“Well, Mr. Fulgen, I think that’s all I have. Thank you for your time. Do you have any final questions for me before we wrap up?”

  “Yeah. How’s your healthcare?”

  “Uh… you of course will have full line of duty coverage and the benefit of our healer sorcerers while training or in the field. We also have multiple group plans available for general healthcare. But Mr. Fulgen, you’re a Guardian. Don’t you have regen and disease immunity skills?”

  “Psh. Typical. Any excuse not to cover stuff.”

  “Well Brick, that was fun the other day,” said Mantis. “Don’t get me wrong. But I still don’t see the point.”

  Brick’s gang was now holed up in a small abandoned warehouse in L9-L19, sublevel 3. It was in quite possibly the shittiest neighborhood the affluent upper levels had to offer. Far enough from the central government quad to be ignored by the powerful, far enough from the outer ring to be out of the way of the mansions and airports that saw the sun on the ninth level.

  Blackout and Whisper, playing cards at a nearby folding table, muttered something about how much fun they’d had. Frankly, Brick was surprised they hadn’t already run.

  For his own part, Brick ignored Mantis’s comment. They were in the main storage room of the warehouse. Brick and Mantis were at opposite sides of what had once been a freight elevator down to the basement level, now just an empty hole. He had both of the crew cases open, and he was resetting all of the PTB timers; the beacons needed a code input once a day, or they would deactivate permanently.

  However, he wasn’t merely going to reset all of them. He had one set aside. He would have to play this next hand carefully.

  “You must make it look like an accident,” Double M had whispered to him earlier. “Of course, I don’t need to tell you that. You know what she’ll do if she suspects.”

  Mantis raised her voice. “So I crippled one of them. Great. There’s still what, two dozen sorcerers over there? What’s the next step?”

  “I’ll tell you soon,” Brick said dismissively. Then he acted like he was absorbed in his task, though he moved with deliberate slowness. He wasn’t careless, and Mantis knew that. He wouldn’t just slip. It would be suspicious as hell. But if he ignored her long enough…

  Mantis hissed and scrambled over to him, brandishing her icy claws.

  “Brick!” she snapped.

  “Gah!” Brick’s grip slipped on the PTB he was holding. The black disc fell from his hands, rattled across the floor, and dropped down the empty elevator shaft.

  “Shit!” he yelled, and they both ran to look over the railing into the basement. The mercenaries, alarmed, scattered cards as they also rushed to look.

  The beacon pulsed up at them like a red heartbeat in the darkness below. It had been activated.

  “Break it!” Brick yelled!

  Mantis recovered from her shock and charged up an ice ball. The mercenaries drew their sidearms and fired at the small target. But it was too late, and they all knew it.

  There was a loud buzz, and Brick felt that familiar electrical feeling as the teleport activated. Nothing else happened. No grunt appeared in the beacon’s place. The device had misfired. A grunt had to be in position to teleport on the other end, which required sending another signal in advance on an extended mission like this.

  It didn’t matter though. The damage had been done. Activating the disc had bathed the area in energy. Any Elite in a wide sphere would instantly see the reading on their scanner. Hell, they were close enough that G-Tech headquarters might pick it up directly.

  “Oh no,” said Blackout. “Shit, shit, shit, this is what we get for working with Garrison thugs!”

  Brick whirled on Mantis. “What did you do?” he demanded.

  Mantis’s eyes bugged, and she took a step back. She seemed strangely hurt by the accusation. Were those… tears? Real tears? Was it even possible for someone like her to cry? Or even to fake it?

  She blinked and looked away. “You’re so mean, Brick,” she growled.

  Click. “Perfect,” Double M whispered. “Masterfully done. You’ll be free of her before you know it. Now the next step.”

  Brick chewed on his lip, pretending to think. “They’ll have detected that for sure. Snowcrest will be on their way. We have to turn this to our advantage!” He ran back to the crewcases and began clicking the prep signals on each beacon, letting the other end know to prepare nineteen grunts for summoning. “We have their dander up, and now we’ve called them to us. We might as well set a trap.”

  The mercenaries looked ill. Brick just grinned at Mantis. “How would you like to kill a Guardian today, Mantis?”

  Mantis nodded slowly, and her characteristic sadistic excitement began to creep back into her expression. “Right. If we get Eisner they’ll only have one Guardian left. They’ll have to send him to us. Brick, you’re a genius! But how am I supposed to kill him? He can absorb ice aether!”

  Brick smiled smugly. “Ever hear of a thing called ‘absorption feedback?’”

  Congratulations, sorcerer. You have upgraded from Fire Guardian Acolyte, Tier 2 Level 20, to Fire Guardian Journeyman, Tier 3 Level 1. You have unlocked the following class skills: Guardian Oath, Bind Patron, Skill Consumption. Most skills may now be upgraded to Tier 3.

  I sometimes pretend to be an egomaniac for comic effect. The truth is—and maybe you’ve gotten a hint of this by now—I struggle. I feel inadequate, a lot. I feel like an imposter.

  So I hope it carries some weight that I was feeling like an absolute freaking beast as I concluded my tier 3 promotion.

  My training under Valery was no small part of my success, I’ve got to give her that. In fact, the gains from hitting the advanced gym and endless sessions on the roof and in the practice rooms netted me more stats than my levelups and my tier up bonuses combined. All told, I got most of my stats above the coveted 150 mark, and even my heavily penalized resilience stat finally broke 100. Most of my stats had also reached tier 2, with a couple of my favorites already approaching their tier 3 promotion.

  All in all, this is what I looked like on the day I went to Marin and told her to bring it on:

  

  Class: Fire Guardian Journeyman

  Level: Tier 3 Level 1

  Class Points: 3

  Levels to ascend to next tier: 30

  Class Points to ascend to next tier: 8

  Basic Stats

  Might: 156

  Alacrity: 156

  Resilience: 101

  Arcane: 160

  Vitalis: 150

  Essence: 104

  Fire, Combat

  Concussive Fireball: Tier 2 Level 14; Focused

  Feverflame: Tier 2 Level 3; Universal

  Fireball: Tier 2 Level 11; Aim Assisted

  Immolate: Tier 2 Level 13; Multipart

  Rocket Thruster: Tier 2 Level 18; Imbued

  Torch: Tier 2 Level 14; Sustained

  Fire, Support

  Command Fire: Tier 1 Level 8

  Contrite Heal Burns: Tier 1 Level 3

  Heat Sense: Tier 1 Level 5

  Imbue Armor, Fire: Tier 2 Level 6; Enhanced

  Imbue Weapon, Fire: Tier 2 Level 8; Enhanced

  Fire, Passive

  Fire Absorption: Tier 2 Level 3; Squeeze

  Fire Contact Protection: Tier 2 Level 2; Extended

  Rekindled Flame: Tier 2 Level 4; Desperate

  Spice Absorption: Tier 2 Level 7; Slow Burn

  Physical, Support

  Minor Heal Other: Tier 1 Level 1

  Physical, Passive

  Guardian’s Immunity: Tier 1 Level 3

  Life Support: Tier 1 Level 8

  Muscle Memory: Tier 2 Level 3; Diverse

  Physical Enhancement: Tier 2 Level 6; Uncapped, Burst

  Regeneration: Tier 2 Level 3; Enhanced

  Skidstick Expertise: Tier 2 Level 18

  Spear Aptitude: Tier 2 Level 1; Impact

  Meta, Support

  Coat Check: Tier 1 Level 7

  Elevation: Tier 1 Level 1

  Skill Consumption: Tier 1 Level 1

  Meta, Passive

  Bind Armor: Tier 2 Level 5; Enhanced

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Bind Patron: Tier 1 Level 1

  Bind Weapon: Tier 2 Level 6; Fragment

  Guardian Oath: Tier 1 Level 1

  Guardian’s Resistance: Tier 1 Level 5

  Lecti Avatar: Tier 2 Level 2; Social

  Legacy: Tier 4 Level 38

  ?Ok Habby, hit me with it. What are these new perks??

  [Skill Consumption will allow you to gradually phase out a skill to learn and level a different skill you qualify for. It’s probably a good thing to do with Spear Aptitude. Bind Patron will allow you to select a patron Shone. That’s a big deal. We know you’ll be allowed to select Gibermo, who gave you your Spice Absorption. I know if I encourage you to choose Polkar, your predecessor’s patron, you’ll choose someone else just for spite. Still, I would encourage you to consider a fire-affined Shone.

  [Guardian’s Oath is… well, it’s tricky. It will be required for you to share and combine abilities with other Guardians. It will eventually be required for you to progress further. For some reason I seem to be closed off to additional information about it. It would surely be in Issa’s memories. Damn. It must be a puzzle by design. Perhaps you can ask Chris about it?]

  ?Is Shone binding a rush??

  [You mean, will it help you with your upcoming duel? Not likely. The Shone you choose will give you exclusive skills, quests, achievements, and other boons that will help you grow in power over the long term. It will not help you today.]

  ?Okay then. Procrastination it is.?

  I opened my eyes. I was in Valery Drake’s office next to the gym. It smelled vaguely of sweat. The muscular woman herself was staring intently at me.

  “Well?” she asked.

  I grinned at her. “Call Marin and crack open your finest protein shake, Valery. G-Tech has a new tier 3.”

  Nineteen grunts stood arrayed before Brick and his gang, freshly summoned and ready for orders. Their dark armor gleamed in the dim light of the warehouse.

  “All right,” said Brick. He pointed toward a door at the side of the main room. “Office complex and public entrance are that way. Loading docks behind us. There are multiple emergency exits with stairwells leading to the basement. I want them all covered, with a concentration in this room where we’ll make our stand.”

  The soldiers quickly conferred, made assignments, and dashed off to different areas of the facility, their armor swishing.

  “I’m sorry,” Brick said to their backs.

  A few of them paused momentarily, but they kept going without looking back.

  It was a dangerous thing to say, he knew. If they reacted too much to sentiment, showed any signs that emotion could cloud their judgment, their handlers would trip the failsafe and they’d crumple to the floor, instantly dead. But he felt like he had to say something.

  What drove these men? They were likely dead no matter what. Following orders would only delay things. Were they trying to win something for someone else? Maybe family they’d long since run away from?

  Like him?

  “Meaner than me even now,” said Mantis as she watched their soldiers disperse. “You actually think it makes you better than me, doesn’t it? That you feel bad about doing this to them?”

  Brick shot her a glare. “I didn’t say that.”

  “Yeah,” said Mantis absently. “I bet you were patting yourself on the back over that too.”

  “Not much longer, Brick,” said Double M. “Soon you won’t have to deal with her anymore. You’ll move on to greater things.”

  Brick, for his own part, encouraged his anger at the woman to fester. She killed without cause or reason. She only left him alive because she had a metaphorical knife at her back, and in the meantime, she found other ways to torment him. By reminding him what he had become.

  Even so, something about that reasoning felt horribly wrong. She could, conceivably, have found a way to kill him and feign self defense. She had kept her word not to try to seduce him again. But the damnedest thing of all was that Mantis trusted him in her own twisted way. She saw him, and even their mercenaries, safely through every job. If the word “friend” was anywhere in her vocabulary, he was about as close as she came to having one.

  Now, in the end, who was going to betray who?

  “You’re meaner than me.”

  He shook his head. This had to happen. It would be fine. He was doing the world a favor today.

  Sirens sounded in the distance.

  “All right,” Brick said. “Are you ready for this?”

  Mantis nodded. “I remember them touching on feedback when I was learning my own artifact. You’re sure I can trigger it?”

  Brick nodded. That much was absolutely true. “It’s too much of a good thing. You can only absorb so much at once. Overload him and he’ll hit equilibrium, spending all the aether he gains to protect himself from the excess. Push him even further and the ice will start hurting him despite his ‘immunity.’ The weaker he gets, the less he’ll be able to absorb. He’ll go downhill quickly after that.”

  Mantis grinned. It was a bloodthirsty, chilling, inhuman grin. It reduced the pangs in Brick’s conscience, if only by a little.

  “Then let’s do it,” she said.

  ?Brandon Luxford? Ambassador team captain??

  [Lost two out of two, but they were close. His fighting style has no surprises.]

  ?Junpei Lin??

  [Won one out of three matches.]

  I flipped through a printout of G-Tech’s team rosters as I sat outside Marin’s office, waiting for her to be available. At this point I’d sparred with most of G-Tech multiple times. Several were poorly suited to one-on-one combat. The healers. Tala Nez, who depended on her wolf pet to fight for her. Even the Shirogane twins from Team Ambassador, who relied on stealth and long range–neither of which were available in the small training rooms.

  Out of the rest, if I hadn’t beaten them at least once already, I’d fought them to a draw or had barely lost. While I didn’t want to overestimate my growth, I could only imagine a close match when I was tier 2 would mean a win now.

  [What about Thighs?]

  ?What’s that supposed to…? Oh, you mean Valery herself? Yeah, that’s a thought. She’s technically a member of Team Bastion after all.?

  [Oh, is she? How did I miss that?]

  ?Because you miss almost everything when she’s around. I don’t think we’ve seen her spar, but her aether is purely physical as far as I know. She’d have to get in close to hit me. Still, I bet she’s deceptively fast. Plus, I wouldn’t put it past her to tank a fireball to the face just to reach me. Yeah, she’d be a brutal contender.?

  [I kind of hope it’s Valery.]

  ?Whose side are you on??

  “Mr. Fulgen?”

  I jerked, dropping my printouts, then looked up to see Marin standing over me, a note of consternation on her face.

  “Everything all right, boss?” I asked as I gathered my papers back up.

  “We detected a PTB going off about twenty minutes ago on level 9, about a mile from here. And we’ve just detected several more.”

  “The Garrison?”

  She nodded grimly. “Most likely. They’ve gotten desperate or sloppy, perhaps preparing for a full frontal assault of HQ. I’ve already deployed Snowcrest.”

  I nodded, frustration and worry boiling up within me. There Chris and Jessie were going again, punching bad guys without me.

  “I just hope there won’t be any further mishaps.” she said tiredly.

  “Yeah, me too. Do we need to postpone?”

  “No, I don’t think so. We’re monitoring their status, and we have over a dozen Elites moving in to support. I expect to hear good news within a couple of hours. Speaking of which, I understand congratulations are in order, Mr. Fulgen. Tier 3, and with several days to spare? That’s quite an accomplishment.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “That’s the Legacy perk, I guess.”

  “I hear you also synthesized a skill in near record time.”

  I shrugged. “Skid brawling is already as easy as breathing for me. It only makes sense...”

  Marin placed a hand on my shoulder, startling me. “And was it ‘easy as breathing’ for you when you were born?”

  “Well, no. But I took to skidding–”

  “Give yourself some damn credit. For all the trouble you’ve given us, it’s the least you can do.” She pointed at my stack of papers. “What are those?”

  “Just cramming,” I said. “I’m still at a loss on who you’re going to pit me against, so I’m reviewing what I know about all the sorcerers.”

  She smirked. “That’s a very good practice, Mr. Fulgen. Unfortunately it won’t do you any good today. Shall we head downstairs?”

  What the hell did that mean? Would this be an outside sorcerer? Someone I’d never met? No, she’d said it would be someone in G-Tech. What the hell, then?

  “Sure,” I said, feeling anything but confident.

  Jessie studied the old warehouse. It was a long brick of a building. Half a dozen loading bays around back, locked tight. The old public entrance was positioned opposite the main storeroom, and there were regularly spaced side doors.

  She was reminded, vaguely, of the warehouse where Squid Lannahan had his nightclub, on that night months ago that had started all this insanity. She remembered seeing Red on the roof, chasing him down, following him through his mad jump onto the high speed train. Realizing it was Jett Fulgen all along, all grown up yet still a lost child.

  But that building had been refurbished, neon signs marking its new purpose. This place, if anything, was in worse repair than it had any right to be.

  It looked haunted.

  “Thoughts, everyone?” asked Chris.

  “There were a lot of beacon pulses back to back, right?” Jessie asked.

  “Yeah,” said Fu through her suit’s speaker. “I think they blew their whole clowncar wad.”

  “They used four beacons a few days back,” said Junpei. “There were more than just eight pulses, so we have to assume up to twenty soldiers plus four sorcerers.”

  Tala Nez said, “The two new ones aren’t Garrison and don’t seem to be fighters, but they both have stealth skills. Sora can help sniff them out, but we’ll need to be careful.”

  “I can jump up to the roof, try to sneak in from there,” said Lina Feng. She was their loaner from Team Cyclone to help replace Tessa Vale, though her skills were more about jumping and acrobatics than raw speed. “Get the jump on grunts on the upper floors or catwalks.”

  “No solo heroics this time,” Chris growled. “We don’t split up, not even to scout. That’s exactly how they got Tessa. I’m inclined to say we all go in at once. Fu and I will take point. Fu can tank bullets, and I can absorb most of what Mantis throws at us.”

  “Kidane and Tala behind you,” Jessie agreed. “Junpei and I hold up the rear, ready to support from range or stop an attack from behind. Lina provides melee support; she can break off for isolated targets if needed, and Sora and I can assist. Have the rest of the GPD menace the main entrance and loading docks, try to distract them.”

  “Does that good, everyone?” Chris asked the rest of the team.

  “Sounds good to me,” said Tala.

  “I am ready to avenge my sorcerer sister,” said Junpei.

  “Let’s do it,” said Lina.

  “Bee-Ho got it figured out,” said Fu.

  Jessie nodded, though she felt disquieted. Something about this whole setup didn’t feel right. “Let’s hope so.”

  “Hey Wall,” I said. He was waiting as Marin and I stepped off the elevator onto the second floor. My nerves were already getting frayed. The second floor mainly had the exhibition practice rooms connected to conference rooms. Plus the one that looked out on the cafeteria. That one was there to impress visitors. It was there for matches that demanded an audience.

  “Hey Jett,” Wally said, sounding just as nervous as I felt. “Quite a crowd down the hall.”

  “Is there?” I glanced at Marin. “Anyway, you heard about Snowcrest?”

  “Yeah, the alarm buzzed in the workshop and Fu moved like she was in a pit crew. She suited up and tromped out of there in less than three minutes. She’s—well, she’s always Fu scary. Bewildering, weird jokes, chucks wrenches on a whim, you know. But when she locks in, holy crap, then she’s just scary scary.”

  I nodded. “That must be why she and Jessie are friends.”

  “Well,” said Marin, “now you know why we keep her on the payroll. Let’s keep walking, Mr. Fulgen.”

  We stepped into the cafeteria, which was fuller than I’d seen it during most lunch rushes. A large group of G-Tech employees, sorcerer and otherwise, had gathered. The glass wall of the exhibition room was already exposed.

  Team Ambassador, who always seemed to have enough free time to show up for this kind of thing, was in full attendance. Brandon Luxford gave me a big thumbs up. He was holding, I shit you not, a tub of popcorn. Tina Mariposa, the cheerful curvaceous healer, blew me a kiss with a wink. Dante was being Dante.

  There were also representatives from all of the other teams, I realized, Snowcrest excluded. Valery was here, of course, representing Bulwark. I recognized Tara Strickland, the lieutenant of Team Cyclone, whom I’d beaten once in two matches. And I saw Colin Rusk, the Runesmith from Team Dominion who spent most of his time in the workshop. He looked annoyed to be there. Was this some kind of scouting effort in case I won?

  I scanned the room, trying to spot any unfamiliar faces who looked dressed for a fight. Nothing stood out to me. However, I did see Catalina Castillo, the PR agent, sitting at a table near the glass wall, essentially in a front row seat. She had her tablet out.

  “Yeah, this is quite a turnout,” I muttered.

  “Indeed,” said Marin. “More than I expected. I suppose in the end, Mr. Fulgen, you chose to surround yourself with notoriety. Enjoy what comes with it.”

  We crossed the cafeteria toward the back corner, and Marin opened an unassuming door. It was like an airlock. Just a short hallway connecting the cafeteria to another door that opened into the practice room.

  “All right, Mr. Fulgen,” said Marin. Are you ready?”

  I shrugged. “I guess, but where the hell is my… opponent?”

  I heard a cracking noise and turned, slightly startled, to realize it was Marin popping her own neck. She rolled her shoulders and stretched.

  Then Isabel Marin, CEO of G-Tech, who had to be pushing sixty, carefully removed her sensible heels and placed them against the wall. She shrugged off her suit jacket, exposing the unmistakable blue-trimmed grey sleeves of a G-Tech sorcerer uniform sticking out from beneath her blouse, which she also began to unbutton.

  “No,” I said.

  [No.]

  Habby popped into place beside my head, and we spoke the next words at the same time.

  “No freakin’ way.”