Ethan pushed himself onto his knees, coughing and trying to get the sand out of his mouth. As he crunched down on yet more grit, he realized it was a lost cause, and instead focused on rubbing his wrists, trying to gain purchase underneath the thorns digging into his skin. Each time Ethan teleported up to cut the mannequin loose, Bramble immediately wrapped a vine around one of his limbs and ripped him down to the ground. He wasn’t sure how many more times he could land face-first in the sand without breaking a rib, but given how sore his midsection already was, it really felt like zero. With his hostage citizen just twenty feet above the pool and descending faster than Ethan liked, Ethan was stuck on his knees, vines holding him down, running out of time.

Bramble, however, looked like she had all the time in the world, her movements almost leisurely compared to Ethan’s frantic attempts to get away.

“I’m starting to think,” Ethan said, his voice strained, “that you’re secretly enjoying this.”

“I was like you, once, months ago,” she said, a wide smile spread across her lips. She dug her heels into the sand, sighing contentedly. “You think you were changed for a reason. You come in here with such big dreams, to become a Protector and help battle the Altered all across Ascension. To become a hero, someone people look up to, someone you think you can be. But this? Right now?”

Ethan tried, once more, to open a portal to the mannequin, now just fifteen feet above the green. Bramble pulled the vines tighter, her smile growing more malicious as Ethan cried out when he was jerked back to the sand.

“This is when you realize you’re not cut out for this world, when the ambition and dreams you came in with are pulled back down to the earth. And when you walk out of here, with your head down, you’ll dry the blood from your wrists see the deep cuts, and know that I was the one who broke you.”

She wrapped the vines around her palms, then pulled the vines back, tightening them around Ethan’s wrist as he screamed, the sharp thorns drawing hot blood that started to run in a neat line down the inside of his sleeves, staining his white training suit a deep, blotted purple.

Ethan breathed in slowly, fighting the pain to think. I know I’m not cut out for this, he thought. I gave up on becoming a hero the moment I thought I left Rainey to die in the mines. You can’t cause that much pain and expect to get labeled a hero. Ethan glanced up, locked eyes with Bramble: confident, cool, in control. Maybe Bramble sees that in me, and she knows that I’d quit being a Protector the first time things got difficult.

Time was almost out, and quitting was starting to sound awfully good, especially compared to having Bramble cut him any deeper than she already had. Fully ready to throw in the towel, Ethan sighed curtly, but took a moment to glance back at Raz in the stands. Instantly, his stomach sank. Raz wasn’t worried, or angry. Instead, Ethan clocked his expression, one he had seen too many times over the years:

Raz was disappointed. Disappointed that Ethan had dragged him all this way for nothing, upended both of their lives so Ethan could live out his fantasy, only to quit the second things got difficult. If even Ethan’s best friend, the person who had known him longer than anyone except for Alex, expected him to quit, then why shouldn’t he? Lying in the dirt, bleeding from each arm and leg, he realized Bramble was right: this was who he truly was. If gaining powers didn’t change that, then nothing would.

He could teleport out of here anytime he chose. The observation deck undoubtedly led to an exit. But, of course, he’d have to walk by Quinn, which would be incredibly embarrassing. What would she even say to him?

“Why isn’t he moving?” Quinn asked, leaning forward closer to the glass.

Kingston’s voice was softer than it had been all morning. “Quinn, I’ve done fifty of these evaluations, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone take the beating he has. If he isn’t thinking about giving up yet, I’d seriously recommend he start soon”

Quinn, without thinking, grabbed the intercom from Kingston.

“Cheering them on isn’t exactly allowed-“

“Ethan!” Quinn yelled, cutting him off. Ethan’s eyes shot up, and Bramble momentarily relaxed her grip, her head turning to the sound coming from the intercom system. “I know we don’t know each other well, but in a moment where you had every reason to walk away, you chose to help me. I haven’t met any Protectors yet, but if I had, I’d want them to be like you.”

A sudden acknowledgement stuck out in Ethan’s mind: Raz knew exactly who Ethan was. Maybe even better than Ethan knew himself. But Quinn didn’t know the first thing about Ethan, other than the fact that he helped out in the museum this morning. The mistakes he made in the past didn’t exist with her, the stains that marked the thread that comprised his and Raz’s relationships were entirely nonexistent on the bond he could craft with her. But if he quit now, and gave up on his evaluation, that chance would be gone, cut short, and he wouldn’t have a second one to show her, or anyone in Ascension, a different version of himself, one that he actually liked.

Bramble already thought she knew who Ethan was, and her confident expression told him exactly what she thought of him.

But maybe I can use that to my advantage.

Ethan knew what he was about to do was going to hurt, and badly, but failing Raz and blowing his chance with Quinn would hurt far worse. Besides, he already broke thirty bones just getting powers, and despite being unconscious for most of that time, this couldn’t possibly hurt worse than anything he experienced then.

“She’s wrong,” Bramble shook her head. “You’re nothing, and in a few seconds, that’s all you’re ever going to be.”

“You’ve been talking a lot,” Ethan shot back, forcing himself back to his feet, one hard step at a time. He let out a terse breath, trying his best to ignore the pain flashing from his wrists. “But you’ve yet to actually hurt me. So, I need to know: got anything tougher than these play-doh vines?”

Hot anger flashed across Bramble’s face, leading to a moment of panic: either his plan was going to work, or he was about to find out how powerful Bramble really was.

Bramble brought her arms up over her head, ready to slam them into the ground and nearly cut Ethan’s wrists off in the process. But instead of fighting back, Ethan ran with it, darting towards Bramble, running with the tension and using it to open a portal high above him, near the top of the pit’s dome. He completed the portal, diving through and dragging Bramble with him, who suddenly appeared behind him three stories above the ground. Just as nearly everyone who found themselves suddenly above the ground, Bramble panicked and pulled her vines back, just as Ethan hoped, freeing his wrists. Ethan opened another portal just above the mannequin, grabbing the rope, slipping down slightly as his blood-slickened palm struggled to grab purchase.

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“This again?” Raz asked, exasperated.

“Not quite again,” Ethan answered, hoping he sounded confident. Bramble flicked her wrists and sent two thick sets of vines down to the pit, reeling them in and slowing her fall. She turned, clocking Ethan’s position, and grunted angrily.

“Need I remind you we only have a few more seconds before the mannequin goes into the lava and you fail your evaluation?” Raz shouted.

“You do not,” Ethan shot back, tensing as Bramble reared back to fire another whip in his direction. “Good thing this isn’t a real person, because this next part is going to hurt.”

Ethan timed his plan perfectly and leapt off the rope before Bramble’s vine had a chance to reach him. Instead of connecting with Ethan, the vine cut straight through the nylon and sent his mannequin into a free fall. Ethan sprung into action, opening a portal underneath it and then one more just above the sand, transporting him safely away from the lava pool.

While Bramble’s eyes were on the tumbling mannequin, Ethan opened a portal as high above him as he could, opened one beneath him, sending himself falling from the top of the dome. He maneuvered himself into a dive, gaining speed as he plummeted towards the sand, then opened a portal just behind Bramble and sent himself through it, slamming into her like a wrecking ball.

He immediately felt a burning pain in his shoulder, but ignored it as his weight drove her forward, sending her tumbling into the pool with a splash.

Ethan skidded to a stop a few feet away to her left, panting and almost entirely certain his shoulder was now completely out of place. He spied his mannequin, lying in the sand a few feet away, dusty but otherwise unharmed. Walking slowly and wincing with every step, he grabbed his mannequin, then walked back to the metal platform in the center of the pit. He pulled both their arms up, sweat matting his hair, facing the observation deck.

“Ta-da!” He said weakly.

Bramble clumsily pulled herself out of the pool, black hair dripping wet, and threw her soaked jacket to the dirt. In a dramatic show, she tore into the pool with her vines, letting out a frustrated roar and ripping the plastic kiddie pool to pieces, sending water spilling all over the sand. When she was done, she retracted her vines and stomped through the mud, stalked over to Ethan, who was too tired to do anything other than watch, dismay on his face. She eyed his displaced shoulder, smiled maliciously, and popped it back into place as Ethan screamed in pain, grabbing at the white-hot burn that was consuming his shoulder. Bramble pulled him in close, whispering.

“You’re lucky there’s people watching,” Bramble growled. “You better hope you don’t get assigned sector three, because if you do…”

Bramble wrapped a thin, spiked vine around the back of Ethan’s neck, where no one else could see, drawing just a prick of blood that made him gasp.

“I’ll tear you apart.”

“That’s quite enough, Bramble,” Kingston’s voice boomed through the pit. “You’re dismissed. Stop at the front desk to get your check.”

Ethan released a breath he didn’t know he was holding in as Bramble slammed the door shut. So, that’s two sectors I need to steer clear of. Only 3 left!

“God, she was terrifying,” Raz said, shaking his head, dust falling from his black hair. “Great save, by the way. I really thought you were going to-”

“Quit?” Ethan cut him off, giving him a small smile. “Thought about it. But…that’s not who I want to be. At least not anymore.”

Raz nodded, a faint, pleased smile spreading across his face, the first genuine hint of happiness Ethan had seen from him since the accident. “Shouldn’t we find out what you are going to be?” he asked.

Ethan nodded, clearing his throat.

“So?” he yelled up to the observation deck. “How’d I do?”

Quinn jumped as a woman’s voice broke the silence in the observation deck.

“He’s not bad,” Amory said, nodding. Quinn wasn’t sure when she had come in. She eyed Ethan cooly. “Not as strong as Titan, of course, but smarter than she gives him credit for.”

“Agreed” Kingston said. Quinn noticed he was suddenly sitting up straighter. She did the same. “But…he did bang up his hostage, and technically he incinerated the Altered. Publicly, we don’t exactly condone murder, especially when other Protectors could’ve stopped the Altered more easily. He’s…interesting, if unconventional.”

Amory gave Kingston a thoughtful nod. She gestured towards Ethan. “What are you suggesting?”

“That was the sloppiest evaluation I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot. It certainly left a lot to be desired, and he feels like a liability. For Apex’s Protectorate brand, one we worked so hard over the months to cultivate, it might be safest to just cut him loose.”

“Cut him loose?” Quinn asked. With Ethan out of the picture, Quinn wouldn’t be able to figure out what, if any, connection he had to her sister. She had to think fast.

“Ethan has the power to teleport anywhere. He’s immensely powerful, and you’re just going to let him roam free?”

Kingston shrugged. “He’s got Sector One ability, to be sure, but more sector five talent. He’s…not easy to place.”

“Well, can’t you just put him there?” Quinn’s eyes drifted over to Amory, noticing a thin smile spreading across her face.

“Hello?” Ethan said. “Do I need to teleport up there again? I can’t exactly see where you all are, and I’m very tired so I might accidentally teleport into something which Raz said I really need to avoid due to the energy released during a molecular displacement equating to that of a hydrogen bomb going off but I told him he’s not a scientist but then he told me to go f-”

Amory pushed a button on the control board, cutting Ethan off.

“Thank goodness, now I can hear myself think.”

“We do have an opening in Sector Five after Syphon was injured the other night,” Kingston pointed out. “If you want to keep him, there is an opportunity there, on the edge of the city where there shouldn’t be a ton of eyes on him. And if you don’t want to keep him, well…with his lack of combat skills, there’s a chance this works itself out, if you know what I mean.”

Quinn grimaced, hoping Amory wouldn’t notice. Luckily, her eyes were trained on the somehow still-speaking Ethan. She folded her arms.

“Not a word of this to Titan,” she said sternly, and Quinn felt herself straighten up. “Ethan is going to receive a special assignment. Send him up, Kingston, I’d like to deliver the news myself.”

Kingston nodded as Amory left the deck, typing up a few notes on his tablet.

“Wow,” Kingston said to Quinn, “and I thought I was trying to get him killed.”

Quinn frowned. “What do you mean? What did I just get him into?”

“Technically, you’re giving him what he wanted,” Kingston pointed out. “But, knowing Amory, I think he’s going to find out pretty quickly he should’ve wanted something else.”