I couldn’t sleep, man. Robbie’s boss was out there somewhere, and Alexa just straight-up left him. Like, who does that? If that dude died, then Robbie would be the one stuck runnin’ things again, no way out this time. But if I pulled the guy out, if I saved him, he’d owe me. And in that kinda world, a favor like that? That’s gold. He’d let Robbie walk free. Finally. My brother could be my big bro again. All I had to do was make it happen.

  I looked at my desk. Well, “my” desk. Wasn’t really mine. It was Lebens’. They took me in, treated me right, gave me food, a bed, and all they asked was simple stuff. Don’t cause trouble, don’t mess with the family, live good and love hard. Simple rules. But here I was, ‘bout to break one. Yeah, I knew it. And yeah, I was still gonna do it.

  Alexa’s card was sittin’ there, half under my backpack. That thing could connect me to her in a second. She could hear me, maybe even see me, if I just called her through. And if I did, she’d come. I knew she would. She was better than she thought she was, for real. And me? I loved her. She didn’t see it like that, thought it was just hormones talkin’, thought it was my “dick doin’ the thinkin’.” Nah. She was wrong ‘bout that, and she was wrong leavin’ that man behind.

  If I was gonna save him, it had to be now, before she figured out I wasn’t sleepin’, before she saw my card sittin’ still.

  I dropped to the floor, scrolled through my phone. Found some article talkin’ ‘bout an explosion. The area looked kinda familiar. My memory been sharp since I got these powers. Like, freaky sharp. I could see it all clear in my head, every street, every damn light post.

  So I pulled up street view, slid around the blocks till I spotted it. The same spot. Wrote the address down, got dressed, and slipped out the house real quiet.

  The Lebens’ place was dead still, everyone knocked out. Even Grams. She’d be so happy if Robbie came home. I could see her smile already. I just had to make it happen.

  **********

  Six hours later, I found it. Wasn’t the same exact address I wrote, but close enough. Walked around a few blocks till I saw it, a house wrapped in yellow tape, lookin’ like it lost a fight. Half gone, half standin’. Just sittin’ there in the cold, like it remembered what it used to be.

  I moved up on the spot slow, like the hood was watchin’ me. The hole Alexa painted was still there. But that thing wasn’t gonna be good, not for me. Even if I dropped down there, how the hell was I gonna climb back out? Nah. Smashin’ it from the top made more sense. Break through, not crawl in.

  I rolled up my sleeve, took a breath. “Time for wreckin’,” I muttered under my breath, the words feelin’ heavy and right. I threw a mock punch, stoppin’ just short of hittin’ the concrete. Didn’t wanna crack a bone, old instincts and all, but honestly? My body wasn’t what it used to be. Hard as steel now. I could probably take a hit from a truck and laugh it off. Still, habits die slow.

  I locked in. Focused. Saw the move in my head, clear as a movie reel. Then I let it play out. The punch landed, and the sound—man, that echo—hit different. It was like music, a beat only I could hear. Light flashed at the point of impact, and the whole slab of concrete blew up and out, chunks raining down like snow.

  I grinned. Damn, I was strong. Strong like no one else. The Echo, that’s what they called me, and it fit. One day the whole city was gonna shout my name. I could feel it.

  I did another fake punch, stepped back, and replayed it again. And again. There was a rhythm to it, a beat that carried me somewhere else, back to when me and Robbie used to mess around in the yard. He’d show me how to throw a real punch, how to keep my feet light. It was like we were dancin’. I loved that. Mimicking him. Catchin’ his rhythm till it felt like mine.

  But then he switched up. Went another way. Left me tryin’ to hold onto the version of him that still felt like home. And now? Now it was on me to bring him back. To straighten him out. That was my job.

  Echoes always do their job.

  The concrete gave way, the ground finally surrenderin’ to the force. I’d made my tunnel, pure light and power.

  Without thinkin’ twice, I jumped down.

  **********

  “Alexa?”

  Nick’s voice reached me from the abyss. Distant, muffled, but real enough to pull me back. My other mind caught the sound first, then let me focus on him.

  I was on the floor of my Domain, trembling, tears sliding down my cheeks. The world here was quiet. Too quiet. Like even the walls mourned with us.

  “I saw his memories, Nick,” I whispered. My throat hurt, raw from crying. “When I asked the brain to become his… they must have been engraved in it somehow. Echoes of who he was.”

  Malik’s body lay still before us. Lifeless.

  We had tried… Reality, we tried.

  For a moment, I believed I could save him. The body had responded when I anchored the foreign brain to him, heart rate leveling, breathing shallow but steady, while Nick tore his shirt into strips, binding the wounds in frantic rhythm. I was already thinking ahead, already wanting to reach for Peter, already planning the healing…

  Then Malik’s body convulsed. A violent spasm, one good eye rolling back, chest seizing.

  Cardiac arrest.

  Nick pressed his palms against Malik’s heart, forcing rhythm into stillness. Once, twice, again. He cursed under his breath, refusing to give up even when there was nothing left to fight. Ten minutes of desperate resuscitation, ten minutes of hope dissolving.

  I called Ella then, pleaded with her through the current and she sent electricity through his body, three sharp bursts that filled the air with ozone and silence.

  But here we were.

  Ten minutes later.

  Still nothing.

  Malik lay motionless, skin already cooling.

  And then the brain, the one I had given to him went quiet too. Authority unraveling, the gift withdrawn. I reconnected it to myself, and that was when they came.

  The memories.

  Flooding through me like water out of broken dam. His laughter. His pain. The way he saw the world. The moment he decided to run back for that man in the basement. His belief that he could save everyone, even his brother.

  They poured through me until I couldn’t breathe.

  **********

  He was there, barely moving, hollerin’ as soon as my feet hit the floor.

  “Who’s there? What’s that noise?” His voice came out all rough. Throat sounded dusty, like he hadn’t had a drink in days. I tossed him a water bottle I grabbed on the way and edged closer, using my phone flash to cut through the dark.

  He snatched the bottle and started swiggin’ without thinkin’.

  “Thank… thank you,” he managed between gulps, then tipped it back again.

  “Mr. Giovani?” I asked, voice soft ‘cause he looked thin as paper and scared as hell. Nothing like the man I’d seen pull faces and bark orders somewhere nice and safe.

  “Who’s askin’? Come closer, young man.” I stepped in and held the light up to my face. “You Reyes’s little brother, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “You were here with that woman, right? You didn’t say you knew me. Why?”

  “I wasn’t sure how she’d react,” I said. “I’m gonna get you out, and I’ll take you where you wanna go. But it ain’t free.”

  He tried to laugh, but his throat gave out on him. “What do you want?” he rasped.

  “I want you to let my brother go. No strings, no threats, no pushin’ him or his people. Treat him like he owes you nothing.” I said it steady, like I meant it. He sat there, thinkin’ it over.

  “Deal,” he said after a minute. “Robbie Reyes will be free to do whatever he wants.”

  “If you break that word, I will find you and kill you. Got it?” I didn’t smile. I couldn’t.

  “I un—” he coughed. “I understand, young man. I like your spirit.” He shifted, trying to kneel instead of sit, hands reachin’ out. “If you don’t mind, free me now.”

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  I grabbed the chains that had him cuffed and squeezed with everything I had. They creaked, gave a little. I loosened my grip and hit the move again. My echo came back—my hand, ghost-quick—closed on the metal and snapped it with a crunch.

  “You’re a mage like your brother,” he said, squinting at the faint glow still flickering off my skin. “You even got the same kind of light. You two share a Domain or something?”

  “No. I don’t,” I said, steadying him as we shuffled toward the hole I’d punched through the ceiling. The place was dim, the only light leaking in from a busted streetlamp outside, painting everything in this weird yellow haze.

  “I didn’t really think this part through,” I admitted, glancing up. “You can’t exactly jump outta here, huh?”

  He gave this dry laugh that turned into a cough. “No. I’m not magical.”

  “Alright then. Sit tight for a bit. There’s some busted railing upstairs. I’ll grab one, use it to pull you up. Sound good?”

  “Go, son.”

  That word—son—it hit wrong. Felt like a stone dropped in my stomach. If he could’ve seen my face, he’d have known I didn’t like it. But I didn’t say nothin’. No point. I just gave a short nod and jumped up through the hole.

  The house was wrecked. Wood splintered everywhere, plaster hangin’ from the ceiling like dead vines. I moved through the debris ‘til I found what I needed pieces of the old stair railin’, twisted but still strong. I used my power, that echo hum runnin’ through my arms, to pry the metal loose from the wall.

  When it came free, I dragged it back and lowered it through the hole, the light catchin’ the jagged edges.

  “Grab on, Mr. Giovani,” I called down. “I got you.”

  **********

  “Why did he do this?” Nick’s voice tore me out of the trance I’d fallen into. “Why did he go after that man? Why did he ride with his bastard brother?”

  He was on the floor beside Malik’s body, his hand resting on the boy’s chest as if he still hoped to feel life stirring beneath. I didn’t share that hope anymore. Not after my Authority slipped from the artificial brain, it knew there was nothing left to connect to, and so did I.

  “I’m actually close to understanding that,” I said softly. “I’m reliving his memories now, as if I were there myself. He knew the man in Shiroi’s basement. Julian Giovani. He was Robert De Marco’s mob boss, and apparently Robbie’s too, which makes sense, since he was backing EoT’s operations. Well—was, until Robert and Akira decided to relieve him. I don’t know the details.”

  Beatrice’s machinations came back to bite me, even after she was gone from this world. Reality could fuck right off.

  “I… I can’t believe it, Alexa.” Nick looked at me, eyes red and wet. “No one I’ve ever known has died before. Not someone this close. Not like this.”

  I moved to him, broken myself, and wrapped my arms around him. He sobbed quietly, shaking against me. Liora stood nearby, his colors dimmed to muted shades of sorrow.

  “I know, Nick,” I whispered. “I know.”

  “I’ll kill Rhythm,” he said, voice tightening with fury. “I’ll kill that bastard. How could he do this to his own brother!?”

  “You can’t let anger take you,” I told him, meeting his eyes. “Rhythm’s still stronger than you, than me. Maybe stronger than both of us combined. But I understand. And we’ll get him, Nick. I promise.”

  He held my gaze, and for a moment it felt like time itself paused, an eternity suspended between two people who suddenly saw each other as they truly were, and what they might yet become. He leaned a little closer, and I moved back, my eyes falling again to Malik’s still form.

  “I want to see the rest,” I said quietly. “All the memories he left for me. Will you stay with me through it?”

  “Of course,” he answered.

  I closed my eyes, letting the view of Malik’s broken body fade away, replaced by the images from his memories, his final moments blooming inside my mind, as if the world itself were remembering him through me.

  **********

  As soon as Giovani’s feet hit the cracked concrete of that wrecked house, he spun toward me.

  “What day is it? Can I use your phone?”

  “It’s the 19th, Friday. Yeah, you can use it.” I handed him my device.

  He snatched it and immediately started dialing.

  “Alicia?” His voice was rough but urgent. I could hear her answer clearly on the other end.

  “Julian? You’re alive?”

  “Yes. I am. And I need extraction.”

  “I can send some men shortly. Where are you at?”

  “No!” he barked, and I blinked at how sharp it sounded. “Not some men. Send a mage. Someone who can actually defend me if things go sideways.”

  “I’m short right now,” she said. “We had an incident on the other side, had to send some people to handle it.”

  “Fucking imbeciles,” he muttered, then looked at me while swallowing. “Can’t do anything without me, right? So… how soon and who can you send my way?”

  “Reyes and Jugger are scheduled to return in about two hours.”

  “Send Reyes my way, then. I’ll wait with my new friend here.”

  “You sure? You don’t want someone sent immediately?”

  “Will that someone be able to protect me if the other guys decide to turn my protective detail into atoms and strands of flesh?”

  There was silence on the line.

  “I’m sorry, sir. We didn’t know what they planned,” she said.

  “Past is past. From now on, I want protective detail on me at all—fuckin’—times. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” she said, though I could hear the hesitation. “Sir, De Marco is the owner now. He’s shown the act signed by you.”

  “Yeah, it was either that or they’d mince me. Doesn’t matter. I still have my network, my assets. A name matters more than a piece of paper.”

  “Where should we send Reyes for you, sir?”

  “I’ll text the address when I feel a bit safer,” he said, cutting the call. Then he turned to me. “Can you lead me to a diner? Preferably somewhere close to a main road. Are we still in New York?”

  I nodded and told him where we were. Together, we moved slowly down side streets, eventually finding a diner near the highway. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, about seeing my brother again. Couldn’t wait a second longer.

  **********

  We hung around that diner till about ten. Giovani spent some time in the bathroom, cleanin’ himself up, tryin’ to look like he hadn’t just crawled out of a hole in the ground. I ordered us food. Nothing fancy, just scrambled eggs and toast. Same thing I used to eat every damn morning when I was a kid. Didn’t bother me. I was used to repetition; it’s kind of my thing. But sittin’ there with him—that bothered me.

  Gettin’ mixed up with criminals wasn’t exactly the dream. Wasn’t what heroes were supposed to do. But sometimes, if you’re tryna save someone you love, you gotta make moves that don’t sit right. And I loved my brother. Still did, even after everything.

  So when he finally showed up—Robbie, in his long coat and those expensive-ass clothes—my heart stopped. Dude looked sharp, too sharp, like he’d been livin’ good while I was still tryin’ to find my place. I stood up before I even knew what I was doin’.

  He spotted us instantly and started walkin’ over.

  “Boss?” he said to Giovani, his voice tight. “What’s this about?” His eyes flicked to me, sizing me up.

  “Hello, brother,” I said quietly, and it came out smaller than I wanted it to. Robbie frowned, confusion writ all over his face, but he didn’t say anything. He turned back to Giovani instead.

  “Your brother found me and got me out,” Giovani said. “And… brace yourself, Robbie. He asked me to release you from all obligations to me. So I do.” He smiled, but it was fake as hell. His mouth smiled, but his eyes? Cold. “As soon as you deliver me to Edge safely, you can go wherever the fuck you want. I’m a man of my word.”

  I turned to Robbie, waitin’ for that smile—the one I used to know—to show up. Waitin’ for him to say he was proud, maybe even that he missed me.

  “Fuck,” he said instead. “Alright, let’s go. I got a driver waitin’. No offense, Jules, but you stink.”

  Jules? That threw me. Sounded like they were close, like maybe this world had changed him more than I thought. Back when he stayed with us, he hated this life, hated the violence, the lies.

  Now he just turned and walked off like it was business as usual.

  I stood there for a beat, wonderin’ if I still had a brother somewhere in there. Then my phone buzzed. Nickolas. I let it ring. Didn’t wanna talk to him, not now.

  I followed the two of them out into the daylight and slid into the car, heart heavy, tryin’ not to think too much about what wasn’t there.

  He sat in the back with Julian, while I rode up front, shotgun next to the driver. Morning traffic crawled slow, city skyline rising in the distance. I kept glancin’ back at them, at him. My brother. Couldn’t hold it in anymore.

  “Robbie,” I said, turnin’ halfway in my seat, “you gonna come back with me to Grams after this? I miss you, bro.”

  He shifted, uncomfortable, like I’d just cornered him. He never liked showin’ weakness, never liked feelin’ like the little kid in the room.

  “No,” he said flat, no pause, no room for hope.

  My chest tightened. “What? Why?”

  “I don’t expect you to get it, Malik. What I do, it matters. I can’t just walk away.” He hesitated, then added, quieter, “I don’t want to.”

  “It might be important, but is it good?” I asked.

  He let out this short, tired laugh. “Come on, man. This ain’t no comic book. Sometimes you gotta do bad things to make good things happen. That’s just how it is, okay?”

  I needed to hear that, even if it hurt. Alexa used to say somethin’ similar, that sometimes you do what you gotta, even if it ain’t clean. Maybe that’s why I felt drawn to both of them. Same kind of broken heart underneath the armor.

  “Can we still be brothers? Can I help you somehow?”

  He looked at Giovani, then back at me. Sighed. “Yeah. We can. You can. Just give me space, alright? Not the time.”

  “That’s about right,” the driver cut in. “We might got company. There’s a weird pair on a bike tailin’ us. One of ‘em’s got, like, a rabbit helmet on.”

  “What?” Robbie blurted, same time I did. Alexa. She must’ve tracked me. My stomach dropped. If she thought I was in danger, she’d do somethin’ crazy. She always did.

  “That bitch,” Robbie hissed. “Malik, you bring her here? This some kinda setup?”

  “No! I didn’t even know she was comin’. Let them be. I’ll talk to them.”

  “No,” Giovani snapped. “No talkin’. Take care of them, Rhythm.”

  My blood ran cold. Rhythm!

  Then a metal song kicked in over the car speakers, loud and mean, the kind that made your ribs shake. Robbie turned toward the back window. And right on cue with the beat, lightning tore through the air, slammin’ into the asphalt behind us, right where Alexa and Nick were ridin’.

  The flash lit up his face.

  “Please, bro, don’t! They’re good people!” I yelled, but another bolt dropped, and another after that, the thunder rollin’ with the chorus.

  “Thunder!” the song screamed, and the sky answered. This time, the bike vanished. Gone.

  Rage hit me like a wave, sharp and wild. My chest burned, eyes stingin’. I let it out. I echoed.

  A full copy of me blinked into existence, hangin’ in the air right behind me, inside the car. It didn’t move. Didn’t flinch. Just sat there. The next second, the car hit it like a wall. Metal crunched, glass shattered. Everything flipped.

  We went flyin’ into traffic.

  Cars skidded, brakes screeched. I hit the ground hard but rolled up quick. Had to. I saw Robbie on the pavement and charged him, fists already swingin’. My punch landed, then my echo followed, smashin’ him back with ten times the force.

  He hit the road, and for a second, I thought I’d killed him. Tears blurred everything. Somewhere behind me, the metal song cut off, replaced by some old pop tune, way too soft for what just happened.

  “You told me you were the good guy!” I shouted, my voice crackin’.

  Robbie pushed himself up, jaw bloody. “We are! But they’re not!” He pointed off to the side. “You should’ve let me kill them!”

  “Never!” I yelled back, swingin’ another punch. The echo followed a heartbeat later, but it hit something invisible midair, a wall pulsing with the music.

  The shockwave threw me backward, hard.

  Then it started. Punches made of sound, invisible, hittin’ me over and over in rhythm. One, two, three, four and again, again, again. Just like when we were kids sparrin’ in the yard.

  Except now, it hurt.

  The world went dark between beats. Quiet.

  All I could feel was pain. Then warmth. Skin on skin. Light somewhere above me.

  And then I knew. I wasn’t in my body anymore. Not fully.

  Was this death?

  It felt like I was both in and out. Tethered by something I couldn’t see. But I knew I didn’t have long.

  So I reached out. Echoed whatever was left of me into the world, hoping, just hoping that it’d be enough. That my love would stay.