Chapter 22

MASKS AND PROPHECIES

Alexander stood in Augustus’ living room, waiting for the big man to finish his spellwork. It was a fascinating nuance in what had so far been a fairly comprehensible system of powers. Once he’d gotten over the disbelief. Mostly.

He glanced at what he held in his hands: a demonic mask. Menacing and elegant, its obsidian-like finish seemed to absorb light, while regal golden accents picked out long, sharpened teeth and short, curved horns. Fine trim traced subtle contours, shaping the mask into the look of calm, predatory intelligence.

He reached for the implant and pulled his notifications into view.

[ Veritus Praxis Neuroadaptive Noetic Implant: Series 1 - Ascensus ]

Constitution + 1%

Intelligence + 1%

Processing Speed + 3%

Perception + 1%

Focus + 2%

Technopathy — Control + 2%, Output + 1%, Adaptation + 1%

Electrokinesis — Control + 3%, Output + 1%, Adaptation + 2%

Congratulations, Alexander. Processing Speed Ascension is Inevitable. Continue your Dream.

The interface faded. Alexander shook his head and pulled on the balaclava, then the mask, tightening the straps until it fit snugly. They weren’t custom fits and so it wasn’t perfect, but it would do for now.

He reached outward with his Technopathy, skimming over the room. Mundane devices he ignored, instead tuning in to check out the implants.

Talia’s and Augustus’ were immediately distinct from his and Annie’s, shielded in ways he was starting to associate with the individual’s strength. Not their Strength stat, but something. Annie’s had changed since last he touched upon it. It was still a warm amber glow, like sunlight through honey, but now hardened. Bronze, maybe. It wasn’t cold or hostile, just… tempered.

Talia’s reminded him of Flashpoint’s: rigid, but not angry. Where his had been a red haze, hers was a mirror-smooth surface over deep water, reflective while hiding something vast beneath.

Augustus’ was stranger still. The word fae drifted into Alexander’s mind unbidden. It felt like whispered shadows and secrets, truths dangling just out of reach all the while chasing mysteries only it could hear.

He frowned. Too many questions, not enough answers.

To his left, Annie was already masked. Hers was dull metallic red, streaked with black shadows, sculpted into a sneer that exposed jagged silver fangs. Each tooth was unique, as if taken from different predators. Two curled black horns swept back from her forehead. She caught his look through narrow slits and gave a thumbs-up.

They were both wearing the same clothes they’d had since escaping Frank’s, cleaned as best as they could during their stop at the apartment. But after everything they’d been through, there was no small amount of blood and scuffing. They looked like battle-weary survivors.

He returned it before turning to Talia.

She wore a gray cloak that hid her uniform until it was needed. Her mask was a short-snouted white kitsune with red markings and tall ears, leaving just enough of her lower face exposed for the balaclava to complete the disguise.

Across the room, Augustus conjured the portal. Its shimmering blur began to sharpen, edges crisping and colors bleeding like lights through fog. The man looked sharp: dark navy three-piece suit in muted rust checks, tie neat over a crisp shirt, pocket watch chain glinting at his vest. The flat cap matched the rest of the outfit and was worn with casual confidence. Arcane light flickered faintly through his sleeves in rhythm with the portal.

The gateway stabilized with a hum. Augustus turned. “Ready.”

The others looked to Alexander. Waiting. A weight settled onto his shoulders. The choice to set in motion something that could change them forever, whether for greatness or regret.

He took a slow breath and turned to Annie.

“You’re up.”

For once, Annie only nodded seriously. She jumped through the portal without another word. Talia followed after his glance.

As Alexander stepped forward, Augustus’ hand caught his shoulder. He looked up to meet sincere eyes.

“You’ve got this, kid,” Augustus said, sounding for a heartbeat exactly like Frank. “Look out for them. Trust them to look out for you. That’s what teams do.”

Alexander nodded and entered the portal. Whatever lay ahead, they’d face together.

Everything had been going so well.

They’d emerged beside a disused emergency exit at the back of the station grounds. Cold morning air, damp with fog. The streets were quiet, no alarms had triggered. And nobody to witness them stepping out of a magical hole in the air.

Augustus closed the first portal with a flick, then opened another on the far side of the chain-link fence. It was exactly as he’d explained. At such a short range and within view, the portal was near instantaneous. He stepped through and wandered off with a casual wave, reading his tablet.

From there it was quick and clean. Annie’s finger-lock-picks and Alexander’s Technopathy bypassed every obstacle. He’d shut down cameras and alarm triggers on their route while Annie and Talia swept ahead.

Talia handled the first officer with a chokehold, Annie cuffed him with his own restraints and left him in a locked interrogation room. Reaching the elevator, Alexander had already confirmed Frank’s evidence files hadn’t been digitized or transferred. He shut down the last of surveillance and alarms just in case.

On sublevel two, Talia shed her cloak and walked straight through the checkpoint as an AEGIS officer. The guard inside barely looked up before she entered the security room and dropped him, too. She knelt beside him and pressed two fingers against the man’s temple before buzzing them through.

“He won’t remember me being here,” she said, calm.

Alexander didn’t ask. He was starting to get a better idea of what her Mind Palace might be capable of. From the contemplative look on her face, so was she.

The evidence room was exactly where he’d predicted. It had a reinforced door and ballistic glass windows. And a robust electronic security system requiring codes, biometrics, and multifactor authentication…

He bypassed all of it with a command.

They split up without a word. Talia combed through the shelves, scanning labels faster than anyone else could. Annie cracked open crates with crowbar hands. Alexander stepped over to the lone terminal near the door, flicking through files and scanning databases with his thoughts.

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Then the door opened again.

Two men stepped in. They weren’t officers or staff based on the distinct lack of uniforms and ID tags.

They stopped when they saw the three of them. And just like that, everything that had been going well, wasn’t.

The tall one was wiry and twitching, leather straps creaking with every motion. Dark, disheveled hair hung down over darting eyes that blinked far too often. He hopped from foot to foot, glancing around the room as if trying to track sounds only he could hear.

Beside him stood a short, stocky man with meaty forearms that hinted at real strength hidden beneath the designer-patterned shirt straining to contain his gut. Rings glinted on every finger. Several chains hung around his neck. The man’s fashion choices could only be described as expensive and tasteless, with bright colors and different textures.

The wiry one jabbed a finger at the crates near Annie. “See, boss? What’d I tell ya? The voices were right again! There’s nobody to stop us, and the cameras are all off.” He grinned, twitching. “Evidence is right there, it is.”

The stocky man studied them calmly, gaze lingering on their masks. “Clairvoyance is a hell of a thing. You got a gift, Benny.”

He pulled a vial from his jacket and handed it over. Benny snorted it in one practiced motion, shivering, grinning wider.

Alexander stretched his senses across them. There were no visible augments, but a fine mesh of cybernetics under the big man’s skin broke the deception. He was packing at least enhanced durability and stimulus controllers. Probably for pain suppression. Powered joints screamed strength enhancements. The subtlety of the cybernetics made him even more dangerous.

Trouble.

The others hadn’t moved yet, but he saw Annie’s stance shift slightly out the corner of his eye.

He subvocalized through the implant.

“Annie, wait. No recognizable powers. Talia and I will deal with them. Keep searching. Row seventeen, shelf B, for cameras and testimony. Fridge three has hair and blood samples.”

“On it,” Annie replied, edging back.

He glanced at Talia. “Future-sight is yours—”

“You sure, Alex? The boss looks strong.” Her concern was clear even subvocalized.

Before he could answer, the stocky man spoke. “Ladies, gentlemen. We’re all here for the same thing. I know we made use of your exceptional skills to get down here, but there’s no need for hostility. We’ll take what we came for and be on our way.”

Reaching with Technopathy, he filtered through hundreds of sleeping devices throughout the room. They responded, eager to serve. There was an abundance of tablets and pleasure devices, but few useful tools.

Did they raid a brothel or something?

“How did you get down here? I disabled the elevators,” Alexander asked, probing.

“We took the stairs.”

Then Benny shrieked, eyes rolling. “The voices say the time is now!” He bolted for the back of the room.

Annie was in that direction. Even if the guy was probably harmless, it wasn’t a chance they could take.

Talia intercepted him with a clothesline. Alexander sent a wave of commands across the room, each device on shelves and inside boxes responding to unique commands, jerking awake at the end of invisible threads of his will.

The boss sighed, running a hand over his face. Then charged at him. Alexander slapped a hand on the console, stepping to one side. He pulsed his Electrokinesis, sending lightning into the console. Lights blew; the screen cracked. Then arcs of electricity exploded outward. With a thunderclap, raw voltage slammed into the big man and hurled him into shelves that toppled in a storm of boxes and contraband.

“Shelves falling. Look out!” Alexander called.

He raised his hands and began plucking at imaginary strings, sending orders to his new toys. They burst from boxes and fell off shelves, drones rising into the air, firing miniature pulse weapons. A remotely controlled hovercar screamed across the floor toward where the boss was struggling to his feet.

The RC hovercar was cool, no doubt, but it was the improvised receiver taped to a bunch of probably illegal fireworks that made him grin.

“Take cover!” he ordered across the implants, before throwing himself sideways deeper into the room and alongside the slowly toppling shelves.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Talia locked in the strangest fight he’d ever seen. She moved with graceful precision, each strike aimed to cripple. But Benny moved in a blur of awkward jerks and muttered prophecies, somehow avoiding each attack with the equally unsubtle grace of a junkie.

Talia swiped at a shelf, sending a spray of boxes and equipment at the guy. Then she dived through the space, heading deeper into the room, trying to keep ahead of the falling shelves.

The boss looked down at the remote-control hovercar as it crashed into his leg, only for it to spark and ignite the fireworks. He screamed in panic, barely getting his arms up in time before it detonated.

Those fireworks were clearly illegal because of the dangerously weaponized short fuses.

The explosion wasn’t large in terms of damage, but it was loud and disorienting. A cascade of shrieking sparks burst outward, spinning across the room and trailing sulfurous smoke that filled the air and curled around shelves.

Alexander shut off the fire alarms before they could trigger.

At such proximity, the noise alone should have floored anyone who wasn’t prepared for it. Anyone except the intended victim, apparently.

The big man staggered to his feet, one hand clutching at his ear while the other swiped burning debris clinging to his clothes. His jacket was scorched and his eyebrows singed. Gold chains had partially melted into fabric and flesh alike. But he was still moving.

“I paid a lot for this shirt!” he roared, furious.

Small fires dotted the room, smoke curling upward and thickening the air. Half the shelves had already toppled sideways, some collapsing under their own twisted weight. One shelf, stuck halfway between fallen and upright, groaned as it buckled, heralding the moment the rest of the room would follow.

Alexander’s timing was perfect. Drones joined the fight. Some had already been lost to the fireworks, but others zipped forward, spitting bolts of energy that forced the boss backward. He cursed, shielding himself with anything he could grab as he was driven around the other end of the shelves and toward the rear of the room.

Behind them, Talia and Benny’s scuffle had unraveled into pure chaos. The man moved like a puppet with its strings cut, lurching at impossible angles. Talia had abandoned attempts to disable him and instead focused on controlling his movement, tripping him or redirecting him into obstacles. Her face was tight with restrained irritation.

“Stop twitching,” she hissed, ducking a flailing elbow that nearly caught her jaw.

“I see you!” Benny howled. “All the versions of you! So many paths! None of them end well!”

“Charming,” Talia muttered.

“You!” Benny shrieked, thrashing toward her. “You will be the Aspect of Knowledge and Wisdom! Your mind layered like glass, palaces of mirrored halls with reflections within reflections!”

Talia ducked another wild strike and snapped a kick into his leg. “Shut up already. I have to remember every dumb thing you say!”

He spun, one arm raised like a preacher calling down lightning. “And beside you walks the Lord of the Arcane! Cloaked in secrets, wreathed in symbols older than the stars!”

Annie slid into view at the far end of the room, arms full of evidence.

Benny whirled again, pointing past Talia toward her. His eyes rolled back, his voice rising in a fevered cry. “And the War-born! The Burning Blade! Fury tempered in blood and flame!”

Annie tilted her head, confused. “Uh… I was born in a hospital, thank you very much.”

“And at your head—” Benny turned, locking eyes with Alexander through his mask. His frenzy halted. He stared wide-eyed, as if seeing something vast and terrible.

“—at your head stands one of the first divines of our new age,” he whispered, reverent and afraid all at once. “Breaker of Systems. He who would reforge Order itself. God of the Machines. I see you. I see what you become. I see the ruin. I see the birth. I see—”

Talia wrapped her arms around his neck and choked him out. “Prophet mode off,” she muttered, lowering him to the floor.

Annie coughed, the smoke growing thick, and rushed toward them. “I got it! Let’s get out of here.”

Alexander nodded and moved for the door. He sensed the drones pressing the boss into the corner, behind the last shelf now beginning to fall.

Talia and Annie slipped past him into the hall leading to the elevator. Alexander paused at the threshold, sparing one glance at the unconscious addict. He reached into the emergency systems with his mind.

There’s a fire. Time to do what you were made for.

Lights flashed. Sirens wailed. Ceiling nozzles sprayed to life, drowning the flames beneath thick layers of foam.

Alexander turned and caught up with the others as they entered the elevator. He sent a comms request to Augustus, which connected immediately.

“All good, lad?” Augustus asked.

“Ran into a few problems, but it’s done. Start spinning up the portal.”

“On it.” Augustus cut the line.

Annie looked up at Alexander from behind her mask. “We ain’t supposed to use the elevator during an emergency, y’know?”

Talia chuckled.

Alexander smiled behind his own mask. “Guess we’re breaking all kinds of rules, huh?”