I thought there was a reaction when Maria teleported in, this was something greater.

The exterminators drew their weapons. Hunter drew a hand gun from its holster, Ali drew a clear blade from nowhere.

Yuki pulled a gun too. I don’t blame her, if she hadn’t, she’d have been an accomplice in the smuggling of a Mountain member, into the heart of the city.

I hadn’t expected that Clover would make this move.

If I'm being completely honest, in that moment, I struggled to understand why she was revealing her hand. Now I know, that if she didn’t do it herself, Attrition or Yuki would have done it.

There was an unease- no, it was more than that, there was a terror from the civilians standing, they were frozen still.

The first person to thaw through that age of ice was Mr Greem, there was a still restrained fury in him.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Clover remained still, making no sudden movements, “Like I said, I have no part in what Jack Chandler is doing down there. This is a shitty coincidence.”

Hunter was probably the person in the room most willing to open fire, “And you expect us to belie-” He was quickly silenced by Greem, who simply rose his fist.

“Then why are you here, Bastard crowned?” He looked to the second worlders on his right, “Let the people go. This is now a private matter, don’t you think?”

She was carful with her words; I could tell she was keeping her tone in check, “No, they stay. Little under a week ago, my territory, the Mountains undisputed territory, was registered under a VIPU supported by your people. As I was attending a funeral in Korea at the time, there was an opening. You closed my access to Vortech’s channels to that area, and so I had no choice but to seek alternative means of transport.”

“Bullshit,” poked Ali, “I’ve that’s the case, then why didn’t you and Ganja-man just fly back on one of the Mountains Choppers?”

She side eyed me, “That’s something I'd like to make clear to you, my friend here, Shamrock, is not aligned with the Mountain in any way. In fact, I only use the term ‘friend’ for simplicities sake. He only stuck with me because the current territorial master of Ireland is a common enemy. He only came with me to Korea because the funeral was for a common friend.”

“And I didn’t fly back commercially, to keep him out of the Mountains eye, and because that channel is easier for our enemy to access than Vortech’s. I wanted to travel incognito. So I worked my magic. I chose the Internationals, because Rocky had a contact, Bob Parker, who was left unaware of my true identity. I used my powers so that he’d fall into a pit trap, where he’d need our help. It’s just luck that he happened to have a relationship with the head doctor.”

“That brings me to my second reason. I wanted to squeeze out any info concerning Ireland. And now none of you have a choice. You’ve fallen into a conveniently placed pit trap, and now you have no choice but to listen to me, to bargain with me.”

She relaxed into her chair, not a single person followed her.

It broke Greem, “You think that you can endanger an entire city- MY city, and face no consequences- No, you think you can benefit from this! You think that because of your position you can just, walk into my office, make demands, hold me at ransom in my country?”

He bore his fangs spitting across the table, “If you think I'm going to except the words of Mountain trash like you- that I'll let you work your powers on me-”

Clover cut him off, mocking him, “I can’t use my powers anymore. In this situation, I face the same limitations as Santiana Maria, I have been prohibited from using it near The Channeler, as you’ve taken to calling him.”

I had no idea why she would go so far. A few days ago, she had berated me for taking the same action, what reason could she have for making that ‘stupid’ decision.

I wanted to check Bob, Charlie, and Yuki’s reaction to all of this, but I felt like turning around would be a bad idea.

“So here is the deal. I supply you with Jack Chandler’s weaknesses, the best counters for his Archetype. All I ask is that in return, not one of you speaks of my presence here, and that me and my associate are returned home.”

I waited for a response.

“No,” At last, Mr Greem looked up from his shoes, wearing a face fit for a muzzle, “You are in no position to argue. If you are without your powers, and you are without Bastard Tudor, then the most efficient course of action would be to deal with you and The Channeler now. If I’m feeling merciful, we might even ransom you to your friend down there, see if we can end this without any more damage, eh?”

He wasn’t barking any more, he’d chosen a route to take: Cool and hard.

I fidgeted, not intentionally, I had nearly forgotten my position. With the slightest shift, multiple sights had been set on me.

Clover lifted a hand to the table, making a gesture with her finger, tapping it on the table every second or so, like clockwork. It was to let me know things were alright, that or to strengthen her composure, or at least the calm image she was trying to project.

Finally Clover explained why she was so calm at the barrel of a gun, “You say that, Mr Greem, but it’s too late. I said from that point on. I already made one final wish, that no matter what, you would accept the deal I propose. I might be in your office, surrounded by your men, but you’re in my hands now.”

Just like that, Greem’s composure was shattered, he would have roared out, had someone not spoken up.

“If I may, dear host?” It was Isaac. He’d been silent for the entire meeting, he had no points to make on the Beast, nor on the appearance on one of the Corners of the World. Yet, now he had politely raised his right hand.

“You are in the middle of a standoff between not you and the young miss Clover, you are in the Middle of a Mexican standoff as they say, between Mr Chandler, the Jungle Beast, and if you should leave the latter unattended to, the Ocean Beast will surely take notice of the conflict on the border of her territory.”

He rested his shoulder on the desk, speaking calmly and concisely, “The two encroaching threats far out way any presented by a powerless girl and her... serf.”

I noted the change from ‘king contender’ to serf and was gladder for it.

“Whether or not she has information of value to you, the possible aid of two Units is something you can’t pass under these conditions. All I know about Mr Chandler is that he can’t be defeated by any less than three Units, or so they say. I don’t suppose it would be any harm for us to hear her out.”

Greem changed his expression as he looked to the Fomorian on his right. It wasn’t quite confusion; he had a vague notion that what he was hearing was true enough. He began to lose himself in consideration.

“Sir, if I may,” Attrition spoke up, “Perhaps we should discuss what we know of The Channeler? And weigh whatever information she provides us with.”

Greem bit his tongue, though I'm sure there was a large part of him that wanted to give the firing order, but he was compelled by something- a stray line of thought, a sudden understanding, a change of character.

He waved a hand, turning away from the table.

“Jack Chandler is not a Unit. A Unit is a creature that has taken the basic outline of a human mind, body, and will, shaping these attributes in abnormal ways, while keeping form. Keeping their Self. You can imagine your Self as an equilateral triangle made of three isosceles triangles. The colour, opacity, and material of the individual triangles change after becoming a Unit, but you are still the same person. You still have your Self.”

I thought what that meant for me, and as if reading my mind, she answered.

“Then there are individuals, not necessarily Units, that have one of these triangles removed. They lose a piece of their Self, but the structure is still recognisable.”

I sighed, I don’t know why, I guess I was relieved that I was still ‘myself’ after everything.

“The Channeler is a one of a kind. His triangle is perfect. It is not broken into three separate pieces, it is One. His is the perfect archetype, the being that we are all made in the image off. Or so baseless theorisation would lead you to believe. I’d simply call him a monster. The monster. A being that has surpassed human limits, that has changed and utilised the very essence of Self to reach an unattainable height.”

Hunter weighed in, “Having more than two powers.”

Attrition didn’t look over, “Having six powers, is one of his true powers. He doesn’t have to worry about his mind caving from overly heightened senses, or his body collapsing from conflicting properties. He can take it all into himself. His second power is copying any power flawlessly.”

Clover spoke up, “Is that all?

The Doctor seemed displeased with her tone, “Yes. Now, if you can, provide us with something more substantial than that.”

Clover pushed back, looking up to the ceiling. “Jake Channeler is a clone. We chose him for a experiment because he was one of a thousand. We asked the question, what happens in June? Bastard has become desperate for answers, and so one April he asked me to do my thing, he told me to ask for that individual to be able to remember the events of June. We chose a disposable, because it was a risky question, we were afraid that it would alter the recipient.”

“It did. He did remember June, whatever it was we had done, and I’ll bet he remembers what you’ve done, that’s why he’s here. That, or he’s here for the high-end abilities a couple hundred miles due west.”

She looked around the room, “You want to know how to kill someone like that? Who knows things about you, that you're not completely aware of?”

“Simple,” She put her feet on the table, “you just shoot ‘em in the head.”

A fist slammed down on the table, Greem shouted out, “I’ll have you skinned you fascist little shit!”

“I’m being serious,” Clover spoke louder but kept a calm tone, “he can’t copy objects. Your right, he can copy any ability. But imagine if he had Charlie’s mind ability, that pasty guy sitting beside the doctor's mind ability, Rights mind abilities- those are abilities useless in the field, when without material and time.”

She laughed, “If you rammed one of those ships into him, the only power he’d get is knowledge on how to build one, he wouldn’t be able to manipulate gravity or anything.”

She tilted her head to the side, “You must have a couple hundred here, right? Of those Lindenbergs? From how understaffed you are at the moment, I doubt you’ll be able to get pilots for all of them, but it’s a better move than dropping R.O’s. Engage him close up-”

Dr Attrition chimed in, “If we follow that ‘plan’, then we’d not only have to do without the use of even light R.O’s, but Units as well.”

Clover laughed again, it was becoming a robotic response by this point, “Are you ready for this? I’m almost certain I'll have you convinced with this last part. Even if I don’t, it’s pointless to resist, you are now destined to do as I say.”

Mr Greem had another outburst, “Enough with these mind games!”

Clover simply continued, “Like a monster, he can sense the fact that you have powers, but not what they do. He needs you to use it on him before he can take it. There’s no way of knowing what powers he has now, but your best bet would be to hit him with something faster than human perception.”

There were glances to the Unit civilian, who had remained undisturbed until now.

“Alternatively, you could use some sort of area affecting ability, an ability he would have to spend on of his slots to counter.”

Now there were twice as many looks to Ali.

“How the hell do you know-” started, Hunter.

Clover cut him off, “I don’t know anything about you people,” she twirled a strand of hair, “It’s just my luck that I'd mouth off some crap that was relevant to you. Don’t get me wrong, those approaches will all work.”

Finally, she took her feet back down and stood up, “I can’t assure you a flawless victory, but this will be the absolute best course of action for you. It’ll minimise loses, of life and resources, and I'm certain it’ll get the job done quickly, so that big green road block can get shifted- so me and my mate can fly home.”

She crossed her arms with a smile, “Do we have a deal Mr Greem?”

He was considering it now, no longer reluctantly, “And you’re positive that the damages will be minimized? And all we’ll be giving you is transportation-”

“-And for us to be scrubbed from your records,” Clover nodded seriously, “if I find out that any of you leaked my status to Belfast-”

She checked me, her moral compass, “-let’s just say, it’s just my good karma, that something horrible should happen to ‘whoever ratted me out’.”

She looked back to Greem, all eyes following soon after. Ali kept his levity, Hunter was appalled, and Aayan who didn’t seem to mind that the city was being attacked, broke into a sweat.

Greem showed his yellowed teeth, but not in a snarl; he was smiling as he had when he had welcomed us in.

.

.

.

Again, I found myself descending through an elevator, leaving the command centre.

I was pissed.

“You seriously expect me to do nothing? Two enormous threats, and you expect me to just go back to the hotel room and twiddle my thumbs?”

Though it was a cramped space, I still swung my arms around.

Clover shushed me, “You are the absolute worst match for this fight,” She grabbed my arms, “You were talking about these things restricting yourself, and Glass God knows what mental restrictions you’ve put on yourself. Chandler doesn’t have those kinds of restrictions. You said you could clear a good few miles in an hour, he’d probably make a break for the Jungle Beast if he got the chance, then loop back here and kill everybody with whatever powers he gets.”

I grit my teeth, “But we can’t just let him rampage through the city!”

Bob tried to calm me down, “He’s in the buffer zone, it was made to disorientate monsters approaching the city, it’ll work on him till the strike squad arrives.”

I’d seen a topological map of the city, if I had to describe its shape, I'd compare it to a car wheel, Administration is the centre, the lived-in part of the city was the practical metal part, and the buffer zone was the rubber tire. It encircled the city, taking the brunt of any wear from running this facility.

It’s not a perfect circle, but it came to mind when I was looking at the map.

The average radius of the city was around 20km, around five of which were devoted to the buffer zone. There was really no telling what kind of abilities he had, who’s to say he wouldn’t simply look at this structure we were in right now and disintegrate it?

There was a beep from the two agents’ phones.

The occupants of the elevator were kept to a minimal. We alone were allowed to leave the command centre, not counting the strike team.

There was me and Clover, we’d been given clearance to fly back home. There were the Parkers, Bob was going to be our pilot again, Charlie had elected to stay with him. Of course, because Charlie was now a highly valued VIPU, our original group couldn’t be trusted with her information.

So, they switched Yuki out for Hunter.

“And when that strike squad arrives, you Mountain Bastards better pray for your friend. I don’t see him getting out of there.”

Clover laughed at him, “You haven't a clue what’s happening, do you?”

He pulled a fake smile, “Twenty-five Lindenburgs are about to coming crashing down on him, along with three Units. Even if he does copy their abilities, he doesn’t have the experience with said powers or numbers that our guys have.”

Clover avoided eye contact, “Incredible. I’ve never seen so many baseless assumptions in a single sentence, and I practically live through assumptions. First of all, he gains an animalistic understanding of the abilities he copies. ‘A spider doesn’t need to learn to spin a web’. And secondly-”

She looked up at him now, “What makes you think he’ll want their abilities?”

The door opened, and we were once again on Charlie’s work floor.

“I’d say he’ll only want three abilities, the ones he’ll need to take to live.”

Despite Clover being the one who made the plan, we were left in the dark as to what those powers actually were, we’d only given them a few good ideas, I think. It’s not that Clover’s power had given her any clue what was happening, she just said the first few things that came to mind and it just happened to mean something to them.

There was again, a droning ring from the agents' phones.

“They’ve made land fall.”

Bob nodded, “I’ll patch the picture through to some nearby monitors.”

Hunter kept that spiteful smile, “You know cleaner Parker, I don’t trust either of these kids. But I actually think you’re incapable enough that you hadn’t a clue who they were when you brought them here. So, let me spell this out for you. Do not give them our visual.”

Bob turned around, “You felt that rumble Hunter, how long do you think it’ll be until he collapses this tower?”

Hunter stormed after him as Bob made his way to the room we would watch the fight in, “As soon as his friends are out of the city. Why else would he let out that tremor, other than to let somebody know he was here.”

Bob sent the multiple feeds to the monitors, Charlie had drifted off to find something, Hunter began to waver between his duty of protecting the VIPU, and his hot-headed hatred of Bob.

He finally pointed, “Do not let them watch it, Parker!”

As soon as he turned the corner Bob started it up.

It was a channel between Administration, and the twenty-seven body cams issued to those on the mission.

The first one that came up was a suit piloted by an Agent Pilkington.

They circled around Chandler, the majority of the Lindenberg suits coming to a stop in the ruins of a façade building that had blown up in smoke.

“Target spotted. Bergs one-through-eleven landing in the East.”

Ali replied, “Twenty-two stick with his majesty, cloak yourself in the aura of the radio tower, that’ll render you invisible to his monster senses. Can’t speak for whatever other tricks he’s got up his sleeves.”

“Copied, sir.”

“Twelve-through-twenty-one, move in on vantage points in the N-W-S, in case he tries to escape into Urban sprawl.”

“Berg’s Twenty-three-through-twenty-five... engaging.”

The feed cut to four screens, two agents I didn’t know, Ali, and Aayan was being carried in, without armor.

Almost every member of the strike squad was outfitted in mech suits, I thought they were Axel’s, but apparently there made by a one of the Internationals’ guys, the Unit that was sitting at the briefing, the one that didn’t stand out enough for me to look into them any deeper.

They used jets and anti-grav for flight, and equipped with a couple missiles and conventional fire arms. They stood no taller than the length of a car.

The three that were engaging from the front opened with a barrage of bullets, so as to not give Jack any cover to possibly hide behind.

I observed him from four perspectives, despite this, I could hardly make out any details, his clothes were obviously made for a hot-dry environment.

There was a sudden sweep of his foot, and the cameras shook; that black smoke erupted from his feet.

One of the agents cameras fell away, the sound of clashing metal rang out as he was struck from the available members of the squad.

The other two rose above, Ali picking up Aayan.

“Creh-umha, visual!”

Isaac pontified in response, “Yes, he’s still on the ground, not moving at an inhuman speed. Our ally is dead. I have a shot; he appears to be waiting for us to make the next move.”

“Hold of,” said someone from Admin, “We still don’t know that he can’t copy your suit.”

Isaac hypothesised, letting his character get the better of him, “I don’t believe he can. If I were to take this shot, I believe he’d simply gain the schematics of the Shaul of Brig-”

Ali yawned, “Tell us where to aim, your majesty.”

Isaac grumbled out a position, and the two shot out half a dozen missiles at their target. The shock wave alone shattered a city block, from the black smoke erupted fire, like nothing I've ever seen before.

I thought back on the Gator, it had destroyed an area around the same size, though I hadn’t seen it like this before.

I’ve said this a lot, but it was the realisation that I was so small, that’s what impacted me most.

The two that were engaged circled the fire, until it faded. There was only that black smoke.

“His ability is still active,” noted an agent.

Ali had a chipper tone in his voice, “Oh whatever, we’re not getting anywhere with ranged attacks, like the Mountain girl said.”

With that he dipped down, Aayan’s scream was cut out by a draft of air on the outside, Ali’s laughter was unfiltered.

He landed directly in the shadow.

“Alright, I've done my thing. With any luck, he hasn’t noticed any difference.”

It was at this point that Ali used his ability, though it wasn’t shown by the camera’s.

“He knows me and Aayan are Units, so he’ll be cautious,” you could practically hear Ali’s smile.

Aayan was recovering.

Ali set him down, “You’ve gotta get a grip, man. You want that pay cut, right?”

Aayan regained his composure, his panic turning to hunger. He and Isaac had been offered compensation for aiding in this fight. I’d have done it for free, if both Clover and the squad hadn’t discouraged the idea.

I was bidding my time.

On the complete opposite side of the battle field, up north, there was a new plume of smoke and buildings toppled, this was shown by Berg fifteen.

“He took the bait. Get’em boys,” Ali blasted forward, the smoke in the area he had landed in fading. Aayan was left behind, he still needed to psyche himself up.

Finally, one of the Berg’s landed a definite blow on him.

Though the reason for its ineffectiveness was revealed in the same instant.

Suddenly, a giant black blade materialised, whipping out. It was like a great lizard's tail, but large and metallic.

I recognised it as the Gator’s.

As it swung out, the rest of the machines body manifested.

“That’s one of Right’s robots,” shouted an agent, Admin replied, “The Gator has been categorised as a Unit. Clover’s information has held true.”

I wondered how they met, if he might have any of the Circuit Boards other powers stored.

It gnashed its teeth down on another Berg, shattering more buildings with its tail.

By this point, four of the Bergs had been destroyed, four people had been killed.

Some of them unloaded their missiles into the dark Gator, it did damage, but after de materialising, and rematerializing the head and arm, it was regenerated. It was moving quickly, recklessly, as it could afford to trip over it’s self, swatting gnats out of the air.

“It’s alright,” affirmed Ali, “Back up. Give him some more space, focus fire on the stomach. We’ve discovered three of his abilities, we’re half way there.”

They did as commanded, though he blocked most of the attacks with his arms and tail, he didn’t make any rash advances on the retreating Burgs.

He threw himself to the ground, using it to the part of the ship that housed his real body.

The black smoke dissipated, and the Gator’s engines went dead.

“Ah, shit. Maybe we should’ve been more aggressive...”

Ali dove down, standing at the creature's side. He gave it some thought. “Three, thirteen, and nine, approach from the opposite side as me.”

They did as they were told, one of them unleashing a couple blasts to breach the hull.

“Be careful not to get fused with it if he suddenly decides to reform that thing. Who knows if he can do that.”

They had entered the living quarters, using their built-in flood lights to guide them through the dark.

“It’s empty,” admitted Isaac, “I don’t know how, but he’s disappeared from my sensors. He was there when he landed, I can tell you that much, he curled into a ball where you three are right now.”

Then the Gator dematerialized.

A fissure was formed, both from the general damage to the area, the caving in of the disappearing metal, and whatever actions Jack Chandler had taken.

One of them managed to back out before the ground ceased their mobility, the other two were at his mercy.

One still had a gun arm free, firing on the target. It did nothing, he simply manifested a portion of the Gator directly in front of him, acting as a shield.

Jack managed to get too close to the gunner for them to fire.

It was at this point that Ali descended into the pit, looking to engage in melee rather than riddle his peers with bullets.

Somehow, it wasn’t entirely clear due to him being out of the camera frame, but Jack managed to break into the cockpit.

It was at this point he used his fourth known ability.

The agent that had nearly gunned him down, screamed out for a second before the audio cut off.

Both pilots that had fallen into the pit went silent, their names being struck from the list.

Just before Ali could grab at the entombed mech, there was a tremor, and the black smoke erupted from the fissure.

Jack did engage in melee with the mech, the camera shut off, and Ali was forced to use the last of his missiles to blast himself out of the darkness. He was flung just over the ledge, stabilising himself just forego any damage to himself, the same can’t be said for his armour.

Two more came down, “Ali, you okay?”

“He still on me?”

“He’s still in the pit. Seems he barely had time to react to that blast of yours,” replied Isaac.

“It would seem whatever seismic ability he has is not limited to the ground, it appears to be able to interfere with my sensors, and it does correlate with the usage of that fog, though, that it’s self does not hinder my abilities to-”

Ali kicked his cockpit open, I ignored whatever Isaac was trying to communicate. He wouldn’t be jabbering on for much longer, however.

Jack spoke out.

“You’re name is Typhus Ali, though you ask people to call you M.D. Ali. You like how it rolls off the tongue, and it speaks more to your personal accomplishments, your pride. You roped two other Units into this Isaac Creh-umha, who is currently over at that tower, waiting for the right time to shoot me. Along with that man standing off to my right, Aayan. He’s just some guy who wanted to live in peace, cursed with being a Unit, and thus roped into this mission.”

He pulled himself out of the fissure, the black forming behind him as he walked, “That’s why I'm going to kill him first.”

He looked up to the sky, “I couldn’t care less about the ignorant among you, they pose little to no threat to me. Fly away, and I will not come for you. I’m only here to @#$$$#%@[email protected]!!$#%^&%.”

I couldn’t understand what he was saying at the end of that sentence, nobody did. The Channeler picked up on this. He sighed, “I’m here to hold someone accountable. You’re just stepping stones.”

He was coming closer into view of the cameras, though I doubted I'd be able to get a good look at him.

“That was the objective. But now there is something else I'd like to do, if at all possible.”

He turned Eastward, towards the tower, “I’d like to find the informant. The woman I stole these short term memories form wasn’t a high enough rank to know the identity of whoever told you to use these strategies.”

Clover put a finger to her mouth.

“And even if it was the King himself, I’d gladly look him in the as I rip him apart.”

Clover tsked in response, “Fucking Jack, damn wildcard...”

I focused on the video again trying to make note of his abilities, Ali was doing the same.

“The hell are you rambling on for? We know four or five of your abilities now, Gator, the smoke crap which might be the same as those tremors, mind reading from all that shit talking, and you copied my ability or else you’d be facing the wrong way.”

He continued his walk forward, and despite him being only a few meters away, I couldn’t make out his face, just the scar.

“It isn’t mind reading. It’s a mind link, except, it wasn’t made for me, my mind is-”

They opened fire, he sunk back into the shadows.

I couldn’t hear anything, there was a rumble that reached all the way to the city centre.

Clover slapped on the side, “Now would be a good time to gather everyone up.”

I ran through the floor as fast as I could, completely believing her.

I didn’t catch whatever happened next but I felt the room shudder, I soon came across Hunter, who pulled a pistol on me.

I put my hands up defensively, though I doubt it would have done if he’d fired it.

“Charlie!!!” I tried to shout over the rumbling, I doubt she heard me, but Hunter did.

“Goddamn,” he cursed. After lowering the gun, he split off from me to find her.

I had a feeling that whatever was going to happen next, it wasn’t going to be on the level of an earth quake, or a Gator dropping, they’d already done that much damage, and it was clear that The Channeler had just been biding his time, waiting for an opening to gain info on his opponents, whether their abilities were worth the trouble.

Now, the city was screaming out.

What could be worse?

I found her she was stuck to the roof, remaining still. When she saw me walk in, she descended fast slamming into my arms.

I don’t know why, but when she hugged me tightly, I became far more afraid. It was the desperation, her fear, it made the structured complex we were sheltered by feel far more fragile.

I froze.

And it served to cost us.

There was a real tremor, not like the ground was quaking, not like we’d been hit with turbulence, we were being smashed into.

I was thrown off my feet, and for a second, I thought to let go of Charlie, but was gripped with a fear of the roof caving in.

Like it had on Valentine's day.

I didn’t hear her scream, I didn’t hear the walls blast open, the world went quiet.

All I could hear was my increasingly laboured breathing.

It took a slam into the wall to partially bring me back to my senses. I was afraid, but now I put my terror to action, I bowled under a counter, keeping her close to chest, trying to protect her.

And eventually, the shaking settled, as it was passing into the distance.

I was shaking, a smile barely passing my lips, “A-ah...” was the best I could manage.

Charlie looked up to me, nearly in tears.

“It’ll be okay.” I reassured, “You’ll be okay.”

Looking to the gaping maw, the entire city was on display. It had blown right through the wall, leaving a gape in the floor. The door I had come through was gone, a mesh of steel in its place.

She saw it now to, and was on the verge of crying out, she stuttered instead.

I cradled her, testing the floor as I looked out onto the city again.

Sirens began to blare from the streets below, and from inside.

I stared wide eyed at the starry sky, the sky was a dark cool colour, not night or day.

There was a robotic voice, “Babel is under attack by a high-end threat. All residents are urged to find shelter areas safe from threat include: Evacuation centres. North or South buffer zones. Sub complexes. It is heavily advised that you avoid the city centre. Threats include: Falling debris. Rioters. Unitary terrorist. Administration has been breached. Containment has been breached. Repeat; avoid Administration, it is a high priority target, and there is a high risk of captured Eighty-Ones escaping.”

I take one last look at the city, then up.

This was his fifth ability.

I saw that starry night fill with streaks, as the jewels of the night sky blasted down to earth.

Finally, Charlie screamed out at the cosmic horror in front of us.

A scar.