“Holy shit. Are you all right?” Blair shouted, her eyes wide with concern as she turned the corner to see Thomas doubled over in pain on the ground, his heart sinking as he realized he had been caught red-handed, blinded and filled with a terrible ringing through his mind.

“Uh, yeah, I’m all right, actually. Thanks for asking.” Thomas responded hesitantly, his mind considering creating a phantom hand as a distraction and running away, but he knew he was in no condition to really do so.

“I’m Blair,” she said, extending a hand and taking off her motorcycle helmet revealing a dark-skinned face and long crimson hair. “I saw a Civ user here and figured I’d check it out. Did they attack you at all? You don’t look super well.”

“Um, yeah he attacked me. I was hiding here, trying to keep away from him. Yeah, that’s definitely what I was doing,” Thomas said, flashing a nervous smile.

Blair smiled back. “Did he do something to your eyes? They look, um, melted. Sorry if that’s impolite, or anything—”

“No, you’re right. He melted my eyes and left me blind. That’s why I didn’t come out from hiding.” Thomas looked down at the ground, keeping his unnatural smirk, feeling ashamed that he was taking advantage of someone who turned out to be nice.

“Don’t worry, I think I can fix that. I just need to touch your eyes.”

“Sure thi—wait, touch my eyes?”

“SUPERHOT!” Blair shouted, touching her two fingers to Thomas’s disfigured eyeballs, and watching their shape contort and return to a healthy, natural state. Despite the discomfort of having a stranger touch his eyes, he was ultimately relieved to see again. Blair was tall but not quite as tall as Thomas, wearing black riding gear and holding a futuristic motorcycle helmet in her arms. Her uniform ultimately wasn’t as unique as Thomas’s, but it still looked cool nonetheless. “My Civ, Superhot, allows me to burn and melt things by touching them, and then restore things to an unmelted state as well. Do you have a Civ?” Blair asked, flashing a demonstration of her Civ by creating a jet of steam in the air before making it disappear.

“Uh, no, I don’t. I’m just a security guard here,” Thomas mumbled, standing up and dusting himself off. “I didn’t get a good look at the guy before he blinded me, but I saw that he had red hair and kind of a dad-bod look to him. Have you seen him around at all?”

“Hmm, I don’t think I have, no. I’ve already been looking for him, and I haven’t seen a trace of him. Except . . .” Blair fished in one of her jacket pockets to reveal Thomas’s bottle cap. “I think this belongs to the guy. But I don’t think it’ll be enough. Another set of eyes would be a big help, now that yours are working.”

“Oh, sure, but maybe I should head out since I don’t have a Civ . . .” Thomas realized he wouldn’t be able to pressure Engels to keep quiet as long as Blair was here. And if they actually did find Engels then he could always blow Thomas’s cover, or at least sow doubt in her mind. He had to cut his losses and try again another night.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m sort of a vigilante, so I got this.” Blair pointed to herself and straightened her posture in a moment of exaggerated confidence. “Well, technically I’m an electrician, but I doubt that will come in handy. That’s partially why I skulk around here. It’s where I got inspired to pursue it.”

Thomas didn’t want to jump in with a fun anecdote about how he became a professional assassin. “Cool,” he said, trying to keep it short and simple so as to not betray too much. He’d noticed he would get very talkative when lying. Thomas followed Blair out towards the main hallway and spent his time close by, listening for Engels as the two walked around. “So, how did you decide to become a vigilante?” Thomas asked.

“Oh, thanks for asking. I guess it’s the same way a lot of people get into this. Some other vigilante saved my life, and I guess it inspired me to get some use out of mine,” she answered, still looking around for any signs of life.

“Yeah, that makes sense, I guess. I thought about being a vigilante too, but it didn’t pay the bills, so I got caught in a dead-end job that I hate.”

“I thought you didn’t have a Civ?” Blair finally turned to face a now flustered Thomas.

I was supposed to keep things simple and now I’m baring my soul to this person. “Oh, I don’t, but I thought about getting one.”

“Ah, makes sense. And I’m sorry things didn’t work out, by the way. What made you want to take to the streets and use a Civ?”

* * *

Thomas’s mother fell to the ground. The city had turned on the rain for that day, to water some crops and give everyone a change of scenery. Thomas was standing over her, tears streaming down his face as the rain washed them away onto his mother’s body. There was a chip on the ground beside her. Right by the hole in her head.

* * *

“My mother was a Civ user,” Thomas answered, after spending a long moment deep in thought, staring at the ground.

User: Thomas Finn/Phantom Limb

Civ: Phantrana

The user is able to create ghostlike copies of their body parts, which can act autonomously or be used to add energy to the user’s matching body part, severely increasing its strength for a short while. The user can also pull their limbs towards them or pull themself towards their limbs. Creating one of these copies causes major pain to the tissues being cloned. As such, the greatest limitation on the user’s strength is their own pain tolerance. Also has an AI living inside, who, while unable to offer combat advantages, can be a very useful friend. Phantrana can only be used by somebody who is related by blood to the previous user.