Chapter 160

  Multiple footsteps echoed up the stairwell, accompanied by low voices. Alexander remained where he was, arms crossed behind his head, watching the stars. His senses, supported by Hyperawareness, tracked the group. Two remained downstairs. Seven bioelectrical signals approached.

  All of them tense.

  A tall figure emerged first, moving with deliberate control. Mid-twenties, dark skin, close-cropped hair, and a lean build. A pistol sat holstered at his hip. His eyes found Alexander immediately and held there.

  Behind him came two others with rifles. The first was maybe nineteen, built solid and gripping his weapon like it made him more important. The second was older, with a scar cutting across his jaw. He carried his rifle with more experience but no less suspicion.

  They moved to flank Alexander and the vehicle.

  Zane and Allie followed. Two more came last, hanging back and looking like they wanted to be anywhere else.

  The leader stopped a few meters from the SUV. “Thank you for helping Zara and Zane—”

  Alexander nodded without turning his attention from the night sky.

  “—but why are you here?” the man finished.

  “I’m visiting New York on guild business. Just wanted to take in the sights. See what superhumans are like out this way.” Alexander sat up, turning to face the man he assumed was Jason. “When I saw those two were in trouble, I helped. Then I figured I’d make sure they got back safe. And I’m curious about people like you who live in the Scar.”

  Jason’s expression didn’t change. “What do you want?”

  “Just to talk. Understand what you’re doing out here.” Alexander gestured toward the man. “Take you, for example. How long have you lived here?”

  The younger of the two with rifles stepped forward, the barrel of his weapon rising. “We’re asking the questions!”

  Jason raised a hand, and the kid stopped in place, though the weapon remained pointed directly at Alexander.

  Alexander reached out with a thought. The trigger locked in place and the barrel began to lower, slowly and inexorably, until it pointed at the ground.

  The kid tried to force it back up the whole time. His arms shook with the effort, his face steadily reddening.

  Jason noticed. His gaze flicked between Alexander and the struggling man, then his eyes met Alexander’s. “Stop pointing that at our guest,” he said quietly.

  The guy’s jaw clenched, glaring. But he stopped struggling to raise the rifle.

  Alexander released his hold over the weapon.

  Jason scratched the back of his head. “Maybe we can trade questions. That’s fair, yeah?”

  “Sounds good,” Alexander said.

  Jason studied him for a moment. “Some of us have been here since the incident three years back. Most came later though, after the System said we could get powers from being close to supes.”

  “Why’d you even help them?” The question came from someone in the back. “Ain’t you like a serious supervillain?”

  Alexander grinned. “That’s the best part about being one, though. I do whatever I want.”

  Zane and the two unknowns at the back laughed. Jason and the older gunman shared a look, hints of a smirk playing across their faces as some of the tension eased.

  “My turn,” Alexander said. “What are your plans if you awaken powers?”

  The responses came quickly, overlapping.

  “Join a guild.”

  “I’m gonna get rich.”

  “Merc work.”

  Jason shrugged. “I don’t know yet.”

  Zane spoke up. “Do you know what power Zara got? Like, what she can actually do?”

  Alexander shook his head. “She hit me with roots and vines. Could be conjuration, could be manipulation. Might be a broader nature power. They don’t always show their full scope right away.”

  That set off excited chatter. Half of them talking over each other about what powers they wanted and what they’d do with them.

  Alexander waited for them to quiet down. “You’ve all reached superhuman status already. Attribute-wise, at least.”

  The talking stopped.

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  “Which means you’ve all touched on Tier 2,” Alexander added. “Though you already knew that.”

  Several of them exchanged glances.

  The scarred man narrowed his eyes. “How you know that?”

  “Did Zane tell you?” the aggressive one shouted, but didn’t raise the weapon again.

  Zane shouted back. “I didn’t tell him nothin’!”

  Alexander raised a hand in what he hoped was a calming gesture. “Nobody told me anything. My powers let me pick up a lot of information.”

  “You’re the Machine God, not the People God,” said the scarred man.

  “People and machines have a lot in common when you get down to it. I can sense bioelectrical signals in people.” He tapped his left temple with a cybernetic finger. “People with ascended mental attributes have enhanced activity in the brain. Physical ascension shows throughout the body.”

  “So we all got powers then?” Allie asked.

  Alexander shook his head. “You’ve all got enhanced attributes. But only two of you have actually awakened.”

  That caused everyone to freeze.

  Then chaos. Everyone spoke at once, voices rising, questions overlapping into incomprehensible noise.

  “Who?”

  “How do you know?”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Does that mean the rest of us won’t get powers?”

  Alexander waited for them to settle. When they didn’t, he raised his voice slightly. “Zara is one of them, of course.”

  They fell quiet.

  Alexander turned to look at Jason. “The other is you.”

  The man pointed at himself, confused. “I don’t have any powers. My status doesn’t show anything either.”

  “You do. I can sense the difference,” Alexander said. “If you don’t know, it just means you haven’t expressed them yet.”

  One of those at the back stepped forward, desperation clear in his voice. “What about the rest of us?”

  “I don’t know. The System doesn’t tell us much.” Alexander took a breath. “We’re patching together what we experience and learn into assumptions, just like you.”

  He looked at each of them in turn. “There could be a few issues. Either your soul reinforcement failed, or your Willpower is too low.” He paused. “Though I doubt it’s the latter. Surviving out here and chasing this hope despite the danger… that takes a measure of Will.”

  “Then what?” The question came from Allie.

  “It’s possible that awakening can just fail even if you meet all the other requirements. Lots of people fail when taking the serum. Maybe proximity awakening works the same way. Maybe the System decided you weren’t ready. Perhaps your Dream isn’t clear enough yet.” He shrugged. “I don’t have those answers.”

  The weight of that settled over them.

  Jason’s expression was unreadable. “That’s not what we wanted to hear.”

  “I know.”

  “Well, thanks anyway.” He held out his hand. “I’m Jason.”

  Alexander took it. “Alexander.”

  Jason glanced over his shoulder, then back at Alexander. “You want to come inside? Continue this conversation somewhere warmer?”

  Alexander slid off the hood. “Sure.”

  ***

  Hours of interrogation had left Alexander more exhausted than the day he lost his arm. If he’d known ahead of time what he was getting himself into, he might have let the ceiling fall on Zara and Zane.

  Maybe.

  He flew back toward Brooklyn as the sun broke over the horizon. Droney kept pace beside him, while the rest of the drones fanned out ahead at street level. Behind him, the Scar faded into the distance. Ahead, the city proper waited, already beginning to stir with morning traffic.

  The ‘gang’ had questioned him about everything. Powers. The System. Grimnir. The tournament. His arm. Annie…

  Two of the young men were fight fans. They’d all but begged for her autograph.

  Jason’s questions mostly revolved around how he might wield his unknown power. Alexander had hesitated to share his own journey of power discovery, which mostly involved risking life and limb.

  In the end, he advised patience and offered to get back to him with ideas instead.

  Alexander, in turn, learned more about the group.

  As Zane had mentioned, most were survivors of the day the Scar happened. They’d shared their stories with him, though Alexander didn’t particularly wish to recall the details. Some had been ‘lucky’ enough that their school rested outside the immediate blast radius of the attack that had killed nearly everyone else. Others didn’t have an explanation for their survival, instead describing with absent looks and whispered words the horror-filled aftermath.

  During the discussion, Alexander had mentally added a therapist to the list of personnel Grimnir needed to hire.

  Jason was the odd man out. While his family passed during the same event as the others, the twenty-three-year-old had been at university in another state. Electrical engineering. After a brief trip home to manage his family’s affairs, Jason had gone back to university to finish his degree.

  He’d returned to the Scar after the System made its announcement about gaining powers through proximity. And only after realizing that something stranger than normal was going on with the government and corporations restricting access to the serum.

  Jason was also responsible for many of the illegal electricity taps Alexander had sensed across the area. After joining the group, he’d offered his services to many of the surrounding gangs as a means of ensuring his own small collective was safe.

  Their reasons for pursuing power were… normal, if Alexander were being honest. Power for power’s sake. A desire for a better life. Some imagined themselves heroes. Or villains.

  All of it was familiar.

  By the time he’d realized dawn was approaching, they’d moved on to discussing everything from favorite foods to conspiracy theories about AEGIS. Alexander had offered to return sometime over the next few days, which had been met with varying levels of enthusiasm. Zane and the two fight fans had practically vibrated with excitement. Jason and Allie were more measured, but clearly pleased. The aggressive rifleman had just grunted.

  The sun climbed higher as he flew. Daylight meant exposure.

  He tightened the angle of his approach, heading for the hotel he’d settled on earlier. Close to the lawyer’s office.

  Movement caught his attention in the distance.

  Another flier.

  Alexander’s powers swept outward, sensing for anything about the figure. And were immediately deflected.

  His eyes narrowed. That was new. His senses had worked on everyone so far, even without conscious effort. For someone to block him entirely could only mean one of two things.

  They either had a power specifically designed to counter detection. Or they were actively defending themselves with their Will.

  Then he felt it. A wash of foreign energy swept over him, probing, subtle enough that he suspected most people wouldn’t have detected it.

  Alexander’s own Will flared instinctively, rebuffing the intrusion.

  The figure changed course, angling directly toward him. Moving fast.

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