“Sometimes people ask me, ‘Hey Jett, isn’t skidding dangerous?’ I worry about those people. If you need an insider opinion on whether skidding is dangerous you shouldn’t be trusted with a can opener.”

  Something was different about this chase. It wasn’t just that I was being pursued by a mob of enraged fellow skidpunks in addition to my usual escort of squad cars. No, someone back there actually knew what they were doing.

  The other racers were disappearing one by one. We were all zooming down ramps, bridges, and ring roads around the edges of cells, not wanting to get bogged down or trapped in a grid of narrower urban streets. Every minute or so I would hear a hollow buzzing sound, like a beam from a sci-fi movie. I chanced a glance back to see that was basically what it was. One of the engineers, closing in on me with his face set in a rictus, suddenly flew backward as his body glowed. A jagged blue beam connected him to a police motorcycle, and he was drawn inexorably toward it.

  A freaking k-rifle. It was the same tech as my stick’s engine, using kinetic particles to move objects. But instead of pushing itself as my stick did, it could drag distant objects or people toward it like a tractor beam. And in the Grand City of Gigopolis there was only one force trained on and allowed to use a k-rifle. The GPD Elite.

  The Elites. Part S.W.A.T. team, part standing army, each one was loaded down with cyberpunk gadgets and had a three-rune band, if not something more. They were deployed for hostage situations, terrorist attacks, and to fight the increasing waves of deadly criminal sorcerers. One of my life goals–what any petty crook aspires to really–was to stay beneath their notice. Unfortunately, thanks to Troy Maddux’s stupid, stupid gun, I now had a giant target on my back.

  I glanced back again, and I saw her. Front wheel in the air like she was riding a rearing horse in a damn Western, she aimed the large gun at me. I saw its barrel glow with a light the same blue sheen as Bullet Train’s own wash.

  I immediately started evasive maneuvers, weaving back and forth, then zooming across all lanes to catch an exit without any warning. As I’d hoped, this stopped her from firing; accidentally snagging a random pedestrian or car in that beam could be dangerous. When I next glanced back the Elite had put the rifle in an oversized holster near the rear of her bike and was focused on trying to catch up to me. Good, now it was a fair fight. I’m pretty sure she actually nodded at me, as if in respect. I gave a mock salute and squeezed the throttle triggers harder.

  In the meantime, I coordinated with Wally. I came across few traffic signals on the city’s highways, but Wally was warning me away from road construction and a couple of police blockades. I grimaced. If they were starting to block roads already it could only mean they were trying to make a net around me. I needed to lose this chick and disappear into the night, and fast.

  “Still in pursuit of Red,” said Jessie over her helmet radio. “How many are left?”

  “I think Red’s the last one!” said Evan. “Good shooting back there!”

  Jessie glanced back. A squad car had pulled up alongside the last skid punk she’d stopped. Good.

  She faced forward and cursed. Red had entered a helix ramp leading down.

  The long sharply curving ramps were one of the quicker ways to transfer between levels in Gigopolis. Quick was relative, as they tended to be crowded. But for those fast enough and crazy enough, there was a way to avoid the traffic.

  Naturally, Red was both. He jumped, planted his feet on the ramp’s outer wall, and began to blaze down the ramp sideways, using centrifugal force.

  “Damn it! He’s riding the wall!”

  “I can’t follow!” said Evan. “Can you?”

  Jessie punched a series of buttons on her dashboard. “I’m on it. Regroup if you can find an alternate route. Otherwise, keep watching my position and coordinating with dispatch. We’re going to catch this bastard.”

  “Will do! Good luck!”

  Jessie entered the ramp and engaged her hover repulsor. The motorcycle lifted off the ground. She leaned to the side while angling the repulsor, and after a moment she felt her tires make contact with the outer wall of the ramp. She gunned the throttle and fixed her sights on the retreating Red.

  I was sure the helix ramp trick would lose my pursuer. I was quite disappointed when I looked back and saw the motorcycle riding sideways on the wall. Damn it, that was a skid trick! Cops weren’t allowed to steal it!

  “Wally,” I hissed, “this Elite cop has a freaking hoverbike!”

  “Neat!” said Wally. “Any observations?”

  “It makes it really easy for her to keep up with me, that’s my observation! I’ll tell you the details later, but right now I need an out! I need to go somewhere this crazy lady can’t, and I’m running out of ideas!”

  “Right, I’m on it.” There was a pause. “Ok, exit the ramp.”

  I’d descended to level 3, the city’s major industrial district. I leapt from the wall and slid back onto an elevated highway. Factories squatted in the cells, some releasing steam from stacks, some piping more noxious products through long pipes toward the edge of the city. If I could get onto one of those pipes… Was that Wally’s idea?

  “Turn right.”

  I obeyed, entering a factory cell. I started weaving again as I heard the cop powering up her rifle. I saw construction signs and barrels up ahead.

  “Wall, where are you taking me? This area has construction, it’ll slow me down.”

  “I know. That means no cops because they don’t think you’ll go this way. Take a slight left now. It’ll lead you to… well, you’ll see in a minute.”

  I loved a good surprise as much as the next guy, but I was questioning the timing.

  “Slow down a bit,” Wally warned.

  “Wally, she’s gaining on me!”

  “I have to get the timing right.”

  “The timing of what?!”

  Jessie had pulled within twenty feet of Red. He looked back, and his eyes bugged. Jessie couldn’t help a satisfied smirk. He glanced back again and seemed to look her over.

  “Eyes up, Red!” she yelled.

  “Hey!” Red protested, though his voice sounded flustered. “I’ve never seen an Elite up close! Excuse me for being curious!”

  “Pull over and I’ll answer all your questions!”

  “I’m good, thanks!”

  They crossed two more factory cells, and then Red suddenly veered right, entering a corridor between two factories. They passed a subway station, and then Jessie noticed something ahead: a large construction barrier blocking the road.

  “What the hell is this guy doing?” she muttered.

  “What the hell are you doing, Wally?” I demanded “The road’s closed ahead! I need to turn before then! Which way do I go?”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Don’t turn! Go straight!”

  “What the shit, Wally?! It’s the edge of the cell! It’s an unfinished bridge, you dolt!”

  Sure enough, there were concrete barriers and barrels stretching all the way across the highway, and an almost ridiculous number of signs saying “ROAD CLOSED,” “LONG DROP,” “DANGER: NO GUARDRAIL.” A few signs simply had stylized black skulls, just in case you were a skid engineer.

  “Jump the barriers and keep going!” said Wally.

  “Red?” yelled the cop. “Don’t do this!”

  I was starting to find merit in her recommendations.

  Wally became almost frantic. “You have to speed up, Jett! Trust me!”

  Well hell, when he put it like that.

  I leapt over the barriers. I heard the cop curse behind me, but I also heard the whoosh of her repulsors firing. She wasn’t giving up yet.

  “Should I charge the burst capacitor?” I asked.

  “Uh… shoot. Well, if you’d asked me thirty seconds ago…”

  “Damn it!” Ahead the road continued for a few hundred more feet. Then there was nothing. “Wally?”

  “Full speed ahead, Jett! Dead center of the road! Then jump!”

  I didn’t have a coherent response to that, so I settled for an uneasy yell that escalated to a scream as I approached the drop-off. I heard the cop cursing. I angled Bullet Train upward slightly and leapt into the abyss.

  Jumping all the way from one superskyscraper to another was nearly impossible. Even with my burst capacitor fully charged I wouldn’t have chanced it. I looked down, trying to see what salvation Wally had planned when he sent me on this suicide mission. Maybe another bridge or ramp not far below? I saw nothing. Nothing but the distant lights of buildings and vehicles on the ground level. I was still higher up than the top of the tallest ordinary skyscraper in the world. There was nothing else but a curious black line bisecting my vision.

  I blinked.

  In the darkness I hadn’t noticed it at first, a line extending out from beneath street level on the cell behind me and veering to the right a short distance ahead. A light shone on it from behind me, and then I saw it for what it was.

  It was a u-shaped maglev train track, metal gleaming and propulsion coils humming. Part of what served as Gigopolis’s “subway” system. However, the Grand City being the Grand City, these trains were perfectly capable of zipping out over the abyss and going up or down levels. And the light, of course, came from one of those trains. Wally, that crazy ingenious son of a bitch, had timed this so I would leap out just ahead of an oncoming train.

  There was only one problem. These trains were freaking fast. Their design had partly inspired the look of my skidstick, after all, and I wouldn’t bestow such an honor lightly. As I began to descend from my arc the front car appeared beneath my feet. Then the next. Then the next. Shit. The trains were also long, but they didn’t go on forever. Though I desperately needed to maintain forward momentum, I also angled my stick downward and braced for impact. From my perspective, the train appeared to jump up toward me. One mistake and I’d be tossed off the train to fry on the electrified rails or to plummet to my death despite all.

  I performed a parachute landing fall, rolling backwards as I struck the roof so I wouldn’t shatter a leg. Unfortunately the speed difference and the wind meant I rolled all the way over, my legs going up over my head, and then I found myself in a perilous log roll down the length of the train. I corrected the roll, getting onto my stomach, but I continued to slide toward the rear of the train. I clutched Bullet Train in my right hand, squeezing the throttle for all she was worth. With my left hand I tried to find purchase on the slick metal surface to stop my death slide. Miraculously, my hand caught on a raised ridge, an antenna of some sort, and I jerked to a stop. Even more miraculously, my arm didn’t rip out of its socket.

  Health is at 96%. Aethervoir is at 57%. A compatible lecti has been found. Aether connection is still limited. Onboarding may take some time.

  Thank the Shones for whatever the hell this mystery artifact was. However, it was just my luck I’d get elevated to a full sorcerer, only for my artifact to have crappy WiFi.

  “Jett, are you there?” Wally asked over my headset. “Did you make it?”

  “No, Wally. I’m dead.”

  I sat up and took stock. I kept Bullet Train powered up and maintained a grip on the antenna mount as I looked around. I was on top of the very last car. It was shaped just like the front engine, sloping down almost to the track itself. The train was traveling in a wide spiral and climbing upwards. Hopefully I could dismount onto a highway before the next station, some place the cops weren’t watching, and I could lay low for a while. At least that Elite couldn’t possibly—

  The motorcycle crashed to the train roof a few feet away. The noise I made was more of a whine than a surprised yell. I’d earned this, damn it. Stupid supercop and her superbike.

  I got to my feet, leaning into the wind. Unlike me, she’d managed to land her hovercycle and slide to a controlled stop almost immediately, the showoff. I went to adjust my handkerchief… only to find it had fallen off. The cop regarded me with a satisfied smirk from beneath her helmet. Son of a bitch, I felt naked without my mask. My helmet and goggles obscured the upper half of my face to an extent, though. And it was dark. Maybe if I got away, I could still…

  The Elite cocked her head to one side, and then she lifted the visor on her own helmet. “Jett? Jett Fulgen, is that you?”

  The wide, guilty expression on the young man’s face was all the confirmation Jessie needed. It was all too familiar.

  “Jessie?” he asked in a small voice. He looked her up and down again, then shuddered as if in disgust. “Jessie Faxton?”

  “Damn it!” Jessie said. “I knew it! I knew it had to be you! Copycat my ass!”

  “Hey, it was believable! A lot of people want to be me! How about you let me go, for old time’s sake? Have I mentioned today’s my birthday?”

  “Look, Jett. I don’t know what’s going on with you or what happened back there. Honestly? I kind of doubt you did anything too horrible. But you were still involved in a shooting, and we need to get to the bottom of it. So how about you exercise your right to remain silent?”

  Jett looked grim for a moment. Then a devious smile lit his face. “I’ve got a better idea. How about you watch your head?”

  “Really?” Jessie asked.

  “Um, yes. Really. Jessie, really!” He pointed again, insistent.

  Jessie glanced over her shoulder and swore. They were approaching a tunnel. Jessie quickly primed her repulsor and looked back to Jett. “Thanks for the warning, but you’re not off the hook. Turn yourself in, or you can expect a warrant at your door tomorrow.”

  She took off, looking back once she had positioned herself to land on a bridge. Jett didn’t follow her. Instead, he lay flat against the roof of the train, Shones damn him, he was going into the tunnel!

  “I need backup!” she yelled into her radio. “Suspect Red is approaching subway station at…” She checked the location tracker on her dashboard. “... L4-K18-S2!”

  A warrant at my door? The joke was on her. I wouldn’t have a door tomorrow. The train began to slow as soon as it entered the tunnel. Damn it. A station must be just ahead.

  “Jett?” Wally asked. “What’s happening?”

  “It’s the Shones damned hall monitor. She’s the Elite.”

  “Like… that girl from your childhood you sometimes bitch about?”

  “Yes, that one! I’m pulling up to a subway station. I don’t know which one. If you can locate me, do anything you can to help me escape!”

  “Ok ok. I’m working on it.”

  “I need to hang up, Wall. I’ll need to pull my helmet off and blend in.”

  “Good luck.”

  The maglev pulled into a busy subway station. As a crowd of passengers debarked, I heard some distinctive mutterings about noises on the roof, and at least one person saying they were going to complain. I also muttered as I slipped down the side of the train car and into their midst. I’d already stowed Bullet Train and my helmet in my backpack, tightened the drawstrings on my hood, and awkwardly slipped my tropical shirt on over my hoodie like a bizarre vest. It wasn’t much of a disguise, but if I hurried…

  “This is the GPD! Everyone remain calm!”

  Nearly a dozen GPD officers descended the stairs leading to the street. “Ladies and gentlemen!” one of them called. “We need you all to remain in this station for a few minutes while we search the area! If you see a suspicious individual with red hair or a torn grey hoodie, please point him out!”

  The bystanders glanced around. I had crouched down in the midst of the confused crowd, not yet noticed, frantically trying to reassemble Bullet Train. “He’s on the tracks!” I yelled, disguising my voice. “Look! The maintenance catwalk!”

  The crowd, predictably, pressed toward the tracks trying to see, and the cops started making their way in that direction. This also put almost everyone’s backs toward me as I slunk along the wall toward the stairs.

  But of course, a distraction can only work so well on a large crowd, and someone eventually turned and spotted me. “No, he’s there! He’s getting away!”

  “Freeze! GPD!”

  “I’m aware!” I vaulted a turnstile and dashed up the stairs and through a ticketing center. There were more cops up here, and I saw one reach for his belt. “Clear the way!” I shouted, and civilians dove to the side as they saw me. I used a small boost from Bullet Train to rocket toward another set of stairs. This one had the blessed glow of street lamps at the top.

  I was going to make it. I was home free. Once I was back on the street I’d have the advantage again, and I’d be miles away before Jessie Faxton–

  I started to glow the second I emerged from the subway station. My legs kept moving, but now I was running in place. I glanced to the side and saw a figure that was familiar, if curvier than I remembered from childhood. She was training that damn stupid k-rifle right on me.

  I tried to push away using Bullet Train. Nothing happened. The rifle beam cancelled out any force I tried to apply to myself, syncing my momentum, or lack thereof, to hers. Then she flicked a switch, and I started drifting through the air toward her like she was a pie on a windowsill in an old cartoon. Wait, scratch that. Definitely not a good comparison. She was the dreaded hall monitor, damn it!

  After a few more panicked seconds, I stopped struggling. An odd calm washed over me as booted feet clomped on the pavement. The regular cops gathered to cheer and jeer as Red finally faced justice.

  I actually felt relieved. I hated myself for it, but that’s how I felt. For months, years, I’d worried I was going to ruin my life. Our lives, poor Wally. Now I didn’t have to worry about it anymore. I had already ruined everything. It was a load off my shoulders. I barely noticed as Jessie grabbed me, patted me down, read my rights, and clicked the handcuffs around my wrists.

  It was finally over.