t gotta take your life?” Pete asked casually.

  “I don’t suppose I can.” Hannah frowned, wishing she knew more about his power. As far as reports went, he could make things float. Evidently, those things were revolvers.

  Pete clicked his tongue.

  “I get the feelin’ you ain’t never heard o’ why I earned the title ‘Pete the Plenty,’” Pete said confidently, each of his four floating guns cocked the hammer simultaneously. Hannah didn’t see him make any deliberate body movements. The weapons operated on their own. Or by his mind. Telekinesis? Or a second accomplice in the shadows?

  “I heard it was because you had plenty of sleep before you Awakened. Now you’re all energy. An indefatigable spirit, if you will,” Hannah replied, her hand glowing brighter in anticipation. She made up the reason on the spot, trying to stall for time to either figure Pete out or for Magnus to make a surprise showing.

  “I ain’t partial to no ten-dollar words,” Pete said, spitting.

  The hot wind of stench danced between them, the sun beating down hard as they eyed one another. To Hannah’s dismay, it was high noon, which made her third power almost useless. She’d just have to rely on her other two. If Pete’s Awakened competency was anything equal to Hannah’s, she was going to have a tough fight on her hands. She wished she had a medic on her team. What Grade was Pete? Most lowlifes rarely came above Grade B. Hopefully Pete would be no different. Frowning, she realized she was judging people by a very arbitrary scaling system.

  She could see a few townsfolk peeking from behind broken, worn windows, anxious to see if Hannah would live to fight again. The wind picked up until a piece of rubble fell over on the porch nearest to Hannah, causing both to react immediately and fire.

  Four bullets came straight for Hannah. Her glowing hand released a wave of blue energy, which melted the bullets upon impact. Ducking and steadying herself, she fired off a quick succession of concentrated blasts from both hands.

  Pete hardly attempted to dodge them, instead allowing them to strike their mark. One of his legs and arms each took a third-degree burn, but he barely seemed to notice.

  How could he be so cavalier in this situation? Was one of his powers that he didn’t feel pain? Hannah’s heart pounded louder in her ears. What was she up against?

  Pete seemed to reply to Hannah’s thoughts with four more shots fired by Awakened means. Hannah panicked at the new volley and blasted a cannon of blue light below to launch herself upwards.

  Panic gripped her heart. She couldn’t properly dodge in the air. She had never perfected that. Sneering, Pete looked up at Hannah. Did he know she was vulnerable or just enjoying the duel?

  Pete took advantage and fired another four bullets.

  Regretting having to show another Awakened ability, Hannah spun powerfully in a gust of erratic Air. But she had no control in the maneuver, the summoned wind flipping the world below into a speedy blur, and she twisted like a thrown shuriken. With a sudden maddening pain, Hannah cried out as a bullet caught her foot. She tried to concentrate, but the pain was too much and Hannah misfired her next attack and a burst of energy exploded in front of her in a fog of blue mist.

  She collapsed to the floor in a dull thud, blood pooling from her damaged leg. The guns prepared themselves once more and Hannah launched a desperate Air attack to the floor, sending thousands of particles of trash, mud, and dust Pete’s way. It looked like a random blast of wind, but the detritus moved with intention.

  When the next volley of bullets didn’t fire, Pete looked up in curiosity. Debris jammed the hammer of his guns before they could come down.

  “Clever move, Sheriff,” he admitted.

  “Any hint of another attack and I put a bullet between your eyes,” Hannah said, having formed her hand into a finger gun, leveled toward him. The finger glowed blue and shook with the intensity of the power she held back. He raised an eyebrow at Hannah and she grit her teeth, trying to look intimidating through the pain.

  “I mean it!” she warned.

  He smirked. The situation stabbed at her heart. As a member of HUE, it was her duty to exhaust all means necessary before applying deadly force. Why wouldn’t he surrender? Was he bulletproof? She began her ultimatum, her finger gun steady.

  “Drop the bag or…”

  The guns floating around Pete began whirling rapidly. As they did so, the garbage blocking the revolvers flung out. Hannah grunted in frustration and accepted her circumstances.

  Kill or be killed.

  She fired her hand gun, a brilliant burst of concentrated blue energy striking true to its target. A perfect hole seared through his forehead. Light streamed through, a small waft of smoke drifting above. Pete stopped moving.

  But he didn’t fall to the ground. The guns remained floating around him. And no blood seeped from the wound. Hannah’s throat went tight.

  “I’m impressed. ‘Tween the eyes on the first try,” Pete congratulated her, his voice sounding like it was coming from everywhere.

  Mouth hanging open, Hannah stared in horror, not knowing what to do if she couldn’t kill him with a gun to the brain. But suddenly, and with a ghastly smile, his head rolled right off his shoulders, dropping to the ground. Followed by the rest of his body, just as the head began melting.

  She continued to stare as each of the guns fell harmlessly beside the quickly decaying man, melting away. Every part of him deteriorated like ice on a stove. The only thing that remained whole was the bag of loot.

  “Sheriff! What did you do to him?” the store owner shouted in terror. He had been watching behind an overflowing trash bin the whole time.

  “Nothing! I just shot him, he wasn’t supposed to…” Hannah trailed, as confused as the owner was at the sight of the criminal melting into the ground; four identical guns disintegrating beside him.

  Only then did it occur to her what was happening. The name Pete the Plenty made more sense to her.

  As well as terrified her.

  “Clones…” Hannah said to herself in awe. “He can conjure clones!”

  “Then… where’s the real Pete?” the store owner asked, looking around.

  She ignored the pain in her foot and spun her head around, scouring the horizon for any evidence of a man with a hat. Nothing stood out to her. Too much of the district was falling apart for anything to make an impression. After a strained, long look, she gave the townspeople her harrowing answer.

  “I have no idea.”

  “Then how do we stop him from just sending another clone to finish the job?” the store owner asked, looking over his shoulder.

  “I… I don’t know,” Hannah admitted as Pete’s face began to wither away, a smug smile watching them as it disintegrated.

  She grit her teeth, finally giving attention to the open wound in her leg. She was bleeding fast and her head was swimming.

  With a start, she froze as she heard something splash lightly into a dirty puddle behind her. She turned her head, her eyes wide in fear. Had Pete already sent another clone? Maybe come to finish the job himself?

  “Did I miss it?” Magnus asked. He was pulling himself out of the cracked pavement as if coming out of a pool. Gravel fell off of him in light chunks. He winced as he looked from Hannah’s shocked expression to her injured leg. “Oh, that looks bad.”

  He clapped gloved hands together and Hannah’s wound closed immediately, all the pain disappearing. She sighed in relief, still staring at the emerging Magnus and shaking off her anxieties. It was incredible what he could manage when he was using his power competently.

  “Did you get him?” Magnus asked. “He didn’t take my cape, did he?”

  “I didn’t get him.”

  “Ah, no problem. I’ll be there with you next time. We’ll stop him together. I’ll be better, I promise!”

  Hannah nodded to him, keeping her expression determined. But within her thudding heart, she secretly wished there would be no next time with Pete the Plenty.