As it turned out, Ethan, once again, should’ve listened to Alex.

Before Alex had the chance to grab him, Ethan jumped through the portal, hoping to land on top of the Ace’s scoreboard and continue on to Stillrock, as smoothly as taking a walk. As usual, Ethan did not consider what would happen when he jumped, instead just hoping that he’d teleport to the scoreboard, landing gracefully on top, and would continue on his way to Stillrock to investigate the mines.

Instead, as he stepped through the portal, he quickly realized that he had stepped out onto nothing but air, the stadium’s metal platform a foot away from him. He screamed, throwing his arms out in front of him and managing, just barely, to wrap his fingers around the edge of the platform, his body crashing into the steel beams. That was nearly enough to make him let go, but even though Protectors were notably stronger and more durable than the average person, Ethan didn’t think he’d survive a forty foot drop, especially given the state he was in.

”How does this work?” Ethan asked himself, straining to hang on. The game below hadn’t stopped just yet, but even a few blocks away, with the wind rushing by his ears, he was able to hear a boom as the supposedly impenetrable glass to his hospital room window shattered when Alex threw herself through it. She darted up into the sky, above Apex Tower, clocked Ethan dangling a half mile away, turned, and headed straight for him.

”If she catches me, I won’t make it to the mines,” Ethan told himself. He sighed, eyeing the drop. The grass did look soft, but it was at least four stories away, and he doubted that would help him much. With his fingers starting to slip, he snarled, out of time, shaking his head. “I have to find out if Rainey escaped. No matter what the answer is, I have to know. Time for something drastic.”

Instead of waiting for Alex to catch him, Ethan let himself drop, then tried to open another portal, trusting that his powers wouldn’t let him crash into the outfield below. His lack of experience, however, reared its head: instead of glowing purple, his hands stayed their normal hue, and Ethan dropped like a stone, screaming as he flailed.

Alex, thankfully, pushed herself, growling with effort, and swooped down, diving towards the grass. She managed to wrap her arms around Ethan just before he slammed into the earth, tearing up the manicured outfield until she came to a stop just in front of the center fielder. She shot Ethan a look so angry it made him gulp, dusted off the grass staining her cape, and pulled Ethan to a stand, holding his arm up and smiling to thunderous applause.

“Take it all in,” she growled, waving politely, “this is the last moment anyone’s going to see you alive.”

“That’s the second time I’ve had that thought recently.” Ethan played it up, faux-wiping his brow and bowing to Alex, trying to buy his way out of a near-certain execution the second they left. Alex fake laughed, a chilling sound to Ethan.

He went to pull his palm up, only for Alex to intercept him, pulling it down.

“What are you doing?” She hissed. “You’re not even supposed to exist. At least…not with that.”

“How was I supposed to know that?” Ethan asked. Instead of answering, Alex grabbed him under his shoulders and took off, landing on a skyscraper near the western edge of town.

“Why did you do that?” Alex demanded to know, her face an inch from Ethan’s. “You could’ve died!”

“I had to know!” Ethan shot back. “I have to go back, to see if she made it out. To see if I…” he trailed off, sighing.

“Killed her?” Alex finished.

Nausea overpowered Ethan, who suddenly became dizzy. He dropped to a knee, putting his head in his hands. His breathing quickened, but he felt more and more like he couldn’t get any air.

“Slow down,” Alex told him softly, putting her hand on his back. “Deep breaths. In, hold, out. In, hold out.”

Ethan, unable to do anything else, complied. A few minutes later, his breathing was back to normal, but the nausea remained.

“Can you take me there?” he asked quietly.

“Apex has the area cordoned off,” she told him. “But we can get close. Do you think that’s a good idea, though?”

Ethan nodded, rising to his feet. “I have to know.”

Alex hesitated, then shrugged. “Alright.”

Ethan shut his eyes tight as they took off, keeping them shut and shivering against the cold as Alex flew at half speed to Stillrock and, then, to the collapsed mine. She landed gently on a mesa overlooking the area, setting Ethan down.

“We’re here,” she told him.

For a moment, Ethan thought about how easy it would be to keep his eyes shut, to ask Alex to take him back to the city and pretend none of this ever happened. But it did happen, he had caused this mess, and he only had.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, the devastation in the valley below him fully in view thanks to the bright light of the high noon sun.

The collapse ripped the earth, leaving a jagged scar the length of a football field and nearly fifty feet at its widest in a serpentine pattern. The collapse had mostly filled itself in with earth and stone, but the length was still uneven, deeper in some spots and overflowing with others.

What really caught Ethan’s eye, though, was the grass: a hundred feet in every direction, the grass was gray and crisp, like a fire had spread but, instead of burning, had leeched the life from the vegetation all the way up to the tree line.

Apex had thrown up a security fence surrounding the site establishing a perimeter, bright yellow caution tape lining the way to a single point of access with a hastily constructed guard tower stationed on either side of the gate.

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“Man,” Alex shook her head, “you must’ve really hated working here.”

“What is all this?” Ethan gestured to the valley below them. Apex must’ve had thirty people in forensic suits scouring the site from end to end, he thought, all of them carrying devices that looked like metal detectors.

“Remember when I said that you weren’t supposed to exist?”

Ethan nodded, his eyes glued to the scientists waving their instruments over the edges of the collapse, listening to the shrill whine from the ones closest to them.

“Apex told everyone that a Surge would never happen again, and that they had everything all under control. When you collapsed the tunnel, you proved them wrong, and now they have a lot of damage control to perform, and to make sure nobody else who wanders up here could get powers and disrupt the balance we’ve struck in the city.”

“Balance?” Ethan asked.

“It’s something Amory always talks about. Right now, despite our best efforts, we’re barely holding a stalemate with the Altered. They know that we’ve got enough firepower to stop any large scale plans, but they know we don’t have enough coverage to fully stop every single robbery or scheme they can come up with. Adding a Protector might make them desperate, but it also gives us an opportunity to turn the tide if you ever learn to control your powers.”

Ethan felt insulted. “Hey, I’ve had them for, like, two hours.”

“I was flying after one,” Alex told him.

Ethan rolled his eyes, then walked over to the edge of the mesa. Down below, something caught his eye.

There was a glint from the sun in front of him, nearly concealed by overturned stone. It was easily missed, looking like nothing more than a large piece of mica fused in the limestone, but it had a strange, blue hue to it. Ethan’s breath caught in his throat as he realized what it was:

Below him, nearly hidden from sight, was Rainey’s necklace, the chain ripped, but otherwise intact. Most importantly, it was lying there, on the surface. Ethan wanted to scream in joy: Rainey had made it out, somehow. She was alive!

His relief, however, was short lived, at the realization of some of the last words Rainey had spoken to him: a threat against Alex that she didn’t even know was coming. He caused that problem, and she was out there, plotting and planning. She could strike at any time.

“Did you…find what you needed?” Alex asked.

Ethan nodded, trying to contain his relief. “I think I did,” he answered.

Alex put her hand on Ethan’s shoulder.

“I know you probably don’t want to talk about this, but…you both knew the risks.”

Ethan nodded, keeping his eyes low.

“This wasn’t your fault. Well…not entirely.”

Ethan let out a shaky breath.

“I know,” he said quietly. He brought his eyes to Alex’s. “But I can’t let this be for nothing. I have these powers now, not that I can control them quite yet, but when I figure that out, I want to use them to make a difference. I want you to train me to become a Protector.”

For the first time all afternoon, Alex smiled. “That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”

“So, what do I do next?”

Alex’s grin was quickly replaced with a grimace. She rubbed her tired eyes, then caught a look at Apex’s operation below. “I don’t know how you thought your life would go after gaining powers, but things…aren’t going to be easy. Amory isn’t exactly a soft hearted person, and she won’t like that you’re proof that they failed to contain the Surge, Ethan. That they’ve lied to everyone in Ascension.”

He winced. His whole life was contingent on becoming a Protector, and, now, he didn’t have many other options. “Are you saying that Apex won’t let me become a Protector?”

“This hasn’t ever happened before,” she sighed. “So I can’t say for certain, but you can bet they won’t make it easy for you. Plus, training lasts three months, and every Altered still operating in the city is going to love seeing a rookie. It’s been six months since we last initiated a new Protector, and they Altered will test you every chance they get. Your actions have consequences now.”

Ethan faced the mines. “Haven’t they already?”

Alex sighed curtly. “I guess so. Which brings me to my next point: if I take you under my wing and train you, you’re going to have to do exactly what I say. Everything is going to have to be by Apex’s book and you can’t give Amory any more reasons to deny you from becoming a Protector, understand?”

“Well,” he said, letting out a curt sigh. His voice was picking up confidence. “I’m too far in now to quit. I’ve lost everything. I didn’t exactly have much to start with, but it’s all gone now, and I can’t get it back. The only path for me is forward, to becoming a Protector.”

Alex sighed. “Alright, but just know: I can’t always protect you. You almost died three times already, and two of those were before you ever had powers.”

“I know,” Ethan said softly. “But I guess it’s a good thing I’ll have the strongest Protector in Ascension looking after me.”

“After the pitiful display you put on this afternoon, we have a lot of work to do,” Alex laughed.

Ethan chuckled lightly. “So, where do we start?”

Alex tapped her finger against the rock. “Well, firstly, you should pick an identity.”

“Like…a new name?”

“Yeah, you know, like an alter ego. It took me a few iterations to finally land on Titan, so I don’t expect you to have one immediately, but it’d be good to start thinking of one.”

Ethan paused. “Who am I now,” he told her, “is…who I’ve always wanted to be. I don’t think anything’s changed, really. I…I think I’m still just Ethan.”

“Good enough for me,” Alex told him.

“Okay,” Ethan laughed, relieved. “What’s next?”

”Well, I don’t have to patrol for a few more hours, and there’s no pressing emergencies I have to attend to, and you seem to love jumping head first without thinking, so…how about…”

Alex flew a few feet off the ground, then spun herself around Ethan, and put her arm around his shoulders.

“Right now,” she said, and with an effortless wave of her arm, she knocked Ethan right off the edge, sending him tumbling and screaming down the cliffside below.