Location: 423 West 73rd Street

Time: 11:57 AM, January 2nd 2108

The two of us stood in front of a beautifully constructed three story house located in the suburbs.

“Is this really a place that needs investigating?” From the outside it seemed well kept. The area was full of high class houses, and this one fit in perfectly.

“Yeah, this is the place. Ren used the term ‘investigate’ loosely. We’re pretty much sure our target is hiding out in there. It’s just a matter of going in to get him.”

Ren. Vier’s nickname for Deputy Chief Kaldsen.

It initially came up on our ride there, but Vier’s inflection and speech pattern shifted. Not unlike another Number I know. Apparently his stigma is a bad match with electronics, so he forcibly kept himself restrained.

I don’t understand how it works either, but at least let me act like I know what I’m talking about.

It’s also worth noting that on our way over we brought Emelia, only to drop her off at a school dormitory. After all we’d been through I felt a little bit like a parent dropping their kid off at a friends house.

“And our target is Senator Zea? I probably don’t want to know, but why is the ARA looking for a senator?” I had been waiting for someone, anyone really, to give me any kind of indication as to why we were looking for him, but no explanation came.

“Because as of yesterday his augmentation was determined to be a risk to the city. The motion was put forward by the Prime Minister and approved by the Security General.” Vier gave me a standard response.

“Why would a senator be a risk to the city?”

“Who knows? Cases like this are out of our hands. If the Prime Minister and Security General say he’s a risk there’s not much to be done about it.”

“But, it’s odd, right? Why would he suddenly become more dangerous? What’s his augmentation?” Isn’t up to us to ask these kinds of questions?

“Eh, I don’t think this has anything to do with his augmentation.” Vier was starting to sound a little annoyed with my continued probing. Not because he had anything to hide, just because he didn’t seem to think it was worth talking about.

“You just said his augmentation was determined to be a risk.”

“I did, but his augmentation wasn’t the reason. It’s just politics. I’m not really interested in getting more specific with you. I feel like this is the kind of thing you’d make a big deal about.”

“Some things deserve to have a big deal made about them.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. Not interested. Let’s just get this over with.”

Vier started walking toward the house without waiting for my response. I didn’t realize people were capable of things like that in the real world. We were coworkers, you know? That kind of attitude would just make our work life more awkward.

“Hey, ah,” I had to rush to catch up with Vier. He seriously wasn’t going to wait for me. “Now that we’re here, what exactly is our plan?”

“Plan? Don’t worry about it. With someone like Ren in charge you just have to learn to go with the flow.”

“Isn’t that a little lax?”

“Probably, yeah.”

After reaching the entrance Vier unceremoniously reached out and opened the door as if it were his own home. A few sparks continued arcing across the recently fried electronic lock.

“Hey! Anyone home! Zea, don’t bother running. Or do. I guess it doesn’t really matter.”

Not wanting to be left behind I quickly followed behind and entered the house myself. The entryway led into a large chamber that appeared to connect the second story and ground floor. Vier was standing in the center while three figures approached him.

“Now, I’m certain I locked the door. We’re not accepting visitors today.” The leader of the group was a woman, maybe in her early thirties. Her bleached hair and athletic clothing didn’t match the high class aesthetic of the mansion. Behind her were two men in military style clothing.

Both held rifles in their hands. It didn’t take an ex-police officer to know that kind of gun wasn’t obtained legally. I cautiously positioned my hand on my sidearm. Based on her lack of weaponry, the woman was probably an augmented, but I was a lot more worried about the other two.

After all, it’s not like I could nullify a bullet.

“I’m Dinah, and I’m going to-”

“I don’t recall asking.” Vier interrupted Dinah while removing his blazer. After getting it off he folded it once and handed it to me. Caught up in the moment, I accepted it without question.

“Who you are, what you’re going to do, it’s all meaningless. I’m sure I’d have forgotten by tomorrow anyway. You’ve already shown me everything I need to see.” As he spoke Vier rolled up his right sleeve.

“What are you talking about? I haven’t shown you anything.” Dinah looked like she couldn’t decide between being angry or confused. I couldn’t blame her.

“You have. You’ve shown me how weak and stupid you are. You’re not even worth the effort of rolling up my sleeve, but thanks to previous incidents like this one our dry-cleaning bill is way over budget.”

“Like I care about your dry cleaning.”

“Irrelevant. I’m not interested enough to consider what you care about. Listen, this is a good learning opportunity. Vier’s first rule: Always act. In movies enemies have a conversation before fighting, but that’s completely foolish. When it comes to life or death encounters, it’s always best to act before your opponent is ready. The easiest way to win a sword fight is to stab your opponent while his sword is still sheathed.”

“Then what about you, mister expert? Not following your own advice, are you?” Dinah’s confusion quickly transformed into disdain.

“Did you think I was talking to you? Why would I give a lesson to a woman who’s about to die? But let me humor you. I’m an exception to the rule. I have the advantage of overwhelming power, so I can afford to stand on the battlefield and do as I please.”

“That so? I’m going to enjoy turning you into ash. When I tell everyone about what happened here we’ll all laugh at how insane you were.”

“Some people can’t be improved. I hope you aren’t one of those people.” He hadn’t once looked in my direction, but I knew who his advice was for.

Then, he was gone. The ground beneath his feet was charred and a few fleeting sparks of blue electricity remained in his place. I didn’t have time to cover my ears before thunder that dwarfed Hana’s assaulted me.

I quickly scanned the room, trying to find where he ended up. It hadn’t been more than a fraction of a second, but he was standing behind Dinah and the two men. His back was facing us and his right arm was extended outward. He was holding a red knife in his hand.

No.

The knife itself wasn’t red, but it was red. Vier’s right arm had been dyed a similar color.

The two men fell to the ground, with blood spraying from the open wounds on their necks. Seeing the result of their unceremonious execution was unsettling. I wasn’t going to overreact though. Once I saw they were armed I was prepared to shoot as well. I didn’t know enough about Vier’s augmentation to determine if he could have detained them without resorting to lethal force.

Dinah had a similar wound on her neck, but she remained upright. Rather than blood, intense flames were pouring out of her.

“Great, that’s great! You’re not half bad, but I’ve killed dozens of augmenteds more dangerous than you. Your knife will never hurt me.”

The fire coming from Dinah’s neck spread across her body. Her clothing was burnt away and her body was lost in flames.

The creature that was in front of me had a humanoid appearance, but there was no physical body. Only fire.

Augmentations were amazing. I’d experienced them before, but every time they seemed limitless. It’s hard to imagine what an augmented was capable of.

“I wasn’t expecting anything, so I can’t say I’m disappointed. But still, don’t you people get tired of it? Being so pointlessly weak.” Vier spoke, completely unfazed by Dinah’s transformation.

“Nothing to say to that? I suppose you can’t talk in that form, can you? That’s all I needed to know.”

Vier threw two knives toward Dinah, but they passed harmlessly through her body, embedding themselves in the far wall.

Dinah couldn’t talk, but the defiant pose she struck made her thoughts clear.

“I wasn’t trying to cut you.”

That’s when I noticed the wires in Vier’s hands. They stretched across the room, tied into the handles of the knives he had just thrown.

“Pay attention to this part. I could've just had you nullify her augmentation, but this seemed more appropriate.”

Electricity started arcing down Vier’s arms. When the sparks reached the wires in his hands I heard an unrestrained scream. Dinah had returned to her human form, but the wires were still passing through her. She was slouched over, holding onto the wires. It looked like she was struggling to remain upright.

“I’d try to keep still if I were you, and limit the screaming. The more you move the more damage these wires will do.” Vier tied off the wires he’d been holding to the banister of the stairs leading to the second floor.

“How. . . How did you. . .”

Dinah tried speaking through staggered breaths.

“You want to know how I extinguished you? I’ve got no problem explaining that. It will serve as lesson two, but I want something in return. You’ll answer my question. One for One. It won’t take long. Deal?”

“Is this really the time for an interrogation? We need to start treating her.” I interrupted Vier’s attempted dialogue with Dinah. Vier seemed inclined to handle the interrogation himself, but here was no reason to do it now.

“No, we have to do it now. There won’t be another chance.”

“Will you. . . Let me. . .”

“Will I let you live? No. That’s not one of the options. I’m going to kill you, that’s not up for debate. It’s just a matter of how long it takes. Maybe you’ll last for hours, maybe minutes, but eventually your legs will give out. Then gravity will slowly pull those wires through your body, splitting you into three. The problem is they’re not very sharp. It could take all day, and if they get caught on a bone it will be even longer.”

I was about to interrupt him, but decided against it. He was trying to intimidate her. Under normal circumstances she’d realize an agent of the law wasn’t going to execute her now that she had no way to fight back. She was panicking though. His technique was a lot more crude than I’d like; Deputy Chief Kaldsen was right though. Augmentations are dangerous. I was willing to accept that some drastic measures needed to be taken.

Dinah hesitated, considering her options.

Tired of waiting, Vier plucked one of the wires, causing it to vibrate. I could hear a muffled grunt coming from Dinah.

“Deal.” She faced the ground as she spoke.

“Vier’s second rule: Pay attention to the details. In the real world, nothing happens for no reason. There are no cool effects because it looks good. After she transformed two things jumped out at me. Her clothing got turned to ash, and she couldn’t talk. Both of those are pretty inconvenient, so she must not be able to control them. Fire burns clothing and fire has no way of talking.”

“That made me think her augmentation let her body turn into fire, but the fire itself didn’t have any special properties. It was just normal fire.”

“After that it was simple. While fire isn’t usually considered a plasma, it’s loaded with ions. That makes it an excellent conductor of electricity. That also means it can be extinguished with a strong enough electric field. I sent a positive charge down one wire, and a negative charge down the other. The ions in the fire were then pulled away toward the wire attracting them, extinguishing the flame.”

“I’ll be honest though, I wasn’t sure what would happen to you. I considered the possibility that extinguishing the fire would just outright kill you, scattering bits and pieces of you throughout the room, but I figured it didn’t matter much. Now, time for my question. It seems pretty obvious your little group is working with the BAA, but where are you from?”

Dinah still didn’t raise her head.

“We’re a mercenary group that came together from all over the Free Cities.”

Vier walked over and grabbed Dinah’s face, forcing her to look into his eyes.

“A pointless lie, but I never said you had to answer honestly. Besides, the fact that you tried to lie without mentioning the most likely location is more telling than a straight confession. You mentioned earlier that you’d killed dozens like me. Well, I’m not sure how many people like you I’ve killed. You’re not even worth remembering.”

Dinah’s body spasmed momentarily as smoke started rising from where Vier was holding her.

Augmentations were terrifying. I’d experienced them before, but every time they seemed limitless. It’s hard to imagine what an augmented was capable of.