Joaquim lifted his forearms together while entering Kaya form. He blocked Gabe's influx-infused punch, the wind and force from the impact howling around them. While Gabe was in shock from the progress his brother made, or at least that's what Joaquim assumed, he already landed a kick to the side of Gabe's ribs he left open.

Gravel cracked around them, Joaquim sinking lower on the platform while Gabe flew off in the direction of the baby mountain in the distance. Or at least that's where Gabe would have gone off to if it was not for the kick he anchored into mud and snow. He spun on the ground he was sliding on, slowing down his momentum. He finished the spin with a jar of fireflies already in his hands and out of his backpack.

There's no way, Joaquim thought while holding onto a gravel cliff. He uses his fireflies for battle? Did he make it all the way to Anagami form and not tell me anything?

"How many secrets are you fucking keeping from me?" Joaquim shouted, gritting his teeth while lifting his free hand into a fist. "You better not be bluffing!"

With the swarm of fireflies flying towards Joaquim, it was apparent that Gabe had no intention to answer him.

He's using Anagami form, Joaquim thought. I hate running away, but I won't win an honest fight against him.

The fireflies scrambled to a new formation, a fireball igniting dead in the center.

Joaquim threw both his feet against the cliff he was holding onto, jumping off it with as much influx he could muster. Joaquim realized he never tried such a thing and was off flying to the mountain himself.

Shit, shit, shit.

His intention was using the information he learned from his sensei Iker. He said that using both Anagami and Kaya form at the same time requires extensive experience, meaning Gabe's body is vulnerable while controlling his fireflies. Unfortunately he was already swooping above Gabe's head.

For a brief moment Gabe did have a chance to take advantage of an airborne Joaquim, but it happened so fast that it was plausible that he was too slow to react. However, that's not what Joaquim saw.

For the fraction of a second they locked eyes, Joaquim saw hesitation. The eyes of an older brother that knew that he fucked up. Even though Joaquim smiled at what he was saw, he was now locked into the direction of the artificial mountain. He was not low enough to do the anchoring move he watched Gabe do earlier. He was in the same situation Pitou the ant was while falling from the sky in Hunter x Hunter.

It's probably for the best that I overdid it with my first influx jump, Joaquim thought. Or maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better for making another dumb mistake. Ameen probably didn't put us to sleep because he wants Gabe to prove his allegiance. If our fight ends... Ameen will have no reason to keep us awake, and we would truly be fucked then.

Even though he was far from where he first jumped, he glanced back to see that the three Alkrezian soldiers were chasing after him with their own influx gallops and jumps.

The instant Joaquim's momentum dipped to where Joaquim could throw his feet to the ground, he did so. He landed on the base of the mountain where he could see a neverending sky past the edge of the taiga platform. He planned to keep running towards the edge until he could come up with a better plan.

Joaquim did not like thinking about this, but if he wanted to fight as dirty as possible, the easiest target to go for would theoretically be Farouq. Farouq could also be the most dangerous as an esper, so he was a first good target.

Camilo was a wildcard. If he shapeshifts into other supersoldiers, does he take their powers as well? Could he shapeshift into an extraterrestrial species like an arak?

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Should Joaquim just snitch and tell 2 platoon?

No, Joaquim thought. Iker appears to have a vendetta against Alkrezians. We might put ourselves in a new kind of danger with 1 platoon and the police robots. There's no guarantee they will let us live.

Joaquim's breath was getting heavier. Yes, he was potentially running for his life, but the weight of his complex dilemma was a horrifying one to bear. The lack of easy answers was anxiety inducing.

If he let himself keep entertaining these thoughts Joaquim would fall to despair, but then a memory became more vivid with each leap across the snow; the time Farouq took a life by accident.

Joaquim reached the edge of the platform and saw another platform with a singular home like Iker's platform. It must mean it belonged to someone wealthy as well.

It seemed the mother was outside with the faint childish giggles Joaquim could hear. Maybe mid 40s, happy, decided she would paint the fence outside instead of letting an AI do it. Most likely lived a comfortable life. Maybe she hasn't.

Joaquim wondered, as he thought about Farouq's murder, if she would know what the worst sound was when Farouq killed the preteen boy.

Maybe it would be how the boys would talk so casually about murder in No Man's Land. It was as normal as throwing dice under a staircase or having an earthplexus pocket night.

When a random boy in No Man's Land would approach Farouq, Gabe, and Joaquim and tell them to give them their belongings, there was no way to tell if he was playing a prank, testing their dominance, or if he would pull out a weary revolver as soon as they refused.

It was the same thing with Farouq. He threatened them with murder, but most of the time a good ass whooping was good enough.

Joaquim would never forget the one time he did follow through with his words.

Maybe the way Farouq would talk about it would not be what the mother on the platform would find the most disturbing.

Maybe it was the animalistic growls the bloody Farouq made while picking up the boulder. Maybe it was the fleshy thud the boulder made while cracking the boy's skull. Maybe it was how fleeting the boy's scream was. It was as if the scream was trimmed by a sound editor right after the boulder landed and right before his life ended. The fractal scream lasted no longer than a quarter of a second, becoming a stacatto echo to alert the talking and intelligent vultures.

For Joaquim, it was the quieter sounds. The gargle of flesh and blood when the body still moved. It was death whispering a reminder to the boys of how fragile and mortal the human body is. Those sounds were a reminder that they were made of the same bits that made up the talking animals they would kill to prove their love for God and Ameen.

Or maybe what would disturb the mother the most, as she finished the last pike on the fence, was that Joaquim found a thrill in it. Joaquim would do his best to not remember how alive he felt while his life was in danger, but it was hard to avoid thinking about it as the Alkrezian soldiers came closer. Joaquim could no longer run along the platform's edge. They were catching up.

There was still a part of him that wanted to worship Prophet Ameen and wished for that mother's platform to fall to the ground, but ever since he met Iker, Noah, and Lucia... he began to understand how complicated everything is. It was indeed likely that the mother was sheltered, but she could also be the one person who could get him.

Farouq first, Joaquim thought.

Joaquim did already figure out the best way to exploit Farouq's blindness and reliance on Visard. He has not decided whether he was proud of himself or not. For fuck's sake, he's trying to kill me right now.

Joaquim was already heading towards his planned destination and has arrived: the dense forest by the edge of the platform.

Camilo spoke, Joaquim having to focus to figure out his words in the distance.

"I can't stick around," Camilo said, still shapeshifted as Dalia.

"What do you mean?" Farouq asked.

Joaquim, learning from his mistake, focused generous amounts of influx into the soles of his feet. He leaped, ricocheting off pine trees to ascend higher.

"Don't even think about taking my chair," Sergeant Hunter said somewhere.

The drones holding speakers played piano chords with a flamboyant man singing the word tonight.

Joaquim glanced back to find no Camilo. However, the reason he glanced was to check on Visard, which did indeed stop to scan the forest before continuing on.

"I should have known he would play Queen someday."

"What are you doing?" Gabe asked Farouq. He stopped to wait for Visard.

With a howl of the wind, Joaquim appeared with a kick to Farouq's face, kicking him out of the forest and back to the mountain.

I feel alive, the man on the speakers sang.

Joaquim never heard the 200 year old song, and now that he thought about it, it's been a while he's heard of anything new. Humans have yet to tire from reboots, retellings, and covers.

Does anyone make anything new anymore? Joaquim thought.